Welcome to The Gurgler’s review of the first GP of the year. After each race we’ll attempt to dissect some of the happenings of the race.
YAWNMULA ONE
It was a long time coming since the last race, and it felt a long time in finishing with a distinct lack of action after an early peak of the first lap, and the installation lap.
The bandwagon was full of moaning passengers after the first race, and it was not without some justification as the race panned out, but an underlying theme of engine conservation may one of the biggest faults for this during the 58 laps of Albert Park.
Given that only 15 of the 20 cars actually made it to the starting grid, you can’t blame some of the teams if they turned down the engine on Sunday. Of those 15, one was Daniel Ricciardo who has already gone through a couple of engines. Two others were the Force India whose winter testing running was limited to a handful of days, at least they had a Mercedes to rely on. In worse shape still was Jenson Button, whose winter testing lap total was barely bigger than his car number, and who had seen his temporary teammate’s car blow an engine getting from the pits to the grid.
There is promise though, there was a few good scraps and chases behind the leaders, one can only hope that a few more cars starting the race will increase the on track action.
MERCE-JA-VU
Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton picked up where they left off from a large chunk of last year with a dominant pole and easy win. The frightening thing for other teams and Rosberg was the ease of it all. After playing with the opposition in qualifying they had the race all to themselves, and it won’t be the last 1-2 for them this year.
All you can hope for is a good tight battle between the two, it could be worse, in the Ferrari dominated days of 2000’s the Ferrari would be as dominant but only had one possible winner of race. A little more of the hate from last year is required, but Nico Rosberg will need to get close enough to pull a few of those moves in 2015, and on form down under, it looks like Hamilton will add title number three to his burgeoning celebrity, golf handicap and music career in 2015.
Straight talking Niki Lauda after the race gives the impression that drivers will be free to race and, that in today’s everybody gets a ribbon world, there’s still plenty of room for honest feedback of your team before filtering it through the PR speak machine.
BEST OF THE REST
One bonus to come out of the first race is that it looks like two cars will fight out for the third step of the podium and backup race winner. Ferrari and Williams look pretty even in the best of the rest chasing pack, and a fighting fit Bottas and an incident free Kimi will surely add some welcome battles behind the safety car.
Vettel’s timing in leaving Red Bull looks inspired as he was the next best for most of the weekend, whilst his old team couldn’t keep up with a boom rookie driver (and impressive in his first race) in a Sauber despite best efforts from Ricciardo and the other car didn’t even make the grid. Renault will be thankful Honda are around this year to save them from the title of worst F1 engine. Hard to improve given engine freezing, so Red Bull may look for a new boost next year. Maybe even a Honda.
BACK O THE GRID
The battle for last raged for a good portion of the Australian Grand Prix, with Jenson Button pulling off all kinds of heroics to hold off Perez amongst other for second last until the inevitable happened and he remained last. The other inevitable of a spectacular explosion or meek failure did not eventuate and just one more retirement ahead would have given McLaren Honda a point, whilst not deserved on performance would have been a just reward for determination.
Whether or not Alonso will return in Malaysia will probably be the side interest of the break between races, and few could blame him if he wanted to stay in the European sunshine instead of tooling around in 50 degree temperatures at the back of the grid. Alonso might be experiencing a form of buyers remorse over his move to the Honda powered team, and he may have been better off to follow Alain Prost as he did in 1992 after his sacking by Ferrari, by sitting out and waiting for the good drive to arrive. The 1992 Ferrari was pure evil, and the 1993 Williams unbeatable.
WHAT ELSE?
– Was the Sauber that good, making a lie of testing, or was the opposition so poor that it flattered to deceive. The development of Sauber usually means a drop off down the track, but it looks like a good car all the same, and no doubt the van der Garde wanted his drive.
– Max Verstappen looked very good for a 17 year old, and deserved points on debut.
– Lotus pair Grosjean and Maldonaldo are the first retirement cash cows again, sealing the first outs for cars who started. Sure it wasn’t Pastor’s fault, but one gets the feeling there will be some that will be this season.
– Fox Sports coverage is something to look forward to throughout 2015, with all the sessions live it has come a long way from the delayed Channel 9 races from the 80’s and 90’s, and even he days where you had to wait until the end of RPM on Channel 10 to find out the grid.
