Cars Going Bonkers

Personal commentary. (Australian GP 2015 - Race)

Who would have thought we would have less than twenty people starting the grid in the first race of the season? Not me for sure. We were told yesterday that Manor would be missing the Australian GP today. That brings the total number of drivers from 20 to 18. Valtteri Bottas was admitted to hospital yesterday after qualifying for a back problem he experienced during Q2. This morning, all of us were updated that he would be sitting out for the race because of a tear of the disc in his lower back. So we were down to 17. Right on the installation lap, Daniil Kvyat’s and Kevin Magnussen’s cars would not move ahead like the rest of the other cars. Each to their personal problem: Kvyat with a broken gearbox whereas Magnussen had a Honda engine failure. Before the green lights went out, we only had 15 drivers racing in the 2015 season opener, that is the lowest number of starters we see for a season opener since 1963. Nevertheless, the figure does not stop there.

First laps have become a crucial period in which a driver will try his best to squeeze himself through the mass of slower cars to gain a better position. Aside from the first two drivers at the front, that was what the rest of the 13 drivers tried to do. That was the lap we saw Lewis Hamilton getting far ahead from Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel getting in contact with Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Nasr sandwiching between the Finn and Pastor Maldonado that sadly sent the next casualty out of the race as Maldonado crashed to the wall. His teammate was not lucky either as Romain Grosjean’s car faced an engine failure just a few minutes later. 

I would say the race was more interesting to watch from the back than the front. The rookies have clearly given their all in their debut race with Carlos Sainz Jr and Felipe Nasr making it into the points. Unfortunately for Max Verstappen who, again, missed the opportunity to finish the race with a possible point due to engine failure. Even Aussie’s favourite Daniel Ricciardo had his chance of a podium robbed away for the RB11’s slow pace. It was clearly a Renault trouble week. The drivers at Sauber have taken the week’s unfortunate development and turned it around into an outstanding achievement by both drivers. They have collected 14 points in their very first race: one as a rookie and another as a new Sauber driver, giving the team the most points they have scored in more than a season. This has placed them third on the constructors’ standings, just one point shy from Ferrari. It is true that the number of drivers on the grid makes it hard to assess the true performance of the car but their overtaking skills on track were enough to prove that Sauber was way better than where they left off last season without a single point.

The Sergio Perez-Jenson Button battle rages on as both went head-to-head to stay ahead of being the last driver. Button was comfortably ahead of Perez for some number of laps and being a three-time champion on this track, he was doing his best to keep up to that record. At lap 12, the Mexican was gaining speed to the Brit for an overtaking attempt. Button did not give in easily, showing us seconds of brilliant defences. It took Perez another two laps before he finally took hold of his former teammate’s position but not without slight contact, severing a bit of his car. With his unstable Honda machinery, it was a bonus for Button to have finished the race albeit coming in last with the possibility of finishing in the points. It is safe to say that Fernando Alonso made the right choice to take this week and the next off to recuperate and make more preparations for the Malaysian GP. If you think of it this way, he would not have been as lucky as his teammate because the car he would have been given would be what Kevin Magnussen drove in.    

Ferrari has found a better footing in the WCC fight. Both drivers have a competent car. If Ferrari would have bucked up on their pitstop: reduce the time taken to pull everything together within a few milliseconds and be more alert at changing the car parts, they would not have caused Kimi Raikkonen and the team their points because the Finn clearly had found the momentum in the car. As for Sebastian Vettel along with Ferrari’s clever strategy, the team had helped move Vettel up head of Felipe Massa for third, delivering a stunning performance in his first race with the Scuderia. Looking happier in the scarlet red colours as compared to the race in 2014, it is clear that the four-time world champion is more comfortable and confident at where he is at to break more records.

By the end of the race, we only have 11 finishers. Mercedes’ one-two win just proves that the WCC title is here to stay. How long will it take for us to see teams getting closer to them to close the gap? Just like Daniel Ricciardo lament of another boring race and Sebastian Vettel's observation of the Mercedes' 34s gap away from the third driver, when will the other teams be able to keep up to their level to give us F1 fans the thrill we were so used to watching in F1 a few years back? With Caterham’s departure from F1 and some other mid-tier teams struggling with finances, when will we see F1 becoming too expensive, leaving these teams failing to meet demands and “disappear” from the F1 world as a result? Also, with the increase of restrictions FIA sets each year, how is F1 still an entertaining motorsport? This is no longer the king of motorsport, it is getting lower in status. With rumours of a Renault comeback and again those annual hearsays of an Audi involvement, will this be enough to challenge the dominant German team or will F1 be a dying rigid motorsport in the future?

Australian Grand Prix Race: 

1. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes 58 laps 1hr 31m 54.067s 

2. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes +1.3s 

3. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari +34.5s 

4. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes +38.1s 

5. Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari +1m 35.1s 

6. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-Renault +1 lap 

7. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes +1 lap 

8. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap 

9. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Renault +1 lap 

10. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes +1 lap 

11. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda +2 laps 

Not Classified 

Rtd Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari 40 laps completed 

Rtd Max Verstappen NED Toro Rosso-Renault 32 laps completed 

Rtd Romain Grosjean FRA Lotus-Mercedes 0 laps completed 

Rtd Pastor Maldonado VEN Lotus-Mercedes 0 laps completed 

Did Not Start 

Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull-Renault gearbox 

Kevin Magnussen DEN McLaren-Honda engine 

Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes back injury 

Will Stevens GBR Manor-Ferrari did not qualify 

Roberto Merhi ESP Manor-Ferrari did not qualify 

Thanks to Michael West (who knows how huge of a fan I am of Vettel) for the photos of Sebastian Vettel and also for all the motivation you would give me every time I blog! :) Sorry if this entry is way lousy than the previous one. I had writer's block yesterday and I kinda rushed through this 24 hours later after the race. My bad. :(