Australian Grand Prix 2014: A Race in Review

The Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix took place over the weekend. It’s the kick-off to the F1 “season,” although like many other sports, there isn’t much downtime in F1 these days. The Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne is probably my favorite “street” circuit. It’s comprised of the city street around Albert Park Lake, in the heart of downtown Melbourne.

Qualifying

Qualifying was spectacular, as the rains came and went, constantly shifting strategies. Most pundits had pegged the Mercedes AMG Petronas factory works team as the favorite heading into the season, and that form showed true in qualifying, and Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg swapped the top spot back and forth for much of the session. Defending Constructor’s Champion Red Bull Renault was stymied in everything that Sebastian Vettel tried. The reigning Driver’s Champion failed to make Q3.

Anyone following Formula 1 knows that the V8 engines are now relegated to history, and we now have turbo-charged 1.6-liter V6 engines. The noise level difference is appreciable. When Vettel failed to get out of Q2, and was posted in P12 for the start, you could actually hear the crowd cheering for his failure. I think Vettel is falling into the same place that Dale Earnhardt once occupied in NASCAR. Either you love him or you hate him. There is no middle ground. (Personally, I’ve been on the anti-Vettel bandwagon since Brazil 2008, when his actions nearly cost Lewis Hamilton the Driver’s Championship.)

The surprise of qualifying was a toss-up between two drivers: Daniel Ricciardo and Kevin Magnussen. Magnussen is a rookie who was hired on to pilot the second McLaren, behind Jenson Button. He was able to manage a qualifying slot of P4. Ricciardo, as you know, was brought on by Red Bull Renault to replace the retired Mark Webber. The Red Bull RB10 has been notoriously unreliable in testing. So of course it was a huge surprise when Vettel couldn’t get out of Q2 while his teammate not only made Q3, but ended up posting a time good enough for P1…until Lewis Hamilton finished his flying lap about fifteen seconds later.

Race Results

More than anything in 2014, we’re going to see reliability be a huge issue for at least the first few weeks. As the race got underway it was apparent that Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes was lacking power. He drifted further and further back in the field until the call came on lap 6 to retire the car and try to save the engine. Teammate Nico Rosberg, however, had a brilliant day. He would go on to win the grand prix by a margin of 22+ seconds, which could’ve been even worse, considering the race did see an extended safety car period.

Australian Grand Prix Podium

Rosberg was followed across the line by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo. The roar from the crowd was outstanding, as it was the first time in F1 that an Australian driver had reached the podium of the Australian Grand Prix. The excitement, though, was to be short-lived. The FIA called Ricciardo’s RB10 in for inspection, and determined that the car has “consistently exceed” the maximum allowed fuel flow rate. Ricciardo’s P2 was scrubbed from the books. The third place driver, McLaren rookie Kevin Magnussen, was moved into P2, and McLaren teammate Jenson Button moved into P3, giving McLaren Mercedes the initial hold on the Constructor’s Championship. As an aside, Magnussen’s podium finish was the first time in F1 history that a Danish driver had finished on the podium.

Red Bull has announced they plan to appeal the decision of the FIA. There is a lot of talk about how the fuel flow sensor the FIA recommends is faulty, but they couch the argument by saying it is “less faulty” than the alternative sensor.

Felipe Massa, Kamui Kobayashi, and Crashing

Felipe Massa’s career at Williams got off to a shaky start, through no fault of his own. Massa held a good line going in to turn 1 on the first lap of the race. From behind him a puff of white smoke indicated that someone had forgotten how a brake pedal works. That someone was Kamui Kobayashi. Within a split second, Kobayashi’s Caterham had plowed into the back of Massa’s beautifully-colored Williams, sending both drivers spiraling into the gravel trap and ending their respective races early.

Crashing in the First Curve at Melbourne

Massa called for Kobayashi to receive a grid penalty akin to the one handed to Romain Grosjean after the Belgian Grand Prix in 2012 (when Grosjean took out roughly half the field at the La Source hairpin). 

Kobayashi took to Twitter and accepted blame, apologizing to Massa and Williams. However, the FIA and the race stewards determined that Kobayashi’s Caterham suffered a KERS failure that led to the car losing all rear brakes. They further determined that no one was at fault on track, and Kobayashi’s Twitter page withdrew the apology. It’ll be interesting to see how that plays out over the rest of the year.

Coming Up Next…

In a little less than two weeks time we’ll see the Malaysian Grand Prix from the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur. I personally really enjoy this circuit…especially driving it in any one of the Formula 1 video games in which it appears. I’m not a huge fan of the slow-as-Christmas turn complex at the beginning of the lap, but otherwise there is just enough elevation change to keep things interesting. As we get closer to race day I’ll offer up a more in-depth preview of the Malaysian Grand Prix.