A fantastic, dramatic and expected start to the seasons first F1 race - The Australian Gp at Albert Park in Melbourne. Keeping the form in the testing.. the man who has done a trouble free and maximum miles of testing, Nico Rosberg cruised to his 4th career victory with a lead of over 24 sec on Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo, who in turn weathered the stormy pace of the F1 debutant Kevin Magnussen of the McLaren Mercedes. Since 2007, wherein Hamilton took the podium in his 1st ever F1 race, this was the first time a debutant took the podium. And, it is with the same team - McLaren Mercedes. Ricciardo though was later on disqualified by the race stewards as the fuel flow rate in his car exceeded the max of 100 kg/h (the new rule on fuel flow rate for this year), which means the young rookie Kevin Magnussen now takes second and his team mate Jenson Button takes 3rd. For the whole of last year (across 19 races), McLaren failed to get even a single podium finish, and this yr in the very first race.. both their cars on the podium and now McLaren lead the constructors championship with 33 pts. Alonso fought his way through and did a patient race to finish a strong 4th. But for me, the drive of the race came from Williams Valtteri Bottas. Strtd from 15th and 1st corner collision with Kamui Kobayashi ruined his start. Then it was followed by a rear tyre puncture as he slightly brushed the side wall while taking an high speed curve section. But, he finally came in 5th with some terrific racing and overtaking moves. Force Indias Nico Hulkenberg was 6th, and Ferraris latest recruit Kimi Raikkonen finished a struggling 7th. Both the Toro Rossos like last yr.. finished in the pts in 8th and 9th. A good start for another debutant Daniil Kvyat. The second force India of Sergio Perez finished 10th to take the last scoring position. Hard luck for Hamilton and Vettel... as their team mates have dominated the race with good pace. Also, Felipe Massa, who was struck by Kobayashi from the rear end in the 1st corner incident and had to retire in the very first lap. Lotus though.. atleast had a good testing distance of 43 laps for Grosjean and 29 laps for Maldonado. After all their problems related to their Renault power units during testing and in the build up to this race, they wud feel they got smthgn to take back from this race. The race was exciting apart for the fact thr was no fight for the race win, which mi8 change after few races as other teams come to the pace. But, lot of intrstng strategies, more of drivers skill testing and lot of excitement and fun for the fans. The teams wud be very glad of the reliability shown.. as most of the expert observers expected of not even completing 5 laps in the race. So, the current pecking order seems to be Mercedes, McLaren (cos they had the consistent pace on both their cars), Red Bull (surprising me after their form in the testing), Williams (Seeing Bottas pace from the back end of the grid...Massa wud ve def challenged the McLarens had he not gone out on the first lap.. so, let us consider tht for the moment), Ferrari, Force India, Toro Rosso. Cant wait for the Malaysian GP!!!!..
Posted on: Sun, 16 Mar 2014 14:31:52 +0000
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015