Greetings Internet,
Finally, it has happened - we waited an entire season for this moment to befall us all. Williams threatened to deliver this result in Austria but a conservative strategy prevented Massa from capitalising on his pole position on the Red Bull owned circuit. In fact speaking of Red Bull, their equalisation complaints against Mercedes seem even more unfounded because today's result confirmed that it isn't just the two silver cars that and demolishing Christian Horner's team. I think that he might need to figure out why the theoretically slower junior team are also leaving them in the dust. There is a Renault problem, but it doesn't mean that there isn't a Red Bull problem at the same time..
One team who do not have a problem right now - unless you count coming under attack from Brazilians in blue and yellow cars as a problem - if Ferrari. Both Raikkonen and Vettel did very well today and one of those bright red machines achieved the seemingly impossible. However, I wouldn't quite start running down to the betting office to throw various quantities of money at the idea of that German bloke re-enacting those Red Bull seasons. I still rather think that the insane heat of the tropical environment delivered a specific set of conditions that influenced Mercedes' uncharacteristic downfall. Tyre management and extracting the performance out of the car in those extreme considtions are unique to the Malaysian GP. Come Shanghai in a fortnight's time I fear normal service will be resumed - although I would easily welcome a titanic battle between Ferrari and Mercedes every race weekend.
But aside from pointing out how pivotal the events of today have been I can't move on with proceedings until I make a few comments on the BBC, today was their first live race of 2015 and they seemed ill prepared for it. Both DC and Ben Edwards seemed to forget the rules of the sport - Coulthard questioned whether Mercedes would run "prime-prime-prime" in terms of tyres... When of course both compounds have to be used when there is no rain involved. Then Ben Edwards constantly reminded us that Raikkonen had more tyres than his rivals because he went out in Q2 yesterday. The problem with that argument is that no-one used dry tyres in Q1 - therefore he had no advantage at all in that respect. Then during the race, DC reminded us that a pit-lane penalty had to be taken within two laps of it being issued - but these pit penalties take place at the next scheduled pit stop, regardless of when that happens. But I think the biggest cock up of the day belongs to Suzy Perry - after three seasons she hasn't really got too much better, why Leigh McKenzie isn't doing that role is beyond me... But anyway back to Suzy - mentioned the unfortunate incident at the VLN Nordschleife race in which a Nissan GTR GT3 flipped after air got under the car and threw it into the air. The car ended up in a spectator area and one spectator was killed in the accident, but Suzy decided that the car was driven by Jann Mardenburg... whoever he is. Actual driver Jann Mardenbrough was uninjured in the incident.
The Race
For the first time this season all teams were represented on the grid - Manor had Roberto Mehri occupying a rather lonely back row. The second car belonging to Will Stevens couldn't make the grid after the problems that affected qualifying yesterday couldn't be corrected. So while we were still not a full strength, 19 cars is still the biggest grid in 2015.
At the start Hamilton was unopposed on the route down to turn one, Rosberg almost pipped Vettel for second place - which might have precipitated a standard Mercedes canter off into the distance. But the German bloke out-braked a hesitant Rosberg to retain the place through turn one. Potentially the best start belonged to Pastor Maldonado who carved past the Toro Rossos as if they weren't there and passed Bottas round the outside of the first corner. Alas it was a short lived ascent, Bottas made the tiniest bit of contact with the right-rear of Pastor's Lotus causing a puncture. Other than that the opening few corners were far more well behaved than it was in Melbourne. It was also looking reasonable for Raikkonen, who hadn't been hit by anyone... which only lasted until the end of the first lap. Kimi was a touch wide in the final corner when considering a pass on Bottas - but Felipe Nasr put his front wing in a place it really didn't belong and cut Raikkonen's rear tyre down. It was the most inconveient place to pick up a puncture as it meant the Ferrari had to complete the entire lap on three wheels. For the second race in a row the Finn had been collected by the Brazilian, and this time Nasr had to pit for a new nosecone.
The start had rearranged the positions outside of the top five a reasonable
amount, Bottas had lost ground, Raikkonen and Massa were now last and Hulkenberg was in front of Ericsson. Ericsson must have been feeling a little invincible after he eased Verstappen off the track in a lunge on the opening lap when he made another late braking effort against the Force India. Marcus left the braking a country mile too late in turn one and span the car embarrassingly into the gravel - one of the few places in modern F1 where we still have gravel. I thought that a team of marshals would have been able to push the Sauber the few feet to put it back in the race, but a recovery crane vehicle was brought onto the track. In light of Japan 2014, this means an immediate safety car deployment - which in turn forced a stream of pit-stops.
A few cars stayed out - none of which belonged to the Mercedes stable, thus importantly handing Vettel the lead of the race. Hulkenberg was promoted to second place, and for a brief period of time Roberto Mehri was inside the points in 10th place. I have no idea whether the Manor pitted or simply fell of the face of the earth but the next time the timing screen was displayed Mehri was back at the far end of the field. During the safety car period we heard several radio complaints about cars driving too slow, Raikkonen asked if he could just pass whoever it was in front of time because they were a long way off the recommended safety car lap time. Yet Maldonado got penalised for exceeding that recommended lap time with a ten second pit penalty... which Coulthard still figured had to be taken within two laps...
At the restart we were left with an interesting scenario, Vettel was on his own in the lead while every car in the known universe was trapped in a train of cars behind Nico Hulkenberg's Force India. Nico's car is no where near as fast as it was last season and thus started backing the field up quite a lot. In terms of the final result - it would have been this phase that made life quite a bit more difficult for Mercedes. Both cars were mired a long way back in the Hulkenberg queue, Rosberg could and probably should have passed Massa on the restart, but like earlier he was hesitant and non-committal on the brakes and stayed behind the Williams. It took Rosberg another two laps to find a way past the Williams - while Hamilton was being more decisive in traffic - firstly passing Sainz round the outside of turn one. There were some arguments that Hamilton was making light work of the traffic and Rosberg should have been better - but Lewis was arguably fighting easier cars than Nico was, even so Rosberg let an early opportunity slip away back on the restart.
This Hulkenberg train was now nine cars long as Raikkonen joined behind Vertappen and Nasr at the bottom end of the line. The longer the Mercedes drivers spent in this queue increased the risk of contact as frustrations continued to grow. Grosjean was finding it rather difficult to deal with the Force India despite having a faster car - but the most entertaining part of the train was the concentrated zone of Red Bull cars. Sainz, Kvyat and Ricciardo were sharing the same piece of road almost running two by two on the straight before the turn nine hairpin. There were some thought processes in the Red Bull consortium that Toro Rosso would fade behind them in the race, but that merely became wishful thinking as Sainz and Vertappen were very much in the same race as the main team. Within a few laps both Rosberg and Hamilton had broken free of the Hulkenberg train - Lewis having carved a sizeable advantage over his team-mate. It appeared that when faced with the same opponents in the traffic jam, the Briton made life a lot easier for himself than Rosberg did... however all the while Vettel was making ground in the lead of the race.
Just before Raikkonen started to lose time behind Kvyat in the lowest placed of the four Red Bull liveried cars he brought the car into the pits for some new wheels. But on the following lap Hulkenberg pitted anyway releasing the rest of the train of cars - although that wouldn't have prevented the Red Bulls from holding up Raikkonen. Hulkenberg's stop didn't help Grosjean too much as both cars ended up behind each other after they both stopped. Vettel finally brought the Ferrari in a few laps later indicating that despite having a seemingly anomalous pace advantage they also were kinder on their tyres than their rivals. The stop did cycle Mercedes back through into the lead, as Sebastian rejoined in third place. On the fresher tyres Vettel was faster than the Mercedes pairing and started closing in on Rosberg for second place. As Nico could see Vettel appearing in his mirrors he started discussing various strategic permutations with his engineer. Asking "if he gets past me, he's won?"...in retrospect we can confirm that is true Nico, Vettel swiftly got past without any real sign of a defence making it all too easy... and we know how the race ended.
Rosberg pitted after being beaten by the Ferrari as Vettel started shredding
Hamilton's lead - the former Mercedes 1-2 was crumbling under the weight and force of Ferrari's resurgence. So as one team was on the ascendance, another was still facing the steep end of their recent decline - McLaren despite a brief fight with Force India again were down to one car. Fernando Alonso was told to retire the McLaren as that chassis fails once more to complete a race distance, at least Jenson's car was still on track. There were also ongoing difficulties for Red Bull, Ricciardo told the team he was experiencing understeer issues and it was these issues that forced him wide in turn seven - ultimately handing his place to Little Max Verstappen. Ricciardo then found himself under pressure from the second Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat, a battle that became ever more complex when they came upon Hulkenberg's Force India. Hulkenberg had already proved that he didn't fancy giving up any track position. In turn two that became a little problematic when all three cars had to avoid Valtteri Bottas who was leaving pits. At one point the Red Bulls and Hulkenberg were three wide in turn one. Hulkenberg was on the inside of turn two and promptly tipped Kvyat into a spin as the Russian and the German tried to share the same piece of track.
Hulkenberg was also handed a pit time penalty for the collision, but in the mean time before he had to serve that - he decided he wanted some more friends. So he started work on forming a new train of cars including Grosjean paying his second visit to a Force India led traffic jam. As Hulkenberg played trains with his
new friends it meant he and his friends were quite slow... which lead to a brilliant radio message from Jenson Button - "Something odd's happing here, we're catching cars.." because the McLaren was quicker than the queue of cars ahead. This lead to some frustrations within the queue itself and frustration followed by a desperate move never works out too well. And so Grosjean stepped up to the plate, as he made an audatious pass round the outside of Sergio Perez in turn 12, somewhere you don't usually make a pass. Romain almost made it, but on the exit of the corner they just touched wheels and Grosjean was turned around at some speed. Fortunately he didn't spin and collect the Mexican driver - neither car was damaged but Perez was handed a pit-lane penalty. Starting to get the idea that as soon as someone got anywhere near each other the stewards would start issuing penalties.
At the front Vettel had assumed the lead, after passing Hamilton as the Mercedes headed for the pits. The other Ferrari was also making remarkable ground considering Raikkonen was last by lap two - the Finn just retook 6th place from Little Max, and the Williams ahead of him still had a pit-stop to make. So on balance Kimi was on target for a net 4th place. As Hamilton rejoined he started to get grumpy, and as always grumpy drivers are hilarious. We already had grumpy Grosjean he and Perez made friends. Hamilton's complaint was that the team had put the wrong tyres on the car - when in fact the team had installed the most strategically relevant tyres. Because Mercedes used the other set of softer tyres in qualifying instead - when they didn't really need to. His complaints continued when he asked his engineer to stop talking to him in the middle of a corner. It that wasn't enough the team left the radio open when they were discussing strategy options with each other on the pitwall and Hamilton got really confused. We started this weekend pointing out that certain teams complain when losing... here we had Hamilton getting all bothered as someone had the audacity to be in front. Meanwhile Rosberg in third place spent most of the time asking his team what was happening in the race... Coulthard offered the idea that someone should send him a copy of the race highlights on DVD just to shut him up.
Because Vettel had started to get a little bored out in the lead he irrationally to sing... however the German bloke's rendition of that non-existent hit song "Blug Flag - Blue Flag" will not be winning any Karaoke awards... Sebastian's questionable vocals were in response to a request for more blue flags to encourage Hulkenberg and Grosjean to move out of the way when being lapped. The Mercedes team calculated that Hamilton would catch Vettel with five laps to go - but I think Toto and the gang need to go out and buy new calculators because that maths was well off. Neither Rosberg nor Hamilton had enough of a pace advantage to erase the 11s lead Vettel had. Behind the top three Raikkonen had moved into a rather lonely fourth - but a couple of intra-team battles were emerging. Bottas was catching Massa for 5th and both pairs of Red Bull team mates were running in formation... the junior team several seconds further ahead of the main squad. At the moment Sainz was the lead Red Bull sponsored car but Verstappen was closing in quickly. In the end Carlos didn't fight too hard as Little Max moved into 7th place. The Williams battle was a lot closer, Massa didn't want to give up - and he eased over and nudged Bottas wide in turn one. But it was a futile defence as Valtteri swept around the outside of Felipe in the high speed turn five.
Things at the front remained stable all the way to the end of the race, Vettel scored a landmark and seemingly impossible victory - to finally topple the mighty Mercedes. The two Mercedes cars retained second and third but were defeated today. Raikkonen finished in fourth place, behind him it was all two by two Williams, Toro Rosso and Red Bull all lined up in order, and in each case it was the younger team-mate that lead the paring. While neither McLaren finished the second race of the season - Roberto Merhri did finish albeit three laps down.
The Bonus Points Championship
Todays event was a considerably improvement on Australia, with many more cars involved and a lot more on track action, and that means it is time for the bonus points.
25pts - Kimi Raikkonen - From last on lap two all the way up to fourth place deserves many many points
18pts - Sebastian Vettel - Beating the Mercedes, nuff said
15pts - Max Verstappen - The lead Red Bull sponsored car, beating the main team in its entirety
12pts - Roberto Merhri - The first race for the Manor car, and he brought it home
10pts - Lewis Hamilton - Easily the best Mercedes in the traffic following the early safety car intervention
8pts - Nico Hulkenberg - Scores points for collecting the most cars in his train of friends over the course of the day
6pts - Valtteri Bottas - Has to have some points for his penultimate lap pass on Felipe Massa on the outside of turn 5
4pts - Romain Grosjean - That overtaking effort certainly required at least one brave pill and would have been worth more points if it had worked
2pts - Daniil Kvyat - Two points as the Russian repeats his team-mate's Malaysian advantage and became the top main team Red Bull driver
1pt - Jenson Button - Scores the final point for his amusing bewilderment that the McLaren was actually catching cars, before unfortunately retiring
-2pts - BBC - For being a bit pants today
-2pts - The Stewards - A little overkill on the penalty calls today weren't we
-1pt - Lewis Hamilton - Stop being so grumpy, one race does not ruin your entire season
-1pt - Marcus Ericsson - That was also a bit pants
Looking ahead to China
From the blistering heat and humidity to the generally cooler realm of Shanghai, while the track is very similar in design and construction the conditions may be worlds apart. It will be the ultimate test of whether the Ferrari pace is a unique result of the high temperatures on this configuration of circuit. A similar circuit type with less heat may see Mercedes storm back to the front, but if Ferrari can hang on then we might be on for a very interesting season with battles occuring on a race by race basis.
Also as we saw Ferrari and Mercedes demolish anything Renault has to offer Horner will have to ask the FIA to equalise everyone just to make up the ground. There was a mild cooling off period in the arguments between Renualt and the Red Bull organisation during the race, but I think we might hear more from them in the fortnight before the Chinese GP.
Greetings Internet,
Well, after all the shouting and complaining since Australia - Saturday in Malaysia was a lot calmer they all set aside their differences and took to staring up into the sky. The grid was looking a little more populated with Manor actually being able to get the car running and onto the track so now everyone is here and accounted for - Bottas and Alonso have returned from medical leave. But what we gained in drivers and cars we seemed to lose in TV personnel, the camera crews for Q1 seemed to be on vacation - or just replaced by folk with slow motion cameras to pick up those all important rain images.
Q1
Q1 started and it was little Max who was the firs to break the silence and take to
the circuit, you would think there would be greater sense of urgency involved considering that the menacing clouds was amassing on the horizon. But there was an almost lackadaisical stream of competitors venturing out onto the circuit. We were one car down however as Will Steven's Manor was still in the garage with an issue in the power unit. However Will had completed sufficient laps in free practice within the 107% time to be allowed on the grid. Frankly I have no idea what the other Manor was doing, because it appeared that the camera crew have no idea what the Manor cars looked like and didn't bother showing what Roberto Mehri was up to - unless he was running wide on the exit through turn four.
In fact the camera team was useless in Q1, we saw one shot of a Sauber on plodding around but that was about it, it might have something to do with the race sponsor being Mercedes' title sponsor and thus the silver cars took up 90% of the coverage. Not that it would normally be a problem, just a mere annoyance, because the timing and graphics would keep you up speed with who was doing what, and what time they were doing it in... But those were broken too - it was all going a bit wrong - so while we could sit and watch a bunch of cars circulating round we had no idea what was actually happening. So what was the solution - the powers that be took to pointing the cameras at the clouds to watch the lightening strike the hills instead... while that is all fancy and artistic it didn't really help. They even played a slow motion replay of Alonso's onboard camera because it caught another lightning strike behind turn 7.
During the brief flickers of on screen data we saw that Mercedes were naturally out front but the magin back to Ferrari was a little smaller than it was in Australia. Carlos Sainz had dragged the Toro Rosso up into fourth place, which is particularly impressive and another indication that the issues that Red Bull are facing are not really just Renault's fault. At the bottom end of the time sheets, in and around the relegation zone - which the graphics people didn't colour in correctly anyway - it was McLaren and Manor locking out the back two rows. For a while it seemed as if Lotus would be contributing one of their drivers to the relegation zone but a late charge both Maldonado and Grosjean made ground relegating Felipe Nasr into the final relegation zone. On the same lap Jenson Button also outpaced Alonso in the slightly irrelevant McLaren intra-team battle.
Q2
The second phase of qualifying started with a train of cars at the end of the pit-
lane... because the rain was immanent, and that rain was big and angry. This lead to an argument over track posision in the pit lane as everyone scrambled to be at the front of the queue. In the end it was Sebastian Vettel who lead from Rosberg at the front of the line, the rest of the field were trapped behind Marcus Ericsson's Sauber - which as we know had enough straight line speed to fend off the attentions of the cars behind. We also saw one of the Lotus' cars and one of the Toro Rossos duelling under braking for turn nine.
There was one lap, and one lap only in order to determine who makes it through to the final part of qualifying - and that was going to be influenced by the on track order. Of course the graphics were still being a little crap, ok - a lot crap. Rosberg set the fastest time, because he has a Mercedes and that makes all the difference. Vettel was second because he had free track. Hamilton was very close to not qualifying because he and Raikkonen were stuck behind Ericsson. The Sauber driver did make it into the top ten, while the Ferrari didn't. Raikkonen ended up 11th, relegated along with the Force India's, Sainz and Maldonado.
Then the rain came in all of its traditional Malaysian glory drowning the circuit as is often the case in the tropics, so cue the artistic shots of slow motion rain and local wildlife splashing around in the puddles. But hearing the ominous rumbles of thunder over the F1 engines is simply awesome...
Q3
The final part of qualifying took a while to get underway because of the standing water and rivers flowing across the circuit - but as usual the powers that be are irritatingly cautious. What is the point in developing and transporting crates of wet weather tyres if as soon as the situation requires them it is declared unsafe...
Williams elected to start the session on the wet compound, only to find they were woefully slower than the intermediates used by the other teams - Hamilton's initial lap was over a second faster than anyone else, leading the charge for everyone else was a certain Mr Rosberg - the nearest non-Mercedes was a country mile off the pace. But this was early days in the session and as the track dried the pack was going to rapidly increase allowing everyone to catch up. Both Massa and Bottas retired to the pits, after realising that the wet tyres were not the most appropriate option.
Then things went a little odd, because Rosberg inexplicably seemed to abort his lap for no apparent reason, allowing Massa to pass when the Brazilian had just left the pits. Rosberg then slowed to let Hamilton past but stayed on the racing line in the process. Once the German stopped for some new intermediates he couldn't really match the pace of his team-mate. The real surprise was Sebastian Vettel, who was in a position to attack Hamilton for pole - and considering the only time Mercedes have lost pole position in the last season was Austria - this was a surprise. A strong opening sector put the German bloke ahead but by the end o the lap he was 0.074s down. Which did mean some kind of on screen graphics had been restored. Rosberg tried to pull something together for his final effort but couldn't beat Hamilton, or Vettel demoting him to third alongside Ricciardo on the second row. Little Max lines up behind Daniil Kvyat on row three, and we did see the Russian smiling in the Red Bull garage which is rather compromising the iconic 'death stare' image.
The Bonus Points Championship Points Winners
Even though some of qualifying was curtailed slightly by the inclement conditions and the lightning, and although FOM decided it was a nice idea not to tell us anything regarding lap times and positions in a session specifically engineered for lap times and position... points do have to be awarded.
10pts - Manor - It's alive the car works and the team have qualified with both cars and deserve maximum points today
8pts - Sebastian Vettel - A mere fraction of a second from putting a Ferrari on pole in a world of Mercedes domination
6pts - Carlos Sainz - In the only dry session the rookie put the car up into 4th place in Q1, not that the time information wanted to show us of course
5pts - Marcus Ericsson - From trailing around in last place to sitting inside the top ten is a remarkable achievement... even if Q2 was a bit of a fluke
4pts - Max Verstappen - Despite being a toddler the little nipper is right up there behind the factory Red Bull cars
3pts - Daniel Ricciardo - 4th place eh... that Renault engine must be utterly useless - now tell Horner and Cyril to hug and make up again
2pts - Lewis Hamilton - Setting the pole lap when the track was at the wettest point of the session takes some doing...
1pt - Mercedes (not the race team) - I can appreciate the new soundscape of F1, but the note on that safety car is a happy sound...
-3pts - FOM World Feed - It was poor today, cameras pointing at the garages when everyone was on track, losing all the graphics and timing information it was just a mess. Perhaps the storm affected telemetry and it did cut the feed from time to time, but when it was all online the results were still poor
-2pts - Red Bull - Stop whining, that is all
-2pts - Bernie - The mad things Alan Gow does with the BTCC are not good ideas for F1, reverse grids based on qualifying...
Looking To Tommorow
With an earlier start time than previous years the organisers hope to miss the bulk of the rainfall - and certainly avoid the storms we saw today. But even then, the rain in qualifying was a short but extremely intense shower, the track was back to intermediates within half an hour. But because of the rain today we have an interesting grid for tomorrow, there are cars out of position which can often promote fun things on a Sunday morning. Due to Vettel's pace we know the Ferrari is very fast, and that means Kimi's recovery drive will be worth a watch. We also have Nasr and Sainz further down the field than they'd want to be. If Nasr's GP2 driving style is anything to go by, that too could be quite entertaining.
But we can't ignore the fact that Mercedes should just pull away - Vettel's row two start might be more of an anomaly than a sign of a Mercedes/Ferrari fight for a win. Unless of course we do see some typical Malaysian rainfall... which is always an option even with an earlier start time.
Greetings Internet,
Well, we all thought that Australia was a bit of a non-event, and I do have to keep checking the internet to see if I was classified as a finisher... because hardly anyone else did. But since that attempt at a season opener, all hell has broken loose in the paddock - what started as a general irritation over the course of the past season has erupted into a lot of anger and shouting up and down the pit-lane. Well it would if they were in the same pit-lane when the arguments unfolded. At the epicentre of this torrent of comments is Christian Horner - who in matter of weeks has spontaneously devolved from being a simple grumpy sore loser to a full on lunatic. Mr Horner is especially cross at not winning in Australia - and being beaten by several other cars along the way, and
to make matters worse the whole Red Bull fraternity has boarded this particular bandwagon. They have stepped up their complaints against Renault - for making a shoddy engine, and added some complaints against Mercedes for, well - not having a shoddy engine. Yes the situation with Renault is unfortunate, the engine isn't up to scratch and is being hammered by the other manufacturers. But does that give Red Bull and Horner the right to rain down upon the French company, not in the slightest. If the engine was the only thing wrong with the car, why are Toro Rosso - with the same power specification - on exactly the same pace as the main team. You'd expect the junior team to be sufficiently beaten by the considerably better funded, Newey designed senior outfit. That indicates that the issues run deeper than just the malicious finger pointing at Renault, it just isn't a good enough car. Take all the fancy aerodynamic trickery and blown diffusers from the previous incarnations of the Red Bull racer and they are all out of ammunition to take on the likes of Mercedes, Ferrari and Williams.
Naturally Renault were a little hurt by all this, and their sporting representative - Cyril fought back attacking Red Bull design guru Adrian Newey. Adrian, like Horner and the general Red Bull cohort placed the blame for the difficulties squarely at Renault's door - Cyril claimed these allegations were nothing but lies. The Renault man then tweeted a picture of boxing gloves before heading out to Malaysia - which sort of indicates that the fracas isn't over and done with. So Horner, Matechitz and whoever else felt like joining the party decided that if they can't beat everyone constantly with their aero gubbins, and they can't coerce Renault into matching Red Bull's development regime - that pegging back the competition is the next best idea. The team apparently went to the FIA demanding something be done to hobble Mercedes' engine advantage or they'd threaten to quit the sport. Frankly this is just a ridiculous degree of pettiness from a team that spend four years at the front, and as soon as someone else does a better job they want to throw the towel in. The thing is, Mr Horner, it isn't just the power plant in the Mercedes that is giving you a good kicking - it's the whole car. It it was the engine, and the engine alone - Force India and Lotus would be hammering you as well... and they're not. So curtailing Mercedes power advantage would cripple the other teams using the same equipment, it would mean Ferrari were in an unchallenged second place with Williams pegged back. All it would do is move Lotus out of the way so you can have a nice clear view of the back of the Sauber instead. More to the point, there is no balancing mechanism in F1, this isn't the BTCC with success ballast and reverse grids (...no Bernie don't even think about it).
The most amusing part of the whole thing is McLaren - that team also have a prestigious past one that completely eclipses anything RBR have accomplished. They finished last, and are a long way off the pace - did Rob Dennis and Boullier start launching attacks at their engine supplier Honda or the other teams. Nope. Honda are slower than Renault, because their engine doesn't work properly - but the team remain united and determined to fix their problems and move forward. At this rate it won't be long before Honda and McLaren catch up and surpass Red Bull - it all fuels the rumours that Renault want to take over a team again to reform Renault Squadron. At the moment that looks like Toro Rosso are the most likely targets for a takeover bid. So away from the furore of conflict and accusations there is some good news - Alonso, Bottas and Manor all plan to compete this weekend, meaning 20 cars will be making an effort. How many of those will actually make the grid is another manner - Manor might struggle, but the rest should be fine. Even if Bottas suffers a recurrence of the injury Adrian Sutil has been drafted in as a reserve driver. I bet Susie Wolff is immensely pleased about that call...
Sepang Malaysia
While the initial visit to Albert Park was a oddity, and a rather uneventful one at that, Sepang represents the beginning of Herman Tilke's reign over track design with one of his earliest projects. In contrast to the subsequent creations this one doesn't make me want to stab it in the face, although there are certain 'features' that are equal parts baffling and pointless. I suppose timing has a lot to do with the design choices that were made in Mr Tilke's office - his track designs are often tailored to the needs and complaints of the sport at the time. China and Bahrain focussed on the idea of "long straight into a hairpin equals fun" - which more often than not didn't work. Korea, India and Valencia - added more hairpins and straights because of the introduction of DRS. Abu-Dhabi just exists a giant corporate playground and as a symbol of the direction Bernie wants to go with the sport - plans for Azerbaijan and Qatar follow the same mould.
The Sepang circuit was introduced in 1999 - before the era of forced 'overtaking' zones and DRS straights all surrounded in acres of tarmac run-off areas. As a result it manages to hang onto some traditional values - high speed corners and gravel traps whilst still adhering to modern safety measures. Despite the praise and the lists of positives, there are a few problems to take into consideration. Two of those problems are immediately apparent, those being the first two corners - they are more of a design flair than a functional piece of road. But the rest of the lap is considerably better.
From turn four the track starts to feel less like an engineering project pieced together in the back of some German chap's shed and more like the racetrack it is supposed to be. The high speed sweeping bends of turns 5 and 6 feed into the double apex adventure that is the 7 and 8 complex before lining up for the turn nine hairpin. The remainder of the lap features a pair of decreasing radius corners, corners that as a child I was never too pleased to see when the circuit appeared in a video game - because I'd never get them right. The penultimate turn being a particular pain, there are seemingly an infinite number of possible racing lines - none of which I managed to get right before giving up to go in search of cake. To finish the lap off there are two long straights, installed before long straights were a default part of track design.
One the most distinctive properties of the Malaysian race weekend is the weather - cue ice cream jokes - monsoon rainstorms are an omnipresent threat in the tropics. Rain that can give Red Bull what they want, some degree of equalisation - but probably not in their favour. Conventionally, wet weather can help bring a field closer together because the maximum pace is denoted by the conditions rather than the maximum pace of the car, but not all teams are affected in the same way. The drive-ability of the Renault engine and it's unpredictable power delivery may make Red Bulls struggles even more challenging, should the clouds burst.
The Form Guide
Well, Mercedes should win, and win easily - on a big, fast, open circuit like Sepang should allow the team to stretch their legs a little more than the parkland track in Australia. Wet or dry both Hamilton and Rosberg should be the unstoppable class of the field once more - sprinting off to an easy one-two. Unless reliability plays a part of course...
Ferrari and Williams are in a world of their own in an ongoing battle for second place - in Australia Ferrari scored first blow as Vettel took the final place on the podium. Williams were a driver down however, and Massa had traffic issues and a sub-optimal race strategy cost Felipe score that third place. In Malaysia who knows which way this fight is going to fall - but I suspect Ferrari might just have the edge in that scrap.
Then there is the rest of the field - all crammed in the jumbled world of the mid-field. A world which is a slightly angrier now that Red Bull are sitting right in the middle of it all. Red Bull are on the same pace of their junior squadron and rivals Lotus and Sauber - we never quite saw where Lotus fit in the equation as neither car completed a racing lap in Australia. But Sauber appear to have the legs on most of them especially due to the Ferrari engine being a significant step forward on the 2014 iteration.
As for everyone else, they seem to have carved out their own little rut nowhere near anyone else. Force India are just off the back of the main group while they get up to speed on their development program, and eventually they'll regroup with everyone else. McLaren will still be a little further back, as they too are still catching up - but the signs are that the chassis is good and they difficulties are down to not being able to run the engine at max power just to make sure it doesn't demolish itself. Then there is Manor - both Mehri and Stevens aim to take part in some kind of timed session, getting the cars up and running for the first time. They might not make it inside the 107% qualifying time, but it would be nice to see them on track.
Malaysia has to make up for Australia's shortcomings - we might have more cars on the grid and more cars at the end of the race. There may be storms, some involving rain and some involving angered team principles - both options might be equally interesting...
Greetings Internet,
After yesterdays qualifying session I wondered if I recognised the sport in its new guise and I ended the day wondering if I had been a little harsh - after all there hadn't actually been a race under this new era. Today that race has taken place, and so we have a greater understanding of what lies ahead of us for the remainder of the season - even if the Australian GP is a bit of a unique case. From the evidence and scenes that unfolded on the other side of the world in Melbourne only served to confirm and reinforce the thoughts I had at the conclusion of qualifying. I think things are looking a little grim from many perspectives - McLaren have already written off the early part of the season as a testing and development phase. Manor are still not ready due to various technical incompatibility between the 2015 ECU software and the 2014 engine in the back of the car. Force India missed most of testing and are still in a development phase - so out of the ten teams on the entry list only 7 are actually ready to compete. To make matters worse in Australia the suspected injury to Valtteri Bottas was confirmed in the morning to be significant enough to prevent him from competing. If that wasn't enough, it has become apparent that Renault have lost ground to their competitors - affecting another four cars. So will all those issues considered, 20 cars arrived in Albert park - ten of them are already at a significant disadvantage.
Did that harm the event that is the Australian GP, undoubtedly for various reasons the race started with the field at only 75% of the approved entry list and 11 cars short of the ultimate grid capacity. It is an unfortunate state - the grid hasn't been this thin and depleted since the infamously poor 2005 US GP in which 6 cars started and finished. The last time the grid was this genuinely weak in a season was back in the 80s according to the commentators - it is an embarrassing state of affairs. As the season moves forward grids will improve as reliability improves and Manor get on their feet - and start races. The issue lies in how long will that take - will McLaren be staring at the back row for months or weeks, will Renault sort things out... nobody knows. It is a sad state of affairs when even the biggest of teams and a manufacturer with an extensive history can't pull together in time for round one.. We may as well gift wrap the title now because Mercedes are simply and effortlessly crushing the opposition.
The Race
Even before the start the grid population was dropping further - we were all set for an 18 car start, but Bottas' withdrawal dropped it to 17. On laps to the grid the 17 became 15 as Kevin Magnussen pulled over when bits started falling out of the back of his car... along with some oil and a lot of smoke. Alonso must be looking on at the car he is supposed to be driving with great despair. Kevin's departure was followed up by the Red Bull of Daniil Kvyat - it appears the new Renault system doesn't respond to being stared at. A hydraulic failure put pay to his hopes of starting the race for the big team... and so there was 15.
Who ever was left for the start lined up on a minimalistic grid to welcome in the new season - and with so much extra room you'd think it would be so much easier to negotiate the frantic lap. The first three cars did have no problem getting safely through turn one - but the rest of the drivers less so. Raikkonen was the faster starting Ferrari and was ahead of Sebastian in turn one, Vettel remained on the outside and argued the case. This edged Raikkonen wide, Carlos Sainz Jnr than ran into the back of Raikkonen's Ferrari activating the anti-stall mode. As he recovered he moved across the track making contact with Felipe Nasr, Nasr then made contact with Maldonado and after a slide Maldonado made contact with the wall. The Lotus was out, and so was the safety car. The other Lotus was also out - a failure of the control system ended Grosjean's race also on the opening lap.
And then there were 13 - one lap of running and the grid was seven cars down
At the restart Rosberg and Massa were nowhere near the car in front, Hamilton was gifted an unchallenged lead into the first corner - and as we have seen so many times before, vanished off into the distance. Nasr was the only driver to make ground on the restart - easily breezing past Sainz in the chronically underpowered Toro Rosso, Riccardo also followed through before turn three. Raikkonen attempted to follow suit but was only allowed the outside line and couldn't make it through. Further back, not that there was much of a field to be at the back of, Perez was instructed to hand a place back to Ericsson whom he passed as the safety car was called for Maldonado's shunt. Unfortunately for Sergio, Ericsson was behind Jenson so the Mexican would have to drop to the back of the field in a lowly 13th place. Everyone else stayed in position and Lewis carved a 2.4s lead... a very ominous sight
The field had paired off into groups - Mercedes out front, Massa and Vettel for the last podium place Nasr with Ricciardo, and Sainz for company. Little Max, Raikkonen and Hulkenberg. Ericsson in a world of his own and then Jenson and Perez in a battle for the honour of being last. The majority of this groups of cars were fairly static, the following car unable to capitalise on a DRS advantage or even run in close proximity to the car in front. Vettel powersliding through turn four (not turn five as Verstappen thought it was) as the level of grip in the turbulent are faded away. Raikkonen was having a slightly more effective time in recovering lost ground on the opening lap. The Finn had to deal with the Toro Rosso of Sainz Jnr - and with ease drove round the outside of the Renault powered car before turning into the turn 9/10 chicane. Allowing him to catch up with the Nasr, Ricciardo battle.
Perez and Button were having fun fighting over 13th and last place - Sergio was forced to drop behind Jenson and Ericsson, but the Swede in the Ferrari powered Sauber was long gone. Button held off the attacks of the Force India driver as two teams who were not ready for 2015 cycled round at the tail of the field. Perez made an attempt down the inside of the fast turn 11, which is normally a done deal but Jenson held on round the outside. Perez clearly had the faster car, well everyone has a faster car than a McLaren at the moment. Sergio had another go at turn three, but it appeared Jenson didn't see the Mexican arriving on the inside and turned in. Contact was made and Perez was turned around - Jenson looked to have taken the only damage but the McLaren is so far off the pace it doesn't really matter too much.
It was soon pit-stop time - and it with so few cars running you'd think that this would be a simple phase of the race... but no - teams still showed signs of not being ready. Ferrari, supposed to be the most influential squadron on the grid had difficulty putting on Raikkonen's rear wheel, Toro Rosso took even longer to sort out Sainz's tyre change and demoted both drivers back down the field. Raikkonen recovered some of the ground with a decisive move down the inside of turn 12 on Marcus Ericsson in the Sauber. Pit stop strategy was part of the things Williams were criticised about in 2014, being too conservative and passing up on potential race winning opportunities. Sadly for Felipe Massa they were out strategised again - this time by Ferrari - Felipe was called in for his stop and rejoined behind Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull. The time lost trapped behind the slower car allowed Sebastian Vettel to pit and rejoin in front of the Williams and claim the final podium place. In a way there was a almost nostalgic feel about today's race - many cars absent from the running order, and positional changes taking place in the pit-lane rather than the track...
After the round of the stops nothing too much happened - and to be honest not too much happened thus far. Verstappen was running long on the medium compound tyres inside the points, just ahead of Raikkonen who was recovering from his poor stop. The Finn had no problem dispatching his second Toro Rosso of the day - Ferrari power plus DRS easly trumps Renault power on old worn tyres. When Little Max finally pulled in for some new tyres, the car left the pit-lane trailing smoke from the exhaust - within a lap the car ground to a half at the start of the pit-lane entry. Another Renault related problem forcing another car into retirement... and then there was only 12. With only a couple of more retirements Jenson Button and the McLaren team might end up with a point. Further back another example of the development that Ferrari have made on the engine front as Ericsson in the Sauber - with the help of DRS eased past Perez's Mercedes powered Force India. There was once a time when a Mercedes powered anything was exceptionally difficult to overtake - even with the DRS. But I think it was more indicative of the struggles faced by Force India as a team - because Sainz in the Toro Rosso was able to easily catch up and we know that the Renault power unit is considerably sub-par.
Raikkonen was due a second stop - opting for an alternate strategy to move onto the medium compound tyres. But alas due to the damage done on the first failed pit-stop the rear wheel couldn't be fitted properly and Kimi powered away from the stop with a loose wheel. After a call on the radio, Raikkonen pulled the car over on the inside of turn four... and then there was only 11... It did mean that Button was now in the points after a third difficult pit-stop demoted Perez to the back of the field. This battle for last place was actually worth one point now, and a symptom of the current start of the sport where simply finishing the race could put you on the score board. Nothing to do with speed or performance, and it was both speed and performance that were missing from Jenson Button's McLaren. Sergio's Force India easily caught up to the Honda powered car, and opted to use the same corner to effect a pass as the one he collided with Jenson in earlier. This time the Force India gave the McLaren plenty of room and executed a safer, contact free pass. Demoting Jenson into the only non-points scoring position.
With so few cars still running and those that were still on the track were reasonably well spaced apart - there were no real battles going on. Rosberg would occasionally close the gap to Hamilton, but Lewis would push a little harder and open the gap further, just to rub it in. Vettel and Massa were running a comfortable distance apart and a enormous margin behind the Mercedes pair. Nasr was still in fifth for Sauber - a huge improvement over a season with no points at all - Nasr did have Ricciardo in close company but the Red Bull, despite being slightly faster had no answer to the straight line speed of the Ferrari engine. Eventually Ricciardo began to drop back from the Sauber leaving Felipe alone, many, many seconds behind the other Felipe in the Williams. Hulkenberg and Ericsson circulated a considerable distance from each other - after Marcus had scythed passed Carlos Sainz's Toro Rosso. It looked like Sainz was starting to struggle on his tyre-set and even with the power disadvantage of the Renault engine he was easy pickings for the pace of the Sauber later in the race.
Perez was on course to catch the Toro Rosso of Sainz in the remaining laps, but it time was against the Mexican, not enough laps to cover the distance and double his points total. It seems as if the positions were locked in to the end of the race. Hamilton and Rosberg cruised home to another effortless victory, starting 2015 in exactly the same dominant fashion they won 2014 with. The two Mercedes came close to lapping fifth place Nasr in the Sauber, but only five cars finished on the lead lap. Vettel brought the Ferrari in third on his debut for the red team ahead of a former Ferrari competitor - Felipe Massa. Felipe was followed by the other Felipe, this one an a Sauber, not bad for a rookie an unfavoured team struggling with legal issues. Ricciardo was the lead Renault powered car finishing in 6th, the first car one lap down for Red Bull. Hulkenberg took 7th for Force India - points for a team that were a long way behind in the development stakes. Ericsson scored more points for Sauber, in 8th ahead of Sainz and Perez. 11 cars finished the race, and therefore only one driver didn't take home any points. That fell to Jenson Button in the McLaren, the new Honda partnership is going to take a little longer to get right...
The Bonus Points Championship
With so few cars involved it becomes more challenging find enough drivers to assign points to but here goes.
25pts - Felipe Nasr - For someone who hasn't seen the track and missed FP1 due to the Sauber legal case, scoring a top 5 is a good result.
18pts - Lewis Hamilton - Utterly dominant, painfully so but deserves points
15pts - Kimi Raikkonen - Along with Nasr probably passed most cars today
12pts - Marcus Ericsson - After a poor year with Caterham in 2014, this Sauber drive is a massive improvement and the first Swede to score points in a very long time
10pts - Jenson Button - For getting that McLaren to the end and for the battle with Perez being one of the few good things going on
8pts - Sergio Perez - Made the race a little more interesting with the battle for last place with Jenson Button
6pts - Carlos Sainz Jnr - Another rookie getting involved with the battles around Raikkonen, Ricciardo and Nasr
4pts - Max Verstappen Jnr - Even as a toddler the little Dutchman did a good job of keeping out of trouble until the car decided he was past his curfew time
2pts - Daniel Ricciardo - Has to have some points for being the lead Renault powered car
1pt - Arnold Schwarzenegger - Putting the Terminator on the podium
-1pt - Ferrari - Surely after many, many years of competition putting a wheel on is not too hard for you
-1pt - The Stewards - For not penalising Ferrari, Red Bull have been penalised for the same thing as well as many others, but not Ferrari... yes the wheel didn't fall off but it wasn't attached properly and the regulations state that is a penalty.
-1pt - Toro Rosso - For completely messing up Carlos Sainz's stop and removing a car from a potential battle.
Will Malaysia be better
Probably not, yes we should have a larger compliment of cars taking to the grid - but there is no guarantee they will all function in the punishing heat and humidity of the tropical environment. Honda have already pointed out that they are keeping the engine power down due to worries about over-heating, if anything is going to cause overheating - it's the tropical climate. We do hope that Manor can get the car running and on track - it might be pushing it a bit to make it within the 107% rule in qualifying but at least they might be out of the garage.
The relative performances may not change, Mercedes will be out front and Williams will be fighting Ferrari for the final podium place if reliability doesn't get in the way. Red Bull, Sauber and everyone else who isn't McLaren are in a third class of cars behind them. But the gaps between cars may be even larger than they were in Albert Park - both engine power and chassis will be tested more considerably in Sepang on a bigger, faster permanent circuit. The middle of the pack may be re-arranged slightly but I think we'll see a more representative picture of the pecking order - if of course the traditional tropical storms don't get in the way.
Greetings Internet,
There are times when you sit back and stare at something you've known for such a long time, something that has played an almost pivotal role in your life throughout that time span and don't recognise what it has become. Sometimes you are surprised at the new, exciting heights that thing has grown and evolved into stepping out of the shadow of it's predecessor. But then there are times when that thing becomes twisted, deformed even - a contorted and disfigured manifestation of it's former self. As I booted up the file for qualifying, the first televisual broadcast of the new season, I sensed that the latter clause is becoming more prevalent. The news and online discussions have considerably followed the struggles, challenges and acts of desperation choking the progress up and down the grid. The fact that a crash and a legal dispute have been the overwhelmingly dominant topics of conversation in the pre-season build up are indicative of the state of play. Normally team developments and performance clues make the headlines - like Mercedes' resurgence in 2014 or William's resurrection from the back row. Now it's all been negative, normally I comment that the despairing news was only carved to inject drama and intrigue into a world seemingly lacking in both. I hoped that once the tyre-warming blankets came off and the green light at the start of qualifying came on, the negativity would be blown away with the cobwebs and the raw competitiveness would take over.
Sadly that isn't really the case, even now as I sit here in the corner of the sofa that is effectively Blog HQ, I don't recognise the sport I first followed in 1997. Even at the first race, in front of a TV audience of millions, a live audience of close to 100,000 spectators the championship looks lonely and barren. Sponsors are shying away from the sport - leaving bare and unimaginative liveries, even the national championship with a fraction of the advertising potential is better supported than what is supposed to be the highest echelon of open wheel competition on the planet. While the front of the grid is drowning in resources and money - everyone else is starving and staring into the abyss. At this moment in time it looks as if only 15 cars will have a realistic chance of completing the race, and out of those there will be other retirements from mechanical failures or accidents. The only good news story was Manor F1 dragging themselves away from the edge of the abyss and back into the paddock - and even that didn't go to plan as software difficulties anchored both cars to the garage. And that is where they will stay this weekend. We can't even look forward to someone being able to challenge Mercedes, because that gap has grown yet further. At least I suppose the middle 10 cars on the grid might be worth watching tomorrow.
Q1
Like most things this year - even before the year had really started - things began with the inevitable bout of bad news as it was revealed that Manor F1 would not be taking part in qualifying. The process of making the 2015 ECU package work with the legacy components on the retrofitted 2014 car was taking too long and the cars couldn't join the fray. There was a sense of reluctance smothering the pit lane, as here at the first qualifying session of 2015 - nobody elected to take to the track as soon as the track was opened. A few minutes later Toro Rosso Toddler Max Verstappen did finally break the wall of silence - having first asking his parents if he was allowed out to play. The youngster was followed out by Felipe Nasr... who had to ask the lawyers if he was allowed out to play instead. Of the pair, it was the Brazilian who set the faster time - which of course would please the people back at Sauber because Nasr is their richer driver and the one they'd least like to replace with Van Der Garde when that affair kicks off again.
At the start it seemed as if the drivers were allergic to the tarmac - especially in turn one, Hamilton, Hulkenberg and Maldonado all spending a little time in the grass. The opposite end of the circuit was also proving to be a little challenging as Carlos Sainz jnr, Bottas and Rosberg all had difficulties - Sainz being the only one to spin the car. With Manor not competing, only three cars were to be eliminated from Q1 - and one of those three looked to be Daniil Kyvat who's Red Bull was undergoing repairs after a small fire damaged some wiring in FP3. But as Russian fixed the mechanics with his infamous death-stare the likelihood of that car setting a time increased. On the medium tyres the field was quite mixed for a while, mostly due to so many mistakes being made - Nasr was still in the top ten, and Ferrari had a provisional 1-2... only because Mercedes handn't given it full beans yet, and Ferrari were the first team to use the soft tyre.
In a feat of hollow inevitability, Mercedes swept to the front of the grid, on slower tyres than their immediate competitors - even the youthful exuberance of Little Max could only manage third place. His parents did tell him not to mess with the older children, but then again he was also told to not talk to strangers and he talked to the SKY TV crew... I suppose the very young do often have a rebellions streak. Down at the other end of the grid you'd find McLaren both Jenson Button and substitute Magnussen was fighting over last place - but at least they wouldn't start last as Kvyat was still in the garage... That didn't last too much longer because the Death-Stare paid off, the damage was fixed and the car sent out onto the track. While McLaren were anchored to the bottom of the timesheet - Kvyat's return was more of a problem for Ericsson in the Sauber. A decent time for the Russian would relegate the swede... Even with the poor form Renault have started 2015 with a Red Bull would have no difficulty outpacing a Sauber. Ericsson appealed the demotion into relegation with a final lap but the appeal was denied, so he and the McLaren team were relegated... I'm sure McLaren used to be fast at one point in time...oops.
Q2
The second phase of qualifying suffered less reluctance than Q1, probably because there is less time available to play with. Again it was Sauber who took to the track first and set the initial pace, a pace that was easily outpaced by Valterri Bottas in the Williams. It was thought that Williams would be the closest competitor to Mercedes in 2015, with various improvements that would help close the immense deficit to the leader. So when Bottas sat at the top of the pile, 1.6s clear of the Sauber it looked promising... until Hamilton went 1.2s faster than the Finn. Rosberg was only a couple of tenths slower than Lewis and supported a brutally dominant Mercedes 1-2.
But Q2 isn't really about how far ahead Mercedes are, it is all about qualifying for the top ten - and the cut-off point for that sits right in the middle of the mid-field. Q1 takes out Manor (when they are running), McLaren and some other poor bugger who wasn't quite fast enough. Q2 is more closely contested - the top three teams should be safe so what we are left with is 9 cars arguing over four available spaces. Of those 9 cars, the performance differences are intriguingly small, especially considering that Red Bull, that team that used to win everything, are in the midst of the melee. In Q1 it looked like Toro Rosso would lead that charge - and Carlos Sainz appeared to be on track once again to carry that through into Q2. Their closes rival wasn't the sister team over at Red Bull - but Lotus, like Williams they were experiencing the difference a Mercedes engine makes over the weaker Renault version. Grosjean and Maldonado were inside the top ten - what a difference a year makes.
In the shadow of all the legal wrangling, Sauber do appear to have a car with a bit of pace behind it, as Felipe Nasr also negotiated his way into the top ten with his final effort of the session. Force India haven't really received a mention thus far and that is primarily because they hadn't really done anything and were languishing at the bottom of the timings. But considering that they missed most of winter testing - it can be expected, then again despite running the current chassis in 33% of the testing days - they completed more laps than McLaren. Red Bull were also in relegation, because if Horner is to be believed Renault have dropped the ball again. However local chap Ricciardo was able to creep into the top ten with his final lap... knocking Nasr out in the process. Little Max Verstappen lost time on his final lap - he said it was due to an oversteer moment in turn five. Replays showed that it was in fact in turn four, but we can excuse that as Max hasn't learned all the numbers yet.
Q3
Ten cars left and only eight positions to fight over - the front row was bought in advance by Mercedes and nothing would wrestle it from their grasp. This was further confirmed when Hamilton effortlessly produced the fastest time of the day 1.3 seconds clear of Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari. Even Rosberg in the other silver car had nothing in response - locking up and running wide in the penultimate corner abandoning his opening lap. Valtteri Bottas also had brake difficulties on his first lap - locking the inside front in turn one and turn three, the Finn also abandoned the lap likely as a result of flat-spotting the tyres on that failed run. So after the first half, only eight cars set a time and Lewis was over a second out in front. Pre-season form appeared accurate in the sense that Ferrari and Williams were in a mini-league of their own behind Mercedes, but ahead of everyone else.
All ten cars left the garage to take decide their position on the grid for the first race of 2015 - even though two cars had the opportunity to take pole position there was the sense that the result was set in stone after Q1. Kimi Raikkonen was able to close the gap on Vettel - after being hammered by Alonso in 2014 the non-communicative Finn could do with a closer intra-team battle. It also lowered the risk of anyone splitting the red cars on the grid, it didn't lower the risk of being beaten by someone else however - and that's where Williams came in. Bottas on a new set of tyres was on track to knock one Ferrari off the second row with his last effort. However Valtteri ran wide in the final corner dropping into 5th place - behind the Ferrari. Felipe Massa however in the second of the white cars had a mistake free lap and achieved what Bottas failed to do - putting the car third, best of the non-factory Mercedes runners.
After abandoning his first lap Rosberg had one chance to defeat Hamilton - and his sector times showed that the German was on course for a personal best time. These sector times proved to be right - as Rosberg completed the lap with his fastest time of the weekend... the only problem was that his fastest time was still several tenths slower than Hamilton's. To rub salt into the wounds - Lewis managed to go even faster carving a gargantuan 0.6s lead over Nico and 1.3 over the next best team... It's safe to say that Mercedes are more powerful and untouchable than ever before at the moment... but it is early days yet.
The 2015 Bonus Points System
After Valtteri Bottas' success in 2014 it is time to reset the tables and start allocating points for a new season - there has been a slight change to the way these points are assigned this time around. There is no longer a separate penalty points table, mostly because it was meaningless and didn't really amount to anything of reasonable importance. Instead penalty points will be represented as negative bonus points or anti-points, simply so that all the scores are on a single table to make my life a little easier.
10pts - Felipe Massa - When all eyes were pointed at Bottas to lead the charge against Ferrari it was the ex-Ferrari driver that stole the place at the end
8pts - Lewis Hamilton - Well that turned out to be a terrifying display of dominance, even over the chap who won the pole position trophy last season
6pts - Carlos Sainz Jnr - The only rookie inside the top ten, starting on the same grid slot as a certain Russian chap with a scary face did in 2014
5pts - Manor F1 - Get five points for making it to Australia, would have been the full ten if they got the cars running as well
4pts - Valtteri Bottas - Scores some points for keeping it out of the wall after a significant slide through the final corner.
3pts - Grosjean/Maldonado - What a difference a year makes - last on the grid in 2014 and now the top ten with both cars...
2pts - Daniel Ricciardo - Could have been a little embarassing had the Australian not pipped Sainz for lead Red Bull backed honours
1pt - Fernando Alonso - Reports have come in to say despite not being in a car at the moment he is travelling faster than the on track McLarens
-3pts - Sauber - What on earth has been going on there, a complete legal mess, contracting four drivers for two seats - not that anyone appears to remember that Sutil exists in this debarcle because he isn't fighting in the same way Giedo is.
-2pts - McLaren - You've not got this one right have we, comfortably last is not a good omen for a team with two champions in is (under normal circumstances). Yes Honda are new but they've had an entire year to research and develop the engine in alliance with McLaren
-1pt - Martin Brundle - Gets an anti-point for stating that there was no point Manor turning up if they weren't going to run. I don't think that the team left the factory in Yorkshire with the intention of sitting in the garage rather than racing.
Looking to Tomorrow
This time last year there were polls asking people how many cars would cross the line as the reliability of the new hybrid systems was an unknown. Instead there should be polls on how many cars will actually start the race, because at the time of writing it is unclear whether Bottas will start due to a suspected back injury picked up in Q2. So I fully anticipate a raft of conspiracies and investigations into another bewildering mystery... Then we have McLaren who sit on the back row facing a 58 lap voyage into the unknown, when the team have only managed to complete 12 laps in a single unbroken stint this weekend... So from the 18 starters three more look to be immediately in jeopardy before the start of the formation lap. Add into that a set of retirements from incidents and accidents and it makes you wonder how many cars will be running at the end.
None of this really matters to Mercedes who will be in a different time zone, they will have won the Malaysian GP before the third place car crosses the line in Australia. Williams and Ferrari will be in a fight over that final spot - even if Bottas can't start the race - it does look like Raikkonen is still slower than his team-mate, but his longer runs in practice were more competitive. In the middle of the pack anything can happen - Maldonado, Nasr and Little Max have all been questioned for their aggressive racing stances in their various championships. Put them all in the same part of the grid and wings and wheels may become an endangered species. It looks as if Ericsson will be playing the loneliest role tomorrow once the McLarens break down behind him and if he finishes will probably be last.
But despite the gloomy inevitability of it all, this still is the Australian GP and the Albert park circuit does have the potential to throw in a few surprises and a safety car or two for good measure. If this was the state of play before the Hungarian or Russian GP's then I'd reckon the folk who edit the highlight reels would be struggling to find anything to include. Australia is different, and finally, we could find something to dispel the stagnant aura of negativity surrounding the grid at the moment... well perhaps.
Greetings Internet,
Welcome to season five of coverage here at Blog HQ, and like all the seasons that have come before 2015 will be a menagerie of ranting, rambling and general nonsense. Because in the end there are hundreds of sites to visit if you want concise, well written but ultimately dull commentary, here things are different, probably not better, but different. I would love to say that the shiny new season is waiting to get started in the heat of Melbourne under an atmosphere of anticipation and excitement. But instead the series is dominated by the ongoing saga of off-track discussions - mostly emanating from the Sauber camp. In a recent post I noted that former reserve drive Giedo van der Garde was in a series of discussions involving lawyers about the fact that he was still contracted to drive despite being replaced. What ensued and is still ensuing is not so much an discussion, more of an argument - still involving lawyers. In short Sauber have four drivers contracted to drive two cars... taking the sponsorship money without offering the race seat. There are bound to be more complexities and subtleties involved - after all, if it was easy we wouldn't need lawyers to sort it all out...
Yesterday the court found in favour of Giedo, declaring that Sauber had in fact, for lack of a better word - ballsed the whole thing up. Sauber then appealed the decision, and that too was thrown out - so we've got to the point where we know Sauber have contracted themselves into a corner. The phase they are in now is sorting out who sits in the car this weekend, and deciding what to do with Sauber now we have established it has all gone a bit pear shaped. There are tweets fluttering about as the case continues suggesting that Sauber are in danger of being in contempt of court if they start ignoring the decision. But with more contracts than cars, and some of those contracts are in turn connected to lucrative sponsorship deals - my not-so-expert conclusion is that whatever transpires is going to be seriously bad news for Sauber. We don't want the team to crumble and vanish from the grid, but there has to be an acceptance that they screwed up here considerably. Which doesn't make sense to be considering that Monisha - the team principle is herself a lawyer...
This rather unfortunate story was offset by some far better news as Manor have made it to Australia and have two cars and drivers in the Melbourne paddock. The car understandably does look a little primitive and plain with no sponsors - but even with a white and red livery it still looks more imaginative than Sauber or McLaren's efforts. But before your collective hopes are raised for the underdog story to end all underdog stories - there are a couple of unfortunate reality checks to consider. This is not a new 2015 car, it is a 2014 car with a few updates to make it legal, therefore it is in all likelihood going to lose relative lap time to the next slowest car. Meaning it will be last, by a considerable margin - barring a complete miracle, one which would be worth so many bonus points. But things recently got a whole lot worse, or they might depending on how much weight certain online rumours have. The most recent rumour is that the Manor team might not be able to get the cars running this weekend, because of a potential software issue with the engine. If this turns out to be true it will be another sad development in already blighted season.
But all the complaints and controversy should fade in the background once engines are activated and Australia erupts to the soundtrack of 20 (hopefully) F1 racecars. Because of it's slightly unique configuration appearing so early in the calendar, the visit to Albert Park often leaves us, the people looking on, with more questions than answers. Yes we know Mercedes are going to be ominously strong again, and Manor will probably be at the back. But the mass of cars in between could finish in any order. Nor is Australia representative of the rest of the year. In 2014, McLaren ended up with a double podium, signs of a recovery from a challenging 2013 perhaps... well no, that didn't really materialise. We also saw Catheram within touching distance of the mid-field - and that ended up even worse. So whatever happens on the parkland circuit, here's hoping it is more enthralling than the events in the courtroom - because it's going to be just as enlightening.
Albert Park - Melbourne, Australia
Whilst we may not know who will be driving or how many cars bill be running this weekend, there is one thing that is confirmed and that is where it will all be taking place. The Albert Park circuit has host the opening round of the season for a while now, since I first turned on the TV for the race at least - with a couple of exceptions as Bahrain took over. But we don't speak about those... especially 2010. The track is set on public roads through the park - hence the name really - and thus means that there are plenty of walls and tyre barriers to crash into, if anyone feels like it. Several of these walls are concrete - so McLaren need to be a little careful, they can't really afford another concussed driver. Australia should host the first race, the fans are mad and there is a packed schedule of support race action including the brilliant Aussie V8's. Bahrain could never match that in the dull no-mans-land of the desert - even if the race itself does come up to scratch.
The track itself is simple and effective, none of that Tilke over-designed bollocks getting in the way. No everlasting straights, no using seven corners when one will do, no nonsense. You could argue it isn't as challenging as it should be for the 'best' drivers in the world, but no-one would really listen to you... just like no one really listens to this corner of the internet. However even if the layout doesn't contain complex corner sequences and elevation changes - there are plenty of things to catch an unwary driver out. Firstly the walls, of which there are many, and those walls are not too far away. 2014 bonus points champion Valtteri Bottas found out much to his peril the closeness of the walls as he popped a tyre off the rim in last season's race by getting too close. One of the problems is that the Australians - a comical sort that they are - have painted the walls green. Camouflaging them against the grass - I have no idea why, but it just adds a little to the argument: "I never even saw the wall before it hit me".
Secondly, space - not the big empty thing outside the atmosphere = but room to manoeuvre. These are public roads most of the time, not a purpose built Tilkedrome with acres of space to play with, and as a result the track is narrower than ususal. Not quite Monaco or Suzuka narrow - but nowhere near the width of Sepang or Sochi. Therefore the risk of contact is higher and picking the correct line is more important. Finally there is the matter of visibility, this is a park and it has many trees in it, trees which hang over the track and cast shadows in certain sectors. Also because of the time zone difference between Australia and the F1 economic epicentre that is Europe - the local start time is quite late. This is to make the race less inconvenient for TV audiences over here - after the Bianchi incident in Suzuka where the race was running out of usable daylight the FIA ruled that all races, regardless of location, should start at least four hours before sunset. In Australia the start time has been moved an hour earlier as a result - to leave 3hrs 45minutes before sunset... the eagle eyed among you will note that is indeed still less than four hours, but since when to the FIA bother with the details. Therefore, late in the race light levels can fall, made worse by the overhanging foliage - meaning we might see a few mistakes creep in if the race is pushed towards a late finish due to safety cars or red flags.
The Form Guide...
There are very few certainties about the start of this season and very few guesses to make about who will finish where. As we all know winter testing can't really be used as a basis for the results of the first round. We can assume however that Mercedes will be fastest, by a comfortable margin, and that they won't really need to demonstrate the true pace of the car because no-one will be close enough to threaten.
Elsewhere Ferrari look slightly less hopeless than they were last season, and even Kimi is looking up the term 'smiling' because he might need to this time around. Red Bull have started this year the same as they did last year - by having a little go at Renault and their engines, but Ricciardo still managed to win last season with them so they can't be all bad. Daniel's new team-mate Daniil 'Death Stare' Kvyat completes an interesting line-up which could help the team compete with their nearest rivals. Williams probably will be the nearest rivals just ahead of Ferrari - the same design principles that proved so successful in 2014 have been carried over with a few advancements. Williams have said that based on what they achieved in 2014, they can afford to be a little more aggressive this season, which is always good news.
The other main story is how well McLaren are going to do - the Honda reunion hasn't gone too well thus far with many reliability problems throughout testing. So not too many people are expecting both cars - or even one of them - getting to the chequered flag on Sunday. If one of those cars happens to be caught out by one of those cleverly disguised walls, then McLaren might have to delve a little deeper into their driver pool to find a replacement as the chassis already concussed one pilot.
We'll probably not find out who will be sitting in the Sauber until Saturday afternoon - local time - but whoever it is may struggle to match the pace the team showed in testing. I think their times were slightly too flattering for the performance they actually have available to them. In reality I would probably estimate Sauber to be duelling with Force India and F1's fastest crèche at Toro Rosso. It will be interesting to see Verstappen Jnr compete at this level, but for some reason I foresee him knocking wheels off his new car in the race - probably with Nasr... if Nasr is in the car.
As for Manor, well - getting this far was a feat of determination and resilience and everyone would thouroughly enjoy seeing the little team back on the grid following their difficulties. There are a couple of hurdles to get through yet of course, firstly this software issue - which hasn't been as widely reported as I thought it might be during the long process of writing this out. Hopefully that means that it might be corrected and the cars can be run. If they are working, the second challenge is the 107% time in qualifying. In order to make it onto the grid on raceday, the drivers need to demonstrate that they can set times within this margin. HRT failed in this task in their last two Australian GP events before vanishing altogether. Normally Manor in their former guises didn't have a problem with this rule, but as the car is only a modified 2014 entry and the other teams will be faster - the 107% time becomes a more imposing challenge. If they do get the cars running and make it through qualifying it will be a magnificent achievement, and worth several bonus points.
Even though the build up to 2015 has been cursed with an injured driver, a turbulent court case and the constant argument over financial distribution, the anticipation remains. Anticipation for those five red lights to go out on Sunday morning - or afternoon when I play the recording back - because finally the 2015 season has arrived.
