Rosberg victorious in Melbourne

Australian GP Rosberg winner 2014

Nico Rosberg kicked off the new era of Formula 1 with victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes team delivered on their pre-season promise by dominating the race in Albert Park, Melbourne.

Rosberg took the lead at the start and was never headed on his way to his fourth career victory, which he took by a comfortable twenty-four seconds.

The German made a superb start from third on the grid, passing Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull and his team-mate Lewis Hamilton to take the number one spot.

Rosberg made the most of the W05’s speed advantage to streak away from the field at will. Even with the safety car called out following Valtteri Bottas’ brush against the wall and shedding the right-rear tyre, didn’t affected the Mercedes driver’s race.

Rosberg’s team-mate Hamilton slipped back to fourth on the first lap as he struggled with an engine problem in his Mercedes.

After initial confusion as to whether he should carry on, the 2008 world champion retired his W05 into the pits as early as the third lap of 57.

Australian home hero Ricciardo completed a remarkable turnaround in fortunes for Red Bull Racing by narrowly beating McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen to finish second.

The world champion team looked to be in desperate trouble in pre-season testing, but made enormous steps with its Renault-engined car in Australia, allowing Ricciardo to score an unlikely maiden podium in his first race for the Milton Keynes-based outfit.

And yet hours after the Australian Grand Prix, the race stewards discovered that his Red Bull was found to have “exceeded consistently” the limit on peak fuel consumption of 100kg per hour, a new rule introduced for the 2014 season.

The end result means a disqualification for Daniel Ricciardo. Such a big shame after a brilliant drive in his home Grand Prix.

As for Sebastian Vettel, the defending world champion had a really short race affected by reliability problem in his RB10.

He started out of sequence on the medium tyre after a disappointing result in qualifying consigned him to a row six start.

His struggles with a lack of power from his Renault engine continued into the race and he joined Hamilton in retirement after only five laps.

McLaren rookie Kevin Magnussen finished on the podium on his Formula 1 debut, after surviving a wild oversteer moment shortly after the start.

The reigning Formula Renault 3.5 champion beat team-mate Jenson Button to second spot by 3.2 seconds.

The 2009 world champion started down on row five after his final flying lap in Q2 was spoiled by yellow flags, but he used smart strategy to jump from the fringes of the top ten to sixth as the safety car came out, then overhaul Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari and Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India at the second round of stops.

Williams driver Bottas overcame Jean-Eric Vergne’s wildly oversteering Toro Rosso and Hulkenberg in the closing stages to finish sixth, but will rue what might have been after a messy race.

The Finn starred in the early stages as he worked the Williams through to the top six from P15 on the grid, but the Finn touched the wall coming out of Turn 10 on lap 11 and broke his right-rear wheel.

He avoided suspension damage and pitted for a replacement, before working his way back through the field. A decent points finish was at least some reward for Williams after Felipe Massa was wiped out by Kamui Kobayashi’s locked-up Caterham at the first corner on the first lap.

Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari beat the Toro Rossos of Vergne and Formula 1 rookie Daniil Kvyat as these three completed the top ten.

At 19 years and 322 days, Kvyat becomes the youngest driver ever to score a championship point.

Perez’s Force India, both Saubers, and both Marussias also made the flag as 15 cars in total made the finish.

Jules Bianchi finished eight laps down and unclassified after failing to make it off the grid, causing an aborted start and forcing him to start from the pitlane behind the Lotus of Romain Grosjean.

Grosjean made it to lap 45 before retiring his troublesome twin-tusk E22, while team-mate Pastor Maldonado and Caterham’s Marcus Ericsson also stopped out on-track shortly after half-distance.

So a fascinating race featuring the new rules for this season. Mercedes proved their impressive pre-season testing form with victory but reliability remains an issue.

Australian Grand Prix, race results after 57 laps:

1.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1h32m58.710s
2.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes          +26.777s
3.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes          +30.027s
4.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari                   +35.284s
5.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes         +47.639s
6.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes      +50.718s
7.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari                   +57.675s
8.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault      +1m00.441s
9.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault      +1m03.585s
10.  Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes    +1m25.916s
11.  Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari              +1 lap
12.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari              +1 lap
13.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari           +2 laps
14.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari           +8 laps*

DSQ  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault          +24.525s**

*Not classified
**Disqualified over fuel flow

Retirements:

Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault              43 laps
Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault              29 laps
Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault           27 laps
Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault            3 laps
Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes                    2 laps
Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault            0 laps
Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes           0 laps

Drivers’ championship:

1.  Nico Rosberg      25
2.  Kevin Magnussen   18
3.  Jenson Button     15
4.  Fernando Alonso   12
5.  Valtteri Bottas   10
6.  Nico Hulkenberg   8
7.  Kimi Raikkonen    6
8.  Jean-Eric Vergne  4
9.  Daniil Kvyat      2
10. Sergio Perez 1

Constructors’ championship:

1.  McLaren/Mercedes      33
2.  Mercedes              25
3.  Ferrari               18
4.  Williams/Mercedes     10
5.  Force India/Mercedes  9
6.  Toro Rosso/Renault    6

Next race: Malaysian Grand Prix, Sepang. March 28-30.

15 thoughts to “Rosberg victorious in Melbourne”

  1. Despite winning the season-opening Australian Grand Prix with ease, Nico Rosberg says reliability must be improved. Case in point was team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who had to retire after three laps. Autosport.com has the news story.

    Australian Grand Prix winner Nico Rosberg says Lewis Hamilton’s early retirement is a reminder to Mercedes that reliability remains a big threat to its 2014 Formula 1 title hopes.

    While Rosberg was able to dominate in Melbourne, his polesitting team-mate Hamilton’s car lapsed onto five cylinders from the outset and retired early.

    “I am not sure what happened to the other car but for sure it is a fact that we are not 100 per cent sorted yet,” said Rosberg.

    “We know that. The team did a great job to get my car working so well in the race today but there is still work to be done.

    “We have two weeks now and we need to identify all the things we can do better.

    “This weekend there were a lot of changes on the car and you don’t want to be doing that going to the first race.”

    Despite his reliability warning, Rosberg’s verdict on Mercedes’ performance was extremely upbeat.

    “I had an unbelievably quick car today,” he said.

    “It was such a pleasure to drive, such a great car, and I look forward to the next races – it is so fast.

    “It is going to be tough and reliability is not 100 per cent sorted, there’s a lot of work to do and a lot of work ahead of us, and I am just excited about it.”

  2. Australian home favourite Daniel Ricciardo managed to complete a full Grand Prix distance for Red Bull Racing and score a podium finish on his first race for the team. The driver said he was amazed by the result. Autosport.com has the story.

    Daniel Ricciardo admitted he did not expect to finish the Australian Grand Prix, following Red Bull’s poor pre-season.

    On his debut for Red Bull, the Australian had a relatively untroubled run to second place in his home grand prix.

    While the gap to the race-winning Mercedes of Nico Rosberg was a substantial 24.5 seconds, Ricciardo said he was happy just to have made it to the end of the race, a prospect that seemed unlikely during pre-season testing.

    “If I look back at where we were three weeks ago, we had never done a race distance up until today, so I didn’t have much confidence to see chequered flag or see a podium position,” he said.

    “[The team] worked so hard over the winter and clawed back a massive margin. We still don’t have the pace of Mercedes, but it is a result we will definitely take today and make a lot of progress from here.

    “I’m pretty happy, it’s a bit overwhelming for now.”

    Ricciardo added that the support from the Australian fans played its part across the weekend.

    “It has been a crazy amount – the support for F1 in general, they have been behind this event. Drivers rock up at the circuit and everybody wants autographs. And it’s a bit more for me being the only Aussie on the grid.

    “It has been more than I could have possibly expected, and at times a bit embarrassing, but cool and very positive.”

  3. In only his first appearance as a McLaren driver, Kevin Magnussen finished the Australian Grand Prix on the podium with third. And yet the Dane is saying that it feels like a win. Autosport.com has the details.

    Kevin Magnussen believes finishing on the Australian Grand Prix podium on his Formula 1 debut with McLaren is like a victory for him and the team.

    The rookie starred during a hectic race, surviving a lurid moment within seconds of the start to run comfortably in the top three throughout and even pressure Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo for second in the final stint.

    Having become the first Danish driver to stand on a grand prix podium, Magnussen admitted he could not have envisaged such a start to his F1 career – especially as his third place followed a rostrum-free 2013 for McLaren.

    The Woking team now leads the constructors’ championship courtesy of Jenson Button finishing one place back in fourth.

    “I just can’t believe it,” Magnussen said. “It is a not a win but feels a bit like a win.

    “The team is coming off a difficult season and they really wanted to come back.

    “They have worked so hard over the winter, working with a rookie who hasn’t got any experience – it has been tough for sure, but they have done such a good job and made me feel comfortable with everything.

    “I couldn’t ask for more.”

    Magnussen saved fuel with just a few laps remaining in an attempt to mount a final-lap assault on Ricciardo, and though it came to nothing the reigning Formula Renault 3.5 champion believes the new regulations have opened up more options for teams and drivers.

    “You can do stuff with the engine, you can push and then back off, then harvest and go again,” he added.

    “It makes it exciting from the outside because it creates opportunities for overtaking, but it wasn’t enough today, I didn’t have enough pace to get past.”

  4. Felipe Massa has called on the FIA to come down hard on Kamui Kobayashi for causing his first corner exit in Formula 1’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

    Kobayashi locked up under braking for Turn 1 in Melbourne and slid into the back of Massa – ending both the Caterham and Williams’s races on the spot.

    Massa, who had come into the weekend as a contender for a podium finish, was furious at what he had seen.

    And he reckoned that what Kobayashi did was as bad as what Romain Grosjean did in Belgium in 2012 when he caused a first corner pile-up and was banned for a race.

    “Somebody hit me massively, and it was really a shame as everything was under control for the start,” said Massa.

    “I was really careful going to the line very safely, but every time Kamui is trying to do a start like that he will do the same.

    “You cannot brake at 50 metres on a start like that. I don’t see a difference between what happened to his start and what happened to Grosjean when he did a crazy start at Spa.”

    When asked what he felt an appropriate penalty would be, Massa said: “I hope they give a hard penalty because you cannot do that.”

    Both Kobayashi and Massa have been called to see the FIA stewards after the race for the accident to be investigated.

    Source: Autosport.com

  5. This was a disappointing race for the four-time world champion. Out of the Australian Grand Prix after 5 laps. News story on Sebastian Vettel from Reuters.

    Sebastian Vettel’s record run of nine consecutive race victories ended on Sunday when the quadruple world champion retired his Red Bull from the season-opening Australian Grand Prix with a reliability problem.

    The German complained of a lack of boost pressure during his pre-race installation lap and was noticeably lacking in power when taking off from 12th place on the grid.

    Vettel told his team over the radio before the race started that “the engine is not running smoothly” and after a few laps around Albert Park circuit headed back to the pits.

    Vettel’s retirement snapped a winning streak that started at the Belgian Grand Prix in August.

    Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, the last driver to beat Vettel when he won the Hungarian Grand Prix in July, also retired on Sunday with an engine problem.

    “On the second formation lap already we lost power,” Vettel told Britain’s Sky television.

    “We didn’t understand why and then basically I had no power from the start. The cars kept passing me. I was down. We tried to recover as much as we could.

    “At some stage I thought there was a slight improvement but obviously we realised there was a bigger problem with the engine for some reason. I think it looked like we lost a couple of cylinders,” explained the German.

    Sunday’s race was the first for Formula One’s new V6 turbo engine with its complicated energy recovery systems and Red Bull had arrived in Melbourne with a big question mark over their Renault power unit after problems in testing.

    “When you don’t have the power from the engine, you can’t make the whole system function properly and then you lose even more power and so we had to stop.” said Vettel.

    “No doubt we’ll fix these issues. The question is how soon,” he added.

    “We are working hard…obviously we started a bit on the back foot but we’ve learned this weekend an awful lot. We also learned the car is quick so if the package comes together I think we are very competitive.”

  6. Pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton retired from the Australian Formula One Grand Prix on his third lap of the Albert Park circuit after an engine problem on Sunday.

    The 29-year-old Mercedes driver, fastest in Saturday qualifying, was told to retire over his team radio due to a reliability problem and duly pitted, removing the steering wheel after parking up.

    “I think I was driving on five cylinders,” Hamilton told Britain’s Sky television. “It’s a bit unfortunate but that’s racing.”

    Formula One started a new engine era in Melbourne, the first race for the V6 turbo units with energy recovery systems that have replaced the old V8s.

    Mercedes had arrived as clear favourites after their engine had looked the most reliable in pre-season testing, with Hamilton and German team mate Nico Rosberg putting in plenty of laps and carrying out race simulations without problem.

    Hamilton said the pace of the car was one of the positives from the weekend.

    “We will recover from this, it’s only a small hiccup. There’s a long way to go still,” he added. “At the moment I’m not concerned about anything.”

    Source: Reuters

  7. Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat commented that his points finish was ‘intense’. Autosport.com has the details.

    Daniil Kvyat described his first grand prix as “intense” after becoming Formula 1’s youngest ever points scorer on his debut in Australian Grand Prix.

    The Toro Rosso driver overtook Sebastian Vettel as the youngest driver to score a world championship point by finishing 10th in Melbourne, right behind team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne, aged 19 years, 10 months and 11 days.

    “It was a very intense afternoon and finishing my first race with a point is a great feeling,” he said.

    “It was a fantastic first grand prix weekend with the team. Everyone worked really hard and scoring a point was a great way to end it.

    “We had a really close battle with JEV, but in the end we had to postpone it because we were a little bit short on fuel. It was a really good race, I enjoyed it, and great job from the team.

    Kvyat added that one of the toughest aspects of his debut grand prix was the length of the race.

    “It was a really long race. The longest race I’d ever had was 35 minutes, and this was one and a half hours. I knew it was going to be long, and I finished my drink early on, so it was quite tough over the last laps. But anyway, it was good.”

    Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost heaped praise on his rookie post-race, suggesting that it would not be the last point the young Russian scores.

    “I’m very happy for Daniil, who has just become the youngest driver to score a point in his first ever Formula 1 race. This is very promising and I’m convinced that this is the first of a long series.”

  8. This was a shocking race for Lotus. Neither cars made it to the end. And yet the team are feeling encouraged by the performance in Australia. Autosport.com has the news story.

    Lotus is heading in the right direction following the Australian Grand Prix according to Romain Grosjean, despite both cars retiring from the 2014 Formula 1 curtain-raiser.

    Having struggled through a difficult pre-season, expectations for the Enstone squad were low heading to Melbourne, with both Grosjean and team-mate Pastor Maldonado revealing after qualifying that new issues were being faced all the time.

    However, both cars managed to run reasonably deep into the race, Maldonado getting to lap 29 before suffering an MGU-K failure, while Grosjean managed another 15 laps before his E22 was hit with an identical problem.

    Despite the double retirement, the Frenchman was upbeat after the race.

    “We have to see the positives, and 44 laps was very useful for all of us, for the car, for the engineers, for myself,” he told NBC. “OK, it’s bad to retire, but at least we got some good data and we can move forward.

    “We learnt more today than we did in the whole [of] winter testing, and it was the first time I could drive a car which was doing the same thing in every corner. It’s good that the guys have been working hard to get some updates.

    “We’ve still got a long way to go, but you have to see the positives, and the changes we did were in the right direction.”

    “For sure [it was] something positive, both cars we were running for quite long during the race and [that is] quite important, we have not been able to put 20 laps together in the past.

    “We need to keep pushing, we had a problem with the engine, but at the same time we need to work, we need to stay together and to do our best.”

  9. As for Ferrari, the 2005/06 world champion Fernando Alonso has commented that the team cannot be happy with this result. Autosport.com has the details.

    Fernando Alonso says Ferrari cannot be happy with its performance in the 2014 Formula 1 season-opener, after its cars provisionally finished fifth and eighth in the Australian Grand Prix.

    The double world champion spent most of his race stuck behind Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India, but leapfrogged the German by waiting two laps longer to make his final pitstop.

    That put him fifth in the provisional classification, but the Spaniard may move up a place if runner-up Daniel Ricciardo’s Red Bull is excluded for exceeding the fuel-flow limit.

    Alonso’s team-mate Kimi Raikkonen struggled with tyre-graining on his F14 T and had to battle the Toro Rossos to finish eighth on the road.

    “We are not happy with the performance we showed today, we need to improve,” Alonso said.

    “I was not able to challenge McLaren for the podium positions, Kimi was running between the two Toro Rossos and he won the race here 12 months ago.

    “But on the other side it is just the first race. We cannot become crazy about what we saw. We just know we need to work, we are ready to do so and to arrive in Malaysia in two weeks’ time in a better position.

    “There are concerns but it was good news we finished the race with more or less no problems. The pitstops were very good, we overtook Hulkenberg. There are some positive and negative things, and we must try to improve the negative.

    “I think we did a solid race with what we have in our hands at the moment and we need to keep on scoring points until we are a little bit faster.”

    Raikkonen suffered several lock-ups in the sister F14 T, as he battled in the lower reaches of the top 10, after getting clipped by Kamui Kobayashi’s brakeless Caterham at the first corner.

    He said issues with tyre-graining after the first pitstop were to blame for his struggles, rather than braking problems.

    “The brakes are fine, we grained the front tyre and then you have no grip on the front,” said Raikkonen.

    “That is the main issue, [but] it is a combination of things. It is not the easiest thing but I’m sure we will find a solution for it at some point.

    “We work until we fix it. If it takes a week or a month, I don’t care. This is how it goes sometimes.”

  10. Valtteri Bottas says he will use his brush with the wall during the Australian Grand Prix as a learning experience.

    The Finn made a spectacular start to the race for Williams, making up five places on the first lap from 15th on the grid following a gearbox penalty, before charging his way through the field up to sixth.

    However his initial progress was quickly undone, a brush with the wall on the outside of Turn 10 causing a puncture.

    Bottas was able to get going again, ultimately finishing sixth, but was left to rue what might have been without the unscheduled stop.

    “I’m quite mad at myself for the mistake,” he said. “Not so happy about that. I guess I just need to learn from it. I’m pretty sure I’m not going to do that kind of mistake again.

    “I was pushing really hard because I saw that this race could be very good. Turned out I was pushing a bit too much.

    “I was quite close to [Fernando] Alonso, and I went slightly wide. I just touched the wall. I was lucky to continue, I could make up positions and recover.

    “In the end for us as a team, compared to last year, finally we were racing, which was great. But it’s still too soon after the race. I’m a bit disappointed by the mistake and I need to make sure I don’t do it again.”

    Bottas added that without the crash he would have finished higher than sixth place, and that his car was good enough to fight for a podium finish.

    “If we had a good qualifying, a clean race, we had a car here to fight for the podium,” he said.

    “I haven’t seen the result so I don’t know, we need to analyse – definitely better [than sixth].

    “I’m not so happy with myself, I need to learn from it and make sure it doesn’t happen again but the car was quick in the race. It was really cool, the team have done such a good job.

    Source: Autosport.com

  11. The Brackley-based outfit had hoped that Lewis Hamilton’s technical issue would clear during the course of the race. Unfortunately, he was forced out after three laps. Autosport.com has the story.

    Mercedes knew before the start of the Australian Grand Prix that Lewis Hamilton’s car was developing the problem that would force his early retirement from the Formula 1 season-opener.

    Polesitter Hamilton started dropping down the field almost immediately as his car lapsed onto just five of its six cylinders.

    Mercedes motorsport chief Toto Wolff said the team had already noticed the issue and had been hoping it would clear.

    “We realised that [he had a problem] already on the laps to the grid and hoped that the system would somehow reset,” said Wolff.

    “He was very unlucky because being on pole he deserved to have a great race too.

    “It’s a bit of a shame starting the season with a DNF but this is motor racing, this is how it goes.”

    The team vacillated over the radio about what Hamilton should do, initially telling him to retire before advising him to continue – and then eventually admitting defeat and calling him back to the garage at the end of lap two.

    “We didn’t understand whether the cylinder actually failed or whether it was a misfire or an electronic problem,” Wolff explained.

    “At the beginning it seemed quite obvious that we needed to retire to protect the engine and then it was not very clear. Retiring the car was a safety measure.”

    Hamilton insisted afterwards that he was not downcast, despite seeing team-mate and likely title rival Nico Rosberg take 25 points for a dominant victory.

    “There are massive positives to take from the weekend still,” said Hamilton.

    “We knew coming in that it could be an issue but of course it is always a surprise and you do everything to try to avoid any problems.

    “It’s the early stages, there’s a long, long way to go, so I’ll try to be positive and try to put my focus on the next race.

    “This is a new era, this is what happens, you cannot expect us to all finish.”

    Wolff said Hamilton had handled the Melbourne problem very well.

    “He’s in good spirits,” he said.

    “With 18 more races to go there are going to be many more DNFs of other drivers and that’s why he’s OK.”

  12. Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was stripped of his first Formula One podium finish at his home Australian Grand Prix on Sunday after his car was found to have broken fuel regulations, the governing FIA said.

    The decision meant McLaren’s Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen moved up from third to second, with team mate Jenson Button taking third place.

    Red Bull said they had notified the governing body immediately of their intention to appeal.

    “Inconsistencies with the FIA fuel flow meter have been prevalent all weekend up and down the pit lane,” the team said. “The Team and Renault are confident the fuel supplied to the engine is in full compliance with the regulations.”

    Source: Autosport.com

  13. Quality as usual. Didn’t even realize Ricciardo had been given a penalty. I do like the sound of the new engines. Although not too sure about slowing down the cars in this way. Ultimately can see this helping F1.

    Christian Horner said the new changes were done specially to slow Red Bull down. I guess they didn’t want to see another Schumacher era.

    Nevertheless with this big a change to the sport things will be interesting this year!

    1. Thanks for the comment Yas.

      It was a fascinating start to the new era of Formula 1. Yes, the new sound of the cars is certainly different compared to the V10 and V8 era but I like it. The whirling of the turbo sounds cool and futuristic!

      As for the new regulations, it has shaken up the order which is refreshing. Let see how the world champions can fight back over the course of the season.

      You’re right, this is going to be interesting and exciting year of racing.

  14. Well, I have to say it didn’t quite live up to expectations. It was a trifle dull I thought.

    I’m loving F1 is back, and that Red Bull are struggling for once. But it wasn’t exactly exciting was it?

    Lewis out on basically the first lap, not that much overtaking, and well, it was a bit meh.

    Mr Horner can complain all he wants about the the changes and the reasons for them. Does he really expect F1 to stand still?! Does he really think F1 is out to get him. Shit right off Christian. Almost all your issues should be with Renault and the lateness of your attention to this seasons car. You’d have thought you’d be working very closely with Renault on such a massive change. But no. So you reap what you sow and that’s that. Holy Christ you just stuck two fingers up to the FIA over the fuel regulators so sorry, but it’s about time you got what coming to you. Sorry, but I just despise Red Bull and I’d rather Bernie be back than hand his role to that twat Horner. God imagine what the whiney twat will do with all that power.

    It’s a shame since Ricciardo was fantastic! Sure he didn’t really need to do any more than keep the car on the road given the troubles they have had. But what a drive and proof that a young pretty fresh driver can be great in a great’ish car. The cheers were amazing from the partisan crowd…..and the boo’s.

    Which brings me onto actually be able to hear the crowd thanks to those quiet engines. I think I quite like them! Yes they ain’t loud, but the sound of the turbos sound great. They kind of sound like a cross between a Corvette GT car and a Peugeot Le mans car….. the Audi’s are much quieter still. You have the throaty grow at times and the whoosh as the fly by a full speed. what’s more you can hear the crowd jeer at Seb and go mental at Ricciardo. Also, the pre and post sections on the TV means the presenting team, (Sky still with that tit Simon Lazenby), means that you can actually hear them on the pit lane when the teams fire up there cars. It’s a very different sound for sure, but being there without ear plugs must be a nicer experience on the old lug’ols

    Going back to lesser known drivers, I didn’t know Max Chilton finished every single race last year. Given the team he was driving for, that’s a fucking amazing achievement for the lad. Super. super good and I hope if he does the same he gets a decent ride.

    Once thing about this year though. The noses. Wow, while some are not too bad other are damn ugly. I thought in racing, you’d loose sight of those didlos stuck on the front. But no, from just about every angle you can see the phallic appendage. My God. I still don’t know why they have to be that shape, but from the earliest drawings, there is no way no-one thought, “that looks like we’ve just stuck a giant cock on the front of out car!”. People complain about the lack of noise this year, but while I have not been to a race I can say this. Last year my ears would have hurt for the once race that I could have gone to. Now, my ears don’t hurt, but my eyes do EVERY SINGLE SECOND those things are on my telly.

    It was nice to see Williams make a decent showing. Were it not for Bottas’ mistake, surely he would have been a podium contender. A brilliant drive and one that will surely have then in the top few teams this year to get on top of the new engines. I’m really pleased for them, but alas Massa got took out AGIAIN in the Aussie race. I hope he finds a nice place in his new team, where he is actually respected by all, not just Rob Smedley. It’s must shame we won’t be hearing him on the radio talking to Felipe. But you can only be certain Robs move to Williams was whole on the say so of Massa, and fair play to him in what looks like a big promotion too.

    So onto Kuala Lumpur and a Lazenby free presenting team.

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