Nico Rosberg kicked off his new season with style with a fourth successive Formula 1 victory in a dramatic Australian Grand Prix which featured a nasty crash involving Fernando Alonso.
The Mercedes driver achieved his 15th career win, continuing his triumph form since the Mexican Grand Prix from 2015.
Rosberg finished eight seconds ahead of his team-mate and reigning champion Lewis Hamilton, while early race leader Sebastian Vettel had to settle with third for Ferrari.
The Australian Grand Prix, though, will be remembered for Alonso walking away from a lap 19 crash in which his McLaren Honda ran into the back of Esteban Gutierrez’s Haas, slammed into the wall and then rolled violently through the gravel trap, forcing a red flag and a twenty minutes stoppage.
Following the elimination qualifying, which will revert back to the old format from the Bahrain Grand Prix after an urgent meeting of team bosses prior to the start, the race overall was a shot in the arm for the sport, despite the latest Mercedes one-two.
It started with Vettel making a brilliant start to come through between the front-row duo of Hamilton and Rosberg to take the lead into the first corner.
Behind the four-time champion, Rosberg edged Hamilton wide at Turn 1, and doing so allowed Raikkonen to nip through on the inside to claim second.
Hamilton was relegated to sixth position behind not only the Ferraris and Rosberg, but also Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen and Felipe Massa’s Williams.
It took four laps for Hamilton to overtake the Williams, and though soon up behind Verstappen he was unable to get close enough to pass, which allowed the leading trio to pull away by the first round of pit-stops.
The tyre choice was fascinating as Vettel and Raikkonen remained on the super-softs Pirelli, while Rosberg switched to softs, with an adrift Hamilton on mediums as Mercedes tried to get him to the end of the race on a one-stop strategy.
The race was then transformed with the crash involving Alonso and Gutierrez, with all cars returning to the pits and many taking advantage of the red flag period to change tyres.
Rosberg followed Hamilton onto mediums, but the Ferraris stuck with super-softs and Daniel Ricciardo and the Toro Rossos softs as they restarted behind the safety car in the order Vettel, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Carlos Sainz Jr, Hamilton and Massa.
Raikkonen soon retired from third, his Ferrari appearing to suffer a power-unit failure, leading to flames emerging from the engine cover as he stopped outside his garage.
Vettel could not pull away on his super-softs and pitted on lap 35 of 57, handing the lead to Rosberg.
Hamilton was promoted to third by Vettel and the Toro Rossos stopping for tyres, then moved down the inside of the soon-to-pit Ricciardo for second with 16 laps to go, leaving him ten seconds behind his team-mate.
Rosberg managed to hold his ground over the closing laps to clinch his 15th win in Formula 1.
A small mistake by Hamilton on lap 51 brought Vettel into play for second, but the champion kept his rival at bay to claim the runner-up spot, helped by the Ferrari locking up and running onto the grass at the penultimate corner with two laps to the flag.
Ricciardo claimed fourth, followed by Massa, with Romain Grosjean scoring points for Haas on its debut, the first new team to do so since Toyota with Mika Salo in 2002.
Grosjean benefited from being able to make his sole tyre change under the red flag, meaning he effectively completed the race without pitting.
Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg was seventh, followed by Valtteri Bottas for Williams, both unable to pass Grosjean despite following the Haas for half the race.
Sainz and Verstappen caught this group after their pitstops, and had a minor clash near the end that resulted in a spin for Verstappen.
Neither Renault scored on the works team’s return as Jolyon Palmer could only managed P11 while Kevin Magnussen suffered a first-lap puncture but made it to the flag in P13.
For the second successive year in Melbourne Daniil Kvyat retired before the start, with the Red Bull grinding to a halt just behind the safety car as the grid formed.
So an exciting race and yet a familiar result on the podium. If Ferrari can challenge Mercedes on a consist basis, then we are set for a good season ahead.
Australian Grand Prix, 57 laps:
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1h48m15.565s
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 8.606s
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 9.643s
4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-TAG Heuer 34.330s
5 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 58.979s
6 Romain Grosjean Haas-Ferrari 1m12.081s
7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m14.199s
8 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1m15.153s
9 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m15.680s
10 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m16.833s
11 Jolyon Palmer Renault 1m23.399s
12 Kevin Magnussen Renault 1m25.606s
13 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1m31.699s
14 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1 Lap
15 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1 Lap
16 Pascal Wehrlein Manor-Mercedes 1 Lap
– Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari Retirement
– Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Retirement
– Rio Haryanto Manor-Mercedes Retirement
– Fernando Alonso McLaren-Honda Collision
– Esteban Gutierrez Haas-Ferrari Collision
– Daniil Kvyat Red Bull-TAG Heuer Not started
Drivers’ standings:
1 Nico Rosberg 25
2 Lewis Hamilton 18
3 Sebastian Vettel 15
4 Daniel Ricciardo 12
5 Felipe Massa 10
6 Romain Grosjean 8
7 Nico Hulkenberg 6
8 Valtteri Bottas 4
9 Carlos Sainz 2
10 Max Verstappen 1
Constructors’ standings:
1 Mercedes 43
2 Ferrari 15
3 Williams-Mercedes 14
4 Red Bull-TAG Heuer 12
5 Haas-Ferrari 8
6 Force India-Mercedes 6
7 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 3
8 Renault 0
9 McLaren-Honda 0
10 Sauber-Ferrari 0
11 Manor-Mercedes 0
Next race: Bahrain Grand Prix, Bahrain International Circuit. April 1-3.
This race will be remembered for that nasty crash on lap 19. Relieved to hear Fernando Alonso escapes horrific crash with Esteban Gutierrez. Autosport.com has the news story.
Fernando Alonso walked away from a frightening crash following a collision with Esteban Gutierrez that brought out the red flag at the Formula 1 season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
The double world champion clipped the left rear of the Haas at high speed as they reached the braking zone into Turn 3 and then hit the gravel sideways.
The McLaren went into a series of rolls, with clear air between the car and the ground, before hitting the wall hard at the edge of the gravel trap.
Alonso was able to climb out of the car unaided with Gutierrez, whose car was spun into the gravel, running over to see if the Spaniard was OK.
McLaren said Alonso visited the medical centre and was given the all-clear by the doctors.
“I feel good,” said Alonso. “Obviously I’m trying to put everything in place again in my body. It was a big, big crash.
“I tried to take the slipstream of Gutierrez into the braking point, and it was a combination of factors that we ended up with a crash.
“I’m thankful for the safety of those cars and that I’m alive talking to you. This is the most important thing.”
When asked who was to blame for the accident, Alonso said: “It’s a racing incident.
“We both tried to fight and sometimes we forget that we are at 300km/h and every little crash can be much bigger.
“It’s disappointing because we start the championship with zero points and we’ve probably damaged the power unit so we have to take the second one immediately – but that’s not the most important thing.”
Gutierrez said his only concern had been that Alonso was alright.
“Thankfully we are alright. It was a very, very scary moment,” he said.
“The first thing I saw in the mirror, I was really worried.
“I jumped out as quick as I could and ran to him. It was a really big relief he was OK.
“We didn’t speak much. It was a real moment of shock for both of us. I just went to him to see if everything was fine with him.
“I was aware he was behind. I braked into Turn 3 and everything came by surprise at the rear.
“I need to see the video to understand what happened.”
The 2016 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix was red flagged on lap 19 of 57 after a frightening looking accident involving McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Haas’s Esteban Gutierrez.
Alonso was running immediately behind Gutierrez as the pair approached Turn 3 at speed, but made contact with the rear of the Mexican’s car as they entered the braking zone, sending the Spaniard into the left-hand wall.
As Gutierriez spun to a stop, Alonso was pitched into a barrel roll as he went side-on into the gravel. His car was then launched into the air, with its tub eventually coming to rest against the tyre wall at the rear of the gravel trap.
Despite the obvious severity of the accident, Alonso was able to clamber unaided from the wreckage, with Gutierrez also climbing from his car seemingly unharmed as the safety car was deployed.
Source: Formula1.com
‘Aggressive’ Vettel surprised by Mercedes’ Australian GP strategy
Sebastian Vettel says race winner Mercedes took Ferrari by surprise with its strategy choice following the mid-race red flag in the 2016 Formula 1 season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
Vettel led the race from the start after beating Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg into Turn 1, but the battle at the front was thrown wide open after the race was red flagged shortly after the first round of pitstops when Fernando Alonso suffered a huge crash at Turn 3 after colliding with Esteban Gutierrez.
With teams free to make changes to their cars, Mercedes switched Rosberg onto the hardest available tyre compound of medium in an attempt to get to the end of the race, while Hamilton was already on the same tyre after trying a different strategy to make up for ground he had lost at the start.
That allowed both Mercedes drivers to get to the end without making another stop once racing resumed, while Vettel had to settle for third after taking the restart on super-softs and pitting again for softs late on.
“It is better when you are at the front, you can control the pace,” said Vettel of his opening stint.
“That was a pleasant surprise. Then the red flag you can argue didn’t help us.
“We had a chance, we didn’t expect [Mercedes] to both go on the mediums and go to the end.
“We tried to go more aggressive. Maybe it didn’t work.
“Ultimately I’m very happy with third. I tried everything and hope it works next time.”
Rosberg added: “The strategy was crucial today. It was tyre choice on the red flag.
“I was glad to see [Ferrari] on the super-soft. I was happy I could follow quite well [until Vettel would have to pit].”
Vettel was also buoyed by the fact he was able to fight with Mercedes after the reigning champion team looked dominant in qualifying trim on Saturday.
“We were a lot closer, and this is one of our worst tracks so there are a lot of positives,” he said, having chased Hamilton for second until going off at the penultimate corner a couple of laps from the end.
“Arguably the red flag didn’t help, but sometimes it works in your favour and other times it catches you out.
“Maybe in hindsight we could have done something else [with tyre strategy] but I’m not willing to blame anyone.
“There are plenty of positives. We know we can up our game and we want to put pressure on these guys.”
Source: Autosport.com
In the early part of the Australian Grand Prix, Ferrari were running first and second. But then came the scary crash involving Fernando Alonso and the race was red flagged. Without that incident, Ferrari would have won the Grand Prix at Albert Park. Details can be read via Autosport.com.
The Ferrari Formula 1 team was confident it was on course to win the Australian Grand Prix before the red flag for Fernando Alonso and Esteban Gutierrez’s crash.
Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen had burst through from row two to lead the opening laps, with Vettel able to nurture a 2.5-second advantage during the first stint.
A subsequent decision to stick with super-soft tyres – meaning another pitstop would later be required – for the restart while Mercedes went with mediums and could run to the finish led to Vettel finishing third. Raikkonen retired with a fiery mechanical problem.
Asked if he had been confident Ferrari would win, Arrivabene replied: “Before the red flag but unfortunately the red flag came and we didn’t win the race.
“On the [pit]wall we were confident in all honesty.
“At certain points we were looking at the gap, we were looking at our strategy prediction and we were quite comfortable.”
Arrivabene admitted “certain decisions can be right or wrong” when questioned over whether Ferrari had thrown the race away with its post-restart tyre strategy.
“We looked at the gap we were gaining and at that time our idea was to go with our strategy and to keep on,” he said.
He did not think there were any guarantees Ferrari would have been able to hang on ahead of the Mercedes had they all been on medium tyres.
“We need to look at the data now in the garage because every car has different consumption, different degradation,” said Arrivabene.
“To be certain if we were right, to be certain if we were wrong, it’s nonsense. We need to look at the data.”
Nico Rosberg achieved his 15th career victory in a drama-filled race but Mercedes team boss has admitted that the driver almost had to retire from the race. Autosport.com can reveal.
Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff has revealed Nico Rosberg came close to retiring from the Australian Grand Prix and being denied his 15th career win in Formula 1.
Rosberg finished eight seconds clear of reigning champion team-mate Lewis Hamilton at Melbourne’s Albert Park, but an overheating right-front brake caliper and a problem with the left-rear tyre almost proved costly.
“It was unconventional in that we suffered some little dramas,” said Wolff, referring to the fact Rosberg and Hamilton dropped to third and sixth respectively at the start, and the race was red-flagged after the first pitstops due to a huge crash involving Fernando Alonso and Esteban Gutierrez.
“We had a problem on Nico’s car with brake caliper temperatures which kept creeping up almost to a stage where we thought about retiring the car.
“That was two thirds into the race. We caught some debris in the caliper, but then it stabilised and started to creep down again very slowly and recover.
“At a certain stage it was very difficult for the team to handle.
“And then 15 laps from the end our calculations showed the tyres wouldn’t last, that five laps from the end the left-rear could fall off the cliff.
Ferrari was confident of victory before red flag
“The temperatures kept dropping and dropping every single lap, and our tyre guy said ‘Five laps from the end, that’s it!’
“We lost a lot of grip on the rear left, but it’s just one of four tyres and he made it survive to the end.”
Wolff has confirmed this season’s ban on radio transmissions only added to the complications with regard to both issues.
“It was really difficult because we couldn’t tell him to look after the left rear,” added Wolff.
“And he didn’t know about the brake temperatures. We couldn’t tell him.
“After all these years of transmitting all this information to the drivers to optimise the car, make it survive, that lack of communication is definitely going to lead to situations which are beyond the engineers’ control.”
Rosberg added: “The brakes got a bit hot because there was rubber that got into the brake cooling duct.
“It was critical and difficult to manage in the car, but everything worked out, so I’m happy.”
Max Verstappen upset with his race in Australian GP F1 opener
Max Verstappen is upset with his Australian Grand Prix after he made contact with Formula 1 team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr and had a series of heated team radio exchanges.
Verstappen voiced his disapproval that the team chose to bring Sainz in before him despite the teenager having track position.
“How many times have I said I had problems with the tyres? I wanted to pit first,” he said on team radio.
A miscommunication meant he pitted for the second time when the team was not expecting him and that dropped him behind Sainz, leading to a series of expletive-filled radio messages.
Sainz was struggling to find a way past Renault’s Jolyon Palmer and that held up Verstappen and as he battled with team-mate, the Dutchman made light contact with Sainz and spun.
Speaking about the race in which he finished 10th, Verstappen said: “You could hear how upset I was.
“It’s just a very disappointing race in general – a lost opportunity.
“If you see [Romain] Grosjean and Haas finishing sixth in their first race, we could have done much better than that.
“The start was good, the first pitstop was good, but we had a bit of a miscommunication for the second stop, and from there it got very difficult.”
When asked about the contact with Sainz, he said: “We were on the edge of the tyres and we touched.”
Sainz said he had no problem with the incident between the pair.
“In the touch with Max, he hit me from behind,” he told Autosport.
“It can happen, I have no problem with that.
“It didn’t damage my race. Nothing to complain about.”
Team principal Franz Tost said Sainz “had a lot of front locking” and that is why the team called him in first for the opening round of stops.
He added: “We changed our strategy and sent him out on medium tyres.
“Within the next three laps also Max came into the pits, but the team was not prepared for this stop, as we did not call him.”
Sainz added it was a combination of the new radio restrictions and the tyres that made it difficult to pass when he was battling Palmer.
“If you don’t have a lot of radio you don’t really know what is going on behind or what is happening,” he said.
“I had to study him to see what the best place was to overtake him, but as you saw with our competitors once you put the main tyres on it was very difficult to overtake.
“[Lewis] Hamilton couldn’t pass me even when I had a destroyed front left.”
Source: Autosport.com
Formula 1: Alonso ‘lucky to be alive’ after huge crash
Fernando Alonso felt lucky to be alive after walking away from a spectacular crash that left his obliterated McLaren scattered across the Albert Park circuit and brought a halt to the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday.
Alonso’s right wheel clipped Esteban Gutierrez’s Haas at high speed going into turn three of the 18th lap and the impact sent the Spaniard’s McLaren careening into a barrier, smashing it to pieces, before it flipped, rolled and flew end-over-end into another barrier.
The two-time Formula One world champion emerged from the wreckage and walked gingerly over to Mexican Gutierrez, where the pair embraced.
“I’m okay, I’m trying to put everything in place again,” the 34-year-old told Sky Sports in the paddock after Nico Rosberg won the race for Mercedes.
“It was a scary crash. Lucky to be here and happy to be here, and thankful to be here — especially to the (governing body) FIA and all the safety, thanks to that probably I’m alive.
“We lost the power unit and the car because there was a lot of damage, but I’m super happy to be talking.”
Race control said Alonso’s contact with Gutierrez would be investigated but the Spaniard said neither driver was to blame.
“We were racing, I kept in the slip-stream as late as I could and at the last moment I tried to move.
“It’s tough, you can only see the rear wing, you don’t have the full view of the track. And same for him, he’s defending and can’t see what the other guy is doing. So we are both happy.”
It was a disappointing day all round for McLaren, with Alonso’s team mate Jenson Button finishing 14th out of the 16 finishers.
Source: Reuters