Nico Rosberg unbeatable in Oz opener

We've been waiting since November to see this new generation of cars. Four months since Brazil, the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park, Melbourne brought Formula 1 into a new era, one where you can hear the tyres squeal over the engine noise, where fuel management is key and fuel flow rates should be monitored at all times to prevent disqualification.

The Brake-by-wire system which feeds the Kinetic energy recovery is cause for concern for a lot of teams too which resulted in Kamui Kobayashi’s Caterham slamming into the back of a rather annoyed Felipe Massa who was making his debut for Williams and thought he had a shot at a podium.

There was a safety car brought out for the other Williams of Valtteri Bottas, which continued despite clouting the wall but did leave some debris on the racing line. A threat of rain hung around but didn’t materialise but through all this came the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg to claim the first victory of 2014.

He started third but launched himself into a lead he was never to lose. Without the safety  car intervention he would probably have doubled the 26.7second lead he held over Kevin Magnussen’s McLaren.

A perfect start was matched by a relentless pace which probably could have been faster if he wanted to. However, with the troubles his team mate Lewis Hamilton suffered over the weekend, it was probably best he did just what was required rather than push the limits.

All the teams suffered some sort of reliability problems over the weekend and Mercedes was no exception despite being the pace setters. Hamilton suffered a sensor problem which shut the car down in first practice then his engine suffered a problem they noticed on the warm up laps before the race. It dropped him down to five cylinders and it was immediately obvious from when the lights went out that he was in trouble, he lasted only two laps before retiring having started from pole position.

At the moment it looks like Mercedes are way out in front so Lewis’ retirement means he’s already dropped 25 points to his most likely challenger in the championship, but this won’t bother Nico who took the fourth win of his career and set himself up nicely for the year ahead.

Red Bull had looked like they’d worked a minor miracle. Both cars looked quick in practice but a problem for Sebastian Vettel with the engine software meant he was losing power from Saturday onwards. He could only qualify 13^th as a result and didn’t make more than three laps of the race to say he sounded frustrated was an understatement.

Daniel Ricciardo made his debut for the champion team this weekend and was just sensational. He was quick all weekend and almost grabbed pole position. He held second throughout the race holding off Magnussen’s McLaren for most of it to take a well deserved first podium.

Unfortunately this result has been stripped from the record books. Ricciardo was disqualified for his car consistently exceeding the maximum fuel flow rate of 100kg/h. The FIA warned the team during the race that this was happening but apparently this was ignored. Red Bull claim the fault lies with the sensor which monitors fuel flow and had already been replaced and then refitted during the weekend because of unreliable results.

It all seems a bit murky, but Red Bull has already announced their intention to appeal the decision. But perhaps more importantly for the rest of the year is the fact that despite all their winter testing struggles Red Bull have a fast car and one with which they have barely scratched the surface of in terms of performance. 

To bring a car home when they hadn’t even attempted a race distance should be satisfying in itself, to bring it home at a reasonable pace and on the podium means Mercedes shouldn’t count on this title battle being just between their own drivers. These Bull’s are getting ready to run and run fast.

Completing the podium after Ricciardo’s disqualification were the two McLaren’s. Kevin Magnussen was a true star this weekend. He out-qualified his far more experienced team mate Jenson Button and then managed to finish ahead too. Magnussen started fourth but was soon up to third and kept the pressure on Ricciardo throughout the Grand Prix. Button used his pit stops to jump the likes of Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso to claim fourth which became third.

It was impressive racing from the Woking squad, who get a double podium after not taking any in 2013. Their pace wasn’t too shabby either and they should be definite podium contenders in these opening rounds. If they can keep their development up who knows where this season will lead.

What we do know is that Magnussen is already a star of the sport. His calmness in the race was impressive and the way he went for Lewis on the opening lap was fantastic, even if the Merc was hobbled. I expect many more podiums from him this season, while Button certainly has his hands full.

Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen were disappointed with Ferrari’s double points finish, winding up fourth and seventh respectively. Alonso is already saying Ferrari should not be happy with where they are. They didn’t have the pace and he spent a lot of it trapped behind Hulkenberg, only passing him by staying out two extra laps at the second pit stops.

Kimi meanwhile spent a lot of time battling with the Toro Rosso’s and tyre graining. It wasn’t the best race for Kimi and he’ll want to step up his pace against Alonso quickly as the Spaniard looked a great deal quicker throughout the weekend.

Bottas rescued Williams’ race despite hitting the wall. If he hadn’t he may well have sneaked a podium such was his pace. He had started 15^th after getting a five place grid drop due to a gearbox change, but soon charged up the order. He was the most entertaining driver of the day, catching people at seconds per lap and then immediately making an incisive move.

It was such a disappointment he hit the wall as he caught up with Alonso ahead. Still, it showed Williams have made progress after not impressing in qualifying as much as might have been expected. On this showing a few Williams podiums can’t be far off.

Hulkenberg took sixth after battling with Alonso, while his Force India team mate Sergio Perez took 10^th after suffering a puncture on the opening lap. Toro Rosso also impressed by managing to hold on to their wet qualifying top 10s in the dry when in practice they had not looked good. Jean-Eric Vergne claimed eighth while new boy Daniil Kvyat was outstanding on his way to ninth to replace Sebastian Vettel as the youngest ever points scorer.

Behind the points scorers, Sauber failed to deliver much pace while Kobayashi’s brake problem denied Caterham a chance to shine, although he had got into Q2. Marussia had start line problems but got both cars home even if Jules Bianchi was eight laps down. It should be noted that Max Chilton actually out-qualifed Bianchi, which I thought was quite impressive.

Lotus was the most underprepared team coming into this race and it showed. They suffered problem after problem, with Romain Grosjean starting from the pit lane for which he got a drive through penalty for leaving the garage too early. Pastor Maldonado barely did a lap and started last. So surprisingly they got both cars past the halfway mark and showed a decent amount of speed too. Once they can eliminate their problems, of which there are many, they’ll soon move up the grid.

Round up

So what has this race told us? Mercedes are superfast but not without their problems. Williams missed an opportunity this weekend, McLaren have a new superstar on their hands, Ferrari and Alonso are going to go their separate ways if the team don’t improve quickly and Red Bull performed miracles this weekend so it was such a shame they weren’t rewarded.

I'd also like to say the engine noise is perfectly acceptable, the rolling deep thunder combines well with the whine of the turbo and electrical power. It's something we'll all get used to, although maybe it would be nice if it was slightly louder.

There were many questions before this weekend, there are still many questions but at least we’ve got a few more ideas as we head to Malaysia. Australia was a good race, but it’ll get even better when the teams get on top of their cars and they can all go on maximum attack.

Result:

1. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes

2. Kevin Magnussen - McLaren

3. Jenson Button - McLaren

4. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari

5. Valtteri Bottas - Williams

6. Nico Hulkenberg - Force India

7. Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari

8. Jean-Eric Vergne - Toro Rosso

9. Daniil Kvyat - Toro Rosso

10. Sergio Perez - Force India

11. Adrian Sutil - Sauber

12. Esteban Gutierrez - Sauber

13. Max Chilton - Marussia

R. Jules Bianchi - Marussia - Unclassified

R. Romain Grosjean - Lotus - ERS failure

R. Pastor Maldonado - Lotus - ERS failure

R. Marcus Ericsson - Caterham - Oil Pressure

R. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull - loss of power

R. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes - Engine

R. Felipe Massa - Williams - Accident

R. Kamui Kobayashi - Caterham - Accident/Brakes

DSQ. Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull

all photo's taken from autosport.com