“I’ll Be Back” – these may have been the words that race-winner Lewis Hamilton shared with Arnold ‘Terminator’ Schwarzenegger on the podium, but how else do you sum up an explosive season opener that only saw 11 drivers complete the race?
Manor Marussia
During winter testing, it was announced that the Manor Marussia team had survived administration, but would not be competing at the 2015 season opener.
Despite turning up at the Grand Prix, the team worked on a modified version of last year’s car until Parc Ferme rules came into effect.
Not a wheel was turned for the team, who had already missed their contractual total of three races during the penultimate rounds of 2014.
It was also announced that Gene Haas had taken ownership of Manor’s headquarters in Banbury, UK, which would act as a European base for his new Haas F1 Team which he hopes will enter onto the F1 grid in 2016.
Alonso & Bottas
Also during winter testing, a mysterious crash at the Circuit de Catalunya ensured that McLaren’s injured Fernando Alonso would not be racing in Australia, and would instead be replaced by Kevin Magnussen for the Grand Prix weekend.
Valteri Bottas would also be out of the race due to back problems during practice.
The Williams team were unable to replace him for the Grand Prix, meaning Felipe Massa would be the sole Williams driver for the first race of 2015.
Pre-race build up
Two further drivers were taken out on the pre-race formation lap.
Red Bull’s Daniel Kyvat pulled over purportedly due to gearbox issues, followed shortly by McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen with smoke pouring out of his engine.
The Race
A field of 15 cars was reduced even further at the start of the race.
As the drivers battled for position, a turn 1 incident sparked a chain reaction which resulted in the inevitable retirement for Pastor Maldonado, as he spun his Lotus into the barrier.
Shortly after, and under yellow flag/Safety Car conditions, his teammate Romain Grosjean started to lose power from his Renault-powered Lotus E23, and was told by the Enstone-based team to trundle around into the pits and retire the car.
With only 13 drivers still competing, Williams’ Felipe Massa was overtaken in the pits by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
Carlos Sainz Jr suffered a pitiful pit stop disaster after the Toro Rosso team struggled to remove a wheel from his STR10 during a painfully long pit-stop.
Sainz’s teammate Max Verstappen was the next driver to retire from the race, who, after a pit-stop, reported on the radio that there was smoke in the car.
Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen retired shortly later, having exited the pits with one loose wheel – meaning he was left with only three wheels on his wagon.
Due to the new 2015 regulations, Räikkönen could receive a penalty in the next race for an unsafe release.
After the mid-field antics had taken its toll on the race – including a close-call between former McLaren teammates Jenson Button and Sergio Perez – Lewis Hamilton cruised home to take the win.
It means Hamilton has started off his title defence strongly in 2015, with teammate Nico Rosberg being his nearest rival – who finished 2014 in a very close 2nd.
Hamilton has apparently never been starstruck on the podium, but that all changed when the Terminator himself stepped up onto the podium to conduct the post-race driver interviews:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MlB3wDKYZ_w
Analysis
Although Vettel was unable to close the gap to Rosberg, he managed to maintain the gap to Massa – who strolled home in 4th position, showing for the second-year running just how close Williams really are to the Mercedes team.
But Vettel’s exemplary performance in his new Ferrari SF15-T, after a torrid 2014 season in the Red Bull RB10, begged more questions than it answered regarding Alonso’s exit from Ferrari.
Many fans and journalists believe that Alonso left the Maranello squad too early, and that McLaren are going to be out of the points for a while – given the inevitable teething problems that are sure to come their way with the new partnership with Honda.
The reason Alonso left Ferrari for McLaren was the same reason Vettel left Red Bull for Ferrari – a poor showing in 2014 caused both drivers to reassess their careers for the 2015 season.
But, based solely on Vettel and Button’s performances in Australia (Button struggling home in 11th and thus failing to finish in the points), the question remains whether Alonso should have stayed with Ferrari for 2015.
Finally, the success stories of the weekend must lie with the F1 rookies. Sauber’s Felipe Nasr finished 5th in his first Grand Prix, with teammate Marcus Ericsson cruising home in 8th.
Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr, son of the great WRC Rally Champion Carlos Sainz, came home in 9th, losing only 1 position after an impressive qualifying run that saw him start in 8th place.
If the opening race is anything to go by, the action is far from over in 2015. In fact, it is only just beginning!
– Chris JK.
KPH car blog 