Ricciardo upbeat despite Australia disqualification

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo says he has only positives to take away from the season-opening race in Australia, despite losing his maiden podium finish to disqualification.

Ricciardo was excluded from second place in Melbourne after stewards determined that his car had run with too high a fuel flow rate - a breach of Article 5.1.4 of the 2014 technical regulations, which limits teams to a maximum fuel flow rate of 100kg per hour.

The Australian said the stewards’ decision - which Red Bull are appealing - had "put a downer" on his home Grand Prix, but when asked if there were any pluses to take away from the race he was adamant there were.

“Actually it's mostly positives,” he told Red Bull’s website. “I did a good job in the car and I got to stand on the Australian Grand Prix podium – and no-one's taking the sensation of doing that away. 

“What happens next is outside of my ability to control but honestly, I'd rather it went down like this than have retired from the race with a mechanical problem. I'll take a podium and a subsequent disqualification over that any day of the week.”

With Red Bull suffering severe technical issues with the Renault-powered RB10 in pre-season testing, a podium finish in Australia seemed unlikely. Now, however, Ricciardo believes that with the team only beginning to unlock performance from their car, they have every chance of returning to the rostrum again soon. 

“Albert Park's made me hungry to get on the podium again - and I think we've got a really good chance of doing it,” he said. 

“The work we did in the winter targeted reliability rather than performance. It was only in Melbourne that we got the opportunity to start working on a set-up. The RB10 surprised us by being pretty competitive in the dry and very competitive in the wet. It's going to get much better as we dial it in over the next few races and catch up with those teams that did more miles pre-season.

“At the moment, we're in the battle to be the second-best team. Obviously that isn't where we want to be but it's exceeding our expectations of only a few weeks ago. I think once we really get into the setup of the car, we'll be able to close the gap to Mercedes. Obviously they're going to improve too but I think we're in a good position to make bigger strides.”

From Australia, Red Bull travel to Malaysia and a circuit on which they scored a dominant, if controversial, one-two finish in 2013. On that occasion Sebastian Vettel defied team orders instructing him to hold station and passed team mate Mark Webber for the win.

(source: f1.com, redbull.com)

Red Bull appeal to be heard on April 14

Red Bull’s appeal against Daniel Ricciardo’s exclusion from the Australian Grand Prix results will be heard next month, the FIA has announced. Ricciardo was disqualified from second place after his car was found to have exceeded the maximum permitted fuel flow rate of 100kg per hour.

The International Court of Appeal sitting will take place in Paris, France, on the morning of April 14, the Monday prior to the 2014 Formula 1 UBS Chinese Grand Prix. The Court’s decision will be published as soon as possible after the hearing.

Red Bull announced their intention to appeal immediately after Sunday’s race in Albert Park, saying: “Inconsistencies with the FIA fuel flow meter have been prevalent all weekend up and down the pit lane. The Team and Renault are confident the fuel supplied to the engine is in full compliance with the regulations.”

(source: f1.com)

Happy birthday Ayrton Senna!

Ayrton Senna da Silva was born March 21st 1960 so it's his birthday today! As everybody knows he was a Brazilian racing driver who won three Formula One world championships. He was killed in an accident while leading the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. He is among the most dominant and successful Formula 1 drivers of all time and is considered as one of the greatest drivers in the history of the sport. He remains the most recent driver fatality in Formula One.

Senna began his motorsport career in karting, moving up to open-wheel racing in 1981, and winning the British Formula 3 championship in 1983. He made his Formula One debut with Toleman-Hart in 1984 before moving to Lotus-Renault the following year and winning six Grands Prix over the next three seasons. In 1988, he joined Frenchman Alain Prost at McLaren-Honda. Between them, they won all but one of the 16 Grands Prix that year and Senna claimed his first World Championship. Prost claimed the championship in 1989, and Senna his second and third championships in 1990 and 1991. In 1992, the Williams-Renault combination began to dominate Formula One. Senna nonetheless managed to finish the 1993 season as runner-up, winning five races and negotiating a move to Williams in 1994.

He was recognised for his qualifying speed over one lap and from 1989 until 2006 held the record for most pole positions. He was also acclaimed for his wet weather performances, such as the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix, the 1985 Portuguese Grand Prix, and the 1993 European Grand Prix. He holds a record six victories at the prestigious Monaco Grand Prix, and is the third most successful driver of all time in terms of race wins. Senna courted controversy throughout his career, particularly during his turbulent rivalry with Alain Prost. Both the 1989 Championship won by Prost and the 1990 Championship won by Senna were decided by collisions between the pair at those years' Japanese Grands Prix.

Senna has often been voted as one of the greatest Formula One drivers of all time in various motorsport polls.

Happy birthday Ayrton! You left us almost 20 years ago but we still miss you a lot.

(sources: f1.com, wikipedia.org)

1988 Monaco Grand Prix (FULL RACE)

The man Ayrton Senna wanted to beat - Alain Prost.

This was Ayrton Senna's first Monaco GP as Alain Prost's teammate back in 1988. Senna was outstanding and his lead was phenomenal! Suddenly he made a small mistake and crashed into the wall before the tunnel. Prost's position was 2nd at that point and almost a minute behind. Of course, Prost won the race after Senna's crash.

Senna was so furious that he didn't even go to the pits. He walked straight to his hotel room and didn't wanna speak with no one.

Senna said later that his confidence was hurt badly but became an even stronger driver after that point.

Comparing the 2013 and the 2014 engine sounds

The F14-T at Melbourne (2014)

There has been a lot of negative feedback about the sound in the new F1 cars. Even Bernie Ecclestone himself has said that the sound is laughable. 

Here is an video comparing the 2013 and the 2014 engine sounds:

What do you think about this?

1998 Luxemburg GP (Full Race)

2014 Australian Grand Prix review

Wow! what a race! Someone could say it was boring cause Rosberg dominated the race. If you look at the rest of the field it was actually very interesting if you ask me.

Right after the start Nico Rosberg overtook his teammate Lewis Hamilton like a flying bullet.
I said earlier in a post that these new regulations might fit Rosberg better than Hamilton. It's hard to say because Hamilton had more technical issues but anyways I believe this will be Rosberg's season and not Hamilton's. Nico's father Keke won the championship in 1982 and Nico knows that he's as good as his father was.

Keke Rosberg

The next thing I wanted to mention was Kamui Kobayashi's crash in the first corner. He hit Massa and Kimi Räikkönen's tyre but Kimi managed to continue the race. He had some problems with his tyres but according to Pirelli it was because of the weather... funny explanation when nobody else had problems with them.

Kamui Kobayashi

Massa was furious and said that Kobayashi's crash was just like Grosjean's move in Spa 2012. I guess he overreacted just a bit.

Caterham stated that the crash was not Kobayashi's fault because the car had faulty brakes.

The other Caterham broke down later and Marcus Ericsson was forced to retire his first race. Sad because he didn't drive that much in the practice sessions either. Caterham had a lot of problems and I believe that they have even more issues than they are telling us.

Hamilton and Vettel were forced to retire early in the race which was good in a way. I am sure that Vettel retiring was a positive thing to many fans. Hamilton being the favorite for the championship also retiring makes the series more interesting.

Daniel Ricciardo

A big surprise was Daniel Ricciardo's pace in the race. Compared to Vettel he was just flying!
Red Bull was just awful in the winter testings so were did this speed come from?
In the end we know why though. Vettel's car was legal and he retired and Ricciardo's was not so he was disqualified. Who knows what will happen with them this year. I guess they might take podiums and maybe a win this year but nothing else. On the other hand I shouldn't underestimate Adrian Newey.

Lotus was a big disappointment. I knew they had problems but didn't realize that they would be fighting for positions with the Marussias and Caterhams. That was just laughable! Then they both retired. Maldonado said that moving to Lotus was the best decision he ever made but seeing how well his former teammate Valtteri Bottas was driving... I guess he doesn't think so anymore.

Valtteri Bottas was one of the biggest stars in the race! The guy just overtook car after car until he was behind Alonso. He was less than 1 second behind Alonso so he could have used DRS on him but didn't. You might wonder why and the truth is that Bottas had problems with his DRS. If everything would have worked like it was supposed to then I don't know how high he would have risen in the race.

Valtteri Bottas

Then there was his small unfortunate accident when he touched the wall. He dropped to last place and started everything all over again by overtaking car after car and showing everybody what he is made of.  No wonder Mika Häkkinen and Toto Wolff have both taken him under their wing and getting him where he is today. Phenomenal driver! He is going to be one of my biggest favorites this year.

Then I got two new favorites drivers for this season! Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat. These guys were already showing experienced drivers that they are rookies to be reckoned with. 

Magnussen was 2nd after Ricciardo was excluded from the race and Kvyat was 9th in a Toro Rosso. Is Toro Rosso getting better or did Kvyat make the car look better than it really was?

Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen

Kevin Magnussen made his father Jan proud by getting a better result in his first race than he got in his whole F1 career. Jan Magnussen was supposed to be a star but liked to smoke and drink a bit too much.

Nico Hülkenberg drove a great race again and gave Fernando Alonso a very hard time. It almost seemed that the Force India was better than Ferrari or if it wasn't I guess Hülkenberg just drove better than Alonso in Melbourne.

Alonso and Räikkönen were 5th and 6th at best in the race. After the pitstop (were they came in at the same time) Kimi was forced to drop a couple of places. That was a bit frustrating for him.

On track Kimi had brake and tyre issues and lost his position to Bottas two times. Let's hope that this season will be fair and not just technical problems. Räikkönen had a couple of good seasons with Lotus so it's a bit weird that suddenly it all comes collapsing down at Ferrari. 

Kimi Räikkönen

Alonso said that Räikkönen might be the fastest driver in F1 and that there are a few others that say the same. He believes that Räikkönen didn't really feel good in the car this weekend and that the problems were probably not because of him.

One more thing before I start comparing my guesses: POOR RICCIARDO! I REALLY FEEL SORRY FOR THE GUY. He seems to be a great guy and clearly the happiest Formula One driver ever.
He was giggling in the car when he got 2nd place and the team said that they can hear his smile through the radio. He must have been devastated when they disqualified him.

So now it's time for the guesses!

Pole position: Felipe Massa - It's hard to say at this point who is taking poles etc. but this time I was totally wrong. Lewis Hamilton took pole with his Mercedes.

The race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - Retired the race but could have easily taken 2nd place behind Rosberg.
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - Rosberg was one position higher up.
3. Felipe Massa, Williams - Retired the race right in the beginning. Williams was very fast so it could have happened I'll give you that.

Fastest lap: Kimi Räikkönen - with those tyres and brakings no chance! Nico Rosberg was fastest and only Valtteri Bottas had chances to beat that lap time.

Surprise: Marussia! - Yes they were surprisingly bad! I thought that they would have done better but they started by having problems before the lights even went out at the start. In the tests they had shown some improvement though.

That's all for this time and I'll do my next preview and review when we move to Malaysia in two weeks!