F1 2015 Australian GP: Drivers Press Conference (video)

I got a request to find another video of this press conference because the previous upload was deleted from YouTube for some reason. So here it is once again. Enjoy!

2015 Australian Grand Prix Team Principals Press Conference (video)

Take a look at this if you missed it! In Finland we can't even see these anywhere.

Sauber and Van der Garde part by mutual consent

Giedo van der Garde says he has reached a settlement with Sauber and agreed a mutual ending of his contract to race for the team in 2015.


Confusion surrounded the Swiss team's line-up for the season opener in Australia when a court ruled on the Thursday prior to the Grand Prix that Van der Garde had a valid contract to race for Sauber this year.

The Dutchman ultimately agreed to give up his claim on Saturday night, but said talks would continue after the weekend. However, Van der Garde announced on Wednesday that talks have now concluded, and that a mutual parting has been settled upon.

"We have reached a settlement with Sauber and my driver contract with the team has been ended by mutual consent," Van der Garde said in a statement.

"As a passionate race driver, I feel sad and am very disappointed. I have worked very hard my entire career, ever since starting with go-karts at the age of eight, to live my dream and become a successful Formula One driver.

"I had hoped at last to be able to show what I am capable of, driving a car for a respected midfield team in the 2015 season. This dream has been taken away from me and I know that my future in Formula One is probably over.

"I am very grateful to my fans and many friends in Formula One who have given me a lot of support during the last couple of months."

(source: f1.com)

Winners and Losers - Australia

Lewis Hamilton scored a classy triumph in the 2015 season-opener, but he and Mercedes weren't the only team celebrating on Sunday night. Sauber put a tumultuous few days behind them in style, Ferrari made a welcome return to the podium - while McLaren were two laps down, but did at least see the chequered flag. We take a team-by-team look at the highs and lows of Sunday's action at Melbourne Park...



Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton, P1
Nico Rosberg, P2

While a 1-2 finish looked easy for Mercedes, it wasn't for the drivers as they played a cat and mouse game of fuel and tyre conservation in between fastest lap-setting spurts. As they circulated way ahead of their opposition, Hamilton judged things finely and was always in control of the race, but knew that the slightest slip would hand the result to Rosberg.

Ferrari

Sebastian Vettel, P3
Kimi Raikkonen, Retired lap 41, loose rear wheel

Vettel was delighted to finish third after passing Massa during the pit stops, especially after inadvertently pushing team mate Raikkonen wide in the first corner. The Finn lost ground in that incident, was delayed further during his first pit stop, and then retired at his second when the same left rear wheel proved problematic. It was improperly fastened, but the team were unaware of the issue and he managed to pull off the road before it parted company with the SF15-T. For that reason the stewards did not impose any penalty for unsafe release.

A welcome return to the podium for Ferrari then - but it is worth pointing out that Vettel was 34.5s behind Hamilton, pretty much the same distance that Alonso was behind Rosberg last year.

Sauber

Felipe Nasr, P5
Marcus Ericsson, P8

What a difference a few days made! Beleaguered by the driver situation until Friday night, Sauber enjoyed a superb race. Nasr put in an excellent performance to take fifth place after a fight with Raikkonen, Sainz and Ricciardo, thus becoming the best Brazilian debutant in F1 history. Ericsson added to the shine with eighth, instantly helping to sweep away memories of last year's failure to score a single point.

Williams

Felipe Massa, P4
Valtteri Bottas, Did not start, back injury

Williams went one man down when Bottas was instructed not to race after tearing an annular disc in his lower back during Q2. Initially Massa held third comfortably from Vettel, but then he lost ground in the pit stop and fell behind the Ferrari. He said later that the red car was simply faster, and that he couldn't mount a sustained challenge to regain his lost podium position.

Red Bull

Daniel Ricciardo, P6
Daniil Kvyat, Did not start, transmission

This was not Red Bull's most auspicious race. Kvyat didn't get to the grid thanks to transmission failure, while Ricciardo struggled throughout with inconsistency and poor driveability, saying later that he thought Red Bull had slipped two seconds off the pace.


Force India

Nico Hulkenberg, P7
Sergio Perez, P10

Despite lacking pace, Force India picked up seven valuable points in Australia. Hulkenberg put in one of his trademark smooth runs to capture an impressive seventh, while Perez got delayed in a clash with Button and by a long pit stop, but recovered to grab the final point.

Toro Rosso

Carlos Sainz Jr, P9
Max Verstappen, Retired lap 33, fire

Toro Rosso got short-changed. Sainz was running comfortably in the top seven until the left rear wheel stuck during his pit stop, dropping him to 13th. He fought back well to eighth, but could not resist Ericsson, who was on fresher soft tyres, in the closing stages. Nevertheless, ninth on his debut was impressive. Verstappen, who at 17 became F1's youngest-ever starter, also impressed with a controlled early run on mediums which promised a charge on softs in the final stint. Sadly, smoke in the cockpit obliged him to retire.

McLaren

Jenson Button, P11
Kevin Magnussen, Did not start, power unit

McLaren's race hadn't even begun before Magnussen had retired on his way to the grid with engine failure - grim viewing for the watching Honda presidents. But Button somehow kept running in a car that had hitherto never managed more than 12 consecutive laps. He was uncompetitive and two laps down on the winning Mercedes, but it was a major step forward for the beleaguered team and the mileage provided key data on which the McLaren-Honda alliance can build.

Lotus

Romain Grosjean, Retired lap 1, power loss
Pastor Maldonado, Retired lap 1, accident

After the promise of both cars getting into Q3 on Saturday, Lotus's race could not have been worse. Maldonado was the innocent victim in the first corner melee between Raikkonen, Sainz and Nasr, and was out immediately. Grosjean at least made it back to the pit lane, but he too retired on the opening lap with power loss.

Marussia

Will Stevens, did not start
Roberto Merhi, did not start

Marussia's 11th-hour rescue meant it was always going to be an uphill battle to be ready for Australia. They deserve credit for getting their cars to the garage at Melbourne, but that was as far as they got as both Stevens and Merhi spent the weekend on the sidelines due to software issues.

2015 Australian Grand Prix review

The first race is now in the past and now it's time to review it.

First of all there was a lot of drivers that didn't race. Marussia or Manor F1 Team didn't participate in the race because they weren't ready for it yet. Fernando Alonso was preparing himself for the Malaysian GP because he hurt himself in testing earlier. Kevin Magnussen was the one to replace him but couldn't start the race because of his car didn't make it to the grid. Valtteri Bottas hurt his back in qualifying and didn't get FIA's permission to race. Apparently he couldn't get out of the car quickly enough and they told him not to race. Daniil Kvyat's Red Bull couldn't get to the grid either just like Magnussen's McLaren. Red Bull are not happy with their Renault engines.

What about the start? Kimi Räikkönen overtook Sebastian Vettel but got pushed out of the track by that same teammate. Carlos Sainz Jr. smashed into his rear and Felipe Nasr touched him from the side. Very bad start for Kimi but he managed to continue. He blamed Carlos Sainz Jr. for the whole incident.

Pastor Maldonado was next to Felipe Nasr when he touched Räikkönen and spun off. Pastor Maldonado was the first one to retire from the race.

Daniel Ricciardo had a bad start which clearly was because of his car and not his driving skills. The rest of the race he drove very well but couldn't match Räikkönen's and Massa's superior cars speed.

Like I said Kimi Räikkönen drove much better than 12 months ago but lost a lot of time after his first pitstop. Ferrari really messed up his race when they had problems with his rear tyre. Sebastian Vettel had also a bit slower pitstop than usual.

Räikkönen overtook a lot of cars again and had to make his second pitstop. This time they left the same rear tyre a bit loose and he had to retire. Autosprint.com wrote that it was Kimi's fault and not Ferrari's (strange statement if you ask me). Ferrari did not blame him for the error.

Toro Rosso had similar problems in the pits with Carlos Sainz Jr.'s car which cost him some time. Why is so many teams messing up in the pits? I don't get it.

The other Toro Rosso driver Max Verstappen had to retire when his Renault engine failed. Red Bull is not happy at all when the engines work like that or don't work at all.

Both Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson had a very good race. They showed us all that Sauber is better than Force India at the moment. I am happy for Sauber because they were last in the championship last year.

Marcus Ericsson was the first Swede to get points in F1 since the early 90's.

In the front it was boring! Lewis Hamilton led and Nico Rosberg followed from the beginning till the end.

Sebastian Vettel was behind the two Mercedes drivers and did a good job on his first Ferrari stint. The Italians love him already and some say that he will achieve even more than Michael Schumacher did at Ferrari. That has always been Vettel's dream also.

Only 11 cars finished the race and the only car without points was Jenson Button's McLaren. They were still happy that they managed to finish the race. McLaren had so little time to test in the winter that this years races are just about to learn how the new engine works. Sad but true and I hope they will get better. McLaren and Honda are a legendary pair in Formula One. Everybody remember that the last time they worked together they won 4 championships in just 5 seasons.

I don't have much else to say but all in all it's nice that the season has started even though the race was a bit boring. Arnold Schwarzenegger was a positive surprise on the podium.

Last but not least my predictions and how well I did:

Pole position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT

The race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - CORRECT
3. Valtteri Bottas, Williams - Didn't race so I gave everybody in the PREDICTORS LEAGUE a chance to change their prediction if they had Bottas in it. I chose Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari so... - CORRECT

Fastest lap: Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari - WRONG. Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap.

Surprise: Kimi Räikkönen will do much better than last year! - CORRECT but Ferrari messed up his race.

Join our PREDICTORS LEAGUE now!

POINTS: 1st - 3
2nd - 5
3rd - 10

+ possible bonus points

HOW IT WORKS: the aim of the game is simply predict who comes where in the race (top3). A total of 18 points can be won on a race day. For example if you get the winner and 3rd place right but 2nd wrong you get 13 points. 

A table will be posted up every race weekend. The point scoring system will change once the cars become more competitive. Everyone will say a merc 1,2 so it won't be close or fun.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR PREDICTIONS: send an email to f14lifeblog@gmail.com or message the Facebook page to submit your predictions. You have until lights out to make them. If you submit them when the race has started they won't count. So be quick!

THE PRIZE: the winner of the league will win him- or herself an admin place on the F1 4 LIFE Facebook page along side AE, JT, MW & MH. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.

Last year's winner Peter McLaren didn't want to be an administrator so I made him a special member instead. As a special member he has the power to decide what we will predict for to get bonus points. I will give you more information about that later on the Facebook page.

That's it for today! Send me a message on Facebook or email me: f14lifeblog@gmail.com if you have anything you want to talk about. I answer almost every message.

2015 Driver Standings after the Australian GP

1	LEWIS HAMILTON - 25
2	NICO ROSBERG - 18
3	SEBASTIAN VETTEL - 15
4	FELIPE MASSA - 12
5	FELIPE NASR - 10
6	DANIEL RICCIARDO - 8
7	NICO HULKENBERG - 6
8	MARCUS ERICSSON - 4
9	CARLOS SAINZ - 2
10	SERGIO PEREZ - 1
11	JENSON BUTTON - 0

2015 Constructor Standings after the Australian GP

1. MERCEDES - 43
2. FERRARI - 15
3. SAUBER - 14
4. WILLIAMS - 12
5. RED BULL RACING - 8
6. FORCE INDIA - 7
7. TORO ROSSO - 2
8. MCLAREN - 0