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!