Australian Grand Prix in 5 or more points!

It is a new season, a great start for Formula One actually! And hopefully it's a good start for my frequent blogging too. As I promised earlier, I will try to be regular and review the grand prix in a slightly different manner called 'In 5 or more points' No, this isn't invention of the decade or something of that sort, this just helps me save time.

So here we go!

1. Yes, you guessed it. The podium finishers are 1. Hamilton 2. Rosberg 3. Vettel 

A very pleasing result for any Tifosi, naturally! What a brilliant drive that was from Vettel and Ferrari on his debut! The energy that he brought to the team and his good realtionaship with his teammate were some of the many reasons Ferrari have a reason to be optimistic. They were the best of the rest, however, behind the team those guys in the white overalls race for - Mercedes AMG Petronas. They clearly had the field in their fist, lapping almost half the field that participated. Lewis Hamilton's first stint was great on the soft tyres. Almost like he could win the race on the same set. But, rules are rules and he had to shift to the mediums. It wasn't particularly a strong run on the harder rubber. In fact, that is where Nico Rosberg started a chase for P1and he came almost 1 second close to it..but then the chequered flag was waved. 

Here are the full results: 

4. Felipe Massa 
5. Felipe Nasr 
6. Daniel Ricciardo 
7. Nico Hulkenberg
8. Marcus Ericcson 
9. Carlos Sainz 
10. Sergio Perez 
11. Jenson Button - Sad, no points. +2 laps. Thanks Honda engine. 

2. "class" of 2015? I'd say "bunch" 

That is a rather small group of Formula One drivers starting a season. It is an open fact that Formula One's flawed economics is coercing smaller teams out of the sport; seen better in this picture where there are only 20 drivers as compared to 22 last season and 24 in 2011. Here's the bigger news: Only 15 drivers started the Australian Grand Prix! 

Here are the pre-race retirees - Daniil Kvyat, who suffered a gearbox failure and had to retire the car. Kevin Magnussen, whose car quite literally blew up after smoke gushed out of the exhaust. And then there was Valtteri Bottas (not in the picture) who didn't race because of medical reasons after he suffered a tissue damage in his lower back after qualifying. One FULL field! Hurrah. 

3. More retirees! 

Yes, Ferrari's last world champion, and the 4 time world champion's teammate Kimi Raikkonen failed to finish the race after a pitstop nightmare. The rear left tire failed to get attached when Raikkonen was accidentally given green to race. This saw him stop at the side of the track and also most likely will incur a 10s stop-go penalty for Malaysia. Along with the Iceman were Romain Grosjean, Max Verstappen - engine failure and Pastor Maldonado - accident (not caused by him)
Totally, 11 drivers finished the race and the Mercedes drivers lapped all of them bar the top 5. 

4. Star of the race 

How much ever I say Vettel nailed it all for me, truth is that there was a better guy out there today: Felipe Nasr. A consistent driver with phenomenal pace and control for a rookie. He didn't cause MUCH trouble and mained a P5 until the end. Of course, only 11 drivers finished, but yet, it must take a lot of effort from Sauber's side and his to nail a result like this despite the heap of trouble they were under with all legal issues. 

5. Renault woes 

It's no surprise that renault powered teams are the ultimate sufferers of the V6 period. If you think it ended in 2014, think again. Both renault powered teams Red Bull and Toro Rosso suffered with drivability issues and reliability issues throughout the weekend. Cyril Abiteboul is not a happy man and neither is Dietrich Mateschitz. What does this mean for renault? There is a good chance Red Bulla and their sister team use Mercedes powered engines next season and that way, Renault would be completely wiped off Formula one. 


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