Track Torque: Hamilton wins, only 11 cars finish
There was no shortage of drama in Melbourne.
IN a race of attrition Lewis Hamilton drove a faultless race to lead the Australian Grand Prix from pole position to the chequered flag.
Nico Rosberg made a determined effort and pushed his teammates very hard in the latter stages but just could not make any serious impression.
Red Bull spokesman Helmut Marko, however, has stated that they are very unhappy with the regulations and the fact that Mercedes have such a huge engine advantage at the moment.
They are threatening to withdraw both Red Bull and Toro Rosso teams from the championship unless action is taken to put matters right.
The best their cars could do was Daniel Ricciardo’s sixth position in his Red Bull Renault and new man Carlos Sainz, who finished ninth in the Toro Rosso Renault.
Only 17 cars started after Williams’s Valtteri Bottas was out of the race due to a back injury and the Marussia team’s two cars failed to qualify.
Another two cars were lost immediately before the start when McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen and Red Bull’s Daniel Kvyat experienced troubles on their way to the grid.
At the start, Pastor Maldonado was caught in a jam and bumped off.
Not much later Romain Grosjean was also gone in the remaining Lotus Mercedes with mechanical problems.
The race was now down to 12 cars.
Ferrari was the most impressive team after Mercedes and we saw a very good drive by Sebastian Vettel in his red car to third place on the podium.
Felipe Massa in the Williams was also very impressive, keeping the pressure on Vettel right to the finish.
Rookie Felipe Nasr in a much improved Sauber Ferrari drove extremely well to bring his car home in fifth place.
The other Sauber, driven by Marcus Ericsson, was also impressive although Ericsson could not manage better than eighth place.
It was a pity that Max Verstappen, who became the youngest man to start in Formula 1 at the age of 17, had to retire on lap 42 when his Toro Rosso started smoking after challenging in the top six for most of the race.
Jenson Button was the final finisher in 11th position in the only Honda engine car which had to have its “wick turned down” in the interests of reliability.
I do expect big improvements from them in the not too distant future.
The race was characterised by Hamilton and Rosberg having their own private battle to win the race while there were much closer tussles and more interesting racing further back in the field.
We look forward to Malaysia in two week’s time!
Results:
1 Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes 25 points; 2 Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 18 points; 3 Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 15 points; 4 Felipe Massa, Williams Mercedes, 12 points; 5 Felipe Nasr, Sauber Ferrari, 10 points; 6 Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Renault, 8 points; 7 Nico Hulkenberg, Force India, Mercedes, 6 points; 8 Marcus Ericsson, Sauber Ferrari, 4 points; 9 Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso Renault, 2 points; 10 Sergio Perez, Force India Mercedes, 1 point.
