SOME 15 of the 22 starters in the Australian Grand Prix finished the race for the new 1.6lt turbocharge Formula 1, with Nico Rosberg way out in front in the Mercedes.
The man that should have been second, Daniel Ricciardo, who was the hero of qualifying and the race, was unfortunately disqualified when his team fitted a non FIA type fuel flow meter which allowed him to use excessive amounts of fuel.
We are going to see a lot more of this young man who originates from Sicily, and is married to a girl from his home country.
He however, is known to be an out and out Aussie, and the crowd was most disappointed when its hero’s great achievement was taken away from him.
Behind Ricciardo, the Danish rookie Kevin Magnussen also did a magnificent job chasing down second place. He now moves up from third to second and Jenson Button, who was fourth, is now up to third.
Lewis Hamilton, who had pole position at qualifying had a terrible start when his engine went onto five cylinders, and he subsequently had to retire.
Mercedes, however have shown their hand and are really the cars to beat for the early part of this season. I wonder how long it will take the others to catch up?
Felipe Massa, in the much improved Williams, was knocked out by Kamui Kobayashi. who got his braking all wrong and made contact with both Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari and the innocent Massa.
The Japanese driver admitted responsibility for the incident.
Sebastian Vettel also didn’t last very long and, after a visit to the pits, parked the other Red Bull after five laps.
The two Lotus drivers, Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado, ran well in the earlier stages but both had to stop with their engine computer units going faulty.
Fernando Alonso drove a very good race in the leading Ferrari despite the fact that it is no match for the front-runners as yet and did well to finish fourth.
Valtteri Bottas in the second Williams also gave us an excellent demonstration of what he is capable of. He had a puncture, went into the back of the field, and then fought his way back to fifth place.
Nico Hulkenberg was good all weekend and sixth position didn’t really show his capability.
Raikkonen in the other Ferrari was not quite up to Alonso’s pace and finished seventh.
The Russian Daniil Kvyat was very impressive during qualifying in the wet and also did well in the race. Together with Jean-Eric Vergne and Sergio Perez, they rounded out the top 10.
It was an interesting and exciting race and the ingredients are there for much more excitement to come in the races ahead.
The next race is in Malaysia a fortnight after this one.
Race: 1 Nico Rosberg 25; 2 Kevin Magnussen 18; 3 Jenson Button 15; 4 Fernando Alonso 12; 5 Valtteri Bottas 10; 6 Nico Hulkenberg 8; 7 Kimi Raikkonen 6; 8 Jean-Eric Vergne 4; 9 Daniil Kvyat 2; 10 Sergio Perez 1.
Constructors: 1 McLaren Mercedes 33; 2 Mercedes 25; 3 Ferrari 18; 4 Williams Mercedes 10; 5 Force India Mercedes 9; 6 Torro Rosso Renault 6.
