Australian GP 2014

[TheIcefan]

New faces on the Podium, not the normal world champions that we see. Is it a game changer and whether this will set the pace for the season? Terrible race from both Hamilton and Vettel, hopefully they will recover from this. Still very early in the season to determine anything but definitely an exciting start to the season. Personally, I really hope that Ferrari sort out their problems so that both Kimi and Alonso will have a fighting chance. Ferrari stated that they had a electrical problems in both cars?

[lkjohnson1950]

Ricciardo and Magnusson were sensational. If this was an indication of true ability and not a fluke, they will push their team leaders hard this year. It's good that Ric's and the Toro Rossos ran well for Renault. Steve Matchett said Renault is having so many software problems they have asked the RB IT people for help. They can't coordinate the the main engine and the 2 ERS systems properly. Merc obviously has a huge advantage at the moment, but the McLaren and the Williams looked quite promising. Bottas was excellent, apart from grazing the wall and recovered beautifully, coming right through the field. I will agree with Cos, they don't sound good, but I preferred the sounds of the '70s engines to the last crop of V8s anyway. I also agree with John that I liked that the cars looked quite twitchy and difficult to drive. I'll take that over cool sounds any day.

[Scott]

Couldn't agree more about Mag & Ric.  Bottas was certainly my race hero, wonder what Massa would have had today.  One RBR performed perfectly, and I was glad to see nobody ran out of fuel.  The cars were pretty twitchy, but The Melbourne track desperately needs new asphalt.  We'll see how they are in Malaysia.   

No Zeroes after Kamikazi Kobi's first turn move.

I hope Ferrari ups their game pretty soon, and I bet Ron is pleased to leave Melbourne with Mclaren in 1st place.

[lkjohnson1950]

Kamui had such a huge lockup, I suspect another problem with the brake by wire system. It was very lucky only 3 cars were involved and only 2 out.

[Scott]

Oh no, Ricciardo is being investigated for his car exceeding fuel flow limits ...

[Scott]

Kamui had such a huge lockup, I suspect another problem with the brake by wire system. It was very lucky only 3 cars were involved and only 2 out.

Latest is apparently rear brakes malfunctioned, which would explain the front lockup but still carrying so much speed even after the impact.

[John S]

Kamui has been cleared of blame by the Stewards, they say 'incident caused by serious technical failure outside the control of the driver'.

[TheIcefan]

I agree about Mag and Bottas. At one point I thought that Bottas could contend for the podium until he grazed the wall out on exit 10 and broke a wheel. I wondered how Massa would have performed if he didn't get hit. Williams are definitely one to watch out for, they managed to get a good car package. Bottas alone indicates that they are going to be strong contenders this season. Lets see what happens in Malaysia. Regarding Ricciardo, I think he deserves his 2nd place and hope he wont get stripped of it.

[Scott]

Almost 5hrs after the race and still no announcement.  The meters were apparently already found to be faulty, but seems RBR also changed theirs out during parc ferme.  They may have thought they could change something like that since it was simply an FIA sensor and had nothing to do with the race car's performance.

[cosworth151]

It was a great day for #2 drivers. Rosberg, Bottas, Mag, Ricciardo. I was greatly impressed by Bottas. Many drivers have brushed a wall much harder than he did without ill effect. After the incident, he kept his head about him and climbed right back up through the field. It bodes well for Williams, too. I'm looking forward to seeing what Massa can do with it.

As for the cars, they proved to be every bit the bland, ugly, horrible sounding, fragile little klunkers that I had feared.

The downgrade to on-line Timing & Scoring is horrible. From what I've heard from Wizzo and a few others, the T&S pay app is trash, too.

[Scott]

It's official...Ricciardo has been DQ'd.   

http://www.planet-f1.com/driver/3213/9217066/FIA-explanation-for-Riccardo-exclusion

RBR is launching an appeal.  From their website:

'Following the decision of the FIA that Infiniti Red Bull Racing is in breach of Article 3.2 of the FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations and Article 5.1.4 of the FIA Formula One Technical Regulations with Car 3, the Team has notified the FIA of its intention to appeal with immediate effect.
Inconsistencies with the FIA fuel flow meter have been prevalent all weekend up and down the pit lane. The Team and Renault are confident the fuel supplied to the engine is in full compliance with the regulations.'

Expect riots in Melbourne tonight, and the FIA should hire security or get the heck out of the country on the next flight.

[batman01]

Absolutely fantastic by Mag, a future champion? Massa very unlucky, and unbelievably disappointing for Ricciardo.

[J.Clark]

While rules are rules, it is sad.  He had such an outstanding run.  RB should take away that they are not in as much trouble as they had been perceived to be in following testing.
 
Bottas - in a word, WOW
It is too bad that Kamui took Felipe out.  I didn't notice what position he was in, but it did appear he had a good start and had gained a couple of positions before getting hit.  He may well have ended up on the podium, or even winning.  The pace Bottas showed the car had, Massa would have been up there pushing Rosberg by the end of the race I believe.

Alonso did well for Ferrari while Kimi struggled.  He was obviously not a happy camper at the end.  He was quite short with a reporter and turned away, more or less during the interview.

I am not too terribly unhappy for Lewis or Seb, as I don't particularly like either.  I would rather see them beaten on track though, which may still have happened had they not been garaged by the team.  I figure Merc will have Lewis' car back to peak by Malaysia and the same probably for Vettel's.  I imagine Webber was thinking, "how fitting" that Seb has a car with the gremlins that plagued Mark all of the time.

Looking forward to Malaysia and hoping for a dry weekend to see what the cars can really do in good conditions.  I don't like, and will not ever get to liking the sound of the V-6; although, I must admit that the performance level is there and watching the drivers have to actually drive the car well or suffer the consequences is refreshing.

On a closing note, Ron Dennis must be almost ecstatic, even though his cars were far from the fastest.

[lkjohnson1950]

Apparently the fuel flow was an on going issue between the FIA and RB. Here is the FIA's official statement:

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/03/16/stewards-detail-reasons-ricciardos-disqualification/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+f1fanatic+%28F1+Fanatic+-+The+Formula+1+Blog%29

[Scott]

Yeah, PlanetF1 had the same statement I posted below...seems the boys at RBR also never imagined Ric would be on the podium, so they took a bit too much liberty and chose their own path, against the will of the mighty FIA.  I am surprised that they received warnings during the race that they ignored, especially if they could have modified the fuel flow from the pit wall.  Bit arrogant stand to take, isn't it?  Ignoring race control warnings won't get you any brownie points in the stewards room after the race.

Really too bad for Daniel.  I can't imagine he had any idea what was going on behind the scenes, so he is a victim of his own team.  Conspiracy theorists would say RBR planned it as a self destruct bomb in case Vettel couldn't catch Ricciardo.  Not me, I said conspiracy theorists... 

...mind you, perhaps he wouldn't have been on the podium without a bit of extra fuel flow