Nico Rosberg battles the elements in Q1 this morning. Q2 and Q3 were postponed.
Conor Bates | Sports Editor
For the week that’s in it, you would be forgiven for forgetting that there are other types of racing, than the equine variety. While the Gold Cup took centre stage yesterday, this weekend heralds in the beginning of a new season in the fastest motorsport in the world. The new F1 season has started with a bang, as it always does. If you’re an F1 (or just a motorsport fan) then you might want to check out these v8 supercar holidays by Mates’ Escapes to actually be at the Australian GP next year!
The latest instalment of the Formula 1 World Championship kicks off at the rather unsavoury time of 6 a.m. on Sunday morning, but for fans, this is a ritual worth waking up for. Melbourne is the traditional home of the season’s opening, and the drivers have already completed their initial practices out on the Albert Park circuit. A rain affected qualifying session this morning, however, means that Q2 and Q3 have been delayed until tomorrow morning. After a number of cars siding off in the early hours of this morning, marshals postponed racing on safety grounds.
In uncontroversial fashion, though, it was reigning champion Sebastian Vettel who set the early pace in his Red Bull car on Friday. While this is one of the most un-shocking pieces of information you will hear all day, the off-season that has led us to this point has been rife with spectacle and intrigue.
For a start, take the Australian Grand Prix. Leaked documents showed that the Australian authorities have had to pay a greater cost than rival GPs in order to secure a race for this season. This money has gone to Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone (boo-hiss), who continues to alienate fans in traditional racing countries (mostly European), by taking away their races and moving them to countries where he sees more potential for improving the F1’s bottom line, such as India, South Korea and China. (In China, so few people cared about F1 that fans were allegedly paid to attend the race weekend). In terms of the financial arms race of F1, Ecclestone is the only real winner, and hopefully the leaking of this sensitive information will help maintain the security of stalwart Grand Prixes over the next few years.
Closer to the track, there were a number of big talking points, none more so than Lewis Hamilton’s move from McLaren Mercedes, to Mercedes’ second team. Hamilton undertook this action by choice, claiming that the current Mercedes model was closer in style to the car with which he won the World Championship. This move seems to have paid off, as McLaren are reporting very slow times in Melbourne, while Hamilton was travelling quite nicely in Australia. He appears to found rhythm with his engine, after overcoming a major initial kink: a head-first collision with a wall at testing circuit Jerez, in Spain. Conversely, McLaren appear to be way off the pace. Jenson Button voiced his discontent earlier this morning, citing massive problems with the ride of the car. It may not bode too well for McLaren this year, and having taken a risk on Sergio Perez as their second driver, their year may be over before it really begins.
Only eleven teams take the grid this year, with Spanish outfit Hispania Racing unable to meet the costs of another season. At the no-hoper end of the grid, Marussia let go of both drivers in the off-season, replacing them with rookies Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton. Marussia, here, are failing to realise that it isn’t the drivers holding them back, their Cosworth engine is unimaginably sub-standard. Malaysian team, Caterham Racing, have performed the same disappearing driver act, but have foolishly parted company with the experienced Vitaly Petrov and Heikki Kovaleinen, in favour of Marussia’s sloppy-seconds, Charles Pic, and rookie Giedo van der Garde. Toro Rosso and Force India have made few changes in terms of car specifications, and only Force India replaced Nico Hulkenburg with Adrian Sutil. Expect another year of low finishes from both teams.
Moving into the mid-table area, big names have moved around a lot. Bruno Senna was released by storied F1 franchise Williams, after they realised that he was not his uncle, Ayrton (technically, not even in name; he was just being exceptionally cheeky). Valtteri Bottas will join Pastor Maldonado, a winner last year, for this season. Hulkenberg found his way to Sauber, where he joined up with test driver Esteban Gutierrez for the new season. In one of the more questionable moves of the 16 week break, was the dropping of Kamui Kobayashi from the Sauber ranks. Kobayashi is one of the most talented, and unbelievably underrated drivers in recent F1 history, and his exclusion from this year’s campaign has surprised the racing community.
Obviously, the aforementioned Hamilton move is the most significant, and undoubtedly all eyes will be on the Mercedes driver. Mercedes, of course, freed up Hamilton’s spot when Michael Schumacher retired, and the former World Champion will be under the scrutiny of the F1 diaspora for the foreseeable future. Lotus Racing’s Kimi Raikkonen will also be kept under close watch this year, to see if he can recapture his last season’s magic. A great third place finish carried the entire Lotus team last year, and expect the pressure to be back on the Finn’s shoulders again.
At the top of the pile, McLaren are performing the worst, as already mentioned. With an uninspiring car, don’t expect any fireworks from the British team. Ferrari have retained last year’s runner-up, Fernando Alonso, and the perennially average Felipe Massa for this campaign. If Massa can improve his performances and complement two-time champ Alonso’s grittily finessed style, Ferrari could challenge for top spot this year. To do that they will have to beat Red Bull.
No doubt, hands down, the favourites. Mark Webber turns in a number of good performances a year which contribute to Red Bull’s Constructor’s Championship charge. Unequivocally however, fans look to Sebastian Vettel to lead the way once more. The best driver of his generation, and now entering the best driver ever conversation, Vettel has mesmerised, competitors and admirers with his racing panache, and secured the last three Formula 1 Championships. A good car, a great driver, surely unstoppable.
Speculation is just that, however. Formula 1 is a sport of split-seconds and millimetre gaps. Anything can happen, something will. We’ll find out with the first race tomorrow. As Murray Walker famously said; “when the lights go out, the race begins.”
