F1 2014 Australian GP Thread - Spoilers of Practice/Qualifying & Race - Sponsored by the RAC in a combined effort with Green Flag

[Fernando]

First topic message reminder :

he so-long awaited F1 season of 2014 will be underway on Friday, when the 22 drivers, and their testing team-mates, start the V6 turbocharged engines for the first time this year in a Grand Prix venue. The first stop is Melbourne, for the 2014 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix.

A lot of changes came to place during the pre-season, from drivers to regulations, going through a ‘green revolution’ in F1. Starting with the engines, the 2.4-litre V8s were replaced by a less-consuming option, the single turbocharged 1.6-litre V6 engines. To add to this, the energy-recovery systems were also improved and the ‘turbos’ are back almost three decades later to F1 racing.

Still according to ‘greener’ resolutions, a fuel limit was imposed to teams, obliging them to start each race with only 100kgs of fuel in the tank, around 60kgs less comparing to 2013. Amongst many other changes, the cars’ nose height was lowered (which caused the birth of an ‘ugly-nose’ generation), in order to avoid lift-offs in accidents.

2013 Rolex Australian Grand Prix statistics
Pole position: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull 1:27.407

Fastest lap: Kimi Räikkönen, Lotus 1:29.274

First place: Kimi Räikkönen, Lotus

Second place: Fernando Alonso, Ferrari

Third place: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull

The ‘double point final race’ regulation was probably the most controversial of the pre-season, but was validated by FIA, and a new track was added to the 2014 calendar, with the Russian GP taking place in the 12th October. Austria returns to the ‘circus’ after the historical A1 Ring was renamed and rebuilt by Red Bull. The Austrian GP will be held on the 22nd June. The two venues replace the Indian and Korean GPs.

The big changes continued with the re-establishment of driver-chosen numbers to feature in the racing cars and a real revolution took place in the driver seats. Kimi Räikkönen made an exciting return to Ferrari from Lotus, replacing Felipe Massa, who joined Williams. There was an ‘Aussie’ switch in Red Bull, with Daniel Ricciardo moving from Toro Rosso to take Mark Webber’s seat, left vacant after the retirement of the veteran driver. Three rookies joined the F1, namely Kevin Magnussen (McLaren), Daniil Kvyat (Toro Rosso) and Marcus Ericsson (Caterham). To sum up, only two teams – Mercedes and Marussia – retained their 2013 driver pairing.

With all this exciting news, the 2014 season kicks-off in Australia, and boy we’re excited. One of the main reasons is the apparent collapse of Red Bull’s total domination, given the pre-season test results, in which the Austrian team struggled. This opens a window of opportunity for the likes of Mercedes, Williams and Ferrari, who seemed quick in the first tests featuring the 2014 car regulations.

Melbourne will be the first real test to the 11 teams and 22 drivers and will give the fans the opportunity to decide who to cheer for in 2014. Sebastian Vettel will surely be a contender, even if Red Bull may be underperforming, but some new names will join the World Champion and Ferrari’s all-star line-up in the race for the Drivers Championship.

With 58 laps to race in this venue, spread along more than 307km of road, Albert Park has been the home for F1 kick-offs and iconic moments since 1996 (except for 2006). Mark Webber was amongst those who made their impressive F1 debuts in Melbourne, with the Aussie driver finishing the 2001 race in 5th place.

On a slippery track with reduced overtaking spots and bumpy braking points as Melbourne, the rookies Magnussen, Kvyat and Ericsson will have to test themselves while avoiding the track’s walls in order to try to repeat Webber’s feat in 2001. At the same time, Pirelli will have to finish their tyre compound developments during this week and struggling teams like Red Bull and Lotus need to sort out their machines’ problems by next Saturday’s qualifying sessions.

The first media, organisations and teams’ reports state that the 2014 season has everything to be one of the most exciting of the last two decades. With the veterans Räikkönen, Button and Massa, adding to the everlasting contenders Alonso and Hamilton, fighting for glory, will this be their season? Will there be any surprises from the rookies, especially from McLaren’s Magnussen? And what will be the 4-time World Champion’s reaction to their title hopes? The only way to find out the first indicators is to tune in to the F1 2014 season starter, in Melbourne. The race takes place on Sunday, 16th March at 1700hrs local time (0600 GMT).

Did you know?

Jenson Button (McLaren) is the driver with most victories in Melbourne (3) on the current F1 roster and Kimi Räikkönen, the 2013 winner, is second, with two victories. Michael Schumacher holds the track’s fastest lap record (1:24.125).

The Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo will make his Red Bull debut in front of his home fans.

Marcus Ericsson is the first F1 Swedish driver lining-up for a GP in 23 years, after Stefan Johansson retired in 1991. The most successful Swede was the late Ronnie Peterson, with 10 wins, 26 podiums and a total of 206 points. Ericsson will be the 10th Swedish driver in F1.

Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) and Jenson Button (McLaren), both 34, are the oldest drivers in the 2014 roster. The Toro Rosso teenager Daniil Kvyat (19) is the youngest.

Sebastian Vettel starts the 2014 Australian GP as the most victorious driver, with 39 race wins. Fernando Alonso is second, with 32, but still leads the all-time points table (1606), against Vettel’s 1451.

Turbocharged engines will be back to F1 since 1988.

The first ever Russian GP will be held in a totally new street circuit, located in Sochi Olympic Park.

The Magny-Cours French GP almost made it back to F1 in 2014, after an agreement with Bernie Ecclestone was reached, but the deal ultimately collapsed.

Australia is the only country to have hosted two consecutive F1 races – the final round of the 1995 season (in Adelaide) and the 1996 season-opener (in Melbourne).

Source: RaceDepartment.com

[CaledonianCraig]

Daniel Ricciardo has been DQ'd for exceeding 100kg fuel limit.

Unfortunate for him after such a big race and really makes this a nightmare start for Red Bull.

[Guest]

McLaren double podium finish then. Disappointing for Ricciardo at his home race. Wouldn't say its a nightmare start for RB, they now know they are quick & can do race runs without failure or overheating as Ricciardo proved. Think there is still a lot of positives for RB, seeing as two weeks ago they were in a mess.

[CaledonianCraig]

Yes I should rephrase that - disaster for Ricciardo at his home race after getting his first podium. I did say Red Bull had time to rectify their problems a week or two ago and they have rectified a lot of them.

[GSC]

Mercedes are in a class of their own right now, but ultimately still vulnerable.

RB and McLaren are still quick mind. Impressive debut from Ricciardo

I was waiting for something but it seems Ferrari arent up to it yet.

If Magnusson can keep this up, dumping Perez looks very smart.

An opportunity for Hamilton to push the lead passes by, for Vettel to lose no ground on him will be a victory for the German at this stage.

[GSC]

RBs appeal ongoing, seems they changed the flow meter on Saturday

[sportform]

Conspiracy theory...

Are we in for a season is which Hamilton has problem after problem as Mercedes strive to win the titlw with a German driver? After all they did get rid of Button so they could have two German drivers. Did they just sign Hamilton for commerciality?

[GSC]

Button went to McLaren iirc, wasn't a case of him being dumped I think

[CaledonianCraig]

Mercedes look sure to be the team to beat this year if they can get decent reliability. However, the Williams look to have serious pace and could be well-placed to pick up race wins if Mercedes reliability fails. Bottas finished 6th (before Ricciardo's disqualification) and this after starting 15th on the grid and losing a lot of time after getting a puncture. Without that I am sure he would have sealed a podium finish - that is impressive from starting 15th.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

So its now been turned into a fuel conserving race

Brilliant

[dyrewolfe]

So its now been turned into a fuel conserving race

Brilliant

In fairness, fuel conservation has been an important part of F1 since re-fuelling was done away with, as teams have tended to use the absolute bare minimum. Remember those radio messages telling drivers to go into fuel-saving mode, so they could reach the end of races / have enough left to pass scrutineering?

This season its just that bit more significant, as there is a set limit, though the smaller engines should hopefully make it less of a problem. Ricciardo's problem appears to have been due to technical issues, as the tighter restrictions mean they need to measure flow rate and stuff like that, to make sure they're compliant. Looks like a faulty component meant they measured the fuel wrongly - or something like that.

Gutted for Ricciardo, but hopefully he'll have other opportunities to finish on the podium. Given the car's performance and his ability, I'd be amazed if he doesn't finish the season with a few bits of silverware.

[GSC]

Teams were underfuelling cars anyway.

[GSC]

Few tidbits

Good time to be a McLaren fan, wait all season for a podium then 2 at once. Dumping Perez looks a masterstroke.

Seems Renault are on track to close the deficit in performance by Spain

[sportform]

It will be interesting to see how fast the Williams are in comparison to the Mercedes and the rest of those at the front. Bottas looked very quick and may have finished on the podium if he hadn't hit the wall and Massa didn't even get a lap in.

[Guest]

Dumping Perez looks a masterstroke.

Seems Renault are on track to close the deficit in performance by Spain

Extremely harsh on Perez. He was given an absolute dog of a car last season in his first year at McLaren. Magnussen's been deeply involved within the McLaren set-up for years, had significant simulator work & has now been given a good solid car to drive. His arrival is similar to Hamilton's in many ways. F1 is all about timing & luck, Magnussen has joined F1 at exactly the right time, Perez joined McLaren at the complete wrong time. Same with Hulkenberg, he's been hugely unlucky & it's held him back for years.

Renault can improve the engine & attempt to close the deficit but do you really think Mercedes are going to stand still in terms of development? Once the Mercedes power unit is upgraded it will be going to the works team, that will be a huge advantage. Nobody at Mercedes will want Honda engineers seeing the design changes or improvement they've made to the engine.

[dyrewolfe]

I have a feeling Honda will be quite happy to do their own thing. They have a track record in the sport and have generally been pretty good at powertrain development, without needing to look at other companies' designs. Especially considering they've been building and selling hybrid road cars for a good few years now.

In the meantime I hope McLaren, Williams and the others can figure out their own engine tweaks, so they aren't left too far behind.

[Hulking_up]

When's the appeal?

[Fernando]

April 14th

[Hulking_up]

Is there 2 races inbetween then?

[Fernando]

I believe it's just before the Chinese GP

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