Formula 1 2015 - A Strange Start

Yesterday the 2015 Formula 1 season started, and was won, surprise surprise, by Mercedes, with Lewis Hamilton leading home Nico Rosberg for a 1-2 finish for the team. However, only 15 cars started the race, 13 were running after lap one and only 11 actually reached the finish. Events prior to the lights going out had already cast a shadow over the weekend, so what exactly went wrong, and what did go right?

Sauber vs Giedo

The biggest talking point of the whole weekend was Giedo Van Der Garde's court case against Sauber. To cut a long story short, Giedo had a race contract for 2015 but Sauber didn't uphold it and signed Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr for 2015 instead. Courts in Switzerland and Australia ruled in Giedo's favor, but in the end he gave up his right to race this weekend, although talks with Sauber are set to continue leading up to Malaysia. This made the start to the season a bit of a sour one, as it further showed to the world that Formula 1 isn't in the best of shapes right now, with the financial struggles of some of the teams already being well known. Sauber though did respond in brilliant form, as Nasr took a brilliant 5th place and Ericsson silenced a few of the 'pay driver' critics by taking a solid 8th place, Sauber's first points since Brazil 2013 and first double points finish since Japan that same year. It started badly for the team, but they proved to the fans that they have a solid car, solid drivers and are in for a much better season in 2015.

Ferrari vs Williams

A more positive story during the weekend was the resurgence of Ferrari and its two drivers, Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen and the fact that Williams have maintained their place among the 'big boys' and are really back where they belong, at the front. Raikkonens race ended early thanks to Ferrari not attaching his rear left tire properly at his second pit stop, but Vettel enjoyed a great battle with Felipe Massa, holding off the Williams to take thrid place on his Ferrari debut. Valtteri Bottas sadly couldn't race for Williams due to sustaining back pain in qualifying, although he should be back for Malaysia, along with McLarens Fernando Alonso. It looks like the fight for runner up in 2015 could well be Ferrari and Williams. Isn't it great to see those two teams back at the front and fighting for the podium again?

Manor's (sort of) comeback

Another feel good tale from the weekend was the return of Manor, the former Marussia team, to the F1 grid, with Will Stevens and Roberto Merhri being signed up as the teams drivers and the team running an updated MR03 chassis and 2014 Ferrari engines. However, due to their software for the cars being wiped in anticipation of the computers going up for auction by the administrators, the team never even fired the cars up, although they very nearly finished all the work, John Booth later said after qualifying had taken place  "We had almost no time to fix the racks and electronics and get all those infrastructures built that are required. We are though in a massively different place now to where we were at the start of the week," Booth said. 

"We actually have functioning racks now, we can talk to the cars. Even the information on the pitwall is working now. Booth said he had no doubt that Manor will be able to run from the start of the Malaysian GP weekend later this month. The team did end up in a bit of hot water with the FIA, due to them not running, although the FIA didn't punish them as they understood the difficulties they faced in running, the teams revival being at the 11th hour when all seemed lost. So whilst it wasn't a great return for the team, they are back in Formula 1 and expected to make a full racing return in Malaysia.

McLaren's struggles

Kevin Magnussen's McLaren failed on the way to the grid and Jenson Button finished the race two laps down. This came after the team qualified on the back row of the grid. Whilst it was a dismal performance for McLaren and Honda, there are (incredibly) some positives that can be taken from the weekend. The car still felt driveable according to Kevin and Jenson, and the team completed a full race distance for the first time. For McLaren, that is big progress. 

The performance right now isn't really acceptable for a team that should be up front and winning world titles, with the team scoring 2 podiums in the past two years. However, I still think that once this partnership with Honda is working as it should be, McLaren will be back. They have two great drivers in Button and Fernando Alonso (who will be back in Malaysia) and what appears to be a very good chassis in the MP4-30. Things look bleak now, but McLaren will be back. Its just a question of when they will be back...

The rest of the pack

Lotus had a miserable race. Despite qualifying 9th and 10th, both cars retired within one lap, Pastor Maldonado taken out just after turn one by Felipe Nasr, and Romain Grosjean retiring at the end of the lap with an ERS failure. However, the team have a much better car this year, and expect the E23 to continue to perform well in Malaysia, where hopefully the team bag a good handful of points.

Toro Rosso's young charges had a good race, Carlos Sainz finishing in 9th place despite an issue with the rear left during the pit stops, and Max Verstappen running in the points and impressing even more until he retired with a technical problem. The STR10 is clearly a good car, and I am expecting great things to come from the team as the year goes on.

Despite its late start to the year, Force India achieved a double points finish, with Nico Hulkenburg finishing 7th and Sergio Perez 10th, after a good battle with Button early on, and after a spin due to contact with the McLaren. Those points probably wouldn't have gone Force Indias way had 20 cars been running at the start, but the team will no doubt take this result, as after expecting nothing they left Melbourne with seven points on the board.

The less said about Red Bulls race the better. Danill Kvyat didn't even start the race due to a gearbox issue and Daniel Ricciardo finished a lonely and lapped 6th after a dismal weekend for the team. The RB11 chassis is good enough, but Renault are continuing to produce an awful power unit, which is starting to really irritate the Red Bull team. With new threats of an exit from the sport, Red Bull will be hoping Renault get their act together and produce a decent power unit, to get them back into the mix with Ferrari and Williams.

And that is that, the first race of the season over. After only 15 cars and 11 finished it is easy to criticize the costs of the sport again, and whilst that is still an issue, it wasn't costs that lowered the numbers on race day. One team had three drivers for its two cars, another two cars broke down before the race had even begun, one Williams didn't start due to its driver having back issues, two more retired after lap one and two never even ran during the whole weekend thanks to a last minute revival. It wasn't acceptable what happened in Australia, but the chances are it won't happen again.

What will inevitably happen in Malaysia is that Manor will run and race, both Williams will run, Alonso and Button will both make the start and we will still have twenty cars running at the end of the first lap. It wasn't an incredibly exciting race and it wasn't made up for in quantity. But the sport will move on, Red Bulls threats of leaving will die down and we will probably enjoy an absolute treat next time out in Malaysia. Although, this being Formula 1, that may not happen! Until next time folks, ciao.