Finalllyyy after 11 car launches, weeks of testing, change in driver and management in various teams, the F1 bandwagon landed in Melbourne for the beginning of another season.. The last of the V8 era..
Practice Sessions:
As expected Red Bull topped the time sheets in FP1 and FP2 proving never to believe what testing shows us. Ferrari, Mercedes and Lotus looked good whereas McLaren were slower than expected showing us that its going to be a tough season for them.
Qualifying:
Qualifying day came and went but we didn't have our grid ready thanks to the heavy rain that flooded the circuit and resulted in Q2 and Q3 being postponed to Sunday morning.. And again Red Bull showed us their skill of hiding their best performance until the very last lap of qualy.. With improving conditions Vettel and Webber locked out the first row with Lewis, in a fast Merc behind them.. Massa outperformed his team mate Alonso to snatch 4th and Alosno behind him.. Behind them were Rosberg, Raikkonen, Grosjean, Di Resta and Button completing the Top 10 for the opening round of the 2013 season..
Race:
17.00 Melbourne time.. The world was ready to witness one of the best parts of a race.. The Start! The grid cleared Turn 1 without any mishap barring Hulkenburg who didn't start the race because of Fuel System issue. With Red Bulls at the front many expected them to run off at the front of the field but that wasn't the case. Webber had a bad start falling from 2nd to 7th. The Ferrari's looked mighty good giving Vettel a run for his money. Raikkonen showed us that Lotus was a handling well. Before the first set of pit-stops were done Hamilton and Rosberg were 1 and 2. Showing us that they have good pace...
Adrian Sutil in the Force India gave us good action leading the race till the 21st lap before he pit for the first time, starting in 12th with medium tires was the right choice made by the team.
At the half way mark we had 2 retirements in Maldonado who beached his car in the gravel at turn 1 and Rosberg with a electrical issue.
Raikkonen managed his tires well all throughout giving him a good chance to fight for the win later on.
With a few drops of rain spotted on a few areas of the track, the fans were kept on their toes if they could see a Wet finish to this race which could change the whole game altogether..
There were good battles between Alonso and Hamilton, Hamilton and Massa.. Webber had good pace later on in the race to overtake quite a few cars.
With 10 laps to go it was a battle between Raikkonen and Alonso for the win. This was surprising considering Red Bull's pace in qualifying. Lotus and Ferrari had more long runs in testing which helped them understand how the car performed under the stress of a race.
In the closing laps of the race, Hamilton closed up on Sutil in 5th.. A personal battle between them which was won this time by Hamilton. Sutil's stint on supersofts did not help him as he lost grip with 5 laps to go and lost places to Hamilton and Webber in a span of a few corners.
With the rain gods holding up and Alonso not having enough pace to catch up to Kimi, The Iceman went on to show us how good he is and continuing from where he left off last season, Raikkonen won the 2013 Australian Grand Prix in style.. Alonso finished in 2nd followed by Vettel..
Force India had a great start to their season with a double points finish.. Adrian showed us why he deserved his seat.. Lewis showed us he can perform well in his Mercedes.. Massa has improved greatly from last season..
The two Australian drivers had a disappointing outing with Webber finishing in 6th and Ricciardo retiring midway..
Biggest disappointment from the race were McLaren who finished in 9th and 11th.. They just didn't have any pace to show..
As for the back markers Caterham and Marussia, they had a good consistent race, more importantly they finished the race which was key to give them confidence for the season..
The rookies didn't make any costly mistakes and all of them finished their debut race which is by far the most important thing to do on your debut..
This was Kimi's 20th career win and 2nd for Team Lotus.. Last time Kimi won here he went on to become the champion.. So will it be a repeat this year.. We will have to wait and find out..
Australia might not have shown us the full picture for this season.. But it does tell us that Ferrari and Lotus have good race pace, Red Bull isn't as good as they are in qualifying.. McLaren have a lot to improve... Mercedes look good with their race pace and need to avoid mechanical issues..
See you all at Sepang in less than a week :)
Results:
Practice Sessions:
As expected Red Bull topped the time sheets in FP1 and FP2 proving never to believe what testing shows us. Ferrari, Mercedes and Lotus looked good whereas McLaren were slower than expected showing us that its going to be a tough season for them.
Qualifying:
Qualifying day came and went but we didn't have our grid ready thanks to the heavy rain that flooded the circuit and resulted in Q2 and Q3 being postponed to Sunday morning.. And again Red Bull showed us their skill of hiding their best performance until the very last lap of qualy.. With improving conditions Vettel and Webber locked out the first row with Lewis, in a fast Merc behind them.. Massa outperformed his team mate Alonso to snatch 4th and Alosno behind him.. Behind them were Rosberg, Raikkonen, Grosjean, Di Resta and Button completing the Top 10 for the opening round of the 2013 season..
Race:
17.00 Melbourne time.. The world was ready to witness one of the best parts of a race.. The Start! The grid cleared Turn 1 without any mishap barring Hulkenburg who didn't start the race because of Fuel System issue. With Red Bulls at the front many expected them to run off at the front of the field but that wasn't the case. Webber had a bad start falling from 2nd to 7th. The Ferrari's looked mighty good giving Vettel a run for his money. Raikkonen showed us that Lotus was a handling well. Before the first set of pit-stops were done Hamilton and Rosberg were 1 and 2. Showing us that they have good pace...
Adrian Sutil in the Force India gave us good action leading the race till the 21st lap before he pit for the first time, starting in 12th with medium tires was the right choice made by the team.
At the half way mark we had 2 retirements in Maldonado who beached his car in the gravel at turn 1 and Rosberg with a electrical issue.
Raikkonen managed his tires well all throughout giving him a good chance to fight for the win later on.
With a few drops of rain spotted on a few areas of the track, the fans were kept on their toes if they could see a Wet finish to this race which could change the whole game altogether..
There were good battles between Alonso and Hamilton, Hamilton and Massa.. Webber had good pace later on in the race to overtake quite a few cars.
With 10 laps to go it was a battle between Raikkonen and Alonso for the win. This was surprising considering Red Bull's pace in qualifying. Lotus and Ferrari had more long runs in testing which helped them understand how the car performed under the stress of a race.
In the closing laps of the race, Hamilton closed up on Sutil in 5th.. A personal battle between them which was won this time by Hamilton. Sutil's stint on supersofts did not help him as he lost grip with 5 laps to go and lost places to Hamilton and Webber in a span of a few corners.
With the rain gods holding up and Alonso not having enough pace to catch up to Kimi, The Iceman went on to show us how good he is and continuing from where he left off last season, Raikkonen won the 2013 Australian Grand Prix in style.. Alonso finished in 2nd followed by Vettel..
Force India had a great start to their season with a double points finish.. Adrian showed us why he deserved his seat.. Lewis showed us he can perform well in his Mercedes.. Massa has improved greatly from last season..
The two Australian drivers had a disappointing outing with Webber finishing in 6th and Ricciardo retiring midway..
Biggest disappointment from the race were McLaren who finished in 9th and 11th.. They just didn't have any pace to show..
As for the back markers Caterham and Marussia, they had a good consistent race, more importantly they finished the race which was key to give them confidence for the season..
The rookies didn't make any costly mistakes and all of them finished their debut race which is by far the most important thing to do on your debut..
This was Kimi's 20th career win and 2nd for Team Lotus.. Last time Kimi won here he went on to become the champion.. So will it be a repeat this year.. We will have to wait and find out..
Australia might not have shown us the full picture for this season.. But it does tell us that Ferrari and Lotus have good race pace, Red Bull isn't as good as they are in qualifying.. McLaren have a lot to improve... Mercedes look good with their race pace and need to avoid mechanical issues..
See you all at Sepang in less than a week :)
Results:
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