Formula One Australian Grand Prix: Hamilton on top Down Under

By William Herrera March 16,2015

australia-gp-2015-2The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One team started their 2015 campaign the way they ended the 2014 season, by winning in convincing fashion and leaving the rest of the grid to battle it out for the remaining points.

 

Lewis Hamilton began his title defense on Saturday by pipping his teammate Nico Rosberg for pole position in Albert Park. Felipe Massa in his FW30 made a gallant lunge to take 3rd on the grid behind the two Silver Arrows. Sebastian Vettel, now driving for Ferrari, settled for 4th while Kimi Raikkonen took 5th and Valterri Bottas slotted in 6th. Aussie native Daniel Ricciardo took a problematic RB11 to 7th, and rookie Carlos Sainz Jr. amazed everyone by claiming 8th ahead of the Lotus cars of Grosjean and Maldonado, who rounded up the top 10. Sainz is the son of the legendary double World Rally Champion driver.

 

As the lights went off at Albert Park, Hamilton slammed his foot down to lead the field into turn 1. Closely following him was Rosberg. In the midfield, Raikkonen got tangled with Maldonado. Kimi drove on but Pastor ended in the wall, with his Lotus parked near turn 3. The safety car was deployed as the marshals cleared the track. In all the melee, rookies Carlos Sainz Jr. and Felipe Nasr climbed up the standings. Nasr even caught Carlos off guard on the re-start and jumped the Spaniard on lap 4.

 

The Mercedes domination was very evident. On Lap 5, Hamilton had a 2.3 second gap to Rosberg, while Massa was 1.4 seconds adrift of the German. Vettel was playing catch up and was 0.6 seconds behind the Brazilian.

 

Kimi Raikkonen who was gallantly driving the wheels off the Ferrari was hounding Ricciardo and Nasr, with the SF-15T seemingly having better straight-line speed than the RB11. But Nasr in his Sauber was also driving brilliantly and was able to hold off the Finn.

 

At the first round of stops, Raikkonen, who was looking at getting on the podium, got bogged down by a prolonged pit stop, spending nearly 9 seconds stationary and dropping him further down. Kimi had to do it all over again. As the rest of the field came in for their scheduled stops, Hamilton and Rosberg put in some fast laps, and on Lap 26, Lewis came in for a change of Pirellis and a lap later Nico had his.

 

Hamilton remained in P1, despite the faster stop of Rosberg. Lewis was just in the zone.  Fans in the grandstands could sense that this race is his and only a freak accident or an engine failure will derail him from claiming the maximum 25 points.

 

Midway into the race, both Mercedes were exchanging fastest lap times. Also, Kimi was in a tight battle with Massa. The Finn was driving so well that he could well challenge for the last spot on the podium. The Ferrari may not have the outright pace but it surely was reliable.

 

Lap 33 saw a Toro Rosso come to a standstill. Smoke was coming out of the engine of Verstappen’s car, and the Dutchman had to park it before he made it back to the pits. Max was driving exceptionally well, and, coming to a halt in his first race was never in the plans.

 

As the race wore on, it seemed that Rosberg was lining up a charge against Hamilton, the two were again exchanging fast lap times, but at about lap 38, a call came in reminding Nico to save fuel. Guess the challenge was never going to happen, then.

 

Lap 41 saw Kimi head to the pits for a tire change. He was well within striking distance of both Nasr and Ricciardo, but as the Ferrari went out, the left rear tire man was frantically waving his arms to signal Kimi not to proceed. Unfortuantely, Kimi was already out of the pit lane and by turn 4 his Ferrari ground to a halt. An ill-fitting left rear was the culprit.

 

australia-gp-2015Nearing the end of the 58 lap race, Hamilton was so far up front that he could coast to the flag, Rosberg was dutifully laying back to ensure a Mercedes 1-2. Sebastian Vettel claimed third and along with it his first points for the Scuderia. Rookies Marcus Ericsson and Carlos Sainz Jr. took 8th and 9th respectively and, their first points of the year but Felipe Nasr got the best result amongst the rookie class. He held on to cross the line in 5th behind countryman and namesake, Felipe Massa. Daniel Ricciardo took only 6th to the dismay of the Albert Park faithful.

 

Both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were simply untouchable in Melbourne. The World Champions were just so far ahead of everyone else. No one at the moment has the package that Mercedes has.

 

The last time Lewis Hamilton won in Albert Park was in 2008, which coincidentally, was the year he won his first World Drivers Championship. Will he lift his 3rd World Drivers Championship this year? From all indications, the answer is a definite yes.

 

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