Race – Australia: Rosberg and Mercedes came from behind to win!

The new qualification system, much criticized by both the paddock and the public and abandoned as quickly as it was adopted, had nonetheless delivered a verdict the day before: the Mercedes cars, driven by Hamilton and Rosberg, once again outpaced the Ferraris of Vettel and Räikkönen. However, the Scuderia wasn’t able to fully deliver its potential in qualifying and had focused more on its race pace this winter than on sheer speed. Could this promise a closer fight than in 2015? We’ll see. In the worst-case scenario, the attractions of the race would be Bottas (only 11th), Kvyat (only 18th), or Romain Grosjean (only 19th). There was still suspense around the strategies, as the teams had done little running in a weekend that nevertheless saw the introduction of the new tire regulations – three choices of compounds available instead of two. So, thriller or bis repetita?

The weather is perfect in Melbourne. It’s warmer than the previous day, which should benefit the Ferraris that struggled to heat the super soft tires. The drivers are heading to the grid… except for Daniil Kvyat who stalls just before his spot. There will therefore be an additional warm-up lap for the drivers. Like last year, the Russian couldn’t start as he should: the koala curse, no doubt. The Red Bull is slow to return to the pit lane as the drivers arrive again for the start. Kvyat hurries to rejoin his Red Bull… but an electrical problem definitively prevents him from joining his teammates.

The start is given… and the Ferraris take the lead! Vettel and Räikkönen lead the race! Hamilton has dropped to sixth place. Sensational start in Melbourne! Hamilton and Rosberg experienced clutch issues and even collided in the first corner, benefiting the Reds. Suffering from a puncture, Kevin Magnussen must return to the pits. Further back in the pack, Esteban Gutierrez is experiencing engine problems with his Haas-Ferrari and is running slowly.

LAP 1/57: Incredible start for Ferrari as Vettel takes P1 and Räikkönen claims P2 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/Za4MNDOMjf

— Formula 1 (@F1) 20 mars 2016

Behind Felipe Massa, relegated to sixth place, Lewis Hamilton is stuck in the pack. Nevertheless, he manages to overtake the Brazilian by the fourth lap. It’s known that the Mercedes struggles to perform well when closely following another car. Meanwhile, Vettel begins to widen the gap and sets the fastest lap in the race. Remarkably fourth, Max Verstappen closely follows Nico Rosberg. The Mercedes cars are down and out at the start of this Grand Prix!

After five laps, the top 10 is as follows: Vettel, Räikkönen, Rosberg, Verstappen, Hamilton, Massa, Sainz, Ricciardo, Hülkenberg, Alonso.

Behind the flawlessly tuned chassis of Verstappen’s Toro Rosso, Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes experiences significant aerodynamic disruption. The Englishman continues to lose time on the leaders. “I’m not going to be able to overtake Verstappen,” he admits over the radio, and he is increasingly wearing down his super-soft tires. Nico Rosberg is also struggling with Kimi Räikkönen, much to the delight of Sebastian Vettel, who continues his solo lead at the front.

Carlos Sainz, who was hindered by Felipe Massa, is the first to return to the pits. The Paulista is struggling with his supersoft tires and has to let Daniel Ricciardo pass. The Williams chassis is not meeting expectations at the start of the season. Further back in the pack, it was worth noting the strong performances of the McLarens – Alonso 9th, Button 11th – and Pascal Wehrlein, a solid 14th in his modest Manor.

First among the leaders to stop, Rosberg enters the pits on the thirteenth lap. The German is attempting the undercut on Kimi Räikkönen. As Nico Hülkenberg’s Force India roars in, Nico Rosberg manages to stay ahead of his compatriot in extremis. On the radio, Lewis Hamilton also expresses a desire to change strategy to get past Max Verstappen. But he’s advised to extend his first stint instead, to avoid rejoining in the pack.

Vettel stops on the fourteenth lap… to switch to super-softs! The Scuderia, having saved a set of super-soft tires during qualifying, decides to play a particularly aggressive card. However, Nico Rosberg gained a lot of time on his out lap and comes out just behind Vettel. The race is completely reignited. Ferrari was right not to stop Kimi Räikkönen first – truly sacrificed. The Finn would have been beaten anyway as the Mercedes was so fast on new soft tires.

LAP 14/57: Vettel follows Rosberg into the pits – and emerges in front of his rival…but only just #AusGP #F1IsBack pic.twitter.com/kPqIwLZqFd

— Formula 1 (@F1) 20 mars 2016

Lewis Hamilton still hasn’t changed tires and has to yield to Sebastian Vettel on new super softs. The triple world champion is in agony with his worn super softs… but doesn’t open the door to his teammate, who is on a different strategy! The German lost a few seconds behind his own teammate. While Räikkönen switches back to super softs, Hamilton opts for… medium tires. The surprise is total in the paddock: is the Englishman trying to go the distance with his tires? It’s known that the Silver Arrows did a lot of laps on mediums in Barcelona during winter testing.

A chilling accident then surprises the paddock. Everyone is frightened seeing Alonso’s McLaren completely destroyed, absolutely pulverized, and upside down. Only the survival cell is left. But miraculously, the Spaniard, who went into a horrific rollover at 250 km/h, emerges unscathed. The relief is considerable. Debris litters the track, and the Safety Car is immediately deployed. The red flag is waved. Fernando Alonso can thank the cables that held his tires, preventing his front-left wheel from hitting him. The culprit seems to be Esteban Guttierez, who was not on the right line, but the Spaniard will forgive him after the finish.

RED FLAG: Crash at turn 3, Alonso clipping Gutierrez, with the McLaren flipping & hitting the barrier #AusGP pic.twitter.com/N9WsKOqEDm

— Formula 1 (@F1) 20 mars 2016

On the 19th lap, the race is interrupted. The standings were as follows: 1- Vettel, 2- Rosberg, 3- Räikkönen, 4- Ricciardo, 5- Verstappen, 6- Sainz, 7- Hamilton, 8- Massa, 9- Grosjean, 10- Bottas. 11- Hülkenberg, 12- Palmer, 13- Pérez, 14- Ericsson, 15- Button, 16- Nasr, 17- Wehrlein, 18- Haryanto, 19- Magnussen.

The race resumes at 16:55 (6:55 in France). The Safety Car returns after just one lap, unfortunately for Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton who cannot fully warm up their new medium tires (as a reminder, it is allowed to change tires during a red flag interruption). Vettel engages the turbo four corners before the finish line and maintains his first place. Hamilton, still 7th, is stuck behind Carlos Sainz. Daniel Ricciardo, 4th, maintains his lead over the two Toro Rosso cars, 5th and 6th. Overall, the restart was very cautious.

On medium tires, Nico Rosberg’s pace is very impressive. The Mercedes driver is almost matching the pace of the Ferraris despite them being on super-soft tires. The red flag therefore benefits the Silver Arrows.

On the twenty-third lap, just like in 2015, Kimi Räikkönen has to come into the pits. Iceman remains unmoved despite the flames coming out of the air intake, just above his head. The reliability of the new Ferrari engine has been greatly lacking. Räikkönen will therefore have to finish the season with four V6 engines. Already, during private testing in Spain, the reliability of the Ferrari V6 wasn’t at its best. It should be noted that Rio Haryanto was also a victim of the restart. Romain Grosjean managed not to stop before the red flag and was therefore able to change tires without losing time: he is in the points, in 8th place, after the 26th lap, even though Nico Hülkenberg is becoming increasingly pressing behind him.

This race interruption was truly the strategic turning point of the Grand Prix.

LAP 24/57: The drama continues

Räikkönen’s race is over – we don’t really need to explain why… #AusGP pic.twitter.com/36whr7enPT

— Formula 1 (@F1) 20 mars 2016

While Lewis Hamilton continues to lose time behind the two Toro Rosso cars, Sebastian Vettel strings together the fastest laps, without opening up a gap of more than three seconds with Nico Rosberg. It’s still far from enough. Vettel’s super-soft tires are gradually losing performance. But will the Mercedes’s mediums last until the end? The whole problem lies in the fact that these harder tires were not tested by Mercedes during free practice in Australia…

Discreet third, Daniel Ricciardo, the local of the event, navigates comfortably between the top two and the two Toro Rosso cars. The Red Bull chassis, as expected, makes a difference in the race compared to the smaller Scuderia.

While he was running a very solid race, Max Verstappen comes into the pits… but the tires are still in the warmers! The Dutchman loses precious seconds. He expresses his strong dissatisfaction over the radio. However, he quickly catches up with his teammate Carlos Sainz, who is stuck in tenth position behind Palmer’s Renault. The Dutchman begs his team to instruct Sainz to let him pass so he can try to overtake the Renault himself… but the Spaniard insists that he is doing his best.

On the 33rd lap, or halfway through the race, the top 10 is as follows: Vettel, Rosberg, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Sainz, Hamilton, Massa, Grosjean, Hülkenberg, and Bottas. Nico Rosberg is now closing in on Vettel.

LAP 35/57: Rosberg (on mediums) closes up to 1.1s behind Vettel (on supersofts) in the battle for the lead #AusGP pic.twitter.com/adcjOSjAR5

— Formula 1 (@F1) 20 mars 2016

On lap 35, Sebastian Vettel enters the pits, handing over the lead of the race to Nico Rosberg. The Ferrari is fitted with soft tires… but loses two seconds because the mechanic struggled to detach the front-left wheel. With his soft tires, Sebastian Vettel has 20 seconds to make up in 20 laps on Nico Rosberg if he still hopes to win.

On lap 42, Lewis Hamilton overtakes Daniel Ricciardo without much difficulty thanks to the DRS. The Australian’s soft tires didn’t last, and the Red Bull heads back to the pits to finish the race on supersofts. Unfortunately for Ferrari, Vettel is unable to gain more than a second per lap on Rosberg, as the medium tires work remarkably well on the Silver Arrows. Meanwhile, Palmer’s defense finally gives way to the Toro Rossos. The duel between the two young drivers of the junior Scuderia can finally begin. The FOM has to censor Verstappen’s radio comments, as he’s very angry about being stuck behind his teammate. On edge, the Dutchman hits his teammate’s left-rear wheel a few laps before the finish and spins out. Nevertheless, he remains in tenth place.

In the sixth position, Romain Grosjean’s Haas continues its journey on medium tires against Nico Hülkenberg. The Frenchman, who started 19th, has delivered a remarkable performance so far, even though the red flag has greatly worked in his favor.

While Nico Rosberg has very likely won the race, Lewis Hamilton sees Sebastian Vettel closing in on him with soft tires. Five laps from the finish, there are five-tenths separating the two men. The showdown can begin! The Englishman’s medium tires have endured 34 laps of wear, while Vettel’s soft tires only 16.

LAP 53/57: Vettel has closed right up to Hamilton’s tail as he looks to snatch P2 from the world champion #AusGP pic.twitter.com/yIt23N55Rt

— Formula 1 (@F1) 20 mars 2016

But Hamilton holds on! Vettel’s soft tires wear out particularly while following the Mercedes. The German overdoes it and goes off into the grass at the penultimate corner. Therefore, the Mercedes cars are heading towards a one-two finish that was unforeseen at the end of the first lap! He immediately apologizes to his team. The race interruption has thus worked in favor of the Silver Arrows, who made the difference thanks to their excellent performance on medium tires.

The winner of the race is named Nico Rosberg. Despite struggling against his teammate in qualifying, the German negotiated his start better than Hamilton and thus kicks off his season on a very strong note. Mercedes secures their first one-two finish with Lewis Hamilton in second place. Vettel also climbs onto the podium in third place, just like last year. Daniel Ricciardo is fourth, Massa fifth.

The performance of the day comes from Romain Grosjean, who clinches an incredible sixth place for the very first Grand Prix of the Haas team! “It’s like a victory for us,” he exults over the radio. The Frenchman only changed tires once and didn’t lose any time during the race interruption. A bit lucky, Grosjean also demonstrated his skill in managing tire wear while holding off Nico Hülkenberg’s Force India. Paradoxically, Esteban Gutierrez’s accident ended up benefiting Haas…

“This is a win for us,” @RGrosjean says after crossing the finish line at the #AusGP. #HaasF1 pic.twitter.com/vuTmne0ky8

— Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) 20 mars 2016