Pick of the pics: In their second races for Ferrari, team boss Maurizio Arrivabene and driver Sebastian Vettel congratulate each other on reacquainting the Scuderia with the taste of victory
Vettel takes first win since 2013 ahead of Hamilton and Rosberg; Mercedes drivers have doubts over team strategy decisions; Verstappen becomes youngest F1 points scorer; Both McLarens retire
In only his second race for Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel has delivered the Scuderia their first victory since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix to end a run of 34 winless races, and in some style. Ferrari had shown impressive pace throughout free practice and expectations of a challenge from both Vettel and teammate Kimi Raikkonen had built prior to the race start - the German did not disappoint.
After narrowly missing out on pole position on Saturday, Vettel started from second on the grid behind Hamilton. The four-time world champion was handed the lead when an early safety car prompted Mercedes to call the Briton into the pits for an early tyre change, but Ferrari chose to leave Vettel on track. 13 laps later, the German made his first stop after maintaining a lead of around eight seconds and, rejoining in third position behind both Mercedes cars, started to close the gap.
After only seven further laps, Hamilton made his second stop and found himself 24 seconds behind Vettel with both drivers only needing to stop once more. After Vettel stopped one lap earlier than Hamilton, the gap was down to 14 seconds with a straight race to the flag, but the world champion could not catch Vettel who comfortably held the difference at around 10 seconds.
With track temperatures reaching over 60 degrees, the superior tyre preservation of the Ferrari allowed Vettel to use the faster medium-compound tyre for two of his stints, whereas Hamilton was restricted to using the slower hard-compound - partly because the mediums were not lasting on the W06 and partly because Mercedes had chosen to run on the faster tyre in Q1, leaving only one new set for the race. The decision to leave Vettel out during the safety car, as many pitted, was also certainly a contributing factor.
Mercedes, having perhaps grown unfamiliar with being challenged in a straight fight, seemed to crack under the pressure, with Hamilton questioning the team’s decisions and becoming increasingly flustered.
Vettel’s win - the 40th of his career - highlighted the leap in performance that Ferrari has made since last season, and this was confirmed by the efforts of Raikkonen. After a puncture on the second lap, the 2007 world champion recovered to finish fourth.
Williams’ Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa followed, with the young Finn completing an impressive pass on his teammate in the closing stages. After their resurgence last year, it seems that the Grove-based team have now been usurped as closest challengers by Ferrari.
17-year-old Max Verstappen finished in seventh to become the youngest ever points scorer in F1 by a full two years. The Dutchman was followed by teammate Carlos Sainz Jr in eighth to underline Toro Rosso’s progress despite being powered by the same Renault engine that senior team Red Bull seem to be struggling with. Daniil Kvyat finished ninth ahead of teammate Daniel Ricciardo, with both being lapped.
McLaren seemed to be making progress and managed to battle with a few other cars in the early stages of the race, but the poor reliability of the MP4-30 led to the retirements of both Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button. Alonso fell foul of an overheating hybrid system on lap 21 and Button’s turbo failed twenty laps later.
2015 Malaysian GP Race: Full Results
Position Driver Team Race time 1 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 01:41:05.793 2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +00:08.569 3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +00:12.310 4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +00:53.822 5 Valtteri Bottas Williams +01:10.409 6 Felipe Massa Williams +01:13.586 7 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso +01:39.085 8 Carlos Sainz Jr Toro Rosso Lapped 9 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull Lapped 10 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Lapped 11 Romain Grosjean Lotus Lapped 12 Felipe Nasr Sauber Lapped 13 Sergio Perez Force India Lapped 14 Nico Hulkenberg Force India Lapped 15 Roberto Merhi Manor Lapped R Pastor Maldonado Lotus Retired (47) 17 Jenson Button McLaren Retired (41) 18 Fernando Alonso McLaren Retired (21) 19 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Retired (3) 20 Will Stevens Manor DNS
Tropical rainstorm disrupts running; Hamilton takes pole ahead of Vettel and Rosberg; Verstappen takes impressive sixth; McLaren improve but still long way behind
The on-track spectacle of qualifying for this year’s Malaysian Grand Prix was interrupted by an almighty thunderstorm and torrential rain on Saturday, but it was Lewis Hamilton who managed to set the fastest time of the final session to claim pole position. The Briton’s quickest lap was his first flyer in Q3 - on a drying track - and was perhaps lucky not to have been beaten in later runs, especially given that the two-time world champion appeared to be held up by his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg on a later timed lap. Rosberg qualified third fastest, ending a string of front row starts for the German that stretched back to last year’s Austrian GP.
On the back of his first podium for Ferrari in Melbourne, Sebastian Vettel put in a fantastic lap to qualify second and split the Mercedes with a time that was only 0.074s slower than Hamilton’s. The four-time world champion will be the first non-Mercedes to line up on the front row in nine races when he takes his grid slot on Sunday.
Daniel Ricciardo lines up fourth for Red Bull, followed by teammate Daniil Kvyat and Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen, who became the youngest driver to qualify in the top six for 54 years. Seventh was taken by Felipe Massa, just ahead of his Williams teammate Valtteri Bottas and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson, who escaped Q1 for the first time in his career to line up ninth. Romain Grosjean qualified in eighth in his Lotus, but was given a two place grid penalty as punishment for jumping the queue to exit the pit lane in Q2 and starts 10th.
The weather impacted nobody’s qualifying more than Kimi Raikkonen’s, who had been in the top three in every practice session throughout the weekend so far. As the rain began to pour in Q2, the Finn found himself caught up in a queue of cars behind Ericsson, all trying to set times whilst the track was still dry. Hamilton, stuck in the same traffic, managed to scrape through to the final session, but Raikkonen was not so lucky and will start 11th. The 2007 world champion’s practice times suggest he will still be challenging for the higher points positions in the race though.
Raikkonen lines up ahead of Pastor Maldonado, who booked 12th for his Lotus, followed by the Force India duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez, Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr and Sauber’s Felipe Nasr.
McLaren qualified 17th and 18th, with Jenson Button 0.11 seconds ahead of the returning Fernando Alonso. The Spanish driver, taking part in his first qualifying session of the season after suffering concussion in a pre-season testing incident, had held an advantage over his teammate throughout practice, but lost time in his final lap due to a mistake in Turn Six. The team, still very much in the early stages of their working relationship with new engine partner Honda, must be reasonably happy with their progress, despite lining up so far down. Their performance in qualifying suggests an improvement of about a second a lap relative to their times in Melbourne and both cars were much closer to making it into Q2.
Manor succeeded in getting one car out on track in Q1 to allow Roberto Merhi his first experience of F1 qualifying and despite a gap of 7.4 seconds between his and Hamilton’s time, the stewards have allowed the Spaniard to start the race on Sunday. An electrical problem with the power unit in Will Stevens’ car prevented him from taking part, but the Briton’s times during practice persuaded the race officials to allow him to race also.
2015 Malaysian GP Qualifying: Full Results
Position Driver Team Qualifying time 1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:49.834 2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:49.908 3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:50.299 4 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:51.541 5 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 1:51.951 6 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1:51.981 7 Felipe Massa Williams 1:52.473 8 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:53.179 9 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1:53.261 10 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:52.981 11 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:42.173 12 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1:42.198 13 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:43.023 14 Sergio Perez Force India 1:43.469 15 Carlos Sainz Jr Toro Rosso 1:43.701 16 Felipe Nasr Sauber 1:41.308 17 Jenson Button McLaren 1:41.636 18 Fernando Alonso McLaren 1:41.746 19 Roberto Merhi Manor 1:46.677
Hamilton suffers reliability problems; Ferrari quicker than Williams; Red Bull challenged by Toro Rosso again; McLaren show signs of improvement
Lewis Hamilton’s running on Friday totalled no more than a few laps as engine and telemetry problems severely hampered his track time, but despite this, the Briton still managed to post the fastest time of the day. After a trouble-free Friday, Nico Rosberg then went fastest in the third and final session on Saturday as Hamilton’s lack of opportunities to set-up his Mercedes began to tell. The two-time world champion managed to improve throughout the session to finish second fastest.
Ferrari put in a very strong performance on Friday and looked much closer to the Mercedes than they did even two weeks ago, but while Mercedes found something extra on Saturday, the Maranello-based team managed to maintain a gap of over a tenth between their drivers Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel and the Williams pair of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas.
Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo was only 0.2 seconds off the Williams with a lap he completed earlier in the session in slower conditions, suggesting the Australian might also be in with a chance of scrapping for the higher positions. He was very closely followed by the impressive Carlos Sainz Jr for junior team Toro Rosso, only 0.011 seconds slower than Ricciardo, ahead of the other Toro Rosso of Max Verstappen in ninth and the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson in 10th.
Lotus drivers Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado followed, before Daniil Kvyat in the other Red Bull and Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg.
Fernando Alonso was 15th fastest for McLaren, with teammate Jenson Button back in 18th. Whilst still forming dismal reading for McLaren fans, their lap-times represented a significant improvement in their form relative to the front-running Mercedes. Splitting the McLaren cars were Sergio Perez for Force India and Felipe Nasr for Sauber.
Both Manor drivers were finally able to get some time on track, with Roberto Merhi beating Will Stevens to 19th.
Alonso faces press after accident; Bottas returns from injury; German GP dropped from 2015 calendar; Red Bull and Renault relationship continues to deteriorate
Fernando Alonso spoke publicly for the first time this week following his accident in testing in Barcelona. The pre-season crash left the two-time world champion with a concussion that ruled him out of the season opening race in Australia two weeks ago, but he has now been passed fit by doctors and the FIA to take part in the Malaysian GP this weekend. Facing the media for the first time on Thursday, it was clear that the Spaniard wanted to set the record straight regarding the incident, which Alonso puts down to a steering problem - contradicting the official line from McLaren who found no evidence that the car had any issues prior to the accident. Alonso explained that the steering “locked to the right” as he cornered, sending him into the wall, and maintained that he was fully conscious throughout the incident, only losing consciousness once in the ambulance due to medication he was given. Whilst this may dispel some of the wilder theories regarding the crash, it is clear that Alonso was in no mind to stand behind his team’s previous comments. Most will have expected drama from his return to McLaren, but few could have predicted the first test for this relationship to be quite so peculiar, and quite so soon.
Also back on track this weekend is Williams’ Valtteri Bottas, who missed the race in Melbourne after suffering a small tear in a disc in his back during qualifying. The FIA has warned the Finn that he must stop driving if he experiences any further discomfort from the injury, but the driver has reported that his brake and seat position within the car, which caused the problem, have been adjusted and he fully expects to be back in the car.
The F1 calendar for 2015 has been reduced to 19 races this week after the German Grand Prix was cut from the schedule. The event alternates between the circuits at Hockenheim and the Nurburgring, which was due to host the 2015 race on 19 July. However the new owners of the Nurburgring were unwilling to pay the hosting fees for this year’s race, and Bernie Ecclestone was unable to persuade Hockenheim to step in, leaving the calendar without a race in Germany for the first time since 1960. Despite German representation in constructors champions Mercedes, title-contender Nico Rosberg and four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, interest in F1 in the country continues to decrease - losing the German GP will certainly not help.
The race in Melbourne brought into stark contrast how far Red Bull have fallen behind Mercedes, and the Austrian team have not been reluctant in their criticism of engine partner Renault, with technical boss Adrian Newey commenting that the Renault power unit is “quite a long way behind”. This week, Renault’s engine chief Cyril Abiteboul shot back, saying “it’s hard to have a partner who lies”. Abiteboul does not deny the engine problems, but believes that the Red Bull’s lack of driveability is as much down to the chassis design and that Newey has a habit of blaming engine partners. This adds to the speculation that the French firm are considering either pulling out of F1 altogether or buying a team and becoming a constructor again, with Red Bull’s sister team Toro Rosso looking the most likely. If Renault were to return to running their own team, where would this leave Red Bull? Although contracted until 2020, it seems that their recent threats to leave the sport may not be so empty.
Hamilton wins from Rosberg in dominant performance from Mercedes; Vettel takes third in first race for Ferrari; Impressive debuts for Nasr, Sainz Jr and Verstappen
From lights to flag, world champion Lewis Hamilton was in complete control of the Australian GP. A supreme lap on Saturday had delivered the Briton this season’s first pole position and what followed on Sunday was a lesson in managing a race from the front. Teammate Nico Rosberg threatened to threaten just after both made their pit stops, cutting Hamilton’s lead to 1.6 seconds, but then needed to back off after having used too much fuel in the process. From that point, Hamilton controlled his pace to maintain a gap of around two seconds and drove his Silver Arrow home for maximum points and the top step of the podium.
There was slightly more action behind the Mercedes, but this was for the most part a result of retirements and poor reliability rather than quality racing. After having failed to take part in practice and qualifying, neither Manor cars made the grid and Williams’s Valtteri Bottas, who qualified sixth despite suffering an injured disc in his back, was ordered not to race by the official doctor. As a result, only 17 cars set off to take their places on the grid, but there were soon to be further casualties. Kevin Magnussen’s weekend ended in a puff of smoke after the Honda engine in the back of his McLaren failed during a warm-up lap, and he was soon joined by Daniil Kvyat, who had to park his Red Bull with a broken gearbox. This left 15 cars on the grid at the start of the race, and a real opportunity for those at the back to pick up some good points.
Two more runners were quickly lost in the form of the Lotus boys Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean. The Ferraris touched going into Turn 1 from the start, with Kimi Raikkonen having to back off. The Finn then found himself sandwiching the Sauber of Felipe Nasr between himself and Maldonado and, after all three touched, the Venezuelan ended up in the wall. Under the resulting safety car, Grosjean returned to the pits to retire with an engine failure, bringing to an end what looked like a promising weekend for the Enstone team.
With the Mercedes racing away up front, the sole Williams of Felipe Massa was left battling for third with Raikkonen and his Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel. There was good news and bad news for the Scuderia during the pit stops. Having closely followed Massa from the start, Vettel stayed out for a longer opening stint when the Williams pitted and emerged from his own stop ahead. The four-time world champion was helped considerably by his former teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who Massa was unable to overtake after his stop despite his fresh tyres. Raikkonen was less fortunate. Opting for a two-stop race, a cross-threaded wheel nut on the Finn’s left-rear resulted in a lengthy first stop that dropped him to the back of the field. The 2007 world champion made his way back up to fifth, but shortly after similar problems affected his second stop, Raikkonen was forced to retire. There’s little doubt that he would have been in the race for third by the end, with the bottom step of the podium eventually being occupied by Vettel ahead of Massa.
Following the courtroom drama concerning ex-reserve driver Giedo van der Garde that had threatened to overshadow the entire weekend, the Sauber team were probably looking forward to packing up and moving on, but their Brazilian rookie Felipe Nasr managed to bring his C34 home in a very impressive fifth on his debut. At one point on Friday it looked as though the Swiss team would not be allowed to race at all, but Nasr’s teammate Marcus Ericsson finished eighth to provide a double points finish, meaning the team can look forward to Malaysia with a little more optimism.
Home favourite Daniel Ricciardo finished sixth after a testing weekend for Red Bull’s relationship with engine supplier Renault. Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India followed in seventh, with teammate Sergio Perez taking the final point in 10th after battling at the back with McLaren’s Jenson Button.
In his first race, Carlos Sainz Jr brought his Toro Rosso home for a deserved ninth place, but teammate and fellow debutant Max Verstappen was forced to retire from sixth place after 34 laps. Red Bull’s junior team looked like a solid outfit and could have ended the weekend higher up in the points - it says a lot that Sainz Jr seemed disappointed in post-race interviews after having scored points on his debut.
McLaren ended the weekend on a relative high with Jenson Button somehow struggling through to see the chequered flag. The Briton’s lone McLaren was suffering from a gearbox problem, lapping over two seconds slower than the next slowest car and finished 11th out of 11 cars, more than 20 seconds behind Perez in 10th, but at least they finished.
2015 Australian GP Race: Full Results
Position Driver Team Race time 1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 01:31:54.067 2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes +00:01.360 3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari +00:34.523 4 Felipe Massa Williams +00:38.196 5 Felipe Nasr Sauber +01:35.149 6 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Lapped 7 Nico Hulkenberg Force India Lapped 8 Marcus Ericsson Sauber Lapped 9 Carlos Sainz Jr Toro Rosso Lapped 10 Sergio Perez Force India Lapped 11 Jenson Button McLaren Lapped R Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari Retired (40) R Max Verstappen Toro Rosso Retired (32) R Romain Grosjean Lotus Retired (1) R Pastor Maldonado Lotus Crashed (0) R Daniil Kvyat Red Bull DNS R Kevin Magnussen McLaren DNS R Valtteri Bottas Williams DNS
Hamilton beats Rosberg to pole by almost 0.6 seconds; Massa takes third ahead of Ferraris; McLaren qualify back of the grid
Lewis Hamilton set a blistering pace in qualifying to earn his fourth pole position in Melbourne ahead of his Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg. The German had looked stronger after good performances in free practice on Friday, but the double world champion Hamilton turned the tables in FP3 and dominated the final session in qualifying with a gap of 0.594 seconds between him and Rosberg.
Q3 was not plain sailing for last season’s runner-up as a mistake in his first flying lap took him off the track at Turn 15. Hamilton, however, hooked up a supreme lap to start the year on pole. “It’s been a great start to the weekend,” said the Briton. “I feel incredibly blessed to have this car.”
Hamilton’s stellar lap was a cavernous 1.391 seconds quicker than third fastest Felipe Massa in his Williams, confirming the advantage the Silver Arrows hold over the rest of the field. In stark contrast, the gap between Massa in third and Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari in fifth was only 0.072 seconds, with the other Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel sandwiched in fourth. Valtteri Bottas should have locked out the second row for Williams, but at the exit of the final corner on his last lap, the young Finn ran wide and ended up qualifying sixth. It was later reported that Bottas had been suffering from back pain since Q2 and his participation on Sunday now looks unlikely. Either way, it’s too close to call who will occupy the final podium position come the end of the race.
Daniel Ricciardo managed to drag his struggling Red Bull up into seventh on the grid for his home grand prix, but his teammate Daniil Kvyat didn’t even make it into the top-ten shootout after an exhaust fire in P3 limited the Russian’s running time in Q1 - he scraped through with a single lap to line up 13th. Tensions are mounting between the Red Bull team and their engine suppliers Renault, and understandably so, as the Renault engine shows no improvements in performance levels over last season’s and seems to have lost driveability.
There don’t seem to be as many problems in the Renault-powered Toro Rosso. Carlos Sainz Jr kept up his good work to qualify eighth on his debut, with his teammate Max Verstappen, now officially the youngest ever F1 driver, finishing 12th fastest.
Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado placed their Lotus cars in ninth and tenth respectively, ahead of Sauber’s rookie Brazilian Felipe Nasr, who qualified an impressive 11th.
With Manor Marussia unable to compete following persistent software issues, only three cars were eliminated after Q1 and, in their worst qualifying performance since 2010, McLaren locked out the final row of the grid. Jenson Button qualified in 17th, 0.6 seconds ahead of teammate Kevin Magnussen and 1.5 seconds off the time needed to reach Q2. More worrying is that Button’s time was around 5 seconds slower than Hamilton’s pole lap, albeit on a slower tyre. It’s difficult to see how the 2009 world champion will manage to remain upbeat about the new McLaren-Honda partnership if that gap doesn’t start to reduce - it’s certainly not going to encourage a certain Mr Fernando Alonso into a swift recovery...
2015 Australian GP Qualifying: Full Results
Position Driver Team Qualifying time 1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 00:01:26.327 2 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 00:01:26.921 3 Felipe Massa Williams 00:01:27.718 4 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 00:01:27.757 5 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 00:01:27.790 6 Valtteri Bottas Williams 00:01:28.087 7 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 00:01:28.329 8 Carlos Sainz Jr Toro Rosso 00:01:28.510 9 Romain Grosjean Lotus 00:01:28.560 10 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 00:01:29.480 11 Felipe Nasr Sauber 00:01:28.800 12 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 00:01:28.868 13 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 00:01:29.070 14 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 00:01:29.208 15 Sergio Perez Force India 00:01:29.209 16 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 00:01:31.376 17 Jenson Button McLaren 00:01:31.422 18 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 00:01:32.037 19 Will Stevens Manor 20 Roberto Merhi Manor
Second for Vettel splits Mercedes as Hamilton leads session; technical issues affect both Red Bulls; Lotus, Toro Rosso and Sauber set to battle for lower top-10 places
Lewis Hamilton set the fastest lap time to lead the final free practice session ahead of qualifying for the season-opening Australian GP, after coming second to teammate Nico Rosberg in the previous two sessions on Friday. The two-time world champion’s fastest lap was his first in FP3 on the soft-compound tyres and was enough to comfortably beat second place by almost 0.7 seconds.
Perhaps unexpectedly, the car in second place was not Rosberg’s Mercedes but Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari - the second Silver Arrow only managing third with his qualifying simulation run, although Rosberg chose not to take to the track in the final minutes of the action. The resurgent Ferrari looks like putting in a real challenge for the second row.
Also hoping to run near the top in qualifying are Williams, with Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa ending FP3 in fourth and fifth respectively, followed closely by the second Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen with a gap of only 0.03 seconds.
The Mercedes-powered Lotus cars of Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado continued to show their potential with seventh and eighth, despite both taking trips off-track during the session.
Maintaining their threat of top-10 form were Toro Rosso, with Carlos Sainz Jr putting in another impressive performance for ninth and Max Verstappen not far behind in 11th. Splitting them was the Sauber of Felipe Nasr in 10th, with his teammate Marcus Ericsson finishing 12th, suggesting that the Swiss team, whose week has been dominated by a court battle with ex-reserve driver Giedo van der Garde, may also be in the hunt for the lower points positions on Sunday. Force India continue to lag slightly behind in 13th and 14th, with Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez very closely matched again.
Red Bull struggled in the final session with both cars reporting issues. Home favourite Daniel Ricciardo managed only 10 laps in his RB11, after only completing nine yesterday due to an engine failure, and finished 15th fastest. Teammate Daniel Kvyat managed fewer still - only completing six laps and ending in 18th behind the struggling McLarens of Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button, who must now face the very real possibility of occupying the final row of the grid.
Manor Marussia failed to run again with their continuing car troubles - making it increasingly unlikely that we’ll see them out on track at all this weekend.
2015 Australian GP Third Practice: Full Results
Position Driver Team Fastest Lap 1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 00:01:27.867 2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 00:01:28.563 3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 00:01:28.821 4 Valtteri Bottas Williams 00:01:28.912 5 Felipe Massa Williams 00:01:28.988 6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 00:01:29.017 7 Romain Grosjean Lotus 00:01:29.481 8 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 00:01:29.864 9 Carlos Sainz Jr Toro Rosso 00:01:29.869 10 Felipe Nasr Sauber 00:01:29.934 11 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 00:01:29.952 12 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 00:01:30.613 13 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 00:01:30.741 14 Sergio Perez Force India 00:01:30.993 15 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 00:01:31.185 16 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 00:01:31.391 17 Jenson Button McLaren 00:01:31.666 18 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 00:01:32.830 19 Will Stevens Manor 20 Roberto Merhi Manor
Field closes slightly on Mercedes pair up front; Ferrari follow closest, ahead of Williams and Red Bull; Magnussen crash adds to McLaren woes; Sauber emerge despite Van der Garde debacle
Nico Rosberg ended the day top of the timesheets by keeping his world champion teammate Lewis Hamilton behind him in second with a gap of 0.1 seconds, but the German knows that Friday times count for nothing and is expecting another close duel between him and Hamilton: “With Lewis, it’s close, he’s driving well. It’s going to be a big battle.”
Encouragingly for the rest of the field, the gap to the Mercedes boys reduced with the soft compound tyres. There was around 1.2 seconds between Hamilton in second and Valtteri Bottas’ third-placed Williams in this morning’s first practice session, but in P2, third-placed Sebastian Vettel was only a little over 0.6 seconds behind the Briton. Vettel was followed by Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen in fourth, suggesting that Ferrari could be challenging for the last podium position. Bottas took fifth for Williams and Kvyat was in sixth for Red Bull, with both of their teammates unable to take part in the session - Massa suffering with a water leak and Ricciardo needing an engine change. Ferrari seem to have an edge over Williams, both of whom appear ahead of the Red Bull.
There was no improvement in the situation over at McLaren. Jenson Button was 12th come the end of the session, around 3.7 seconds behind Rosberg, and Fernando Alonso’s stand-in for this weekend Kevin Magnussen hit the barriers at Turn 6. The Dane has since apologised for the crash on Twitter, explaining that he “just lost the rear on the entry and unfortunately hit the wall and damaged the left front”.
Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jr followed up a good P1 with seventh fastest, followed by Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean for Lotus and Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg.
Despite the court case between Sauber and Giedo van der Garde rumbling on, the Swiss team broke cover in P2 and Spanish rookie Felipe Nasr managed a 1:30.755 in his C34 to place 11th. Sauber were allowed to run after Van der Garde’s application to enforce a court order was delayed until Saturday morning. Marcus Ericsson in the other Sauber took 15th after suffering suspension damage, behind Sergio Perez in his Force India, Button and Toro Rosso’s Max Verstappen, who only managed six laps after a battery problem.
Manor Marussia unfortunately did not make it out in P2 as their software problems continue, but it is understood that the team are confident that they can be resolved before third practice tomorrow.
2015 Australian GP Second Practice: Full Results
Position Driver Team Fastest Lap 1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 00:01:27.697 2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 00:01:27.797 3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 00:01:28.412 4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 00:01:28.842 5 Valtteri Bottas Williams 00:01:29.265 6 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 00:01:30.016 7 Carlos Sainz Jr Toro Rosso 00:01:30.071 8 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 00:01:30.104 9 Romain Grosjean Lotus 00:01:30.205 10 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 00:01:30.473 11 Felipe Nasr Sauber 00:01:30.755 12 Sergio Perez Force India 00:01:30.980 13 Jenson Button McLaren 00:01:31.387 14 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 00:01:31.395 15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 00:01:32.303 16 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 00:01:33.289 17 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 18 Felipe Massa Williams 19 Will Stevens Manor 20 Roberto Merhi Manor
Nico Rosberg sets the early pace in the first practice session of the 2015 season, narrowly beating teammate Lewis Hamilton; struggles for McLaren continue; Van der Garde dispute prevents Sauber from running
The dominance expected from world champions Mercedes after a strong showing in winter testing was supported by an impressive performance in first practice in Melbourne. Hamilton was beaten to the quickest time by only 0.029 seconds as Rosberg put in the fastest lap of the session. Worryingly for the chasing pack however, was the gap back to the next best - Williams’ Valtteri Bottas - which stood at almost 1.2 seconds.
The young Finn was followed by Carlos Sainz Jr, one of Toro Rosso’s two rookie drivers, and Sebastian Vettel in his first outing for Ferrari. The battle for the third step on the podium has looked to be between Williams, Ferrari and Red Bull, but it was their junior team Toro Rosso who managed to put in one of the stronger performances in P1 - Sainz Jr’s fourth place being backed up with sixth fastest for 17-year-old Max Verstappen. Red Bull were in fact nowhere to be seen, placing 10th and 11th, with Ricciardo experiencing driveability issues that caused the first spin of the season after he put a wheel out on the grass before Turn 15.
McLaren’s dire start to the season continued as they suffered reliability issues early in the session. Both Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen, who is standing in for Fernando Alonso this weekend, managed to get out on track, but their running was brought to a halt after only 13 laps between them - the team reporting a small mechanical issue with a component of their Honda power unit. Button, the marginally faster of the two, ended the session almost five seconds off the headline time.
Difficulties also continued for both Sauber and Manor Marussia, as neither managed to complete any laps during the first session. Manor, returning from the ashes after missing the last three races of 2014, suffered engine software issues with their modified 2014 car. Sauber’s running was prevented by an ongoing dispute with Dutch driver Giedo van der Garde, who now has a court order stating that he should be given a race seat for this weekend, despite the Swiss team having signed Swede Marcus Ericsson and Brazilian Felipe Nasr. Seemingly not willing to risk contempt of court, Ericsson and Nasr spent the session jumping in and out of their C34s, but did not venture out onto the track. Van der Garde cannot take part until he is granted a super-licence and it’s unclear whether Sauber will run at all this weekend.
2015 Australian GP First Practice: Full Results
Position Driver Team Fastest Lap 1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 00:01:29.557 2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 00:01:29.586 3 Valtteri Bottas Williams 00:01:30.748 4 Carlos Sainz Jr Toro Rosso 00:01:31.014 5 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 00:01:31.029 6 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 00:01:31.067 7 Felipe Massa Williams 00:01:31.188 8 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 00:01:31.310 9 Pastor Maldonado Lotus 00:01:31.451 10 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 00:01:31.570 11 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 00:01:32.073 12 Sergio Perez Force India 00:01:32.247 13 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 00:01:32.261 14 Jenson Button McLaren 00:01:34.542 15 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 00:01:34.785 16 Romain Grosjean Lotus 00:02:17.782 17 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 18 Felipe Nasr Sauber 19 Will Stevens Manor 20 Roberto Merhi Manor
With the start of the 2015 Formula 1 season now just hours away, Sauber are facing a tricky dilemma of fitting three race drivers into only two seats. The Grid takes a look at the whole story...
We start at the end of the 2014 season, when Giedo van der Garde (pictured) was released from his role as test driver with the Swiss-based Sauber F1 team. This must have been a surprise to the Dutchman, 29, as he was in possession of a contract that promised him a full-time drive for the 2015 season.
It’s no secret that Sauber were suffering from financial difficulties towards the end of last season, and the large budget that Van der Garde provides would no doubt have enticed the team into offering the driver a contract.
However, two further suitors came knocking in the form of Swede Marcus Ericsson and Brazilian Felipe Nasr, whose combined budget is believed to total around 40m euros - more than Van der Garde has to offer and clearly enough to turn Sauber’s head. The team swiftly cancelled Van der Garde’s contract.
In the weeks that followed, Van der Garde took Sauber to an arbitration panel in Switzerland, where the verdict was given that the team were “to refrain from taking action” that would prevent Van der Garde from taking up his seat. On arrival in Melbourne this week for the first race of the season, the Supreme Court in Victoria upheld the decision.
Sauber proceeded to appeal the judgment, with team principal Monisha Kaltenborn claiming reasons of safety should prevent Van der Garde from racing at such short notice in a car designed for other drivers. However, the appeal failed on Thursday, with the judges seeing no problems with the original verdict.
So what happens now? Van der Garde’s lawyers have filed an application to ensure that Sauber comply with the court order to allow him to race, with the threat that failure to comply could see the team’s assets seized. If Sauber choose to follow the court ruling, it seems that Ericsson will be the driver forced to make way for the Dutchman.
A possible escape route for the team is that Van der Garde needs a valid super-licence before competing, after last season’s expired. These can take up to a fortnight to process and will require Sauber’s cooperation, but despite this, Van der Garde has commented that he is confident his licence can be fast-tracked.
A number of other drivers have been vocal in their support for Van der Garde’s actions, with both Williams driver Felipe Massa and Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, both of whom have previously driven for Sauber, voicing their disappointment at the lack of respect Van der Garde has received from the team.
The good news is that we do not have to wait long to see how Sauber will handle the situation: will they drop one of their drivers, or will they risk contempt of court? Whatever happens, let’s hope it doesn’t overshadow this weekend’s on-track action.
One of the winter’s most surprising and uplifting stories was the reincarnation of the once seemingly doomed Marussia F1 team as Manor Marussia. From the despair of administration, the team has emerged against all the odds and will be on the grid in Melbourne. In owner Stephen Fitzpatrick and chairman Justin King, the team has earned two businessmen well accustomed to success who must see potential in the Dinnington-based outfit. After been forced into such a tight schedule, it’s difficult to expect anything in terms of performance or results - they will be running their 2014 car for at least the first few races as they try to fully develop their 2015 car. Despite the difficulties, their return has been well received in the F1 community and, after scoring their first championship points last season, it’s encouraging to see the passion of a team that just wants to go racing.
2014 was a poor year for Sauber, rarely making it through the first round of qualifying and enduring the first season in the team’s history in which they failed to score a single point. Hoping to turn their fortunes around, it’s all change in the driver line-up: former Caterham driver Marcus Ericsson joins the team and rookie Felipe Nasr has also been signed. Their Ferrari engine seems much improved, their drivers bring with them a sizeable chunk of cash and a new sponsor has prompted a fresh lick of paint - let’s hope this represents a new start for the Swiss team.
For Lotus, 2014 was clearly “the morning after the night before”. The hangover from their 2013 money-troubles badly affected their performances, resulting in a very difficult season for their drivers Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado. The drop in form must have been doubly hard on the Venezuelan, who left a resurgent Williams to join the Enstone-based outfit. 2015 should be much brighter - with a new engine supplier in Mercedes and a stable financial situation, it will be interesting to see where they place come the end of the season.
blakekathryn
titsay
areudirty
jacobvanloon
kaledo-art
turnnoffyourmind
yousharknotpass
prguitarman