2015 Australian Grand Prix - Melbourne

[Vasconia]

Welcome back to F1, here are the highlights of the Australian Grand Prix, in no particular order

-Maldonado crashes [insert cliché Maldonado joke] ( lets get that done and over with)
-Kyvat, Bottas and Magnussen fail to start the race
-Sauber double points
-Mercedes 1-2 Wins
-Ferrari podium but Raikonen DNF
-McLaren, 1 car finishes a race distance, 1 car retires even before race start.
-Lotus, it must suck to be them right now
-Red bull, starting to look like lotus from 2013 through 2014
-Manor, why are they even there in the first place
-Toro Rosso, I can't comment on them because I barely saw them on TV
-Williams, good but could've been better.

Did I miss anything?

Well, Sainz of Toro Rosso appeared a lot, doing an awesome race and recovering himself form a disastrous pit-stop.

[f1316]

It's actually a huge shame the two Ferraris weren't in clear air behind the Mercedes as I think it would have given them more to think about - I.e. They wouldn't have been close but close enough so that Mercedes might not have been able to do whatever pit stop timing they wanted and still come out in front.

If Ferrari get 3 and 4 on the grid in Malaysia I think it will be a more interesting race .

[SparkyAMG]

It's actually a huge shame the two Ferraris weren't in clear air behind the Mercedes as I think it would have given them more to think about - I.e. They wouldn't have been close but close enough so that Mercedes might not have been able to do whatever pit stop timing they wanted and still come out in front.

If Ferrari get 3 and 4 on the grid in Malaysia I think it will be a more interesting race .

It depends on how the Ferrari performs in high speed corners such as those in Malaysia. According to Toto, one of the W06's main strengths is the aero performance in high speed corners.

Comments from observers in Barcelona also suggested that the Williams was pretty stable too. I think Ferrari/Williams will be pretty well matched at Malaysia, but afraid that the W06 will be in a class of 1 again. Especially if it rains at any point.

[Jaybyrd767]

A disappointing start to the season, is have expected this last year but not this year, and Mclaren are just shocking so far.

[SiLo]

I feel Williams will be faster than Ferrari in Malaysia, mostly down to that very low drag package they have.

[Vasconia]

It's actually a huge shame the two Ferraris weren't in clear air behind the Mercedes as I think it would have given them more to think about - I.e. They wouldn't have been close but close enough so that Mercedes might not have been able to do whatever pit stop timing they wanted and still come out in front.

If Ferrari get 3 and 4 on the grid in Malaysia I think it will be a more interesting race .

It depends on how the Ferrari performs in high speed corners such as those in Malaysia. According to Toto, one of the W06's main strengths is the aero performance in high speed corners.

Comments from observers in Barcelona also suggested that the Williams was pretty stable too. I think Ferrari/Williams will be pretty well matched at Malaysia, but afraid that the W06 will be in a class of 1 again. Especially if it rains at any point.

I think that Ferrari is quite good too, plus both drivers didnt achieved a truly good q3 lap.

It would be great to see if Ferrari can push Mercedes a little bit, ok, I am sure that in this case they would activate the "hammer time" engine map but at least we can dream with it.

[iotar__]

It's actually a huge shame the two Ferraris weren't in clear air behind the Mercedes as I think it would have given them more to think about - I.e. They wouldn't have been close but close enough so that Mercedes might not have been able to do whatever pit stop timing they wanted and still come out in front.
If Ferrari get 3 and 4 on the grid in Malaysia I think it will be a more interesting race .

Vettel was after the pitstop, nothing happened. If they were that faster why didn't he overtake Massa or at least attempt it, put some pressure? It's not like they predicted sending Massa behind Ricciardo. I agree though they did have more pace in Q and their race pace was even better. As expected at least mistakes cost, if you mess up Q or start and can't overtake you are stuck, if you put a car into traffic and can't do anything about it you lose position.

I woke up at lap 20, read here that it was Nasr's fault or 50/50 at the start + stale Maldo jokes. OK let's see the replay, it's 50/50-ish between Sainz and Raikkonen (one too close, one slowed down), then he goes off track comes back into the path of Nasr and causes Maldonado DNF. What did I expect?

[MercedesAMGSpy]

Ferrari needs to improve their quali pace, a better race pace is always a good thing, but it will cost them in the races when they have to overtake slower cars all the time.

[Silent Storm]

It's actually a huge shame the two Ferraris weren't in clear air behind the Mercedes as I think it would have given them more to think about - I.e. They wouldn't have been close but close enough so that Mercedes might not have been able to do whatever pit stop timing they wanted and still come out in front.
If Ferrari get 3 and 4 on the grid in Malaysia I think it will be a more interesting race .

Vettel was after the pitstop, nothing happened. If they were that faster why didn't he overtake Massa or at least attempt it, put some pressure? It's not like they predicted sending Massa behind Ricciardo. I agree though they did have more pace in Q and their race pace was even better. As expected at least mistakes cost, if you mess up Q or start and can't overtake you are stuck, if you put a car into traffic and can't do anything about it you lose position.

I woke up at lap 20, read here that it was Nasr's fault or 50/50 at the start + stale Maldo jokes. OK let's see the replay, it's 50/50-ish between Sainz and Raikkonen (one too close, one slowed down), then he goes off track comes back into the path of Nasr and causes Maldonado DNF. What did I expect?

Kimi's car went into anti stall mode that's why he slowed down. Not Kimi's his fault.

[Vasconia]

And its the beginning of the race, all the cars are super close to each other. The only guity here is the car´s system.

[SiLo]

A real shame about Kimi actually, he had great pace before he retired.

[SiLo]

Also, just to compound the issue of the merc pace, then we saw some on-board footage from Rosberg (very briefly), both of the mercs were clearly lift and coasting a huge distance before braking zones. Literally looked like a sunday drive.

[Juzh]

A real shame about Kimi actually, he had great pace before he retired.

Not too old soft tires did help with that.

[Silent Storm]

A real shame about Kimi actually, he had great pace before he retired.

Not too old soft tires did help with that.

That pace with damaged floor and front wing is encouraging for Ferrari fans.

[f1316]

It's actually a huge shame the two Ferraris weren't in clear air behind the Mercedes as I think it would have given them more to think about - I.e. They wouldn't have been close but close enough so that Mercedes might not have been able to do whatever pit stop timing they wanted and still come out in front.

If Ferrari get 3 and 4 on the grid in Malaysia I think it will be a more interesting race .

It depends on how the Ferrari performs in high speed corners such as those in Malaysia. According to Toto, one of the W06's main strengths is the aero performance in high speed corners.

Comments from observers in Barcelona also suggested that the Williams was pretty stable too. I think Ferrari/Williams will be pretty well matched at Malaysia, but afraid that the W06 will be in a class of 1 again. Especially if it rains at any point.

I think that Ferrari is quite good too, plus both drivers didnt achieved a truly good q3 lap.

It would be great to see if Ferrari can push Mercedes a little bit, ok, I am sure that in this case they would activate the "hammer time" engine map but at least we can dream with it.

Yes, Ferrari's strongest point for many years now has been high speed corners and straight line speed looks good this year which will be useful given the long straights in Malaysia ( and if stuck behind someone). They also were purple in s1 at Barcelona in testing which is high speed.

s3 was biggest Mercedes stronghold in oz. Variety of different kinds of corners there but I suspect it was in (and coming out of) the last two where they were killing it. It's those slow corners where masses of time can be won and lost and it reminds me of s3 in Barcelona 2013.