Australian Grand Prix review

Andrew Lewin 16/03/2015 at 09:0016/03/2015 at 04:34

The new F1 season is finally underway, with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne receiving plenty of attention for matters off-track. Aside from developments in the Supreme Court of Victoria and spats between teams and drivers about the state of the sport, F1i looks back at how the race weekend unfolded and opens itself up to future ridicule by checking just how accurate its podium prediction was…

The race in 100 words

Lewis Hamilton headed a dominant Mercedes one-two in scenes reminiscent of so many races from last season. Having led in to Turn 1, the only time Hamilton wasn't running in first place was when he pitted a lap before team-mate Nico Rosberg, but the two were rarely on camera such was their advantage. Pastor Maldonado crashed on the opening lap to bring out the safety car, while Felipe Nasr delivered a hugely impressive debut performance to finish fifth behind Sebastian Vettel and Felipe Massa in a race which saw just 15 starters. Oh, and McLaren completed the race!

Driver of the weekend

While Hamilton “drove like a world champion” according to Rosberg, it’s hard to look beyond Nasr for the standout performance. Having missed FP1 as Sauber was unable to run its cars due to off-track legal action, Nasr was quickly up to speed in FP2 and then delivered under pressure to take the car in to Q3.

Nasr was then calm and clinical in the race, making a strong start to climb to P6 on the opening lap and dispatching Carlos Sainz Jr immediately after the restart to move in to fifth place. Pressure from Daniel Ricciardo was easily repelled and Nasr secured the best debut result for a Brazilian driver with a faultless drive.

Move of the race

It didn’t result in a completed overtake, but Jenson Button and Sergio Perez went wheel-to-wheel on lap 12 in a rare highlight. Perez was attempting to pass the slower McLaren in to the high-speed Turn 9, but Button fought back around the outside to hold the inside line in to Turn 10. A quality piece of driving, albeit in a fight for last place.

Prediction accuracy

Podium: 1. Lewis Hamilton, 2. Nico Rosberg, 3. Sebastian Vettel

F1i’s pre-race prediction: 1. Lewis Hamilton, 2. Nico Rosberg, 3. Valtteri Bottas