Sunday, March 20, 2016

Nico Rosberg scores Surpirse win at Australia

Nico Rosberg scores surprise win at Australia


It was a poor start from Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg in the Australian Grand Prix. Ferrari cars of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were leading the race with 1-2 positions however, Mercedes could stage a comeback following a accident between Fernando Alonso of McLaren and Esteban Gutierrez of Haas. The race was red flagged to a stop.

The Mercedes duo recovered with Lewis Hamilton finishing second to Nico Rosberg. Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari was third. Unfortunately his teammate Kimi Raikkonen didn’t finish the race.

Australian Daniel Ricciardo was the crowd favourite being the son of the soil and gave his fans some joy as hi finished in 4th place driving a Red Bull racing car. Felipe Massa of Williams was fifth.

However the most interesting was Romain Grosjean’s 6th place finish for debutant Haas team. It may be pertinent to mention that Haas had got the go ahead to debut in Formula 1 in 2015. However, they decided to prepare for one more year and race in 2016. Their strategy seems to have paid off. Unlike Manor racing, Haas also had a good outing during the testing.

Nico Hulkenberg of Force India finished in seventh followed by Valtteri Bottas of Williams in 8th. Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen were 9th and 10th respectively.

Results of Australian Grand Prix 2016


Rank
Name
Team
1
Nico Rosberg
Mercedes
2
Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes
3
Sebastian Vettel
Ferrari
4
Daniel Ricciardo
Ferrari
5
Felipe Massa
Williams
6
Romain Grosjean
Haas
7
Nico Hulkenberg
Force India
8
Valtteri Bottas
Williams
9
Carlos Sainz
Toro Rosso
10
Max Verstappen
Toro Rosso
11
Jolyon Palmer
Renault
12
Kevin Magnussen
Renault
13
Sergio Perez
Force India
14
Jenson Button
McLaren
14
Felipe Nasr
Sauber
15
Pascal Wehrlein
Manor

Marcus Ericsson
Sauber

Kimi Raikkonen
Ferrari

Rio Haryanto
Manor

Esteban Gutierrez
Haas

Fernando Alonso
McLaren

Daniil Kvyat
Red Bull



Saturday, March 19, 2016

Hamilton's 50th Pole in anti-climax qualifying

Hamilton Scores 50th Pole in Anti-climax Qualifying


The Australian F1 Grand Prix is the first race of the season. Today it was perhaps the most anti-climax start to a season as the Qualifying was bizarre.

Normally there is a mad race to start your last lap before the chequered flag is waved. Today there was no activity at all. Most of the drivers were eliminated. Ferrari decided that they can't better the timings and didn't come out again. There was no action. We had time to take a few winks, so to speak. Fans are asking what happened.

F1 was too complicated to understand with the frequent rule changes. The qualifying was one of the most followed aspects of the race. It used to be good to watch. Now, instead of fixing F1, they messed up with the one part of F1 which was ironically working and didn't need fixing.

They tried to create more action but forgot that these are real cars and not robots or puppet dancing. It is just terrible to watch. F1 authorities (Bernie are you listening? ) seem to be in a race to increase their stupidity quotient.

Rio Haryanto is penalised 3 grid slots for pit lane collision with Romain Grosjean in the Final Practice 3 today morning.

For the records, the following is the Qualifying results in Australian F1 Grand Prix 2016:


1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari
5. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso
6. Felipe Massa, Williams
7. Carlos Sainz, Toro Rosso
8. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull
9. Sergio Perez, Force India
10. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India
11. Valtteri Bottas, Williams
12. Fernando Alonso, McLaren
13. Jenson Button, McLaren
14. Jolyon Palmer, Renault
15. Kevin Magnussen, Renault
16. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber
17. Felipe Nasr, Sauber
18. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull
19. Romain Grosjean, Haas
20. Esteban Gutierrez, Haas
21. Rio Haryanto, Manor
22. Pascal Wehrlein, Manor