With just a few days to go before the start of the Formula One World Championship, owner Bernie Ecclestone does not expect any major changes from last season in the values of the forces on the track:
"Of course it is difficult to make predictions, but I imagine that Mercedes will dominate the championship, we will see with which driver".
For Bernie Ecclestone, therefore, it will once again be a two-man race for the title, all within the Stuttgart team, between Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. As for Ferrari, the owner is delighted with the arrival of Sebastian Vettel:
"He is a very intelligent driver, he sees things in the right way. He is sensitive, he is very competitive and he likes to win. He was not happy when he was not winning with Red Bull and now he expects to win with Ferrari. Vettel is someone who wants to win, even if he is playing backgammon with me. Cavallino on the upswing? It remains to be seen, but I think he is on the right track. But the Mercedes are still in front, not just for Ferrari, but for everyone".
Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel has announced that he has found a name for his Ferrari SF15-T.
"She is Eva".
This is what Sebastian Vettel tells his fans, as if introducing his girlfriend. She is his car, the new Ferrari, elevated to the status of a person, a creature that fascinates him, makes him dream in his first year in Maranello and must help him in the difficult hunt for Mercedes. Eager and enthusiastic, Vettel is anxiously awaiting this debut, which will take place this evening in Melbourne. He has already expressed his expectations:
"Australia will show us our real value, but I am very confident, I am convinced that compared to last year, the winter work has allowed us to make a big step forward. At the beginning it will be difficult to compete with the Mercedes, they dominated last season, but by the end of the championship we will be able to reach their level".
He did not hide his optimism:
"We stand as the second force in the championship like, but hopefully better than, Williams and Red Bull".
He had already started pampering his new car, which he thought was well born. All that was missing was a nickname to call it, as he has always done in his career, and the christening came yesterday. His red car will be called Eva, a sensual name. After all, Arrivabene himself described the new Ferrari as sexy on the day of the presentation. A lady who, he hopes, will enchant the competition, in a World Championship that Pirelli will present in Australia as very fast, given that, when the new tyres are unveiled, there will be talk of cars that are 2 seconds faster per lap and obliged (for strategy) to make at least two pit stops per Grand Prix. A Ferrari that stimulates him in the same way that, according to Marchionne, his arrival has stimulated the red environment:
"Because in Vettel I see peace combined with wisdom, qualities that are difficult to find in a young man".
The German, who sees Schumacher as a myth and confesses that he has dreamed of joining Ferrari since childhood, is in high spirits.
The nickname of the car is proof of this, recalling its predecessors, the Julie (the Toro Rosso that allowed him to win the first race at Monza), the many Red Bulls, including four world titles, tough like Kate, sensual like Liz, lusty like Mandy, perverse like Kylie (Minogue as inspirational muse), holy like Abbey, hungry like Heidi, right up to poor Suzie last year, the only one that drove him mad. Vettel is the right man for the renaissance. Ecclestone agrees, hoping that the German will contribute to a greater balance, and prevent Mercedes from dominating the championship again. The Maranello team is convinced of this and they dismiss the alarming rumour that the engines might be downsized in Australia for reliability issues. The mechanics point out that the power units are sealed. Meanwhile, comes the mea culpa of McLaren boss Ron Dennis on the Alonso case:
"I wanted to be openly honest and I couldn't, my goal is to try to be as honest as possible in the future".
Meanwhile, Sauber have an abundance of problems after Van der Garde was granted the right to drive in the World Championship by the Supreme Court of the Australian state of Victoria. The team's urgent appeal will be heard on Thursday 12 March 2015.
"I am sorry to miss out on Melbourne, but I will give everything to be at the start in Malaysia".
Fernando Alonso assures everyone of his condition after the accident in the Barcelona tests, which will prevent him from taking part in the first race of the season in Australia, and sets the goal of being back on track for the second Grand Prix in Malaysia. Without going into the dynamics of the accident (which is still a bit of a mystery), the Spaniard assures us that he is feeling better:
"Obviously I'm very disappointed not to be in the McLaren garage with Jenson (Button, ed.) in Melbourne, but I understand the doctors' recommendations and I'm already back preparing and training for my first race with the MP4/30".
He adds:
"I would like to thank everyone for their support, I will give everything to get back behind the wheel in Malaysia".
In his place in Melbourne will be Kevin Magnussen:
"I wish him all the best for this weekend in Australia and I know the car is in good hands".
Alonso emphasises, before taking stock of the work done together with the team over the winter:
"Although we faced many challenges in testing, I am very encouraged by the feeling I had with the car and I look forward to analysing all the data from this weekend with the team to continue the development and improve our performance".
McLaren's hopes are therefore pinned on Jenson Button, who says he regrets Alonso's absence. After the problems he had during testing, the British driver says that McLaren's true competitiveness is an unknown at the moment. He adds:
"The team has worked hard over the winter and although we would have liked to have done more kilometres in Jerez and Barcelona, I can definitely see a difference in the single seater from the first day to the last. The car has a solid base that gives me optimism, there is clear progress and we just need to be patient".
Magnussen will have the difficult task of not making Alonso regret his decision:
"I am very happy to be back at the wheel of the McLaren in Melbourne. Why I am here is unusual, but my job is to do the best job I can for the team until Fernando is back at the wheel and that is exactly what I will do".
One of the most predictable championships of all time begins in complete uncertainty. A black cloud hangs over the paddock. The shadow of Fernando Alonso's accident on 22 February 2015. More than three weeks have passed and still no one has found out. We don't know what happened, we don't know why it happened, we don't know how the driver is, and above all we don't know if it can happen again. In other words, even today, there is no one - no one of good faith, of course - who can tell the pilots:
"Guys get on board, the cars you drive are safe".
In a normal world, in a world where the money of sponsors and broadcasters (that's what they're called here) didn't dictate the rules, in a world ruled by common sense, someone would stand up and stop the programme. You cannot race in these conditions. We'll talk about it when we're sure these cars don't electrocute the drivers, he would say. But this is Formula One and the rules of the circus apply. The show must go on. The more people come, the more animals you see and so on. And the animals acted like it wasn't easy yesterday. Sebastian Vettel, who is also one of the smartest, is quick to explain in a press conference that everything is obviously fine. Here is his reasoning:
"I don't think anyone wants to send us out on the track if they think something is wrong. There is too much team spirit - and I speak for all the teams - for that to happen. So if the team says the race is safe, then the race is safe".
A few days earlier, GPDA President Alexander Wurz wrote in a letter to colleagues:
"We do not understand what has happened to Alonso. But rest assured, there is no danger".
Certainly, there is the impression that the investigators led by Charlie Whiting are not killing themselves trying to understand what happened. But it is not just the feeling that the FIA is operating in a complete conflict of interest: on the one hand, it is the body that is supposed to provide clarity and ensure the safety of the drivers; on the other hand, it is also the body that is most interested in protecting these new hybrid engines and therefore, potentially, in covering up what happened in Barcelona. Its president, Jean Todt, has staked everything on this technology, fighting against everyone and everything to defend it, and it would be no small defeat for him to admit that they are dangerous because they electrocute drivers. But that's just paddock malice. Fortunately, from tomorrow, the engines will be back on and the coloured cars will be racing around Albert Park in circles. The drivers will put on their helmets and lower their visors, the engineers will put on their headsets to talk to each other, and Bernie Ecclestone will lock himself in his office to count the money. In short, the wait is over. The new Formula One season begins in Melbourne, Australia. Fernando Alonso won't be there, stopped by the doctors after his accident in Montmelò, but all the other protagonists will be there, starting with the reigning world champion, Lewis Hamilton, who has already set his target.
"My idol has always been Ayrton Senna and I would love to win a third world title to match his palmares, but the championship is long, we have to work, it will be a challenging season but I am always hungry".
At the Australian circuit last year, the Briton had a very bad start to the season. Having started from pole position, he retired with a problem after just two laps, leaving the way open for team-mate Nico Rosberg to go on to win the race:
"I don't pay too much attention to these things, it's clear that in the first race you want to start off on the right foot and not like last year, but the season is very, very long".
Still no news on contract renewal.
"We haven't signed yet, but things are going well. I think it will be soon, I hope".
Dreaming of Senna.
"Ayrton was my idol growing up, I always wanted to be like him. And now I have the chance to do what he did: win three world titles and go down in the history of the sport".
Lewis Hamilton's goal is clear. And legitimate. More than legitimate, in fact. And likely. His car is a second a lap faster than the competition's and, in the end, the only one who can really challenge the English champion is his team-mate, Nico Rosberg, aka Britney Spears, the ex-boyfriend with the clean-cut face and duke-like manners who the Englishman harassed last year when, under pressure, he showed an unexpected pinscher temperament. This year, the battle is once again between the two:
"I must continue to make a difference in qualifying to get off to a good start and then improve in the race".
And while he's at it, he can't afford to underestimate his rivals, all of them, even the seemingly distant ones. As his team boss, Toto Wolff, good-naturedly reminds him.
"We are a good second ahead of the competition and have about twenty per cent of the engine to develop. But that doesn't mean anything. Except that we have done a very robust job. We will use this advantage to be comfortable in terms of reliability. Ferrari have also made an important step forward and we cannot afford any distractions".
Since one always needs an enemy, Mercedes has chosen Ferrari. Not least because Marchionne and Arrivabene's men are also the most aggressive opponents of Mercedes' dominance off the track. Toto Wolff adds:
"I saw the car they proposed for the Formula 1 of the future some time ago. It wasn't bad, although I have my doubts about it being a F1 car. I don't think we need such a revolution. But we at Mercedes want and need to listen and discuss the future".
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton ended his speech with a joke about 17-year-old Max Verstappen's arrival in F1.
"The incredible thing is that I am one of the oldest. I signed my first contract in 1997, when he was born, so time goes by quickly".
The race in Australia will also be Sebastian Vettel's first official race for Ferrari.
"We know we have a lot of work to do because our goal is very ambitious and we want to bring Ferrari back to the top. The atmosphere in the team is very positive. There have been a lot of changes over the winter, everyone has worked hard and the team has improved. Now we have to wait until we are on track with the others to understand where they are, because during winter testing it is difficult to get a clear idea".
It will be an exciting debut.
"Ferrari is a team with a great history and it is an honour for me to drive with the Rossa and at the moment I am very happy. I can't wait to get in the car and race with this team".
Vettel is cautious about his chances of winning this championship:
"A lot will depend on the level of the other teams, but we have certainly taken a step forward, we just have to find out how big that step is. We saw last year that it's not just Mercedes that can win races, so if you start well, and we're right at the back at the start of the season, you can be in the game if something happens".
Kimi Raikkonen, for his part, hopes to be more competitive than last season.
"I have known the Ferrari team for several years now, but I have to say that this year the atmosphere is very good, people are happy and working very closely together. I think this is a good sign and it looks like a good car has been built. But now it's time to race and we'll see where we are".
Raikkonen has fond memories of Melbourne. He has won there twice, once in 2007 on his Ferrari debut.
"It's a good starting point, although it's far enough for everyone. It is a long journey, but once you get there it is nice to be in Melbourne. The weather is usually good and the atmosphere around us is very good. I think we have done a very good job as a team compared to last year. We are happy with what we have done over the winter and with the level of competitiveness we expect, although the track will give us the real verdict. However, we will continue to work hard to improve. I am confident".
Among the protagonists of the championship will be Daniel Ricciardo, who has already shown that he has a good feeling about Red Bull. For him, Melbourne is his home track.
"We want to get back to the top, let's say we've taken a sabbatical from our standards. We have no intention of leaving the field open to Mercedes again this season".
The Australian Red Bull driver is confident about the car's development:
"We haven't shown our race pace in testing, but we have all the data we need to get the most out of the car. We can work out different strategies, whereas last year we went out hoping to see the chequered flag. The tests show that the Mercedes are still ahead of us, but compared to a year ago we are much better. We are in contention for the podium, as are the Williams and the Ferraris, but I also expect other drivers from other teams to be in front".
Daniel Ricciardo also has some advice for Max Verstappen:
"You're probably in front of more cameras today than you have ever been in the past. But that's OK, at the end of the day it's one big family. So have fun and enjoy what you are doing behind the wheel, which is the main reason why we are here".
Felipe Massa is hoping to be among the front runners again in his Williams. However, the Brazilian is focusing on the absence of Fernando Alonso.
"The main thing is that Alonso is well, the races, the sport, they are all less important than health. Certainly we will miss him at this GP, we will feel the absence of the great driver he has shown himself to be. We hope that everything will return to normal and that we will see him on the track soon. I wrote to Fernando and he replied normally. I went through a similar situation to his (the 2009 Hungaroring accident, ed.) and came back to racing after a while, because when something happens in your head you have to be careful and come back when you are 100%".
On Friday, 13 March 2015, Mercedes confirmed their good form from pre-season testing, topping the timesheets by a wide margin in the first two practice sessions on Friday, with Nico Rosberg fastest on both occasions. Valtteri Bottas in the Williams was third fastest on Friday morning, some 1.2 seconds behind Rosberg. Ferrari's new signing Sebastian Vettel was third on Friday afternoon, seven-tenths of a second down on Rosberg. Toro Rosso showed promising times, outpacing sister team Red Bull in the first session. Only 16 cars took to the track on Friday morning. Sauber remained in the garage due to their legal problems, while Manor Marussia were unable to get their cars running all weekend. The Saubers did go out for the second session, while local favourite Daniel Ricciardo and Felipe Massa missed the session due to problems with their cars. McLaren's problems continued as both cars were limited to very few laps. The first session also saw another evaluation run of the new Virtual Safety Car system. The engines start in Australia and immediately there are two pieces of news: Mercedes has a huge lead over the competition. And Ferrari is the second force. These are the results of the first day of free practice for the 2015 season. But while the first of these two pieces of news was, shall we say, eagerly awaited, the second is a bit of a welcome surprise. In both sessions, neither Williams nor Red Bull were able to keep up with the Maranello car, which confirmed the good things it had shown during winter testing. Of course, it is still too early to draw any conclusions. Nevertheless, the data is comfortable. Even the gap to the Mercedes, reduced to just 0.7s, is positive. The comparison with Williams and Red Bull, however, is excellent. Both teams had major reliability problems, Massa and Ricciardo did not even start the second session of the day, while Bottas and Kyvat finished fifth and sixth respectively behind (and well behind) the two Ferrari drivers. A comeback is certainly to be expected, but if you had told the Maranello fans at the end of last season that this would be the picture at the start of 2015, many would have signed up. The situation of Daniel Ricciardo is particularly worrying. Expected to be an underdog in the title fight, partly because of the Red Bull that experts say has the best aerodynamic design, the Australian has already broken the first of the four engines at his disposal. From a sporting point of view, it was a semi-tragedy. On the eve of the World Championship, the engineers felt that four engines would not be enough for a 20-race season. Let alone three. Finally, McLaren deserve a separate chapter as they are struggling more than expected at this early stage of the season. Button and Magnussen are turning few and slow. While Alonso is watching TV.
"Certainly the Mercedes is out of reach, but the important thing today is that we managed to do a lap without any problems. Everything went smoothly, I can't remember last Friday going like this".
Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was happy with third place in the second free practice session of the Australian Grand Prix.
"It was a good day, we didn't have too many problems with the car, it seems that the hard work we did in testing has paid off. The higher you go the better, but it's only Friday. Friday is not so important, it depends on other people's schedules and how much fuel was in other people's cars. The most important thing is not to have had any problems, that is positive".
Kimi Raikkonen adds:
"It was not the ideal day, we had to change something. I didn't drive so well today, then it was a bit better at the end. We need to put things together to get where we need to be. We know where we want to be, but it's only Friday".
While Ferrari Team Principal Murizio Arrivabene said:
"I don't want to talk about the past, we have made changes and I want to thank the people who were there before. Now let's talk about the future, the current situation. We have worked a lot with the boys and I have said many times that we need to be united for a common goal, to be focused and to work with our feet on the ground. I don't want to hear any more talk about the engine, the chassis or anyone else. If we lose, we lose together, if we win, we win together. That's my mantra, that's what I told the team. I have seen them calm, committed and motivated and that is important for us. The biggest commitment is obviously in the technical area. You have to learn a lot, you have to be curious, you have to go to the factory and ask questions, meet people and above all listen to the engineers and learn from them. Engineers speak a special language, they can tell you in a thousand words what you could normally say in ten words. So you have to extrapolate and summarise concepts to make them easier to understand. I think that was the biggest challenge".
According to Arrivabene, there is no need for Ferrari to rebuild the political aspect of the team:
"I don't think it has lost its central role. I would like to see how many people would go to the races if there was no Ferrari. That is part of the political role, before me and even now I believe that our president Sergio Marchionne has worked very hard, he has put himself at the forefront and with great effort to maintain this position, from the point of view of the political weight that Ferrari deserves".
Meanwhile, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff says:
"It's a completely different situation to last year. It is normal to be the target after setting the standards last year. It is a demanding situation and a big challenge, even without the big technical revolution. We are in a good position compared to last year and we have to repeat what we have already done".
On the challenge between his two drivers, Wolff is clear:
"Last year the pressure was very high because we wanted to win and this year the situation is a bit more relaxed. We have maintained our philosophy of letting them race against each other, but with respect for each other and the team, and I am convinced that they will do that".
As mentioned above, a week before the Australian Grand Prix, Dutchman Giedo van der Garde launched legal action against Sauber in the Supreme Court of Victoria to enforce a contract he signed in June 2014 to drive for the team in the 2015 season.
This action was based on an award obtained by van der Garde on 2 March 2015 through international arbitration in Switzerland, which he initiated after the team announced in November 2014 that its 2015 drivers would instead be Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr. On Wednesday 11 March 2015, van der Garde succeeded in obtaining a court order compelling Sauber to allow him to drive in Melbourne. On the same day, Sauber appealed the decisions against them and also publicly announced that they would not compromise the safety of the team or other drivers by putting van der Garde in the car, as the C34 chassis had only been tailored to fit Ericsson and Nasr. The appeal was heard and dismissed the following day, Thursday 12 March 2015. As part of its legal argument, Sauber also argued that, in addition to the safety concerns, van der Garde's contract had been terminated by the team in February with the approval of the FIA's Contract Recognition Board, and that van der Garde had breached confidentiality clauses in the contract by discussing it with the media. Lawyers for Ericsson and Nasr also argued that van der Garde had not followed due process by not informing their clients of his legal action. The court upheld the previous orders to allow van der Garde to race and adjourned the hearing to the following day, Friday 13 March 2015, to hear arguments on contempt proceedings brought by van der Garde's legal team against Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn. About two hours after the court's initial ruling in favour of van der Garde, the FIA published an entry list for the Australian Grand Prix that included both Nasr and Ericsson for Sauber following pre-event scrutineering. Despite this, neither driver took to the track for Friday's first practice session as Sauber risked having the team's assets seized for failing to comply with court orders. However, due to media speculation about Bernie Ecclestone's intervention to avoid further negative publicity for the sport, Ericsson and Nasr took part in the second practice session that afternoon.
On Saturday 14 March 2015, the dispute reached a temporary resolution with van der Garde announcing that he would not race in Melbourne with a view to finding a more permanent solution in the future. On Saturday 14 March 2015, Lewis Hamilton got the better of his team-mate in FP3, as Rosberg could only finish third behind Vettel, almost a second behind Hamilton. Both Williams and Ferrari had another good session, while Lotus got both their drivers into the top ten, raising hopes of a points finish on Sunday. Red Bull continued to struggle, with Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat finishing 15th and 18th respectively, with Ricciardo's car retiring at the end of pit lane due to engine problems. In between were the once again struggling McLaren drivers. A few hours later, with the Manor Marussia cars failing to start, only three drivers were eliminated in the first qualifying session (Q1), which was run in dry conditions. As expected, the McLaren cars of Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen struggled after their lack of pre-season testing and failed to make it into Q2, along with Sauber's Marcus Ericsson. Mercedes and Williams' Valtteri Bottas were the only ones not to use the softer tyres for the next part of qualifying. In the second session, the Mercedes drivers completed just one timed run, which was enough to progress, while the Red Bull and Toro Rosso cars were split, with Daniil Kvyat and rookie Max Verstappen failing to make it through. Also eliminated were both Force India drivers and the second Sauber of Felipe Nasr, albeit a respectable eleventh on the grid. In Q3, Nico Rosberg ran wide at Turn 15 on his first flying lap and lost the chance to look for areas of improvement for his second run. Lewis Hamilton, who had been fastest in all three sessions, capitalised on his team-mate's problem to take pole position by over half a second. It was his 39th pole position and fourth at Albert Park. The rest of the field was more than a second off Hamilton's time, with Felipe Massa in the Williams the best of the rest in third. The two Ferrari cars of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen showed their return to competitiveness by finishing fourth and fifth respectively.
"It is my lucky number, the one that led me to my first championship win. Number 1 is great, but I still want to use 44. I know I'm number one anyway...".
This is how Hamilton justifies his somewhat superstitious choice of race number, but the facts seem to back him up: his was the stratospheric pole position for the Australian Grand Prix.
Second, of course, is Nico Rosberg, because the Mercedes is still on another planet, out of reach for everyone. Then Williams (Massa's), but with a terrible gap: 1.4s. Then Sebastian Vettel, fourth, and then Kimi Raikkonen, all in all a good result for Ferrari, which, after the mysterious tests at the beginning of the season, has finally shown that it is competitive. Light years away from Mercedes, OK, but still battling with Red Bull and Williams. Absolute disaster for McLaren, out in Q1 and with ridiculous times for such a team. In the first session, Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen could only manage seventeenth and eighteenth place respectively. As a result, they will start the race from the back row of the grid. Says Jenson Button:
"The base is good, but there is a lot of work to do. Tomorrow will be very difficult".
However, Vettel's comments were of a different tenor:
"It's a very good result and tomorrow we can fight for the podium".
Ferrari confirmed their competitiveness, despite the few thousandths separating the German from third place, occupied by the Williams of Brazilian Felipe Massa.
"We were very close, but we can be very happy. Both our cars are in the top five, which is a very good result for us. So far it has been a weekend where everything has gone smoothly and without problems, obviously there is still a lot to do because there is still a big gap to Mercedes, but for now we can be happy and tomorrow we can fight for the podium. Yesterday's pace was good, so we can continue in this direction and improve the car for tomorrow. We will have to see what the weather conditions are like, but we have shown in all the sessions that we can be there, strong enough to fight for the podium. Today we didn't miss much, if I had done a better lap in Q3 we would have been third today, but in the end Felipe did a better job than me, but just, and finished in front of us".
At the end of qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, Ferrari looked much stronger than a year ago. However, the team's fourth and fifth places on the grid left team principal Maurizio Arrivabene looking rather annoyed at the end of qualifying.
"I'm a bit annoyed because we could have been better placed: today, in my opinion, having the two Reds on the second row was not a dream but a reality. We were too conservative in Q2. We were afraid of making a mistake, we wanted to be safe and we paid for it in Q3. We're here to try and get on the podium, but I'm not saying anything, we'll talk about it tomorrow. But we can't get caught up in the fear of going back to last year's situation, we have to try to be more aggressive, take more risks. Our direct rivals are the Mercedes, not the Williams: if we can give them a claw on the wing at the back, I'll be happy. We have to stop thinking about last year and start thinking about this year".
It went well, but it could have gone better. This, then, is the dominant thought in Ferrari. Sebastian Vettel himself says:
"We are keeping our feet on the ground. The weekend has gone well so far, we haven't had any problems with the single-seater. It's a shame we missed out on third place, which would have allowed us to be the first team behind Mercedes, but we didn't miss much and the race is tomorrow. We lost third place because my first run was not fast enough: I am not very happy with myself because there was still something in the performance that would have allowed me to qualify one place higher. From a strategy point of view, maybe we could have done something different, but basically the result was up to me. First and second are a long way off, but the race is tomorrow and anything can happen in the Grand Prix. There is not much difference between third and fourth on the grid, so I think the podium is a realistic target and should be the one to aim for".
And there is also regret in the words of Kimi Raikkonen:
"On my fast lap I lost about three tenths in turn three and then I made a couple of mistakes in the next two corners. We knew we couldn't compete with the Mercedes, at least not in qualifying, but third was within our reach. If you look at where we were last year and where we are now, you can see that a good job has been done, but there is still a long way to go to catch the Mercedes. Hopefully the podium is within our reach, we have to be happy, but not completely: the team has done a great job, but there is still a long way to go to get where we want to be".
Fifteen million euros to get out of Sauber. That's how much Dutchman Giedo van der Garde is willing to pay to end his legal battle with the Swiss team. Van der Garde, a test driver for the 2014 season, has gone to court to claim a grid spot for 2015, citing a contract that is still in force. Sauber, who will field Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson this season, have tried in vain to have their case heard by a Swiss court and then an Australian judge. In particular, the Supreme Court of the State of Victoria gave van der Garde his reasons just hours before the Australian Grand Prix. However, the Dutchman and the team reached an agreement: the driver will receive compensation of 15.000.000 euros. As a result, Sauber can continue to field Nasr and Ericsson, who started the season in fifth and eighth place respectively in Melbourne. In public, no one is saying anything. But privately everyone is scared. Very scared. So much so that the more experienced drivers, and those who know Alonso a little better, picked up the phone and called him in Oviedo to find out what everyone wants to know at the moment. What happened in Barcelona? Was it really an electric shock? Is there a risk of it happening again? This is the big question hanging over the F1 World Championship. But none of those whose job it is to answer it are bothering to do so. Take McLaren, for example. After the terrible figure of Ron Dennis, who had to apologise for all the lies he told, they insist on half-sentences. Why are you unable to say what caused the accident?
"Obviously our first concern was Fernando's medical care. Nobody has access to engine information. As far as the car is concerned, we are conducting a very transparent investigation with the FIA and, as far as we have found so far, we have not found any problems that would have caused the accident. We are still waiting for further investigations, but we have given our report and we are cooperating with the FIA".
In short, nothing but transparency. The same ominous nothing comes from the FIA, which is ultimately responsible for track safety, but is also the same body that acquitted itself after sending a tractor onto the track at Suzuka, into which poor Jules Bianchi crashed. So the drivers decided to call in Alonso. But it went badly. He doesn't remember anything, or so he says, and at the moment he's very busy making his comeback. With the Manor Marussia cars unable to make their race debut on Sunday 15 March 2015, there were 18 cars left to qualify. Before the start of the race, Valtteri Bottas was ruled out due to a back injury sustained in qualifying. Both Daniil Kvyat's Red Bull and Kevin Magnussen's McLaren failed to make the grid as their cars broke down on the first lap, Kvyat with transmission problems and Magnussen with an engine failure. That left the grid with 15 starters - the lowest number for a season-opening race since 1963 and the lowest overall since the infamous 2005 United States Grand Prix. Hamilton took the lead at the start of the Australian Grand Prix, while a three-car tussle in turn one involving Kimi Räikkönen, Felipe Nasr and Pastor Maldonado resulted in Maldonado crashing out of turn two and race officials bringing out the safety car. On the next lap, Romain Grosjean's car retired, taking both Lotus out of the race. Normal racing resumed on lap four, with Carlos Sainz Jr. dropping from fifth back to his starting position of seventh after being passed by Nasr and Daniel Ricciardo. Nasr also lost track position after his team ordered him to give up an overtaking position under safety car conditions. Hamilton held the lead until lap 25 when he pitted for tyres. He retook the lead from Rosberg after the latter also pitted for new tyres. During this series of pit stops, Sebastian Vettel made up a position by overtaking Felipe Massa for third place.
On lap 34, Max Verstappen retired from a points-scoring position after his Toro Rosso was engulfed in smoke. On lap 42, Raikkonen also retired in turn four after a botched pit stop caused his left rear tyre to come off. This briefly put Jenson Button in tenth and final points position, but Sergio Pérez quickly overtook the McLaren-Honda driver for the final position after a race-long battle that began at the start. From there, the order remained relatively constant with Hamilton taking his 34th Grand Prix win. He was followed by Rosberg, Vettel, Massa and Nasr. Rounding out the points scorers were Ricciardo, Nico Hulkenberg, Ericsson, Sainz and Pérez. In total, only eleven cars finished the race, with Button's McLaren the only car to finish outside the points, and everyone lapped from sixth place down. Ericsson, Nasr and Sainz Jr. all scored their first Formula One points, with Nasr and Sainz Jr. doing so on debut. Nasr also achieved the highest finish for a Brazilian driver making his Grand Prix debut. Lewis Hamilton picked up where he left off to win the first race of the 2015 Formula One World Championship.
"It's really great to win here and be on the podium. The team has done a fantastic job and it's important to continue what we did last season. It is a great honour to be ahead of two great drivers like Rosberg and Vettel. Nico was very quick, I tried to keep the gap and when he pushed harder I was able to react and that's good for me. Anyway, it was a phenomenal race for both of us".
For his part, Nico Rosberg, although defeated, promises to fight:
"A great feeling to be second, a fantastic start to the season, we have an incredible car. Lewis drove like a world champion all weekend, I could not beat him. But I'm sure I'll give him a hard time this year, I'll do everything I can. We have to keep our concentration high and not make any mistakes".
Felipe Massa misses out on the podium in the first round of the Formula 1 World Championship, overtaken after the pit stop by Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari.
"I was in front of him, we stopped at the wrong time, then I couldn't overtake him, I lost a second and a half. This is a track where it's not easy to overtake, but if I got back in front after the pit stop, a podium was possible. I can't forget that the 2015 debut was 15.000 times better than last year. We should have saved fuel. But today we were not at the same level as Ferrari".
It was not a good home debut for Daniel Ricciardo and Red Bull Racing. The Australian finished the race in sixth place.
"It was not a fast race for us. My car was OK, Daniil Kvyat had problems and didn't start. We have a lot of work to do. Did we finish behind the Sauber? Felipe Nasr had a good race and it was not good for us. I feel sorry for the Australian fans, there was no show, but at least it was sunny".
Sebastian Vettel continues to laugh and after a while you wonder what is so funny. Then you realise it is not a laugh of amusement, but one of relief. Until today, Sebastian Vettel had only feelings. Now he has certainty. Once again he has guessed the move. Leaving Red Bull Racing to join Ferrari was the best choice. It had happened to him many times in his career - when he left BMW, which would go bankrupt a few years later, to join Scuderia Toro Rosso, where he would win his first Grand Prix, and then when he left Scuderia Toro Rosso to join Red Bull Racing, where he would win everything else - but this time the leap seemed too risky even for him. Instead, he was right. So much so that there are those in the paddock who are beginning to see him as something of a talisman.
"We have a beautiful car, thank you".
He says to the team in his German tourist Italian in front of the Trevi Fountain. He had never been so radiant in his Red Bull Racing days.
"These are different things. Those were great years. I learned a lot. But today it's completely different".
Certainly not because of the result.
"No, it's not like we won. Let's put it this way: I have always been a secret Ferrarista. Now I am officially one. And it's a great pleasure. Before the race, I looked around: it was full of Ferrari flags. Of course, they had been there in previous years. But I didn't notice them. Now it's completely different. Then you put the visor down and you don't think about the colours during the race. But after the chequered flag, man, it all comes back and you realise it's unique. It's an honour to be in the red car".
OK, but what is the car really like?
"Definitely a lot better than last year. The start wasn't bad at all. We still have a lot of seconds to make up on the Mercedes, but I think we are - potentially - closer in the race than in qualifying. If we want to beat them, we have to work hard. But I'm sure we can do it".
Isn't that a bit too optimistic?
"I like the team, the way they have approached this Grand Prix. The atmosphere inside is exceptional, everyone is highly motivated and everyone knows exactly where we want to be".
Where?
"To make life difficult for them (Hamilton and Rosberg)".
It will take more than they did today.
"Yes, but it was a great race. The start wasn't perfect, but then we managed to overtake Massa at the pit stop. It was very good of the strategy guys who decided to do the opposite of what you usually do when you try to overtake during a pit stop. We saved the tyres and stayed out. It worked".
Raikkonen is less happy.
"It was a shame. I'm sorry. Half the team didn't achieve their goal. But it has to be said that Kimi did really well. The numbers say that, not me. But in the end we finished ahead of Williams. Now we have to make sure it becomes a permanent situation".
Which of the next races will be the easiest for you?
"Easy? We lost 34 seconds to Mercedes. Nothing will be easy. In Malaysia we will try to get closer, but it could be worse. It will be difficult. But not impossible".
How will you do it?
"By concentrating on ourselves and the way we work. By everyone doing their best. Compact. And happy".
Maurizio Arrivabene, Ferrari's Team Principal, is certainly not lacking in ambition or optimism.
"Am I afraid of Williams for the next race in Malaysia? Maybe. But maybe it is time to stop thinking in seconds. Our target is not Williams, it is Mercedes. That's where we have to aim to be ourselves again".
And the facts bear him out. It is not so much the third place, which was almost inevitable given the lack of competition on the track, but the climate of enthusiasm within the team. It has been years since we have seen both Ferrari drivers attack the asphalt and rivals like Vettel and, for as long as he could, Raikkonen at Albert Park. But there is still a long way to go. Because, objectively speaking, Mercedes are on another planet. At the end of the race, Hamilton and Vettel were 34 seconds apart. Not the minute and a half of last season, but still an eternity. And the gap could have been even greater if Hamilton had had to push harder. An advantage that was also annoyingly underlined by the forced sportsmanship, with which Rosberg wished Ferrari a speedy recovery for the good of the sport at the press conference.”
"But get over it".
Vettel replied, a little jokingly, a little not.
"If you really want us to get close, then slow down, or better still, let us come and watch a couple of technical sessions so we can get some inspiration".
So hurt, Rosberg mumbled something, but in short, the speech was clear. Beyond the skirmishes, the situation on the track is quickly described: once again, Mercedes is running a race on its own, at the front. At the back, Ferrari is battling with Williams to establish itself as the real second force. Maurizio Arrivabene continues:
"If Williams had run with both cars today, we would have had a few more points of reference to understand exactly where we are. But at the end of the day, what matters is that we continue to work in our own way, with conviction in our own means, as we are doing".
Kimi Raikkonen, who had been rear-ended at the start of the race, then put in a decent performance but was forced to retire on lap 41 when his left rear tyre failed. The Finnish driver said:
"I was hit from behind at the start, then I was hit on the left side, there was some damage to the car. I tried to catch everyone in front of us. Did the first contact cause a problem at the pit stop? I don't know, the car suffered some damage, we lost some load, but I don't know if it affected the pit stop. Vettel's podium? It looks like we have a very good race pace, but obviously I didn't finish".
Nothing follows behind Ferrari and Williams. Perfectly epitomised by the slightly dull smile of Daniel Ricciardo. For the second year in a row, Renault has supplied the wrong engines to Red Bull, and this time the mistake threatens to be fatal. So much so, in fact, that team principal Christian Horner has asked the FIA for regulatory intervention to bring the values on the grid a little closer together:
"When we were winning, they did it every year".
And to think Horner was convinced Vettel had committed suicide by leaving Red Bull Racing for Ferrari. After four years of dominance with Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull rediscovered their vulnerability with the change in F1 regulations that led to the success of Hamilton and Mercedes last year. And even this year, with the one-two finish of the two German cars in the inaugural Melbourne Grand Prix, the music seems to have changed. The Austrian team, however, is not having any of it and is threatening to leave the circus during the current championship. Helmut Marko warns:
"We will review the situation in the summer, as we do every year. We will look at costs and income. If we are completely dissatisfied, we will consider leaving Formula One".
For Red Bull, who are also committed to the championship until 2020, the season started on the wrong foot. Daniel Ricciardo finished sixth in his home race, well behind the big boys. Russian Daniil Kvyat was forced to retire before the green light. The picture is black, more or less like Dietrich Mateschitz's mood: the energy drink tycoon could get tired and give up. Marko continues:
"Yes. The danger is that Mateschitz will lose his passion for F1".
In the crosshairs are the rules that have turned the championship into a Mercedes festival since 2014.
"These engines are the wrong solution for F1. We would say that even if Renault (who supply engines to Red Bull, ed.) were at the top. The technical regulations are incomprehensible, too complicated and too expensive. We are governed by a formula engineer: we wanted to reduce costs, but it is not happening".
The indictment does not end there.
"A designer like Adrian Newey is castrated by this situation. These rules are killing the sport".
Any decisions made by Mateschitz would have a knock-on effect on the circus. Red Bull Racing is also the parent company of Scuderia Toro Rosso. In the immediate future, Red Bull Racing will work to improve the competitiveness of its single-seaters. To do this, it will need the cooperation of Renault. In Australia, the Renault engine did not prove to be up to the level of its rivals. Says Red Bull Racing Team Principal, Christian Horner:
"Renault are in a bit of trouble at the moment. They need to sort things out quickly, this is not the start Renault can afford".
Early indications are that it will be impossible to challenge Mercedes for the title:
"This year, no. But we have to do much better. We need to fight with Ferrari and Williams. We can do that if we can solve the problems".
At Red Bull Racing, Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff responds sarcastically.
"There's a wall in Jerusalem where you can complain, maybe they should go there".
The worst race in F1 history, the first of 2015, with only seven real cars at the start, is a sign of a situation on the verge of collapse.
"It's an insane F1".
Says Helmut Marko, who is seriously considering leaving the sport for the first time since 2006, the day visionary boss Mateschitz took over Jaguar.
"I thought I was investing in a show of crazy cars and now I find myself involved in a parade of small cars, all driven in the same way by 17-year-old boys. Either things change here or I leave".
It is hard to blame him. But it is also hard to believe that he can change everything. Not least because changing everything would have to be done by the same managers who brought the show to this point. Red Bull Racing's criticism is based on the overly restrictive regulations and, as far as the power units are concerned, the new engines: instead of being an incentive for the big constructors to enter the show, they risk becoming a reason for them to leave. The cases of Renault and Honda, who are facing an unprecedented crisis and are already out of the championship, are very telling. Honda's situation is the worst. The Japanese were celebrating their grand return to F1 with their historic partner McLaren. But after a nightmare performance, summed up perfectly by the image of Alonso being electrocuted by the engine, the team of Senna and Hamilton finished qualifying with their worst result since 1983. The numbers are seppuku. If you compare Button's best time (second to last, ahead of team-mate Magnusson) with Hamilton's, you will see that the Honda started with an engine that was five seconds slower than the Mercedes. Some will say: but the Honda engine was on its absolute debut, it was the product of a project born from a blank sheet of paper. But this objection has some validity, because the Japanese engineers seconded to McLaren had the opportunity to study the Mercedes architecture. And comparing McLaren-Honda's performance with that of the 2014 Ferrari, we see that the Japanese have even taken a tenth off that car, one of the worst in the team's history.
For Renault, the discourse is apparently less dramatic. Performance is poor and Red Bull, as you can see, is very unhappy. For the second year running, the thousands of problems with the engine supplied by the French have prevented the team from Milton Keynes from starting the season with an acceptable mileage. Not to mention that reliability is what it is and Ricciardo - the driver the team is betting everything on - broke one of only four engines available under the regulations before even getting into the car, condemning himself to being unable to compete even with Ferrari and Williams. Next year, Red Bull will be looking to change suppliers (although at the moment they don't know where to turn, as the idea of competing against Ferrari and Mercedes with one of their engines is impossible, and Honda is worse off than Renault) and the French will have to decide what to do. There are two options: buy a team (Scuderia Toro Rosso, Lotus or Force India) and run it on your own; or leave F1, which would be a historic step. Until a few days ago, option one was taken for granted in France. Now, faced with the spectre of disaster, some are beginning to waver. Staying on might just be a way of giving Mercedes some publicity.