Finally the Formula 1 season 2014 is here! I had taken a day off from work on Friday to be able to wake up at 3 am to watch the very first free practice session of the season. I had absolutely no difficulties to get myself out of bed as I knew I was finally going to see both Kimi and Vettel at the wheel of their brand new challengers. And the free practice sessions turned out to be a pleasant surprise in terms of Red Bull´s reliability -no technical failures or engine problems but a lot of mileage instead!
Qualifying was both predictable and unpredictable at the same time. On the basis of the winter tests Mercedes GP was the overwhelming favourite to fight for pole on the street circuit of Melbourne and they didn´t let their fans down. I had mentally prepared myself to see huge setbacks in terms of Red Bull´s performance and reliability but instead I got luckily surprised by what they showed today. Here´s what happened today...
When Q1 got underway the conditions were extremely windy and the sky was covered with dark clouds. Rain had been predicted to fall down when qualifying was about to start. The track was dry when Q1 started but the high chance of rain made everyone come out right away. This season Q1 lasts only for 18 minutes instead of 20 whilst the final session Q3 has been extended from 10 to 12 minutes. The rain started when there where 7 minutes left in the clock so no one was able to improve his lap time at the end of the session. No Mercedes dominance at the very start: Ricciardo at the wheel of his RB10 topped the time sheets with McLaren´s Magnussen 2nd and Massa in his Williams 3rd. Vettel was 8th fastest and Kimi in P9. Kobayashi at the wheel of Caterham made a very good impression by taking P16 and making his way to Q2. Lotus´s day was a complete disaster: both Grosjean and Maldonado were unable to beat even the Marussia and Caterham drivers (Maldonado didn´t even manage to set a time)!
The track was damp when Q2 got underway and everyone started to the session with the intermediate tyres. As the rain had stopped for a while the track kept improving significantly lap by lap. Q2 held some major surprises. Three world champions were unable to make their way to the top ten! Button in his McLaren was left in P11 and was out of the final session. Kimi spun at his last attempt and ended up to the wall, which caused damage to the nose of his F14T. Even without the crash the Iceman would have been unable to make it through to Q3 due to traffic. Also Vettel at the wheel of his Suzie was knocked out of Q3 as the German didn´t make it higher than P12! Such a disappointment as his new team-mate Ricciardo was second fastest in the second session and showed everybody that there´s definitely potential in RB10! No technical worries for Sebastian but the pace just wasn´t there... In Q2 we saw a glimpse of Mercedes´s pace as Rosberg topped the time sheets.
By the start of the final session it had been raining so heavily that everyone except Alonso started to the session with the full wet tyres. When the session was coming down to an end the track was drying and it was time to make the decision which tyres to choose for the last run: intermediates or full wets. Top teams made different choices. The Mercedes duo Hamilton and Rosberg made their last attempt on full wets whilst Ricciardo set his fastest lap time on intermediates. The battle for pole was thrilling up until the very last second: Ricciardo in his Red Bull had taken the initial pole but Hamilton was able to go 3 tenths faster and grabbed the pole for Mercedes GP! The pole setter was no surprise at all but who would have predicted that Ricciardo would take a front row grid slot? Amazing work from the Australian who was driving in front of his home crowd! Rosberg made Mercedes´s day almost perfect by qualifying 3rd. The Danish rookie Magnussen made a staggering impression by qualifying 4th in his very first qualifying in F1! Alonso finished 5th, Vergne 6th, Hulkenberg 7th, the Russian rookie Kvyat 8th at the wheel of Toro Rosso, Massa 9th and Bottas 10th. Bottas will start to the race from P15 as his gearbox was changed during the FP3. Williams´s pace had been outstanding in the practice sessions so their performance in the qualifying was kind of a disappointment. I´ve read comments saying that they made the wrong tyre choice by putting the intermediates on but I don´t think it was only down to the tyres as Ricciardo made it to the front row with similar tyres! Dry conditions would presumably suited Williams better.
What to expect from the season-opener? Maybe there won´t be too much techinical issues for the teams as many feared before this GP weekend. At least not for the top teams. I would be genuinely surprised if the race winner turned out to be somebody else than Hamilton or Rosberg. Though Ricciardo performed unbelievably well during the qualifying I can´t totally get rid of the fear that Red Bull won´t make it to the chequered flag due to reliability issues. What will Kimi be capable of from P11 and Sebastian from P12? I hope they end up doing something magical! Though teams must get through the race with only 100 kg of fuel I don´t think anyone will retire due to running out of fuel... But you can never be absolutely sure, there have been so huge regulations changes for this season. And one thing I´m interested to see is how much slower the Renault-powered cars are on the straights if compared to the cars with Mercedes engine... Just better to wait and see. Luckily it isn´t too long till tomorrow morning! :)
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