Nico Rosberg wins the 2014 Australian Grand Prix

2014 Australian Grand Prix summary

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Mercedes delivered on their pre-season promise by dominating the first race of the season in Australia

Nico Rosberg took the lead at the start and was never headed on his way to his fourth career victory, which he took by a comfortable 24 seconds.

But team mate Lewis Hamilton never figured in the fight for victory. He suffered an engine problem at the beginning of the race, lost the lead at the start and retired shortly afterwards.

He wasn’t the only driver in trouble early on – Sebastian Vettel also retired with an MGU-K fault within a few laps of the start, bringing his run of nine consecutive grand prix victories to an immediate end.

The other Red Bull enjoyed a much better race. Daniel Ricciardo held off a late challenge from the two McLarens to take the first podium finish of his career.

Kevin Magnussen joined him in taking his first podium finish, replicating Hamilton’s 2007 feat of finishing on the podium in his first race for McLaren at the Melbourne track.

Fernando Alonso salvaged fifth on a disappointing start to the season for Ferrari as they grappled with electrical problems on both cars. The other car of Kimi Raikkonen took eighth, the pair separated by Valtteri Bottas – who survived a puncture incurred when he hit a wall – and Nico Hulkenberg.

The Toro Rosso pair rounded off the top ten with Daniil Kvyat claiming a single point on his debut.

The race distance was shortened by a lap after the first start was aborted when Jules Bianchi suffered a problem on the grid.

2014 Australian Grand Prix

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    Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei

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    Will Wood
    Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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    40 comments on “Nico Rosberg wins the 2014 Australian Grand Prix”

    1. Mashiat (@)
      16th March 2014, 8:06

      Amazing race. One of the best I’ve seen. Amazing races by Rosberg, Ricciardo, Magnussen, Bottas, Verge and Kyvat. Although I am curious as to why Kimi is struggling so much. He make plenty of errors and finished 20 secs behind Alonso. And both of them were suffering from electrical issues so they should be quicker but Alonso is really dominating Kimi SO FAR.

      1. Why does everybody neglects Button’s drive today? p11 –> p4, not a bad result with his circumcised front end :-)

        1. Because of Magnussen.

          1. and Magnussen did what exactly? Kept his car on track? Yep. That’s about it. Seriously….

            1. And got a podium

        2. Mashiat (@)
          16th March 2014, 8:17

          I forgot to add Button.

        3. Button gained a grid spot from qualifying, gained from Hamiltons DNF and gained 2 spots because an awesomely timed SC that literally could not have happened at a better moment.

          ‘go button!’

        4. The safety car helped him

      2. Kimi seems to have troubles getting used to break-by-wire, made 1-2 big lockups during race and also new car + rainy qualifying didn’t help things. I’d assume as we progress they will be close to each other.

      3. amazing race from rosberg? what did he do exactly? no more amazing than vettels wins last year crusing around with a second or two in hand in the car managing a gap. 2014 is same problem as 2010-2013 just a different car being dominant. At least rosberg and hamilton are a closer match for each other than webber and vettel were (reliability issues aside).

    2. Mashiat (@)
      16th March 2014, 8:09

      I was right! 14 finishers FTW!

      1. So is Alonso !!!!

        1. Mashiat (@)
          16th March 2014, 8:18

          Alonso said 16. Massa said 14 if memory serves.

          1. So is Massa then !!!!!!

      2. I thought it was going to be 8!! But next is Malaysia, one of the toughest races.

    3. Mercedes is it’s own league, but once Renault sorts it out RBR seems like a real contender with McLaren and Williams right behind. Ferrari was disappointing, but seems they had issues during the race so maybe they will catch up too.

    4. Mercedes’ advantage today looked as ominous as Red Bull late-2013. Rosberg cruised his way to 25 seconds ahead of the rest of the pack.

      Nonetheless. Picking DOTW is going to be an impossible choice between Ricciardo and Magnussen.

      1. Yeah, DOTW will be very close between those 2. I’d give it for Magnussen by a very marginal difference, just because it was his first F1 race ever and didn’t put a finger wrong during whole weekened.

        1. Same here.

    5. I’m just waiting for the protests and the polemics !!!!!!, Mclaren leading the constructors and there is a chance to run their party, Renault and Mercedes maybe as well preparing their protest over Ferrari engine. Let’s wait and see

    6. Ron is back!

      1. He just came in the right moment, I’m pretty sure Whitmarsh has a lot to do with the 2014 Mclaren form

      2. @funkyf1

        This year’s McLaren has been in te works since middle 2013.

        This is Whitmarsh’s work.

        1. @tifoso and Albert Please I can understand where you are coming from but that’s like saying Eric Boulier is responsible for Lotus not finishing today. A lot of mistakes have been made at Mclaren over the past few yrs, that will not be tolerated under Ron Dennis!

          1. that’s like saying Eric Boulier is responsible for Lotus not finishing today.

            That’s not fair, Lotus is in real financial trouble and they lost several key members to rival teams, it’s a miracle they are still competing in F1

            A lot of mistakes have been made at Mclaren over the past few yrs, that will not be tolerated under Ron Dennis!

            I didn’t say Whitmarsh isn’t responsible for McLaren troubles in the past seasons i just said that he has a lot to do with this year’s form

            1. Yes Ross Brawn and Martin Whitmarsh coordinated teams that had to develop totally new cars, while contending a season. Not an easy task. but they didn’t design or build these cars, they ran the teams that did. In Whitmarshs case those last years results speak for themselves.

            2. @funkyf1

              Because under Ron Dennis Mclaren won every single championship ever, right?

              2013 aside, Whitmarsh’s record with McLaren is pretty much comparable to Ron Dennis’. And no matter what you say, the 2014’s car is much more his work than Dennis’, so he even proved he can bounce back.

          2. @funkyf1

            This year’s Lotus is also Bullier’s work, so it wouldn’t be unreasonable to say it’s his “fault”.

            I use the “” because, in reality, it’s Lotus’s financial problem’s fault. Bouller did an amazing job in 2012 – 2013 with how little ressources he has, so no one can really blame him.

    7. Does anyone realize that this is the first time since 2009 German GP that there was no world champion on the podium?

      1. @dujedcv I do now – great stat.

      2. Thanks for that, didn’t notice :)

        When was the last time a rookie took a podium spot?

        1. I’d imagine it would have been Hamilton at Fuji 2007?

          1. Melbourne same year.

      3. Ooops, that stat has been proved wrong since Ricciardo has been disqualified, promoting JB to 3rd.

    8. It is Rosberg’s championship now and Ferrari seem to be failing in the strategy department, as they missed the fight for a podium by keeping Alonso behind Hulkenberg for too long.

      1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
        16th March 2014, 8:53

        Too early to say Rosberg is going to be WDC.
        He’s definitely in with a good chance, and it’s arguably going to be between the two Mercedes boys and possibly the Red Bulls. But, let’s not forget that what happened to Lewis and Sebastian today can just as easily happen to Rosberg or anyone else in the remaining 18 rounds.

      2. “It is Rosberg’s championship now”

        After 1 race?

        hahhahahahahah

    9. Well it wasn’t quite as exciting as I thought it would be. It was still good fun to watch though.

      Mercedes have a rocket-ship. It’s scary, and while I like them, I don’t think another RBR 2010 is good for the sport. Thankfully it’s early days and we’re in the bottom left hand corner of the Bell-curve in terms of development. There should be big chunks of time being found at different stages of the season, which should switch up the running-order.

      Magnussen is the real deal. A very strong first race from him, Bottas and Ricciardo. Obviously Bottas made a mistake, but before then it was incredible to see just how fast he was going. I’m still super-excited for the rest of the season… Just waiting for that Tortoise-transforming-into-Hare race. Hopefully Malaysia..

      Finally, Vettel and Hamilton out so early on wasn’t something you really want to see in the first few laps of the first race of the year! The retirements themselves don’t irk me, I think it’s great that efficiency and reliability aren’t mere second thoughts anymore. It’s just a tad annoying we lost the chance for a great fight for P1 between the Mercedes drivers. Not only that, but obviously the RBR has pace, it would have also been great to see Vettel weaving his way through the field. Oh well, decent race. Some pleasant surprises and all-in-all a solid start for the new regulations.

      Note: With all the cars on the track, the sound seems great on TV. It’s a real sound now, not the bland high pitched scream of old..

    10. My thoughts on the race:
      Rosberg set FLAP on lap 19?! That isn’t normal.

      A lot of the strategy is hidden from us this year. We can see what is happening with tires and pit stops and tire choice, but not with fuel status and savings.

      The drivers are getting very frustrated with more and more taken from them each year and given to engineers to control. You could almost hear in Vettel’s radio messages, “Just give me a car I can drive! Do whatever tinkering you do, just make it work!”

      Mercedes had probably a minute over Red Bull if they had pushed and there hadn’t been a safety car, so this could be a really dominant season for them.
      If this is the case, they better let Lewis and Nico race each other, or there is going to be a lot of boredom.

      McLaren v Williams v Red Bull could be great this year.

      We need a poll about the car sound that is divided between people who have heard it in real life, versus the 95% of voters who have probably only heard it on TV where it is completely arbitrary.

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