Formula 1 - 2017

[MIKA27]

VETTEL: IT IS VERY CLEAR WHO IS THE FAVOURITE

In reaction to Lewis Hamilton declaring that Ferrari are favourites, ahead of the 2017 Formula 1 season, Sebastian Vettel has pointed to Mercedes as being the team to beat starting with this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix.

Hamilton declared during the drivers’ press conference in Melbourne, “I see Ferrari being the quickest at the moment. And I think they’ll definitely be the favourites.”

To which Vettel responded, “Obviously Mercedes has been in a very, very strong form the last three years. Even with changes to the rules and regulations, if the team is strong then they will build a strong car the year after, no matter what they do.

“It is very clear who is the favourite. For all of us, we are obviously trying our best to catch up. How much we have succeeded we will see. As the season goes on obviously, I’m sure the cars will have big progression.”

Ferrari, burnt by over expectation last year, have been deliberately low key during the winter, and in Melbourne Vettel was still downplaying the team’s prospects.

“I don’t know which expectations we have from the outside but inside we have none. We hope to be very high up. That’s our target and we know there’s a lot of work ahead of us. We will focus on the single steps and we have to keep pushing.”

“So far we don’t know anything. So it will be exciting to find out where we all are on Saturday and Sunday to get a first impression.”

“Testing times doesn’t matter much, I think it matters much more what you show from here onwards,” added Vettel who last year failed to score a grand prix victory.

[MIKA27]

ALONSO: THIS IS FORMULA 1 NOT A CHARITY MATCH

Fernando Alonso believes McLaren will need a miracle to stand any chance of avoiding an embarrassing start to the new Formula One season.

The British team have arrived in Melbourne in crisis after a poor pre-season in which they encountered a number of reliability issues with their Honda engine.

McLaren completed fewer laps than any other team during eight days of testing, and they were off the pace, too, with their sluggish Honda engine significantly slower than its competitors.

Indeed there is every chance that double world champion Alonso, who has won 32 grands prix, and his new team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne – hired following Jenson Button’s retirement – will be fighting at the back of the field this weekend.

“I’m sure the team worked very hard in the last couple of weeks to improve the situation and arrive a little bit more ready to compete here,” Alonso said. “But in Formula One there are no miracles in two weeks so I expect a difficult weekend.”

McLaren are entering the third period of their 10-year deal with Japanese car manufacturer Honda – but their dire winter of testing has raised significant questions over the partnership’s long-term future.

Alonso, 35, voiced his criticism of Honda earlier this month in Barcelona and, again on Thursday, stressed the need for improvement sooner rather than later.

“I’m not writing off anything,” Alonso, who is out of contract with McLaren at the end of the year, said. “We are not here to wait for four races, six races, eight races to improve.”

“We need to improve for tomorrow. If tomorrow is not going okay then we need to improve for Saturday. And if on Saturday we don’t qualify in a good position we need to improve for Sunday.”

This is Formula One. It’s not a charity match where we can have fun here and there. We have to compete. We have to beat our opponents and we need to be the best. This is what Formula One is about.”

Alonso is widely considered to be one of the finest drivers of his generation, but his career has stalled after he left Ferrari to rejoin McLaren in 2015.

Indeed the Spaniard has a best-place finish of only fifth to show from the last two years and has not been on the podium in nearly 50 races.

And Lewis Hamilton, who clashed so spectacularly with Alonso in his debut year that the Spaniard quit McLaren after just one season, hopes his former rival is soon back in a competitive car.

“This guy needs a good car so he can get up there and fight with us as well before his time is up,” said Hamilton, who was sitting alongside his former McLaren team-mate in the pre-race press conference in Melbourne on Thursday.

“We are yet to see the best of Fernando and I think the sport needs that and he deserves to be able to show that,” added the triple F1 World Champion”

[MIKA27]

2017 Formula 1 driver helmet guide: Identify who's who

Although the 2017 grid features an array of colours, with McLaren switching back to orange, Force India to pink and Toro Rosso to a new shade of blue, red and silver to separate it from sister team Red Bull, it's often difficult to tell the drivers apart.

That's where driver numbers and helmets come in handy. However, the former are often tiny and hard to recognise from the grandstands and the television cameras, so it often comes down to knowing which driver races with which helmet.

So here's your handy guide to every driver helmet for the 2017 season (Force India's will be unveiled on Friday – expect them to be pink, in lieu of the team's new deal with BWT).

#44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes

#77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes

#3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull

#33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull

#5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari

#7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari

#19 | Felipe Massa | Williams

#18 | Lance Stroll | Williams

#14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren

#2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren

#55 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso

#26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso

#8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas

#20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas

#27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault

#30 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault

#94 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber

#9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber

#11 | Sergio Perez | Force India

To be revealed on Friday (Though it might be something like this) 

#31 | Esteban Ocon | Force India

To be revealed on Friday (Though it might be something like this)

[MIKA27]

Fernando Alonso: 20 cars in Formula 1 is ‘enough’

McLaren driver Fernando Alonso believes 20 cars in Formula 1 is “enough,” following the reduction in entries in the wake of Manor’s exit from the sport.

The number of participants in Formula 1 has varied across the championship’s history, with entries this century peaking from 2010-12, when 12 teams competed.

The exit of HRT, Caterham and Marussia briefly reduced the field to 18 drivers for a couple of rounds in 2014, before the revival of the rebranded Manor Marussia outfit raised numbers to 20 for 2015.

Haas’ entry in the sport last year meant 22 drivers featured at every round, but Manor’s demise over the winter means 10 teams, each fielding two drivers, will be present this season.

“Yes, enough,” Alonso said when asked if a grid of 20 cars was sufficient, ahead of this weekend’s season-opener in Australia.

“Obviously, it’s nice to have many cars on track and many teams in Formula 1 but at the same point it’s a sport that’s quite difficult to get in, quite difficult to stay for many years.

“We see with some of the smaller teams how they struggle to keep their financial situation healthy in the year.

“I think to have a good ten teams and 20 cars on track is more or less the number that we see in Formula 1 for many years. I think it’s OK.”

Alonso made his Formula 1 debut with the backmarker Minardi team in 2001.

[MIKA27]

Video: A Melbourne Dinghy Dash with Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen

It’s almost time for the season to get underway but before attention turns to Albert Park and the Australian Grand Prix, Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen got to enjoy a little bit of downtime, messing about in boats on Melbourne’s Yarra River.

[MIKA27]

Shark fins out, Halo in for 2018

Formula 1 is set to bid farewell to shark fins and T-wings come 2018, however, don’t get expect beautiful cars as Halo is likely to be introduced.

FIA race director Charlie Whiting held a media briefing at the Albert Park street circuit on Thursday in which the look of this year’s car was one of the hot topics.

Many in Formula 1 have criticised the use of the shark fins, which the teams have incorporated into their designs to help control airflow to the rear wing.

Some teams have added to this by introducing T-wings.

Next year, though, they are likely to be banned.

“Next year, I think there is quite a good chance that that [ban] will be done because quite a few people feel that they are a bit of an unsightly thing,” said Whiting.

“I personally don’t have anything against them, but it was something that was always going to be possible. I think the reaction of everybody probably wasn’t expected.”

However, the cars may still look unsightly to some next season as Formula 1 is on track to introduce cockpit protection in the form of Halo.

“It was agreed by the strategy group and the Formula One Commission that there would be additional frontal protection for 2018,” Whiting explained. “So far the halo is the only candidate solution that fits the bill.”

[MIKA27]

Verstappen: A different RB13 in Melbourne

Max Verstappen has confirmed that Red Bull will race a different RB13 in Australia but says it is only a “little bit different” to the car they tested.

Failing to set the timesheets alight during the two pre-season tests, many predicted that the Red Bull racer seen in Australia would differ to the car that Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo lapped in during testing.

And although Verstappen says the changes are only a “little bit”, he has revealed that they are “everywhere.”

“It will look a little bit different. A little bit,” he told the official F1 website.

“But not just in a single aspect – everywhere. That’s what you do if you want to drive the whole car concept forward.

“But it is still the best looking car on the grid!

“And in fact you change to suit the demands: of the track, of the conditions – on wind or no wind.

“So we do have a ‘Melbourne spec’ here, if you want to see it that way.”

As for whether that RB13 will be good enough to win races and fight for the World title, the Dutchman said: “Still too early to say.

“But I think we still need to improve to fight for the titles. At the moment.

“That can change once we are racing – but clearly the feeling of the moment is that we need to improve!”

[MIKA27]

Sauber better than it looked in Barcelona – Ericsson

Sauber driver Marcus Ericsson says the Swiss F1 team is in better shape than pre-season testing laptimes suggested.

The Swiss outfit, which opted to use year-old Ferrari power units for the coming campaign, was slowest among the F1 2017 crop in Barcelona pre-season testing – with the C36's best lap, set by Ericsson, some three seconds off the pace.

Talking to the media ahead of the F1 season opener in Melbourne, Ericsson conceded Sauber hadn't gone as quickly as it would've liked in testing, but insisted the C36 was more competitive that it might have looked.

"For sure, we would have liked to be faster," Ericsson said. "What I can say from testing is that I've felt that we didn't really have a good balance in the car.

"We have quite a bit of time [to find] if we can get the car to feel a little bit better for us drivers."

"I think [in Melbourne] we can be a little bit more competitive than we looked to be in Barcelona, let's put it that way.

"We had some challenges to get the car balanced in the testing and I was struggling quite a bit with the balance between the front and the rear of the car. So I think if we can get that - we already have some ideas that we are going to try here tomorrow in practice and hopefully that will help."

Ericsson also noted Sauber ran heavier than usual in Barcelona, which would have contributed to low-key laptimes.

On where Sauber stood in the pecking order, he said: "I think we are in the lower end of the midfield. The midfield this year seems to be a very big group of teams.

"For me, it's always very difficult to read in testing but from what we can see from our analysis, it's obvious the three top teams which have a bit of a gap to the rest and then the midfield seems to be quite bunched up.

"And we are in the lower part of that midfield, but we should be in it."

  

Year-old engine a question mark

While it propped up the timing sheets, Sauber was fourth in the mileage rankings in Barcelona, logging laps with the familiar 2016-spec Ferrari unit amid issues in the Renault camp and the troubled run of McLare-Honda.

Ericsson believes the reliability factor could allow Sauber to sneak into the top 10 on Sunday in the F1 season opener in Melbourne, but the Swede admits he doesn't know how big a factor the year-old engine will be as the campaing progresses.

"We are pushing on hard on the car and we absolutely knew for a long time that we are going to have a one-year-old engine," he said.

"Then the question is how much of a disadvantage that will be. That's also very difficult to read from the testing because we don't really know what engine settings people are running. It's almost impossible to say.

"I think that will be interesting for us this weekend to see from the start where we stand compared to the others in top speed and stuff like that and then we'll know.

"Second half of the season, we should be at a bit more of a disadvantage because of the engine - but we have what we have so we cannot focus too much on it because it's not something we can change."

[MIKA27]

Hamilton intrigued by Red Bull's Australia upgrades

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton is intrigued to see what upgrades Red Bull has brought to the Australian Grand Prix, after a quiet pre-season testing for the Milton Keynes-based squad.

Ferrari appeared to emerge as Mercedes' most likely challenger during the eight days of running in Spain, although Red Bull seemed to be running a conservative specification of car as it has done in the past for testing.

That has led to expectations that the team will have more new parts than most to try this weekend at the first race.

“I am very, very keen to see what Red Bull bring as they were quite far behind in testing compared to Ferrari,” Hamilton told the media on Thursday at Albert Park.

“I didn’t see them bringing many upgrades you can see, so I assume they will bring some here and I’m excited to see what they do bring.

“Having more teams and more drivers fighting for the wins is what racing is about.”

It is hoped the major aerodynamic rule changes, coupled with a switch to bigger tyres, can allow teams to pose a bigger threat to Mercedes’ dominance of F1, and Hamilton has welcomed the potential shake-up.

“The more of a fight you have the more satisfying it is when you are victorious,” he added.

  

“We are down for a challenge and up for a fight – that is what I have prepared for.

“I can’t remember the last time they had three years and then a rule change.

“They should do more changes because there can often be dominance of a certain team, and sometimes it is hard to catch up.

“Doing changes spices it up. I have never seen fans so excited for a season because we don’t know where the teams are [relative to each other].

“I don’t believe any team has won back-to-back through regulation changes – we are here to win and to do something that no-one else has done.”

Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo added: “When Red Bull were dominating [prior to 2014], everyone wanted to see someone else win.

“For us drivers not being in Mercedes we want to see change. We just need more cars fighting for the win.

“If [Hamilton] wins the race against four of us as opposed to just his team-mate that reward is bigger.

“Ferrari showed good pace in testing, so if they can take a few points as well it opens the championship up.”

Sebastian Vettel said Ferrari doesn’t “know anything” about its likely 2017 form, but Hamilton repeated his claims from pre-season that the Italian team looks the strongest. 

“Ferrari have been the quickest over the winter and I’d say they are the favourites,” said the Mercedes driver.

“Sebastian is normally a lot more hyped. I can tell he’s excited and trying to keep a lid on it.”

[MIKA27]

Hi guys.

Might not be posting much over the weekend as I'll be at the Grand Prix Saturday and Sunday.

Will be my son Ethans first GP weekend which I'm looking forward to even if he's asked me to buy him a Red Bull Racing cap, could be worse, could be a Sahara Force India pink cap?

May or may not post in the evening Saturday, otherwise, have a great weekend watching the F1 here in Melbourne!! 

[MIKA27]

MELBOURNE FP1: HAMILTON SETS EARLY PACE CHASED BY BOTTAS

Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets ahead of new Mercedes team mate Valtteri Bottas in the first free practise session at the Australian Grand Prix, going over five seconds faster than he did at the same venue

Hamilton clocked a flying lap of 1:24.220 on a warm, at Albert Park, more than half a second faster than the Finn in a largely incident-free session.

Red Bull drivers Dan Ricciardo and Max Verstappen were third and fourth fastest respectively, with the Ferraris rounding out the top six. The Reds, who are expected to have closed the gap to the Silver Arrows, were one second adrift of the top top time.

However, Hamilton and Bottas posted their fastest laps on the quicker Pirelli ultra-soft tyres, while other drivers stuck with the super softs, leaving the true pace of the cars unclear.

More definitive was the overall speed of the new cars, many of which were over four seconds faster per lap compared to the corresponding practise at last year’s race.

Hamilton’s time was less than four-tenths of a second shy of the qualifying lap of 1:23.837 that put him on pole position at Albert Park last year.

Three-times F1 champion Hamilton would have been pleased to put down an early marker ahead of his new team mate Bottas, who replaced retired champion Nico Rosberg.

Ferrari set the pace during winter testing but the Scuderia had a subdued session, with Raikkonen edging four-times champion Sebastian Vettel with the fifth fastest lap.

Felipe Massa was seventh fastest for Williams ahead of Haas’s Romain Grosjean.

Fernando Alonso was 14th on the time-sheet for Honda-powered McLaren, with his team mate Stoffel Vandoorne at the bottom, underscoring the challenge for the Woking-based outfit after their problems during winter testing.

Briton Jolyon Palmer was 19th out of the 20 cars, his session cut short due to a seal problem with his Renault.

Canadian rookie Lance Stroll was 13th for Williams and got through the session unscathed after a number of incidents during winter testing.

[MIKA27]

Ross Brawn will fight for good racing in future if 2017 disappoints

New Formula 1 motorsport boss Ross Brawn says he will "fight" for rules which will encourage good racing in the future if the 2017 season proves to be a damp squib.

The changes implemented for the current season are aimed it making the cars much quicker and more aggressive looking, however they weren't designed with overtaking in mind – with some drivers believing the rules will in fact reduce overtaking.

Brawn says he won't stand for poor racing and will push through regulation changes, whilst working closely with the FIA and teams to change that if necessary.

"If we see things this year that we don’t think are great for the sport, then we will be fighting our corner, and we will be fighting at every level,” Brawn said on Friday ahead of the Australian Grand Prix.

"You can rest assured that we will be working with the teams and working with the FIA to find solutions if we don’t feel the racing is as good as it should be.

"Can we come up with a set of regulations where we can still use the power of aerodynamics to give us the speed and spectacle of the cars, but in a more benign way so they can at least race each other more closely without it having an impact? That is my ambition, that is my objective.”

Brawn says he would like to see more surprises in the sport, such as a midfield team taking a surprise victory.

"We need to flatten off the variation between the front and the back of the grid so that on a good day, a Force India can win a race, or a team – a really competent, private smaller team, can still win a race. At the moment that is highly unlikely.

"We have to flatten off the field and that means finding ways of limiting the potential of the regulations or limiting the resources that teams have available."

[MIKA27]

Force India officially unveils pink-liveried VJM10 in Melbourne

Force India have officially unveiled its new pink-livered VJM10, which will contest the 2017 Formula 1 world championship.

The outfit ran with its usual black, orange and silver livery during pre-season testing, but announced last week that it had signed new sponsor BWT, and along with that announcement, confirmed a livery change.

The team rolled their car out in the pitlane ahead of first practice for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix for the first time, showing off the new pink livery to the media and fans.

MIKA: I don't know what pink has to do with water but saying that, it isn't all that bad a look. The "Salmon" colour looks ok with all the sponsorship brandings added to it... It appeals more than the McLaren IMO

I think having the driver helmets pink is taking it too far though...

[Baldy]

Anything is better than the awful McLaren.  Fortunately we won't see much of the McLaren while they are parked in the garage or are so far back that they won't get much TV time.  We'll see a bit of them as Sauber blows pass them.

Have fun at the GP this weekend @MIKA27. 

 

[MIKA27]

On 3/24/2017 at 3:30 PM, Baldy said:

Anything is better than the awful McLaren.  Fortunately we won't see much of the McLaren while they are parked in the garage or are so far back that they won't get much TV time.  We'll see a bit of them as Sauber blows pass them.

Have fun at the GP this weekend @MIKA27. 

 

Been a great F1 weekend so far, I'll post a few articles and head of for the race, I live about 15 minutes from the track so very easy to get to.

Normally I'd be there already but yesterday out in the heat had me walking all funny by days end  Thank god they sell beer but I went prepared for wet and dry day, it's far from going to rain though I think we came very close during Qualy day. Imagine a wet race today!

It was Ethan's first Formula 1 race weekend and he loves it, chose Red Bull racing as his team and Dan Riciardo, that's pretty cool.

This year not only do the cars look great but they sound amazing. Yes... they aren't V8 or 10 but I'd go as far as saying they are the best they have been for some time.

For me McLaren, Torro Rosso, sounded ordinary, Williams and Renault sound muted and the standouts were Mercedes, Red Bull, HAAS, Sauber and Force India, now they sounded like beasts and somehow stood out among the rest.

Up close, the Force India livery looks pretty good, would love it if the drivers could chose their own colour schemes for helmets but otherwise good.

Enjoy the race all.

 

 

[MIKA27]

MELBOURNE QUALIFYING: HAMILTON CLAIMS FIRST POLE OF THE YEAR

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton signaled his intent as he powered to pole position for the season opening Australian Grand Prix, ending qualifying with a superb lap which was a quarter of a second up on next best Sebastian Vettel in the Ferrari.

Under heavy clouds threatening rain and occasionally spitting a drop or two, Hamilton powered around Albert Park in a best time of 1:22.188 which was good enough for the top spot start and 0.268 of a second up on Vettel’s best effort. 

Hamilton summed up his afternoon, “It has been a fantastic weekend so far. It feels like only yesterday I came here and had my first race here in 2007. Such an incredible journey. I am really proud of my team, the guys have worked so hard to make the car what it is today.”

“Valtteri has done a great job and it is great for Mercedes. It is close between us all and it will be a tight race,” added the triple F1 World Champion.

For Ferrari it will be a relief that they are in the mix, they have made giant strides in closing the gap during the winter, Vettel was a happy man, “We have a good car, we are working well as a team and things are improving. ”

“We had a mixed day yesterday but the confidence in the car was there from testing and we showed that today. I would have loved it but I don’t think pole was up for grabs. I think we can do something in the race tomorrow,” ventured the four time F1 World Champion.

Hamilton’s new teammate Valtteri Bottas, who is still dialing himself into the team, was quickest in Q2 but a scrappy final lap in Q3 resulted in the third best time.

Bottas said, “Third is not ideal. In general I am not happy for the result but I am proud of what the team has done with this car. It is really nice to see the work has paid off and we are fighting at the front. It seems close this year but me personally I did not get any perfect laps in. Tomorrow is the day that matters. Our starts have been quite strong in practice.”

Next up was Kimi Raikkonen, over half a second down on Vettel, nevertheless indicating that the battle for the big prize on Sunday, in Melbourne, will be between the Silver Arrows and the Reds.

It was a day of disappointment for Red Bull and local hero Daniel Ricciardo who crashed out of Q3 while on a flyer, while Max Verstappen was best of the rest, behind the Mercedes’ and Ferraris, albeit 1.3 seconds off the pole lap pace.

Much was expected from the energy drinks outfit but they lacked fizz when it mattered and early indications are that they have dropped significantly off the pace setters, or simply the nuances of Albert Park do not suit the RB13.

Ricciardo said after his return to the pits, “Physically I am OK but emotionally it’s tough. At least it wasn’t in Q1. The lap in Q3 was a little messy, the turn caught me out, caught me by surprise. There was not a way catching that and saving it.”

Romain Grosjean impressed in the Haas, qualifying sixth and comprehensively out performing his new teammate Kevin Magnussen, who failed to make it beyond Q3 and had to settle for 17th on the grid for his debut with the American team.

Williams veteran Felipe Massa was seventh fastest in a somewhat subdued session for the Brazilian. His rookie teammate Lance Stroll could only manage 19th after slamming the wall a few hours earlier in FP3. It was a rush job by the Williams crew to patch up the damaged FW40 and in fairness the teenager’s session was compromised before it began.

The Toro Rosso pair did a solid job with Carlos Sainz and Daniil Kvyat set to start from eighth and ninth respectively.

Ricciardo not setting a lap time before his qualy ending incident, set to start 10th. But a possible engine change may relegate the Australian to the wrong end of the grid.

No doubt one of the heroes of the day was Antonio Giovinazzi who, in the early morning, was hastily drafted in to replace unfit Pascal Wehrlein in the Sauber. The Italian managed only 18 laps in FP3, before being thrown into the deep end of qualifying around a notoriously tricky circuit he had never driven on before.

However the Ferrari reserve seized the moment impressively to qualify 16th, matching his teammate Marcus Ericsson in the sister car, but only an error on his final lap kept him out of Q2. The Italian announced his arrival in the best way possible.

More was expected from the Force India duo, but the boys pink missed out on Q3, with Sergio Perez ending the session 11th and his new teammate Esteban Ocon 14th fastest. 

McLaren appeared to have a good Friday, but in qualifying they were plagued with niggles that frustrated their drivers Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne. The pair were at the wrong end of the timing screens ending 13th and 18th respectively.

Jolyon Palmer was slowest in his Renault, the Englishman complaining that the car – rebuilt after he wrecked it 24 hours earlier – was undrivable. His teammate Nico Hulkenberg was 12th in his first qualifying for the French team.

Final word to the man who will start the 2017 season opener from pole position, “Tomorrow is about putting in all the work that went on over winter. I will make sure I get a good night’s sleep and come back stronger than ever.” 

[MIKA27]

VERSTAPPEN: WE’RE NOT ON THE SAME LEVEL AS FERRARI AND MERCEDES

Australian Grand Prix qualifying showed Red Bull are not yet on the same level as Formula One rivals Mercedes and Ferrari but Max Verstappen said he was not surprised.

“Basically I saw it coming after winter testing, this is the best we could do,” the 19-year-old Dutch driver told Sky Sports television on Saturday after he qualified fifth behind the two Mercedes and Ferraris for the season-opening race.

Australian team mate Daniel Ricciardo was 10th after spinning into the tyre wall in the final phase of the session without setting a time.

Verstappen said the car had a tricky balance and lacked pace, “We are still down on power but also, in terms of grip level and things, we are not on the same level compared to Ferrari and Mercedes yet.”

“The car is very sensitive to set-up changes. Sometimes you suffer oversteer and sometimes understeer and it’s been a variable weekend so far. We weren’t able to do a lot of laps so qualifying in fifth with a reasonable balance is pretty good.”

“Our best hope tomorrow is a clean start because we don’t have the pace to challenge the Ferraris and Mercedes. I’m realistic.”

He said Sunday’s race, with Lewis Hamilton on pole for Mercedes and Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel also on the front row, could be a lonely one for him with a likely gap to the cars behind and in front.

Verstappen’s best lap of 1:23.485 seconds was 1.3 seconds slower than Hamilton’s pole time.

The Dutchman was more than half a second quicker than sixth fastest qualifier Romain Grosjean in the Haas.

[MIKA27]

RICCIARDO: IT HAPPENED QUICKLY

Local hero Daniel Ricciardo was crestfallen after a costly error led to a crash in the final frenetic stages of qualifying on home soil to push him down the grid for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.

Australia’s big hope was trying to post a quicker time in the final Q3 stage when he lost control of his Red Bull at turn 14.

His RB13 car sustained extensive rear damage when he crashed into a barrier, prematurely ending his qualifying and suspending the final session while his car was cleared from the track.

Ricciardo will start 10th on the race grid to continue a run of wretched luck at his home grand prix where he is seeking to become the race’s first Aussie winner in 37 years.

He is lining up for his sixth crack at the race in Melbourne on Sunday, after placing fourth last year, his best performance yet.

In 2014, Ricciardo crossed the line second behind Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg, but cruelly he was disqualified for breaching fuel rules.

I’m physically okay, but emotionally it’s tough. At least (the crash) didn’t happen in Q1,” Ricciardo told reporters.

“We made a big step forwards in Q2 but the lap in Q3 was a bit messy and then turn 13 caught me out. There was no way of catching that and saving it. I lost it going into Turn 14. It happened quickly, I could feel rear was starting to come around.”

“I tried to catch it but it came around, and as the result of more downforce and more grip, when you lose it it’s a lot more violent and aggressive, so it caught me out. I would have loved to be (in the) top five rather than 10th.”

Ricciardo has won four races from 109 GPs, but he said earlier in the week that a win in Australia would top them all.

“If anyone could win just one race, they would always say their home (race),” he said.

Alan Jones was the last Australian to win his home grand prix in 1980, when he was also the last Australian to win the world title.

MIKA: Dan now has to change his gearbox so gets a 5 second grid penalty and will now start further down the back.

[MIKA27]

Haas speed in Australian Formula 1 qualifying surprises rivals

The Williams Formula 1 team was surprised to be beaten by Haas in Australian Grand Prix qualifying, while Daniil Kvyat hopes Romain Grosjean's effort was the "lap of his life".

Grosjean recorded Haas's best-ever grid position by qualifying sixth in Melbourne, ending up four tenths of a second clear of Felipe Massa's Williams.

The Frenchman's Q3 effort also vaulted Haas clear of Toro Rosso, Force India and Renault in the tight midfield battle, having been neck-and-neck with those teams throughout practice.

"The Haas was a surprise and well done to them," said new Williams chief technical officer Paddy Lowe.

"We hadn't seen it coming because Romain didn't get a great lap in Q2."

Grosjean admitted he was not expecting such a strong performance after "struggling to find my marks" in testing.

"Some of the guys were optimistic," he said. "Things were not really going the way I wanted.

"The first lap I did here, I felt the car was better and the first run was good so we can build from there

"From seventh realistically, because [Daniel] Ricciardo went out, to 14th is pretty tight.

"It is going to be intense."

Kvyat will start the race ninth, one place behind team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr, with Toro Rosso the only one of the midfield teams to get both cars into the final part of qualifying.

"They [Haas] were normal in Q1 and Q2, but then in Q3 it was a very strong lap," said Kvyat.

"Massa felt within the reach, definitely. It was peanuts difference.

"But he [Grosjean] looked quite impressive. Let's hope it's just a lap of his life."

MASSA DISAPPOINTED BY DEFEAT

Massa, who managed just six laps in second practice to an electrical problem, said he was "a little bit" disappointed to wind up behind Haas.

Williams was the strongest midfield team in testing and was predicted to be just ahead in the fight to be fourth behind Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.

"I was a little bit surprised because I was in front of him in Q1 and Q2," said Massa.

"Maybe I expected to be a little bit better, like I was in Barcelona.

"Maybe we could have gone one tenth quicker, but not fourth tenths."

Esteban Ocon conceded "the Haas is a little faster" than Force India at present.

"It's so close that the driver in the midfield can make a difference for sure," said Ocon. "That's cool."

Grosjean's team-mate Kevin Magnussen said he was not surprised by the team's performance because it "ran quite heavy" in testing, something Renault driver Jolyon Palmer also noticed.

"It's very impressive, Grosjean's done a good job there," said Palmer, who will start 19th with his team-mate Nico Hulkenberg 12th.

"In testing I thought they were holding something back still, because they did last year.

"They have a good chance to make a good start."

Haas has also pit its T-wing back on the car after being forced to remove it on Friday.

[RDean]

Great start to the season. Feel horrible for Daniel Ricardo. Hopefully Red Bull will be able to join the fight in the next race. Forza Ferrari

[MIKA27]

AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX: VETTEL SHOCKS MERCEDES

Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel won the Australian Grand Prix,  the opening round of the 2017 Formula 1 World Championship, in style and in the process shocked Mercedes whose Lewis Hamilton qualified on pole and led the early stages of the race.

Vettel’s victory vindicates Ferrari’s winter efforts and say-very-little methods, which attracted the wrath of Italian media, while returning a driver in red to the top step of the podium for the first time since the 2015 Singapore Grand Prix.

The manner in which Vettel won the race in Melbourne will also be a big boost for all at Maranello. Early on he latched on to the back of Hamilton, who managed a good start, and the Ferrari was always within a couple of seconds of the leader. Always ready to pounce.

Delighted, Vettel, speaking to MC Mark Webber on the podium: “Unbelievable. It is a fantastic grand prix. It was quite mad in a positive way with the people running on the track going wild with the Ferrari flags.”

“There is a long way to go, but we are just over the moon at the moment. I was not entirely happy with my start, there was a bit of wheel-slip, but I was trying to keep the pressure on to give the message that we are here to fight.”

“There was a bit of luck that Lewis came out in traffic. You can push these cars until the end. The tyres still degrade but you can still attack all the way,” he added on the occasion of his 43rd grand prix victory.

In contrast, Hamilton was never really content, complaining about of lack of grip with the Ferrari looming in his mirrors.

He asked Mercedes to pit him from the lead on lap 17. But it was too early, crucially the pit appeared not to do the maths properly, or whatever, as the Silver Arrows emerged from the pits behind the Red Bull of Max Verstappen.

And that was that, as Hamilton  could not get by the Dutchman and cost him time, and perhaps the race too.

This played into Vettel’s hands. The early pressure had paid off. The German stayed out reeled out a series of impressive and consistent laps.

Seven laps after Hamilton’s stop, Vettel peeled into the pits and when he emerged was well up the road and comfortably in the lead where he remained until the chequered flag waved, increasing his lead as Hamilton’s challenge fizzled out and thereafter never looked like challenging Vettel.

On the podium Hamilton appeared gracious and pleased that at last he may have a battle on his hands with someone other than his teammate, even he knowss that victory for Ferrari is always a good thing for Formula 1.

He said on the podium: “A big congratulations to Ferrari and Sebastian, we struggled with the tyres and had to stop early as I was suffering with grip, but it is great to see everyone out here.”

  

Valtteri Bottas followed his teammate home in  third, the Finn enjoyed a solid, if unspectacular race, and will no doubt be glad to have finished on the podium in his debut for Mercedes. He closed in on Hamilton in the late stages,  but appeared to hold station until the end of the race.

Bottas said: “First race with the team, thanks everyone. We have worked so hard to be ready. Everything went nice and smoothly but the red cars too quick for us today. We can improve from here.” 

Fourth went to Kimi Raikkonen in the other Ferrari, the veteran had a subdued race and was no match for Vettel. In the end he crossed the line 22 seconds adrift of his teammate.

Verstappen finished fifth, but it was quite clear that the Red Bull RB13 around the wall-lined and tight confines of Albert Park was not a match for the pace setters. 

It was a huge disappointment for teammate, Daniel Ricciardo who spun out and damaged his car in qualifying on Saturday. Technical issues kept him in the pits for two laps after the field was released as his crew tried to sort out the issue.

He emerged to big cheers from the crowd, but his race was over before it began. He retired the car on lap 25 long before the race ended.

The big smiling Aussie was disappointed: “The most frustrating thing was for all these things to happen at home,” he said. “I don’t put it down to anything other than the mistake I made in qualifying. We had an issue in the warm up lap and a separate issue in the race. Just bad luck I guess.”

“I can still win 19 races, that’s the plan. I think the car is better than we are showing but it is a bit of a puzzle we are trying to work out. I hope we can find the pace soon enough,” added Ricciardo.

  

Australian Grand Prix Race Report

There was drama even before the start as on his lap to grid home favourite Ricciardo’s Red Bull slowed dramatically. The Australian’s car had been repaired overnight following his crash in qualifying and his team had performed a gearbox change, which dropped him to 15th on the grid.

As he circled to take that spot he reported that the car had lost power and then stuck in sixth gear. It was recovered to the garage and his crew then began to work frantically to get the car repaired so that he could start from the pit lane.

They were afforded a little more time when there appeared to be confusion about grid slots following Ricciardo’s stoppage and the start had to be aborted.

After another formation lap the race finally got underway and Hamilton held his advantage, taking P1 through Turn One. He was followed by Vettel, Bottas, Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstappen.

As the field flowed across the line at the end of the first lap, Ricciardo’s car was finally fired up and he joined the action – two laps down.

  

At the front, Hamilton attempted to stretch a small gap to Vettel but the Ferrari driver responded and over the course of the first 15 laps the deficit stayed hovered around 1.5 seconds.

Bottas held third, some six seconds behind the Finn, while Verstappen was fifth ahead of Felipe Massa, Romain Grosjean, Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez and Daniil Kvyat.

Grosjean’s stint in the top 10 was coming to an end though. On lap 15 smoke began to billow from his Haas’ engine cover and he quickly steered towards the pitlane where he retired from the race.

Hamilton made his first stop on lap 17 and took on soft tyres. He emerged in P5 behind Verstappen. Thus, Vettel assumed the lead.

Soon after, Hamilton was told that it was “race critical’” that he pass Verstappen but the Briton was quick to point out that there was no way past the Dutchman.

As Hamilton’s pace dropped behind the slower Red Bull, Vettel powered away at the front and when the German made his first stop, for soft tyres, on lap 23 he emerged ahead of both Verstappen and Hamilton, the Ferrari driver quickly building a six seconds advantage.

Later, Hamilton said he called for the early stop because of excessive tyre wear and that he had simply ‘run out of grip’.

Elsewhere, Ricciardo’s frustrating afternoon came to a close when he suddenly lost power on lap 29 and ground to a halt at Turn 3.

By lap 40, Vettel was looking comfortable in the lead, almost eight seconds ahead of Hamilton who was in turn three seconds ahead of Bottas. Behind the podium positions Bottas was 13 seconds ahead of Raikkonen and the Ferrari driver was four seconds ahead of Verstappen.

The Red Bull teenager was making headway, though, and on lap 41 he turned reduced the gap to Raikkonen to three seconds. A lap later he clawed another eight tenths of a second back.

It looked like there might be a late-race duel on the cards, but as his supersoft tyres faded it was as near as Verstappen got. By lap his pace began to drop and the gap to Raikkonen drifted to two seconds by the end of the race.

  

Further back Fernando Alonso was heading for a P10 finish and McLaren’s first points of the season. However with just a handful of laps remaining the Spaniard was in trouble. First with Ocon and Hulkenberg swarming all over the back of his McLaren and then with a mechanical issue that was making his car pull to the right.

Ocon swiftly pounced and took the final points position for Force India. Alonso steered to the pits to retire from the race with a failed suspension.

At the front, Hamilton was offering no threat to Vettel and the order remained stable, with Bottas third ahead of Raikkonen and Verstappen now settled in fifth place.

Vettel took the flag for his and Ferrari’s first win since Singapore in 2015, followed by Hamilton and Bottas. Raikkonen took fourth ahead of Verstappen.

Felipe Massa was sixth for Williams with Perez scoring solid points for Force India with an impressive seventh place. It was a good day too for Toro Rosso, with Carlos Sainz eighth ahead of team-mate Daniil Kvyat. The final points position was taken by Ocon.

Just three other drivers finished the race, with Nico Hulkenberg 11th for Renault and Antonio Giovinazzi, a last minute replacement for injured Pascal Wehrlein, ending a credible 12th for Sauber on his Formula 1 debut.

Thirteenth place went to McLaren’s Stoffel Vandoorne. The weekend’s other rookie, Lance Stroll retired from the race at two-thirds distance.

[MIKA27]

HAMILTON: A PRIVILEGE TO BE RACING IN AN ERA WITH SEBASTIAN

Lewis Hamilton has revealed he is braced for a tougher rivalry with Sebastian Vettel than Nico Rosberg in what he believes will be the ‘best against the best’ battling it out for this year’s Formula 1 crown.

It is four-time world champion Vettel who holds the early advantage after a resurgent Ferrari delivered on their pre-season form to beat Hamilton’s Mercedes and win the opening race of the new season in Australia on Sunday.

Vettel finished the best part of 10 seconds clear of Hamilton as Ferrari, who failed to win a single race last year, became the first team other than Mercedes to win the opening round of a season since 2013.

The 29-year-old German and Hamilton – three years his senior – are considered as the two finest drivers of their generation, and while Rosberg ended his long-running losing streak to Hamilton last year, he was never viewed as being in the same league.

And in what could be viewed as a subtle barb at Rosberg, who watched Albert Park’s season opener from his lounge in Monte Carlo, Hamilton concurred.

“Definitely,” he replied when asked if he was anticipating a greater challenge from Vettel than Rosberg. “This year you are seeing the best against the best with the best drivers at the top.”

“It would be great if we had Fernando Alonso up there, too, but it doesn’t look like that will happen any time soon.”

“At least we have a great driver in Sebastian winning four titles after his incredible surge into Formula One and he will continue to be a force for many years to come.”

“I am really grateful to have that fight with him, against Ferrari which is the next best team, and there is a top driver there, too. It has been a privilege to be racing in an era with him and finally we are in a period of time when we can actually have a real race.”

Vettel was equally complimentary. “I have great respect [for Hamilton],” the German added. “He has proven to be one of the quickest drivers on the grid and I would love to have a close battle.”

“It is a lot of fun to race for victories and a lot of fun to race against the best. Right now it looks like we have equal machinery and I hope it stays that way,” added Vettel.

Formula One will hope it does, too. After three years of Mercedes dominance, Vettel triumphing at a sun-bathed Albert Park, in front of a near 100,000 crowd, is precisely what the sport and its new owners Liberty Media will have desired.

[MIKA27]

Hamilton urges Mercedes improvement on tyre usage

Lewis Hamilton says Mercedes has identified tyre usage as an area it needs to improve on with its car, after losing out to Sebastian Vettel at the Australian Grand Prix.

Hamilton had started the F1 2017 opener on pole, but couldn't pull away from Vettel in the first stint of the race – and eventually had to come in early as he had "run out of grip" on his set of ultrasofts.

He lost time stuck behind Max Verstappen after stopping, while Vettel stuck with his ultrasofts for six laps longer and leapfrogged Hamilton as a result, going on to win the race.

Having radioed in that he was lacking grip at several points during the race, Hamilton explained afterwards: "The team asked me to give information where the tyres are throughout the run – and just the race that we had planned to race and I was asked to race wasn't necessarily the optimum.

"We didn't firstly have the pace to be able to pull a gap, for example, to Sebastian, we knew that early on. We continued on this road, which just didn't end up working out.

"There's an area that we have to work on, obviously our tyre usage is something [that] we understand is where we're losing . So we're just trying to make changes to improve that in the future, which we will do."

  

"Could have done better"

Responding to suggestions that he didn't seem overly unhappy to have missed out on the win, Hamilton said that his disappointment was tempered by the fact Mercedes has remained a victory contender through the 2017 regulation change.

"Wouldn't say I'm happy," he said. "I mean, you could, realistically, with all things in perspective, see we've come from to massive rule change - to see us come here and be battling so closely for a win and missing out marginally, I think there's a lot of things to be incredibly proud of.

"It's great to see Ferrari up there, I think it's good for the sport that we have this close battle.

"I could've won the race today and there's certain things that we could've perhaps done better but I gave it everything I could. Can't win them all."

Asked to elaborate what, aside from tyre usage, those "certain things" were, Hamilton said: "I can't really tell you. There's so many things - it's all internal stuff that we have to work on.

"It's a bunch of things. It's a bunch of things - how hard you push, the balance, there's so many things."

[MIKA27]

Whiting explains reason for aborted start

Formula 1 race director Charlie Whiting has revealed that he aborted the first start of the Australian Grand Prix because he was uncertain that it was safe to proceed after a marshal had triggered a warning light.

The original getaway was abandoned, with the drivers being sent around for another formation lap, after Sergio Perez hesitated to get into the right grid slot and then a yellow warning signal for Daniil Kvyat went off.

Whiting said that the combination of events meant he was not totally sure that it would have been safe to proceed with the race at that point.

"I aborted the start because there was uncertainty, and I always want to be certain (or as certain as one can be) that all is well before pressing the start button," Whiting told Motorsport.com.

"Firstly, Perez had pulled up in the wrong position but, after a few seconds in that position, began pulling forward. And, at the same time, the marshal responsible for the light panel beside Kvyat's car pressed the yellow button which indicated a problem.

"Neither I nor my colleagues in race control could see a problem so I felt the safest option was to abort and send them off on another formation lap."

There was no firm answer as to why the marshal had triggered the yellow warning signal for Kvyat, but the situation could have been triggered by heightened anticipation following a small fire on the car as the team had worked on the car on the grid.

Whiting added: "It was clear from the video that there was nothing wrong with Kvyat's car nor did he make any signal, so it may well have been a case of nerves on the part of the marshal.

"It doesn't fully explain why the button was pressed but people sometimes do inexplicable things under pressure.

"In any case though, the main point is that there was uncertainty as to whether it was safe to give the start so it was aborted. No driver appeared to be to blame so hence no driver was required to start from the pitlane."

[MIKA27]

Investigation launched into Melbourne post-race track invasion

Australian Grand Prix officials have launched an investigation into how fans were permitted access to the track before all the cars had returned to the pitlane.

Following the conclusion of the race on Sunday, fans poured onto the circuit at various points as race leader Sebastian Vettel, as well as several other cars, were completing their cool down lap on the way to the pitlane.

"When I was coming back to the pits and people were running on track, unbelievable," commented race winner Vettel.

The fans were able to get within inches of the cars which were still running at relatively high speeds.

Australian GP boss Andrew Westacott says the matter is under investigation: "I am concerned because we have very, very strict processes that for 21 races have worked beautifully so something went amiss," he told Speedcafe.

"We don’t know what yet, but we have got an investigation happening with our people, including CAMS, who obviously look after the track from a race organisation point of view and a race control point of view."

It's believed confusion among trackside officials and an early signal may have been the cause, with fans allowed access once all cars have returned to the pits to allow them to witness the podium from the start/finish straight.

"From what I am led to believe, there could have been a mistake made in the signals as to when people could exit onto the track," Westacott explained. "That is being investigated, so I won’t speculate on the outcome of that until I have all the facts.

"We have CCTV, we have radio logs and other things so we can understand what happened."

MIKA: This report isn't quite accurate in that Vettel didn't make it sound like a complaint but rather was really pleased for F1 fans and especially Ferrari fans holding flags etc while he was heading back to the pits after his victory lap. 

I guess technically it "is" a concern but putting that all aside, it added to the celebration and IMO I think this years Australian GP was brilliant, well run and organised.