2015 seasonbegins–almost
aFTER weeks of anticipation, the 2015 Formula 1 season finally got underway in Australia. Well, at least for some. This year’s season opener at Albert Park will probably be remembered for the failures to launch rather than Lewis Hamilton leading Mercedes to their 12th one two finish in 20 races.
With the demise of Caterham, only 10 teams made their way to Australia, but the recently resuscitated Marrusia squad failed to even make it out of the garage.
Credit to the guys for even making the flight over, but given that they had completely missed every pre-season test, it came as no surprise when they spent the entire weekend trying to get their software system back online.
Marrusia, or Manor as they are now called, weren’t the only ones to sit out Free Practice 1.
Both the Sauber drivers stayed in the garage as lawyers battled it out in courtrooms downtown as Giedo van der Garde fought the team’s decision to drop him in place of a paid driver.
Eventually the Dutchman reached a temporary agreement with the team and relinquished his right to race in Australia.
Those who could take to the track weren’t without their own set of problems.
McLaren failed to complete any significant track running in the first free practice as they encountered issues with their race package.
The new partnership with Honda obviously unearthed teething problems that crippled them the entire race weekend.
Although the team tuned down their engines in a hope to boost reliability, stand in driver, Kevin Magnussen failed to start the race after his engine let up on the way to the grid.
He wasn’t the only one to suffer such fate, Daniil Kvyat’s Red Bull Racing also ground to a halt and the Russian joined Williams’ Valtteri Bottas watching the start from the pit lane after the Finn was ruled out of the race having sustained an injury during qualifying.
So with only 15 cars starting the race, the season got underway at Albert Park.
As the Mercedes drivers pulled away, Kimi Raikkonen fans were left pulling their hair out after the Finn sustained damage from a first-corner incident triggered when he was hit by Carlos Sainz Jr’s Toro Rosso.
This compromised his race pace until a cross threaded wheel nut dur- ing his pit stop forced him to retire.
Pastor Maldonado, meanwhile, barely made it round the first corner before his Lotus smashed into the wall, triggering the safety car.
While the Venezuelan might have earned a reputation as an accident prone driver, this time round he can claim the role of a victim.
With so much going on, it was easy to almost forget that one of the biggest stars of the sport was missing from the grid.
For the first time in 12 seasons Fernando Alonso skipped a race weekend.
The Spaniard sat out the season opener on medical advice following his testing crash last month.
After 58 laps, Lewis Hamilton came round to collect the chequered flag and 25 points, getting his title defence off to the best possible start.
If last season was a tale of championship “catch up”, this year Hamilton can look to build on his seven-point advantage to get the better of his teammate.
While I do think Nico Rosberg will keep Lewis honest, I personally don’t see the German consistently outpacing and outracing him throughout the season which means Lewis has a great chance of retaining his championship.
So as Mercedes celebrate their success, the various failure to launch issues that plagued the season opener cannot simply be brushed aside.
It’s a clear sign that there are serious issues surrounding the spectacle of Formula 1 that can’t be ignored anymore.
Red Bull Racing have already intensified the call to narrow the disparity between the teams, and have even gone so far as to threaten pulling out of the sport.
Mind you, the energy drink company currently fund two teams in Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso so while their exit won’t necessarily bring the sport to its knees, it will certainly do enough damage.
Let’s hope that the powers that govern the sport don’t turn a blind eye and let these issues spiral out of control.
The man and machine combination might make Formula 1 the most complicated sport on the planet, but for most fans it’s the simplicity of watching the best drivers in the world go racing wheel to wheel that keeps them passionately glued to their television screens every race weekend.
Here’s hoping that the 2015 Formula 1 season will be remembered for that.