F1 is back! - 2015 Australian Grand Prix

The F1 class of 2015.

Despite all their efforts to make the grid this year and after being given the permission to race, Manor still did not appear on track, which left us with only 18 cars out of 20.

Early in Sunday, it was reported that after a few tests, Valtteri Bottas would be unfit to race due to back pains.

The moment in which Kvyät's car stopped.

With that, only 17 cars were set to start the race in Melbourne, had it not been for Daniil Kvyät's and Kevin Magnussen's retirements during their outing lap, both due to engine issues.

In the end, only 15 out of 20 cars on the entry list started the race.

Start of the race in Melbourne.

The lights went out in Albert Park, indicating the start of the first Grand Prix of the 2015 season.

A few touches between Kimi Räikkönen's Ferrari, Felipe Nasr's Sauber and Pastor Maldonado's Lotus brought the retirement of the Venezuelan after hitting the wall, a shame given the big chances he had of scoring points.

This incident brought out the safety car, which stayed for another five laps.

It was proved to be a terrible start to the season for Lotus as Romain Grosjean, who was seen stalling on the start and driving slowly, was forced to retire in the first lap. This left us with a 13-car race.

As expected, the race was dominated by the Mercedes, who of course claimed a 1-2 finish, 34 seconds ahead of the third placed car. This time, it was Lewis Hamilton's Silver Arrow the one that made it across the finish line first, totally different result to that Lewis had here a year ago, when he retired early due to engine issues.

Only 1.3 seconds behind arrived the second Silver Arrow, that of Nico Rosberg. The German dominated the two free practices on Friday but saw himself behind his British teammate on both FP3 and Qualifying.

At some moments, it appeared as if we were set to see Nico challenging Lewis for the win, when Rosberg cut Hamilton's lead by a few tenths of a second but, despite Nico's efforts and his team's good job in boxes, 1.2 seconds was the closest he was from his rival.

Lewis' 34th win, his second in Albert Park.

Champagne celebration for Nico and Lewis.

Nico in the podium.

No caption needed.

This Australian Grand Prix would prove to be a good race for all the rookies (except Manor's drivers) as all of them showed solid performances and claimed 12 points all together.

The best of all three was Sauber's Brazilian Felipe Nasr, who overcame a starting position of tenth and a bad start where he had some contacts, to recover five positions to finish fifth, which would earn him his first ten Formula One points of his career and Sauber's first points since the 2013 season.

The second highest placed newcomer was 2014 Formula Renault 3.5 champion, Carlos Sainz. The Spaniard started the race seventh but lost his starting slot's benefits when a problem fitting a wheel in the fits caused him to lose up to 35 seconds.

The older of Toro Rosso's two rookies made a superb recovery to make up for the time lost in his stop and got himself back into the position to fight for the points and after a fierce battle for eighth place with Sauber's Marcus Ericsson in the closing stages of the race, managed to claim two points for the team, Sainz's first points in his career.

Had there not been an engine failure for him, not only all three rookies would have scored points in their first race but also, this young man would've became the youngest driver to score points in F1 history. Unfortunately, Toro Rosso's 17-year old Dutch rookie Max Verstappen could not support his string performance with a point scoring finish, Max was running in a strong seventh position when his engine stalled, forcing him to park his car on the side of the track and eventually retire. However, this does not mean that Verstappen will not be able to break Daniil Kvyät's record as the youngest driver to score points since he still has plenty of races to achieve the milestone.

With the pressure this man has on him ahead of his first season at a very early age, his performance today is a sign of how low is that pressure's impact on him, I'm sure he will be showing more good races this year and it certainly will be a close match between Toro Rosso's two rookies.

Although not a rookie anymore, Marcus Ericsson's finished eighth after beating Carlos Sainz in a fierce battle in the last laps to claim four points and seal a race with two cars on the points for Sauber.

A certainly satisfying result for the Swiss squad after everything they went through this week with their legal issues.

If there's one man in the paddock who has the right to be upset, that man is Red Bull team boss Christian Horner given the fact that his Renault power unit, apart from being the second most unreliable behind the Honda it is simply not as quick as the Ferrari PU or the Mercedes.

Their power unit is the one to blame in today's result for them, with Daniil Kvyät retiring even before getting to the grid and with star driver Daniel Ricciardo finish only in sixth position behind Felipe Nasr.

Last season they were able to save the year with the chassis and managed to win a few races and claim a few podiums but so far, this year the panorama looks worse.

Due to their late start on the car's development, it was expect for Force India to have a not-so-good race.

Nico Hulkenberg could only finish seventh and Sergio Perez finished 10th, with the Mexican completing a successful comeback after spinning off due to contact with McLaren's Jenson Button.

Since they use a Mercedes power unit, better results should come once the understanding of the car is better.

Only the retirements that caused Jenson a Button to finish eleventh made McLaren look better than they actually are.

First, Kevin Magnussen exited the race in his outing lap due to engine issues, later on, Jenson Button lost his chance of scoring points when Sergio Perez overtook him.

It is not clear whether the team will be able to get off the ground soon.

If I had to name the man of the day, it would have to be Sebastian Vettel, not only his bold move of leaving his old team paid off for him but also his performance today, specifically on the last stint, allowed him to get past Felipe Massa to claim third place, his first podium with Ferrari in his first race with them.

There's much more to come, I believe the Italian team is capable of fighting with the Williams for second place and even of taking a couple wins.

However it was a bittersweet race for them as they saw Kimi Räikkönen retiring after showing great pace in his last stint.

The Finn's race started badly, suffering from contact with Sainz and Nast in the first turn and losing positions as a result.

A second setback for him would happen in his first pitstop, where he lost 5 seconds as the team struggled to fit his rear left wheel. 

His second stop was way better and he managed to keep the fifth position in which he was.

He set the fastest lap three times and began to threat Felipe Massa for fourth place but couldn't get him before his last stop.

This last stop was the one that would seal the end to his race, the problems they suffered to fit the rear left wheel were repeated and this time for worse, the wheel was fitted incorrectly and he was forced to pull out a few turns later.

With the pace he had it was such a shame to see him leave the race.

The two German congratulate each other on parc fermé.

A positive start to the Ferrari-Vettel relationship.

First podium of 2015.

The moment in which Kimi ran off track at the start.

Felipe Massa finished fourth behind Vettel and rescued 12 points for Williams as the only driver the team had on track in this race.

Thank you for your support and the reads!

I am truly sorry for not being able to write on the last test in Barcelona.

I'll be bringing you all the details on the Malaysian Grand Prix, two weeks from now on, bye!

#ForzaJules

F1 2015 Barcelona Testing

Mercedes

The World Champions had a good week of testing a few weeks ago in Jerez, despite not topping the time sheets on any day, where they focused their work on the W06's reliability, completing the biggest amount of laps among all the teams.

This time in Catalunya it went down a similar road. On day one, as Rosberg was injured and Hamilton sick, it was the Briton the only of the two who would get the chance to drive the car but only for 11 laps, German Pascal Wehrlein replaced them for the day, achieving ninth place in the time sheets.

Rosberg and Hamilton were back for day two and completed 155 laps together, finishing fifth and sixth, with Lewis being faster.

The next two days would be really positive for the team as they were in the top three in both of them and were able to complete 230 laps.

Although they weren't able to complete as much laps as in Jerez (only 444), they still were the ones that completed the most laps, improved their pace and got closer to the front runners. It will be very unlikely to see them beaten by another team this year

Red Bull

Not only did the Milton Keynes squad manage to get the second highest number of laps (418) but they also improved their pace from last test –when they were unable to match Toro Rosso's pace– and edged their small brother in three out of four days, topping the time sheets on day two on the process. Also, Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyät claimed the fourth and tenth highest times in the whole test respectively. Apparently, the energetic drink squad's woes from the Jerez test are over but we can only confirm that until the next test.

Williams 

The team gave Susie Wolff her first taste at the new FW36, with which she took 10th place in the time sheets, almost 4 seconds off the leader's pace.

The team had mixed results in the next three days, getting a top three on day two but failing to get out of the midfield in the other two days. 

However they had the fourth largest distance run in the test with 407 laps, whatever problems caused them to have a small setback must be over by the next test.

Ferrari

The team was far from matching the same results from the first test, but that didn't stop them from completing a good amount of laps in the four testing days (345) and the fifth highest lap time, made by Kimi Räikkönen while Sebastian Vettel did not have much of a good test as he found himself in the midfield and could only get the 16th fastest time.

Despite this small setback, I don't think anyone should write them off as candidates to race wins once the season kicks off.

McLaren

Few things changed for McLaren in Barcelona, in comparison to their results in Jerez, with one of them being their engine's reliability, as they completed 124 laps, more than in Jerez (79). Having resolved some of their reliability issues, they have a bunch of work to get to in terms of the speed, as their top lap times were amongst the worst in all the grid and they were unable to achieve better than seventh in the time sheets in all the four days. To make things even worse, Fernando Alonso crashed on day four, suffering an electric shock from the car's electronic system, according to some sources, luckily it has been reported that he suffered no severe damage.

There's a long road to go for McLaren if they don't wanna have a season like 2013's.

Force India

The Indian team may have managed to take part in the second test after missing the first one in Jerez but they are still far away from understand how their 2015 challenger will do on track, since it isn't easy yet. To make things worse for the team, their drivers are the ones that have driven less laps in all of the winter tests, not only because they missed the first test but because the team had Pascal Wehrlein driving the VJM-07 on one of the four days, which left Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg with only one and a half days in the car each.

Things are not looking good for them since they're really behind in terms of developing the car.

Toro Rosso

Despite not being able to repeat the feat of outpacing the Red Bulls as they did in Jerez, the Faenza based squad did a pretty good job in Catalunya as they accumulated the third highest number of laps with 411 and the eighth fastest time overall.

Inside the internal battle between the two rookies, contrary to what many people believed, Max Verstappen has so far proven to have a better pace than that of Carlos Sainz, setting better lap times in his two days at the car and getting in the top two in day one, which the Spaniard failed to do.

Lotus

The British squad was the surprise of this tests, as they took the top of the time sheets on three out of four days, with Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado taking the first and third best lap times overall respectively in the process. The Enstone team had reserve driver, GP2 Champion, Jolyon Palmer driving for them on day two, the Briton did enough to achieve eighth position in one of his first outings in an F1 car.

The team also had the fifth highest number of laps. Things are looking bright for them now they've switched to Mercedes power units, let's see if they will be able to keep it up and eventually get back to fighting with the front runners as they did just two years ago.

Sauber

The Swiss squad suffered a similar setback to that of Ferrari, after surprising the paddock in Jerez by grabbing the top positions on the time sheets, they saw themselves outpaced by a few other teams in Catalunya, unable to get past fourth place in the time sheets and only achieving the eleventh fastest lap time overall.

It's not something that should worry them a lot but something they should work to solve in order to be able to fight in the midfield.

Sorry on the long delay for this post, I hope to be able to deliver the next on better timing.

Thanks for the support and the reads and I'll see you really soon when tests get going again in this exact Spanish circuit!

How could 2015 F1 season turn out? - 2015 Formula One Jerez Testing

Last February 4th, the checkered flag went down at Jerez de la Frontera, marking the end of the last of four days of testing in the Spanish circuit, a testing that marked the start of a new Formula One season.

Here are some of the things we could expect for the season based on the test results.

Mercedes

“Sauber is not showboating, Mercedes is hiding their true pace.” This were the words of Sauber's rookie Felipe Nasr, showing his opinions on how the test has turned out so far.

I think this statement is pretty much close to the truth, as it could seem as the Silver Arrows were hiding their true power during this four days. However I believe it was more about the German squad focused on putting up laps and accumulating distance on their new W06, giving priority to the reliability of the car instead of is pace.

Current World Champion Lewis Hamilton and teammate Nico Rosberg was able to complete a total of 515 laps during the whole test, with their fastest time being 1.21.982 set by the German driver.

Many have suggested and even assured that 2015 will be also dominated by Mercedes and there's many chances that it'll happen. 

We shall not expect them go down in the standings dramatically but looking at the pace of the other Mercedes-powered teams, I say that a season in which Mercedes does not dominate is a possible.

We probably won't see what they really have in them until the next testing.

Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton o track at Jerez.

Williams

As a Mercedes-powered team, their pace was similar to that of the Silver Arrows and the Grove squad was not as striking as they were a year ago, when they just had started with their new Power Unit.

Although they did not complete as much laps as Mercedes (only 278), they showed good reliability and good pace, being in the top four in two out of four days.

I go the same way as I did with Mercedes, we should wait until the next tests to see what they really have but right now I would say that if the season started tomorrow, they would be standing in the same place as they did at the end of the last season and I don't think that they'll be fighting for wins as they said they would although that could change after the next test. We shall see.

Vallteri Bottas and Felipe Massa on track.

Red Bull

The four-time World Champions had their worst season since 2008 in terms of wins in 2014, they had to overcome the struggles caused by their Renault Power Unit and towards the end of the year, they lost their star driver Sebastian Vettel.

At the start of the year, they looked really promising, having a rising star and a rookie sensation in their driver lineup.

Now, looking at their results on the tests it seems like the Power Unit is not delivering as much as the Mercedes PU or the Ferrari one, being outside the top three in every single day and having a similar pace to that of the other Renault-powered team, Toro Rosso.

Right now, the panorama for the Milton Keynes squad looks darker than the results obtained in 2014. Of course a pre-season as bad as 2014's is difficult to match but right now they look far from being able to beat the Mercedes drivers like they did last season.

The team of the Dan's, Red Bull, showed up with a completely different livery, it will only be used during testing.

Ferrari

The Scuderia had their first winless season since 1993 am one of the worse ones, only being able to pick up 2 podiums.

The team underwent radical changes such as getting rid of a bunch of engineers, mechanics, technicians and important people such as Pat Fry, team principal Marco Mattiacci, star driver Fernando Alonso and until last September, team boss Luca Di Montezemolo.

The Italian team worked discreetly and silently during the winter, declaring that they would be aiming for at least two wins in 2015.

The team received the new year with the most successful (5 world title together) and arguably the most talented driver lineup this year, with Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen, drivers who share a similar driving style, which makes it easier to get the car to suit their needs and also two drivers that get along well on and off the track, which will bring a better atmosphere to the team,

They arrived to the testing with their SF-15T, a more aesthetically pleasing car with a similar aspect to the one seen last year.

They surprised everybody, topping the time sheets in 3 out of 4 days, never missing out on the top 2. The reason for their early success surely lies on the new Ferrari Power Unit as another Ferrari-powered team also showed promising pace.

They also proved to be strong in terms of reliability, completing 345 laps.

This season looks to be the one in which the Scuderia go back to be one of the front runners. 

One could say that we shall not expect much, given the fact that a McLaren (who had a terrible season) topped the time sheets on day one in 2013 and that a Ferrari (who had a terrible season) set the pace in day one last year. However the pace shown by the red cars was not only see on day one but on all of the four days.

We are yet to see if they're able to keep it up.

World Champions Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen are ready to get the Scuderia back to where it should be.

McLaren 

The British squad underwent a hard decision that had to be done and left Kevin Magnussen without a race seat, leaning in favor of Spaniard Fernando Alonso and Briton Jenson Button, completing not only the oldest driver pairing but also the most experienced one.

Midways through last year, team director Eric Boullier claimed that the team would be working under the biggest budget in the team's history. That, in addition to the return of legendary Honda as their engine supplier made many people believe not only that they'd win races again but that they'd dominate the 2015 season. Oh boy, did all this people get disappointed.

McLaren not only is far from dominating, it has been the back marker in every single day of the test, being 14.5 seconds in average behind the car above them in the time sheets. 

As if it wasn't bad enough, their Honda Power Unit seems to be lacking reliability, completing only 12 laps in the first two days and 79 in total, the lowest in the whole grid.

They will need to put a lot of work in developing the engine throughout the year in order to be able to fight for podiums (or even points) because right now, their pace would put them looking at the rear of all the other cars.

Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso taking the first laps on their new Honda-powered beast.

Force India 

The Indian team missed the first testing as they are still working on their 2015 challenger. However they will be on the second test and they already presented their 2015 livery last 21st January in Mexico City.

Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg during the 2015 livery presentation in Mexico City.

Toro Rosso

The Faenza based team took a big risk and gave their two seats to two inexperienced rookies, completing the youngest driver lineup with youngsters Carlos Sainz Jr and Max Verstappen, getting rid of Jean-Eric Vergne and sending Daniil Kvyät up to Red Bull in the process.

Right now, the stunt seems to have worked as they outpaced their bigger brother in three out of four days but I believe that the results rely more on the car's side than on the drivers'. We are yet to see if they will improve or not in the next test.

Rookies Sainz Jr and Verstappen testing the new STR-10.

Lotus

Financial problems put the Enstone team on a really bad situation last year, they only finished on the points on three races and they struggled with pace and reliability throughout the year, which pushed them to dump Renault and announce Mercedes as their new engine supplier, a clever decision.

This year, they have put their financial issues aside and are ready to race. 

Their pace right now would put them close to where they were in 2014 with some improvement.

They missed day one but they were ready for the rest of the tests and showed a similar pace to the Toro Rosso's, which they beat in 1 out of 3 days.

Lotus brought a far more normal design in 2015 than that from last year.

Sauber

Apart from Ferrari, Sauber was another big and grateful surprise after having their worst season in their history and their first pointless season. They locked second place in three out of four days and claimed the top on day three.

With an inexperienced but highly talented driver lineup (Ericsson-Nasr), the reason for their striking pace seems to be the same as Ferrari's, the Power Unit. Right now, I would say that they could pull a comeback like Williams' in 2014 if not a little worse or even more likely, they could have a season like the one they had in 2012. 

Same as I said with Ferrari: we'll see if they can keep it up.

Caterham's 2014 driver Marcus Ericsson and GP2 runner-up in 2014 Felipe Nasr were the first driver lineup to be confirmed.

The next testing will take place on the Circuit the Catalunya on February 19th and I'll be bringing you all the details and info!

Thanks for the support and the reads!

Forza Jules!