Gear up and buckle those seat belts, the wait is finally over and Formula 1 is back!

Mercedes seemed to have the best power unit out there with Ferrari and Renault lacking outright in speed.

Sohaib Ahmed March 18, 2014
All the wait and speculation is finally over. The new Formula One season started in Melbourne with the biggest technical changes in the last 20 years. And the predictions from the testing have certainly stood their ground.

Mercedes won the race with Nico Rosberg leading with almost half a minute.

Mercedes won the race with Nico Rosberg. Photo: Reuters

In second place was the impressive Danish rookie, Kevin Magnussen, with Britain’s Jenson Button coming in a wise third.

Riders celebrate on the podium of the Australian Grand Prix where Nico Rosberg dominated the race. Photo: Reuters

Mercedes seemed to have the best power unit out there with Ferrari and Renault lacking outright in speed. Although it was the other Mercedes driver, Lewis Hamilton on the pole position, his engine gave way right at the start of the Grand Prix with the reigning world champion, Sebastian Vettel, suffering the same fate after five laps.

Lewis Hamilton's engine gave way right at the start of the Grand Prix. Photo: Reuters

The other Red Bull seemed to be working just fine and the newbie Daniel Ricciardo was second to cross the line but later his car was found to be infringing the technical regulation regarding fuel flow and was subsequently disqualified.

Daniel Ricciardo was second to cross the line but was later disqualified when his car was found to be infringing technical regulations. Photo: AFP

It seems to me that although Red Bull’s challenger is fast enough, with the Adrian Newey genius behind it, they need to sort out their reliability; once they do that, they will soon be challenging for the top slots.

While Mclaren bagged the most constructors’ points with two podiums, the biggest losers of the day were certainly the Williams. Kamui Koyayashi careered into Felipe Massa in the opening lap while Valtteri Bottas recovered well after a silly brush with the wall.

If this race was any indication, Williams should be up there, come the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Unfortunately, the Ferraris with all the hype of their stellar driver line-up, failed to make an impression. Another slow starting season for Scuderia and the only positive they can take from this weekend is their reliability. They need to improve their power unit and aerodynamics if their two champions are to have any chance to fight for the championship.

Ultimately, the winner from yesterday’s race was Formula One itself. With all the predictions of a doomsday scenario, ‘only’ eight drivers failed to finish. That’s not too bad given the immense engineering challenges all the competitors had to face. With Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat – the two debutants – giving strong drives, things only look good for the future of Formula One.

Things look good for Formula One with debutant Daniil Kvyat giving a strong drive. Photo: AFP

If Red Bull, Williams, Mclaren and Ferrari can close in on the Silver Arrows, this should make for a very exciting new dawn for Formula One.
WRITTEN BY:
Sohaib Ahmed A Formula 1 fan since 2006, he is a resident of Rabwah and a recent graduate from the Allama Iqbal Medical College, Lahore. He aspires to become an oncologist, likes to learn different languages and is interested in current affairs.
The views expressed by the writer and the reader comments do not necassarily reflect the views and policies of the Express Tribune.

COMMENTS (3)

Waseem Sarwar | 10 years ago | Reply Red bull will be fine very soon but good to see others doing well. Ferrari looks good with Alonso and Kimi but they need to improve the car. Looks like a fantastic season ahead.
Lala | 10 years ago | Reply Lol....u Missed Force India delibrately...good for u and your small amount of viewers....
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