2013 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix (Round 1)

It’s the moment all the F1 fans have been waiting for, the Australian Grand Prix.

Qualifying Report

Qualifying began on Saturday Afternoon in dramatic style, Rain had interrupted the third practice session in the morning, but in the afternoon heavy rain had set in. Qualifying was delayed by 10 Minutes, The Formula 1 Medical Car was deployed to asses the track conditions and clear the standing water. The first qualifying session was completed but it wasn’t without Incident. Many cars were caught out by standing water and the horrendous conditions. Felipe Massa was among those who went off, but luckily got away with it without too much damage. Once the first qualifying session was completed, the teams, drivers and the fans waited for Q2. The weather however had other ideas, extremely heavy rain and high winds had set in, the track conditions were getting worse and worse. Charlie Whiting decided to delay qualifying by a further 20 minutes. But as things did not improve, there were further delays. After an hour and 20 minutes and only 20 minutes of action on track, qualifying was eventually abandoned. We had to wait until Sunday morning to see who would get pole position for the first time in 2013.

Sunday morning began with Q2 and Q3. The weather still tried to interfere as the track was still damp. but finally the grid was formed. The Red Bull team locked out the front row, Vettel took pole position ahead of his teammate. It was an action Qualifying session in unusual circumstances. We eventually arrived at this grid lineup.

The Starting Grid

1 Vettel
2 Webber
3 Hamilton
4 Massa
5 Alonso
6 Rosberg
7 Raikkonen
8 Grosjean
9 Di Resta
10 Button
11 Hulkenberg
12 Sutil
13 Vergne
14 Ricciardo
15 Perez
16 Bottas
17 Maldonado
18 Gutierrez
19 Bianchi
20 Chilton
21 V,D Garde
22 Pic

Sunday afternoon arrived quickly as the race was approaching. However the drama for Sauber started early as Nico Hulkenberg’s car had a fuel problem before the race began. The team decided for safety reasons not to start the race. It was a blow for the young German after showing signs of promise all weekend.

After all the winter testing, everyone was watching the grid closely. This is set to be one of the most fascinating Formula 1 seasons in recent years.

2013 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix (Round 1)

It was lights out down under and home hero Mark Webber had a disastrous start bogging down, losing 5 places down to the first turn. The Ferrari’s had great starts too, both drivers making the most of Webber’s poor getaway. Mercedes got away well too, both getting ahead of the slow Red Bull. Meanwhile Sebastian Vettel had an excellent start to the race and was pulling away in the lead. The start was clean without any major contact in turn one which is unusual for Melbourne. But in these early stages Lotus had excellent pace. Kimi Raikkonen was piling the pressure onto the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton ahead, but Hamilton wasn’t the only driver under pressure, Sebastian Vettel leading the race was being caught by the two resurgent Ferrari’s. Felipe Massa ahead of teammate Fernando Alonso and together they were chasing down the Red Bull. It was great to see Felipe Massa back on form again.

The battle between Vettel, Massa and Alonso was getting closer, Kimi Raikkonen joined in and was catching quickly. After a number of pitstops Alonso was leading the race with the flying Finn right behind. They pitted together on lap 9, both good stops however and they rejoined the track in the same running order. The early stage of the race was scintillating as some drivers struggled with tyre wear. Sergio Perez in the McLaren was losing positions with a very slow race pace. The team admitted they were concerned about the pace of this years car. Some drivers were really struggling with tyre degradation, Webber being one of them as he pitted for a second time on only lap 19. But Force India must have been delighted after the returning Adrian Sutil was leading the race as all the front runners had pitted. The German chose to start the race on medium tyres, it looked to have paid off.

On lap 22 Sutil and Vettel pitted together as they were battling for position. But Sutil remained ahead of the world champion as they exited the pits. it wasn’t over however, Vettel joined just behind Alonso, but the Ferrari driver then swept around the Force India on the outside of turn 2 to take the position from Sutil. Sebastian Vettel was running away with the lead at the start and now he was struggling. There was action all around Albert Park, Pastor Maldonado however wasn’t part of it as he went off at turn 1 and couldn’t rejoin, Williams do have a good car, but they just weren’t having a good day, rookie driver Bottas was looking like the more experienced of the two drivers in all honesty.

Mercedes were having a strong run in contrast, but that soon changed when an electronic issue ended Nico Rosberg’s race.

The race then finally started to settle down, a threat of rain didn’t really materialise and by lap 40 Sutil was still leading with his very impressive drive, Raikkonen was second with Alonso third. Vettel was behind them with Hamilton being chased by an on form Felipe Massa. There was another blow for the Australian crowd however as Daniel Ricciardo retired from the race with a broken exhaust,it seems the Australian drivers were not having a good day at their home Grand Prix.

Fernando Alonso however was having a great day as he picked up the pace considerably, chasing the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen. Adrian Sutil was still leading however he still had to pit for the option tyre.

Alonso knew he had the possibility of a win, the pace of the Ferrari was spellbinding as he was taking more that a second per lap out of the gap to Raikkonen.

The flying Finn was having none of it and immediately picked up the pace, overtaking Sutil for the lead. Fernando Alonso also passed the Force India in the hunt for the lead of this opening race. Adrian Sutil pitted shortly after for the option tyres, putting Hamilton and Webber right behind him. On lap 51 after leading the race in such a controlling manner, Hamilton easily passed the German for 5th place. Mark Webber was pushing hard too, as he was having a much stronger second half to the race. He eventually made the move, the super soft tyres on the Force India having seen much better days.

Kimi Raikkonen couldn’t have had a better day however, he was in total control of his race. Fernando Alonso went faster and faster but the Lotus responded. Kimi controlled the race, he had the right strategy and took victory in superb style in Melbourne, confirming the pace and strength of the Lotus team in 2013. Starting 7th on the grid, he drove to victory and fully deserved it. Fernando Alonso was 2nd with Sebastian Vettel in 3rd.

The Official Results in Full.

1st Kimi Raikkonen
2nd Fernando Alonso
3rd Sebastian Vettel
4th Felipe Massa
5th Lewis Hamilton
6th Mark Webber
7th Adrian Sutil
8th Paul Di Resta
9th Jenson Button
10th Romain Grosjean
11th Sergio Perez
12th Jean-Eric Vergne
13th Esteban Gutierrez
14th Valtteri Bottas
15th Jules Bianchi
16th Charls Pic
17th Max Chilton
18th Giedo Van Der Garde

DNF – Daniel Ricciardo – Nico Rosberg – Pastor Maldonado
DNS – Nico Hulkenberg

My Views.

It was a superb race in Melbourne for the opening round of the 2013 season. We thought Red Bull would dominate, but far from it. Mercedes look strong, Ferrari look very fast as do Lotus. But Red Bull and McLaren look rather disappointing on race pace.

I hope you enjoyed the Australian Grand Prix, Formula 1 returns in Sepang Malaysia for round 2. Join us then here at Driving For Pleasure, it promises to be very exciting.

I will of course be covering the whole race Live on Twitter, follow me @TomWilkinsonF1 #TWF1 and if you have any questions during the race just send me a tweet using #TWF1.