7 Things We Learned From The First Race Of F1 2015

The F1 2015 season got off to a rather underwhelming start in Australia. Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg dominated for Mercedes, with Sebastian Vettel completing the podium to be best of the rest.

However, while it wasn’t a particularly exciting race, we did learn quite a few things about the new season. Here are a few of them:

1. Mercedes extends advantage

Following pre-season testing in Spain, we all knew Mercedes would be the team to beat. However, we now know just how big the Brackley-based outfit’s advantage is. In qualifying, on identical tyre compounds and with the same track conditions, Hamilton’s pole position lap was 1.4 seconds faster than the next non-Mercedes driver.

Then, in the race, both drivers were able to comfortably pull away from the chasing pack and finished 30 seconds clear of Sebastian Vettel. The gap should close as the season progresses, but for now, it will be Hamilton vs Rosberg once again.

2. Ferrari and Williams closely matched

The fight for the final podium spot should be hotly contested. Ferrari and Williams look very evenly matched, both in qualifying and the race. Valtteri Bottas failed to compete after injuring his back, so we don’t know what he could have done, but we should expect plenty of close fights over third in the up-coming races.

3. Red Bull worse off than first thought

Many expected Red Bull to be in the fight for third place, alongside Ferrari and Williams. However, the team struggled with reliability issues all weekend – a gearbox issue on the way to the grid even caused Daniil Kvyat to miss the race – and Daniel Ricciardo repeatedly complained about the drivability of the Renault power unit. The Aussie fought hard to finish sixth, but Red Bull is far from happy and has lost further ground to Mercedes.

4. Sauber shambles off track…

During the run-up to the race, it became clear what a big mistake Sauber had made when signing its 2015 drivers. It was confirmed that there were three valid contracts for two race seats, and unsurprisingly Giedo van der Garde – who was left on the sidelines - took legal action.

Sauber claimed that letting the unprepared van der Garde race would have created a safety issue, while the driver’s lawyers even threatened prison time for team principal Monisha Kaltenborn as a last resort if the Swiss outfit didn’t comply with the court’s order to let him race. Eventually, he backed off and gave up his rights to drive in Australia, but the case is far from over…

5. But the C34 is a big improvement

Despite plenty of drama off-track, it was a positive weekend for Sauber on it. The C34 proved to be competitive from the get-go, with Felipe Nasr impressing on his F1 debut. He qualified 11th but put in a strong performance to finish fifth, while Marcus Ericsson took the chequered flag in eighth place. Considering the team scored no points in 2014, this year’s car is already a major improvement.

6. McLaren Honda struggles

Following pre-season running, it became obvious that McLaren Honda would struggle in Australia. However, the MP4-30 proved to be a full five seconds off the pace of the Mercedes in qualifying. The gap was far greater than many imagined, not helped by the team running low fuel in testing.

Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen were eliminated in the first segment of qualifying. A power unit glitch on his way to the grid meant Magnussen couldn’t even race. There was one positive though, with Button springing a surprise and finishing the race, albeit two laps down in last place. Honda certainly took a conservative approach and turned the power unit down. It looks set to be a long and difficult season for McLaren.

7. Manor watches on

Manor Marussia F1 attended the Australian Grand Prix, but didn’t complete a single lap all weekend. It was never going to be easy, with the team only exiting administration a few weeks ago, but it was still a shame to not see the cars hit the track at all. They sat in the garage for most of the weekend, largely thanks to software issues.

However, some believe Manor never expected to turn a lap in Melbourne, instead attending to keep the prize money they earned last year. Bernie Ecclestone recently said teams are only allowed to miss three races (which Manor did last year) per contract, rather than per year like some thought. There is plenty of work still to do but, hopefully, we should see the cars on track in the next race or two.