Silver and Red, maybe a coming fight for the head

15 cars on track at the beginnig, only 13 after a lap, that was the opportunity for drivers to score some points. A race missing drivers as Bottas or Kvyat, dominated in one hand, as expected, by an easy performance of the Silver Arrows with a Lewis hung at his first place, and showing in the other hand, a battle bewteen rookies and « oldies ». The big deception of the day -in addition to the miss of a lot of drivers on the track- was clearly Button and McLaren-Honda. A team without Fernando, Magnussen neither, was enough to see Jenson literally be crushed. On 11 cars at the end, he finished dead last without a point. All hopes and promises built around the team before the season are somewhat affected. 2015 starts hard for McLaren-Honda but they are not convicted naturally and have time to prove that the first impression was wrong.

In contrast, we could see that all Ferrari’s pledges are likely proven, excluding that they really need to work a lot on pitstops, which are indeed long and sometimes neglected. That, Kimi paid the price: he had to abandon after a wheel fixed wrong, despite a good race. But the new Ferrari has allowed to push Sebastian Vettel to get on third place on the podium, what he dreamed about more than a year and confirms that he wears well the red. Last surprising point of the Melbourne Grand Prix: the rookies. To see a Felipe Nasr or a Carlos Sainz Jr really offensive was exciting. They were not hesitating to put pressure on champions like Raikkönen and showing their abilities and their wish to do the best and to reach positions with points. Australian GP was faithful to its reputation: a lot of abandon, reveals, disappointments. It was a nice beginning of the season, showing the progress of teams like Ferrari or Sauber, who finished with both drivers scored points, and maybe revealing new talents. But nothing is written, there are some drivers – Fernando Alonso in particular, or Kvyat, and teams, as Manor, who have things to show, and others who have to improve, maintain or prove. This season promise to be rich in twists and surprises.

Angélique BELOKOPYTOV