Formula 1: Queen of motor sports got quieter

The new season has officially begun. Long weeks were dragging on and on while the teams were getting ready for the first race — the Australian Grand Prix held on the Melbourne track. Nico Rosberg, the F1 pilot for the Mercedes team, won the season-opening Grand Prix, while the Russian pilot Daniil Kvyat, who had his first appearance in the world racing series, was nineth. But first things first.

Starting from 2014 Formula 1 cars have to use 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 engines which have a smaller fuel consumption rate and a more efficient kinetic energy recovery system. Drivers will only be able to use five engines instead of eight like in 2013. The minimum weight of the cars was raised by 5 kilograms as the new engines weigh more than expected. From now on the race cars cannot use more than 100 kg of fuel in the course of the race and FIA controls it with the help of special sensors.

These and many other factors could not leave the nature of the race unaffected. The pilots gave neutral comments on the new race cars and some of them were openly dissatisfied with winter test sessions. It turned out there was not enough time for the preparations.

The weather did not favour the teams and sent a few raindrops during the qualifying. Lewis Hamilton took pole position, Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull Racing) was second and Nico Rosberg third. McLaren rookie Kevin Magnussen was fourth and Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat from Russia was eighth. However, he managed to get a fine of 600 euro for exceeding the pit lane speed limit.

According to f1news.ru, FIA informed the teams on Saturday morning that Lotus and Marussia broke curfew on the night from Friday to Saturday when they continued preparing their cars from 5 to 11 a.m. local time. This made them use up one of six exceptions permitted to each team for the season without being penalised by the FIA. Tyre choice turned out to be a difficult task for many teams. The majority of them made the wrong guess with only Vettel and Gutierrez choosing Medium while the rest started the race running the Soft compounds.

Marussia’s Max Chilton stalled his race car on the grid as the formation lap began with his car pushed back to the garage by the team’s mechanics. In the meantime his teammate Jules Bianchi also started experiencing problems with his car. Grosjean got a drive-through penalty for leaving the garage not in time.

Finally, all F1 fans could enjoy watching the first laps. It was the beginning of the first race in the contemporary Formula 1 history featuring the all-new race cars. The situation got interesting from the very start. Nico Rosberg headed the race, Ricciardo became second by overtaking Hamilton. After that Magnussen overtook Hamilton as well, Alonso overtook Vergne... And here came the first crash — Kobayashi ploughed into the back of Massa's car and both drivers got off the track and the race. A bit later Hamilton had to retire as the engine of his car suffered a power loss...

Further on the race was not as dynamic and spectacular as it used to be. Meanwhile, the ex-F1 driver Mark Webber was taking part in the race as a commentator fighting with the video cameras instead of the rivals on the track.

Cars were covering lap after lap. The audience did not need the ear plugs anymore as the music of engines was different, no longer reverberating in the temples. As reported by the f1news.ru, the promoters of the Australian Grand Prix were dissatisfied with the fact that Formula 1 cars were not loud enough. The AGPC Chief Executive Andrew Westacott expects fans in Europe to be even less impressed as «previously, it shook the bones” and now… And now it’s just different.

All in all, Nico Rosberg drove to a crushing victory finishing 24.5 seconds ahead of the next competitor. It was his fourth F1 win. Daniel Ricciardo was second but was excluded from the results of the race due to exceeding the maximum allowed fuel flow. An appeal was filed against this decision and later several teams reported they could also see a discrepancy in sensor’s data. As a result, the second place at the Australian Grand Prix was taken by Kevin Magnussen from the McLaren Mercedes Team with his teammate Jenson Button taking third place.

It was a great result for rookie Magnussen. Then again, other rookies were able to show good results as well, as the Williams Martini Racing Team’s Valtteri Bottas made a lot of overtakes and was sixth to cross the finish line. Daniil Kvyat became the youngest pilot in Formula 1 history to score championship points. He took the eighth place.

And finally a few comments given by the AGPC Chief Executive Andrew Westacott: “One aspect of it was just a little bit duller than it’s ever been before and that’s part of the mix and the chemistry that they’re going to have to get right… We pay for a product, we’ve got contracts in place, we are looking at those very, very seriously because we reckon there has probably been some breaches. I'd be confident we'll have a different sound next year”.

Hopefully, the pilots will be able to find common grounds with the new engines and “roll into” the season, while the audience will be able to see the beautiful, dynamic and, what is the most important thing, honest race. The one which is proudly called the Queen of motor sports.

Formula 1. Drivers standings