2014 Australian Grand Prix

Report

Background

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought its white-banded medium compound tyre as the harder "prime" tyre and the yellow-banded soft compound tyre as the softer "option" tyre, as opposed to the previous year where medium and super-soft selections were provided.

Qualifying

Daniel Ricciardo set the early pace in his debut for Red Bull Racing, while Lotus struggled, with Pastor Maldonado failing to set a time and Romain Grosjean qualifying 21st, which became 20th when Esteban Gutiérrez was given a penalty for a gearbox change in his Sauber. Max Chilton out-qualified his Marussia teammate Jules Bianchi, but missed out on a place in Q2 by one hundredth of a second. Caterham driver Marcus Ericsson was the final driver eliminated in Q1, with his teammate Kamui Kobayashi overcoming a lack of running in Free Practice to advance to the next period.

Rain began to fall in Q2, with the slippery conditions claiming their first victim in Kimi Räikkönen, who spun his Ferrari late in the period. Räikkönen's accident interrupted the laps of several drivers, with Jenson Button and reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel both reporting that Räikkönen's accident prevented them from advancing to Q3. It was later found that Vettel was also hindered by engine problems, which had plagued him since FP3 that morning. Sauber's Adrian Sutil finished the period in fourteenth, with Kamui Kobayashi fifteenth after Sergio Pérez spun his Force India on his final flying lap.

The rain intensified in the final period, with several drivers venturing out on full wet tyres. Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, and Ricciardo, started a three-way battle for pole that came down to their final laps. Hamilton prevailed, with Ricciardo qualifying a career-best second in his home race. Rosberg started from third, alongside Kevin Magnussen, who qualified his McLaren fourth in his Formula One debut. After Räikkönen's Q2 accident had left him twelfth, Fernando Alonso gave Ferrari a decent result when he recovered to fifth after making the wrong tyre choice early in the period and started next to the Toro Rosso of Jean-Éric Vergne. Force India's Nico Hülkenberg and debutant Daniil Kvyat filled the next row of the grid, ahead of the Williams pair of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, who, like Gutiérrez, was demoted five places for a gearbox change.

Post-qualifying

Kevin Magnussen and Sebastian Vettel were referred to the stewards for speeding under yellow flags following Räikkönen's accident, but they were cleared of any wrongdoing. Fernando Alonso was called to the stewards for impeding Esteban Gutiérrez in Q1, but also escaped a penalty. Pastor Maldonado failed to post a lap time during qualifying. He was allowed to start the race on the stewards' discretion, who judged that he was capable of lapping within the 107% limit based on his free practice times.

Race

The race began at 17:00 local time. Marussia drivers Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi stalled on the grid, with Bianchi having a problem after the formation lap and Chilton stalling at the beginning of the formation lap. Romain Grosjean started the race from the pit lane due to car modifications under parc fermé conditions and received a drive-through penalty for leaving the garage before the 15-minute signal. Seconds after the lights had gone out, Felipe Massa, Kamui Kobayashi and Kimi Räikkönen were involved in a first-lap collision, putting Kobayashi and Massa out of the race whilst Räikkönen's Ferrari did not suffer any major damage and was able to continue the race without further problems. It was later confirmed Kobayashi had suffered a loss of rear brakes.

Polesitter Lewis Hamilton's engine lost a cylinder at the start of the race, which resulted in him dropping to third by the first corner. Nico Rosberg got a good start, allowing him to pass Daniel Ricciardo in addition to his teammate, and at the first corner Rosberg led, with Ricciardo second and Hamilton third. Hamilton continued to slip down the order with his engine running on five cylinders - having fallen from first to fifth by the end of lap one - and on the second lap he was called into the pits to retire. Defending world champion Sebastian Vettel also had an early retirement due to engine issues, retiring on lap three. Ericsson retired on lap 29 with oil pressure problem, and both Lotus cars also retired due to power unit issues. Rosberg dominantly won the race by almost twenty-five seconds, picking up his fourth career win, and his first since the previous year's British Grand Prix. Daniel Ricciardo snatched second in front of his home crowd, making him the first Australian Formula One driver to finish on the podium in his home race as a world championship round. John Smith finished on the podium in 1983, but at the time, it was not yet an official Formula One world championship round. Kevin Magnussen finished third, two seconds behind Ricciardo. This made him the first Formula One debutant since Lewis Hamilton at the 2007 Australian Grand Prix seven years earlier to finish on the podium.

Magnussen's teammate Jenson Button took fourth after starting eleventh, finishing just over 3 seconds behind his teammate and half a minute behind Rosberg. He was followed by Fernando Alonso in fifth. Valtteri Bottas finished in sixth despite clipping the wall and causing a puncture on the right rear tire on lap 11. Nico Hülkenberg finished seventh, 2013 winner Kimi Räikkönen eighth, Jean-Éric Vergne in ninth and debutant Daniil Kvyat in tenth, becoming the youngest points-scorer in Formula One. The Ferraris suffered some electrical problems in the race, according to the team.

Post race

Daniel Ricciardo was disqualified from the race for a breach of Article 5.1.4 of the Formula One Technical Regulations, which govern the maximum allowable rate at which fuel may flow into the engine. The team were also referred to the stewards for using an unauthorized method of measuring the fuel flow. Magnussen was thus promoted to second with Jenson Button up to third. It was Button's 50th and final podium finish, but the podium ceremony took place before Ricciardo's exclusion which meant Button did not take part in the proceedings.

Red Bull immediately announced their intention to appeal the disqualification, claiming that the sensors provided by the FIA to measure the fuel flow were unreliable. The appeal was heard by the FIA on 14 April, but it was rejected and the disqualification was upheld. This meant that McLaren got their first double podium since the 2012 Chinese Grand Prix.

Kamui Kobayashi was referred to the stewards as well for his involvement in the first-lap collision with Massa and Räikkönen. The stewards decided not to take any further action against him after they determined that the accident was triggered by a mechanical failure on his Caterham.

Classification

Qualifying

Notes:

• — Valtteri Bottas and Esteban Gutiérrez were given a five-place grid penalty for changing their gearboxes.
• — Driver started the race from pit lane.
• — Pastor Maldonado failed to set a lap time within 107% of the fastest lap time set by Daniel Ricciardo in Q1. He was later given permission to start by race stewards.

Race

Notes:

• — Jules Bianchi did not complete 90% of the race distance, and therefore is not classified as a finisher in the official results.
• — Daniel Ricciardo originally finished second, but was disqualified for breaching the maximum fuel limit and using an unauthorised method of measuring fuel consumption.

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings

;Constructors' Championship standings

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

References

1. "2014 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix". AUSTRALIAN STADIUMS & SPORT.
2. "2014 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix". [[Formula One Group.
3. (27 September 2013). "World Motor Sport Council". [[Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile]].
4. Strang, Simon. (29 June 2011). "FIA rubber-stamps new 1.6-litre V6 engine plans to be introduced in 2014". [[Haymarket Media Group.
5. (16 March 2014). "As it happened: Sunday – Australian Grand Prix". [[Haymarket Media Group.
6. "Grand Prix Results: Australian GP, 1985". Inside F1, Inc..
7. Weaver, Paul. (26 May 2013). "Nico Rosberg gives Mercedes F1 victory at dramatic Monaco GP". The Guardian.
8. "Rookies shine on record-breaking F1 debuts". Formula1.com.
9. "Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo disqualified from the results of the Australian GP". Skysports F1.
10. Benson, Andrew. (16 March 2014). "Rosberg wins after Lewis Hamilton and Vettel retire". [[BBC]].
11. Ransom, Ian. (16 March 2014). "Vettel's winning streak ends in Australia". [[Yahoo!]].
12. (15 September 2024). "'McLaren's constructors' lead a seismic development'".
13. (3 March 2014). "Pirelli reveal tyre choices for first four races". [[Formula One Group.
14. (15 March 2014). "Australian Grand Prix 2014 Results: Qualifying". [[BBC]].
15. (15 March 2014). "Engine software issue hinders Vettel". JHED Media BV.
16. (15 March 2014). "FIA Stewards Decision — Document No. 38". [[Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile]].
17. (15 March 2014). "FIA Stewards Decision — Document No. 32". [[Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile]].
18. (15 March 2014). "FIA Stewards Decision — Document No. 34". [[Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile]].
19. "Australian GP: Stewards clear Vettel, Alonso and Magnussen". Autosport.
20. "Alonso, Magnussen and Vettel escape punishment from stewards". formula1.com.
21. (15 March 2014). "FIA Stewards Decision — Document No. 27". [[Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile]].
22. (16 March 2014). "Official Starting Grid". [[Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile]].
23. (29 March 2014). "'Rubber tube' stopped Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes in Australian Grand Prix". autosport.com.
24. Noble, Jonathan. (28 March 2014). "Ferrari had software problem early in Australian Grand Prix".
25. (16 March 2014). "2014 Australian Grand Prix Document 56". Federation Internationale de l'Automobile.
26. Gill, Pete. (15 April 2014). "FIA reject Red Bull appeal and uphold stewards' decision to disqualify Ricciardo". [[BSkyB]].
27. (16 March 2014). "2014 Australian Grand Prix Document 52". Federation Internationale de l'Automobile.
28. (15 March 2014). "2014 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix". Formula1.com.
29. (15 March 2014). "Qualifying session official classification". [[Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile]].
30. "Maldonado cleared to start race". F1 Fanatic.
31. "2014 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix — Race Result". formula1.com.
32. (16 March 2014). "Race — selected team and driver quotes". [[Formula One Group]].
33. "Australia 2014 - Championship • STATS F1".