5 major talking points of the Australian GP

This 2014Australian Grand Prix had several retirements and a multitude oftalking points, including one that came as a bit of a shock this morning, that Ricciardo had been disqualified. Here is a list of the top 5 talking points from the year's first F1 race:

#1 Lewis Hamilton retires from the race

Lewis Hamilton’s retirement came as a shock to many, after the Brit’s scintillating form in pre-season and during qualifying. He had an engine problem which rendered his car ‘powerless’, which forced him to withdraw from the race quite early. Hamilton was down in third by the first turn after qualifying on pole, and his car seemed to be struggling. His engine sounded different as compared to the others. Hamilton believes that this is just a minor glitch and that his car will be back at its optimal level for the next Grand Prix.

#2 Ferraris sluggish pace in qualifying

When the dream team of Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso was announced people expected Ferrari to improve on their qualifying problems, but that was not to be the case. Raikkonen was knocked out in Q2 and Alonso only managed to get as far as P5. Alonso had been among the best drivers on race day all of last season, but that wasn’t the case yesterday as he struggled to match the pace of the Mercedes powered engines. Ferrari will have to consider certain improvements which could enable their drivers to match the pace of the other cars, both in qualifying and on race day. That is the only way they can get into good starting positions and pick up some valuable points early in the season.

#3 Daniel Ricciardos disqualification

Most of us would have been lauding the young Red Bull driver’s perfect drive on home turf and the fact that he managed to do so well despite the fact that he had driven a seemingly inferior car. However, Ricciardo was stripped of his podium finish due to excessive fuel consumption in the race. "The stewards said that they had notified Red Bull of the violation and that the team chose not to make this correction. Charlie Whiting, the race director, also said that the team was warned twice after qualifying and on the fifth lap of the race." Red Bull are appealing the decision and you can be sure that this isn’t the last time that you’ll witness something like this in the season.

#4 The dethronement of Sebastian Vettel

This heading will be a relief to some and disappointing to others. Most people were beginning to find F1 boring due to the dominance of this man. This however is set to change, with Vettel’s Red Bull car seeming well off the pace. Although Vettel fans would like to believe that this isn’t the case, it was certainly proven to be true in Australia. The team seems to have missed a trick. Ricciardo did well in the same car, but had a brilliant qualifying session as compared to Vettel’s frustrating one. Red Bull will have to do something, and do it fast, else their dominance could be in serious peril.

#5 The return of McLaren

To most McLaren fans such as myself, Sunday would have been a day of extreme pride. Kevin Magnusson became the first rookie driver since Lewis Hamilton to finish on the podium in his first race. Jenson Button meanwhile was promoted to 3rd after Ricciardo was disqualified. The former World Champion drove a steady and calm race while his rookie team mate was electric to watch and put quite a lot of pressure on Ricciardo when the latter was in 2nd. There are several positives to take for McLaren. Their early pit stop strategy was perfect as it helped Jenson Button move as high as 4th, when a regular pit stop would have had him in 7th or 8th.

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Edited by Staff Editor