Mercedes’ Rosberg Wins Season-Opening Australian Grand Prix

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Formula 1′s season-opening race ended in rancor and controversy Sunday as initial second-place finisher Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull disqualified for a breach of fuel regulations, five hours after Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg took the checkered flag.

Ricciardo’s exclusion from the results tarnished what had been a day of celebration for local fans, who were jubilant that the Red Bull driver had apparently become the first Australian to finish on the podium at his home race.

However just before midnight, stewards ruled that Ricciardo’s car had “exceeded consistently the maximum allowed fuel flow” and that the team refused an instruction from the race’s technical delegate Charlie Whiting to change the fuel-flow sensor before the race and a further request during the race to reduce the fuel flow.

Red Bull immediately announced it would appeal the decision.

“Inconsistencies with the FIA fuel flow meter have been prevalent all weekend up and down the pit lane,” a Red Bull statement said. “The team and (engine supplier) Renault are confident the fuel supplied to the engine is in full compliance with the regulations.”

The exclusion capped a day of shocks at the Albert Park street circuit.

Thought Rosberg’s victory was little surprise, given Mercedes had been the dominant team in preseason testing and across the race weekend in Melbourne, few would have expected pole sitter Lewis Hamilton and defending four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel to be mere onlookers after half a dozen laps.

Both Hamilton and Vettel suffered engine failures, illustrating the difficulties all teams are having getting performance and reliability out of the sport’s new V6 hybrid engines.

Ricciardo’s disqualification meant Kevin Magnussen was promoted to second in his debut race, ahead of his McLaren teammate Jenson Button, giving the team a bright start to the season and the lead in the constructors’ championship after a very disappointing 2013.

Rosberg started third on the grid and was first to reach turn one, then drove away from the field to eventually win by 24.5 seconds at the Albert Park street circuit. The margin of victory and the authority of the performance showed why Mercedes is considered a strong favorite to finally win its first constructors’ title this season.

“I had an unbelievably quick car today,” said Rosberg, whose world champion father Keke won the inaugural Australian F1 GP in 1985. “It was such a pleasure to drive, it’s such a great feeling and I really look forward to the new races.”

Rosberg’s delight was a contrast to the disappointment on the other side of the garage as Hamilton quickly retired a car that was only firing on five cylinders.

“We looked so strong but to then have a hiccup is tough for everyone, but we will bounce back,” Hamilton said.

Like Mercedes, Red Bull was on one hand celebrating a strong performance in the opening race while also harboring concern about the engine problems that caused the retirements of their top drivers.

“We learned the car is quick, we just need to get everything together,” Vettel said. “No doubt we’ll fix this issue, the question is how soon?”

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished fourth in a worryingly uncompetitive performance for the Italian team, while Williams driver Valtteri Bottas recovered from losing a wheel early in the race to finish fifth; pulling off a succession of impressive passing moves that showed the strong potential of the car.

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen — in his return to the team after six years away — finished sixth and seventh respectively, ahead of the Toro Rosso pair Jean-Eric Vergne and Daniil Kvyat. After Ricciardo’s exclusion, Force India’s Sergio Perez was promoted to the final points-paying position in 10th.

The 19-year-old Kvyat’s 10th place made him the youngest driver ever to earn an F1 point, breaking Vettel’s record set at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix. The 21-year-old Magnussen was the second-youngest driver to claim a podium finish, behind Vettel’s record at the 2007 U.S. Grand Prix.

Despite fears that few cars would complete the race due to a series of reliability problems in preseason testing and over this weekend, 15 of the 22 racers finished. There was only one major accident, with Caterham driver Kamui Kobayashi slamming into the back of Felipe Massa’s Williams at the first corner, immediately ending the race for both drivers.

Magnussen’s heady performance for a rookie driver illustrated why McLaren put such faith in him, discarding Sergio Perez after a single season to make room.

McLaren leads the constructors’ championship after one race; an impressive recovery after a dire 2013 season in which the high-achieving team failed to secure a single podium.

“It’s not a win but it feels like a bit of a win,” Magnussen said. “The team is coming off a difficult season and they just wanted to come back.

“The team is massively motivated to stay on top and they are a team that should be on top in Formula 1.”

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Elation turned to desolation for Daniel Ricciardo at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday after the Red Bull driver was stripped of his first podium finish due to a technical breach at Formula One’s season opener.

Ricciardo initially finished second to Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg to become the first homegrown driver to take to the podium in the 29-year history of the Australian GP.

The celebrations did not last long as F1 stewards said his car breached fuel-flow rules introduced this year which limit cars to 100 kilograms of fuel during the race. World motorsport governing body FIA subsequently disqualified Ricciardo , elevating McLaren drivers Kevin Magnussen and Jenson Button to second and third.

Red Bull immediately announced it will appeal.

Shortly after the end of the race, FIA Formula One technical delegate Jo Bauer said Ricciardo’s car had “exceeded consistently the maximum allowed fuel flow” and referred the matter to stewards.

More than three and a half hours later, after Ricciardo had left the track, the stewards disqualified the Australian saying Red Bull had not only breached technical regulations by exceeding the allowed fuel flow, but also had disregarded instructions before the race to change the fuel flow sensor and during the race to reduce the flow.

The operation of the fuel-flow sensors had been a source of dispute between the teams and the FIA coming into the first race.

After the findings, Red Bull said “Inconsistencies with the FIA fuel flow meter have been prevalent all weekend up and down the pit lane. The team and (engine-maker) Renault are confident the fuel supplied to the engine is in full compliance with the regulations.”

Horner further proclaimed the team’s innocence to reporters saying; “It is no fault of Daniel. I don’t believe it is the fault of the team.”

“I am extremely disappointed, quite surprised … hopefully through the appeal process it will be quite clear that the car has conformed at all times to the regulations,” he added. “We would not be appealing unless we were extremely confident that we have a defendable case.”

The Albert Park crowd earlier offered Ricciardo a thunderous applause as the stood on the podium in his first race with Red Bull.

“It’s a bit overwhelming for now, but just an unbelievable day,” the 24-year-old said shortly after.

Australia staged its first Grand Prix of the F1 era in Adelaide in 1985, with the 1986 edition marking the final race of Australian world championship winner Alan Jones.

Mark Webber’s first F1 race was the 2002 Australian GP, and since then Australian fans have waited impatiently for a top-three finish at Albert Park.

Red Bull, last year’s constructor’s champions and a dominant force in F1 for the past four years, had a difficult time in preseason testing and little was expected from its first race of the season.

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It was a bittersweet moment for Lewis Hamilton as he watched Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg take the checkered flag at Formula One’s Australian Grand Prix after the former world champion was forced to retire in the fourth lap after starting from pole position Sunday.

Hamilton, the pre-race favorite, found himself in third position after the first turn and had slipped down to fifth before his team ordered him into the pits to retire with a misfiring cylinder.

Rosberg, who claimed the lead in the first turn after starting third on the grid, coasted home to win by a comfortable margin.

“My start didn’t feel great today and I had a lot less power than usual when pulling away, so it was obvious immediately that something was wrong,” Hamilton said. “It looks like we only had five cylinders firing and, while I wanted to keep going, we had to play safe and save the engine.”

Mercedes executive director Toto Wolff described the race as “a day of light and shadow.”

“He had done everything right this weekend until that point and it was a situation beyond his control,” Wolff said.

Hamilton’s misfortunes aside, Mercedes continued its impressive performance in preseason testing and showed it has easily the quickest of the all-new turbo V6 hybrid engines introduced this season.

“We have a great car and engine, and the pace was really strong today as Nico clearly showed,” Hamilton said. “Big congratulations to him and the team for achieving the win, it’s a fantastic result for us.

“Of course I’m disappointed with my own race and when I think about all the work that has gone on back at our factories, it’s tough to have a costly hiccup.”

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Christian Horner is adamant that Red Bull Racing complied with the regulations during the Australian GP and can win its appeal against the exclusion of Daniel Ricciardo from his second place.

Ricciardo was deemed to have consistently exceeded the fuel flow limit of 100kg/hr, which is monitored by the FIA in real time.

The team was unhappy with its sensor Friday, changed to a different one which had a problem in qualifying, and was told by the FIA to change back to the original for the race. In effect the team ran the race to its own fuel flow readings as it did not trust the sensor.

However the bottom line is that the sensor is the regulatory device and all teams have to comply with its readings.

“Hopefully through the appeal process it will be quite clear that the car has conformed at all times to the regulations,” said Horner. “These fuel flow sensors that have been fitted by the FIA to measure fuel which have proved problematic throughout the pitlane, and since their introduction at the start of testing, there have been discrepancies.

“We had a fuel flow sensor that was fitted to the car that we believed to be in error, and therefore based our calculation on the fuel that the injectors were providing to the engine, which is a calibrated piece of equipment that is consistent and standard across the weekend that we’ve seen zero variance in.

“We wouldn’t be appealing if we didn’t think that we had a defensible case. It’s disappointing that this has happened, it’s certainly no fault of Daniel. I don’t believe that it’s the fault of the team, I believe that we’ve been compliant with the rules, and the investigation and documents that will be submitted within the appeal will demonstrate that.”

Horner confirmed that the sensor had been changed over the weekend.

“We had an issue with a sensor that changed its reading through Friday practice that sensor was then replaced for another sensor Saturday that then failed during qualifying. We were then asked to put the sensor from Friday back in the car and apply an offset. That offset we didn’t feel was correct, and as we got into the race we could see there was a significant discrepancy between what the sensor was reading and what the fuel flow, which was the actual injection of fuel into the engine, was stated as. That’s where there was a difference of opinion.

“It’s immature technology, and it’s impossible to rely 100 percent on that sensor, which had proved to be problematic in almost every session that we’ve run in.”

Regarding the fact that the team ignored requests from the FIA to make an adjustment during the race, he said: “They informed us and we informed them that we had serious concerns over their sensor. We believed in our reading, otherwise you are in a situation where you are reducing significant amounts of power with the engine, when we believed we fully comply with the regulations. If we end up with that situation, depending on the calibration of your sensor, the plus and minus, it will dictate quite simply who is competitive and who isn’t.”