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[RichieRooster]

What an entertaining race! It's nice to have it back!
Wow where do we start. Over the last few years, I can count on one hand the amount of repeat formation laps on one hand. It was kind of ironic that that was needed considering the degree of uncertainty coming into the race.
Looks like Kob was not at fault for the turn one incident. I felt so sorry for Massa, he was so unlucky in a Williams I believe can be outstanding this year. Bottas clipping the wall and getting a puncture was so unlucky also, but all the pieces are coming together for Williams, lets see how they develop over the coming races. Bottas was my driver of the day today. Though "Young Kevin" was outstanding to maintain his calm in those closing lap. And should the disqualification for Ricciardo stand, a very well earned 2nd on debut. Watch out Hamilton, someone's coming after your record in your old car!!
Mercedes had a belter with Nico, my preferred Merc driver, and look like they will dominate for a short while at least, albeit with McLaren and Williams not too far behind. Lewis' race was clearly doomed from very early on today. He didn't deserve that, and was very philosophical. Good on him for that.
Ferrari were unremarkable today. Which in itself is interesting. For me, a complete factory team should have been edging ahead but clearly its not quite all there. They will get there, but keeping Kimi and Fernando sweet in the meantime may not be easy.
So...what of Red Bull. They may not be the stand out team, but we're still discussing them. Seb needs to keep his cool. Yes, its frustrating. Yes, its out of character, but he needs to be mindful of what Red Bull have given him for the last 4 years!! Try not to spit the dummy out too much Seb, and embrace this as an opportunity to show the doubters that he can deal with adversity and be a great when not always having it his way.
Feel very sorry for Ricciardo, but rules are rules. For me, if, and its a big if, someone within Red Bull did know about this and didn't act on it, then that is simply cheating. If its a electrical glitch that's very unlucky and shows that these pesky technician issues may not be restricted to on the track.
Roll on Malaysia.

[stonemonkey]

I thought it doesn't matter what your fuel flow rate is, as long as you use 100kg of fuel or less in a race distance.

Restricted to 100kg/hr max rate, the sensor was showing he was exceeding that but the same sensor had been showing differing results during the practice sessions. RBR decided to use their own method of calculating fuel flow during the race but without the required permission from the FIA and they ignored the FIAs instructions during the race to adjust fuel flow so that the sensor readings would be within the legal limits. It's not a clear cut case that they exceded the limits, but that they didn't follow the procedures.

[gdh]

Great to see the young drivers do so well, the data retrieved from this first race will lead to many sleepless nights for the teams technicians. Looking fwd to Malaysia.

[RyRy]

Complaining about the lack of speed in these cars is ridiculously stupid.

There were way more overtakes and much more action this year than previous years, sure Rosberg blitzed the field but it's only the first race it will flatten out a bit.

The cars have less downforce and more torque which makes the drivers have to fight the car much more which is fun to watch and it also allows you to see the drivers skill more.

This is the first race with this technology, regulation changes... things will get faster and better and there is even potential for these cars to be faster on some tracks because of the turbo.

Sent from my Nexus 4

[1Lemon]

They can definitely follow closer this year

[Hammer278]

Complaining about the lack of speed in these cars is ridiculously stupid.

There were way more overtakes and much more action this year than previous years, sure Rosberg blitzed the field but it's only the first race it will flatten out a bit.

The cars have less downforce and more torque which makes the drivers have to fight the car much more which is fun to watch and it also allows you to see the drivers skill more.

This is the first race with this technology, regulation changes... things will get faster and better and there is even potential for these cars to be faster on some tracks because of the turbo.

Sent from my Nexus 4

Totally agree. I don't even see the difference visually, and couldn't care less....they're struggling to control these cars more than ever and I've not seen this sort of workrate in the cockpit since the late 90s/early 2000s.

The sound of the engine is slowly growing on me, though what I really like is to hear tyres squealing when leaving their boxes and during lockups. It's a new sound for me, and I look forward to hearing it live in 2 weeks. F1 has changed, but definitely not for the worse.

[RyRy]

Totally agree. I don't even see the difference visually, and couldn't care less....they're struggling to control these cars more than ever and I've not seen this sort of workrate in the cockpit since the late 90s/early 2000s.

The sound of the engine is slowly growing on me, though what I really like is to hear tyres squealing when leaving their boxes and during lockups. It's a new sound for me, and I look forward to hearing it live in 2 weeks. F1 has changed, but definitely not for the worse.

Yes yes the squealing is awesome, there are loads of new things you can hear including the on-track PA, the crowd, the tyres, misfires, weird gear changes, car problems where as previously it was all drowned out

Sent from my Nexus 4

[1Lemon]

If Ricciardo was "consistently" over the 100kh/h fuel limit, and he only had 100kg of fuel, doesn't that mean he would have run out at some stage?

I'm calling a faulty sensor on this one; at no point did he go slow enough that the fuel flow would have offset running consistently over the limit.

Also, see RB change:

[stonemonkey]

If Ricciardo was "consistently" over the 100kh/h fuel limit, and he only had 100kg of fuel, doesn't that mean he would have run out at some stage?

I'm calling a faulty sensor on this one; at no point did he go slow enough that the fuel flow would have offset running consistently over the limit.

consistently, not constantly. I would guess that if the car used more than the limit at times during acceleration every time the car was accelerating, maybe in particular gears or revs or at particular parts of the track or something, then that would count as consistently even though it may only be for a small percentage of the overall time.

That said, I would probably say faulty sensor too since it had been giving differing readings during practice, unless RBR are up to something dodgy.

[DWTD97]

I can't argue with today's race, it has been an interesting start to the season but I'm sure things will get a hell of a lot more tense as the season progresses.

Today was all about seeing where the cars were at in terms of pace and reliability, so it's great to see drivers rising to opportunities. Faultless performances from Ricciardo and K-Mag, however a great shame that Ricciardo lost his 2nd place, but it has to be understood that if you enter as a team, you fail as a team. The RB10 has shown some pace today, so I'm sure Ricciardo will have plenty more chances to shine as this was only the first race after all, but I understood that he wanted to shine in front of his home fans. Really reckon that Bottas could've bagged a podium had it not been for that little mistake from him, but I really don't think he should beat himself up about it considering Williams already have more points than they accumulated last year.

Mercedes are fast as expected, but I never imagined them to be that fast. Rosberg was somewhat cruising along for the vast majority of the race, the fastest lap was done so early on in the race yet there was still a gap well over 20 seconds to Ricciardo come race over. Of course I'd rather Mercedes dominate than Red Bull, but every team needs to pull their finger out eventually, as I want to see a well-fought battle between the teams and the drivers as I think there is a lot more value on this year's title considering Vettel is less likely to snatch it. Lewis is favourite, I can't see why Nico can't be a threat, Vettel will most likely climb his way back up... I just wish James Allison and co. give Fernando and Kimi a car that champions like them deserve. Ferrari deserve to take the fight to Mercedes and Red Bull too - it's been too long.

I'm buzzing for Malaysia... here's hoping it's rain affected but I won't mind dry weather either if it means we become clearer on the pecking order thus far.

[Ferrari man 009]

If Ricciardo was "consistently" over the 100kh/h fuel limit, and he only had 100kg of fuel, doesn't that mean he would have run out at some stage?

I'm calling a faulty sensor on this one; at no point did he go slow enough that the fuel flow would have offset running consistently over the limit.

consistently, not constantly. I would guess that if the car used more than the limit at times during acceleration every time the car was accelerating, maybe in particular gears or revs or at particular parts of the track or something, then that would count as consistently even though it may only be for a small percentage of the overall time.

That said, I would probably say faulty sensor too since it had been giving differing readings during practice, unless RBR are up to something dodgy.

While I agree it could be a faulty sensor, werent other teams having issues and the FIA advice was to reduce the flow to the level of the discrepancy (a few kg/h i think it was) to ensure compliance, which other teams did but Red Bull decided not to do, despite being warned they were over mid-race. Had they reduced it there and then they may have escaped penalty, but it seems to me that their ignorance may have cost them (and Ricciardo, who did nothing wrong) some points here!

[What's Burning?]

While I agree it could be a faulty sensor, werent other teams having issues and the FIA advice was to reduce the flow to the level of the discrepancy (a few kg/h i think it was) to ensure compliance, which other teams did but Red Bull decided not to do, despite being warned they were over mid-race. Had they reduced it there and then they may have escaped penalty, but it seems to me that their ignorance may have cost them (and Ricciardo, who did nothing wrong) some points here!

I think to call Red Bull "ignorant" is a fallacy. They've won four straight double championships. I think they acted just as they intended to. They'd been getting away with irregularities regularly after all.

[CookinFlat6]

Totally agree. They had to have a result, they sent their own people over to Renault to show then the RBR approach to the regs. They knew exactly what they were doing and it was a calculated risk with massive odds

Its why Seb didnt have the fix on his car. The clue was when the aussie teammate suddenly had the 'good' car. Well we thought it was good, turns out it was DQ bait

[Ferrari man 009]

While I agree it could be a faulty sensor, werent other teams having issues and the FIA advice was to reduce the flow to the level of the discrepancy (a few kg/h i think it was) to ensure compliance, which other teams did but Red Bull decided not to do, despite being warned they were over mid-race. Had they reduced it there and then they may have escaped penalty, but it seems to me that their ignorance may have cost them (and Ricciardo, who did nothing wrong) some points here!

I think to call Red Bull "ignorant" is a fallacy. They've won four straight double championships. I think they acted just as they intended to. They'd been getting away with irregularities regularly after all.

I wasnt talking generally, all I meant is in this case, they ignored the advice/instruction of the FIA and in my opinion this has caused them to be (rightly) disqualified. The ignorant bit was when they were told mid race, you're fuel flow is illegal, reduce it or you are in trouble - to which they appear to have completely disregarded the instructions given!

If that wasnt made clear I apologise, I didnt mean they are ignorant, just that on this occasion they appear to have acted ignorantly.

[CookinFlat6]

If Ricciardo was "consistently" over the 100kh/h fuel limit, and he only had 100kg of fuel, doesn't that mean he would have run out at some stage?

I'm calling a faulty sensor on this one; at no point did he go slow enough that the fuel flow would have offset running consistently over the limit.

Also, see RB change:

Thats the idea of have fixed rules. If the rules say a maximum flow of 100 and total of 100 (average 75 over a 1.5 hour race for example) then there will be a benefit of going above 100 and then at some point (say under SC) going way below.

With the way the turbos and ICE work, going above 100 CONSISTENTLY is a sure sign of reaping additional benefits that are not evened out by a flow rate of 10 per hour later on.