FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[zurich_allan]

Trying to return to the normality of the forum i.e. to talk about our favourite hobby - formula one! Exactly as it says in the tin then; every season the first race throws up a few surprises, I've picked a few that I identified, so what do you think was the biggest surprise of the first race? Any of these? Something else? Interested to hear different thoughts.

[zurich_allan]

To start things off, I went with Ferrari's improvement. Okay they showed some pace in testing, but I was not expecting them to be up with and arguably ahead of Williams on pace. A shame that Kimi had to retire as he looked quick and could have helped Vettel with getting the Scuderia a large points haul!

[1Lemon]

To start things off, I went with Ferrari's improvement. Okay they showed some pace in testing, but I was not expecting them to be up with and arguably ahead of Williams on pace. A shame that Kimi had to retire as he looked quick and could have helped Vettel with getting the Scuderia a large points haul!

As Pat Symmons said "Australia is a bit of a unique outlier circuit, Malaysia should give better indication of ours and Ferrari's pace"

[darwin dali]

I voiced my disbelief elsewhere before: the shocking state of Honda's project. The collaboration with McLaren should have gotten off a much better start after all that development time they had. Not even FA's 0.2 seconds would have helped them

[CigarGuy]

Couple good ones there, but I went with Sauber. Zero points last year and both drivers
with points in first race.
Nasr, in fifth, I believe, was the last one that wasn't lapped, too, correct?
'Course, with THAT said, maybe it's Mercedes dominance........

[myownalias]

I would say the biggest surprise for me was the rookies an how fast they were out of the box. But a close second is Ferrari's massive leap forward over the winter. I'm not that surprised by the McLaren situation, I kinda expected it to be disappointing to start with, Ron Dennis' smoke and mirrors approach to talking about the McLaren/Honda tie up, talking more about past glories than moving forward into a new era with the Japanese marque.

[darwin dali]

I would say the biggest surprise for me was the rookies an how fast they were out of the box. But a close second is Ferrari's massive leap forward over the winter. I'm not that surprised by the McLaren situation, I kinda expected it to be disappointing to start with, Ron Dennis' smoke and mirrors approach to talking about the McLaren/Honda tie up, talking more about past glories than moving forward into a new era with the Japanese marque.

Laurence Edmondson on ESPNF1:

Last year Fernando Alonso finished 35 seconds off the winning Mercedes with the unloved Ferrari F14-T and this year Sebastian Vettel was 34.5 seconds off the lead Mercedes with the much-improved SF15-T. Proof that progress is always relative in Formula One.

[sagi58]

I went with Ferrari's improvement, which according to this:

Last year Fernando Alonso finished 35 seconds off the winning Mercedes with the unloved Ferrari F14-T and this year Sebastian
Vettel was 34.5 seconds off the lead Mercedes with the much-improved SF15-T. Proof that progress is always relative in Formula One.

would mean they've improved by about 70 seconds!!

[darwin dali]

I went with Ferrari's improvement, which according to this:

Last year Fernando Alonso finished 35 seconds off the winning Mercedes with the unloved Ferrari F14-T and this year Sebastian
Vettel was 34.5 seconds off the lead Mercedes with the much-improved SF15-T. Proof that progress is always relative in Formula One.

would mean they've improved by about 70 seconds!!

How do you figure?

[sagi58]

I went with Ferrari's improvement, which according to this:

Last year Fernando Alonso finished 35 seconds off the winning Mercedes with the unloved Ferrari F14-T and this year Sebastian
Vettel was 34.5 seconds off the lead Mercedes with the much-improved SF15-T. Proof that progress is always relative in Formula One.

would mean they've improved by about 70 seconds!!

How do you figure?

Alonso 35 seconds off...
oooooooops.....

In my dreams, it was Vettel 34.5 seconds ahead of the Mercedes!!

[darwin dali]

I went with Ferrari's improvement, which according to this:

Last year Fernando Alonso finished 35 seconds off the winning Mercedes with the unloved Ferrari F14-T and this year Sebastian
Vettel was 34.5 seconds off the lead Mercedes with the much-improved SF15-T. Proof that progress is always relative in Formula One.

would mean they've improved by about 70 seconds!!

How do you figure?

Alonso 35 seconds off...
oooooooops.....

In my dreams, it was Vettel 34.5 seconds ahead of the Mercedes!!

I want some of what you've been smoking

[sagi58]

...In my dreams, it was Vettel 34.5 seconds ahead of the Mercedes!!

I want some of what you've been smoking

[LewEngBridewell]

Some good options there, ZA, that was quite a tough choice. I didn't select McLaren, as I expected them to struggle in the first part of the season.

For me, it boiled down to the performance of the rookies (incredibly good!) and the general unreliability of the grid. I went with the latter. I was literally appalled by it, especially the extra drop-outs even before the grid was formed. Not a good look, although historically representative, one might suggest. (Of course, all the way up to the late 90s, such chronic unreliability was the norm).

But yeah, 11 cars to the finish. I expected attrition, but not that much.