07:40 PM
04/19/24
04/19/24
March 15, 2015
Lewis Hamilton wins with ease in Australia as only 11 cars finish: "Mercedes were in a race of their own at the front" as Hamilton and Rosborg finished more than 30 seconds ahead of Sebastian Vettle, who finished third in a Ferrari. This is after the Mercedes cars' won 16 from 19 and took 18 of 19 poles last season. Many of the 11 non-finishers either didn't start or went out in the first few laps; guess some teams need a longer off-season.
posted by billsaysthis to auto racing at 03:25 PM - 1 comment
Meanwhile, new Ferrari Team Principal Maurizio Arrivabene is a breath of fresh air. While Renault have gone backwards, (which takes some doing), Ferrari's engine is clearly a step up over last year and his attitude has been really great.
Firstly, he's been open to a technical relationship with the new Manor Marussia team, even though Ferrari is still owed money by the old Marussia team, but his quote on the subject was gold - "I said to Graeme, no money, no honey."
Then, during the race when the left rear wheel man couldn't get the nut threaded and Kimi Raikkonen had to pull over and retire from the race, Arrivabene went and found the gunman, to find out what happened and then, when everyone expected an ass-kicking, he just told him "stay calm, keep doing your job, it's going to be fine."
Then after the race when Renault Principal Christian Horner suggested the FIA might want to step in and even up the engines because Mercedes are too good, (and Red Bull even threatened to take their ball home and pull out of the sport), Arrivabene said "Our job is to attack Mercedes on the track. Not change the rules."
Having lived through the Schumacher/Ferrari domination, I'm still not ready to see Ferrari win another title, but this guy has been fun so far.