The new era in Formula 1 has officially begun!

So this weekend the time had finally (finally!) come to indulge in one of my all time favourite past-times; formula 1 racing! The winter wait has been long and cornered with lively speculation about the radically new regulations that F1 governing body FIA put in place for the 2014 season. Gone are the days of V8 and V10 engines as we now enter an era with turbo charged 1.6L V6 engines with vastly advanced energy recovery and electric hybrid systems. Ever since the testing sessions from Bahrain and Jerez earlier this year when we first got to hear the new F1 power units the internet has been lively with opinions about the sound of this new page in Formula 1 history. Many seem to think that the new sound isn’t loud enough, or that it’s just plain wierd. I for one do like it, and above all i like the way the cars are now a handful to master with high level of low-end torque that the turbo provides. You have to know how to drive in order to succeed in these new cars, there is no doubt about it.

The season opener in Melbourne, Australia yesterday was a fantastic race altogether. Sebastian Vettel’s dominance since last years was broken swiftly with engine troubles (retired) and in the front we instead saw Mercedes and McLaren, although Redbull Racing’s Daniel Ricciardo managed a 2nd place (later disqualified on technical gounds).

What makes me happy on a personal level is that the Williams team look strong for this season. I’m a long time Kimi Räikkönen fan (being a finn and all), and it’s really nice seeing Valtteri Bottas being competitive in the Martini Williams this season. In the end he had to settle for the 6th spot after having an encounter with the concrete wall resulting in a right-rear puncture.

F1 has never been as thrilling as it is now. Can’t wait for the Malaysian GP in two weeks time!

A run down of the results from Melbourne this weekend:

2014 FORMULA 1 ROLEX AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	57	1:32:58.710	3	25
2	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	57	+26.7 secs	4	18
3	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	57	+30.0 secs	10	15
4	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	57	+35.2 secs	5	12
5	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	57	+47.6 secs	15	10
6	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	57	+50.7 secs	7	8
7	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	57	+57.6 secs	11	6
8	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	57	+60.4 secs	6	4
9	26	Daniil Kvyat	STR-Renault	57	+63.5 secs	8	2
10	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	57	+85.9 secs	16	1
11	99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	56	+1 Lap	13
12	21	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	56	+1 Lap	20
13	4	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari	55	+2 Laps	17
NC	17	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari	49	+8 Laps	18
Ret	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	43	ERS	22
Ret	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	29	ERS	21
Ret	9	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	27	Oil pressure	19
Ret	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	3	Power unit	12
Ret	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	2	Engine	1
Ret	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	0	Accident	9
Ret	10	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault	0	Accident	14
DSQ	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	57	+24.5 secs	2

Note – Ricciardo originally finished second but was excluded after his car was found to have exceeded the maximum permitted fuel flow rate

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