The other week, taking a guide from that grand Australian journalistic tradition which will confidently predict each Spring Carnival that a horse will win the Melbourne Cup, I boldly predicted that something would happen when young Max Verstappen got behind the wheel for a race start.
And happen it did. As a group the Formula One family went to court, argued, came out of court, argued, returned to court, argued. And, taking a break from that, they argued about the rules, paddock passes, Mercedes, and how much arguing Christian Horner did. Oh, and they all agreed Monisha Kaltenborn did far too much arguing with her drivers.
Oh yes! Something else happened; some gallant folk went racing (except Manor, who had promised everyone they were not there to argue but to race. And promptly did neither. Which is probably going to win them a free argument with Bernie, which will make them the envy of all the other team principals for the next two weeks, they all stumble aimlessly in circles without an argument with Bernie to drive them with a sense of purpose and direction).
So to the track and young Max. As my Perfect Plan article tended to suggest, the most likely outcome of his debut race was going to be at neither extreme of awesome, or disaster. And so it proved. He was solid, careful, and out-qualified by his team mate.
He then looked like out-racing his team mate, before suffering a mechanical. So (and thanks is due to Renault for this, ask Christian) with an exploding engine Max rolls to a quiet stop. A mighty DNF is reward for all the build-up. This now sets us for a great team mate battle. Carlos Sainz 2.0 is a fine racer, and his dad was handy behind the wheel. They will be a strong camp to battle. Then we have Max who now feels slightly robbed in his first race, but has a rock solid racing dad to go and talk it over with, not to forget the might of the red Bull racing machine backing him. Oh wait, they back Carlos too. And they are already arguing with Renault. Perfect! This one really was engineered by the FIA for the fans. We have all the ingredients for a fantastic mid-field battle. Something to keep us entertained while Lewis and Nico complain about their steering wheels rubbing sore spots on their hands as they lap the field.
And a brief glance down the grid for Melbourne hangovers? Well in finishing order I'd say...
Lewis is in totally the right place. If he stays in this condition he could win every race this year. Thankfully the universe never lets things alone for long, so I'm sure something will happen to stop this occurring. The excitement is what? Rapper girl-friend, mauled by own dog, arrested trying to enter circuit looking simply way to cool for this sport? Or, potentially most shocking, found under cover in a green parka at a Northern England Banger race screaming "This is real racing!" While knocking back Newcastle Browns...?
Nico will be comfortable with his result. Which is not to say happy. He knows how he ended up second and he knows what it will take to come first. Knowing it and doing it are slightly different things. Nico also knows this. A future Ferrari driver after he tires of coming second seven years running? Too soon to tell. His complexion does lend itself to red however...
Sebastian was as delighted as a chap could be. Living the legend and smacking it on the podium first race. Out performs the majority of Alonso's 2014 outings in a single afternoon. And he is probably free to drink Pepsi or Coke if he wants with his pasta! A shame then that Melbourne often flatters to deceive and come Malaysia he could be battling to stay in the top ten. We shall see.
Ah Massa. Like so much of his career, so close, so tough in battle, and a just off the podium valiant fourth as a result. No doubt his driving is back at the finest level, and with his post-race wide-eyed and innocent inference that may-be there were Mercedes engines and Mercedes engines he showed a delicate touch with the media and the rumour mill that will keep the off-track action dancing along. If he maintains these all-round performances with minimal moans he could get most improved, or even have a shot at Peoples’ Favourite by the mid-season break.
Then our new Felipe, young Nasr. Well if this is the shape of pay-drivers to come we have nothing to fear. This was a fine, clean, mature drive to a great points finish. Like the Ferrari Mothership, was this Melbourne allowing a false Spring before an arid Summer of discontent, or is this true form? Cannot wait for this one to develop.
Daniel, well after the delight and swift tragic crushing of last year I guess rolling home in an undisputed sixth is better than zero points. But then again battling with Force India and Toro Rosso is not quite what Daniel had mind when he said they had a plan for this year. Judging by the Super-sulk thrown by Mr. Horner before the cars had even cooled I don't think it was what Red Bull had in mind as a race day plan either. Knowing their remarkable ability to recover I'd say longer term there’s nothing to worry about, the next couple of races however they could be getting mugged at any corner, any time, by any mid-fielder with a hot-to-trot ERS.
Mr. Hulkenberg. A mature drive to a reasonable position. Possibly about where he is going to sit all season. Bit of a Goldilocks porridge for me. Neither too hot, or too cold, just OK. And so he shall continue. The sensible shoes of F1 (aka NH) will continue to be sensible. No hangovers here, neither sorrow nor great joy.
Marcus E. A great debut Sauber drive with nothing to complain about here. Have we lucked into a rich vein of high-grade young drivers, or like I hinted at in the Perfect Plan, are the cars simply easier to drive these days if you can get your bum in the seat? Until the teams start having "Let the fans drive days" I guess we will not know.
Carlos Sainz 2.0. A similarly clean start to the other new guys, with the added bonus of out-qualifying his much hyped team mate, and then out-pointing him, no matter the reason for that. As stated at the start of the article this is now set to be a wonderfully well balanced team mate battle, and I cannot wait to see the advantage ebb and flow between these two second-generation racers. Far too soon to tell for sure, but on this one outing it looks like Carlos could be the qualifier, while Max is the racer. We shall hopefully see plenty of action around these two as the season unfolds.
Perez gets the last point of the day. Funny to think he is rapidly moving into the "old boy" end of the grid.
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