Poll Out of Ten: 2015 Australian Grand Prix

[Porceliamone]

It was a bit dull. A shame Kimi's wheel nearly came off and dumped him out of the race as I think he's got a car that handles more to his liking now. I'm hoping the Mercedes keep each other honest throughout the rest of the season. I don't mind if they dominate, just so long as they go at each other with some gusto.

 

[KekeTheKing]

Gee whiz, it sure is nice of those Formula One folk to put on such an elaborate production in order to distract us uneducated rubes from our dreary workaday lives. Silly me I actually thought I was watching the culmination of many tens of thousands of factory man-hours of dedicated, difficult work designed for one thing only, to put the fastest possible car on the track. I wonder if they realize that their labor is nothing more the unglamorous grunt work necessary to foist the rulers at be's master plans upon the gullible masses willing to accept what they see as an honest sporting exercise.

And what of the actors? Poor Bottas. No wonder he looked so dejected, having to play the role of the sidelined driver with the torn back muscles in the first GP of the year. He sold it quite well with that hobble though! Imagine being Kivvy. Being told moments before your RBR debut that your gearbox was gonna give up the ghost after 2 miles. Cruelty of the highest order. Amazing that Lewis has been able to avoid the short straw lately though. Surely his number will be called again however and there's no doubt that installment of the GP program will be a smash hit in some quarters.



In all seriousness, if you are unsatisfied with the status quo in F1 right now then so be it. But don't tell me that to a man, up and down the paddock they aren't trying their best and working as hard as possible to get in the position that Mercedes has earned. These guys have busted their ass over the winter and unfortunately for them it appears that Merc has as well. So it's a downright embarrassment to suggest anything otherwise. Some of the brightest men in the world are being beaten fair and square by an outstanding combination of car and driver. They can deal with it because they know that's the nature of Formula One. One package is always likely to be ahead of the others. The scenario has played out dozens of time throughout the illustrious annals of the discipline. We may be watching history in the making this year as the Hamilton-Merc combo is downright scary. I for one am completely enthralled by the 2015 season and damn right I was excited yesterday. See ya in Sepang!!!

 

[ZakspeedYakspeed]

I'll give it a 5... a shame to lose two cars on the formation lap .. and the Pastor after turn 2 ... but because I am expecting some really good stuff this season ... hats off to Lewis and Mercedes ... and a tip of the hat to Ferrari ... and the new boys ..a solid showing all round ...

 

[Bill Boddy]

6, one for each DNS and DNF.

 

[F1Yorkshire]

Been talking to a guy at work. He thought I watched a completely different race. He doesn't understand the difference between a good result and a good race.

The race was great for Hamilton fans and I'm pleased he won but I was just left feeling a bit meh about it all. Not good for F1

 

[snowy]

I was a guest of Williams at the 1996 Melbourne GP. I can assure you, taken in isolation that Sunday was a profoundly mundane affair. The only interesting races at Albert Park require the intervention of rain, an intervention we were promised by weather forecasters this Saturday.

Grand Prix racing has always been like this. I am still completely riled, dismayed and perplexed by the events following the Bahrain GP in 2010. The most boring race ever (due to an ill considered track extension) preceded the most authentic and exciting season I have ever seen. The ban on refuelling fuelled a quantum leap in on track overtaking, it was genuine gutsy overtaking. My joy was short lived because the fall out from Bahrain was so pernicious it led to the catastrophic invention of DRS and the subsequent abolition of authentic overtaking.

F1 has always been littered with mundane races and entire seasons. It is the knee jerk and over the top reactions that ensure that we will continue experiencing them.

Honda spent a vast fortune trying to win the F1 Championship and on the eve of victory they bottled it. Ross Brawn must have prostrated himself before their board of directors pleading with them to give him one more season. His pleas must have been so earnest that they gave him the team and all their assets for a nominal fee (some reports say it was a single pound), he put a completely foreign and unfamiliar Mercedes engine in his chassis and blew the rest of the F1 grid into the weeds. We eventually got to see just how talented Jenson Button is (despite years of evidence many still don't appreciate just how good he is).

F1 genuinely represents everything that is truly great and totally reprehensible about humanity, oh, the Humanity!

 

[Shogun]

6. It was a boring race. It was nice to see Sauber do well but it was all in all a very boring race.

 

[snowy]

6. It was a boring race. It was nice to see Sauber do well but it was all in all a very boring race.

The race appeared uninteresting predominantly because the director of the TV coverage didn't have any imagination. He wandered around aimlessly and without direction, hoping that he might catch an event. Directing motorsport coverage requires a degree of intuition and creativity, the director had none.

The director actually had a golden opportunity to explore driver's styles, racing lines, compare their steering inputs on board. He was presented with a blank canvas to explore and he wilfully stuck to a defunct and ill conceived script.

 

[teabagyokel]

snowy - Think the Monaco director - lots and lots of times we see that angle through Piscine II. It gives a real impression of the speed, risk and reward of that corner.

It makes 78 laps of virtual yellow flag conditions watchable, no mean feat.

 

[Whodat singer]

It was about a 5. Really excited at the start and even through the race but then after I thought that was a bit of a bore. I figure my excitment ws due to F1 starting for 2015

 

[RasputinLives]

I was about to welcome you to the site Whodat singer but I see you've been around since 2013! Welcome to posting anyways chap (or chappess).

I gave it a 5 as well.