Kimi Raikkonen won a race that could probably the most exciting and coincidental on in years to come. He qualified on P7, and then using a 2-stop strategy, he cruised to a win. This also tells us how the cars stack up in terms of one lap speed and race pace.
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Melbourne 2013 and Abu Dhabi in 2012 were uncannily similar. In both race, Raikkonen on P1, Alonso on P2, and Vettel on P3. In both races, Webber qualified P2, and had a bad start. Another interesting fact is
that all the podium finishers were in sitting in the first row on Thursday's press conference. Coincidence? I think so.
The qualifying of the pace of the cars couldn't really be analysed in Australia because of the rainy conditions, which meant that no one was really pushing, and many made mistakes. Raikkonen, for instance wasn't happy with himself after qualifying 7th. He believed that if he had pushed slightly harder and not gone slightly out of shape at the last corner, he could've qualified on the second row. But Red Bull were quick as usual, and the Mercedes duo were fast as well. Vettel was 0.4 seconds faster than his team mate, and 0.6 seconds faster than Lewis Hamilton who qualified third.
The qualifying results,
The biggest shock was, watching the McLarens struggle. It's a ride height problem, so I expect them to be in the top 5 by China. Jenson Button made some good decisions in qualifying, so it wasn't a driver problem, and tyres benefit his driving style. The new faster degrading Pirellis also complement Kimi's driving style. Both Kimi and Jenson are kind to their tyres, and can use them very efficiently. They had problems with the 2012 tyres as they couldn't get them in their working temperature range due to their gentle driving style.
One race day, the track was dry, so the race pace of the cars was quite easy to figure out.
Red Bull doesn't have the race pace to match its qualifying prowess, or is it that Vettel isn't as good a driver as the others? He couldn't get past Adrian Sutil in a Force India on older tyres even though he was on fresher ones.
Mercedes is quick, but its not kind to its tyres, especially when Lewis Hamilton is at the wheel, and he is definitely not the smoothest driver around. Quick, but not kind to his tyres.
Ferrari has a good car. Nice to its tyres, and fast as well. Alonso knows how to get the best out of the car. Alonso was simply mega in Australia. He was smiling as well. He knows he can win the championship this year.
McLaren. No one has a clue why they are so off the pace. They might switch to the older 2012 spec car if the new car doesn't deliver. Jenson Button is furious. Although he might not show it, he definitely isn't a man who seems happy.
Lotus has the best car on the grid, its very very quick, and very kind to its tyres. Although Romain didn't impress by finishing 10th, I think he just had a bad day. Both Raikkonen, and Grosjean can extract the best out of the car. Raikkonen was the only driver who was comfortable pushing with a 2-stop strategy. He said he plenty to spare, and he simply wasn't pushing the car too hard. Kimi Raikkonen never lies, and it seems like the Lotus is the quickest car on in Kimi's hands on race day. Qualifying still seems to be an issue though. Kimi set the fastest lap of the race in the last stages of the race.
Force India was another surprise. It was very quick, especially in Sutil's hands. Although he wore down his super softs in the ending stages of the race when he went wheel to wheel with Hamilton in what could've been a very personal battle. They aren't the best of friends.
Sauber didn't put on a representative show as Hulkenberg didn't start the race due to a fuel line issue. Esteban, a rookie didn't really impress. So it's still to be seen how they stack up
Williams had a disappointing weekend, with Maldonado claiming the car was undriveable. Well he would, he if he got outqualified by his rookie teammate Bottas. Still, the car looks really slow.
Torro Rosso didn't impress much, but Verge put on a good show to finish 12th.
Caterham has the slowest car, and the drivers simply couldn't get anything out of it. Charles Pic didn't even qualify due to the 107% rule. An absolute horror show.
Marussia had a brilliant weekend, with Jules Bianchi impressing everyone in the paddock.
The final race standings,
