Rosberg wins: Alonso survives horror crashposted in F120 | 03 | 2016
NICO ROSBERG WON his fourth successive Formula 1 race, but the Australian Grand Prix was dominated by a sickening, explosive crash involving Fernando Alonso.
Rosberg eventually finished eight seconds ahead of his team-mate, defending world champ Lewis Hamilton — who dropped to seventh on the opening lap despite starting from pole — with the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel third.
But it's the image of Alonso emerging — unassisted — from the wreckage of his McLaren which will be most remembered.
On lap 17, with Vettel out in front comfortably leading Rosberg, Alonso's front right wheel made contact with the rear-left of Esteban Gutierrez's Haas as the McLaren driver switched left to pass.
The impact first pitched Alonso into the wall running alongside the circuit, ripping his front left wheel off and spearing him towards the gravel. As the car made contact with the gravel, it soared through the air before rolling and slamming into another wall. What was left of the McLaren eventually came to rest at 45-degrees leaning against a tyre wall.
Miraculously, after what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was only a matter of seconds, Alonso emerged from the the wreckage. The Spaniard stood up straight, walked a few paces away from his car, then bent over with his hands on his knees as if absorbing how lucky he was to have survived.
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The crash was immediately re-flagged and the remaining cars returned to the pits for 20-minutes while the wreckage was cleared.
The stoppage negated the benefit Vettel has enjoyed after delivering a stunning start. From third on the grid he scythed between the two front-row Mercedes and scampered off into the distance.
At Turn 1, Rosberg forced Hamilton wide, allowing Vettel's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen to grab third, while the Englishman dropped further back having been forced to back-off to avoid running into the rear of his team-mate.
After the first round of pitstops, the scene had been set for an intriguing race. Vettel and Raikkonen remained on super-softs, while Rosberg switched to softs. Hamilton, meanwhile, opted for mediums as Mercedes tried to get him to the end of the race on a one-stop strategy.
But Alonso's crash forced the teams and drivers to again change their strategies.
When the race restarted, Rosberg followed Hamilton onto mediums, but strangely the Ferraris stuck with super-softs. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and the Toro Rossos opted for softs as they restarted behind the safety car in the order Vettel, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Ricciardo, Verstappen, Carlos Sainz Jr, Hamilton and Massa.
Soon after the restart, Raikkonen retired from third with flames billowing from the airbox just inches above his head as he stopped outside his garage.
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Team-mate Vettel, meanwhile, could not increase the gap sufficiently over Rosberg and pitted on lap 35 of 57 to fit a set of super-softs. Rosberg inherited the lead, which he maintained to the chequered flag to seal the 15th grand prix victory of his career.
Hamilton's race of recovery was completed when, having been handed third when Vettel pitted, then by the two Toro Rossos pitting for fresh tyres, moved into second when he darted passed Ricciardo with 16 laps remaining.
The Aussie held on to finish fourth, behind Vettel, with the Williams of Felipe Massa in fifth, just ahead of the Haas of Romain Grosjean. The Frenchman benefited from being able to make his sole tyre change under the red flag, meaning he effectively completed the race without pitting.
The result was a major achievement for the fledgling American F1 outfit, as it became the first team to score on its race debut since Toyota with Mika Salo in 2002.
DRIVER QUOTES:
Nico Rosberg, Mercedes:
That was a perfect race for me. The start was tricky, as I was on the dirty side of the grid and Vettel managed to be ahead. He did a really good job at the start – but we chose the perfect strategy by going onto the medium tyre after the red flag. A big thanks to the team on the pit wall for that, to everyone back at the factories for this fantastic car and to everyone back in Europe who woke up so early to tune in for the race. I hope it was a good show for you!
We can enjoy this moment for sure – but we know now just how strong those red cars will be this season, so we cannot afford to relax. I’m really looking forward to the next races and hopefully some more exciting battles. Finally, I also have to say it was a big relief to see Fernando walk away from his shunt. It shows how incredible the safety of these cars is now, which is great to see.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes:
I’d had a perfect weekend in every way up until the lights went out and felt confident heading into the race. I got a bit of wheelspin off the line then got pushed wide at the first corner, so from there it was just about recovering. But these things happen and I’m grateful for the way I was able to fight back through. P2 isn’t bad in terms of damage limitation after a start like that. I spent a long time stuck behind one of the Toro Rossos and there wasn’t a lot I could do about it as he was on a quicker tyre.
I could just see the others pulling away, so the safety car definitely helped by bunching us all up again. I was already on a one-stop strategy and, to be honest, I don’t know why everyone else didn’t do the same on the medium. I’m happy they didn’t, as I probably would have finished a lot further back. In any case, the team did a great job to help us pull it back and there’s still 20 races to go, so I’m feeling pretty chilled. I’ve had far worse starts to the season, so I’ll take that today and head into the next one looking up.
Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari:
I think we were a lot closer. Last year this was one of our worst tracks, so there's plenty of positives. Sure we expected to be a bit stronger in qualifying, it wasn't the case but I think we had a bit of a rough session yesterday. So I think today was a lot better for us, we were a lot closer. The red flag didn't help. Equally we benefitted at the start. The guys did a great job so, I think yeah, it was obviously a pleasant surprise, or a pleasant event, seeing that the start was great and I was overtaking both. It was a bit tight with Nico into Turn One but in the end we made it and even had both cars running at the front, so couldn't ask for me really. And yesterday was forgotten at that point.
Then you can argue the red flag didn't help us but equally, y'know, one time it plays into your favour, the other time it catches you out a bit. Today I think, nevertheless, we had a great race. We went for the aggressive route - maybe with hindsight we could have done something else but I'm not willing to blame anything or anyone.
We are a team, we win as a team and I think today we won 15 points. It's a shame to see that the second car didn't make it but I think there's plenty of positives, as I said. The team seems in good shape. We know that we can up our game and we want to put pressure on these guys.
F1 Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne — Result:
1. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes 57 laps 1h 48m 15.565s
2. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes +8.0s
3. Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari +9.6s
4. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-TAG Heuer +24.3s
5. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes +58.9s
6. Romain Grosjean FRA Haas-Ferrari +72.0s
7. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes +74.1s
8. Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes +75.1s
9. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Ferrari +75.6s
10. Max Verstappen NED Toro Rosso-Ferrari +76.8s
11. Jolyon Palmer GBR Renault-Renault +83.3s
12. Kevin Magnussen DEN Renault-Renault +85.6s
13. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes +91.6s
14. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda +1 lap
15. Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
16. Pascal Wehrlein GER MRT-Mercedes +1 lap
Not Classified
Rtd. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari 38 laps completed
Rtd. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari 21 laps completed
Rtd. Rio Haryanto INA MRT-Mercedes 17 laps completed
Rtd. Esteban Gutierrez MEX Haas-Ferrari 16 laps completed
Rtd. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda 16 laps completed
Rtd. Daniil Kvyat RUS Red Bull-TAG Heuer 0 laps completed
Fastest lap
Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-TAG Heuer 1m 28.997s Lap 49
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Jim McGill