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2017 Australia Thoughts

THE BIG PICTURE: Bernie ... gone. Nico Rosberg ... gone. Manor ... gone. Button ... gone. Mercedes domination ... possibly gone. Massa ... not quite gone. Honda anchor ... definitely not gone.

TRACK: Not the track per se, but the new car regulations. Faster, sure. But not surprising to too many people, passing was a lot harder if not impossible.

EVENT: For the locals, once Ricciardo came to a halt on the warm up lap, the event was essentially done. Though, they got a second wind cheering the Ferrari.

QUALIFYING: Same old, same old for pole, but Vettel gets on the front row, Red Bull fades, Ricciardo is left miserable, Haas impresses, and Alonso surprises.

RACE: Typical Australia/opening race -- high attrition, some odd results, and not to be taken too seriously as a precursor of things to come.

START: No miscue from Hamilton, Vettel is strong, Ricciardo sits in his garage, and Magnussen punts.

VETTEL: A calculated drive by Sebastian. Like others said, reminiscent of Schumacher. What a difference it makes having a competitive car.

RAIKKONEN: Is Kimi back to playing second fiddle?

FERRARI: Ring those church bells in Maranello. You deserve it!

HAMILTON: Lewis, you got competition.

BOTTAS: Valterri, you got to prove yourself.

MERCEDES: Silver Arrows, you got a tough season ahead of you.

VERSTAPPEN: Strangely, quiet.

RICCIARDO: Could a hometown hero have had a worse weekend?

MASSA: Felipe, you're back. And back to a typical sixth place finish.

STROLL: Not a complete embarrassment in his first race. But, Lance didn't disappoint in practice, hitting the wall once.

PEREZ: Once again, Sergio was super impressive with pace and passing.

OCON: While once again, his teammate, no matter who he is, couldn't keep up.

FORCE INDIA: Think pink! Especially when a sponsor pays you $20 million to paint your car pink.

HULKENBERG: Whether the Hulk made the smart move to Renault won't be known for awhile...

RENAULT: ...But the Renault is definitely a better package than last year's essentially renamed Lotus.

PALMER: Renault kept Jolyon ... why?

MAGNUSSEN: But Renault may have known what they were doing not keeping Kevin.

GIAVINAZZI: Talk about grabbing an opportunity by the throat. What an impressive unplanned debut by Antonio.

WEHRLEIN: One wonders what really was Pascal's injury at the Race of Champions and is he truly healed?

SAUBER: We never agree with a single thing Monisha says, except now. She is right. We also don't understand why Magnussen was not penalized for punting Ericsson on the first lap.

GROSJEAN: Unbelievable qualifying effort spoiled by race reliability.

HAAS: Last year's debut was quite the surprise. This year's opener was quite the disappointment.

ALONSO: Should we start a Fernando countdown clock...?

VANDOORNE: Stoffel, on the other hand, has nothing to lose this year.

MCLAREN: What's your over/under on the number of races before McLaren switches to Mercedes' power units?

HONDA: It's getting to the point where they have no face saving way out.

WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Battle.

STAT OF THE WEEKEND: 1 -- Number of pit stops needed in this race, a possible change of strategy from the last few years.

HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: The last time Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel won a race was at the 2015 Singapore GP. Vettel qualified on the pole while the Mercedes duo were back in the third row. Despite two safety car periods, Vettel controlled the race for the win. Ricciardo and Raikkonen rounded out the podium while Rosberg finished fourth. Hamilton DNF'ed for the first time in over a year. And Maldonado got yelled at.

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: Daniel Ricciardo obviously frustrated after his third and final problem put him permanently out of the race, "Let's get the f--- out of here!"

QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Sebastian Vettel telling the world Ferrari is back, "We are here to challenge. We are here to fight."

SCHEDULE: China before Bahrain this time. More importantly, a real test of the new regulations hampering passing, as last year's Chinese GP saw a record number of passes.

Copyright © 2017 by Deep Throttle. All Rights Reserved.



RACE RESULTS
  Driver Laps
1. Vettel 57
2. Hamilton 57
3. Bottas 57
4. Raikkonen 57
5. Verstappen 57
6. Massa 57
7. Perez 56
8. Sainz 56
9. Kvyat 56
10. Ocon 56
11. Hulkenberg 56
12. Giovinazzi(R) 55
13. Vandoorne(R) 55
NC Alonso 50
NC Magnussen 46
NC Stroll(R) 40
NC Ricciardo 25
NC Ericsson 21
NC Palmer 15
NC Grosjean 13

Time of Race
1:24:11.672

Margin of Victory
9.975 sec.

Safety Car
None

Lead Changes
4 among 4 drivers

Lap Leaders
Sebastian Vettel, Lewis Hamilton, Valtteri Bottas, Kimi Raikkonen

Fastest Race Lap
Kimi Raikkonen

Pole Position
Lewis Hamilton

CURRENT STANDINGS
  Driver Pts.
1. Vettel 25
2. Hamilton 18
3. Bottas 15
4. Raikkonen 12
5. Verstappen 10
6. Massa 8
7. Perez 6
8. Sainz 4
9. Kvyat 2
10. Ocon 1

  Team Pts.
1. Ferrari 37
2. Mercedes 33
3. Red Bull 10
4. Williams 8
5. Force India 7
6. Toro Rosso 6
 
 

2024 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Japan
China Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco
Canada Spain Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Azerbaijan Singapore United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Qatar Abu Dhabi

2023 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Azerbaijan
Miami Emilia Romagna Monaco Spain
Canada Austria Great Britain Hungary
Belgium Holland Italy Singapore
Japan Qatar United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Las Vegas Abu Dhabi

2022 Thoughts
Bahrain Saudi Arabia Australia Emilia Romagna
Miami Spain Monaco Azerbaijan
Canada Great Britain Austria France
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Singapore Japan United States
Mexico City Sao Paulo Abu Dhabi

2021 Thoughts
Bahrain Emilia Romagna Portugal Spain Monaco
Azerbaijan France Steiermark Austria Great Britain
Hungary Belgium Holland Italy
Russia Turkey United States Mexico City
Sao Paulo Qatar Saudi Arabia Abu Dhabi

2020 Thoughts
Austria Steiermark Hungary Great Britain Anniversary
Spain Belgium Italy Tuscany
Russia Eifel Portugal Emilia Romagna
Turkey Bahrain Sakhir Abu Dhabi

2019 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
Mexico United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2018 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Azerbaijan Spain
Monaco Canada France Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Russia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2017 Thoughts
Australia China Bahrain Russia
Spain Monaco Canada Azerbaijan
Austria Great Britain Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2016 Thoughts
Australia Bahrain China Russia Spain
Monaco Canada Europe Austria
Great Britain Hungary Germany Belgium
Italy Singapore Malaysia Japan
United States Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2015 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore Japan Russia United States
Mexico Brazil Abu Dhabi

2014 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia Bahrain China
Spain Monaco Canada Austria
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan Russia
United States Brazil Abu Dhabi

2013 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Great Britain
Germany Hungary Belgium Italy
Singapore South Korea Japan India
Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2012 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi United States Brazil

2011 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Turkey
Spain Monaco Canada Europe
Great Britain Germany Hungary Belgium
Italy Singapore Japan South Korea
India Abu Dhabi Brazil

2010 Thoughts
Bahrain Australia Malaysia China
Spain Monaco Turkey Canada
Europe Great Britain Germany Hungary
Belgium Italy Singapore Japan
South Korea Brazil Abu Dhabi

2009 Thoughts
Australia Malaysia China Bahrain
Spain Monaco Turkey Great Britain
Germany Hungary Europe
Belgium Italy Singapore
Japan Brazil Abu Dhabi


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