Rate the race: 2013 Australian Grand Prix

2013 Australian Grand Prix

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What did you think of today’s race? Share your verdict on the Australian Grand Prix.

F1 Fanatic holds polls after each Grand Prix to find out which fans thought of every race during the season.

Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.

Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2013 Australian Grand Prix out of ten

  • 10 (5%)
  • 9 (19%)
  • 8 (39%)
  • 7 (25%)
  • 6 (9%)
  • 5 (2%)
  • 4 (1%)
  • 3 (1%)
  • 2 (0%)
  • 1 (1%)

Total Voters: 995

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1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’

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See the results for past seasons here:

2013 Australian Grand Prix

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    Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei

    Author information

    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    273 comments on “Rate the race: 2013 Australian Grand Prix”

    1. 7/10 – really enjoyable.

      1. Good result but only an ok race in terms of action and intensity. Quite a bit of it was a bit dull and there were only a few good moves.

        1. Mostly a “tyres & DRS” race but no doubt a lot of people rated it highly just because Lotus and Ferrari had the better of Red Bull, and Mercedes and FI were in the mix.

      2. 1) lotus = excellent…Kimi is #1 and I think the car is good enough to win the championship!!!!!
        2) ferrari = very good… good teamwork….good threat to Kimi
        3) red bull = honorable mention otherwise asleep at the switch….too slow…what happened….time to wake up…. especially Weber???
        4) mercedes = lewis hung on and got beat up through the whole race…. Nico goes boom….otherwise need a good car and some pace.
        5) force india = very good Sutil…got beat up through the whole race….the best B team by far !!!! Welcome to the big leagues.
        6) mclaren = pure junk….disaster…Button and Perez have to wake up….this was an A team???? Is Perez an A driver????
        7) sauber = disaster…. did they actually race in the Oz GP??? I don’t remember seeing either car in the broadcast….2 top tens in Oz 2012…..garbage in 2013. Next time pay for Kobayashi and get some air time for your sponsors! This team is heading from the best B team in 2012 to best C or D team in 2013
        8) williams = what happened to this team???? disaster….Maldonado better scrape up more $$$$
        9) the rest of the teams….sorry but you all got minimum air time….too few battles back in the field???

    2. I’ve gone for a 6: a lot of jumbling of positions and variety of strategy, but it just seemed to lack that something.

      1. Lack what? Red Bull domination? Thankfully! :p

        1. +1, hahahaha!

        2. It lacked the jaw-to-the-floor magic moments of a Brazil 2008, or a 2011 Canada. It also lacked a battle for the lead, as the winner was pretty much decided 5 or 6 laps before the end.

          1. @driftin at least the winner was decided in the later parts of the race than at the beginning like take pole win race

          2. That makes just about every other race in history a 6 or worse if those are the ingredients a race needs.

        3. Feels like the usual plan from Red Bull, being very fast in qualifying in order to have the advantage in the race; however, other cars were up to speed during the race.

          1. @hzh00 – I think the problem here was more to do with the fact the Red Bull just wasn’t very kind to it’s tyres: Vettel had to pit earlier than the chasing pack and although he had good consistent pace it just wasn’t good enough. They do look to have qualifying nailed though.

            1. @vettel1 – that is my point in the first place. I mean that the focus on qualifying was given the priority among the Red Bulls, and their lack of similar superiority in the race is due to several thing, including tire management. An example is the set of tires that Vettel has started the race with, as he has shown very fast sector times during the pole lap and the lap he did after it (which he has aborted), at the cost of consuming that set as compared to his rivals.

        4. @kingshark – Red Bull domination wouldn’t have improved the race! The lack of a proper battle at the top though kind of did put a damper on the latter part of the race for me though. :/

      2. I agree – only 2 guys were able to race today. Kimi and Fernando the rest had to manage tires.

        1. If there was someone who was managing his tires it was Kimi: if it wasn’t for that, Raikkonen wouldn’t have won this race by country miles!

          1. but he was able to get way more energy out of the tires. Just like Fernando he had way better average lap times than the rest of the field.

            1. Notice how he always kept space to a car in front and how he did not push right after the pit stop where you destroy your tyres the most (aka Hamilton). Sector times by Kimi were just amazing.

          2. firstLapNutcaseGrosjean (@)
            17th March 2013, 16:55

            @andae
            When you are managing your tyres you are slower. If Raikkonen would have done 3 pit’s, then he would have been more faster. That’s logic. We don’t know how fast is Lotus when the drivers don’t mange their tyres.

        2. They were all racing. tyre management is part of racing too, and the best drivers know how to do it best. it has been like this in every catagory of motorsport since the beginning of time. if your favourite driver does not win, it is such a simple pathetic excuse to say they were not able to “race” because of the tyres, everyone is in the same boat – the top drivers still come to the fore, as do the best cars.

          1. Unfortunately tyre management is BORING.

            1. @hohum – when it gets to this level then yes, I agree :/

          2. Raikkonen is one of my favorites, and this “race” sucked, there where NO overtakes, only drive bys. We did not see a race today, rather a sunday cruise, there we no pushing at any time, sans a bit in the opening lap.

            1. Well said,in fact the ‘race’ is so lacklustre i’m posting this while watching it for 1st time on BBC Red Button,this is tyre strategy etc gone mad,beam me back to the 70s for some proper RACING !! Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

        3. @tmf42 – it did appear that way: most of the guys just weren’t able to push at all. I think that accounted for the strewn-out field towards the end. The situation will hopefully improve in Malaysia though as it is a more permanent circuit so should rubber in better hopefully!

      3. It was a great spectacle whether you like it or not. It was a great race, the qually pace had nothing to do with the race pace and that’s why we love series like GP2 and apparently F1, some teams this year seem to not only be able to extract the better from the tyres but set up the car to protect the tyres as well.
        10/10

        1. It certainly wasn’t a 10/10 race…

          1. It’s a matter of perspective. It takes all sorts to make an F1 forum after all. :)

      4. @vettel1

        The Red Bull legend is over now…
        Red time are coming now

        1. David not Coulthard (@)
          17th March 2013, 8:08

          When a Toleman won the 1st race?

        2. Vettel finishes third and therefore, by the transitive property, “The Red Bull legend is over now”…

          1. The Next Pope
            17th March 2013, 10:48

            It’s too early for this!
            I want to be happy that teams are bringing the fight to the bulls but I’m just satisfied for the race today. No expectations at all.

      5. Haha, classic @vettel1 . Obviously it was missing your favorite driver’s win.

      6. I’ve gone for 9, just because another driver except Vettel won the race

        1. Confirms my thoughts as to why the ratings are so high for a race that was all tyres and DRS.

          1. David not Coulthard (@)
            18th March 2013, 10:53

            @hohum Except that the Vettel fan whose comment is the one you’re reading also gave the race a 9? :-)

        2. @tifoso1989 – that shouldn’t matter. If we renamed Alonso driver x and Vettel driver y I bet your rating would change…

      7. I do agree, it lacked something. I gave it a 7/10, if only for the unpredictability and finishing line-up (especially the 9th, 10th and 11th places).

      8. I gave it a 7. Exciting start and middle, but it lacked overtaking at the front and was a straightforward finish for Kimi.

        Webber really needs to sort his starts out, it’s getting a bit embarrassing .

        1. you can say that again, and again, and again……

          1. Not Mark’s fault this time, though my initial reaction was *** again.

            http://en.espnf1.com/australia/motorsport/story/103324.html

            “Red Bull team principal Christian Horner revealed that the McLaren-supplied ECU had stopped telemetry getting back to the race engineers and as a result Webber wasn’t given an ideal clutch bite point and then suffered a KERS failure.

            “Mark’s problems were hugely frustrating because it was an ECU issue and that is supplied by a third party,” Horner said. “We lost all telemetry on the formation lap and then you can’t do the preparation you need to at the start. That meant he was blind for the start and that ECU issue shut the KERS down as well. By the time we reset the whole system he’d lost the ground at the start. It’s something that they need to get on top of because there has been a lot of issues during testing.” “

            1. Thanks, as a Webber supporter I find the starting problems he has suffered more than frustrating.

      9. I vote 8 due to have seen Adrian Sutil leading. Great race from Kimi and Alonso. Wish McLaren come back to the game soon. As we seen in previous years Sepang will be very different.

        1. The ‘Sutil train’ was quite entertaining.

      10. Probably a 6 was harsh, a 7 would be more appropriate. The ending was quite dull I found though with the field strewn out and there was very little in the way of gritty passes (Mark Webber’s was pretty good but other than that it was just a DRS procession).

        To clarity also, I don’t rate a race by who won it – it specifically states at the bottom of the article not to do that and I adhere to it. Few could argue it was an enthralling race though!

        1. Right on, I gave it 5 for average as it really was all tyres and DRS, the best part was the mixed up field at the front but that is a high for the season but doesn’t mean the racing was good.

      11. I feel exactly the same. 6 for me. I think that had something to do with the broadcasting though, I mean, what happened to Nico Hulkenberg in that race for example?… didn’t see the car once.

        1. @john-h – he didn’t start the race due to a fuel system problem, but they could’ve made it more obvious from the broadcasts! I did notice that some of the few good overtakes were missed though by the TV cameras.

          1. @vettel1 Ha!! That makes my comment a little embarrassing! Still, I guess my point stands that we didn’t see enough of the midfield/minnow action.

            1. @john-h I think it was a result of qualifying being too late to finish the repair! Agreed though, they seemed to follow the front runners rather a lot towards the end despite the fact they were incredibly spaced-out.

            2. Well thats points for the USA broadcast on NBC S they made 2 or 3 mentions of Hulks problem at the start and after.

            3. @hohum – it was also mentioned on Sky but perhaps it could have been made clearer, as obviously some people missed it!

        2. (@vettel1)
          Red Bull domination wouldn’t have improved the race!

          How, exactly?

          Just watched the BBC highlights;
          Top 3 best bits-
          1. Kimi’s victory, thoroughly well deserved, though it’s a shame Hamilton couldn’t have completed the podium.
          2. Sutil’s excellent drive, especially after a year out – was brilliant to see a FI leading.
          3. The great moment between Alonso and Hamilton, where Alonso almost seemed to know Hamilton would defend to senna-esque to the last, and compensated accordingly.

          Criticisms –
          1. I thought people were over-reacting about the tyre degredation, but it really was utterly ludicrous on the options. When option degredation so bad it’s effectively nullifying quali results, you know there’s something not quite right.
          2. McLaren’s dire showing, would’ve liked to have seen more from Perez on his debut.
          3. Webber’s poor start – I’m a big Webber fan but he just can’t seem to get off the line properly.

          1. *meant Massa complete the podium.

          2. @sgt-pepper – I don’t quite get you: I’m saying a Red Bull light-to-flag victory would be rather dull if we are to take a neutral perspective, which I’m sure you agree with. It’s never fun to see a driver dominate unless it is so comprehensive it is admirable, such as Senna in the wet at Estoril in ’86.

      12. Couldnt agree with you more. It definitely lacked something; can’t put my finger on it.

        1. Damnit, I just got it! It had no build up, no tension!

          1. I think the early Sunday Qualy – take a break come back and race, dunno it seem to me that it was possibly too much for the drivers, fans , viewers. Tension and energy were just not there, plus tons and tons of pit stops made the field shuffle way too much, even with live time and scoring was a big mess, too many thinks going on at once. lets give this race : 8.

    3. 7/10 – much more enjoyable and much less predictable than a lot of people thought it would be. Not many incidents or anything like that, but just good honest wheel-to-wheel racing and a lot of strategy.

    4. 8/10 Excellent win for Kimi, and Vettel not winning as expected is great stuff :)

      1. @zippyone i can only agree with you there! :)

    5. 9/10

      Multiple race leaders, different strategies, overtaking galore, non-stop action. An incredible enthralling and entertaining race. Only thing that could’ve made it better was a true battle for the win at the finish.

      1. +1. And DRS sort of worked.

        1. +1 DRS did work well today

      2. You are going for 11 @magnificent-geoffrey agreed, and it was all dry Q3 as well, don’t remember a dry weekend as good as this.

        1. Dry and dynamic, that was what I wanted to say.

      3. A good season opener it was a 9. No incidents, no SC, 7 different leaders. Its nice to see a hand of teams in the mix. It seems to me that at the moment the fastest are: 1. Ferrari, 2. RBR, 3. Lotus, 4. Mercedes, 5. FI, and every team has a different attribute.
        -1 for the backmakers (is it just me or did Alonso lose +/- 8,0sec laping them in the final stages?)
        So 8 overal. But somehow I miss the “all or nothing races” that we had up until 2009…

        1. @arrrang

          It seems to me that at the moment the fastest are: 1. Ferrari, 2. RBR, 3. Lotus

          I saw it as Red Bull hold a clear advantage in qualifying, but in the races the Lotus comes into it’s own and is quicker than both the Red Bull and the Ferrari. The Ferrari does hold an edge over the Red Bull though on race pace and is slightly better in qualifying, so it’s pretty much even I think. Malaysia will probably give us a better picture as to where everyone is though!

          1. Red Bull for 1 lap
            Ferrari for race pace
            Lotus for tyre management.

            1. @hohum – I second that. Although I’d say precisely because of the tyre conservation of the Lotus, at this stage it had the edge on overall consistent race pace. That may very well change as the season progresses though and pure pace will be more of a factor (to the benefit of the racing, Red Bull and Ferrari I imagine).

            2. That’s exactly what I was thinking.
              I think that RBR may be faster in race pace than it looks like. Seb did an amazing quali but as a result his Pirellis died, they didn’t have life left for two full laps of the race. Mark also found the proper pace in the finishing laps.
              And how much better tyre management does that Lotus have compared to Ferrari will be seen soon in Malaysia. If im not wrong it’s not as big as some think after today.
              Oh and one more thing: these super softs are ridiculous!

      4. You into pro-whrestling much?

        I mean if you thought that was overtaking you must either be very new to F1 (overtaking is supposed to be hard) or just think that the show of seeing cars drive by each other is good enough.

        1. @tvm To be honest, I find your suggestion rather insulting. I’ve watched Formula 1 my whole life and find it amazing that some people just can’t appreciate the challenging nature of modern Formula 1. Too many fans look at F1 through rose-tinted nostalgia glasses, in my view. Give me more races like today over the predictable, unremarkable processions of old, thank you very much.

          1. @magnificent-geoffery, “unremarkable processions of old”, how old? I hope you are not referring to the Schumacher years as the “old days”.
            Its true that a driver/car combination in the 50’s,60′ and 70s often was superior to the rest of the field but barely did they dominate at all tracks or for several years and immediately behind them the action was usually intense with cars swapping positions all round the track.

          2. Yeah well, here is an exercise for you, hit the “back” button in your browser to get to F1 Fanatic overview, then browse the articles and count the number of mentioning on tires and strategy, vs. the mentioning of great overtakes or moments of the race.

            All the talk about tires from all the teams and everyone involved in in F1 is smoke from a fire, but you don’t see the issue with f1 racers nursing around for 58 laps, or pitting bloody 4 laps into the race?, or are you just trying to the oh-so pragmatic smart guy?

            Sorry but calling those drive by’s overtaking is insulting to racing.

    6. Good for Kimi! I thought Mercedes were up to something, but their car surely is :( – Bummer Rosberg. Looks like Ferrari and Lotus are strong this year, this is great!

    7. Gaston (@golarrazabal)
      17th March 2013, 7:39

      Good race, but I cannot shake the feeling that the tyre management thing has gotten a bit excessive.

      1. Absolutely, the tires are horrible in my opinion. The medium seems alright, but the super softs were super bad. They hardly last 10 laps for crying out loud. We don’t need tires that last all race, but we don’t need this either.

      2. @golarrazabal – I second that: it seemed only Alonso and Räikkönen were really able to conserve them yet still maintain good pace. Hopefully the issue resolves itself though in time – a whole season of that will be dire!

        1. Even a half season of that will render the ‘racing’ a joke,the cameras spend more time in the pitlane than ever,,no thanks,lets get back ontrack,just when you think F1 is regaining some of the thrill factor it takes a step backwards.If some of you guys think that was a good race you’re easily pleased.

      3. I applaud Pirelli for acknowledging that the tyres are important in producing exciting races and their campaign to produce tyres that challenge the drivers to balance the way they push their cars around the track, but after seeing Sutil’s SS immediately melt under him and ruin what was a great performance I hope we don’t see the SS compound too much over the course of the season.

        There’s so much negative comments about the tires but atleast they’re the same for every single driver. Each driver can control the way they drive, and thus degrade their tyres, and push/conserve where needed. I really hoped for a weekend where they would have DRS completely disabled just to see one weekend where drivers did not have the option of waiting for the DRS zone to make their “pass”.

        DRS often forces drivers to maintain the gap until the checkpoint so they do not get re-passed on the DRS zone, to think of how many potential exciting moves the drivers have decided not to make because of this unfortunate fact.

        Pirelli tires, love them or hate them, are still much better for “the show” than DRS will ever be.

      4. Agreed, I’m surprised everyone isn’t hearing alarm bells ringing when drivers are having to change tyres after FIVE laps

      5. I think it’s ok now. What I think will be a problem is teams looking at Sutil’s progress from 12th and attempting to qualify 11th or 12th instead of 8th or 9th. That’s just not right.

        Either the top ten rule has to (finally) change, or the gap between the tyres needs to decrease – those super-softs were a bit ridiculous.

    8. Sankalp Sharma
      17th March 2013, 7:39

      Brilliant race! – 9 it is.

      Well done Kimi, Alonso, Massa. And the Legend: Adrian Sutil!!

      1. yes many here own Sutil (and force india’s choice of) and apology.

        He started 2013 as he ended 2011 so its no real surprise well shouldnt be. Great drive.

        1. And Force India started the year as it finished the previous one: leading a race. Hopefully we’ll see a victory from them along the season. Great choice for Force India to bring back Sutil. On the opposite we’ll have another doomed year for Catheram.

    9. I gave it a 7 or 8 great win for Kimi great job for sutil for the race

    10. 6/10 – it was a good race but after last years US grand prix, I think that races could be better if tires would allow racing.

    11. A solid race & great strategy for Kimi & Lotus. Ferrari looking strong but Redbull won’t be happy with their race pace. Mercedes clearly improved on last season but still some way to go and as for McLaren . . . . unless their gamble starts to pay off by the time we get to the Euro races then they will be a midfield team this year. However it’s early days & I have faith but it will surely put a smile on Hamilton’s face.

      Shame for Sutil but I am very pleased to see teams going on different strategies. Di Resta has he work cutout this season if he wants to get the upper hand.

      Finally well done Bianci. Marussia with the slight upperhand over Caterham

      1. I voted 7/10

    12. 7/10. Not the greatest race, but very enjoyable. The variety of strategies was excellent, and I can say it’s a start for a very promising season. Red Bull is nowhere near to the uncatchable status I thought it wouldhave been and Lotus, Ferrari and Mercedes have promising future.

    13. I went for an 8/10. Could have been better had both Mercedes and FI been better at strategy calls. And off course Ferrari cutting back Massa was not all that great a move, he might have even gotten closer to Kimi than Alonso did. But what we did see was a worthy start to the year. We saw RBR are vulnerable on race pace, Massa is better than his team allows, Mercedes promising, Lotus good, and clever, and Sutil in the FI very good, but have to learn a bit of strategy. Lovely race

      1. @bascb

        You clearly dont understand how decisions are made regarding strategy. Each side of the garage makes their own decisions and when one wants to pit, they ask if the other side is expecting to pit on the same lap. If they both want to pit on the same lap, then the lead car gets priority.

        As you would have seen, Alonoso’s side of the garage was risky in how they came in extra early, catching both Vettel and Massa off guard.

        If Massa’s side of the garage had been more on it, they could have done what Alonso had done, leaving Alonso out a lap longer. But they never.

        1. I was really tempted to write something about the reeeally bad strategy they took for Massa, just to see if you copy/paste your reply more than once! ;)

        2. So according to your explanation of how thing are at Ferrari, it was Massa’s team the one asking him to let Alonso past him, because that is in Massa’a interest.

      2. Sorry to contradict you, but I don’t see how Ferrari cut back Massa. What I saw, was that Alonso was all the way behind Massa, and he made the move for the undercut on the second pitstop, which was very early in that second stint. After that, neither Massa nor Vettel were capable of catching him. I don’t see your logic here that Massa would have been closer to Kimi, if he was going to get closer he should have done it. Massa couldn’t even overtake Sutil, despite having a better car. This thing about Ferrari favoring Alonso over Massa is getting sooo old.

        1. Fully agree. Were Massa faster Alonso shouldn’t have been able to catch him, but he did. Besides, this is always said to be a “team sport” Is it or isn’t?

          1. so are you saying its a team sport, and therefore its good that Ferrari give Alonso the better pit calls, or are you saying Massa would have been slower even if he had been given the advantage some teams give to the guy in front?

            Because both together just don’t make sense @madp

        2. Both were stuck behind Vettel @caci99, that was the reason Alons could catch up, and it was why it was a very good call to have him stop and get the undercut.

          But Ferrari could safely have called Massa in the same lap Vettel pitted and have given him less of a disadvantage (as being on the slower tyres had him drop back further behind Vettel and got him behind Sutil who he had to pass before being able to go forward again).

          1. This exactly. Massa was faster in the first stint at least. Staying out for too long ruined his race. When Smedley told him to stay out and see what he can do without traffic, after literally everyone had seen how much slower you are on old tyres, it was same procedure as always with Ferrari.

    14. A very solid 8. A genuine battle for the lead until near the end, some fantastic overtakes, and genuinely exciting racing. It wasn’t a classic, but it was never dull. A very good start to the season.

      1. Bob (@bobthevulcan)
        17th March 2013, 8:03

        I completely agree. Not to mention Sutil’s remarkable performance – it really has changed my opinion of him as a driver.

        1. I think this may have been blown a bit out of proportion. He did a great job, but was only up there to begin with because he didn’t quite make the cut for Q3, and the supersoft tyres were a nightmare today, causing a huge disadvantage for the top 10 runners at the beginning of the race.

          1. Agree, Sutil’s early performance was largely illusory, as he hadn’t yet used the difficult super-soft tyres. Once he put them on, he struggled, just like everyone else.

          2. I think his performance was quite remarkable, he proved he has lost nothing of his race craft by being quite a challenge to pass, and had his car been a little easier on the medium compound he would have faired better still. For a driver who has the most to lose in the court of public opinion, it was a perfect day for him

          3. The supersofts as they are certainly made their impression on the race, although even with these almost qualifying tyres to handicap them, there still were big differences in how far the SS took people (contrast Button, Webber vs. Raikkonen and the Mercedes cars).
            I would say that the cooler temperature at the end made Sutils troubles on them then far worse than FI expected, maybe they should have kept him out for another couple of laps on the mediums before changing over. On the other hand, its likely Sutil also could have given them a more carefull heatup to help his plight. But that is all in hindsight.

        2. To me, the Sutil factor in this race, more killed it than added to it. I mean, Sutil was there in the lead pack since the first stops, mixing the leaders. It really looked like he could have been there until the end. But his last change to SuperSoft, was so terrible. The only good thing his strategy produced, was impending the leaders for way too long, and then fall back behind at once.
          Nothing against his driving though, of course he was doing his own race, so congratulations to him. But for the leading pack it wasn’t that great, we could have seen a different story, with more close battles for the win, imho.

          1. Not sure how you can say his strategy “impending” the leaders. (?) The leaders were able to pass other vehicles and in the end, Sutil pulled away. Even after pitstop Sutil stayed right with everyone else without falling back. It wasn’t until changing to the SS that Sutil hit tire issues.

        3. Look up his results prior to F1 on wiki, he is actually one of those drivers Martin Brundle refers to as “Champions” – same cannot be said about some recent rookies.

      2. I agree 100%. This was a race where you genuinely couldn’t tell who would win until the final stages. Very interesting. Can’t wait for Malaysia. 8/10

    15. 6/10 Too clean of a race for an Australian GP.

    16. 8/10 – Very decent race, plenty of battles, and nice to see Sutil with the frontrunners, though he faded terribly.

      Kimi Raikkonen just sneaked up on everyone and took it by surprise, with a solid drive.

    17. 9/10
      Great race, not much overtaking, but a lot of good strategies.
      Lotus is the best handling the tyres.
      About pace, i think Lotus, Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes (if they decided 3 stops since the start, i think Hamilton could have a chance to finish on the podium) are close.

    18. I don’t Know why but I get the feeling that the dull weather had an affect on the Ratings possibly. Although I gave it an 8/10 I wonder whether this may be a factor.

    19. 7/10. A bit less predictable than expected.

      Tyres acting a bit artificial again and more or less the usual suspects in the top 10 brought it down a bit for me, but nevertheless, a very solid start of the season.

    20. 8/10 Alot of action, alot of surprise. Good Race :)

    21. Pablo Martinez (@)
      17th March 2013, 7:49

      8/10; good overtakes, and nice racing between Hamilton and Alonso at the middle of the race

    22. Remember guys:
      1-2 – Nothing happened or Bahrain
      3-7 – Bad
      8 – Good
      9 – Pretty good
      10 – Really good race

      1. I’m guessing you’re being tongue in cheek, but 9 is worse than 8?

        1. Yep, got them mixed up somehow.

      2. I disagree 5 equals mid place or average, more than 5 is good less is bad.

        1. @hohum

          You’re right. In my comment, I was mocking the widely popular internet misconception about 0-10 scale, where if, say, 7/10 is given, some people think “Meh, that’s NOT the best score” or with 4/10 they don’t think “That’s almost average”, but rather “That’s terrible”.

          I think this is why thumbs up/thumbs down voting system was implemented all around the internet. Before, people voted either 1 star or 5 stars, 1-2 or 8-10 and so on. People seem to completely miss the “middle ground” when it comes to voting.

          1. @xivizmath, sorry I missed the humour, I do it myself sometimes but as you say what you wrote seemed representative of most of the voters, why I took it seriously.

    23. 5/10.
      Far too much of the easier DRS/Tyre related passing for my liking.

      Watching Perez get mugged & be totally defenseless to stop it because of the effect of the DRS & tyres was just stupid to watch & was the same later on watching Sutil 5 seconds a lap slower with cars just cruising easily by him.

      This current style F1 is seriously starting to kill my interest in F1, I just don’t appreciate watching passing become so easy that its boring to watch & watching drivers been completely defenseless against it.

      1. Perez was defenseless because his car is bad, it’s not tyres’ fault.

        All in all, I don’t get the complaints about the tyres, it’s still the the fastest driver-car-combination who wins the race. Only different parts of performance are more important than others.

        Nothing has really changed in that sense.

        1. it’s not tyres’ fault.

          Not for Perez, but look at how the super-softs performed for god’s sake both in the first part of the race and on Sutil’s car at the end! Perez and Button simply didn’t feel the effects of the tyres acting up because McLaren just got the car fundamentally wrong but that doesn’t mean the Pirellis are spot-on.

          it’s still the the fastest driver-car-combination who wins the race

          Not the case here. The fastest car winning would have meant Ferrari or Red Bull or maybe Merc and the fastest driver Massa, Vettel or Hamilton. Today was about the most equillibrated drive and the car that was easiest on its tyres. Simple as that.

          1. I dunno, I’m pretty sure the fastest car was Raikkonen’s Lotus today, seeing as it crossed the finish line first

            1. If you think the fastest car and the fastest driver are variables determined by whoever crosses the finish line first, you got the whole motor racing concept wrong, I’m afraid. Let’s just agree to disagree here.

            2. I’ll disagree then. The figures will show in no uncertain terms that Kimi in his Lotus had the highest average speed over the full race distance.
              Therefore the fastest car/driver combination won the race.

              Cook up however many “what if’s” you like, this will not alter the fact that the winning driver was faster than everyone else.

              I think this is a common factor in winning a race.

            3. One less pit stop saved 20 seconds, how far ahead did he finish?

            4. @HoHum

              And made him do stints longer by 5 and 6 laps than his rivals. 11 more laps on badly worn tyres, when his rivals had new ones for that period. And how far ahead did he finish?

              Your stat is not the only one to consider.

          2. The tyres, as Hamilton pointed out earlier in the week, are the same for everybody. Teams have built their cars with these challenges in mind.

            You can’t just exclude one variable and say “Red Bull were fastest if you discount the effect of the tyres.” It’d be the same as arguing who would be the fastest if the cars didn’t have engines, or wheels. It’s not relevant, because they’re part of the overall package.

            1. The tyres, as Hamilton pointed out earlier in the week, are the same for everybody. Teams have built their cars with these challenges in mind.

              The tyres are the same for everybody but they do not behave the same for everybody. Teams to build their cars with these challenges in mind but (unlike the engines and other components your refer to) not everything about the Pirellis is a known-factor, that’s the difference. Plus, if you take the top teams into account, they either build their own engines or get them supplied along with the support, the data, everything. Tyres are just consumable goods supplied by a third party, so there’s a different level of comparison there.

              And yes, I can say one team could be the fastest, excluding the effects on the tyres (the negative effects, out of the usual performance window that applies to everybody). It’s just like saying Red Bull and Vettel were fastest in Valencia last year until the alternator gave in. Which is perfectly true.

              Either way, it’s the start of 2012 with bipolar rubber once again. Pirelli have learned NOTHING.

            2. Either way, it’s the start of 2012 with bipolar rubber once again. Pirelli have learned NOTHING.

              Actually this is exactly what they intended and it served up some unpredictable action and indeed results.
              It may not be the purists way to race F1 but it’s the way that is maintaining a significant level of interest for a sport that needs as much interest as it can maintain for lots of $$$$$’s.

            3. @red-andy, they could decide the winner by making the team managers play darts and it would be “the same for everybody” but it would be lousy racing.

          3. What makes you say that the fastest car-driver did not win? Kimi set the fastest lap on lap 57(i think) with tyres which were 4-5 laps older.I’d say that was pretty fast.
            As for tyres, i remember in older “classic F1” times they used to have the special qualifying only tyres and engines which wouldnt last more than 5-6 laps
            Dont see much difference.

          4. I think that the fastest car was Lotus, because Kimi set the fastest lap on lap 57 when his tyres were 5 laps older than Alonso and he was very consistent.

        2. Perez was defenseless because his car is bad, it’s not tyres’ fault.

          The car was not good, However him getting passed as easily as he was earlier in the race was purely down to the tyres. If you looked at the timing screen at that time he was 6 seconds slower than he had been a few laps earlier & than he was after he pitted.

          If the loss of performance in these unfit for purpose tyres was not so stupidly high then he’d have been able to put up a decent defense.

          I’ve said this before but everyone goes on about Montreal 2010 been what Pirelli is doing, But they have totally failed at it!
          In Montreal in 2010 the Bridgestone’s were suffering higher than normal wear, However the drop-off was not so high & the performance difference between worn/fresh was not so high that racing between 2 cars on tyres at different stages of wear was impossible & that meant cars on worn tyres could still defend.

          On the Pirelli’s if your on worn tyres & someone’s coming at you 3-5 seconds a lap faster then your completely defenceless & to me that is not racing & certainly the ‘passing’ it produces ain’t exciting to watch as a fan!

    24. At last .. it took a Force India of Adrian Sutil to stop the flying bulls !

    25. 5/10

      Quite boring race, not much action at all even at start.

    26. 5/10 F1 becoming more boring. It is not racing just nursing the tyres, who does best is the winner. No more racing skills required.

      1. I wouldn’t say that no racing skills are required but you’re right.

    27. We are back…come on ferrari time to dominate….let’s go

    28. Good race. 7/10

    29. 9/10
      The race was a lot better than I expected after the qualifying result. Though it was pretty clear by halfway how the various strategies were going to play out, it was still entertaining waiting for them to work out. I think the relative lack of overtaking was compensated for by the uncertainty of the tyres and it being the first race of the season.

    30. A solid race, juggling for position for most of the race, sutil providing a teaser. Apart from Mclaren, maybe Merc., the pace is indeed a bit as if development continues from Brazil, but we only know that now it is over. Enjoyed it a lot 8/10.

    31. 6 / 10 good race but nothing special,nice to see that bulls are not that mighty in the race pace and we would have thought,but looks like williams and mclaren have really gone backward btw great drive from sutil after a year off sadly get undone by poor tyre strategy from FI

    32. 7/10 Exciting opening few laps, slight lull in the middle. 2nd half was very entertaining with Alonso, Vettel and Kimi duelling and trying to make their strategies work though. Great to see several cars having chances to win/get on the podium throughout the race, looks like we’re definitely in for another great season!

    33. Hate these tyres! They can help a race, but they can destroy it, too! Even SS should last at least 15 laps, come on Pirelli! Ridiculous how Sutil suffered just because he had new tyres on.

      1. Ridiculous how Sutil suffered just because he had new tyres on.

        Usually being on new tyres benefits that driver.

        1. Ridiculous how Sutil suffered just because he had new tyres on.

          That’s exactly my thoughts as well. He’s one of the guys that simply had the performance come to them backwards from the tyres. He was lapping faster than Alonso, Massa and Vettel with mediums 10+ laps older than what they had fitted and then he gets a train of super-softs on in order for them to last one lap and be 2-3 sec. off the mediums’ pace. Ridiculous.

          Third stint, Ferrari and Red Bull made the mediums work for 13-15 laps, Lotus for 20-some-30 and still, Raikkonen managed to put in faster laps than both Alonso and Vettel.

          It’s true the conditions didn’t help either and that Pirelli made the wrong choice bringing the super-softs here, instead of softs…but this extremely wide performance range made available for different teams shouldn’t happen, really.

      2. @magon4

        Ridiculous how Sutil suffered just because he had new tyres on.

        The reason Sutil lead twice during this race was because the cars in front of him had already done a supersoft stint. He was very aware that he would have to drive on the supersofts too, so taking that into cosideration, he couldn’t have ended higher than 5th anyway.

          1. @andae23 I still don’t agree with the impact these tyres have. The window is too small. At the beginning, track temp was around 24 degrees and the SSs worked better than at the end, when the track was quite a few degrees less. What I’m saying is that a few degrees shouldn’t make that kind of difference, the window is much too small! And new tyres should always start out being faster, not slower!

            1. @magon I agree with that.

          2. Right the first time.

    34. Chris (@tophercheese21)
      17th March 2013, 8:02

      7.

      Quite enjoyed that. Really happy to see Kimi win, and Fernando beat Vettel.

      Pro’s:
      – Kimi winning

      – Close racing all up and down the field

      – Massa returning to form

      – Only seeing Vettel’s finger once a weekend is better than twice. Especially if it’s on a saturday. (Sunday morning)

      Cons:
      – TOO MANY PITSTOPS – Pirelli brought the wrong tyres. Should have brought the soft. Not the super softs.

      – Lewis’s lack of race pace

      1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
        17th March 2013, 8:02

        Con:

        Sutil deserved to finish 5th or 6th.

        1. +1, never imagined fresh tires would ruin someones race.

          1. @illusive …..hahhahaha so true

      2. You hit the nail right on the head. Bringing the super-softs made no sense on this track. Drivers had everything to lose and nothing to gain by using them.

        How on earth are races like Monaco and Canada going to work this year with the super-softs behaving as they do?

        1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
          17th March 2013, 10:29

          @pandaslap
          Agreed. They made entirely the wrong choice. I can see why they made the choice, because the majority of corners are slow/medium speed corners.

          But it was just 1 step too soft. It could have been a 9 or 10 had they brought a combo of soft/mediums or soft/hards.

      3. @tophercheese21 You are right about the tyre assesment. Pirelli was aware of the situation from the beginning, they wanted it that way (as Brundle analysed). Pirelli did not want this to turn to a 1 stopper or a 2 stopper, hence they did not want to bring the Soft. If they did, how many of us would be talking about tyres today…
        Having said that, Pirelli would only continue this mayhem for the first 5-6 races, at the later part of the season, it would revert to conservative tyres, like it did last year…

    35. A strong 8.

      If this race would’ve happened in like 10 years ago, it would be rated as a classic among the like of Suzuka ’05 and others. Now, it being only an 8 tells you a lot about how great era this is in the history of F1, despite of the all Pirelli-DRS-whining really.

      It’s kind of amazing how people don’t see this.

      1. David not Coulthard (@)
        17th March 2013, 8:38

        I’d like the DRS to be used whether or not any car is in front of you. You’re right about the tyres, though (Though I can’t disagree this, though. If only teams aren’t allowed to solve it as the season goes.

        1. David not Coulthard (@)
          17th March 2013, 8:42

          Siorry, the link was supposed to be this

      2. “Now, it being only an 8 tells you a lot about how great era this is in the history of F1”
        I completely agree tmekt

    36. I think it was pretty good, really should have been a safety car Maldondo to tighten things up at the front.

      1. NO,NO,NO,NO!

    37. Boring race to be honest, they were all driving like District Nurses mostly. Whoever’s got Perez’s and Grosjean’s balls please give them back for Malaysia!

      Webber needs replacing, what a bore.

      Massa really surprised me, looks very focused, dodgy pit wall decisions there unfortunately.

      All the rookies behaved themselves and finished, well done to them. Bianchi a cut above the rest IMO.

      Had a £10 bet on Kimi to win at 20/1 though, and £5 on Alonso for Podium so not all bad!

      1. Congrats on the bets.

        I myself had Kimi for the win and both Vettel and Alonso in the top-5 in the prediction championship.

        1. Cheers, forgot to mention that I had the following bets too:

          Rosberg to be 1st retiree – £5
          Rosberg to get fastest lap – £5 (covering myself!)
          2 cars to retire on Lap 1 – £5
          Safety Car to be deployed – £5
          Alonso to be Lap 1 leader – £5

          Still made a nice profit! Can’t believe there was no safety car, almost got it right with Rosberg. He’s got dodgy DNF history in the past few races plus his gearbox went tits up in practice. Was considering Hulkenberg for first retiree, since he’s failed to ever complete 1 lap in Australia but decided against it, Doh!

      2. Whoever’s got Perez’s and Grosjean’s balls please give them back for Malaysia!

        @f1bettingguru That was classic… take a bow

    38. 7 for me – very intriguing in regards to the battle for the win, aided by the flexibility in strategies. Not much on-track/wheel-to-wheel action bar the few overtakes. At least Red Bull didn’t run and hide, so on that aspect I couldn’t ask for anymore in the inaugural race for hopefully a great season.

    39. Thank you, Kimi! But McLaren.. oh

    40. Jared H (@thejaredhuang)
      17th March 2013, 8:09

      Anyone watch it on Sky? Is it me or did Croft and Brundle completely forget that Raikkonen was on a 2 stop when they said Alonso was in position to win? This was before Raikkonen’s 2nd stop when Alonso was pushing. Also Massa should have tried the 2 stop.

      1. Also noted that, yes -was seeing him consistent on timing thinking ‘what am I missing that they see’ @thejaredhuang

    41. 9/10 really strong first race of the season with lots of great strategy and drives.

      My top 3:
      Adrian Sutil
      Jules Bianchi
      Kimi Raikkonen

      ABV – Anyone But Vettel in 2013

      1. ABV and hopefully Alonso :)

        I am rooting for Bianchi too, the only backender who was 1Lap behind the leaders as opposed to 2Laps for the other three guys.

    42. 10/10, kept me entertained the whole way through. I know that the lead was decided quite early but still there were other battles all the way through the field which IS quite enjoyed. Feel sorry for Sutil, the FI seems to have terrible pace and wear on the super softs, and massa although I think he said he wanted to do a 2 stopper, so the team let him try and when they saw his laptime they thought nah and brought him in but by then it was too late. Looking forward to the next race at Sepang :D

    43. 8/10. Very entertaining race, but a closer finish could have made the last 10 laps better. Feels like the teams came prepared but FIA and FOM dropped the ball. FOM with the coverage – very little midfield/backmarker action shown. For example: Vergne was up in 7th at one stage and doing fastest laps and it happened off-screen. FIA for not finding a solution to the telemetry issue and having blue flags shown to random cars.

    44. 7/10

      I think it is clear that bringing the super softs was not the right decision. Anyway, we saw good racing, very few mistakes and there was an interesting battle for P1. The tyres ruined the show a little bit, they were really weak in the first half of the race.

    45. It was a genuine race all the way through up until the last few laps. The racing was clean throughout and there were no strategies ruined by random safety cars. 8/10

    46. David not Coulthard (@)
      17th March 2013, 8:32

      Well, as a Vettel fan I was not ecstatic to see him getting 3rd, and I wasn’t happy to see Massa finishing behind Alonso (people got bored of Vettel winning, somehow, someway I got bored of seeing Alonso ahead of Massa :) ). I’m really happy for Kimi, though.

      IX/X. The Force India in the lead, The way Kimi won (and the fact that pretty much nobody saw it coming), and, as a bonus, how Kimi drank some of the champagne before spraying it (as he’s alwas done), was great.

      Alonso’s undercut was also lovely, but read my first sentence (If only Massa did that).

      1. David not Coulthard (@)
        17th March 2013, 8:45

        always done.

      2. @davidnotcoulthard I was happy that Sly Nando did not win…Anybody but him…

    47. Gave it an 8. Realy enjoyed it and red bull didn’t dominate whoo. Good result for alonso, Hamilton and both marussias so I’m happy:)

    48. 6/10
      I’m very happy with the win, Raikkonen drove his usual calm controlled race & Lotus provided a good car and strategy. There were some good strategic moves and a few decent overtakes but somehow, overall it felt a bit flat.

      Maybe it was the coverage, maybe it was just the early morning (I’m in the UK), but I don’t feel it was as interesting as races such as Valencia, US, Brazil & more from last year.

      1. I felt it was a bit flat too, don’t think the coverage was great, not many shots of the midfield. I was expecting fireworks with 5 rookies but they all behaved themselves!

        Sepang will be better!!

    49. 7 The middle sector was a bit boring it always kept us on the edge of our seat predicting WHAT WILL HAPPEN

    50. 2/10, even worse cruising than last year, all about tire management, no racing.

      1. +1 = 3/10 from me. Very dull race.

    51. Great race 8/10 to me.

      Is it me, or Bianchi is a guy to follow? I would say he has done a great job

      1. Rookie of the race for me

    52. Raikkonen & Alonso were clinical, nice start to the season. Sutil what a comeback, he has always consistently scored for FI, just luck eludes him.

    53. Congrats to Kimi for a great and solid race win!!! Great start for Lewis with Mercedes!!! Great races to come!!!

    54. 9/10-Great race all round!!!

      Had it all: overtaking, differing strategies, slippery surface with threat of rain, and no stupidity even from the rookies apart from the predictable Crashtor Stupidado.

      Great driving performances through the field as well with Kimi obviously the best of all. But honorable mention is Sutil-love how he shut some mouths which deserved to be shut with a bang

      Bad part for me: Webber’s awful start with KERS problems again! Good drive after that to recover most of the points but still lost at least 2 places with that. It just keeps happening to him in Australia. Same as Barrichello in Brazil

      Red Bull should sort out their KERS soon. Vettel’s failed in practice, now MW’s in the race. If the championship is close, they could lose it ’cause of that

      1. Haha, Pastor’s crash is not entirely his fault from what I saw. The car spun coming out of a straight—well before the corner—with little or no input from him whatsoever. That is just a bad, bad car.

        The rest of your comments are spot-on with mine. Webber seemed off his practice/qualifying paces the entire race. Kimi was absolutely surgical. Nothing fancy, just consistency. Sutil though, there’s the story. Especially as he fought to stay on the medium (?) tires as the sky grew darker and his crew kept radioing him to expect rain any second, even though it never came. Also, glad to see he and Hamilton compete. Their opinions of each other may be leagues apart after the trial, but nothing underhanded occurred from where I sat.

        1. Actually it seems like Pastor allowed the left tires to touch too much of the curb under braking and that’s what caused the spin.

    55. Good solid race (8/10). At first it seemed that the DRS effect in the race has decreased since the new rules, but it changed as the race went on. Surprised how spread out the cars were at the end.

      1. Vettel’s use of DRS against Alonso around the mid-40’s/early-50’s was curious. If i’m remembering correctly (3:30AM at the time), it did absolutely nothing. I believe the commentary was to the effect of, “Vettel’s DRS is engaged as he fights for the top-speed necessary to overtake Alonso. But where, exactly, is that top-speed going to be gained?”

    56. 8/10

      What a great opening race this was! There maybe aren’t that many memorable moments like special overtakes, collisions or spins, but the fight for the lead was just incredible. At about 25% distance, I thought this was going to be a battle between Vettel, Massa and Alosno on 3-stop and Hamilton and Rosberg on 2-stop. Unfortunately, Ferrari decided to bring in Massa first (which was unjustified in my opinion, as he pitted after Alonso for his first stop but before him for his second stop), which meant he was no longer in contention – still great to see he is back to his old form.

      At 50% distance, it was becoming a race between Alonso, Vettel, Raikkonen and Hamilton (I never really considered Sutil as he still had the dreaded supersoft stint). It was a great strategic battle, or perhaps a battle of tire saving. Raikkonen did fantastically: Hamilton couldn’t do a 2-stop, but Raikkonen pulled it off. As he said: it was easy, and that’s probably the best way to describe it as he has never actually had to push during that race. The biggest conclusion we can draw from this race is that there are four teams that are well capable of winning the race. This is shaping up to be a fantastic championship!

      One remark on the tires: we have had discussion about the supersoft tire when it was announced and indeed they were utterly useless. This has been an experiment from Pirelli and clearly it didn’t work, so let’s hope we will never see tires last only 3 laps ever again!

      1. I forgot to mention DRS: finally – after two long years, DRS worked the way it is supposed to work! We didn’t see many passes on the pit straight, but the trailing cars were able to close the gap. Then in the shorter DRS zone they were able to just get alongside the leading car and sometimes managed to pass him. I’m still not a fan of DRS, but if it will work the way it worked today for the rest of the season, I hereby promise I will not complain about DRS anymore.

        1. Today DRS worked just like it has on this circuit since 2011, Still too overly effective in some cases but overall not so bad.

          When we get to tracks with longer straghts & zones we’ll be back to the DRS-fest’s. Im dreading places like Sepang, Montreal, Spa & USA with 2 zones.

      2. (which was unjustified in my opinion, as he pitted after Alonso for his first stop but before him for his second stop)

        Whoops, I mean the other way around

    57. Ferrari screwing Massa in benefit of Alonso, and Pirelli making extremely soft tyres and the wrong combination…
      6/10.

      1. Get your facts right, they didn’t screw Massa, Alonso outsmarted Massa. Google it or way till Keith put Massa’s declarations here.

        1. I don’t need to google it. I am smart enuff to understand a race and the “Ferrari’s way” to change positions…
          Alonso went to pit and Massa was said to stay out cause he got no traffic. But his tyres were already gone in terms of pace.

    58. One of the better season opening races. 1 Really surprising winner since DC in 2005. Left plenty of questions about where the cars are going into Malaysia

    59. 7/10 It was a very good race and a good start to the season. Some good battles up and down the field, A surprise leader and intruiging fight at the front. Great start!

    60. The Speedy Spaniard and the Dashing Deutschlander finagled by the Flying Finn.

      I gave it a 6, although i wouldn’t argue with a 7. It was a good, professional race, dominated by strategic calls and conservative driving rather than outright wheel-bashing racing.

      The points positions were sorted five laps from the end. There was no last-moment glory, no storming drive from the back of the grid, no newcomer making a name for himself, no spectacular offs. A few good passing moves and an impressive drive from Sutil were all that lifted it above average.

    61. Amazing not see see any jokers voting a clearly decent race 1 to 4/10.

      1. MB (@muralibhats)
        18th March 2013, 5:45

        Looks like there are a few now!

    62. The more I think about this race the more it annoys me that tires are again the new thing – such races are fun to watch from time to time like it was back then with Montreal but it gets old very fast.
      it seems they try to manufacture 2012 (first half) again – which makes F1 just as much of a sport as wrestling.

    63. I voted a 7, although it should probably be a lot less in reality, barely saw any actual battles for position. Saw a lot of overtaking in the pits, alternative stratagies and flying past on the straights, all of which resulting in barely any actual racing at all. That is what everyone is missing but cant put their finger on, this race lacked RACING. I voted 7 because I’ve been conditioned to think that because the race ended up in an unexpected order that it must be good, but thinking back to it I was bored for a lot of the race, was lost with the stratagies throughout and didn’t see any proper racing because everyone was preserving tyres.

      Is it just me?

      1. No, I gave it 5 for average despite the different leaders.

    64. 7/10. Good overall. Although, like @mike-e put it: “This race lacked RACING.”

      Would have been a lot more fun if it had begun to rain when Sutil was leading the race :)
      Rosbergs DNF was a shame because I’m curious how he and Hamilton compare this season.
      Also sad that Hulkenberg didn’t even start because this season could be the stepstone to something big (Ferrari, Red Bull?) if he deliviers and I really want him to.
      What satisfied me in a sardistic way was that Maldonado got it all wrong again in Q and today. Hope we get rid of him in 2014.
      Supersofts were totally useless.

      Besides from that: Great winner and very nice to see that Ferrari, Mercedes and Lotus were stronger than one could have thought after Q.

      1. I think Bianchi is Massa-replacement, so no Hulk at all.
        Unless Alonso fears him of course in which case will keep Massa the hen till 2016.

    65. 7/10 – A good race, but was lacking wheel to wheel action at the top end of the pack. The tyre strategies definitely spiced this GP up, so a thankyou to Pirelli for getting the choice correct!

    66. It has to be a 10! Kimi destroying the rest! Total control.

      1. I don’t see 10/10 when Vettel destroying the rest.

      2. @derfel17

        “Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.”

        I presume you have rated it a 10 primarily because Kimi won, which rather defeats the purpose of this poll.

        1. For me it was an exiting and good race. You have the right to your opinion.

    67. Jules Bianchi on fire a 1:30 in a Murussia…Max Chilton was two secs off in Quali and two secs off on Race pace= Not good enough, it’s going to be a long season for max.

      1. Binachi is a genuine contender for Massa’s seat if not Alonso’s :)

    68. Although the race had numerous changes in the lead, I just couldn’t enjoy it knowing the leading driver wouldn’t last more than a few laps before pitting, and that the back driver wouldn’t attack knowing that. I thought we had refuelling banned in order to avoid races decided by pit strategies rather than wheel to wheel racing. Having drivers doing 3 or more pitstops in a race that isn’t particularly stressful for the tyres, mm, don’t like it.
      Not to mention DRS, that despite not being as crucial as it was in many races last year, I still find dissapointing the fact that the leading driver can do little to defend his position. I think it reduces the quality of the races just for the sake of overtaking.

    69. I rated the race as an 8. It was very good, there was strategy, overtaking and at least it wasn´t a runaway for SV….
      The only thing that really ticked me off are the backmarkers…. wow, i mean seriously… they blue-flagged them and they still put oposition… Van der Garde destroyed Alonso´s chances to hunt down Kimi… he would have caught him nearing the last laps if it wasn´t for that…
      Other than that…. it had everything, it jst wasn´t a classic…

      1. MB (@muralibhats)
        18th March 2013, 5:47

        Are you sure Alonso could catch kimi if Van der Garde had not come in between? You are overly optimistic!

    70. Listening to the team radio bits on the pits feed all you heard all race was different ways of drivers been told to ‘look after the tyres’.

      Tyres having far, far too big an effect again & everone’s having to once again drive to a delta time to nurse them :(

    71. The best thing about the Race was not too many excessive DRS pass..

      1. (@sonkky) Agree, I think DRS actually works ok (and I’m a loud critic of it), on the narrower, older tracks. It’s the new, already dull tilke-dromes that’re already almost as wide as they are long that it ruins yet further, as the drivers have absolutely no means of defending. Look at Vettel’s climb back up the field (aided by SC of course) in Abu Dhabi. You can basically pass a car a lap without even trying because of the long open straight/DRS combination, and removes all the tension. Tracks like monaco/suzuka/melbourne I think it retains some potential though.

    72. I rated the race a 9. This is because I enjoyed the race from start to finish, with some good overtakes and hairy moments like Hamilton locking up trying to pass the Ferrari, but my enjoyment was only enhanced by the fact there were many intriguing battles in terms of strategy, with the variety being a particular highlight. I can see why people may have seen this race as boring, but I felt that it was perfectly enjoyable, and if every race was like this one, full of surprising strategy calls with some good overtaking and all round racing, then I will be very happy indeed.

    73. It wasn’t the best of races, and not the best Australian GP. There were several nice moves but unfortunately apart from Vettel taking Sutil there were no passes in the lead. I would have preferred to see on-track action rather than only thinking of tyre strategy. Nice to see different teams battling than we were used to, great drives by Kimi and Fer. 7/10

    74. unfortunately this reminded me of a refueling-era race.

      most of the racing & position changes at the front was been done in the pits rather than on the track.

      kimi drove a good race & all but was utterly deflating to see all the passing that determined the win done via kimi jumping everyone in the pits without having to race them closely on track.

    75. I voted an 8 out of 10. Personally, I enjoy keeping track of strategies, tyre management, drivers catching up to each other, while I would not disagree with there not being a lot of actual racing, I don’t think that impacts my view of a race too much.

      I nearly voted a 9 due to the endless amusement provided by the conspiracy thinkers, who (not just on here) are already talking about team orders at Ferrari and Red Bull and how a lot of people are completely ignoring McLaren’s performance, while people were writing off Ferrari at this point last year, but that’d skew the poll with influxes that don’t belong.

      1. @npf1 Is that Schumi on your avatar? very funny

          1. That’s too funny, that’s gotta be pre-F1 ? Don’t recall him having a moustache and dodgy hair while in F1.

    76. 6/10. A little better than average. An absorbing look into tyre management and race strategy, but other than that it was not the masterpiece same are claiming it to be.

      I expected the tyres to cause trouble for the first few races until teams came to grips with them, and we saw plenty of that. I predicted Raikkonen to take the WDC this season but we’ll have to wait another three or four GP’s before we can accurately assess everyones strengths and weaknesses.

    77. i voted 8/10 because its the first race and I have missed F1! I have to say, I am starting to come around to Bianchi, I slated him in another article, but he does seem to be pretty damn quick, and if he continues as he started he could be a star of the future. possibly.

    78. Watching it from the grass banking at turn 2, I enjoyed most of it. It started raining half way through but stopped almost immediately. I thought Alonso was going to cruise to victory until realising Kimi was doing a 2 stopper. That made my day! I started the day wanting Raikkonen or Vettel to win so to have both on the podium was great! (despite the boos for Vettel by the crowd at the podium ceremony)

      1. @serv Hope you had fun! Do you know why the crowd bood at Vettel? Something to do with Webber perhaps?

        1. @andae23 Yep, had fun. More of an intense than an action packed race but great all the same. I think the booing is just the home grand prix thing. Vettel constantly beating the local boy, escpecially at this GP most years.

    79. 8/10. Great to see such a competitive field – I feared Vettel would romp away.

    80. Interesting event ,I only watched the highlights on B.B.C. ,but I think missed the actual racing.

    81. 8/10 Probably would have been a 7/10 if it was a mid season race. Nice to see Ferrari back on the pace (it appears that way anyway) and good win for Kimi

    82. Great race 7 or 8

    83. In spite of the race airing at 2AM EST here in America, I was absolutely glued to my television.

      Adrian Sutil anybody? Where did Joyce’s (I’m assuming? Casual observer until late) genius management of his tires come from? It was stellar to watch him push those Pirellis further than any other driver.

      Always happy to see Kimi win. Though, I’m starting to think his attitude may be growing a bit large. It was never too much for me in the past, but some of his comments of late are stirring. Though, that may come from my abhorrence for Lewis Hamilton and what has become of his personality since moving to Mercedes. He calls it, “Being who he is.” My attitude towards it? “Sebastian Vettel, three times world champion, does not act this way. Further, stop comparing yourself to Senna.”

      Of course, as a McLaren fan, I’m disappointed. Sergio looked strong prior to his first pit. Button was, as always, making the most from nothing. However, this car…frustrating. Kudos to the gents for not throwing the engineering team under the bus. Every interview I’ve seen from this weekend makes the car out to be the product of some thoughtful, exciting experiments in engineering that just are not working out. You can tell each driver once believed the MP4-28 would render the 27 a distant memory.

      Great weekend.

    84. Also, with regards to Pastor Maldonado’s comments coming out of Qualifying: he’s right. Did anyone see the cockpit view when he went off? I was expecting some twitch, some flick of the wheel, any input from him to be quite honest; yet there was almost nothing that I could see. I thought he was being dramatic when referring to the Williams as ‘undrivable.’ If the replays are any indication, and the car reacts that violently to an imperceptible movement of the wheel, something must be done. While being competitive is important, keeping the Williams-Renault drivers safe should be paramount. That car seems like a death trap heading into Malaysia.

      1. He quite clearly ran on the gras with his wheel.

        1. Yeah, it looks like a quite typical driver error that leads to a spin. He put too much tire on the edge of the track under braking..

    85. 8. In spite of 2 DRS zones.
      Maybe because it’s the first race but I was thouroughly entertained.

    86. Good points:
      Red Bull didn’t dominate.
      Kimi won like he should have done last year.
      Mercedes did well.
      Race was clean and interesting.
      Some rookies did well.
      The pecking order changed a bit since last year.

      Personal highlights:
      Maldonado making a stupid mistake, grinding the tyres for ages to no good purpose while beached in the gravel, then suggesting “we” have to learn for the next race. Worthless Muppet.

      Grosjean getting “stuck” behind button while his teammate overtook faster cars to win the race.

      Two drivers I have no respect for where they belong, in my opinion.

    87. will newey master tyre degradation?

    88. I think this race showed Alonso is bad at chasing a driver further up the field. Similar to Spain last year, he takes too much life out of the tyres at the beginning of the stint; the driver ahead if he manages the tyres should be able to stay ahead as Raikkonen and Maldonado did.

    89. 8 for me. Anytime the front row can’t stay there by the finish usually means I enjoyed the race.

      The prospect of having Red Bull/Merc dominate qualifying, but with Ferrari/Lotus ready to pounce on race day is enticing for the rest of the season. Of course I expect Red Bull to sort their tyre management out, maybe even as soon as Sepang.

      I have no problem with a 2-stop strategy getting Kimi to leapfrog the top 3 and on to the win. He needed a great start and a ballsy pass on Hamilton in order to help pull it off. If he was on a 3 stopper, who knows – he might still have been able to find the pace.

    90. The first race of the season can often be a bore fest as many teams try to work out the kinks, while other teams are far ahead right out of the gate. The Australian GP was not that however, the race saw 7 different leaders and plenty of overtaking, so i think it was as good as we can expect this early in the season. And as for us American viewers, i would also give kudos to NBC sports network on their broadcast. They took far fewer commercial breaks than SPEED channel did yet we still got the expert analysis and a brand new graphics engine. SO excited to have f1 back and i cannot wait for Malaysia.

    91. I found it very enjoyable. When Alonso undercut Massa and came out on top after the round of pitstops I said to my girlfriend “Alonso just won the race”.
      In the next few laps it became clear Kimi was 2 stopping and then it was a case of working out the gaps, pit stop time and laps remaining. Suddenly a done deal wasn’t quite so done.

      There’s more than 1 way to win a race and Kimi handed out a masterclass today that was a joy to watch.

      I was at Silverstone in 2009 and it was obvious to me that Vettel produced something special and I imagine it was the same for the fans in Oz today.

      The people saying it was boring obviously forget Bahrain 2010, worst season opener ever.

    92. For me it was an 8, not boring but nothing outstanding, but mainly because it’s the start of the season. As for racing just some brief moments like the start of the race by both Ferraris and Lewis (helped by Weber’s classic why bother to qualy in front row) or Kimi’s overtaking Hamilton in the first part of the race.

      What I liked was Kimi’s win, Sutil’s solid drive, and a good result from all the rookies by staying out of trouble in their first race.

      Didn’t like the lack of real racing (I think I’ll never going to get used to Drs and Pirelli’s “fat free” compounds ), it’s still unclear what the real performance of the top teams is. Of course -and my biggest dislike- the poor performance and strategies of McLaren this weekend.

      Hope Sepang will be better… And sunny

    93. Overall, a good race, nothing spectacular in particular, good insights into team potentials, the strategy needs surrounding the new tire compounds seems to be a factor so far, we will see. I gave it an 8/10 for being a solid race, a beginning of a feel for the field overall and a few surprises, well sort of as i expected to sadly enough to have problems, williams, even Sauber. I look forward to next weekend

    94. those people complaining “there was no action” or “it lacked racing”, i can only wonder what race you were watching. if “tires were too important” or “too many pit stops” perhaps race cars are not your thing?

    95. MB (@muralibhats)
      18th March 2013, 5:38

      A 9 for me. It was an awesome race and so much happy for Kimi! I just hope he keeps on delivering results like this. Less talk. More Results!
      Felt Sad for Fileppe. I think he really was outclassing Alonso during the race.

    96. Anyone know why some of the crowd were booing Vettel on the podium and during the driver interview? I thought that was quite poor form.

      1. I thought I heard that, then the commentator said you can hear the support, so I wondered if it was an anomaly with the sound equipment or something.

        1. It definitely did happen.

          There was a boo for the Victorian Premier.

          Then a boo for Vettel when he got his prize and again when Brundle talked to him.

          It seemed to come from somewhere in the group on the right side of podium on the track (always difficult to tell with general noise) but that’s what it seemed like.

    97. Almost forgot to enter vote in rate the race and driver of the weekend.

      I gave it a 7, I thought it was a good race but nothing special, as is the case now most of the overtakes don’t really impress me as they are either due to DRS or fresh rubber.

      Also I felt my enjoyment of the race weekend was probably hampered by only watching the highlights instead of the full race live.

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