Rate the race: 2017 Australian Grand Prix

2017 Australian Grand Prix

Posted on

| Written by

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

Since 2008, F1 Fanatic has held polls on every F1 race to find out which fans thought of each round of the season.

Join in the latest poll and give your verdict on the race: 10 being the highest and 1 the lowest. Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.

What were the best and worst moments of the race? What was the main thing you’ll remember about it? Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2017 Australian Grand Prix out of ten

  • 10 (4%)
  • 9 (4%)
  • 8 (16%)
  • 7 (30%)
  • 6 (22%)
  • 5 (10%)
  • 4 (6%)
  • 3 (5%)
  • 2 (2%)
  • 1 (1%)

Total Voters: 787

 Loading ...

1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’

An F1 Fanatic account is required to vote. You can register an account here or read more about registering here. When this poll is closed the result will be displayed instead of the voting form.

View more Rate the Race results:

See the results for past seasons here:

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...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

194 comments on “Rate the race: 2017 Australian Grand Prix”

  1. 7/10 I’m just happy Mercedes didn’t win to be honest.

    Not that many overtakes but at least the cars are exciting to watch.

    1. Sviatoslav (@)
      26th March 2017, 7:42

      I hate Ferrari and I don’t think Vettel is as good as everyone thinks he is. But I voted 1 because I didn’t see a single overtake in the race. It was boring, tedious, processional. I didn’t even watch it to the end.

      PS: I hope Ferrari will not win any more this year. Fingers crossed.

      1. What race have you tuned in to?

        1. None. He said he turned it off at the end; he means he turned it off when Vetel took the lead because uh-boo uh-hoo.

      2. Ya I guess you watch races closing your eyes. And Ferrari got a great car this year, so does Mercedes too. Vettel did a great race. Probably you should be banned from voting :)

        PS: I hope you stop watching races all together, so that people cant see hate comments ..

      3. @sviat You are being very unreasonable and votes like that drag down the averages making results invalid.
        1 would be if we had half the field start the race, then crash and die at the first corner. Anything else and its a 2.

        1. Just as many Ferrari Tifosi voting 10/10 to equal it out.

        2. I dunno, a whole field crash at turn 1 would at least be interesting. To me 1 is more like the 2005 US GP with 6 cars that did nothing.

      4. Excuse me….if u hate him, that’s ur problem dude….u r not racing here…he is the one of the best driver out there….fullstop…damn

    2. Yes, I second that. 2014 had big gaps, new pecking order, new faces, good race. 2015’s Australian Gp was atrocious, impossible to follow, bad race bad season, the 2015 noses were behind that. Last year the race was good, tight but fairly strategic, Ferrari lost that race. Today, it felt like 2015, impossible to follow but it was a good race as 2016, unlike previous years the tyres didn’t look as brittle, they degrade a little less than the fuel burn effect which is just right at least in this track, clearly better on that respect, big gaps as 2014 unlike, 2016 Ferrari didn’t lose their race. Big gaps, normal of new rules, some unknowns, which is always great, difficult to follow as ever, a little more than 2016, good competition at the front.

      Funny to listen to the SFI, their bodged exhaust sounds hilarious, the McLaren sounds strange, the same on overrun but the annoyance to me is that upshift sound, everytime I hear that crunch, the gearbox inside of me shivers.
      On the sour note clear from friday that these new expensive cars are a little quicker than the regular progression from year to year, I’d say it points out how soft the narrow tyres were. I don’t think they do make that much of a difference, to warrant such investment. The pecking order at this race was exactly where thought to be, I didn’t bet on ferrari, otherwise it’s spot on.

    3. It’s not only Mercedes not winning, it’s how Ferrari won the race. It will be fun if both teams (Ferrari and Mercedes) keep pushing each other because Lewis and Seb fighting for WDC is the perfect scenario for a good season, if Red Bull finds a little bit more pace this season has the potential to be great.

      1. @jcost We’d be back to 2010, no racing, great championship.

        1. @peartree Kind of… Albert Park is not the ideal place for overtaking, at least with cars with similar pace. Let’s how things unfold in the next few races.

      2. I don’t think Red Bull is too far away. The rest is actually far, very far from the top 3 teams, that’s a bit sad.

    4. 7/10
      1) I am happy that Merc finally lost
      2) As a Ferrari fun I also happy :)
      3) It is great to see how drivers push till the end of the race with new tires. The whole idea of fragile tires was awful – worst time since 1990, when I watched GP first time.
      4) Most of the time I watched F1, overtaking was a real art. But definitely not last years. In 90s drivers struggled in the situation with outsiders during lapping. It was a challenge, and drivers needed skills for that. I remember guys like Gerhard Berger, who was a real master in the position defending. So I don’t worry much about current situation with overtaking. We still have DRS, we still have Verstappen and Ricciardo.
      I hope that no one will have an speed advantage this season, so we will get an interesting championship. It is very interesting how strong a Mercedes team under pressure.

  2. Only 5/10, it was quite boring really, with a lack of action. Still, very nice to see a different winner. Too soon to say whether the new regulations have worked though.

    1. The first race gave me flashbacks to 2007. Two teams miles faster than anything else out there. The championship fight has potential, but the racing in the dry will likely be god-awful.

    2. Same for me. Could be a close and exciting championship but I’m not convinced the new rules are conducive to good races. The new tires last longer sure, but the teams pointed out that the operating window (temp) is narrower than last year. I think there’s good indication from the practice sessions and the race to support that notion (Seb’s pace vs Kimi throughout the whole race, Lewis’ vs Bottas on the first stint). Seb drove a good race but today it looked like it came down to setup more than anything else. Seb got the setup right in practice. Maybe Ferrari gave up a little in qualifying but the race pace was there. It seems to me that the Ferrari and Mercedes are likely to be evenly matched throughout the season… Red Bull may be able to catch up as well.
      I hope so.

    3. Me too, 4 for the race and a bonus point for having a serious competitor challenge MB-AMG. Ferrari seem to have top-class power and handling as well as good tyre-wear (sigh), the season should be exciting as far as the championship battle is concerned but with LH unable to make a pass on a half second per lap slower Red Bull the racing looks like it will be as boring and processional as everybody with an open mind predicted.

    4. Seems like 7 is avg rating. Meh.. could give max. 5 or 6 just because Ferrari is back and maybe because cars look more attractive in the curves.

    5. Yes….sadly a classic, long-term-strategy-dominated bore-fest. All the teams
      have so much at stake in this big-money dominated age that risk-aversion
      dictates every move ( or, more likely, non-move ! ) Things will get better
      as the season progresses of course, and it was good to see two significant factors.
      General reliability was better than many were predicting and it was/is important
      for F1 that Ferrari got back onto the top step. And it gives the long-dominating
      Mercedes organisation something serious to think about.

      It was very sad to see local-boy Ricciardo hit by big problems. And McLaren are
      still in big trouble. But we all live in hope of a cracking season, don’t we ?

      1. This is Ecclestons final laugh. Cars that can’t overtake. This isn’t racing. The result was decided on one pit stop. Eccleston must be laughing his head off as he sells a destroyed series. If the rest of 2017 is like this race then it really will be a disaster for Liberty. I would be generous and score 1.

    6. I agree with 5/10 – only because of the change in lead – it was nice to see the strategic element in it, that VET was able to keep up a good pace after HAM pitted, and bank on him not being able to pass VES (or that VES would not pit).
      I sure hope RAI gets back on the pace, >20seconds behind VET, who clearly wasn’t pushing much. Its not like RAI was being held up.

    7. Field of 20 cars, seven DNFs. Only six cars finished on the lead lap (and Massa’s Williams was getting close to making that five…) Top 10 in quali nearly the same as final results (one pitstop overtake, Grosjean retired, Perez made up a couple of places.) Cars having more trouble following, let alone overtaking, than in recent years. Good point: no safety car periods. 4/10.

  3. Congratz SV, good job, nice thing for the season to come. But Mercedes….so they used teamcall already on 1st race? Bottas made it clear by doing the fastest lap just to show that he could’ve gone faster….this does not bode well.

  4. Gave 7. Pretty average for the regular F1 race, a slightly below average for the first race of the year. Nice to have season starting without P1 for Mercedes.

  5. An absolute borefest, but for me the winner compensates a lot after a few days of thinking we’d get a Mercedes season again

  6. Yes! Finally, Vettel/Ferrari wins. Can they keep it up throughout the season? I hope so. But 3 things: 1) This is James Allison’s design and he’s already gone; 2) the development effort from Mercedes will be fierce, can Ferrari match it? 3) Kimi?! Kimi should have been 2nd, or 3rd at most. Maybe we’ll see a swap between Kimi and Fernando: I fear that if Allison is the reason for the winning car, and if Ferrari can keep it up for an entire season, then they’ll only have this season to win the constructor’s and driver’s championships.

    1. James Allison left Ferrari in early April last season. This is definitely not ‘his design’. His contribution to the final product will have been limited at best.

      1. Allison left in July, the cars foundations were definitely laid out by then.

        1. He left in late March or early April after his wife died (he was on leave and had no contribution to the F1 team). Ferrari kept his place till July (with a possibility of his return) before parting ways.

      2. @hahostolze … it’s Allison’s car. He’s given for at least 2nd or 3rd best chassis. Allison went through a family tragedy and so Ferrari and Allison parted ways amicably, as a result the work on 2017 was brought forward in order for Allison to leave as early as possible which he did to work his life and thankfully Ferrari didn’t bind him on a lengthy gardening leave.

        1. Thats a great deal of speculation and reducing the entire Ferrari organisation of hundreds employees to the work of one man a couple of stressfull months. I seriously doubt its “Allisons car”.

        2. Allison left the team very early in the year, way before the official announcement. It’s hilarious to see people say such ridiculous things as “this as Allison’s car” “it’s only because of Allison”. Allison was with Ferrari in 2013, so how did “Allison’s cars” do in 2014, 2015 and 2016? 3 wins in 3 years. He’s not Adrian Newey. His Lotuses won about as many in the 4 years he was heading the technical team there too. He was a good member of a dominant Ferrari in the 2000s, but he’s yet to prove he has the talent to lead a technical team to more than a few of wins in a handful of years.

          It was funny how people were saying “without Allison Ferrari will be rubbish in 2017”, and now those same people are saying “well they only have a good car because of Allison”. This simply looks nothing like the cars produced by Ferrari and Lotus under Allison’s leadership, and to think he had anything to do with this car is ridiculous.

        3. If Allinson designed this race winner between his ‘family tragedy and parting amicably’, then I’ll hire him to develop the Manor and start in the Chinese GP ;)

          >Not everybody walking on water is called Jesus; sometimes it’s just shallow water<

        4. Stop disrespecting guys like Resta. No damn Allison car.

    2. @mortyvicar,@peartree and @nmsi
      Keep telling that to yourself. Allison has been already in a leave before the 2016 Australian GP when his wife died. It was only announced in July that he left the team. The SF70H is the result of an aggressive change in management made by Marchionne in order to ensure that it will be the result of all the team members effort starting from the Juniors. The package seem good overall (PU,chassis,aero…) so i seriously doubt it’s one man work.

      1. Allison was with the team on the pitwall in China! He’s behind the 2015 and 2016 cars, He and his team, obviously, which comprises Resta Binotto, Cardile and others. Mercedes last year said “Ferrari started working on the 2017 very early” Obviously Mercedes would end up signing Allison so they know. Sky said “Allison and his team sped up the 2017 project in order to prepare Binotto for his new role”, Allison’s departure was expected and then confirmed, all the while the 2016 Ferrari just kept going backwards.
        What are you @tiffoso1989 @nmsi @mortyvicar @f1-liners @rethla talking about?

    3. It is not Allison’s car. If it was, his gardening leave would have been longer and Mercedes wouldn’t have been able to lay their hands on Allison until 2018.

  7. WHOOOOO!!!!!!! 7/10. I thought we had given the World Title to Hamilton. Red Bull have got probldms. Forza Ferrari

  8. Quite enjoyed that.

    Great to see proper tyres again, None of the stupid management & deg that has been a blight on F1 since 2011!!!!

    7/10.

    1. +1

      not a lot of overtakes, but the cars were following each-other, in other tracks we will surely see more action. Nevertheless the FI guys made it interesting on that regard

      People forget that last year there were only 23 overtakes compared to the 100+ in China. But hey, lets jump to conclusions already.

      1. China, where every overtake is a fake overtake because of drs on the super long back straight.

    2. I’m actually kind of cross at the tires. Having ‘Ultra Soft’ tires that last half a race and aren’t really much faster than harder compounds is just plain silly. Even more so than the so called ‘cheese tires’ everyone hated the last several years. but that’s my opinion.

  9. Typical boring Vettel win

    1. Pat Ruadh (@fullcoursecaution)
      26th March 2017, 8:58

      Honestly

    2. @johnmilk Better than a typical boring Mercedes win don’t you think ?

      1. @subhashs ahah it was intented as sarcasm. As long as they keep this close all season I’m happy

  10. That was boring. Only meaningful overtake was in the pits. Good that Ferrari can challenge Mercedes. Now we need action on track.

    1. F1 is more than overtaking!
      Just ask the Aussie TV producer who broadcasted a stationary Red Bull during 3 laps ;)

      1. Well, yes. It’s people racing together, where they, combined with a good car, can do battle with each other and make a difference. This was people driving laps. Nobody could get close enough to even try anything. The lap times showed Vettel and Hamilton to be the fastest, but when hamilton met a slower RB on old tyres, he couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t even line up for a pass.I know the track doesn’t help, but he should have at least gotten within 1 sec, which he couldn’t because of the grip loss. If you don’t even have the chance of an action, because it’s impossible to overtake, it gets boring.

        1. Well, Ocon could make a move on the most experient racer of them all. Apparently it is possible after all…

  11. 7/10 I was happy and attracted when Lewis and Seb were close during the first stint. However, once Mercedes brought Lewis in and then lost track position, it got kind of dull. We had Ocon, Hulk and Alonso battling, but that was pretty much it. Drivers were right, there would be less overtaking…

    1. Sums it up pretty much yeah.

      I do think “not being able to pass” was partly in their mind. And I think none of them were pushing anywhere near where they could be pushing (like we saw at the first race in 2010).

      But Hamilton getten beaten by Vettel like this, and Bottas only being by the margin the team probably told him to hold, that looks like we might be in for a good season.

    2. Well said @krichelle, @bascb; there are positives, but the race itself lost much of its tension once Mercedes gave up track position.

    3. It was quite evident from the start that eventhough Seb was able to follow pretty closely every gap after them seemed to be 1,5 to 2 seconds. I really hope it’s not going to be like that for the rest of the season.

  12. 2/10. Extremely boring, processional racing, but nice to see a non-Mercedes win.

    1. Josh (@canadianjosh)
      26th March 2017, 7:45

      2? Wow

  13. Good that Ferrari is competitive with Mercedes. But the cars simply cant race one another. Its boring.

  14. Wasn’t great but wasn’t bad, 7/10 from me.

  15. 4/10 – Absolute borefest.

    – New tyres are boring. No action at all. Bring back the old ones.
    – DRS had no effect here due to the regs, make it slightly more powerful
    – But could be like 2010, great championship battle but not great racing.

    1. I’d rather have a whole season of this instead of bringing back self exploding tyres and boring DRS passes.

      1. @paeschli Agreed!

        The old degredation tyres were awful, These are far, far better!
        DRS is a rubbish artificial gimmick & should be banned & NOT made more powerful!

        I’d rather watch a race like this than a race full of rubbish degredation tyres, drivers unable to push & 20-30 boring DRS highway passes!

      2. @paeschli

        If we had 2016 cars I’d love these new tyres. But you can’t even pass with these new cars so there needs to be some variables.

        1. You might not know yet. There were two good overtakes from Force India, And drivers were not pushing as much as they would like to. I think its a one of in Melbourne. hopefully we can wait for few more races before commenting.

    2. @lolzerbob After 5 years of moaning about the Pirelli gum tyres and DRS you decide that one ‘not so eventfull’ race is already enough to say we need the gimmicks back?

      1. @xtwl

        I always have supported the cheese tyres and DRS.

        1. from ur profile pic looks like a perez fan.Now I get it why u want old tyres ;)

          1. @krishna He was very good today with these new tyres to get P7 though!

    3. @lolzerbob This race was very similar to the 2015 race. This track is simply not made for overtaking, yet we had a pretty good race last year. I must say the new rules have been a bit of a disappointment. The cars are not as fast as expected, while there was much less racing as predicted. I don’t like rapidly-degrading tires too much, but at least they may spice up the show.

      1. no they won’t, they will give overtakes in the pits or farcical passes with cars driving at very different deltas aided by DRS.

        At least what we saw today wasn’t gimmicks. And Vettel was following Hamilton at the beginning quite well.

        It’s one race (which wasn’t that bad for a first race under a totally new regs), with teams trying to figure out the tyres, strategies, etc. Calm down people.

        1. But weren’t we denied a straight fight for victory because Hamilton couldn’t DRS past Verstappen, despite being almost 2s/lap quicker?

          1. we were denied a “straight fight for victory” because the mercedes was harder on its tyres today and had to pit earlier. even lewis himself admitted it.

          2. @matijaleader Hamilton was on new tyres though and couldn’t overtake a slower car on old tyres. It’s pretty obvious that the difference in performance between Vettel and Hamilton would have been too small to allow an actual fight to occur. Whoever was ahead would stay ahead, even if Vettel was behind and had better tyres. Hamilton could have stayed out longer and Vettel would have been stuck behind him.

            There will be a LOT of one stop strategies this year.

  16. Neil (@neilosjames)
    26th March 2017, 7:26

    It was nice seeing a ‘surprise’ result as far as the winner was concerned, and it was a bit suspenseful watching Hamilton stuck behind Verstappen, seeing whether Vettel would come out ahead, but… that was a terrible, boring race. Once it became clear that passing a moderately similar-speed car was a no-no, I couldn’t even get excited about chases and gaps coming down.

    And as for the ‘action’, the highlight was probably a double DRS-drive-by on a McLaren Honda.

    Really hope Shanghai is more interesting than that!

  17. 4/10, if there was more than 3 overtakes we didn’t see them. Opening stint was good but the rest was dull. Back to bed!

  18. Bwoah. 6/10. Lacked the strategic battle

    1. strategy was the only moment of excitement

      1. @rike Nearly everybody stopped just once and switched from ultrasofts to softs. Not any variation whatsoever. Wouldn’t call that strategic battle exciting.

  19. It was amazing the drs wasn’t overpowered. It is better to not have overtakes at all than to have the tens of meaningless button press position switches that ruined almost all fights last season. And melbourne is not the overtakingest circuit anyways. Also legit merc-ferrari fight is amazing prospect for the season. Even if merc gifted the win to vettel by awful pit strategy with hamilton it was still nice to see ferrari had legit pace to challenge the mercs. As for the race I’d say 7/10. Mid part of the race was very processional. Probably because everyone were saving fuel.

    1. “It is better to not have overtakes at all than to have the tens of meaningless button press position switches that ruined almost all fights last season.”

      I couldn’t agree more. I would take 19 more races like melbourne if it means i don’t see another easy DRS pass.

      1. No overtaking is only preferable if there is actually a chance of overtaking. No chance of overtaking is absolutely dull racing. DRS passing on the straight is is dull too for the same reason, no chance of a fight for the position. A DRS activation that puts a driver in a position to attempt to out brake another car is an example of good DRS.

  20. I thought it was a good race. Nothing special. Quite typical for a dry race at Melbourne with no Safety Car.

    Glad to see that Merc didnt win, and Ferrari won on genuine pace.

    Good to see that the drivers can push hard too.

  21. I do not believe it ! It has been a while since Ferrari didn’t win the season’s opener. 7/10 for the race !

    1. 7 years to be exact. 10 years if we’re only counting Melbourne. Great result, but quite a boring race. I’ll go with 6/10.

      1. @ogw86
        My thoughts too, if we’re counting Melbourne that’s 10 years !

        1. @tifoso1989 and @ogw86 And both races involved Kimi (though only 1 involved a former WRC/Team Enstone driver)

    2. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
      26th March 2017, 7:59

      @tifoso1989 let’s enjoy this, my old friend/rival hahaha. At last! This wait has been long.

      1. @omarr-pepper
        Hope you’re doing well. Yeah great to be back at the front !!! yeah let’s enjoy this

  22. 5/10 for me, pretty normal, nothing espectacular.
    I can’t help but notice that Mercedes was holding Bottas up impeding him to overtake Lewis.

    1. Bottas never got close enough to make an impression and he had fresher tyres. In the first stint Bottas was in no man’s land while Hamilton was leading.

  23. 7/10 but only because of a different winner

  24. A bit boring-ish at times, not many overtaking moves, but overall not too bad either. At least there was some battle for a position.

  25. Like Schumacher era, qualify behind or around two fast Merc engined cars then beat them on Sunday with your teammate 40 seconds back. I want a carbon copy for the next 19 races.

    1. Uncanny how it evoked the Schumacher-Ferrari heyday, of course the podium anthems bring it back too (reminds me of Seb’s first win, had been a long time then since we’d last heard the German anthem followed by Italian), but also the general look of the cars feels similar too

      1. Agree but I had watched 4 full old Schumacher victories on Saturday to get the feeling back and not be in shock if Seb would win. Very much like Schumacher v Hamilton and Coulthard. Red v Grey and the 2nd Ferrari not being able to keep up.

  26. Non-Merc winner, so this bodes well for the season, but in terms of the race today, I struggle to give it more than 6/10.

  27. Sviatoslav (@)
    26th March 2017, 7:36

    Who voted 10? I mean, seriously? Not a single overtake in the race, no real fight for the win.
    So, you vote 10 just because Vettel/Ferrari are winning?

    I don’t know why I got up early in the morning.

    1. 10 probably because one car finally beat the Mercedes on merit, and not due to its own misfortune, in 3 years. Let’s just hope Red Bull will develop their car right and we will have a better season than the three we just had. I’ll give the race a 10 too just for this reason.

    2. u voted 1 because vettel won and u are whining someone else voted 10 for ferrari.Irony at its best mate.

  28. @sviat “Not a single overtake in the race”

    You were clearly not watching the race then as we saw on the TV feed several overtakes.

    “no real fight for the win.”

    So what? Start watching all the cars in the race rather than just the few at the front, maybe then you will understand what real racing is about!

    1. I’m serious. Name the overtakes

    2. I counted:
      Perez past Kvyat (1)
      Alonso past Hulkenberg (1)
      Stroll past Ericsson (9)
      Perez past Sainz (21)
      Kvyat past Sainz (42), probably a let-by
      Ocon past Alonso (52)
      Hulkenberg past Alonso (52)
      (and Ricciardo did some irrelevant unlapping overtakes)

      That’s too little too call it a proper race.

      Probably all the bad omens came through. The field is far more spread out due to the new regs, overtaking is nearly impossible, you can’t try different strategies anymore because you can’t clear traffic. It’s going to be a long season, unless they crank up DRS as soon as possible.

      1. There is far too much focus on quantity nowadays.

        There have been plenty of races with 20-30+ passes that have been boring to watch because the quality of the ‘overtakes’ was awful due to DRS, The tyres or whatever.

        Yes fine there may well have been few overtakes today, But at least those few overtakes were actually hard fought, Exciting & worth watching.

        I’d rather a race like this with fewer, more meaningful overtakes than what we had the past few years with more utterly boring & meaningless highway passes!

        1. exactly. I will take one Ocon’s/Hulk’s overtake per race, instead of 20 drive bys

        2. Worth watching? The overtakes on lap 1 and Kvyat on Sainz were not televised, so you have seen 3 overtakes today.

          I think the key word is unpredictability. If you can’t change your race position, be it through tyre choice, DRS, strategy, whatever, the races become very predictable. I think that’s what’s threatening now.

          The end result may be very similar, but I’d rather have a race with lots of jostling for position, taking strategy gambles and DRS-passes than the processional affair of today.

        3. I understand your point but i think you’re a little extreme for me in your thinking.

          Today not a car in the top 10 overtook another car. Worse than the lack of positional change was that they never looked like they could mount a challenge, simply stuck in areo wash behind the car infront.

          That Hamilton could not mount a challenge on Verstappen is dire. His car is faster, he was on fresh tires.

          I agree that drs is not the answer but the cars need to be able to race. There is no drama in gaps closing when they can’t even challenge, let alone pass.

          Passing in formula 1 has never been easy, ive watched every race since 1983. The rules have allowed these complex front wings, it has to stop. Its pointless technology, hindering on track action.

          1. +1

            Hope on the ‘proper’ race tracks that ‘proper’ battles can occur. However, so much aero combined with 1 stop strategies isn’t a recipe for engaging racing. Oz is usually boring, but without a safety car and all the mind numbing aero, it was dull to watch. Once Seb made the pass in the pits, race was over.

            According to timing screens the cars are faster, but as usual FOM production methods managed to make them look slow as ever. Would it kill them to kill the heli shots? The pleb traffic on Queens was visually more exciting the little fat cars loafing around the park.

            Maybe Liberty could use live fan cams streaming a multi-channel internet feed. Save them money and offer more on-track excitement. Slick production values do not convey the raw speed and brutality of F1 one experiences live.

            And year 3 of the McHonda slow death spiral is two years too much. A fall from grace is expected in F1. But their drop to ignominy is unbearable. What if Ferrari was trundling around in 17th?

            With all that, I still rated the race a 5. Couple points above what it deserved.

          2. @dimsim DRS is actually the root of the problem, initially it was a fix but teams started working so hard in this horribly complex front-wings and expect DRS to solve their problems as if it was their free pass.

            At this point is far too soon to draw conclusions, Melbourne isn’t very overtaking friendly. Nevertheless if it is in fact impossible to overtake I expect Ross Brawn to take measures for the long term, and that those measures are well thought. Hopefully they eliminate the DRS and simplify the front wings, which I think are the problem.

            We also have to take in consideration that we saw a lot of DNF, which doesn’t help the cause either.

            With that said, and taking things as they are I prefer to see them struggle to overtake, and don’t really care about the number. Today we saw Hamilton complain when he was one lap only driving behind Max, but in the midfield there wasn’t so many problems following close, granted not all batles finished with an overtake, but that is ok.

            RogerA’s and my reaction is a bit exaggerated but that is because there is no reason for alarm just yet, it is one race only. If in China they can’t overtake on the straight, then we should be worried.

            I think F1 is in the right direction, with less gimiicks. Now they have to ditch the mandatory tyre rule (I don’t mind if they keep a mandatory pit-stop), and let Ross Brawn do his thing. I know most of us aren’t, but it is the time to be patient

        4. Oh, and Ocon/Hulkenberg on Alonso was a (double) DRS-pass.

        5. agreed on everything you said, for me the battles i want to see are those lasting for several laps and then waiting to see if the move will happen, and it seems these new tyres will offer a lot of that which makes me very happy. the artrifical drs overtakes and the overtakes caused by people ahead having ruined tyres do absolutely nothing for me and i could even say they have been ruining my passion for the sport. i recently rewatched the 2010 season and i enjoyed it so much without the high degradation. so good to see we are back to the similar type of racing now.

  29. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    26th March 2017, 7:42

    8/10.

    Surprise, I didn’t quit.

    Not a great race as I expected it to be, but seeing that Vettel went ahead of Hamilton after the pitstops I thought it would be an epic battle for the victory. Feels the same way as last year for me…

  30. 6/10 Good start for the season, but the race itself was pretty boring.

  31. Miltiadis (@miltosgreekfan)
    26th March 2017, 7:45

    Voted for 6,nice race,Ferrari won,few but aggresive battles.Following other cars is much more difficult,so a nice start

  32. I’ll reserve judgement on the racing until China and Bahrain. If they can’t pass there something MUST be done. 6/10

  33. Josh (@canadianjosh)
    26th March 2017, 7:48

    I gave it a 7. Loved the true racing instead of the fake DRS passes. Once the top 3 took their helmets off you could tell the cars were tougher to drive. Sweat, red cheeks and they looked tired. Bring on China.

  34. 8/10 because of the low influence of DRS in this race. I bet Lewis would have won in a formula like previous years because passing Verstappen would have been easy!
    Another mention to Ocon..great time to get your act together and run away with a point.

  35. Sviatoslav (@)
    26th March 2017, 7:50

    This voting is meaningless. People vote 7-10 only because Mercedes didn’t win/Ferrari did win.
    This is lack of logic and fake rating. If only Vettel made at least 3-4 overtaking attempts, and then became the leader of the race…
    But no, Mercedes makes a ridiculous mistake and call Hamilton to the pits and just lets Ferrari to the front. Racing in the pit lane is boring.

    1. When did you last see the race winner make 3 or 4 on track overtakes before taking the win ? LOL.

    2. @sviat It also goes the other way because plenty of races the past few years that actually featured a lot of good racing/overtakes got voted down just because a Mercedes won.

    3. I guess if this race was in the middle of the season and had a Mercedes win, then, yes, it might well have get a low rating, but this was the first race with the new generation cars and someone other than Mercedes won, so that helped. I noticed there was a lot more attention given to the cars at the back of the grid, which was good.
      Yes, there wasn’t a lot of on track action, at least not much related to two reliable cars, so I think the commentary team did well in the face of a potentially boring race. There weren’t any serious crashes which is good, and we had a few cars fail because they were pushed outside their performance window.
      I gave this race an 8/10. Maybe that was a bit generous with a touch of optimism, but it is the start of a new season and I think Chase will be happy with the result. I was a bit disappointed to not see the lap times on the TV, and the F1 Live Timing wasn’t working, but these things will come right.

    4. Ya there are few other guys like @sviat who voted 1 just because he just cant digest a ferrari and vettal win… So there are both extremes..

  36. Normal F1 race.
    Like we got on the 80’s, 90’s, 00’s
    We will have a fight for the championships.
    Gave it a 7.

  37. 7/10, I really like races where there is a battle for the lead, in which this one there was. Happy for Vettel, well deserved win after last year.

    1. Battle? There was no battle for the lead in this race.

  38. The race was so boring. There were two great overtakes which were the Ocon, Alo and Hulk moment and Perez round the outside of the Torro. If it’s going to be won on just Strategy I really won’t bother watching the whole season. 5 out of 10 and that’s being generous.

  39. It wasn’t eventful or action-packed but I enjoyed it a whole lot more (and not only because Ferrari won) than last year’s races with many position changes but dreadfully boring at the front. And I think they can may actually find a pretty good balance with DRS in Shanghai and Bahrain. There’s a lot to look forward to in the coming weeks.

  40. The opening stint was pretty tense, Hamilton seemed on the ragged edge trying to keep ahead of Vettel but things fell away a bit once he got stuck behind Verstappen.

    We got another bit of drama as Bottas closed in on Hamilton, I do wonder if Hamilton just managed that or if there was instruction from above though.

    7/10 Didn’t deliver much wheel to wheel fighting but for an Oz GP was pretty good and bodes well for the season ahead.

  41. BORING. Mildly interesting in the beginning. The difficulty​ in passing much slower cars does not bode well for exciting races. Mercedes made a massive strategic error, but everyone will learn from that. The tires last forever, so undercuts will not work. Whoever gets the lead at the start just has to wait for everyone else to pit before pitting. As long as they don’t screw up the 1 pitstop, its in the bag. End of race.

  42. 4/10. If you subtract the excitement of the season being under way and judge the race as objectively as possible, there was very little actual passing/ direct competition for positions. Relatively processional. It could be that albert park is not conducive to passing with the new car design, that the new aero wake makes following closely through corners harder than last year or a bit of both. This may be less of an issue at other circuits but time will tell.

    For the season ahead, it is great to see two teams with such a small performance gap at the front of the field. Hopefully Red Bull and others can overcome the gap to the leaders sooner rather than later.

  43. Gave it a 6, not there yet.

  44. Except for Ocon-Hulk-Alonso fight on the straight line, barely there were any overtakes. Pretty boring. Gave it 5 just for VET win, otherwise it would have been 2

  45. 7/10 good season opener, drama with RIC, 2 stints with different race leaders, some excitement if Bottas and Max were really catching Lewis and Kimi and a non Mercedes winner.

    Enough to keep me happy.

    After all it still is Melbourne so without much overtaking.

  46. SevenFiftySeven
    26th March 2017, 8:31

    It was a good race. It would have been better had Ricciardo not retired and Williams’ sacrificing of Bottas had come with performance gains for the team. When did races’ popularity become a function of #passes? Quality over quantity in my book. For pure Sunday entertainment, I’d go for something like the Fast and Furious movie franchise.

    The cars are are much faster, look faster, corner faster and are handful for the drivers. We clearly saw today who are the really good drivers, who are just good drivers and who are expendable. There were few good passes and some good defensive skill displayed in the race. Let’s not forget that these cars are heavier and wider (and depending on which phase of what stint you’re on, you’re probably going to be much heavier or way more lighter). Plus, the engines are different, and there’s more drag on the straights. All of these factors affect the efficacy of DRS.

    If one wants more passes, level the playing field – give everyone the same engine, gearbox, chassis and the exact same tire choices. Which essentially means, change the formula. There once was something quite similar called the A1 Grand Prix that had the same philosophy with the added lure of nations competing against each other. Guess what, it failed. What about F1 2017, then? It isn’t ideal, but it’s better than racing with gimmickry to put on a show. My suggestion is to remove the cap on fuel usage, which is still holding drivers back.

  47. Happy for Ferrari and Sebastian, but overall not a very spectacular race. Some rain would have done miracles.
    The new tires hold so long that there is no need to change them after pushing many rounds, so that’s good and bad at the same time.

  48. I give it a 6/10 (just above bang average) due to the lack of palpable action throughout, occasional overtake and lead-change notwithstanding. Following other cars appearing to be trickier than ever too – definitely felt like a return to the ‘pit-stops providing the drama’ era, although it’s too early to tell. This is, admittedly, a knee-jerk reaction; let’s hope the next race proves a bit more compelling. My fears about the type of racing look to be well-founded, though…

    Really pleased for Vettel, Ferrari, and the sport as a whole that this is shaping up to be a battle between two teams and not just teammates. As a Hamilton fan, I’m disappointed he wasn’t on the top step, but it’s refreshing, and energising to see competition. I would have given the race a 4/10 if he’d have won comfortably, actually, not even a fan can stand mind-numbing dominance.

  49. 5/10 because Stroll didn’t get to crash his car

  50. Yes, finally the dark empire has been toppled. The way Toto lost his composure and punched the table in frustration and anger and helplessness was a 20 out of 10 for me. Waited a long time to see that, the wait was worth it. Haha haha, really made my year, hope to see more next race. 😂😂😂😂😂

  51. 8/10
    A race for the lead right at the opening GP of 2017 season is treat for the followers. At this early stage of the 2017 season, it is evident that Ferrari is evenly matched with Mercedes. If either get the setup and strategy right, the championship will in the first half at least will be tight. Red Bull and Renault clearly have work to do, so does Honda and Mclaren. But Torro Rosso was a big surprise, they already have a decent car and could score more points in H1.

  52. Antoon van Gemert
    26th March 2017, 9:17

    For the Dutch F1-fans it wasn’t a boring race at all, because of the almost race-long battle (for 4th) between Kimi Raikkonen and Max Verstapppen. I think it was the most interesting fight of this Grand Prix. I was very surprised by the race-pace of the Red Bull, especially after Max changed to the supersoft-tyres. The pace was a good as the Ferrari’s and even the Mercedes-cars. Max only lost out in the first stint, altough he had almost overtook Kimi at the start. But in the second and final stint he closed the gap to Kimi from almost 9 seconds to 1,3 seconds, but had to back down in the last laps, because of the brakes. Also great how he kept Lewis Hamilton behind him at a stage were he had the lesser tyres. Again Lewis couldn’t pass “this guy”! Troubling is that there were so few overtakes and none at the head of the field. Probably the first Grand Prix in wich Max Verstappen didn’t overtook one car for position! We have to wait until China if this is going to be a big problem this year.I hope not, because this would be very bad news for Formula 1. Congratualtions to Ferrari and Sebastian Vettel! Lewis and Mercedes have a fight on their hands, not only with Ferrari but also Red Bull! Those six drivers will decide who will win the drivers title this year. Nothing changed there. No, with the race live on television and FIA-live-timing on my laptop, it was a great race, thanks to Max!

    1. Why do you post your own opinion as a national view? I’m Dutch and I found this race not exciting at all.
      I didn’t even take much note of Raikkonen vs Verstappen as it was clear from very early on that Raikkonen had it all under control (despite what the ever disappointing mr. Mol may try to tell you).
      The most interesting fight by far was between Perez and the Toro Rosso’s. It actually featured overtaking (Perez passed both) and strategic play (Kvyat trying a 2-stop). Just a shame we only saw some glimpses of that.

      1. Antoon van Gemert
        26th March 2017, 13:29

        I don’t need ‘Mr. Mol’ his comments to come to my own conclusions about the fight Raikkonen vs. Verstappen. More than 36 years following F1 should do the job. By the way, if you didn’t take much note of this fight, how do you know that Raikkonen ‘had it all under control’?. To come to that conclusion you should at least follow the fight for a while? It was quit clear that after Max Verstappen got on supersofts the hunt for Kimi really was on, and that hunt was great to follow. Even Max himself was surprised about his race-pace! I agree with you that interesting fights in the midfield should also get airtime. Toro Rosso and Force India did a great job! The more overtakes we see the better!

        P.S. It’s a little bit strange that two dutchmen writing to each other in English. It must have something to do with this website!

        1. So you have seniority by 5 years or so ;-) Of course I checked the fight, but as I said early on Verstappen was no threat at all. After he closed the gap on supersofts it was quickly clear Raikkonen had no trouble keeping him at arms length.

  53. Hilarious to see so many so called fans moaning about the lack of passing. Such short memories…. Albert Park has never produced a ton of overtakes, even during the seasons where DRS highway passes saw an average of over 60 overtakes per race on track. I remember watching races over a decade ago, watching drivers really fight for a pass for lap after lap.

    What would you rather see, drivers having to fight hard to earn a position, even if it means they fight for 20 laps without ending up getting the pass done? Or 100 meaningless passes per race, all done on the main straight because one driver gets a drag reduction, and/or the other has tyres he can’t lean on for fear of overheating?

    The inflated overtaking numbers of the last few years were thanks to pathetic gimmicks that ruined any chance of real hard racing, in favour of artificial passes gifted to the driver behind, all in the name of “look how many passes happened in this race”.

    Quality over quantity. I’d take 20 quality overtakes per race over 100 DRS and thermal deg tyre induced overtakes.

    1. A bit of both. Not only were there little passes. No one was in a position to try one. Even Lewis couldn’t do anything on fresh tyres against a RB, which was over a second slower at that time. Why would you watch a race, where the top 10 is decided after lap 1?

    2. Disregarding the overtakes on lap 1, there were 4 passes this race. All with DRS. So your quality overtakes add up to zero.

      1. There were more than 4 overtakes during the race.

        1. No there weren’t.

          Again, disregarding lap 1, this is it:
          Stroll past Ericsson (9)
          Perez past Sainz (21)
          Ocon past Alonso (52)
          Hulkenberg past Alonso (52)

          There was also Kvyat past Sainz (42), but this was a wave-through for the Russian and Ricciardo unlapped himself from some of the backmarkers (=not for position).

  54. Great race for me despite not much overtaking. Like someone else said, this street circuit is not really made for overtaking. But it is nice to see that Vettel and Ferrari beat the Mercs on pure merit. Impressed with how Vettel handled the car, considering not just the margin of his win over the Mercs but how much better he was than his teammate and former WDC Raikkonen. Note that Raikkonen was not able to make much impression on Mercedes rookie Bottas and so despite the result Merc is the car to beat.

    The real advantage the Ferrari seemed to have is its superb aerodynamics. Vettel hugged the racing line like a limpet most of the race and seemed to control it even while in Hamilton’s dirty air before the latter came in for a pit stop.

    1. It seems that Räikkönen’s car developed some kind of engine problem after FP1 so they had to tune it down slightly.
      What is certain is that Kimi was running short on fuel and had to hold back during the race, lots of lift and coast red light flashing.
      In the end he did have enough left and set the fastest lap to prove the speed was there all the time.

  55. 7/10.

    Intriguing, as opposed to exciting. Some big questions to be asked about the performance of the top three teams. A great midfield battle, and some great passes in there which weren’t completed halfway down a straight, which was nice. A shame to lose Ricciardo from contention, I was fascinated to see what he could do.

    All in all, I think this could be a solid season based on today. We have a real fight at the front, and it is possible to overtake in these new cars.

  56. 10. I was at the track and the cars looked fantastic.

  57. f1 is back to what it should be. people actually being able to push while driving impressive looking cars. the overtaking, while there wasnt too much of it, it was all great when it did happened. just remove drs and for me its perfect. very similar to what we had in 2010, and that was one of the best seasons ever

    its a 7/10 for me cause i do admit it was not a triller but i really enjoyed the race nonethless. im very happy with the direction f1 is going in 2017. add in the fact my favourite team won a race fair and square and we have a prospect of an actual championship fight between two teams, i am very happy after this race. and this is only the start. its only gonna get even better.

    roll on china! :D

  58. happy to see someone is challenging the Mercs, even if i am neither a Vettel or Ferrar fan. On the whole though, I’m scoring it a 6 because the rest of the race was kind of a damp squib. more importantly, I worry the new rules are a mistake: i saw gaps between teams so big we needn’t even mention the fact that overtaking has become more difficult still.

  59. 3 at best. I want to see cars able to get close to the one in front and have more chance of overtaking, not this rubbish.
    Would have been a 2 but nice to see a different winner.

  60. Love you sebu… superb race… today first thing I prayed to god was to make u win… u deserve this win… keep going sebu.. ferrari u rock

  61. To be honest, I quite enjoyed this race and the weekend as a whole. Needless to say is, that Ferrari made an outstanding from Friday to Saturday to Sunday. Vettel was great today and congratulations to him for his brilliant effort. Finally, Ferrari have fixed their strategy. However, I think Mercedes has still the edge for about 0.1s. Overtaking is tough which has a double edge for we won’t probably have that many overtakes but the overtakes will be more meaningful and will require more skill. All in all, for me it is an 8/10. It will be good though if Red Bull get in the mix as well to have 3 teams battling it out in the front. Midfield looks promising with Force India and Williams being 4th or 5th fastest in the hands of Perez and Massa. Renault in the hands of Hülkenberg and Haas in the hands of Grosjean could give us more excitement in China and the following rounds. STR as well looks great. Now, I am looking forward to the engine upgrade of Honda because it is awful to see Alonso and Vandoorne being dead last.

  62. I’ll eat humble pie.

    Really pleased Vettel won! Both he and Hamilton looked like they were in a league of their own at the start. The Ferrari certainly seems like a genuine threat, though obviously early days.

    Granted overtaking wasn’t stunning but there was overtaking – unsure of people’s criticism there – but Hamilton unable to pass the slower Red Bull is worrying.

    Pretty good actually. More tense than f1 has been in a while. Though I still think Mercedes are the team to beat.

  63. Ben Rowe (@thegianthogweed)
    26th March 2017, 12:01

    There are some rather grumpy people here! :D It seems like many just enjoy saying how bad most races are these days. Don’t watch them if you don’t find it interesting and don’t complain. There may not have been many overtakes but I certainly wouldn’t call this race boring.

    I’ve sometimes seen people say something like “It was so boring, I fell asleep”. Well, if you were not awake, you won’t have seen if there was anything exciting that may have happened so it is stupid to say it was a boring race.

    1. Yes you’re right… no hate comments please… watch it as a game not a battle field. .

  64. The amount of people who liked this race is very shocking, this was one of the worst GP’s i have ever seen. Yes a Mercedes didn’t win, but the fact that i could name every on-track overtake on my hand is saying something, i honestly think fans like this race purely for the fact Seb won, if Lewis had won they would be complaining. And this is coming from a long time Vettel fan.

    Sad part is that we’re to blame for this. Sure the FIA should’ve known that, but we were the ones who wanted lower degradation tyres and quicker lap times, so we’re to blame too. Fans will never admit it though, we’ll probably still find a way to blame Bernie for this.

  65. 2/10. The extra point is there simply because of the nice battle between Alonso, Ocon and Hulkenberg. Otherwise, pretty boring.

  66. Alex McFarlane
    26th March 2017, 13:03

    Meh. An average 5/10 at best. Most of the excitement came down to the race being the first of a new set of regulations. If it had been a mid-season race I probably would have gone back to bed.

    Something of a rhetorical question, but why is it that the powers that be just can’t get the balance of the racing right.. we go from processional racing, to meaningless DRS highway passing, right back to processional racing. Is it a symptom of fans’ contradictory desire to see ultra technical, very fast cornering cars and close races with overtaking possibilities which in any race format, are usually set up in slower corners and braking zones? You just won’t get many overtaking opportunites when drivers can corner at full throttle.

  67. 5 for me. I don’t remember a single overtake in the top 8 after the first lap. Looks like strategy in a majority of 1 stop only races will be the only emotion this year. I hope I’m wrong.

  68. Gave it a 5 because while I was very excited by the start of the new season and the speed and look of the new cars, the race itself wasn’t that entertaining. The mix up at the front is great and should hopefully provide for good entertainment in races to come. Vettel put in a great performance today and the Ferrari looks strong. Some work to do for Ross Brawn I think (to make the cars better for racing each other) because at the moment, the design of the cars is purely for them to lap at a faster pace individually and not in the mix around other cars

  69. 9/10 Refreshing to see some proper F1 cars again. Fantastic if you ask me.

  70. To be honest this result is what the sport wanted. The race itself good have been better, with more overtaking, but the fact that Mercedes now have a genuine threat to their dominance is massive.
    It is true that Mercedes gaffed with Hamilton’s strategy, but in my opinion, it was the pressure Ferrari and Vettel put them under that forced this mistake.
    In recent years, Mercedes have had more often than not, two cars leading the race and gapping the field. The pressure has been internal, not external. Hamilton’s biggest threat since 2014 was always Rosberg, and vice versa. In most cases, this was a manageable situation where the team could implement team orders.
    Ferrari’s pace changes that, it changes everything. Not only does Hamilton have Bottas to worry about, and Valteri proved that he is no mug out there today, but he also has both the Ferrari’s waiting in the wings waiting to exploit any mistake made.
    All those who thought Hamilton would romp to a fourth title, free of any inter team rivalry in the shape of Nico Rosberg can think again. His rival is still a German, but the one wears red overalls, and with pride.

  71. My first race event since I went to Albert Park in 2011. Being as passionate as I am it felt like a dream come true after I got tickets for my birthday earlier this year.

    I felt going in that regardless of what happened it would be an amazing experience on Sunday. Watching Ricciardo ground to a hault on the big screen twice didn’t help the cause, but seeing Ferrari back on top of the podium certainly made up for that.

    By far the best part of the weekend for me though was getting the opportunity to have a little wander around with none other than Martin Brundle after qualifying. We had a good chat about more than just F1, like how his son and I do similar courses at university (albeit in different countries) and the likelihood of me getting a job at Sky Sports F1 ~ let’s not talk about that.

    He even shook my hand before heading back into the paddock where we had to part ways. I wish I could’ve spent all day with the bloke. Definitely going to cherish those 10 minutes for a very, very long time.

  72. 4.

    Not very good.

  73. Saturday was nail-biting, the start was critical, and the drivers clearly made a difference (note big gaps among teammates – 5’different teams out in Q1)

    But the passing will be tough on many tracks.

    No surprise and no different from what we had in the past.

    I’m sure some races this year will be dynamite – but this was really wasn’t.

    6 out of 10

  74. Mercedes lost as much as Ferrari won.
    Bottas was better than both Vettlel and Hamilton.
    And overall a pretty boring race. Some of the midfield had its moments, but overall, a snooze fest.

  75. 5/10. Would have loved to see Vettel and Hamilton try to pass each other on track, but sadly the massive front wings are resulting in these ‘y something’ (yes, technical term) vortices causing dirty air issues. Sadly, I fear this will continue.

    Wider tyres less aero please!

  76. I give it a 5 . I found it quite boring. Even though I am a Lewis fan, I’m glad Ferrari won. I think it’s good for the sport.

  77. The cars look a whole lot better. The racing is a whole lot worse. So processional. With sadly too few moves on track.
    It could be a low scoring season for “Rate the Race” if all the moves are made in the pits.
    I’ll be hoping for rain to liven things up.

  78. Michael Brown (@)
    26th March 2017, 16:21

    6/10 I shouldn’t expect an exciting race in Australia. Apparently according to the commentators there was a tight midfield battle but the feed showed just the leaders

  79. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    26th March 2017, 16:51

    Overtaking is finally resolved!!! This race was decided on the track!

  80. Average Melbourne race with no Safety Car spicing things up, but the fact Mercedes was beaten on performance (for what, only the 3rd time since 2014?) made it more exciting.
    I wouldn’t worry too much about the racing either, Melbourne isn’t usually a track that produces close racing and a lot of overtakes, I thought the fights that were actually on were pretty good. Let’s wait for China and Bahrain where there can be more close racing.

  81. 6 for me. Shame the battle for the win was pretty much over before half distance , but at least there was a battle. I’d say it was an interesting race more than an exciting one. Sets us up nicely.

  82. Simon (@weeniebeenie)
    26th March 2017, 19:15

    It wasn’t a great race but it was made even worse by the poor feed quality. There was never any live timing so we couldn’t see what the midfield was doing, they barely showed any replays and strangely even on board cameras seemed non-existent. I hope it was just tech errors, rather than a sign of future, where they expect you to use an app to get all the detail.

  83. The usual bottom banner displaying times and positions was not there. As a result the race was far less understandable I hope it will be back for the next race. I usually watch it live so got the F1 timing screen on a tablet but not today and I couldn’t have this information. This was quite frustrating.

  84. Decent race. Few things of note. 1.) two teams in contention for a victory. 2.) Ferrari able to follow Mercedes 3.) 0 DRS overtakes, all overtakes were proper and memorable. 4.) Tires survived quite well to facilitate actual racing.

    I say job done F1. Also a bonus point Mercedes did not win.

  85. Something is fundamentally wrong with F1 and it needs to change soon.

    We can’t have a competition where 70% of the entries are there just for color or noise.
    And it’s not like this is a knockout event where there’s a final race where only a small percentage of the participants have a shot at winning the event.

    Rules must ensure that more than half of the field should finish in the same lap as the leader. It’s a de facto two-tier championship and that is not attractive to viewers or sponsor, it thus renders the competition unsustainable, commercially.

  86. Good to see closer completion, but unfortunately, not being able to overtake unless you’re 2-3 seconds faster than the next car creates a bore fest.

    For me, racing isn’t an undercut competition, we want to see overtaking.

    I started messaging a mate and lost interest after the first pit stops, because clearly nothing exciting was going to happen on track.

    I hope Ross Brawn can get to work on it ASAP, or nobody below 40 will continue watching F1.

  87. Disregarding the fact that we have another winner team and the hype for being the first race of the year, I give it a 5. The lack of overtaking opportunities turned it into a borefest. At least it served to make the DRS system useless.

  88. Surprised how high the other scores were. The race up front was pretty uneventful (except for one pitstop pass).

    There was an interesting battle in the midfield with a few different strategies and changes of position. Shame the TV director missed all of it. Sky TV barely covered it either.

  89. Sadly that was a very dull race that was only partially redeemed by seeing genuine competition at the front. I couldn’t watch the race live and half way through watching the re-run I had actually forgotten I was watching the ‘highlights’ package because there was so little action taking place. Would have been a 2/10 but having two competitive teams fighting for the win and a slight upset to the formbook boosted it to a 4/10 for me.

    Still, Melbourne is not known for great racing so I’m hopeful that most races will be a bit more exciting. And if we’re really lucky we’ll get a 2010 style season where although most of the racing was mediocre (imo) there was an exciting championship battle to keep us interested.

  90. This was a tough choice for me, as a Mercedes fan I was worried my view of the outcome might be balanced. I’m excited by the prospect of a two-manufacturer title fight, but the only entertainment value came from the pit-stop tension (which was short lived) and the Ocon/Hulkenburg pass on Alonso.

    Other than those two moments I spent the race looking forward to the podium green-room interactions between the drivers.

  91. I found the race rather dull so I only gave it a 5.

    If this race had been later in the season I may have given it a lower rating as I think the excitement of a new season sustained my interest more than usual.

    Some fans may have decided to give the race a higher rating simply because someone other than Mercedes won, and while it is good that there is the prospect of more than one team fighting for wins this season, my vote was based on my enjoyment of the race itself, which is why I only gave it a 5.

    One race is not enough to judge how the new regulations have affected the racing but the signs aren’t good so far. There were hardly any on track overtakes with the most significant change in position coming through strategy and timing of the pit stops.

    From the start of the race it seemed that Vettel was the quickest and if he managed to get ahead of Hamilton then he could pull a gap and he wouldn’t be troubled, when Hamilton lost track position after his pit stop that is what happened.

    From the post-race comments it seemed that it wasn’t a strategy error from Mercedes as Hamilton had to stop then and that they just didn’t have the overall pace to match Vettel on the day.

    Again after only the first race weekend we do not have an accurate picture of how competitive each team is, the relative pace of all the cars this weekend may be a one off, and when the teams and drivers get to understand the new rules and cars we may see one team has a clear performance advantage on the others, so I am not getting my hopes up yet that we will have a close championship battle this season.

  92. I wonder what it would take for most of the readers to rate a race either a 9 or a 10? I am a race fan first and than a fan of many of the drivers, not a particular fan of any team. I do admire the teams with minimum $$$ that show a strong presence in many of the races year after year. Think PINK this time around. Unlike Ham fans who probably give any race he does not win a 4 or less, it is really the suspense during the race as to who does what and those last lap desperate attempts to pass for a point or two that make many races for me. Thanks, Racer Norriski

  93. 3/10 – I fell asleep, and keeping in mind the excitement of a new season, new cars and Ferrari again in the front, that says much.

    Yes, I did sleep enough beforehand :-)

Comments are closed.