Rate the Race - Australia 2015

[steveaki13]

Worse race I've seen in many years. Worse than the 2005 USGP. I'll be back when F1 pulls it's head out of Bernie's narrow ass. I'm off to Rally Cross lads, it's been nice knowing ya''awl boys.

I can't quite agree it was worse than US 2005, although that was fun because of the farce.

However I do agree F1 sucks currently and is in danger of dying if Bernie is left around.

[dj_bytedisaster]

Any team is only allowed to miss 3 meetings in a season. I don't know, but maybe this means they made this meeting. Just a thought.

Nope, you can only miss 3 races in three seasons. They missed the last three in 2014. Had they not turned up, they would have lost 45 million of TV money. They pass scrutineering, so technically they had shown up and stayed eligible.

[zako85]

6/10.

Pros: mid-pack battles were ok. Some rookies surprised. Lots of team surprised: Ferrari and Sauber are on the same pace with Red Bulls or maybe faster. McLaren looking prostrate.

Cons: Processional racing in the front.

Like it or not, this race may be a preview of what's going to happen in the rest of season.

[COD]

Boring, a 3 at max

[journeyman racer]

5

I was neither enthralled or share the opinion of it being a boring procession.

[A FONDO]

Rather poor. Still as a first one of the season I give 5.

[Warriwa]

I will give it a 5. It only rates that highly because it was the first race of the season. Reminded me of Sochi last year. A five doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it though. I live and breathe this shizzat.

[Mia 01]

I would have give it a fiver but Kimis left rear wheelman messed up it for me. 3.5/10

[Doc Austin]

1.9...... totally sucked

Wow. That's pretty cold but totally understandable.

I'm going to go 6.5, and I think that is being pretty generous. Negatives begin with the Sauber/VDG dispute and court case and run through Botas being injured when he did not even hit anything, Mags blowing up simply leaving the pits, Kvat breaking on the formation lap, and an embarrassing 15 car grid, losing both Lotus on the opening laps, and the total hopelessness of the Renault runners.

Did I mention Renault is hopeless?

There was absolutely no battle near the front at all. The Mercedes cruised around, almost as if in formation, and made everyone else loo like a bunch of amateurs. They simply crushed everyone. It looked effortless.

Maybe the worst part was former World Champion Jenson Button running around in a hopeless last place and the commentators were joking around about it. To me it was more of an embarrassment than a joke. At least McLaren finally got in some miles.

I give this race a bit of slack because of the birazzo factor. They were dropping like flies before the race even started and we were down to 13 cars on the first lap. It looked like the entertainment for the evening was going to be seeing if anyone finished at all. I was waiting for something really weird to happen, like a tornado blowing down a tree across the circuit and stopping the race or something.

This race was really rescued by the performances of the new guys. Sainz was utterly brilliant and may have even beaten Nasr had it not been for the horiffic put stop. Verstappen was also really good, and his doubters don't have much to complain about. Between those two, Torro Rosso is going to put on a good show this year. Nasr backed up his preseason speed with a really solid result, which put both Saubers in the points!

It was also good to see Vettel back on form. It was good to see Kimmi running so strongly. It was good to see the force Indias have good reliability, and Sauber too.

There were so many negatives coming into the race that it was never going to be a 10, or even an 8. I think 6.5 is pretty generous, and even at that I am having to try to find reasons to rate it so high. Still, I stayed awake for the whole thing, so it did have some redeeming value. The first race of they year is often a little messy, though it's hard to remember one this disjointed.

Let's hope for a smoother outing in Malaysia.

[airshifter]

5 tops. Too many teams with only one car running for various reasons really left me wondering what cars have the pace, and what drivers are pushing the cars beyond the pace. The mid field battle was decent at times, but other than that most of the race was a bore fest.