| 2014 Australian Grand Prix | ||||
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Race 1 of 19 in the2014 Formula One World Championship
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| Race details | ||||
| Date | 16 March 2014 (2014-03-16) | |||
| Official name | 2014 Formula 1 RolexAustralian Grand Prix | |||
| Location | Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit,Melbourne,Australia | |||
| Course | Temporary street circuit | |||
| Course length | 5.303 km (3.295 miles) | |||
| Distance | 57 laps, 302.271 km (187.822 miles) | |||
| Scheduled distance | 58 laps, 307.574 km (191.118 miles) | |||
| Weather | Overcast, 19 °C(66 °F) | |||
| Attendance | 100,500[1] | |||
| Pole position | ||||
| Driver | Mercedes | |||
| Time | 1:44.231 | |||
| Fastest lap | ||||
| Driver |  Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | ||
| Time | 1:32.478 on lap 19 | |||
| Podium | ||||
| First | Mercedes | |||
| Second | McLaren-Mercedes | |||
| Third | McLaren-Mercedes | |||
Lap leaders | ||||
The2014 Australian Grand Prix (formally known as the2014 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix)[2] was aFormula Onemotor race that was held on 16 March 2014 inMelbourne.[3] The race was contested over 58 laps of theMelbourne Grand Prix Circuit and was the first round of the2014 FIA Formula One World Championship. It marked the debut of newFormula One regulations which introduced 1.6-litreturbochargedV6 engines to the sport,[4] the first time since the1988 Australian Grand Prix that turbocharged engines have been used in Formula One.[5] It was the 79th race in the combined history of theAustralian Grand Prix – which dates back to the100 Miles Road Race of 1928 – and the 19th time the event was held at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit.[citation needed] The race also marked the thirtieth year that the Australian Grand Prix was run as a round of the Formula One World Championship.
The race was won by German driverNico Rosberg in aMercedes F1 W05. It was Rosberg's fourth Grand Prix victory and completed a rare double in the Australian Grand Prix, winning a race his fatherKeke had won inAdelaide in1985, the first time Australia hosted a World Championship race.[6] This feat had previously been achieved byStan andAlan Jones andGraham andDamon Hill. Rosberg had earlier achieved the same feat in theMonaco Grand Prix as well.[7]Kevin Magnussen finished second in aMcLaren MP4-29 on his Formula One debut, the first, and, as of 2024, only podium finish in a World Championship Grand Prix by a Danish driver and Magnussen's only podium. Third wasJenson Button in the second McLaren, who recorded his 50th and final Formula One podium with the result (although he did not take part in the podium ceremony as the stewards had yet to disqualify Daniel Ricciardo).Daniil Kvyat, aged 19, in his debut race, was classified in ninth, becoming the youngest points-scorer in Formula One untilMax Verstappen at the2015 Malaysian Grand Prix.[8] Australian driverDaniel Ricciardo originally finished in second place forRed Bull Racing, but was later disqualified due to illegal fuel flow throughout the race.[9][10]
The race marked the end ofSebastian Vettel's streak of nine race wins in a row.[11] Magnussen and Button's podium finishes were the last forMcLaren until the2019 Brazilian Grand Prix and last double podium until the2021 Italian Grand Prix; it later turned out to be the only career podium for Magnussen. The result meant that Rosberg occupied the lead of the World Drivers' Championship for the first time in his career. This race also marked the last time that McLaren led the Constructors' Championship until the2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.[12]
Tyre supplierPirelli brought its white-banded medium compound tyre as the harder "prime" tyre and the yellow-banded soft compound tyre as the softer "option" tyre, as opposed to the previous year where medium and super-soft selections were provided.[13]
Daniel Ricciardo set the early pace in his debut forRed Bull Racing, whileLotus struggled, withPastor Maldonado failing to set a time andRomain Grosjean qualifying 21st, which became 20th whenEsteban Gutiérrez was given a penalty for a gearbox change in hisSauber.Max Chilton out-qualified hisMarussia teammateJules Bianchi, but missed out on a place in Q2 by one hundredth of a second.Caterham driverMarcus Ericsson was the final driver eliminated in Q1, with his teammateKamui Kobayashi overcoming a lack of running in Free Practice to advance to the next period.[14]
Rain began to fall in Q2, with the slippery conditions claiming their first victim inKimi Räikkönen, who spun hisFerrari late in the period. Räikkönen's accident interrupted the laps of several drivers, withJenson Button and reigning World ChampionSebastian Vettel both reporting that Räikkönen's accident prevented them from advancing to Q3. It was later found that Vettel was also hindered by engine problems, which had plagued him since FP3 that morning.[15] Sauber'sAdrian Sutil finished the period in fourteenth, with Kamui Kobayashi fifteenth afterSergio Pérez spun hisForce India on his final flying lap.
The rain intensified in the final period, with several drivers venturing out on full wet tyres.Mercedes driversLewis Hamilton andNico Rosberg, and Ricciardo, started a three-way battle for pole that came down to their final laps. Hamilton prevailed, with Ricciardo qualifying a career-best second in his home race. Rosberg started from third, alongsideKevin Magnussen, who qualified his McLaren fourth in his Formula One debut. After Räikkönen's Q2 accident had left him twelfth,Fernando Alonso gave Ferrari a decent result when he recovered to fifth after making the wrong tyre choice early in the period and started next to theToro Rosso ofJean-Éric Vergne.Force India'sNico Hülkenberg and debutantDaniil Kvyat filled the next row of the grid, ahead of theWilliams pair ofFelipe Massa andValtteri Bottas, who, like Gutiérrez, was demoted five places for a gearbox change.[16]
Kevin Magnussen andSebastian Vettel were referred to the stewards for speeding under yellow flags following Räikkönen's accident, but they were cleared of any wrongdoing.[17][18] Fernando Alonso was called to the stewards for impedingEsteban Gutiérrez in Q1, but also escaped a penalty.[19][20]Pastor Maldonado failed to post a lap time during qualifying. He was allowed to start the race on the stewards' discretion, who judged that he was capable of lapping within the 107% limit based on his free practice times.[21]
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The race began at 17:00 local time.Marussia driversMax Chilton andJules Bianchi stalled on the grid, with Bianchi having a problem after the formation lap and Chilton stalling at the beginning of the formation lap.Romain Grosjean started the race from the pit lane due to car modifications under parc fermé conditions[22] and received a drive-through penalty for leaving the garage before the 15-minute signal. Seconds after the lights had gone out,Felipe Massa,Kamui Kobayashi and Kimi Räikkönen were involved in a first-lap collision, putting Kobayashi and Massa out of the race whilst Räikkönen's Ferrari did not suffer any major damage and was able to continue the race without further problems. It was later confirmed Kobayashi had suffered a loss of rear brakes.
PolesitterLewis Hamilton's engine lost a cylinder at the start of the race, which resulted in him dropping to third by the first corner.[23]Nico Rosberg got a good start, allowing him to passDaniel Ricciardo in addition to his teammate, and at the first corner Rosberg led, with Ricciardo second and Hamilton third. Hamilton continued to slip down the order with his engine running on five cylinders - having fallen from first to fifth by the end of lap one - and on the second lap he was called into the pits to retire. Defending world champion Sebastian Vettel also had an early retirement due to engine issues, retiring on lap three. Ericsson retired on lap 29 with oil pressure problem, and both Lotus cars also retired due to power unit issues. Rosberg dominantly won the race by almost twenty-five seconds, picking up his fourth career win, and his first since the previous year'sBritish Grand Prix. Daniel Ricciardo snatched second in front of his home crowd, making him the first Australian Formula One driver to finish on the podium inhis home race as a world championship round. John Smith finished on the podium in 1983, but at the time, it was not yet an official Formula One world championship round.Kevin Magnussen finished third, two seconds behind Ricciardo. This made him the first Formula One debutant sinceLewis Hamilton at the2007 Australian Grand Prix seven years earlier to finish on the podium.
Magnussen's teammateJenson Button took fourth after starting eleventh, finishing just over 3 seconds behind his teammate and half a minute behind Rosberg. He was followed byFernando Alonso in fifth.Valtteri Bottas finished in sixth despite clipping the wall and causing a puncture on the right rear tire on lap 11.Nico Hülkenberg finished seventh,2013 winner Kimi Räikkönen eighth,Jean-Éric Vergne in ninth and debutantDaniil Kvyat in tenth, becoming the youngest points-scorer in Formula One.[8] The Ferraris suffered some electrical problems in the race, according to the team.[24]
Daniel Ricciardo was disqualified from the race for a breach of Article 5.1.4 of the Formula One Technical Regulations, which govern the maximum allowable rate at which fuel may flow into the engine. The team were also referred to the stewards for using an unauthorized method of measuring the fuel flow.[25] Magnussen was thus promoted to second with Jenson Button up to third. It was Button's 50th and final podium finish, but the podium ceremony took place before Ricciardo's exclusion which meant Button did not take part in the proceedings.
Red Bull immediately announced their intention to appeal the disqualification, claiming that the sensors provided by the FIA to measure the fuel flow were unreliable.[9] The appeal was heard by the FIA on 14 April, but it was rejected and the disqualification was upheld. This meant that McLaren got their first double podium since the2012 Chinese Grand Prix.[26]
Kamui Kobayashi was referred to the stewards as well for his involvement in the first-lap collision with Massa and Räikkönen. The stewards decided not to take any further action against him after they determined that the accident was triggered by a mechanical failure on hisCaterham.[27]
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Just over 25 years after turbocharged cars last took an F1 start – also in Australia, but in Adelaide, in the 1988 finale – the V6s are back for 2014 in the biggest rules overhaul the sport has ever seen.
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