7 things I learned from the 2017 Australian GP
F1 is back and the if the rest of the races are like this one then we’re in for quite a ride. I’m not gonna get too much into the standings or anything you can find anywhere else but Sebastian won, Lewis Hamilton got second, and Valtteri Bottas got 3rd. Other than that here are the things I learned..
1. FOM sucks at taking class pictures
What exactly is the meaning of this? Why does this picture bother me so much? It’s so off center and no is looking at the camera. The sun hides everyone’s faces and I think Ricciardo farted. Actually, put a thumb over Kimi on the end there and the pic isn’t half bad. The fact that Nico is looking over his way makes me thing he got there late.
2. The new cars are fast. Really fast.
24 minutes! That’s INSANE. Ran the same distance in 24 minutes less, I can’t wait to see these monsters in Mexico or at Monza. Think of how much faster that is, it’s crazy that men willingly sit in these things and drive them for our entertainment.
3. Retired Nico Rosberg is the best Nico Rosberg
I was a fan of Nico Rosberg since the Williams days and I was super happy when he finally got the edge over Lewis and beat him last year I didn’t think I could like him anymore. Then he started tweeting. Not only did he show us his “Barely bought a TV so I put it on the coffeetable tweet” then he tweeted this:
Yeah man! Try being a fan in the USA. Anyway he also hit us with some of the finest hashtag game one would expect from a hexalingual millionaire.
Finally he ended the race by showing us a shot of his family watching the race and I genuinely felt happy for the guy. I feel like he retired at just the right time and is enjoying his time off thoroughly. I’m happy he’s not on TV or online yet and is just spending some time enjoying himself. Still I look forward to seeing him do commentary on a race one day.
3. Ferrari might be good again
Emphasis on MIGHT. They won, and for the first time in the Turbo era Mercedes isn’t leading the championship. Ferrari was so quiet in the preseason testing that many people expected them to be good, but for them to actually deliver and to win a race based on their strategy was a very pleasant surprise. Call me a Ferrari fanboy but I’m happy to see them win again.
4. Overtaking may be harder, but it will be awesome
The new cares are obviously wider, which looks great but it will be harder to overtake. Everyone has been telling us that, but there were some really great overtakes in this race. At the beginning of the race Sergio Perez overtook two Toro Rossos in a very ballsy way, Fernando Alonso moved his way up too a little bit throughout the race and Max “young Max Verstappen” Verstappen kept trying to go around Kimi at the beginning. It was all very exciting, then at the end we had one of the coolest sequences of the last couple of years.
While it pains me to see Fernando Alonso be humiliated by Esteban Ocon and Hulk taking advantage of him, I gotta admit that sequence was great and I hope to see more drivers do things like that.
5. Fernando Alonso is VERY good.
He had the McLaren in the points for MOST of the race until the sequence above (which was on lap 52!)and then the thing died. If the Honda was only semi decent he’d be fighting for a podium every race.
6. Haas has a long way to go
After qualifying going so well for Grosjean and the Ferrari power unit being seemingly such a monster I was personally very excited for Haas potentially fighting Force India or Williams for 4th. This race was a disaster however, Magnussen crashed into Ericsson in lap 1 and Grosjean’s car blew up and he had to DNF. Luckily the engine didn’t blow up and it was just steam, still it was a bit of a letdown after I’d gotten my hopes up.
It’s a great start for the season and I look forward to writing more about it as it unfolds and learning more from each race! Feel free to follow First lap Nutcase on twitter at: www.twitter.com/1stlapnutcase
