MERCEDES: VOTE 10
She was the best, is and will be for the whole season. At the first grand prix, the Anglo-German team immediately clarified things, dominating free practice, qualifying and the race with disarming ease. The superiority is total, Hamilton (score 9) has never suffered, knowing how to manage the car and tires in the best possible way. It was a rather easy weekend also for his teammate Rosberg (score 6,5), as it would be for anyone who drives a Mercedes, but from those who had to chase and try to put the world champion in difficulty it was reasonable to expect something in more.
VETTEL: VOTE 9
At the first race in Ferrari his idol Schumacher retired, he hit the podium at the first attempt, at the end of a careful and well-managed race. He wasn't flawless at the start but he made up for it by keeping his foot down at the first corner, but his great merit was to take advantage of Massa's tire change to set a lap on qualifying times, going out in front of him after his pit stop and then keep him at a safe distance until the end. As soon as the race was over, he radioed his family in Italian "Guys, Forza Ferrari!", and then reiterated (again in Italian) on the podium: "We have a nice car, for qualifying and for the race". Alonso is already forgotten.
NASR: VOTE 8
It would be good to give him 10, like the points he won on his debut in Formula 1, at the end of a solid and bad performance at the right point, concluded with a well-deserved fifth place ahead of Ricciardo. This is also due to a Ferrari-powered Sauber (score 7,5) which demonstrates how the engines from Maranello this year are quite different from the past. The day of glory is completed by the eighth place of Ericsson.
FERRARI: VOTE 7
The first thing that catches the eye is that the machine is there. After years of suffering in Maranello they got the project right, so much so that it was the first valid alternative to Mercedes, better than Williams and Red Bull. Having said that, Vettel finished 35 seconds behind the winner Hamilton, a sign that the gap is still considerable and that there is still a long way to go. The negative note that lowered the vote on Sunday in Melbourne was the mess in the pits that cost Raikkonen the race (score 8 for the determination shown up until his retirement), sent back to the track with a tire that was not yet fixed. A mistake not from Ferrari.
RED BULL: VOTE 5
Even before lining up on the starting grid, Kvyat's grand prix was already over, forced to park his car on the grass due to a gearbox problem. He did not fare better than his teammate Ricciardo (score 6), who started seventh and finished sixth after having also suffered the shame of dubbing. Up until two years ago the drinkers were the rulers, last year they were able to take advantage of the rare troubles with Mercedes. This year the Renault power unit really doesn't want to go, and the tension with the engineer is already skyrocketing. The Australian Grand Prix was disastrous.
MCLAREN: VOTE 2
In the pre-season tests she barely managed to put together a handful of laps between breakages and assorted breakdowns. Magnussen retired even before the start with a power unit problem, teammate Button finished eleventh lapped twice, with his best lap almost two and a half seconds slower than Hamilton's, with an average of four seconds taken at each step. In all of this one wonders what the convalescent Alonso must have thought when he saw his old team get on the podium with the new favorite Vettel and the new one trudging at the back of the group. He will return to Malaysia, but with such a poor Honda engine McLaren looks set for a nightmare season.
