2015 Australian Grand Prix Sunday - Australian Grand Prix
Live Text
Sort by
"Ok Pastor, you got hit from behind," says Lotus on the radio.
Hamilton and Rosberg lead Massa out front, and it looks like the Ferraris tripped over each other in Turn 1, with Raikkonen dropping down the order.
A very unhappy Pastor Maldonado is jogging away from his mangled Lotus.
Yellow flag
Safety car
Crash
Maldonado ends up in the barriers on the exit of Turn 2 after a tangle triggered by a traffic jam among the Ferraris.
Green flag
Great start for Hamilton, Massa fends off the Ferraris and we have a Lotus in the barriers.
Lights on
Hamilton slows the pace right down as the field reaches the final corners. F1 2015 is moments away.
Adrian Newey may be backing off from his flat-out F1 involvement, but he's by Christian Horner's side in the Red Bull pit right now.
Everyone has made it through the first sector of the parade lap without breaking down. This is progress.
Verstappen, Perez and Ericsson are starting on mediums, the rest of the field on softs.
Mercedes radios Hamilton with a comprehensive update on where to dodge Magnussen's oil.
Vettel's Ferrari is slow away but gets going and retakes fourth in the parade lap order from Raikkonen into Turn 1.
Green flag
The grid is being cleared, let's see if everyone can complete the parade lap...
Breaking news
Red Bull confirms that it suspects it's a gearbox problem that's ended Kvyat's day before it began.
LAWRENCE BARRETTO: "There's a real buzz on the grid ahead of the season-opening grand prix, even though a quarter of the field isn't starting the race. I spotted Red Bull design chief Adrian Newey having a good look at the front-end of Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari on while the Finn had run off for what I presume was his traditional pre-race restroom break."
Twitter
A reminder from Williams for anyone wondering why Susie Wolff hasn't been able to hop into Bottas's vacant seat:
"To answer those asking why we didn't replace @ValtteriBottas, the rules say a driver cannot start the race if they didn't drive on Saturday"
"To answer those asking why we didn't replace @ValtteriBottas, the rules say a driver cannot start the race if they didn't drive on Saturday"
Twitter
And as final pre-race preparations take place, a poignant message from Ferrari:
"On the racing grids all over the world, just like in Maranello every day our thoughts with #ForzaMichael #ForzaJules"
"On the racing grids all over the world, just like in Maranello every day our thoughts with #ForzaMichael #ForzaJules"
We're expecting a Mercedes vs Mercedes battle for victory, Massa vs Ferrari for the podium, then anyone else has a shot at points.
Here's the start order for the remaining cars:
1 Hamilton
2 Rosberg
3 Massa
4 Vettel
5 Raikkonen
6 Ricciardo
7 Sainz
8 Grosjean
9 Maldonado
10 Nasr
11 Verstappen
12 Hulkenberg
13 Perez
14 Ericsson
15 Button
1 Hamilton
2 Rosberg
3 Massa
4 Vettel
5 Raikkonen
6 Ricciardo
7 Sainz
8 Grosjean
9 Maldonado
10 Nasr
11 Verstappen
12 Hulkenberg
13 Perez
14 Ericsson
15 Button
Kvyat and Magnussen's cars are being craned away from the trackside already. It looked very, very much like an engine failure for the McLaren and Kvyat's problem sounded transmission based.
Add in the fact that neither Manor ran all weekend as the team's efforts to get on top of its software and infrastructure set-up in time failed, and our grid has already dropped by 25 per cent.
And that followed Williams's announcement that Valtteri Bottas would not be able to race having suffered a "very small tear in the annular part of a disc in his lower back" during qualifying.
Bottas/Williams/AustralianGP
Breaking news
We're already down to 15 starters after both Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat's cars failed on their reconnaissance laps.
Kvyat/RedBull/AustralianGP
Welcome to AUTOSPORT Live's coverage of the 2015 Australian Grand Prix - and there's already plenty of drama just getting to the grid.
By: AUTOSPORT staff, Lawrence Barretto, Glenn Freeman, Edd Straw, Jack Benyon
Published:
Lap:
