A decade on – Ricciardo shows what he is made of
A decade ago Daniel Ricciardo made a massive splash on Red Bull debut on home turf, only for the podium to be stripped five hours after the race.
Reflect on a memorable weekend that kicked off the V6 Turbo Hybrid era with AUTO ACTION’s report from Dan Knutson.
Nico Rosberg went for a peaceful cruise in the park on Sunday afternoon. He dodged from third to first at the start ot the Australian Grand Prix and went on to lead every lap of the race in his dominant Mercedes.
Nobody came close to challenging him, even Aussie Daniel Ricciardo, who finished in the runner-up spot in his Red Bull and 24.525 seconds behind Rosberg.
It was a peaceful, too, because the new generation V6 turbo engines have a muted growl tar quieter than the earsplitting shriek of the normally aspirated V8s used in previous years.
Five hours after the race, however, the stewards disqualified Ricciardo. The new rules limit the fuel flow to the engine at a rate of 100 kilos per hour.
After lengthy deliberations and investigations, the stewards declared that Ricciardo’s fuel flow did not comply with the rules.
Cars scramble off the line at the start of the 2014 Australian Grand Prix. Image: Steve Etherington/LAT Photographic.
Red Bull stated that it considered the fuel flow sensor supplied by the FIA to be unreliable and it adjusted the fuel flow to what the team believed o be the correct (and higher rate which would deliver more power.
The FlA said its deliberated sensor is the correct one. Full stop.
During the race the FlA’s technical representative observed via telemetry that the fuel flow was too high and told the team to reduce the flow so that it was within the limits as measured by the calibrated and homologated sensor. The team chose to not make this correction and continued to run its own fuel flow model.
The stewards disqualified Ricciardo’s car “because regardless of the team’s assertion that the sensor was at fault, it is not within their discretion to run a different fuel flow measure method without the permission of the FIA.”
Red Bull has filed an appeal. “Inconsistencies with the FlA fuel flow meter have been prevalent all weekend up and down the pitlane,” Red Bull said in a statement.
“The team and Renault are confident the fuel supplied to the engine is in full compliance with the regulations.”
Back to the start of the race…
“The start was off like a bullet – or off like a Silver Arrow – thanks to Evan he did a great job on my start – my engineer who’s responsible for that, Rosberg said after scoring his fourth Formula 1 victory.
“And then after that the car was just really, really quick today and the whole team did such a good job on it.
A really good engine, not much of a problem with fuel consumption, didn’t have to worry much about that, pretty much as usual. It just all worked perfectly. Reliability was great.”
Ricciardo had qualified second. He lost a spot to Rosberg at the start but also passed the Mercedes of pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton. Once ensconced in secon place, ricciardo held on to it with poise and speed.
The Red Bull had been so unreliable up to now that this finish exceeded Ricciardo’s wildest dreams.
“Two or three weeks ago would have bet pretty everything have that we would not be standing up here,” he told 1980 World Champion Alan Jones on the podium.
Nico Rosberg dominated the first race of the Turbo Hybrid era. Image: Steve Etherington/LAT Photographic.
Rookie Kevin Magnussen finished third and on the podium in his debut grand prix.
“It’s hard to believe really, the McLaren driver said.
“It just seems so unreal. What can I say? The car was
so much better than it’s been at any point. We just keep improving the car. I had just exactly what I need the whole race. The preparation we’ve done this winter has been fantastic.”
This was the first real-life race start with the new power plants. How did it compare to last year?
“Mine wasn’t perfect, Ricciardo said, “but I think probably Nico [Rosberg] was the only guy that had a good start from what saw today and the rest were pretty average.
“Up-shifting through the gears with the torque we have with the V6 turbos this year, it is a bit more difficult to manage the wheel spin. I don’t think everyone really has it right yet.
“We managed to do a sufficient enough job today but there’s still a lot of progress to make with launches.”
While broken cars did not litter the trackside, the new era of Formula 1 with its complicated power units did not go completely smoothly either.
Prior to the start, both Marussia drivers had their cars stall on the starting grid. So both Max Chilton and Jules Bianchi had to start from the pits. ronically, both finished the race, although Blanchi was too far back to be classified.
The same can’t be said for the Lotus cars. Still, Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado manage 43 and 29 laps, respectively, before their Lotus machines ground to their respective halts with broken MGU-K units.
Pole-sitter Hamilton lasted just two laps before retiring with a misfire.
In all, 13 of the 22 starters were classified as finishers. Kamui Kobayashi, who had a brake failure in his Caterham, rammed Felipe Massa’s Williams off on the first corner.
Sebastian Vettel had power unit problems tor two straight days and retired afte three laps in the race.
There was a tense moment when Ricciardo’s turbo failed just as he was heading for the grid. The team did a “reset” to the system and everything started working.
By finishing fifth and earning 10 points, Valterri scored more points for Williams than the team did in all of last season when it had a grand total of five points.
Had Bottas not had a five-place grid penalty for a new gearbox, and had he not had to pit for a new right-rear tyre after clipping the wall while battling with Fernando Alonso, Bottas could well have finished fourth.
His teammate Massa could have celebrated on the podium it he had not been knocked off in the first corner. The Williams FW36 is a tidy, fast car.
“My chance of finishing in the podium was big,” Massa said.
While not all the tans may have been pleased with the new sound of the engines, they certainly were ecstatic that Ricciardo became the first Australian to finish on the podium in his home grand prix.
Ricciardo is still getting used to his new popularity.
“It was a bit embarrassing to see my face on a few billboards,” he said just after the race.
“It is obviously nice; all the support is great, but I don’t know, the tame is something which I guess maybe I will still have to get used to but it’s nice, really nice to give the tans what they wanted to see.
“I know they went crazy yesterday when we nearly got the pole and then to back it up with a podium today is great.
“I think half of Perth is here as well this weekend. I told all my family to stay away from the pits, didn’t need any extra distractions, but I’m sure will catch up with them tonight and enjoy a cheer and relax a little bit before Malaysia.”
Little did Ricciardo and his family and the tans know that their celebrations would last just a few hours before things came crashing down as the Aussie was disqualified and stripped of his paints and podium.
2014 Australian Grand Prix results
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