2015 saw Melbourne host the season opener for the 18th time, as the Albert Park street circuit once again welcomed F1 with open arms. Lewis Hamilton controlled proceedings and was imperious all weekend, claiming pole position from teammate and chief title rival Nico Rosberg and going on to win comfortably on Sunday.
In reality, a Mercedes one-two was always the likely outcome of the curtain-raiser. They were sublime throughout the 12 days of testing, recording an unprecedented 157 laps on the opening day in Jerez and setting the tone for the season to come. Their peerless performance in Australia was a testament to the excellent progress made by the team over the winter.
Mercedes’ reliability was in contrast to the competition, with several runners and riders dropping out of the race even before lights out.
Manor Marussia’s presence in the paddock was more a statement of their entry for the season as oppose to the Australian round, as neither Will Stevens nor Roberto Merhi turned a wheel. Valtteri Bottas was ruled out of the race after being declared unfit by the FIA – a result of his injured back sustained during Q3 on Saturday. Kevin Magnussen and Daniil Kvyat both endured dramas on their reconnaissance laps and both Lotus’ dropped out of the running on lap one, leaving just 12 cars left to create a spectacle.
With Hamilton keeping Rosberg at arms length in the fight for the top step, attention turned to the dice for the final step on the podium between Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel. The latter, in his maiden outing for Ferrari, edged out the Brazilian by running longer into the first of two stints and emerged from the pits ahead.
Ending the day in fifth was Massa’s compatriot Felipe Nasr. His exploits for Sauber saw him record the best finishing position for a Brazilian on debut in the sport’s history, and join the likes of Lewis Hamilton, Jacques Villeneuve and Kevin Magnussen in achieving headline debut results at Melbourne.
With teammate Marcus Ericsson passing Carlos Sainz Jr late on to snatch four points for eighth, Sauber scored an impressive 14 at the event. Given their 2014 campaign saw them fail to notch a single points scoring finish, the result marked significant progress for the team, albeit a Sunday which they were unable to replicate for the remainder of what became a quiet year.
With Magnussen, (deputising for Fernando Alonso), failing to take the start, Jenson Button performed what seemed to be an impossible feat in bringing a McLaren to the chequered flag. After a disastrous pre-season in which the car only managed to string a stint of 12 consecutive laps together, the Grand Prix distance was a voyage into the unknown.
A tangle with Sergio Perez’s Force India may have been one of seldom occasions that Button was acknowledged on the world feed, but McLaren’s day down under was at least a comfort. Despite being blighted by merciless unreliability, Honda’s fledgling powertrain demonstrated that it could complete a race distance. A crumb of comfort rather than a launchpad for the season.
On a day short of wheel-to-wheel action, Hollywood provided much of the sparkle, with one of the 2015 Australian Grand Prix’s headline moments coming on the podium, as global icon Arnold Schwarzenegger conducted the top three interviews. As he and Lewis Hamilton joined in a chorus of “I’ll be back”, the Briton successfully foreshadowed his 2015 campaign – a year in which he was back on the top step a further nine times on his way to a third world title.
