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2015 Australian Grand Prix
Race 1 of 20 in the 2015 Formula One World Championship
Race details
Date	15 March 2015 (2015-03-15)
Official name	2015 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix
Location	Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, Melbourne, Australia
Course	Temporary street circuit
Course length	5.303 km (3.295 miles)
Distance	58 laps, 307.574 km (191.118 miles)
Pole position
Driver	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
Time	1:26.327

The 2015 Australian Grand Prix (formally known as the 2015 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix) is a Formula One motor race that will be held on 15 March 2015 in Melbourne. The race will be contested over fifty-eight laps of the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit and will be the first round of the 2015 FIA Formula One World Championship. The race marks the seventy-ninth race in the combined history of the Australian Grand Prix—which dates back to the 100 Miles Road Race of 1928—and the twentieth time the event will be held at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit.

Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg is the defending race winner.

Report

Background

Driver changes

Two weeks prior to the race, it was announced that McLaren's Fernando Alonso would miss the Grand Prix due to concussion injuries suffered during the pre-season testing at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Doctors advised Alonso to not race as it could cause further damage, and the team announced that his place would be taken by reserve driver Kevin Magnussen, who achieved a second place finish at the event in 2014.

Following a tumultuous pre-season in which they went through a period of administration and were saved by late investment, Manor Marussia arrived in Melbourne with a car that had passed its mandatory crash tests, but had completed no testing. Formula Renault 3.5 Series drivers Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi were announced as their drivers, with Merhi signed on a one-race deal. However, the team did not participate in any practice sessions and subsequently failed to set a qualifying time, leaving the field at 18 cars.

Legal challenge against Sauber

In the week before the race, Dutch driver Giedo van der Garde launched legal action against Sauber in the Supreme Court of Victoria, claiming that the team had reneged on a deal that would have seen him race for the team for the 2015 season in favour of Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr. His action is based on a previous ruling in his favour passed down by the Swiss court system, and the challenge in Australia specifically sought to have the court block Sauber from racing Ericsson or Nasr in Melbourne. Van der Garde's challenge was successful, with the court ordering the team to allow him to drive, but Sauber publicly announced that they would not compromise the safety of the team or other drivers by putting van der Garde in the car, pointing out that the C34 chassis had been tailored to fit Ericsson and Nasr before filing an appeal against the verdict alongside lawyers representing Ericsson and Nasr.

Sauber filed an appeal which was heard the next day, in which they argued that van der Garde's contract had been terminated by the team in February with the approval of the FIA's Contract Recognition Board and that van der Garde has violated the confidentiality clauses of the contract by discussing it with the media. Lawyers representing Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr further argued that van der Garde had not followed the proper legal avenues as their clients had not been informed of the intended legal action until van der Garde filed his motion. However, the appeal was dismissed and the court ordered that van der Garde be allowed to participate in the race, with the hearing adjourned until the following day to hear contempt of court proceedings, in which van der Garde's lawyer argued that Sauber team principal Monisha Kaltenborn should be fined or imprisoned.

An entry list published by the FIA two hours after the court passed its initial judgement on the Thursday before the race listed Ericsson and Nasr as Sauber's drivers following pre-event scrutineering. Neither driver took to the circuit during the first practice session, but both went on to take part in the afternoon's running. The dispute reached a temporary resolution on Saturday morning, with van der Garde surrendering his right to drive in the race, with a view to finding a more permanent solution in the future.

Tyres

As in 2014, Pirelli announced they would be supplying teams with the white-banded medium compound tyre as the prime selection and the yellow-banded soft compound as the option selection for the event.

Classification

Qualifying

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Q1	Q2	Q3	Grid
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:28.586	1:26.894	1:26.327	1
2	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:28.906	1:27.097	1:26.921	2
3	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:29.246	1:27.895	1:27.718	3
4	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:29.307	1:27.742	1:27.757	4
5	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:29.754	1:27.807	1:27.790	5
6	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1:29.641	1:27.796	1:28.087	6
7	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-Renault	1:29.788	1:28.679	1:28.329	7
8	55	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso-Renault	1:29.597	1:28.601	1:28.510	8
9	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Mercedes	1:29.537	1:28.589	1:28.560	9
10	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Mercedes	1:29.847	1:28.726	1:29.480	10
11	12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber-Ferrari	1:30.430	1:28.800		11
12	33	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso-Renault	1:29.248	1:28.868		12
13	26	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull-Renault	1:30.402	1:29.070		13
14	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:29.651	1:29.208		14
15	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	1:29.990	1:29.209		15
16	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	1:31.376			16
17	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda	1:31.422			17
18	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Honda	1:32.037			18
107% time: 1:34.787
WD	28	Will Stevens	Marussia-Ferrari	no time			WD
WD	98	Roberto Merhi	Marussia-Ferrari	no time			WD
Source:

Race

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts.
1							25
2							18
3							15
4							12
5							10
6							8
7							6
8							4
9							2
10							1
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
Source:

Standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos. Driver Points 1 2 3 4 5

Constructors' Championship standings Pos. Constructor Points 1 2 3 4 5

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References

1. "2015 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix". formula1.com. Formula One Administration. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
2. "World Motor Sport Council 2014 – Beijing". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 12 September 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
3. "World Motor Sport Council 2014 – Doha". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 3 December 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
4. "2014 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix — Results". FORIX. Autosport. 16 March 2014. Archived from the original on 14 April 2014. Retrieved 13 March 2015. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
5. "Alonso to miss Australian race on medical advice". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 3 March 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
6. Benson, Andrew (4 February 2015). "Marussia team could make Formula 1 return this season". BBC Sport. Retrieved 4 February 2015.
7. Freeman, Glenn (9 March 2015). "Roberto Merhi to race for Manor F1 team in Australian Grand Prix". Autosport.com. Haymarket Media Group. Retrieved 9 March 2015.
8. "Giedo van der Garde: Ex-Sauber test driver takes legal action". BBC Sport. BBC. 5 March 2015. Retrieved 5 March 2015.
9. Collantine, Keith (10 March 2015). "Sauber will not risk safety after van der Garde ruling". F1 Fanatic. Keith Collantine. Retrieved 10 March 2015.
10. Cooper, Adam (11 March 2015). "Van der Garde case drags into Thursday as Sauber appeal continues". Adam Cooper's F1 Blog. WordPress. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
11. ^ Howard, Tom (12 March 2015). "Court to decide van der Garde fate this afternoon". Speedcafe.com. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
12. Collantine, Keith (12 March 2015). "Sauber loses appeal against van der Garde judgement". F1 Fanatic. Keith Collantine. Retrieved 12 March 2015.
13. Cooper, Adam (13 March 2015). "Sauber case continues but agreement could be close". Adam Cooper's F1 Blog. WordPress. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
14. "2015 Australian Grand Prix - Entry List" (PDF). FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 12 March 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 March 2015. Retrieved 12 March 2015. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |dead-url= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
15. Rose, Gary (13 March 2015). "Australian Grand Prix first practice". BBC Sport. British Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
16. Collantine, Keith (13 March 2015). "Mercedes leads Ferrari in second practice". F1 Fanatic. Keith Collantine. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
17. Cooper, Adam (14 March 2015). "Van der Garde and Sauber reach agreement but story not over yet". Adam Cooper's F1 Blog. WordPress. Retrieved 14 March 2015.
18. "Pirelli reveal tyre choices for first four races". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2015.
19. "2015 Australia Grand Prix – Qualifying results". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. 14 March 2014.
20. {{cite news}}: Empty citation (help)

External links

• Official website

• 2015 Formula One races
• Australian Grand Prix
• 2015 in Australian motorsport
• Current sports events