2014 Australian Grand Prix

2014 Australian Grand Prix
Race 1 of 19 in the 2014 Formula One World Championship
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Race details
Date 16 March 2014 (2014-03-16)
Official name 2014 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 57 laps, 302.271 km (187.822 miles)
Scheduled distance 58 laps, 307.574 km (191.118 miles)
Weather Overcast, 19 °C(66 °F)
Attendance 100,500[1]
Pole position
Driver
Mercedes
Time 1:44.231
Fastest lap
Driver Germany Nico Rosberg Mercedes
Time 1:32.478 on lap 19
Podium
First
Mercedes
Second
McLaren-Mercedes
Third
McLaren-Mercedes
Lap leaders

The 2014 Australian Grand Prix (formally known as the 2014 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix)[2] was a Formula One motor race that was held on 16 March 2014 in Melbourne.[3] The race was contested over 58 laps of the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit and was the first round of the 2014 FIA Formula One World Championship. It marked the debut of new Formula One regulations which introduced 1.6-litre turbocharged V6 engines to the sport,[4] the first time since the 1988 Australian Grand Prix that turbocharged engines have been used in Formula One.[5] It was the 79th race in the combined history of the Australian Grand Prix – which dates back to the 100 Miles Road Race of 1928 – and the 19th time the event was held at the Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit.[citation needed] The race also marked the thirtieth year that the Australian Grand Prix was run as a round of the Formula One World Championship.

The race was won by German driver Nico Rosberg in a Mercedes F1 W05. It was Rosberg's fourth Grand Prix victory and completed a rare double in the Australian Grand Prix, winning a race his father Keke had won in Adelaide in 1985, the first time Australia hosted a World Championship race.[6] This feat had previously been achieved by Stan and Alan Jones and Graham and Damon Hill. Rosberg had earlier achieved the same feat in the Monaco Grand Prix as well.[7] Kevin Magnussen finished second in a McLaren MP4-29 on his Formula One debut, the first, and, as of 2024, only podium finish in a World Championship Grand Prix by a Danish driver and Magnussen's only podium. Third was Jenson Button in the second McLaren, who recorded his 50th and final Formula One podium with the result (although he did not take part in the podium ceremony as the stewards had yet to disqualify Daniel Ricciardo). Daniil Kvyat, aged 19, in his debut race, was classified in ninth, becoming the youngest points-scorer in Formula One until Max Verstappen at the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix.[8] Australian driver Daniel Ricciardo originally finished in second place for Red Bull Racing, but was later disqualified due to illegal fuel flow throughout the race.[9][10]

The race marked the end of Sebastian Vettel's streak of nine race wins in a row.[11] Magnussen and Button's podium finishes were the last for McLaren until the 2019 Brazilian Grand Prix and last double podium until the 2021 Italian Grand Prix. It would also be the 50th and last career podium for Button and, as of 2024, the only career podium for Magnussen. This race also marked the last time that McLaren led the Constructors' Championship until the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.[12]

  1. ^ "2014 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix". austadiums.com. AUSTRALIAN STADIUMS & SPORT. Archived from the original on 14 February 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
  2. ^ "2014 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix". Formula1.com. Formula One Administration. Archived from the original on 26 March 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  3. ^ "World Motor Sport Council". FIA.com. Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. 27 September 2013. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
  4. ^ Strang, Simon (29 June 2011). "FIA rubber-stamps new 1.6-litre V6 engine plans to be introduced in 2014". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
  5. ^ Beer, Matt; Noble, Jonathan; van Leeuwen, Andrew; Straw, Edd; Anderson, Ben; Mitchell, Scott (16 March 2014). "As it happened: Sunday – Australian Grand Prix". Autosport. Haymarket Publications. Archived from the original on 25 December 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2014. Just over 25 years after turbocharged cars last took an F1 start – also in Australia, but in Adelaide, in the 1988 finale – the V6s are back for 2014 in the biggest rules overhaul the sport has ever seen.
  6. ^ "Grand Prix Results: Australian GP, 1985". GrandPrix.com. Inside F1, Inc. Archived from the original on 8 May 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
  7. ^ Weaver, Paul (26 May 2013). "Nico Rosberg gives Mercedes F1 victory at dramatic Monaco GP". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 16 December 2014. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  8. ^ "Rookies shine on record-breaking F1 debuts". Formula1.com. Archived from the original on 16 December 2014.
  9. ^ "Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo disqualified from the results of the Australian GP". Skysports F1. Archived from the original on 18 October 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2014.
  10. ^ Benson, Andrew (16 March 2014). "Rosberg wins after Lewis Hamilton and Vettel retire". BBC Sport. BBC. Archived from the original on 14 October 2014. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
  11. ^ Ransom, Ian (16 March 2014). "Vettel's winning streak ends in Australia". Yahoo! Sports. Yahoo!. Reuters. Archived from the original on 28 February 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
  12. ^ Andrew Benson (15 September 2024). "'McLaren's constructors' lead a seismic development'". BBC. Retrieved 16 September 2024.