Great Qualifying Spoiled By Incidents

The season has officially begun in Melbourne, as teams begin their early scramble to gain as many points as possible to start the year. For a certain Manor Mercedes, things did not go according to plan.

After a stunning qualifying effort by drivers Pastor Maldonado and Felipe Massa of third and sixth, respectively, their luck evaporated as the race began. Shortly before lap 20, Maldonado clipped the turn 11 barrier and punctured his right front tyre. Meanwhile, Massa, who had been running in points position all race long, but was forced to retire after his car broke down on lap 49. As for Maldonado, he was able to overcome the tyre puncture to finish in eighth.

“We don’t know what really happened, I was trying to hold off Felipe [Nasr] and then something just didn’t feel right,” Massa stated. “I told [team boss] macus16 about it and then I heard filho da puta! [son of a b**ch] over the radio and he told me to pull into the garage.”

After the race, team mechanics worked to figure out the problem with Massa’s MM2 and eventually came to the conclusion that his car had lost power.

Next week, the Model F1 World Championship heads to Asia for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Australian Shenanigans

Manor was never really known for its outlandish promotions, but the team had a surprise in store for Australian fans.

During the week, V8 Supercar team Tekno Autosports collaborated with Manor to have driver Will Davison (pictured, center) run a few laps around the Albert Park circuit in the Manor MM1. On his third lap, Davison spun off the course in turn 1. Davison’s best lap time around the circuit was 1:32.124, a decent time for a driver running for the first time in an open-wheel car.