2014 Australian Grand Prix

The 2014 Australian Grand Prix (formally known as the 2014 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix) was a Formula One motor race that was held on 16 March 2014 in Melbourne. 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, the first time since the 1988 Australian Grand Prix that turbocharged engines have been used in Formula One. 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. 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. 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. 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.

The race marked the end of Sebastian Vettel's streak of nine race wins in a row. 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 later turned out to be the only career podium for Magnussen. The result meant that Rosberg occupied the lead of the World Drivers' Championship for the first time in his career. This race also marked the last time that McLaren led the Constructors' Championship until the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought its white-banded medium compound tyre as the harder "prime" tyre and the yellow-banded soft compound tyre as the softer "option" tyre, as opposed to the previous year where medium and super-soft selections were provided.

Daniel Ricciardo set the early pace in his debut for Red Bull Racing, while Lotus struggled, with Pastor Maldonado failing to set a time and Romain Grosjean qualifying 21st, which became 20th when Esteban Gutiérrez was given a penalty for a gearbox change in his Sauber. Max Chilton out-qualified his Marussia teammate Jules Bianchi, but missed out on a place in Q2 by one hundredth of a second. Caterham driver Marcus Ericsson was the final driver eliminated in Q1, with his teammate Kamui Kobayashi overcoming a lack of running in Free Practice to advance to the next period.

Rain began to fall in Q2, with the slippery conditions claiming their first victim in Kimi Räikkönen, who spun his Ferrari late in the period. Räikkönen's accident interrupted the laps of several drivers, with Jenson Button and reigning World Champion Sebastian Vettel both reporting that Räikkönen's accident prevented them from advancing to Q3. It was later found that Vettel was also hindered by engine problems, which had plagued him since FP3 that morning. Sauber's Adrian Sutil finished the period in fourteenth, with Kamui Kobayashi fifteenth after Sergio Pérez spun his Force India on his final flying lap.

The rain intensified in the final period, with several drivers venturing out on full wet tyres. Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, and Ricciardo, started a three-way battle for pole that came down to their final laps. Hamilton prevailed, with Ricciardo qualifying a career-best second in his home race. Rosberg started from third, alongside Kevin Magnussen, who qualified his McLaren fourth in his Formula One debut. After Räikkönen's Q2 accident had left him twelfth, Fernando Alonso gave Ferrari a decent result when he recovered to fifth after making the wrong tyre choice early in the period and started next to the Toro Rosso of Jean-Éric Vergne. Force India's Nico Hülkenberg and debutant Daniil Kvyat filled the next row of the grid, ahead of the Williams pair of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas, who, like Gutiérrez, was demoted five places for a gearbox change.

Kevin Magnussen and Sebastian Vettel were referred to the stewards for speeding under yellow flags following Räikkönen's accident, but they were cleared of any wrongdoing. Fernando Alonso was called to the stewards for impeding Esteban Gutiérrez in Q1, but also escaped a penalty. Pastor Maldonado failed to post a lap time during qualifying. He was allowed to start the race on the stewards' discretion, who judged that he was capable of lapping within the 107% limit based on his free practice times.