Formula 1 Fans of the Cayman Islands were all revved up for the first race of the season and Mercedes supporters were the happiest afterwards, watched at the new club location of PD’s in Galleria Plaza.
Nico Rosberg delivered on Mercedes’ promise with a dominant victory in the Australian Grand Prix, but teammate Lewis Hamilton retired on lap three.
World champion Sebastian Vettel also hit early trouble in his Red Bull, retiring a lap later than Hamilton with an engine failure.
Red Bull’s misery was compounded when Daniel Ricciardo was second but was later disqualified for a fuel-flow rate infringement.
The decision promoted Dane Kevin Magnussen, who made a stellar debut for McLaren, to second.
He beat teammate Jenson Button into third, with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso fourth.
Under many new rules, it was inevitable that Sunday’s race would see several of the top drivers drop out due to mechanical failures, software problems and collisions.
The 2014 rule changes now illustrate the increased importance of driver skills as many of the software related controls have been banned to lower development costs for the teams and to increase the importance of raw driver skills in F1.
The F1 Club always meets on race day at 9 a.m. to watch a time delayed screening on TV monitors and raise money for a local charity. This event raised $210 in cash for Cayman HospiceCare.
PD’s new owner Brad Alexander and his staff went out of their way to accommodate their new clientele to make their restaurant the new home of Formula 1 in the Cayman Islands, said club organizer Danny Roach.
“We had in excess of 50 fans attend and they were a great mix of stay-over tourists and local race enthusiasts,” Roach said. PD’s made up a special breakfast menu, which was gleefully devoured with free coffee.
Members make a donation of $2 minimum and are entered for free door prizes, which included gift cards from Automotive Art and Ragazzi Restaurant, two gift packs from DHL Courier, a gas card from RUBIS, and a grand prize of one month of unlimited yoga and exercise classes at Flow Therapeutic Movement.
The Flow package was won by one of the club’s long-term members, Darlene Barlass, who graciously offered it back to the group to be auctioned at the next event, which is the Malaysian grand prix on Mar. 30.
“This will allow the generous donation by Kate Dunne of Flow to raise even more money for HospiceCare,” Roach said. “Sunday’s race saw many of the newer and younger drivers shine and illustrated this year will not see the dominance of any one driver, or team and should make 2014 one of the most exciting and closely fought seasons in memory.”
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