The season started off with Barrichello finishing 10th at the Bahrain Grand Prix, while Hulkenberg made a mistake at turn 6 and skidded across the track, but recovered to 14th. In the next rounds, Barrichello finished 9th in Australia, while Hulkenberg was involved in a first-lap incident with Kamui Kobayashi, after the Japanese driver's front wing failed and sent him into the barrier, rebounding into the path of Hülkenberg.