2010 Formula 1 Qantas Australian Grand Prix (Melbourne)
Formula1 is alive and kicking. What a fantastic race we had, after the procession in Bahrain, with some early rain throwing-in some fun. There were cries from motor sport fans all round the world, to change the regulations and “improve the show”. But, the Australian Grand Prix would silence them; for the moment at least. At the end of a race which had everything, it was the 2009 champion Jenson Button winning his first race for McLaren, and notching up his eight career win overall. Button took a gamble, and it worked out in his favor, but as they say – fortune favors the brave. The race started on a damp circuit, and everybody were on intermediate tires. Button risked losing everything when he decided to pit for slicks on the drying track. On his out-lap, Jenson had an off which raised eyebrows, but having got away with it, he started setting some really quick times – about 4 seconds quicker than the rest of the field. This convinced everybody else that it was indeed time to switch, but by then the damage had been done.
Pole-sitter was once again the young German Sebastian Vettel who was quicker than everybody else in his Red Bull. In
fact, Red Bull Racing had locked out the front row, with home hero Mark Webber starting from P2. However, for the second race in a row, Vettel dropped out into retirement when leading a race, for no fault of his own. Initial reports suggested that his Red Bull car had a brake failure, but later came evidence which suggested that the front wheel produced a lot of vibrations as it was badly fitted during his pit stop. Vettel has now led more laps this season than any body else, with a 4th place and a DNF as his results. As with all races in the Albert Park, the race this year also had an accident and the deployment of the safety car at the end of lap 1. Kamui Kobayashi had a front wing failure for the third time over the weekend. It lodged beneath his front tires, and out he went taking Sebastian Buemi and Nico Hülkenberg along with him. In another incident Alonso, Button and Schumacher had a collision, which resulted in Alonso and Schumacher falling to the back of the grid. The Bahrain GP winner was spun in the opposite direction and was left facing most of the field, who passed by him. Alonso did well to claw back to fourth, but Schumacher was held up behind slower cars, and managed only a tenth place finish.
Felipe Massa got out-qualified by his team mate, but finished one place better in P3. He thus became the only podium finisher in both the races. But, the drive of the day probably came from Renault’s Rober Kubica, who finished in P2. This was a classic example of a driver getting the most out of inferior equipment and coming home ahead of several better-equipped drivers who should have been in front of him. Like Button and Massa, he stopped once to change to soft tires and came home without having to pit again. Nico Rosberg had another solid run to fifth place. Lewis Hamilton did the best he could from a poor grid position of 11th. In hindsight, the teams decision to bring him in the second time looks horribly wrong, and left the 2008 champ fuming. But, he looked on course to pass Alonso towards the end of the race as the Spaniard was struggling with his tires. But, Mark Webber who had an error-filed home race ploughed into the back of Hamilton’s McLaren and blew it for himself and the Brit. Hamilton finished 6th and Webber 9th. Vitantonio Liuzzi and Rubens Barichello again scored points, as they finished 7th and 8th respectively.
There was joy for the Hispania Racing Team, as Karun Chandhok recorded the team’s first finish as he came home 14th
and last, 5 laps down on the leader. Lotus had Heikki Kovalainen finishing 13th, as both the Virgins again recorded DNFs. Next race is the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang in just a week’s time. Just like last year’s event, the forecasts suggest chances for huge thunderstorms. If Red Bull can find an end to their reliability issues, there is nobody quicker than Vettel, but that is what only the Sepang weekend can answer. One cannot but help feel sorry for Vettel, who lost out in the championship hunt last year due to reliability issues. Delivering also becomes a matter of pride for design guru Adrian Newey, who has built up a reputation for building fast but fragile cars. There is no doubting the fact that Red Bull is the quickest car, able to generate double the down force compared to the next-best. But, can they hold it all together for a race distance. Let’s find out!
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