Between Melbourne And Sepang!!!
It was an awesome season-opener at Melbourne. Nobody could predict what
The Season Starts
was in store for us. Brawn GP pleasantly surprised us with a 1-2 in qualifying, with Jenson Button in font of Reubens Barichello. The Ferrraris and McLarens struggled. But, by Saturday, it was clear the KERS runners didn’t have too much of an advantage when it comes to lap-times. But only Sunday would prove whether they would have any advantage when it comes to overtaking . It was the teams with the trick-diffusers who were dominating the field – Brawn, Toyota, Williams. There was an official complaint lodged against the trick-diffuser claiming that these teams were exploiting a loophole in the rule-book. However, FIA over-ruled the complaint. Red Bull also seemed to be a much improved team, with Vettel and Webber setting impressive times.
Jenson Button - Australian GP 2009 Winner
On Sunday, it was again the Brawn GP which came on top with a 1-2 (again led by Jenson). It was a smooth race for Jenson. But Barichello had a roller-coaster ride to 2nd. He was slow off- the blocks and had to hit the anti-stall to keep going, was involved in a first-corner incident involving a number of cars and had another ‘moment’ in which part of his front wing was knocked-off. But, at the end of the race he was back where he started from. This was the first time since the 1960′s that a team had a 1-2 finish in their debut race(after the McLaren Mercedes).
The big shock were the Ferrraris, for whom both the drivers didn’t finish. More disappointing was the fact that they didn’t show very impressive pace as well. The Renault had Fernando Alonso and McLaren had Lewis Hamilton scoring some good points. But, both these were the drivers eeking the last ounces of performance from cars which weren’t really doing-well. (Many believe that this could be the make or break season for Lewis Hamilton – everybody knows he can do well with a super-fast car. Now, we’ll have to see whether he can help develop a car and make it into a championship-winning one)
From a spectator point of view, this race had it all. Scorching pace from a number of teams and drivers, overtakes, accidents, safety-car periods, controversy(on-track and off-track), etc.. For me, the biggest ‘racing incident’ was the one involving the young and promising Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica, who were running 2nd and 3rd respectively at that time.
Sebastian Vettel Crashes
Vettel was struggling with his tyres and Kubica was giving him a tough time. It was superb racing until the incident, where there was contact at a corner in which Kubica tried to go past, which ended the race for both. Vettel was slapped with a 10 place grid penalty in the next race in addition to a hefty fine(for continuing to drive a damaged car; he tried to take the car home on 3 wheels!!!). However, we at three2tango would beg to differ the ruling of the stewarts at Melbourne. We believe that Kubica was to be blamed for the incident as he didn’t give any room to Vettel while he was trying to pass. But Vettel being the ‘good guy’ went on to apologize to Kubica and his team for the incident. Perhaps that could be what tilted the balance in Kubica’s favour.
The biggest incident after the race was the one involving Trulli and
Hamilton Going Past Piquet
Hamilton. Trulli had finished the race 3rd and on the podium. But, later he was given a 25 second penalty for having passed Hamilton(who had finished an impressive 4th) under the safety car. But, the drama didn’t end there. It took another turn when it was later realized that Trulli didn’t ‘pass’ Hamilton, but was let-through by him(be’coz Hamiton had got ahead only when Trulli had run wide in a corner, again under the safety car). The whole issue is pretty confusing but at the end of it all, Hamilton and McLaren turned out to be liars or as FIA puts it, ‘deliberately misleading’ the stewards. Maybe Hamilton was asked to speak what he did by the team, but the incident has badly tarnished the image of the 2008 champion. At the end of it all, McLaren have suspended their sporting director Dave Ryan(he was present at the hearing) and have accepted the ruling from the FIA.
But Melbourne is already history as teams get only a week’s time before they have to go through it all at Sepang, Malaysia. Predictions are that this track could suit the KERS runners more with its long straights. The McLaren has admitted that they have a lot to improve before they can challenge for a race win. Their primary problem seems to be that they can’t find enough damp-force with all the aerodynamic changes this season. The Brawn team believes that things wouldn’t be as easy for them as it was in Melbourne. Only time will tell whether they can keep up their good work right through the season. However, it can be said without doubt that there will be people in the Honda hierarchy who would feel that they had got their decision wrong in pulling out of F1. No F1 enthusiast can help feeling good for the Brawn team.
Come Sunday and it’s racing time again. With weather predictions for a rain storm, it could get even more exciting. May the best team and driver win!!!
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well for the sepang gp, the rain proved a dampener.. and for the melbourne gp uforgot to mention Sutil. He came close to getting a point
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