Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne, 29/03/09
Driver Review
1st- J.Button, Brawn GP Mercedes -
A superb weekend all round from the Brit, he didn’t feel the need to set any headlines in practice but pulled out the times when it mattered in qualifying. Got a superb getaway at the start and looked comfortable throughout. May have come under pressure from Kubica in the final laps had he disposed of Vettal, but Button may have held on anyway such was his skill at using the awful super soft tyres.
2nd- R.Barrichello, Brawn GP Mercedes-
Rubens must not be able to believe how he got second, aside from the fact he didn’t have a drive a month ago. He fluffed the start, panicked because of it, got a helping nudge from Kovalainen and ploughed into Webber. Rubens probably wouldn’t have made the corner anyway as Webber was already turning in, but the bump from the Mclaren made it all but certain that an accident would occur. Managing to survive that melee, he later made a mess of braking for turn 3 and gave Raikkonen a kind bump out of the way. His front wing had been damaged for the second time and yet somehow only to a minimal extent. After that his pace was reasonable and was lucky to pick up second at the end.
3rd J.Trulli, Toyota
A strong drive from Jarno after starting from the pitlane, was faster than Glock all weekend and did well to move up the field without KERS. Will be happy to have been given back his 3rd place after being originally given a 25 second time penalty for overtaking Hamilton under the safety car. A podium was the minimum he and his team needed in what is arguably their most important season. Will expect to be near the pace once again in Malaysia.
4th- T. Glock, Toyota
Finishing behind Hamilton for the second race in succession, Time was another of the men, along with Hamilton and Alonso who picked up big points just for staying out of trouble. Starting from the back along with team-mate Trulli after the qualifying disqualification, it was always going to be a long race for Timo. He spend most of the beginning of the race stuck behind the Force India’s and Torro Rosso’s, but being on a much better strategy, disposed of them after the pit stops. Some excellent moves around Buemi and Alonso at turns 3+4 were crucial on his way to a fine 4th. Toyota were fast all weekend around Albert Park and this is the least they deserve. Mentioned after the race the importance and usefulness of the KERS system.
5th- F. Alonso, Renault,
Alonso has only failed to score points once at Melbourne, and that was in his debut race in a Minardi back in 2001. Always a track that rewards driver skill, Alonso was forced to go well into the gravel at turn one at the start, which meant he was much further back than his grid slot, in fact, he was behind Hamilton after lap 1! From then on Fernando did what he could with the reluctant Renault, he will be pleased with the 4 points but immensely disappointed with the pace of his car.
6th- N. Rosberg, Williams Toyota
Quite a race for young Nico. A bad start saw him fall behind both Ferraris and when their super soft tyres went off after barely 10 laps, Nico was being held up at over 5 seconds a lap compared to Vettel, who he should have been racing for a podium. The safety car brought him back to the front but he lost track position in the pit stops, and when the safety car went in, his near collision with piquet caused him to lose yet more places. Overall his pace was superb, (he set the fastest lap) and probably should have been on the podium. He was on course for 4th with just 7laps to go, which would have been second at the end, but the Williams suffered terribly on the super soft’s, and was passed by Barrichello, Glock and Alonso. At the end he was probably grateful the safety car did come out, otherwise he may have gone home empty handed.
7th- S. Buemi, Torro Rosso Ferrari
Excellent debut from the youngest man in the field. out-qualified his more experienced team-mate in a car the team barely knows and after all the grid penalties, Buemi found himself in 13th. Slap bang in the midfield for his debut at Melbourne, a circuit frequent in first lap incidences. Nevertheless he kept out of trouble and for pretty much the entire race was in the top 10. Kept Rosberg behind for several laps in the much quicker Williams. Was perhaps a bit soft in letting Glock get past him, but he made very few mistakes and was ahead of his team mate all race. Fully deserved debut points.
8th- S. Bourdais, Torro Rosso, Ferrari
Bourdais will be glad to leave with a point after an uninspiring weekend. Out paced all weekend with his very inexperienced rookie team mate. Bourdais is yet to find his groove in a car he will surely grow to like much more than last year. Quiet weekend, barely featured but will be glad to have brought it home in the points.
9th A. Sutil, Force India Mercedes,
A strong and promising weekend from Sutil, in the top 9 in both Friday practice sessions, and was disappointed not to make Q2. He outpaced Fisichella for pretty much the entire weekend. Was running with the Torro Rosso’s and Piquet’s Renault in the early stages and almost scored his second world championship point. Malaysia may show the cars aero shortcomings but they will be pleased to have moved off the back row. Also, he broke his front wing against his team-mate and had to pit at the end of the first lap. He came out of the pits in front of Heidfeld, and finished in front of him!
10th- N. Heidfeld, BMW
A poor weekend for Nick who has often gone well here in the past. Struggled in practice and qualifying, always on the fringes of the top 10, made to look very bad when Kubica put the BMW in 4th. Nicks trusty race craft was shoved aside not ten seconds into the race when he was caught up in the Webber/ Barrichello incident. Running KERS he may well have been able to make good progress in the early stages and would have been able to pass those struggling on the super soft’s. However he had to pit at the end of lap one and he was never likely to make much progress after that.
11th- G. Fisichella, Force India
Out performed by Sutil this weekend. Kept out of the mess at turn one but dodgy braking allowed Sutil to get to close and break the Germans front wing. Fisichella ran well with Piquet and the Toyotas in the early stages but won’t have been impressed to have been beaten by his team-mate. The team also made a tactical error, Fisichella was lying 8th with 9 laps to go, and he had to make a pitstop and lose all chances of a point.
12th - Lewis Hamilton, DQ, originally 4th then 3rd after Trulli penalty.
A very harsh penalty on Lewis after he proved brilliantly he is able to deal with a non race-winning machine. Made use of the KERS early on and was 9th after lap 6. Certainly deserved points, not for the car but for him. Outpaced by Kovalainen all weekend but kept out of trouble at the start. Disqualified for giving "misleading evidence" to the stewards. Mclaren will be hoping this isnt going to hurt them at the end of the season.
13th- M.Webber, Red Bull Renault
Sometimes you wonder why Webber bothers, who else was going to get caught up in a first lap incident in Melbourne. Of course you could point the blame and say Webber should have been higher up the grid, having made a mistake in qualifying 3. He said he had virtually no down force after his first lap pitstop. But the Red Bull showed good pace this weekend, and Webber must surely fancy his chances at Malaysia, hes always qualified excellently there, and if his race luck improves, would be a good bet for some serious points.
14th - S.Vettel, Red Bull Renault
Vettel really should have been on the podium, perhaps a more experienced driver would have realised that Kubica was going to pass him sooner or later, such was the drop off in performance of the super soft tyre, 3rd place would have been more than good enough for him and the team, but Vettel is a racer and that is why every team wants to have him. His 3rd place grid slot was superb and his race pace but not too far away from Button whatsoever. Got a 10 place gird penalty at Malaysia, but it is possible to pass so expect to see the young German make progress through the field.
15th - R.Kubica, BMW
Robert had second place in the bag, and quite possibly a win, if he had just given Vettel a little bit more room at turn 3. Robert should have known Vettel would struggle into the corner, Vettel was on the super softs and on the dirty inside line. However Robert had a brilliant Saturday and Sunday, nowhere in Friday practice, 4th place on the grid was a great achievement, especially considering heidfeld was nowhere near the top 10! Even though Kubica was light on fuel and on the super softs, the safety car helped him out and he would well have won this race. BMW have failed to set headlines so far but this performace will have given them a boost for the next race.
16th - K. Raikkonen, Ferrari
Raikkonen failed to reinvent himself this weekend. The Ferrari was not quite on the front pace and niether driver really made any headway in it. Kimi used his KERS well off the line but the super softs went off horribly after a short while and he was up to 5 seconds off the leaders pace and had to pit well before he was scheduled too. Despite the safety car bunching up the field, Kimi had a strange spin in to the wall and eventually retired with 3 laps to go. Without the spin, Kimi would probably have found himself up there with Rosberg and Barrichello, but on the prime, harder tyre.
17th- F. Massa, Ferrari
Much like Raikkonen, Massa struggled with a Ferrari that didn’t quite have the ultimate pace. Again used KERS well off the grid but suffered like everyone else on the super softs. A technical problem halted him with 13 laps to go and he was switched on to a 3 stopper, but with the safety car, may well have finished in the points had he got to the end.
18th- N. Piquet, Renault
Not the start Piquet wanted, lucky to keep his drive at Renault, the Brazilian was near the bottom of every time sheet. Qualified and the back and kept out of trouble, steadily made progress through the field but when the safety went in he got a bit too close to Rosberg and seemed to suffer a peculiar braking issue. He’s got to improve before everyone gets to spain at the start of may. Has got to get into q2 every time and some steady drives into the lower reaches of the points would go a long way.
19th- K.Nakajima, Williams Toyota
Kazuki was looking very strong until his crash. His practice pace was up there with Rosberg’s, but he was poor in qualifying and 11th place was his reward. A good start however put him right up there behind Barrichello and was looking strong for some points until a strange crash put him out, much like Raikkonen’s incident. Seemed to put too much power down too soon. Cant afford to do that again in the early races while the Williams is going so well.
20th- H. Kovalainen, Mclaren Mercedes
Not much of a race for poor Heikki, maintaining his luck from the end of last season. Performed much better than Hamilton all weekend but was perhaps the instigator in the first lap crash, giving Barrichello’s slow starting Brawn a tap into the first corner. Heikki was caught by Webber’s sideways Red Bull and the damage was irreparable. Cannot be looking forward to Malaysia where the Mclaren is expected to struggle.
