It was an epic start to the 2009 season with incidents, accidents, overtaking, Safety Cars, and the cherry on the icing, a high-speed Nelson Piquet exit - what more can you ask for?
STAR OF THE RACE
Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 1st
What a fantastic weekend for F1. Jenson Button has shaved off most of his ginger beard. Result. Oh and he also won the Australian GP for the Brawn team.
On paper - Grid: Button P1, Barrichello P2 - Result: Button P1, Barrichello P2, it all looks pretty straightforward. But there were many times when it could and almost did go horribly wrong. Button had no drinks bottle for the entire race, something that will cripple him next week in Malaysia if it happens again. He flat-spotted a tyre trying to get heat into the tyres during the Safety Car period. He had to resist the pressure from a tenacious Sebastian Vettel behind him and a pit-stop that he almost botched himself. It was touch and go. But he made it through for a very impressive second race win.
OVERTAKING MOVE OF THE RACE
Lap 52: Timo Glock, Toyota on Fernando Alonso, Renault
Glock had the chance to practice this move through Turns 3 and 4 on Buemi several laps beforehand. It's easy enough to do it on a rookie anxious not to cause an accident in his first race, it's a lot tougher taking on a combative former World Champion who senses a points finish.
Glock showed Robert Kubica exactly how to do it.
He moved to the outside going into Turn 3, making Alonso/Buemi cover the inside line and run deep into the corner. As they did this Glock switched his car to the inside line and overtook on acceleration going out of Turn 4 on the outside.
Glock was confident and made the move stick both times. Perhaps Alonso was wary of him after Timo almost clattered him into the scenery at Turn 15 on Lap 40. Glock spun the car and lost a place to Raikkonen but all lived to fight another day. It was an unlikely fourth place for someone who started the race from the pitlane.
WINNERS
Red Bull
Despite having no points to show from their first 2009 outing, the Red Bull car was the 'non-diffuser car' to have in Melbourne. It may not have an advantageous elevated rear diffuser, but they ran Brawn GP very close. BMW only got near to them thanks to the Safety Car backing up the field and Williams were never in a position to challenge after a disastrous opening lap from Nico Rosberg.
They should have blocked out the second row of the grid but Mark Webber's second run in Q3 put paid to that. Vettel drove a brilliant race in a car that is likely to be in contention for a win in Malaysia and was unlucky to come into contact with a charging Robert Kubica.
Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 2nd
It's always interesting to hear Rubens' views on accidents. In the press conference afterward he gave the impression that he was an innocent party in the first corner shunt noting that he got hit from behind by a McLaren (...?)
He described the Raikkonen bump as Kimi "turning in on me" but then again he had to as there was a corner coming. Barrichello made a move down the inside, realised it wasn't going to work, stood on the anchors and then bumped the innocent Raikkonen up the arse.
The fact that his front wing stayed on after two hefty whacks is testament to the fabrication qualities at the Brackley factory not to Rubens' ability.
Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 3rd
Though McLaren aren't actually protesting the rear diffusers of the Brawn, Toyota and Williams cars, the unlikely scenario is that should they be deemed illegal, then Lewis will have won the Australian GP. How bizarre is that?
Hamilton had a fantastic race, picking off drivers in the opening stint and moving up to P9 by Lap 6. Though he suffered from running the soft tyres early (dropping back to P15) and the Safety Car didn't do him any particular favours (he restarted in P12) he learnt that patience is a virtue.
His rather huffy performance in talking to Lee Mckenzie after the race may well have been because he had to go and see the stewards about Jarno Trulli's misdemeanours. Apart from retaking a position he wasn't entitled to Trulli demonstrated why F1 drivers do well not to publicly criticise their fellow professionals. Having given Hamilton a load of grief about moving around under braking at Monza last year the GPDA director demonstrated exactly how to do it for the cameras and the new TV graphics package.
Fernando Alonso, Renault, 5th
A curious race from Alonso who found himself well behind his accident-prone team-mate, but still scoring good points in the end. He started from 10th on the grid yet managed to end the opening lap behind Lewis Hamilton who started from 18th.
Nico Rosberg, Williams, 6th
Rosberg's poor opening lap could have sunk him, he was swamped by Massa, Kubica and Raikkonen and then got severely delayed by Raikkonen. This in turn put him back in the pack when he had an overlong pit-stop on Lap 16. He should have been on the podium
Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 7th
A great opening race from Buemi - outqualifying and outracing his team-mate, pressuring Massa and keeping out of trouble.
Bridgestone
In one small move the Bridgestone team have provided the degree of overtaking that was meant to be achieved by KERS and the mickey mouse aero package. The super soft tyres didn't really rubber in towards the end of the race and were a liability whenever anybody used them.
This will make races even more of a strategy-fest than they are now, because how and when you use the non-prime tyre is going to be critical in some GPs - in qualifying as well as the race.
Radio Traffic
Now that the airwaves have been opened up to broadcasters we're getting a lot more interesting stuff. Most interesting of all was Ross Brawn actually getting a little bit excited - and angry - for once, with Rubens Barrichello, at the end of the race. Rubens was going too fast under the second Safety Car and his team boss yelled at him. Great stuff.
KERS
We've yet to hear from McLaren if their energy system was the difference between Lewis Hamilton getting past so many cars early on, but it was noticeable how much more extra overtaking went on in Melbourne. If the under-pressure Woking team have got this aspect of the new technical package right, then it bodes well for the rest of the season.
LOSERS
Robert Kubica, BMW, DNF
Kubica ruined what was otherwise a great drive by trying to get past Vettel too quickly. Kubica may be a great battler but he's not Alain Prost. There's no great calculation going on upstairs.
Now I know this won't come as music to the ears to the Kubica fans who think he can do no wrong (and let me point out I tipped him as my World Champion of 2009 for his never-say-die attitude). But he suffers from chronic impatience. It was that quality that triggered his spectacular roll in Canada in 2007 and caused the accident today.
The golden rule of F1, if not all motorsport is that he who overtakes on the outside of a corner puts himself in harm's way. If you're on the outside, beware. Battling for a podium place against a driver whose tyres are fading fast is always going to be a risky business, especially when you try and take them on the outside and don't leave them much room.
What's more, he could probably have limped back for a low points finish if he hadn't rushed off and planted his car in the wall in his impatience to get on with it.
Sebastien Vettel, Red Bull, DNF
Though Vettel's said he's sorry for the accident, he's being characteristically generous. Yes, maybe in retrospect he should have given way, because third place is better than a DNF. But the emphasis is always on the following driver to get past, not for the car in front to make it easy for him. Especially when you're dealing with the calibre of driver of Robert Kubica. Maybe slightly different if it's an F1 debutant or someone with limited car control.
Mario Theissen, BMW boss
Mario should be in his own section - whingers and losers. To say that Robert Kubica was closing on Vettel and Button by two seconds a lap is absolute tosh. Kubica, had he applied any kind of reasoning to his actions, would have grabbed second place, but he would have had to catch Jenson Button and was only making up ground in clear air at about 0.3 of a lap.
Heikki Kovalainen, Mclaren, DNF
That didn't last long, did it.
Jarno Trulli, Toyota, Much further back than before
Trulli was one of those keen to air his criticism of drivers who decided to move around in the braking areas last season. Very dangerous concluded Jarno with his GPDA hat on. So what a surprise to view his Toyota through the onboard camera of Lewis Hamilton on lap 49 and find him blocking to the right under braking just as the TV graphics came up with the technical information that the cars were braking. You could hear Hamilton come off the gas as well which made it doubly obvious. One rule for some, eh, Jarno...?
Then at the end he threw it all away by leaving the track, rejoining and taking back a place, giving himself a nice big 25 second penalty. It's hard to know why Toyota are appealing, maybe it's out of embarrassment after all Jarno's macho gestures on the podium.
Mark Webber, Red Bull, 13th
Mark was unlucky to be involved in the first corner incident that spun him round, but then again if he'd made a better job of qualifying on Saturday he'd have been near the front with Vettel and avoiding all that trouble. Even so, it's yet another Aussie GP nightmare for a man who deserves way better. Way better may come next weekend.
Ferrari, DNFs
Raikkonen was very honest after the race and blamed himself for the spin that put him out of contention, no fault of the car. Massa suffered a technical failure which as yet I've been unable to discover. So presumably it's something they're embarrassed about. All in all, though, they had a pretty strong weekend running close to the front, so they can't be that downhearted. They've got the same constructors points tally as BMW.
BBC Coverage
The BBC had a miserable start to their GP coverage. It all started with forgettable opening credits that looked like a promo for an X-Box game - if you're going to use the classic theme tune The Chain then you have to marry it up to spectacular old footage of F1 action. Like it used to be. Not what some designer thinks looks hip and cool and ends up looking bland.
The minute the race started it was come-back-James-Allen all is forgiven. The chemistry between Jonathan Leggard and Martin Brundle was non-existent. It was like someone had put an enthusiastic weatherman in the commentary box with him. When Leggard stopped talking Brundle seemed disinclined to chip in. With Allen and Brundle, Martin was keen to butt in whenever he could, despite a chaotically exciting opening race there were periods of silence.
One of the major new innovations for 2009 is the rules governing pit-stops under Safety Cars. They weren't explained, even though we had a Safety car just at the time when teams might need to come in.
Another great new innovation is the FIA releasing car weights before the start. You would have thought someone on the BBC production team might have cobbled together a graphic to show when all the cars might be coming in for their first pit-stops. Or even do a post-qualifying analysis of how well the Top 10 had done given the fuel they were carrying. No.
The sheer lack of facts and information after the race was over, gave the impression that Leggard can only explain what he sees and doesn't have Allen's journalistic insight. But then again what do you expect from the BBC's 2008 Football Correspondent.
Further mystery surrounds the involvement of Murray Walker. The Muzza was photographed with the 'new BBC team' and appears ready and waiting to contribute to the F1 coverage in the Radio Times, but there was no mention of him on the programme. Is he available only on the red button?
Nelson Piquet, Renault, DNF
After hauling himself up to sixth place Nelson Piquet was in danger of getting a great result in Australia. That's NOT what he's employed to do. He's employed to not beat Fernando Alonso. Thankfully the overlong Safety Car allowed his brake temperature to slip away and come the re-start they "went crazy" out of neglect, sending him into the warm embrace of the gravel. Reassuring, that.
Charlie Whiting, Race Director
I'd love to hear the logic for not deploying the Safety Car the minute that Nakajima hit the wall on Lap 18. We've had SCs dispatched for less in the past. Charlie and Ross Brawn are old mates, so I'm sure that had nothing to do with it at all.
Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Boss
Ever on the hunt for publicity, Richard Branson wasted no time in getting to Australia and slapping his Virgin logos on the car once he knew that Brawn were going to be successful. Wasn't this the same Richard Branson who said two weeks ago that now wasn't the right time to get involved in F1 and that they would look at it at some stage in the future? What a difference a Barcelona test makes.
Branson sounds like he's trying to give the impression that he's been backing Brawn all along, but he had the chance to buy the team and turned it down.
While it's good to have new, high-profile money coming into the sport as a vote of confidence for F1, you can't help feeling that this enthusiasm might not have been so evident if Brawn had been in the middle of the pack. If this had been Branson's intention all along he would have had more than a couple of logos in place by the time the cars rolled out on Friday.
Oh, and get a haircut you old hippy.
Andrew T. Davies
Source : Planet F1
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