The Australian Grand Prix 2010 Awards

Star of the Race – Jenson Button

It was hard to choose between Button and Kubica, but at the end of the day, Button won and it was thanks to his quick thinking.

Button didn’t have such a good start, he collided with Alonso going into turn one, and was struggling with his intermediate tyres. Once he was passed by his team mate he made the brave call to pit for slicks and the rest, as they say, is history. He was helped by Vettel’s retirement, but his decision put him in second, so it he deserved to inherit the lead. He also managed to look after his tyres for around 85% of the race, which is amazing.

Special mention: Robert Kubica for his amazing start, and calm defence, to take 2nd place.

Cock of the Race – Mark Webber

I can understand Webber wanted to impress at his home race. Sadly for him, he did everything wrong. He lost two places at the start, and then he was over excited after exiting the pits for slicks and lost a place. He nearly took out Hamilton with a mistimed out breaking manoeuvre, then succeeded in taking out Hamilton in an even more mistimed breaking manoeuvre.

Special mention: Lewis Hamilton for acting like a cock in front of a policeman, and getting his car impounded, and for complaining over the radio and post race interview about his strategy. Suck it up Lewis, everyone makes mistakes, but you don’t want to make enemies in your own team. Ask Fernando Alonso.

Overtaking move of the Race – Lewis Hamilton on Nico Rosberg

Even though he is runner up for the cock of the race, he did drive pretty well. Coming out of turn 10, Clark chicane, Hamilton managed to pull up on the outside of Rosberg coming into the fast chicane. It looked like an impossible move, but Hamilton kept his foot in and got around the outside of Rosberg going into the first part of the chicane and grabbed the racing line going into the second part; a stunning move by Hamilton.

Crash of the Race- Kamui Kobayashi on Lap one

Coming out of turn 2 and heading down the short straight to turn 3, Kobayashi suddenly found himself with no steering. The result, he went straight into the inside wall, cut the corner, and smashed into Buemi and Hulkenburg, taking them both out. Why no steering? Well the front wing came off, whether it be another failure, or cause of contact, we don’t know, but it’s still pretty concerning for Sauber. It was a big crash, and luckily no one was hurt.

The “oh my god, what the hell are you doing?” moment of the race – McLaren pitting Hamilton

Even though he reacted like a cock, Hamilton has a right to be slightly miffed about this.

After his move on Rosberg, Hamilton closed right up on Kubica. Then he pitted. Why? No one knows. Not even the drivers. Kubica thought he was given a penalty, and mentioned how Hamilton had tyres that were less worn, and a more competitive car. Alonso mentioned that all simulations pointed to staying out as the fastest strategy for the race. A cock up by McLaren, but hey it happens.

The unluckiest driver of the race – Sebastian Vettel

He has now lost two race wins out of two races. He must be fuming. He should be leading the championship by a comfortable margin, but isn’t thanks to faulty brakes and a spark plug.

The luckiest driver of the race – Felipe Massa

How the hell did he finish third? He wasn’t that fast all weekend, and his race pace wasn’t so good either. He somehow managed to keep Alonso behind, and utilised him as a rear gunner for the incoming Hamilton attack. I don’t think he can believe it either.

The Qantas Australian Grand Prix 2010

After the procession that was Bahrain, the Australian Grand Prix was just what F1 needed.

Bernie should never have put Bahrain as the first race. It lacks the atmosphere of a season opener, and the races have rarely been exciting. In fact, 2006 was probably the best race in Bahrain, and even that was pretty dull.

Anyway, enough about Bahrain, Australia very rarely dull thanks to the narrow, bumpy, streets, close walls and gravel traps. Gravel traps punish mistakes, something that the new generation of safer Hermann Tilke tracks do not do. It’s great to see people go wide and lose time, instead of just keeping their foot stuck in and powering out.

The race was pretty much guaranteed some overtaking the moment Hamilton qualified 11th. It was a poor qualifying session for him. His mind may have been elsewhere, he was pulled over by the Victoria police for driving like a chav, but still more is expected of Hamilton.

God must have been itching for a good race too, as he blessed us with a light sprinkling of rain during the first few laps. So the entire grid started on intermediate tyres. I was expecting a huge pile up into the first corner, but all I got was Alonso spinning after he, Schumacher, and Button went three wide into turn 1. Alonso cut up Button, and Button spun him. Simple racing accident, but it still sent Schumacher to the pits for a new nose, and Alonso right at the back of the field.

The huge pile up I was expecting then occurred at turn 3. Kobayashi’s front wing failed, for the second time this weekend, and basically made him a passenger to his own car. He went over the inside curb and T-boned the two cars of Hulkenberg and Buemi. It was disappointing for Buemi as he could have secured some points today and for Hulkenberg as he hasn’t really impressed us with his debut. He has destroyed everyone in every feeder series he has been in, but so far, he has been off the pace in F1.

Button struggled to keep his team mate behind, and eventually was passed. However, he showed he is a Prost, rather than a Senna, with an superb call to put early for dry tyres. I admit, I laughed and pretty much called him a tit when I saw him sliding around, but then he pulled out the fastest lap of the race so far, which triggered a mad rush to the pits.

The inspired decision put Button in a good position, but Vettel was still in control. Until his brakes failed, and threw him into the gravel. Vettel has now lost 2 wins from two races. He should be in the lead with 50 points now, and he knows it. He is quickly becoming the Raikkonen of 2005, of 2010. He is beating Webber, but the car keeps failing him. Newey has always had a reputation of building fast, but fragile cars.

Speaking of Webber, he really was on form today. Webber has a habit of going to pieces when other drivers are around him. For example, German Grand Prix 2009, he swerves into Barrichello for no obvious reason, they into Hamilton. At Brazil 2009, he swerves into Raikkonen and destroys his wing. Today, he tried to overtake Massa and succeeded, but his exit was compromised to Hamilton made his move. He then out broke himself, and nearly took Hamilton off. Stupid, but it happens in racing. I remember Montoya doing the same to Schumacher in Austria 2003 (I think 2003). However, his second move was just dumb.

Most drivers in his situation, seeing two drivers up ahead battling, would hang back and make sure he nails the exit of the corner so he can get past. Webber decided to forget that plan, and break very late, and hit Hamilton. What was he thinking? He was not going to overtake Hamilton going into the corner. It makes no sense, everyone could see it. It’s so ironic that probably the whineiest driver on the grid, who is willing to whinge to the cameras if anyone does anything to him, can be so dangerous himself. He can’t handle the heat of being in a pack of drivers at all. I can understand mistakes, but some of his stuff just looks like a panic reaction, especially his random swerves when people get near him.

Hamilton himself was on fine form today, recovering from his bad qualifying position. He would have been second if not for a pitstop that was not needed. On the team radio his sounded extremely annoyed, something which he needs to control. Mclaren have made more good decisions that bad ones. Sometimes things don’t work out how they should. To have a go at the team, especially when your team mate is winning can lead to… Well ask Fernando Alonso what it can lead to.

As for Schumacher, his race was pretty much over after the first lap. When he came out, after changing his wing, he was stuck behind Alguersauri for much of the race. He still managed to pick a point, but he should have been somewhere near Rosberg in 4th, 5th or 6th place. Rosberg’s advantage over Schumacher has shrunk, and I think by the time we get to Europe, Schumacher will have moved ahead.

Now for probably the best drive of the afternoon. Kubica in the Renault really outperformed the car today. His start, 9th to 3rd, was breathtaking. His defensive driving was amazing, keeping much faster cars at bay. Overall it was a thoroughly deserved podium for him and the team.

Today’s race is what I expected of the new regulations; People mixing it up, and not relying on pit stops to overtake. I do fear it was cause of the rain, but I am optimistic that the next race is Malaysia will be just as good.

The Captain’s F1 Blog: The 2010 Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain

Finally! It has been too long, and the Formula one comes back for a brand new season of wheel to wheel racing. Well part of that sentence is true, it’s back but there was any wheel to wheel racing.

This weekend has been an anti-climax. I couldn’t follow qualifying as my live timing from F1.com would not load, and the graphics on screen couldn’t keep me informed of who was where. I had no idea who was in the knockout zone for Q1 and Q2, which kind of ruins the spectacle doesn’t it? Why have a knockout style qualifying session, then not inform people of who is about to be knocked out? It means there is no tension, just more of an “Oh Kobayashi is out…” when you see him exiting his car and heading to the FIA garage.

Then, during the race, the graphics were once again inconsistent. During the pit stops some people had timers, others didn’t. Some people had the full time in the pit lane shown, and then the time stationary shown, some just had total time, others didn’t have anything. It is Very frustrating, to say the least.

In short, last year’s graphics were near enough perfect. We had times for nearly all pits, and we had a live graphic on the side of the screen to see drivers moving up or down. If they felt to change the style, fair enough, but go back to the information they actually provided last year.

So qualifying was let down, but I did think the grid would provide for an interesting race; Vettel in pole with Massa and Alonso bringing up the rear. Schumacher returns one place behind his younger and highly rated team mate. I was quite excited.

Sadly, the race was a letdown too. For starters my mum has bought a new cable package which means I watch the race in Thai, which also means I know more about F1 than the commentator and he spends most the race promoting Red Bull – For those who don’t know Red Bull is a Thai drink, so us Thais have felt the need to claim it as our own racing team. Fair enough, I don’t mind hearing the Thai national Anthem after the race! – Secondly, it seemed the fuel really has stopped people attacking and has made the racing tediously dull.

I admit, I did call for the ban of refuelling. I thought it was make the drivers go at it as they couldn’t rely on pit stops to leap the driver in front, I though the variety of different tyre strategies would increase overtaking attempts. I was wrong, very wrong. The drivers hauled their tanks around for the first 15 laps; then they all stopped within 4 laps of each other, put on the other compound of tyre that they are required to put on, then went out and trundled to the finish. The only reason there was some overtaking is because Kubica was spun by Sutil and because Vettel’s exhaust decided to go AWOL.

As for the new teams, HRT did well to even start, Virgin are around the same speed as Lotus but very unreliable. The Lotus duo finished 3 laps down, but to finish with a car built in 4 months is a great achievement. So well done to them.

So it was a very dull race, but there are a few surprised. Mclaren, and their funky rear wing staller, are not as fast as we though. Mercedes isn’t fast too, and Rosberg is out pacing Schumacher. Sauber are actually very slow, and Force India actually quite fast.

Then there are the things that didn’t surprise us: Alonso is fast, Hamilton is beating Button, and Vettel is beating Webber.

Even though Schumacher was beaten by Rosberg, I think Rosberg still has a few things to worry about. A man that has been away from F1 for 3 years comes back and finishes 4 seconds and a single place behind you. Obviously he will take a few races to get into the groove, but does Rosberg have anything left in reserve?

Red Bull seems to have gone back to fast car, but faster to break down. This looks like a repeat of 2005 to be, with Alonso picking up points whilst Vettel succumbs to sick cars. Of course, we haven’t seen the full potential of the Mclaren, Hamilton finished 3^rd. I think Hamilton could be the 2010 equivilent of the 2008 Kubica. Picks up points, and maybe a win, and he will keep him in contention until the end. However, Mclaren has an amazing development pace too, so we shouldn’t rule him out.

What else is there to add? Nothing really, except let’s hope Malaysia is better. We haven’t got a clear indication of where the teams are yet, but we should have by the end of the 28^th. I could go off one a big rant about how refuelling is a big mistake, but we have to wait until Malaysia and Australia to make a real conclusion. Bring on Malaysia!