Current World Champion Jenson Button raced to victory in Melbourne in a race that kept fans gripped to the very end. Polish star Robert Kubica and Ferrari’s Felipe Massa were 2nd and 3rd. After the procession in the opening race in Bahrain, Australia was just what the sport of F1 needed. This was a race packed with thrills and spills, when rain before the race forced everyone to start on intermediate tyres. A brave call from Button to come into the pits and change to slicks, when conditions were still damp, looked like it may have been the wrong decision when he slid off into the gravel. The McLaren then continued and picked up the pace, recording times six seconds quicker than his opposition. After the rest of the field had pitted for new tyres, he had jumped up to second place behind Sebastian Vettel who later retired with brake failure.
This was only Button’s second race for McLaren, so was an emotional and well deserved victory for the likeable man from Somerset. Button said, "I just want to run around and scream because this is the most amazing experience. For this moment in my career, it is very special and hopefully this is something we can build on for this year. The team has done a great job this weekend, we've made some good steps forward, but we are still not quick enough. We still want to be quicker than we are, but this is a great result and to win here with what we have is spectacular - and we have to keep building on this."
Many had questioned Button’s decision to jump ship from Brawn into the McLaren team which was so seemingly dominated around Lewis Hamilton. In Bahrain, Hamilton had the edge over his team-mate, so for Button to fight back and pick up 25 points, he has already established himself within the team in early stages of the season. The McLaren team actually thought Button had made a mistake on the decision to come in the pits so early to change to the slick tyre. Some may say it was a lucky call from Button, but its decisions like that which makes the difference between winning a championship. Martin Whitmarsh, Team Principal at McLaren declared, “Jenson's was a drive truly worthy of a world champion. First, he showed extreme tactical acuity and supreme strategic responsibility by personally electing to make the early call from intermediate to dry tyres, a move that moved him ahead of the pack and laid the foundation for this victory.”
Suffering contrasting fortunes, Vettel must have crossed many black cats recently as on lap 26 whilst leading from the start of the race, he retired with brake failure and ended the race in the gravel. Two races lost this season when in a position to score 25 points. It’s clear the Red Bull in the hands of the young German seems to have the quickest pace of everyone but reliability issues have cost him a chance to have 50 points in the bag. Vettel said, “I had huge vibrations building up and as soon as I touched the brakes, I had some sort of failure going in to Turn 13 and ended up in the gravel. There was nothing I could have done, I lost the car and that was it. It's a shame as I think we had the race in total control at every stage, even though the conditions were difficult. But to win you have to finish. It breaks my balls not to get the win, but there's still a long way to go in this Championship. We're working hard to get on top the reliability issues and we hope to have a solid race and see the chequered flag in Malaysia."
The start of the race proved chaotic when there was a “racing incident” between Button and championship leader Fernando Alonso, which also hampered Michael Schumacher. Alonso was left in last pace after facing the wrong way after a spin and having to allow the whole field past, whilst Schumacher was forced into the pits for a new front wing.
A spectacular crash involving Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi on lap one was frightening to watch after he had lost his front wing and veered across the track into the path of Niko Hulkenberg and Sebastien Buemi ending the races for all involved. They were all lucky to be able to walk away without injury.
Kubica in the Renault drove a superb race to pick up 18 points after making up places at the start due to the mayhem that surrounded him. He drove a faultless race and withstood immense pressure from the quicker cars of Hamilton and Massa.
Alonso produced a stunning race after he made a sluggish start and then must have believed his race was over after the contact with Button and Schumacher. The Spaniard was lucky to avoid any damage from the oncoming cars while he had to sit patiently and fall to last place. A true champions’ drive followed which showed the gritty, determined side of the Ferrari driver, which kept him busy in the early stages, progressing through the pack.
Alonso said, “I am extremely happy - especially how the race developed. Being last at the first corner, and then the reward at the end of the race has been much better than I expected. I was not convinced that I could recover the positions to get into the points," he added. "The first laps with the intermediate tyres, if you see the times I was like two seconds quicker than anyone because I was not caring too much. I thought maybe I will crash or maybe I will recover my position – so it was maximum attack. I was very, very happy and very confident with the car. I enjoyed it – and I prefer to start first and be bored until the end of the race, but it was an interesting race in terms of overtaking and in terms of battles."
When Alonso caught his team-mate, Massa, he appeared to be much quicker and have better handling of his Ferrari, but was unable to pass the Brazilian. Many may say it would have been in Ferrari’s best interests to “allow” Alonso to pass Massa to see if he would have been able to challenge Kubica for 2nd place. Perhaps with it only being the second race in the championship and for harmony to be kept in the Maranello camp, it was decided that they would let the drivers fight it out on the track and Massa took three points out of Alonso’s advantage in the championship. Alonso claimed, "I don't think at that time that I could do any more than that. I was more concentrating on Hamilton and Webber – who were coming behind, than attacking Felipe and Robert. I was super happy with fourth, so I stayed there."
It was not one of Massa’s finest weekends at a track he openly admits to struggling on. His previous best finish at Albert Park was a 6th place. He was clearly out performed in qualifying but after beating Alonso at the start and driving a smart race, a podium finish was a fine result for Massa giving him the best start ever to a F1 season.
Home town favourite, Mark Webber, was not Mr Popular after the race after running into the back of Hamilton with two laps left of the race. Webber had already tapped Hamilton earlier in the race and been driving very aggressively. He was in 6th place after he and Hamilton were chasing down the two Ferrari’s after their second pit stop. Whilst Hamilton went around the outside of Alonso’s car, Webber was caught out and crashed into the back of him and had to limp back to the pits for a replacement nose cone. Webber was later reprimanded for the incident. Webber explained, “At the end of the race we caught the leading guys, but then we had the incident. I apologise to Lewis about that. I lost all down-force in the front of the car when I got close to them, the car lifted and I slid into the back of him. Unfortunately it had looked like a good finish, but it's still very difficult to follow in these cars. I went down fighting.”
Hamilton was left seething not only with Webber for costing him a potential shot at 4th place, but also with his team for what he was claming over the radio was a “terrible idea” for him to be have called in for new tyres. Ultimately, Hamilton and Webber’s rostrum chances were wrecked by the decisions from their team to come in for new tyres. They caught the trio of Kubica, Massa and Alonso quickly with fresh tyres but once there, could do nothing about the defensive Alonso. A frustrated Hamilton revealed, “This was probably one of the drives of my life. Okay, it's possible that the decision to make a second tyre stop wasn't the right one, but my team are a brilliant bunch of guys and they usually get it spot-on. I think I deserved better though. I guess things can't always pan out right every time, but that's motor racing."
Other notable performances were Tonio Liuzzi in the Force India with a fantastic 7th place finish, scoring 6 points. Karun Chandhok must have also been one of the happiest drivers after completing the race in the Hispania Racing car after barely having any time in the cockpit in Bahrain. It was a wonderful finish from the Indian and for the rookie who must be relieved to have reached the finish and got some vital laps under his belt for himself and the team.
The drivers’ championship is already hotting up after just two races. Alonso still leads Massa, but the gap is now only 4 points. Button, after his win, is now only 6 points behind the leader. Malaysia is only a week away, will Vettel be third time lucky or will a new winner join the exciting battle to be a contender for this years Championship?
Race Results, Round 2, Melbourne - Australia.
1. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 58 laps 1hr 33m 36.531s
2. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault +00m 12.0s
3. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 14.4s
4. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari +00m 16.3s
5. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +00m 16.6s
6. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +00m 29.8s
7. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes +00m 59.8s
8. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth +01m 00.5s
9. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +01m 07.3s
10. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +01m 09.3s
11. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari +01m 11.3s
12. Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari +01m 14.0s
13. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Cosworth +2 laps
14. Karun Chandhok India HRT-Cosworth +5 laps
Drivers Championship after 2 Races:
1. Alonso 37 pts
2. Massa 33 pts
3. Button 31 pts
4. Hamilton 23 pts
5. Rosberg 20 pts
6. Kubica 18 pts
7. Vettel 12 pts
8. Schumacher 9 pts
9. Liuzzi 8pts
10.Webber 6pts
How did the team-mates fare? After 2 races.
Hamilton 1-1 Button, Massa 1-1 Alonso, Vettel 2-0 Webber, Rosberg 2-0 Schumacher, Kubica 2-0 Petrov, Barrichello 2 -0 Hulkenberg, Sutil 2 –0 Liuzzi, De La Rosa 2-0 Kobayashi, Buemi 2-0 Alguersuari, Glock 2-0 Di Grassi, Trulli 1-1 Kovalainen, Senna 2 – 0 Chandhok
Posted by Leandra Graves
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