2010 Australian Grand Prix Discussion

[mario]

Couple of comments on Qualy:

- HRT is up (well, down) there with Virgin. Lotus seems to have the upper hand of both. Anyone in for a bet that, once they figure out which way the nuts and bolts go, the Dallara chassis will turn out to be better than the other two (despite my previous comments on Colin Kolles' sanguine comments)?
- Old habits die hard. You still don't want to sit in Renault's number 2 car.
- Rosberg held Schumi away, just. The comeback starts here.
- The Saubers are [insert your derogatory adjective of choice here]. Cowboy-ashi is overdriving, and the platform doesn't seem to like being overdriven.
- No running on Friday morning, and again 10th on the grid: Sutil, what a man! I wonder who he'll crash into in corner 1 tomorrow.
- Hulkenberg clearly trying to keep his drawers clean this time around. Come on son, we now you have it, just give it the beans.
- Buemi is in the middle of the grid. Bet nobody noticed, not even within Toro Rosso.
- And what is Lewis Hamilton doing?

Interesting points made here. I think that although the Dallara chassis has the potential to be one of the better, if not the best, of the new cars, simply down to the extra experience Dallara has in making open wheeled cars, it depends on how quickly they can develop the car, and how fast HRT can get up to speed. HRT are going to need time to learn, and are more likely to be the weak link - the mechanics are almost exclusively new to the sport, as are most of the management, so it'll be a long and steep learning curve for them. That, in turn, could hinder the efforts of Dallara in developing the car - if the team are still learning about the car, then how could Dallara evaluate any new parts, based on feedback from the team?

As for Petrov, well, he made my prediction that he could have an ok weekend look foolish, although the car did look pretty tough to drive. Brundle was theorising that since Petrov has no experience of this track, he might have been relying on Kubica's set up - so, a sub optimal set up and inexperience seem to have lead to quite a big drop in confidence (although congratulations to Kubica for getting into the top 10).

Sauber have been a let down again - 14th and 16th - and Kobayashi is clearly not happy with the car. He has to calm down a bit behind the wheel, because I think that he is suffering a bit from 'eager driver' syndrome (a tendency to try to drive to the ragged edge every lap in the hope of attracting the big teams, when he should calm down a bit and focus on the season as a whole, instead of each race at a time). It also looks like Sauber's attempt at an F duct has been a damp squib, as they won't use it during the race.

Sutil, meanwhile, has done a good job again - into the top 10 again (and bearing in mind that he was within a few hundredths of Massa's Ferrari in Q2). Just to ask, I assume that he used the harder tyre in Q3, as he did at Bahrein? Or did he try using the softer tyre? Liuzzi deserves a shout as well, for getting into 13th place - he might have been beaten by Sutil again, but Liuzzi is beginning to sharpen up. I only hope that Sutil can keep his nose clean at the first corner (literally - I'm worried that he'll end up with part of his wing missing by the time they are out of that corner).

Hulkenberg was pretty badly beaten by Rubens there - 0.7s between their Q2 times (and congratulations to Rubens for managing to claw his way into the top 10 as well). Perhaps, after last week, Hulkenberg has backed off a bit, or maybe it is just inexperience. Either way, that is going to sting a bit.

You're right about Buemi stealthily getting himself into the mid field - I don't think that many noticed that he had managed to get into 12th, when Jaime is back in 17th. However, the reason that nobody seems to have noticed is down to who is in 11th place, just ahead of Buemi...

Hamilton. What went wrong here? OK, I think the fact that Button managed to beat Hamilton in 2 of the three practise session indicated that he was in better form, but credit where it is due, Button managed to get a good lap and put the car in 4th place, which, given that Alonso and the Red Bull duo are so fast, was the best he could have hoped for.
What makes it more unusual is the fact that the onboard footage showed that Hamilton didn't make any major errors on his laps - perhaps the only sign of problems was the fact that the back end of the car looked to be sliding a bit more then normal, even allowing for Lewis's personal preference. But to be 0.6s behind Button when he was within 0.2s during practise (and that includes FP3) is odd. He did mention that he was lacking grip, which might be an indication that he and his engineers misjudged the set up - perhaps when the track cooled off in Q2, he was running the wrong tyre pressures?

On a side note, I think that we may yet hear a few more complains this weekend - for a start, Schumacher has complained quite a bit about being blocked by Hamilton and Alonso during qualifying - in particular, it was Alonso that he seemed most annoyed about. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82459
Meanwhile, Red Bull might find itself in trouble over it's suspension due to the fact that they are able to modify the ride height between qualifying and the race itself. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82461
Ross Brawn appears to be leading calls for the FIA and Charlie Whiting to clarify what the position of the FIA is on what adjustments to the suspension are permissible, whilst Whitmarsh is dubious about the legality of the Red Bull system (suggesting that it may fall under the regulations for active ride height management).
Speaking of Ross, he is also investigating the possibility of using a Mclaren style F vent, since he believes that it may offer a significant advantage. However, by contrast, Renault have stated pretty clearly that they think that the system is not worth copying, and have no intention of trying to replicate it, believing that more performance can be found elsewhere. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82463 and http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82422 respectively.

[Paul Hayes]

It's all set up very nicely for tomorrow, although I can't help but think that Webber will suffer from his usual Barrichello-style ill fortune in his home race. It should be fascinating to see whether Alonso can mix it with the Red Bulls - and of course, some rain would be welcome!

[CarlosFerreira]

Monster of a post, mario!

Interesting you mention at least three of the new drivers (Hulk, Petrov and Kobayashi) struggling on a track which is new to them. Melbourne really is a bit of a challenging place, isn't it?

Don't know about Sutil's tyre choice, but both Force Indias have been mighty impressive. The car looks good on the track, poised and composed, the drivers never looked distressed. I'm really glad for them, that team is delivering on its promise. For all our comments, I do hope Sutil keeps it in one piece and withing the white lines; don't know about the tyre situation, but he could have the potential.

The potential to crash, with the other madman on the grid starting from his side. Looks like Toro Rosso for the points positions... speaking of Hamilton, besides the powersliding brain fade, Leggard and Brundle were commenting on some sort of shennanigans that may be making him lose concentration. I didn't pick it up (drivers' private lives - eeeew!), but could be a worry. Senna was notorious for hitting on anyone who wore a skirt (thank God Jackie Stewart was gone by the time he arrived in F1...), and Schuey had that early incident with HH's girlfriend (pre-F1 anyway), but they always seemed to keep those things out of the pitlane. Is Lewis missing a trick there, I wonder? Note how highly I regard him, I am comparing it to arguably the greatest talents of the 1980's and 1990's.

As for the F-duct, it's a pipe. Really, let's just bring back KERS and drop the piping, it's silly.

[mario]

Monster of a post, mario!

Interesting you mention at least three of the new drivers (Hulk, Petrov and Kobayashi) struggling on a track which is new to them. Melbourne really is a bit of a challenging place, isn't it?

Don't know about Sutil's tyre choice, but both Force Indias have been mighty impressive. The car looks good on the track, poised and composed, the drivers never looked distressed. I'm really glad for them, that team is delivering on its promise. For all our comments, I do hope Sutil keeps it in one piece and withing the white lines; don't know about the tyre situation, but he could have the potential.

The potential to crash, with the other madman on the grid starting from his side. Looks like Toro Rosso for the points positions... speaking of Hamilton, besides the powersliding brain fade, Leggard and Brundle were commenting on some sort of shennanigans that may be making him lose concentration. I didn't pick it up (drivers' private lives - eeeew!), but could be a worry. Senna was notorious for hitting on anyone who wore a skirt (thank God Jackie Stewart was gone by the time he arrived in F1...), and Schuey had that early incident with HH's girlfriend (pre-F1 anyway), but they always seemed to keep those things out of the pitlane. Is Lewis missing a trick there, I wonder? Note how highly I regard him, I am comparing it to arguably the greatest talents of the 1980's and 1990's.

As for the F-duct, it's a pipe. Really, let's just bring back KERS and drop the piping, it's silly.

Thanks - well, I wanted to try and cover the points you raised earlier. With the new drivers struggling, it is probably in part because none of them have raced at the circuit at all (or, at the very least, Petrov and Hulkenberg won't have done so in GP2, and they are unlikely to have done so in junior categories. Kobayashi might have, but I doubt it), and the mixed conditions during the practise sessions will not have helped. I suppose that the other problem with the track comes from the fact that it is a semi-street circuit - so the surface is more abrasive where it has cracked, and a bit more bumpy then usual, but it doesn't offer that much mechanical grip. So, if you are already struggling with your balance, then you can easily start sliding about if you push too hard.

As for Sutil, I believe that he is going to be starting on the softer tyre (which is interesting - I would have thought that running a long first stint on the harder tyre, before switching to the softer tyre late on in the race, would give him the chance to possibly pick off Kubica and Rubens). Looks like the teams might not like the harder tyre at the start (but, then again, Bridgestone have brought the hardest compound for the hard tyre, so some have been struggling to heat them up properly - such as Massa for example).
Speaking of Sutil, he has done a good job here, as have the team - they have managed to build upon last year, and have produced a genuine mid field runner. If any of the big names make a mistake - which is entirely possible - then he could well profit quite nicely there (assuming that he makes it through the first corner intact). Buemi might also creep into the top 10 and steal a point too - in his hands, the Toro Rosso doesn't look too bad (ok, it's no world beater, but he is keeping himself up there amongst the midfield teams).

As for Hamilton, I believe that the commentators were referring to the antics he got up to in that car he was loaned, and the rather stern talking to he got from the Victoria Police forces. It certainly won't have helped him, but I do wonder if that is the only reason why he has struggled - Button was managing to get ahead of Hamilton in the practise sessions anyway.
As for the piping, I wonder how many teams will actually follow suit. Renault are one team who aren't interested at the moment. I suspect that most of the other teams may try to develop a similar system, but will probably wait and test it until they are sure it actually brings some benefit (because, at the moment, Mclaren are probably on a similar playing field to Mercedes, but some way behind Ferrari and Red Bull).
Red Bull might want to develop a rival system - at the moment, they are quite slow on the straights. In fact, they are officially the slowest in a straight line http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/f1 ... g-trap.pdf
According to the FIA, they are doing 295kph on the main straight - when Ferrari are doing 303kph. And it looks like Red Bull can't blame the Renault engine either - Petrov is doing nearly 306kph and Kubica 304kph, so the engine must still be pretty healthy. Interestingly, Force India are still quick on the main straight (3rd fastest) - which bodes well for them when it comes to Spa and Monza.

[dr-baker]

Senna was notorious for hitting on anyone who wore a skirt (thank God Jackie Stewart was gone by the time he arrived in F1...),

And I assume you meant Ayrton rather than his nephew?

[IdeFan]

Happy to see Button put one over on Hamilton, perhaps it wont be such a one sided battle at Mclaren this year?

[Popi_Larrauri]

Was it only me, or, during qualy, Barrichello through team radio gave an unusual complain to engineers and mechanics that could be heard from New Zealand with just a bit of west wind? Something like "seems that the team it's not committed to understand my needs.." and the rant went on but was intelligible to me, because of a commentator started an essay about nothing.

I couldn't find the video so far.


Sounds bizarre?

[thehemogoblin]

*doing rain dance*

[thehemogoblin]

This race sucked when it was dry. The cars can't get close enough to overtake.

Bridgestone should be unceremoniously removed from Formula One, as there is no reason the option tire should be able to last over 50 laps anywhere-- even Monaco.

The rain was quite enjoyable, and Jenson Button timed it perfectly. Nice drives by Kubica and Massa as well.

[TomWazzleshaw]

This race sucked when it was dry. The cars can't get close enough to overtake.

Bridgestone should be unceremoniously removed from Formula One, as there is no reason the option tire should be able to last over 50 laps anywhere-- even Monaco.

The rain was quite enjoyable, and Jenson Button timed it perfectly. Nice drives by Kubica and Massa as well.

Agreed... I mean seriously Hamilton, Webber and to an extent Rosberg should have blown past the Ferraris and Kubica easily but the time they were stuck behind them shows just how much the areodynamics hinder the cars behind.

[rffp]

Good race. I still think that they should not have an extra mandatory pit-stop, but instead abolish the rule forcing cars to use more than one tyre. Give the option for the cars to try to make it to the end with one tyre.

I agree it was kind of worrying that Hamilton got stuck behind Alonso, but even in the dry race there were quite a lot of overtaking.

[mario]

This race sucked when it was dry. The cars can't get close enough to overtake.

Bridgestone should be unceremoniously removed from Formula One, as there is no reason the option tire should be able to last over 50 laps anywhere-- even Monaco.

The rain was quite enjoyable, and Jenson Button timed it perfectly. Nice drives by Kubica and Massa as well.

Well, given that Hamilton and Webber were about 2 seconds a lap faster then Alonso, Massa and Kubica once they were on fresh tyres, perhaps those tyres weren't over durable - after all, the teams might have suggested that they could make it the distance on those tyres, but that was assuming that they were gentle to the tyres - which Alonso, Massa and Kubica clearly were not, given how Button was able to pull away from them fairly easily.
Besides, we have had very conflicting demands on the tyres - the teams might talk about wanting softer tyres which force extra stops in public, but they will be demanding durable tyres from Bridgestone in private (since in reality they will want to just one stop where they can get away with it). And ultimately, Bridgestone's customers are going to be the teams - so they can't be blamed for giving them what they want.

Besides, remember how the super soft tyres were falling apart last year after only a few laps - they were criticised then for bringing tyres which wore out too quickly then, and now we say that the tyres are too hard? Perhaps the problem is not the tyres themselves, but the tyre allocation - if Bridgestone had brought the super soft and the medium tyre, instead of the soft and hard tyres, then things could have been different.

Equally, given how much the drivers complain about the loss of grip behind the car in front due to the effects of the aerodynamics, Bridgestone can only compensate for so much. Just giving the cars more mechanical grip won't solve the problem, because that would give everybody more grip. Not only that, increasing the mechanical grip would reduce the braking distances (as the teams could carry more speed through the corners), if the aerodynamics remain untouched.
Meanwhile, changing the aerodynamics is easy to say, but harder to achieve results. For a start, the fact that we have open wheels will instantly make the flow behind the cars very turbulent. Cutting downforce might not instantly solve the problem either - downforce producing elements may disrupt the airflow, but it is how those elements disrupt the airflow that is key. Unless the nature of the wake behind the cars can be quantified and analysed properly, cutting the downforce could result in cars which are slower, yet still can't follow closely, because the airflow behind it is so disrupted.

On a more positive note, congratulations to Button though - all in all, he made all the right decisions, and made sure that the car made it to the finish. He made the right strategy calls (when those commentating thought that he had made the wrong decision), and he was sensible enough to realise that the tyres needed to be protected and backed off to make them last. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/82481
To be fair to Kubica though, he had a very strong race - he was fairly strong once he got going, and his aggressive start was what he needed to do in order to make up places. A bold strategy by him, but in his case fortune favoured the brave.

[danardif1]

This race sucked when it was dry. The cars can't get close enough to overtake.

Bridgestone should be unceremoniously removed from Formula One, as there is no reason the option tire should be able to last over 50 laps anywhere-- even Monaco.

The rain was quite enjoyable, and Jenson Button timed it perfectly. Nice drives by Kubica and Massa as well.

I agree in that it's difficult to pass (and in my eyes it should be, like Button said last year he wouldn't want it to be easy, as it would then take away from how he works on his own overtaking), but I disagree that it was boring once it was dry... That battle between the Fezza's, Hamilton and Wild Webber was very exciting, always swapping and changing due to who was making the tyres work... That said it was relatively easy for Jenson up front, but that was of his own making... Only he REALLY made those soft tyres work for the whole race, Kubica didn't have the same pace so that's not comparable, and you saw how the Ferrari's really struggled from about 20 to go, hanging on impressively though...

That was a real champion's drive from Jenson, and I even think Vettel would've had to pit again, and not have pulled a big enough gap out to beat Jenson that way (in fact I think on his then-pace, Vettel was only on for 3rd if he needed another stop, which from Webber seemed to be the case for the RBR's)... Jenson's mentioned emulating Alain Prost a few times, and he really channeled the essence of the great man in that drive, compared to Lewis who seemed to show the frustration we used to see (very rarely mind) in Senna!

[FullMetalJack]

Good race, well done to Button, Kubica and Chandhok.

Also of note, Liuzzi has taken Nakajima's record of most points by an F1 Reject.

[IdeFan]

Thoroughly enjoyed that, perhaps the only thing that could have made that better would be the late race rain shower that failed to materialise. The race had it all, Japanese induced pileup, plenty of overtaking (Hamilton's move on Rosberg war particularly awesome), genuinely hard to call the winner at half distance (I thought that if Hamilton could pass Kubica he would have had the pace to catch Button), underdogs scrapping with the big boys (Di Grassi's cheeky repass on Schumie was my favorite, but we also had Alguersuari vs Schumacher and Kubica vs everyone) and finally a feel good winner (at least for this self confessed Button fan).

I thought Hamilton and Webber drove awesomely well today, fast and aggressive, the tyre stop proved to be the wrong call but had the tyres not held up on everyone else then either of them could potentially have won it, so worth the gamble IMO, it also added some late race tension when it could have stagnated so that was good.

This race does highlight something about Hamilton: hes a little too willing to go with what the team tells him to. We've seen it before, on track with China 2007 where Lewis should have overruled the pre determined strategy and pitted, off track with the "liegate" scandal where the team told him to lie and he did. Button won this race by making his own tyre call, and i'm struggling to think of a time where Lewis has done something similar?

Finally a shout out to the new boys. Lotus notched up another finish and only 2 laps down, and Chandhok brining the car home, albeit 5 laps down. This does mean that over a race distance Lotus are now closer to the front than the back!

Edit: For you stats fan out there, this win brings Button's win ratio up to 4.65% (8 wins from 172 starts) which moves him ahead of Keke Rosberg (5 from 114, 4.39%), meaning that statistically he is no longer the worst world champion in that regard, though he needs to win another race this season to stay there.

[Paul Hayes]

Exactly what Formula One needed! And it didn't even have to rain all that much for us to get it!

Huge congratulations to Button for an excellent win - yes, he was lucky with Vettel's retirement, but in other respects he made his own luck. The early call for slicks turned out for the best when it seemed crazy at the time, and he drove well to hold on to those tyres for the rest of the race. People were often saying when previewing the season that Button would benefit from being a driver who conserves his tyres, and I must admit I thought it was rather over-stating how significant this would be, but it worked well for him today. I know Hamilton was talking about the Ferraris when he said, disbelievingly, over the team radio "They don't have to stop again?", but his team-mate's efforts must have been in his mind too.

Poor old Mark Webber's rotten luck at his home race continued, as I expected, and perhaps the oddest site of the day was Alguersuari, a driver born in the 1990s, racing with Schumacher, a child of the 1960s. The Spaniard was, what, 17 months old when Schumacher made his F1 debut? He never could have expected this a couple of years ago!

A great race, great result, and as I had to follow it on the monitor at work I am now off to catch it again with more attention on the iPlayer!

[Chewie]

This race does highlight something about Hamilton: hes a little too willing to go with what the team tells him to. We've seen it before, on track with China 2007 where Lewis should have overruled the pre determined strategy and pitted, off track with the "liegate" scandal where the team told him to lie and he did. Button won this race by making his own tyre call, and i'm struggling to think of a time where Lewis has done something similar?

Hamilton has been brought up to be a team robot, dependant upon laptops and software. Button is a racer; simples!

[danardif1]

This race does highlight something about Hamilton: hes a little too willing to go with what the team tells him to. We've seen it before, on track with China 2007 where Lewis should have overruled the pre determined strategy and pitted, off track with the "liegate" scandal where the team told him to lie and he did. Button won this race by making his own tyre call, and i'm struggling to think of a time where Lewis has done something similar?

Hamilton has been brought up to be a team robot, dependant upon laptops and software. Button is a racer; simples!

They're both racers, but like IdeFan mentions, Lewis may need to start asserting him regarding directing his own race. You see the likes of Alonso dictating the whole race over the radio and then Button being given the important decision on the slicks today... These guys have made race-changing decisions from the cockpit and maybe Lewis needs to add that to his game?

[tc3j3r]

Reminded me of the 1999 Spanish GP. After that race everyone moaned about F1 being in crisis, forgetting how dull Barcelona always is, and then the next race in Canada was a thriller and all complaints were forgotten.

[mediocre]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS7QB1T79eA

My absolutely favorite moment from this race.

[McDuck]

Terrible race. I'd rather watch the America killing health care bill get signed into law again than watch this race.

***sarcasm***

btw, GENII CAPITAL FTnearW FOOLS!!!

[watka]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS7QB1T79eA

My absolutely favorite moment from this race.

Probably the best thing he'll ever do.

I've decided to do a review for each of the drivers after every race now, so here it goes (some of which I will elaborate on in the ROTR thread):

Jenson Button - Reminded everyone why he is world champion. Once out in front, he controlled the race and his smooth style astonishingly conserved the tyres. Great drive and a great call by the team to bring him in early for slicks.

Lewis Hamilton (or Wah-milton) - I agree when he said he had one of his best ever drives. He started in 11th and the amount of overtakes he made was quite something, especially the move on Rosberg round the outside of the fast chicane. The fastest guy on track, but was undone by poor strategy and Webber hitting him. I don't approve of his comments after the race though where he openly slated the team, if he had a problem with the strategy he should have said at the time. He's just trying to remind the team who's the boss after Jenson's win.

Michael Schumacher - Who?

Nico Rosberg - I couldn't tell if he was driving a Mercedes or a Williams, another solid drive to the points in a mediocre car, but nothing special.

Sebastian Vettel - Terribly unlucky, he could have 50 points from the first 2 rounds but now has only 12. Difficult to tell if he could have held off Button (I think he could have). This time Red Bull can't even blame Renault for the problem because it was the brake pad that broke (as did Webber's in SIngapore last year - recurring problem?)

Mark Webber - Oh dear, what a shambles for the home crowd's boy. Was brought in too late to move onto slicks, was brought in unnecessarily (like Hamilton) for a second pair of slicks, and had tangles with Hamilton all race long and it finally ended in tears. All this in the fastest car on the grid, something always seems to go wrong for him, but what's worrying is that its usually avoidable.

Felipe Massa - Regenmeister he ain't, but found his feet half way through the race to gain a solid 3rd. Very important for his status within the team that he held off Alonso.

Fernando Alonso - Should be complimented for driving back through the field from 21st, whereas Schumacher got stuck behind Alguersuari. A very handy haul of points, but learnt that Massa will not play 2nd fiddle to him.

Rubens Barrichello - The pressure is off Rubens as Hulkenberg hasn't yet proved himself to be the next German wunderkid, and so for now he is the team's chief point scorer.

The Hulk - Taken out by the Sato-Heidfeld-A1 Ring-eqsue collision with Kobayashi. Simply needs more track time to get going.

Robert Kubica - Give him a good car, and he'll be up there. Great drive and made very few mistakes. He's looking for that Ferrari seat next season.

Vitaly Petrov - Inexperience got the better of him despite a good start to the weekend. He seems to struggle with raw pace in qualifying, but I think some decent results can come to him by mid-season because the Renault looks OK.

Adrian Sutil - Good qualifying again undone, but this time not by an accident.

Vitantonio Luizzi - 2 races, 2 points finishes. Is proving to be a solid driver against Sutil's greater raw pace, so the team seems to have made a great selection in its driver pairing.

Sebastien Buemi - A difficult start to a season where he needs to start up in a team with high driver turnover. His pace is there as qualifying showed, but spun off by his own accord today. The jury is still out.

Jaime Alguersuari - To Albert Park what Enrique Bernoldi was to Monte Carlo.

Jarno Trulli - Troubles galore, proving that the Lotus isn't that much more reliable than the other newbies.

Heikki Kovalainen - 2 race finishes out of 2 is all he could have hoped for. 2 laps down on the leader is very respectable.

Karun Chandhok - He is the clear number 2 in the team and kept pace with Senna this weekend. He doesn't know the track. He hasn't driven an F1 car in the rain. He hasn't driven the track before. He finished the race in a car that was only finished about 20 days ago. The stuff of legends.

Bruno Senna - Not a lot to say apart from he did well to make up a few places at the start amidst the chaos.

Pedro De La Rosa - An eventful race. Featured in a lot of replays...being overtaken.

Kamui Kobayashi - Looking uncomfortable all weekend. But my finger is being pointed at the Sauber team for failing to build a safe front wing. For Virgin in their first test, it is acceptable. For Sauber in the second race of the season, it is not.

Timo Glock - Behind the Lotuses on pace this weekend, which was disappointing.

Lucas di Grassi - The move on Schumacher was classic. His pace is still lacking compared to Glock's, which is understandable. He seems to got the hang of blue flag etiquette though.

[Pedestrian]

This was a better race thatn Bahrain and with a much more satisfying result from the perspective of the cahmpionship. However, Melbourne produces interesting results most often than not, and this was a wet race too. It was obvious even here that the problems observed in Bahrein are very real (imposibility of overtaking in the dry, and unworkabilty of multi-stop strategies) which means we are likely to see a great deal of procesional races this year. Not an encouraging prospect.

One man who must feel encouraged today is Jenson Button. This win means he has truly entered in the fight for the championship, and ahead of his teammate too. Plus, the win might be attributed to his famed "tyre management skills" which were so hyped, another reason for him to feel good, after the cold shower of Bahrain.
His most important rivals at the moment are the Ferarri drivers. The Scuderia still leads both championships and for good reason. The car is fast and although Massa was a bit twitchy today, overall the driver pair seems to be slichly more consistent than that of Mclaren (or any other team).
Hamilton, however, must not be overly worried. Button's victory today proves that the McLaren is a good car, and if they can keep up the development, Lewis should score a few wins too this year, when his luck turns.
Another Dirver who was very lucky, and very good today, was Robrt Kubica. Renault do show singns of recovery, although the second seat is still cursed. I won't be so bold as to say that he can fight for the championship, but I say he has a good chance to finish the year inside the top 8.
The polesitter, Sebastian Vettel, is however definitely not in the championship fight (and neither is Mark Webber, due to his many errors - he seems to have been hit by the homwtown jinx again). Red Bull really should have gotten as many points as they could now, while their car is still fast, they may not be able to develop at the same pace as the manufacturer teams. Allso, Vettel is still young and unexperienced, and the string of bad luck might affect him psichologically more than it would another driver.
Mercedes are in a different situation. They are slow, but with Brawn's skill and their corporate resources, they might be able to develop faster than last year (and faster than the competition). They could still acheive a race-winning speed later in the season. Whether this will not bee to late to defend the constructor's crown remains to be seen.
Another very unlucky soul today was Adrian Sutil. With his skill and a more reliable car he should have done even beter than Liuzzi, finishing ahead of Barichello and perhaps even ahead of Hamilton. If Force india can get both cars to the finish, they might still end the season as "best of the rest".

Perspectives for the future:
Next race is in Malaysia. Sepang is one of the better tracks on the calendar, and it usually gives us interesting races, but the next ones will be bad. I only hope they won't be too bad.

[kowalski]

I think one important point of interest that hopefully the team meeting next week will notice:

Stop the silly "Use Both Compounds" rule

- Obviously we are not going to get rain at every race so at least let the teams have more flexibility on their strategy. We said it before Australia but the second half of this race proved it to some extent... Hamilton and Webber coming through the pack and others (the Ferraris) struggling at the end... It may not give us tons of overtaking but it would add a fair bit of interest and allow some of the teams to try out some interesting ideas.

Just bring the planned 2 compounds to each race and let the teams do the rest.

[Salamander]

Now this is more like it. I know it's already been said, but Jenson Button's tyre call was a stroke of genius from him. He seems to be settling in very well at McLaren as well, which is nice to see. Lewis' whinging may have shot himself in the foot, because in Button, he may have a real threat from the other side of the garage for once.

I'd say Kubica's performance was equally as good as Button's. Coming off a less-than-stellar 2009 into a very unfancied team, a podium is about as good as it gets from him. He judged the start well, and never let Rosberg have a look at passing him. He then fought off Hamilton very well, especially outbraking him in turn 11 that one time it looked like Hamilton had the position. He then managed his tyres well for the rest of the race, not looking out of place at all. Brilliant stuff. Renault's pitcrew deserve some praise as well though, doing a fantastic job in beating the Ferrari boys in the pitstops. It's a shame that Petrov went out, though, after starting so well and clawing his way into 10th place by the end of lap 1. I'm sure he'll get results at some point in this season, though.

[kowalski]

Now this is more like it. I know it's already been said, but Jenson Button's tyre call was a stroke of genius from him. He seems to be settling in very well at McLaren as well, which is nice to see. Lewis' whinging may have shot himself in the foot, because in Button, he may have a real threat from the other side of the garage for once.

- Very true. Hamilton is somewhat of a whiny child when he gets beaten and turning on his team is his standard 'out'...

You get the feeling that the 'Lewis-McLaren' love-fest may be on its way out. Jenson seems to be the kind of guy who gets on with everyone and Lewis doesn't seem to have managed to grow up in the last few years so how long will it be before they tire of his ways?

Plus, how much of the Lewis-centric attitude came from Ron Dennis? I would say 'a lot' - now that he has gone it looks like the team has become a little more pleasant and maybe Lewis will be out at some point (which I don't think would have been likely with Ron still in the hot seat).

[tc3j3r]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MS7QB1T79eA

My absolutely favorite moment from this race.

Haha that reminded me of Enrique Bernoldi repassing M Schumacher in Malaysia 2002 - that's 2 Bernoldi comparisons in one race!

[IntegratorTypeR]

Bit of a thread drift but ... why was the crowd booing when Button was being handed his trophy? Was it because he came in ahead of local Mark Webber? But then Kubica got a big cheer, maybe because John Travolta was presenting the 2nd place trophy? Or were they in fact displaying their regard for the premier of Victoria? I'd gather he isn't too popular for some reason?

[ADx_Wales]

Bit of a thread drift but ... why was the crowd booing when Button was being handed his trophy? Was it because he came in ahead of local Mark Webber? But then Kubica got a big cheer, maybe because John Travolta was presenting the 2nd place trophy? Or were they in fact displaying their regard for the premier of Victoria? I'd gather he isn't too popular for some reason?

Aussies dont like their politicians, and the Premier of Victoria handed Button the trophy.

It always happens whenever a politician appears infront of a crowd.

[Debaser]

Aussies dont like their politicians, and the local govener handed Button the trophy.

It always happens whenever a politician appears infront of a crowd.

Fair enough, I'd boo if my local MP handed out the trophies at Silverstone. Maybe throwing papayas should have been the correct source of action, would have made a change.

[Waris]

You'd think the person who is being awarded the trophy is more important than the one awarding it... well, guess not, unless it would've been AUSTRALIA'S MARK WEBBER...

[Enforcer]

Now that was a race. Red Bull basically threw 41 points in the bin. They made a bad strategy call at the start, and Webber then proceeded to be very ragged.

Kubica & Button were immense in the chaos around them. Particularly impressed with Kubica dealing with Hamilton trying to get past him. He knew he could brake later in every corner so he didn't get offline or excited, just knew that Hamilton would have to pull something incredible off to get him. I really got the impression that Hamilton would not have gotten past Kubica even if he had 20 laps to do it, so despite his little post race tantrum (what would be said if Alonso did something like that?), it wasn't an entirely nutty call from McLaren to pull him in.

He would've just eaten his tires in the turbulent air behind Kubica, and I don't think it was unreasonable to expect him to be able to re-pass the Ferraris and then have a few laps with much newer tires than Kubica.

Don't think Schumacher will be a happy bunny tonight, either.

Oh and if Kubica doesn't win IIDOTR, we might as well stop having the award...

[thalion]

McLaren's Hamilton strategy was the risk-averse thing to do. If the tires are good enough to last all race, Jenson wins. If not, Lewis wins. Hindsight, 20/20, etc.

[TomWazzleshaw]

Sebastien Buemi - A difficult start to a season where he needs to start up in a team with high driver turnover. His pace is there as qualifying showed, but spun off by his own accord today. The jury is still out.

May I just say that Buemi never spun off... he one of the victims of Kobayashi's front wing failure.

[Captain Hammer]

Was it because he came in ahead of local Mark Webber?

I'd say so. There was cheering when Button was given his trophy; the booing came just beforehand. The Australian media have been hyping Webber up all week - and worse, they believed it themselves. A lot of people thought that Webber was the runaway favourite, despite never showing a glimmer of utter brilliance that justified the title all weekend.

[mario]

Aussies dont like their politicians, and the local govener handed Button the trophy.

It always happens whenever a politician appears infront of a crowd.

Fair enough, I'd boo if my local MP handed out the trophies at Silverstone. Maybe throwing papayas should have been the correct source of action, would have made a change.

Well, given some of the recent scandals and incidents involving various politicians, they have now become, in essence, a lightning rod for public discontent.

[jackanderton]

Terrific racing. So good I watched it twice. Another classic race at Melbourne.

After all the discussions about potential rule changes, the only variable that provides guaranteed entertainment is wet/changeable weather on the race weekend.

Congrats to Button for that brilliant call on strategy. Hamilton's tyre call was the wrong one, but he acted like a baby about it, and has conceded the psychological advantage to his teammate who as usual was unflappable.

Webber still drives like someone in their first 2-3 years of Formula 1. Total lack of composure, even though his race speed could have been enough for a win. Vettel on the other hand just unlucky. Looking at Red Bull in the championship it seems bizarre how they've been so good and reaped so little reward for it. I'd expect that to change, but if they don't capitalise on their speed advantage now, they might suffer if and when the other teams catch up.

Kubica was brilliant. Williams look consigned to another year of utter mediocrity.

[J Washburn Stoker]

Was it because he came in ahead of local Mark Webber?

I'd say so. There was cheering when Button was given his trophy; the booing came just beforehand.

Seriously, if they cheered him all the way up to the podium, cheered at God Save the Queen, booed as soon as the Premier of Victoria appeared, then cheered when he (Button) held the trophy aloft, what do you really think?

The Australian media have been hyping Webber up all week - and worse, they believed it themselves. A lot of people thought that Webber was the runaway favourite, despite never showing a glimmer of utter brilliance that justified the title all weekend.

The Australian media generally confuse loyalty for quality reporting (but apart from that they are mostly harmless). I wouldn't use them as a barometer.

[watka]

Sebastien Buemi - A difficult start to a season where he needs to start up in a team with high driver turnover. His pace is there as qualifying showed, but spun off by his own accord today. The jury is still out.

May I just say that Buemi never spun off... he one of the victims of Kobayashi's front wing failure.

Woops, I knew it was the same corner, but I couldn't remember his car being damaged.

[danardif1]

Woops, I knew it was the same corner, but I couldn't remember his car being damaged.

His rear wing was smashed off by Cowboyashi, but oddly The Hulk who bore the brunt of the shunt, didn't seem to have ANY damage whatsoever... he was just beached in the gravel....