Australian Grand Prix 2010, Melbourne - Race 2/19

[utajoker]

have mclaren added new bits for this race because hamilton had webber matched on speed. they were exchanging fastest lap times for most of the last stint they did on the new tires.

 

[KnightStalker]

Good race all round, just what F1 needed, Jenson did a superb job keeping the tires working to the end, Webber is just too big headed for his own good really and pretty much the same for Lewis, Also a superb finish for Kubica - hopefully that will be a boost he needs and hope it takes the team forward later in the season.

 

[Flibster]

Vettel is not a happy person - he is visibly annoyed.

 

[Nick1881]

I had to rage quit at the end, Hami had a fantastic race ruined.

Why do people keep using the American spelling for tyres? It has a 'y' not tires.

 

[Setroc]

have mclaren added new bits for this race because hamilton had webber matched on speed. they were exchanging fastest lap times for most of the last stint they did on the new tires.

I think McLaren brought their first new package to Australia didn't they? They said they'd brought a big improvement to their quali pace anyway, and I think their race pace was actually pretty good in Bahrain except for traffic too.

 

[gord]

I had to rage quit at the end, Hami had a fantastic race ruined.

Why do people keep using the American spelling for tyres? It has a 'y' not tires.

I think they may be Australian.. the spawn of the man himself!

 

[sjcf1]

I think McLaren brought their first new package to Australia didn't they? They said they'd brought a big improvement to their quali pace anyway, and I think their race pace was actually pretty good in Bahrain except for traffic too.

I don't think they did. The tight second sector of Bahrain didn't help McLaren, and by the time they got to the straights in sector 3 and part of 1 they weren't near enough to overtake.

Australia, they didn't have that problem as much.

I have heard they are bringing a new update to the grand prix in China.

 

[Slam62]

Vettel is not a happy person - he is visibly annoyed.

yes I thought that, and Hammi.

oh and Horner, what a catastrophy for red bull, it won't be long before the others catch up.

 

[Flibster]

This could have been so much worse - rear of Buemi's Toro Rosso after Kobayashi hit him.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/f1photos/4468737549/sizes/l/

 

[utajoker]

kubica has some crazy eye brows, they are rivaling ken from street fighter.

 

[sjcf1]

This could have been so much worse - rear of Buemi's Toro Rosso after Kobayashi hit him.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/f1photos/4468737549/sizes/l/

I agree, there really does need to be a investigation in to Sauber's front wing, its come off in practice twice I think, and it came off in the race. Was a very nasty accident, had the Sauber not have hit the Toro Rosso first, Hulkenberg wouldn't have had much left of his car - probably to the extent that they'd have got broken legs.

 

[Flibster]

I feel so sorry for Kobayashi. If it wasn't for Sauber he would be making sushi in his dads restaurant.

But he's lost 3 front wings this weekend.

[edit]
I mean I feel so sorry for him having all these problems after what we say inthe Toyota last year - not that I feel sorry for him being in F1 instead of chopping fish.

 

[Setroc]

This could have been so much worse - rear of Buemi's Toro Rosso after Kobayashi hit him.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/f1photos/4468737549/sizes/l/

Nice pic. It was pretty scary watching him rocket into the side of Buemi, and certainly could have been a lot worse. Still a testament to all the safety work they've done that such an incident resulted in no injuries. It's quite amazing what these cars can take. I'm still in shock that Kubica was 100% okay after his massive crash in 2007 I think it was (Canada iirc?).

 

[stockhausen]

Who else is starting to thoroughly dislike Redbull? Webber seems like a liability.

McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh says Red Bull's pace-setting form is being aided by a system he believed was against Formula 1's rules. "There's evidence there are ride-height control systems which many people thought weren't permissible," he said. Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said he could "absolutely guarantee" their car had no such system.
...
It looks like Red Bull and some other cars are able to run lower in qualifying than you would expect if they're then going to fill the car with fuel afterwards," Whitmarsh said. "As you can imagine, we're working quite hard on those systems now. "The original rulings suggested such systems wouldn't be allowed on cars but we're seeing some cars which seem to have them. We've got to have them fitted as soon as we can - hopefully by China" (BBC Sport online)

So far, so predictable. However, it may be that both parties are right . . .

It is not known how any such system - if it exists - would work, although insiders suspect it may be some form of ratchet that prevents the car's suspension rising beyond a certain point.

Interrrestinggg . . .


I see that (F1) people (including some ageing German bloke) are also very unhappy with alleged wing mirrors which serve an aerodynamic role but don't actually allow a driver to see what is happening behind them (Autosport)

 

[JRS]

That was much more like it! Variations in strategy, on-track action, drivers getting bitchy on the radio (well.....one of them anyway), clashes, spins, twitches, close racing.....

And all it took was a damp track early on and a proper circuit to go racing on rather than some featureless TilkeDrome in a country that barely gives a ****.

Great race by Button, and a fantastic strategy call. I honestly thought at the time that he'd just made the call that would win him the race....and then he went off the road. I then thought his quick recovery had saved him second....which of course became first again thanks to RBR's brake manufacturer not nailing their kit together properly. This is the first time that we've seen Jenson's smooth driving style pay dividends in keeping a set of tyres a) going and b) competitively quick. Something that Hamilton didn't seem to be able to do. Maybe it was the traffic, maybe it was China 2007 syndrome, maybe he was still rattled from the bad weekend he'd been having. But Hamilton just wasn't good enough today, despite driving at times like the champion driver that he is. Losing his cool at the team over the strategy was not desperately classy though - maybe he should take a leaf out of his team-mates book and make the strategy calls himself?

Lovely work by Kubica and Renault to get on the podium, and ditto for Massa - I was afraid Ferrari would revert to old methods and switch him around with Alonso, I'm glad they didn't do that because I still don't think Alonso would have gotten by the Renault. Talking of Alonso - turn 1. Is it not time that the FIA mandate a minimum size for the mirrors so that these guys can see what the hell is around them? They interfere with every single other aspect of car construction, why not that?

I feel really sorry for Kamui Kobayashi. He's just such a likeable character, and he deserves better than getting taken off the road by his own front wing. Also feel sorry for Hulkenberg and Buemi - and it could have been much worse looking at that picture of Buemi's car!

Mercedes need to get a dose of luck soon. Schumacher's car must have been pretty well knackered after turn 1 to be stuck behind Alguersuari for all that time. And he wasn't giving Schumacher an inch either when the German finally got by. Been a long time since we saw full on wheel-banging like that.

All in all, I'm glad I got up for this one. I didn't bother watching Bahrain live (still haven't seen it all the way through), and that was probably for the best. But there was no way I was missing this one live. Hopefully Malaysia will see more of the same!

 

[Mp4]

Well well

That is what you call a race very mixed race / weather helped too

So glad Alonso got shunted in the 1st corner hwhwmamama


Feel sorry for Lotus & Virgin but i'm sure they will overcome their faults and cars.



Was shouting at the screen when Lewis came in i feel that he should have got past kubica and then got some distance & then pit (if his tyers where that bad)

Overall VERY happy for McLaren & their drivers

 

[gord]

I honestly thought at the time that he'd just made the call that would win him the race...

But Hamilton just wasn't good enough today, despite driving at times like the champion driver that he is.

Honestly? You were probably the only person on the planet. Even Jenson thought he had made the wrong choice.

I know you dislike Hamilton, but to say he wasn't good enough today would be delusional. The best drive out of everyone, marred by a team choice. If I was a driver with the resource that is McLaren, I would trust their judgements too. In this case it was the wrong call. Sure the driver has the final say, but if he had ignored it and the tyres took him out of the race you would now be here saying... "Hamilton's arrogance shines through, ignoring the team decision"

 

[utajoker]

Honestly? You were probably the only person on the planet. Even Jenson thought he had made the wrong choice.

I know you dislike Hamilton, but to say he wasn't good enough today would be delusional. The best drive out of everyone, marred by a team choice. If I was a driver with the resource that is McLaren, I would trust their judgements too. In this case it was the wrong call. Sure the driver has the final say, but if he had ignored it and the tyres took him out of the race you would now be here saying... "Hamilton's arrogance shines through, ignoring the team decision"

i didnt want to get baited in to a JRS argument but i agree with you.

 

[FrankJH]

JB driver of the day for me for making the call to slicks when he did.

LH was amazing for most of the race, but he went down in my estimation due to his rant at the team. sorry there is no excuse for that at all and personally think he should issue an immediate appology to the whole team.

Undoubtedly he had the pace to win today, and personally think the strategy was a good one, however the added time he lost in the pitlane with everyone else coming in at the same time ruined the strategy before it had time to work. Remember of course he was in the lead (of the two McLaren's) before JB came in for his tyre change, imagine how different a race result LH would have had if he had called it first instead of JB......

Kubica did very well indeed and deserved his podium - and I kind of feel sorry for Vettel but still believe he would have finished behind JB even if stayed on the track because his tyres would have gone without doubt and JB was able to still keep a decent pace right to the end

I really like MW but he was an idiot several times today, and really did his team a massive dis-service with stupid rookie mistakes

Wonder how long before Massa and Alonso fall out, I cant believe they are allowed to race each other (although the car did look like a dog on some parts of the track all race)

really hope the "headlining" Merc continues to trail around the back markers all season - unlikely but would be great to see

 

[JRS]

i didnt want to get baited in to a JRS argument but i agree with you.

Love you too utajoker.

Honestly? You were probably the only person on the planet. Even Jenson thought he had made the wrong choice.

It just looked like the right moment to me. The dry line was forming, it was obvious that he was going to drop time staying on the inters (as he said later, the rears had gone completely away from him), and the first guy to stop IF the conditions were right was always going to gain massively. And pitlane and few puddles aside, there was a definite dry line.

It's exactly the kind of call that has played out over and over and over again in seasons gone by.

I know you dislike Hamilton, but to say he wasn't good enough today would be delusional. The best drive out of everyone, marred by a team choice.

Maybe 'not good enough' was a bit strong. He did pull off some superb wall-of-death overtakes around the outside of cars, and his final finishing position was obviously down to Webber dropping it. But he did not need to have that gripe at the team over the radio at that stage of the race. That's the sort of thing you leave until later on in the debrief when you can have a rational conversation about it. Hamilton isn't exactly stellar at tyre management, and new tyres were worth a good bit of time especially to a driver as good as him. McLaren probably thought it was going to pay off. If Hamilton thought it wouldn't, then he should have told them he was staying on track for a while longer. That he didn't shows that he either a) had no clue about tyres and wanted the team to make the call or b) thought that the call was the correct one. I reckon it would have paid off if one or both of the Ferraris had come in, or if Alonso and Massa had been switched (Hamilton would have had a much easier time getting by Massa than Fernando "what mirrors?" Alonso).

If I was a driver with the resource that is McLaren, I would trust their judgements too. In this case it was the wrong call. Sure the driver has the final say, but if he had ignored it and the tyres took him out of the race you would now be here saying... "Hamilton's arrogance shines through, ignoring the team decision"

Actually, I wouldn't. I'd be applauding him for having the guts to make the call. Not making the call cost him the '07 title in China, and it ended up costing him here today.