McLaren Finishes in style

Coolheaded Hamilton won the Australian GP without a hitch and gave team Mclaren a stunning season opening. Teammate Kovalainen finished 5th. Williams and BMW drivers made it to the podium and made it clear that the championship is not going to revolve only around two teams like last year. The germans Heidfeld and Roseberg were 2nd and 3rd.

But the dramatic retirements and accidents of drivers stole the show with only 6 drivers actually crossing the finishing line! Safety car had to be brought out 3 times. Only 8 drivers got classified with 90% completion rule. Barrichello, who crossed the finishing line, was disqualified as he left the pitlane on a red light after his 10sec-stationary penalty for an earlier pit stop blunder. See Results

Ferrari had a very disappointing finish as both the drivers failed to finish the race. Kimi received 1 championship point after Barrichello’s disqualification. The reigning world champ had a rough race. Starting from 15th on the grid after 10 spot penalty of Timo Glock, he managed to reach 8th position on the first lap itself. At the start of 2nd safety car period, Ferrari crew showed some wits by giving a ‘Just-in-time’ call to Kimi and warning him to stay on the track just as he was entering the pits. This saved from losing his track position. Just after the 3rd safety car period his car went off the track during an overtaking maneuver and was thrown at the back. This happened again as he tried to take over Nakajima. Finally, with 3 laps remaining Kimi retired due to engine problem. Massa also retired earlier in the race due to an engine trouble. Ironically, neither of the Ferrari engine car could complete the race today.

The luckiest man on the track was Fernando Alosno. He managed to finish 4th. But again, this was entirely due to reliability of his Renault. He was clearly struggling for speed. The only remarkable overtaking was in the penultimate lap when he took over Kovalainen to regain his own position which he had lost at the previous corner. But their lack of pace will be important factor in the coming race. Let us see how things turn out.

My prediction about Alonso turned out to be wrong. But my other prediction was correct. That was about the accidents due to the track. The major reason for accidents was of course lack of control due to the ban on electronic driver aids. But out of the 8 drivers who crashed out, at least 2 were the victims of the track. Jenson Button crashed his car into the wall when he tried to avoid hitting Anthony Davidson, who was slow due to damaged tires. Had there been a proper run off zone, he would have just lost time. The other 1 was rookie Timo Glock. He went off the track, but there was no proper run off zone at that corner. The grassy patch was very bumpy and so his car lost its contact to the ground, and went tumbling on the track.

This race has shown that absence of traction control and engine braking is going to take its toll. The teams have to be very very careful in the coming races. I really hope the next weekend at Sepang will not be as EVENTFUL’ as this 1. F1 fans will be more than happy, I think, with a less dramatic race.

Mclaren Back With A Bang

Mclaren has shown the world that though they started the season as the last team, it is going to take only 1 race to jump to the top. Hamilton delivered a stunning performance in his Mp4-23 and booked P-1 for the start of the race at Albert Park, Melbourne. His teammate Kovalainen will start 3rd behind Robert Kubica who had to just miss out on his first ever pole position due to a blunder on the last turn.

Ferrari had a rough start. Kimi’s car had a major problem just after finishing Q1 and he could not retun to the pits and so was barred from further action. This was very odd considering the performance of the F2008 throughout the practice sessions. So the reliability issues that Ferrari faced at the start of the last season seemed to have dogged them here also. Massa finished 4th on Q3 and will start the race on 2nd row.

Force India was not able to produce anything special and will start the race at the back of the grid from 17th and 19th position. Red bull and Williams had a mixed day with Roseberg and Coulthard making it to the top 10. Both Toyota drivers did well to qualify for Q3 with qualifying specialist Trulli starting 6th on the grid. Rookie german Timo Glock had a good start and is 9th on the grid.

All the speculations regarding Renault were rested today as both the drivers had a pathetic start. Nelson Piquet Jr will start 20th. Alleged championship contender Alonso finished 12th and I hope will have nothing more to say. Bad news for Alonso haters though! ING being the official sponsor of F1 we will have to tolerate their ad featuring Alonso in every break. Cant help!

Drivers were clearly struggling to have a grip on their cars around the corners with traction control and engine braking gone. Few had a spin on the tracks but the major 1 was involving local hero Mark Webber in his Red Bull. On his opening lap of Q2 his car went out of control, slipped on the gravel and spun off the track. The session had to be terminated as his car was very near to the track. This has brought up the old debate of safety issues on the older tracks. Australian GP track has always been considered dangerous. The walls are very close to the track at some places and this has been a major concern for some years. Now with electronic aids banned, tomorrows race could see quite a few collisions if cars spin off the track. Though crash barriers are there, they still damage the cars unlike large run-off zones which just put the driver off the race without any major car damage.

The new rule changes for qualifying made a lot of impact on strategies. The 20-15-10 min format for Q1-Q2-Q3 was effective with last teams utilising the extra time in Q1. The refuelling norms ruled the strategies in Q3 with various teams using different fuel loads which clearly reflected in the results.

A good news for F1 fans. Chris Goodwin is back in commentary team with Steve Slater. The famous duo will continue to entertain us with their usual lively comments and thorough analysis.

The qualifying clearly suggests that this is going to be a hell of a close season. Cant wait for tomorrow’s race