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