Surfers Paradise For FOTA’s 17 Round Calendar?

As the rumours continue to hot up over FOTA’s breakaway series from F1, one which looks ever increasingly likely Surfer’s Paradise was one of the tracks banded around as a possible venue for a GP.

The track in Queensland, Australia is an exciting street track which could be known as the Pacific GP as Adelaide was mentioned as the possible Australian Grand Prix event location.

Surfer’s, a place which considered taking the F1 race from Melbourne late last year as it’s future dwindled has previously hosted CART and ChampCar events and this year hosts a round of the A1GP Championship by Ferrari.

The owner of the track seemed welcome to the idea, especially if they charged less than Bernie Ecclestone wants for F1.

“We couldn’t do this sort of bid on our own but if Queensland Events backed us we would be very interested,” said Ron Clarke.

“There is the chance this breakaway group might not charge as much as the original series organisers,” acknowledged Clarke.

Other circuits mentioned for the FOTA Racing Series included Jerez, Buenos Aires, Imola, Mugello and Silverstone.

Australian Grand Prix 2009: Button Wins An Epic Race

Jenson Button has taken the flag to win his second Grand Prix, with the Brawn GP team in their first ever race.

Brawn had a 1-2 in their first ever GP, with Rubens Barrichello coming second and initially Jarno Trulli was 3rd, HOWEVER it has been ruled Trulli must serve a 25 second penatly for overtaking under yellow flags and subequently he falls to 11th leaving Lewis Hamilton in 3rd.

RACE REVIEW

The drivers lined up to start the season, and Jenson Button got a fantastic getaway from the line.  The same cannot be said for Rubens Barrichello whose anti-stall kicked in and he was swallowed up by the field in the charge for the first corner.  The Scuderia Ferrari’s looked very good off the line with the soft slicks and KERS systems, leaving Felipe Massa in 3rd and Kimi Raikkonen in 4th.

Behind them, Rubens Barrichello got nudged from nehind, putting him into a spin and he hit Mark Webber who hit Nick Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber.  Both suffered big damage and had to pit, pretty much ruining their race chances.

During the same incident, Fernando Alonso ended up grass-cutting in avoidance, throwing the Renault R29 through the gravel in hsi avoidance of Heikki Kovalainen who bent all of his front suspension in, and had to retire.  Barrichello’s only damage, a loss of the front wing endplate, which would be worsened with a tag onto Kimi Raikkonen a few laps later.

Jenson Button began to extend his lead, which in truth never looked in danger.  The Brawn BGP001 car was clearly far superior to any other car on the circuit.  The Ferrari’s and Vettel kept with them in the beginning, but the Italian marques slick tyre graining forced them to pit on just lap 10.

Nico Rosberg took advantage and put the Williams into third, but all the time he gained catching Vettel was lost in the pits with a tyre change problem.  His team mate, Kazuki Nakajima smashed his car into the wall at turn 4, unloading the rear end on the raised kerb of the exit and totalled the front end.  The proximity to the circuit, and the debris meant the safety car was called out.

Button has just left the pits when the Safety Car was released to initially it has Vettel leading behind it.  This led to an almost DTM-Esq safety car debacle as the driver put his window down and waved the drivers passed.  Almost humourous, but wasted vital laps.  While all this was going on, the debris took a long while to clear and all drivers were suffering with the slick tyres cooling dramatically.

Giancarlo Fisichella took the topportunity to pit, but his brakes were poor and he ended up missing his pitbox altogether, nearly mowing down his left side tyre change crews.  This cost the Italian majorly vital time when they were looking good for point scoring potential.

On the restart Brazilian Nelson Piquet Jr lost it on cold brakes and tyres and ended up submerged in the gravel trap at turn 1, nearly taking out Kimi Raikkonen from behind.

Not long after this Ferrari’s Felipe Massa slowed and ended up retiring from the race with an as yet unknown problem, possibly the KERS system broke.  Kimi Raikkonen would later stuff the Ferrari into the wall leaving this a non-scorer for the Italian team, just like in 2008.

The cars continued around with Jenson Button building an unassailable lead.  Sebastian Vettel in second was fighting with Robert Kubica, who tried a daring manoeuvre around the outside into turn 3, where David Coulthard smashed over Alexander Wurz in 2007.  A big crash ensued today with the BMW driver puting across the front of the Red Bull car, smashing the wings off, the damage worsened when Kubica spun straight across the front of the young German.

Both had massive front end damage, leading to them both hitting the wall at turn 5, Kubica in massive fashion like Rubens Barrichello did with Ferrari some years back.  Vettel lost his front left wheel but continued racing around the circuit, with the safety car out theoretically no-one could pass him and he could keep his position.  We thought Vettel was a complete idiot because he would be disqualified but it turned out Red Bull bosses had told him to do this!  They have now been fined and dealt with [see below].

The safety car caused a second debacle with Jarno Trulli overtaking Lewis Hamilton under a yellow flag for 3rd position.  The Italian has now lost that position in a ruling by the FIA.

Kubica and Vettel’s incident left Rubens Barrichello 2nd to complete a 1-2 for Brawn in what has been frankly carnage.  I am yet to be convinced by the new cars and rules.

Time-Sheet

The 2009 ING Australian Grand Prix;

Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia;

58 Laps;

Sunny/Sunset, Temp Av: 25oC.

Classified

Pos	Driver	Team	Time
1	J. Button	Brawn-Mercedes	1.34.15.784
2	R. Barrichello	Brawn-Mercedes	+0.807
3	L. Hamilton*	McLaren-Mercedes	+2.914
4	T. Glock	Toyota	+4.435
5	F. Alonso	Renault	+4.879
6	N. Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	+5.722
7	S. Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	+6.004
8	S. Bourdais	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	+6.289
9	A. Sutil	Force India-Merc	+6.355
10	N. Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	+7.085
11	J. Trulli*	Toyota	Penalty
12	G. Fisichella	Force India-Merc	+7.354
13	M. Webber	RBR-Renault	+1 lap
14	S. Vettel	RBR-Renault	+2 laps
15	R. Kubica	BMW Sauber	+3 laps
16	K. Raikkonen	Scuderia Ferrari	+3 laps

* – See penalties below

Fastest Lap: 1.27.706 – N. Rosberg, Williams

Retirements

Driver	Team	Lap	Reason
F. Massa	Scuderia Ferrari	46	Engine/KERS
N. Piquet	Renault	25	Spin
K. Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	18	Accident
H. Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1	Suspension

Penalties

• Jarno Trulli given a 25 second penalty for overtaking Lewis Hamilton under yellow flags/safety car.  Subsequently dropped to 11th place.
• S. Vettel given 10 place grid penalty for the Malaysian GP for continuing with race ending damage
• Red Bull Racing fined $50,000 for telling S. Vettel to continue with race ending damage

INTERVIEWS/COMMENT

Jenson Button (Brawn) 1st - “This is a fairy tale ending to the first race of our career together and I hope that we can continue this way and I know we are going to fight every moment we can to keep this car competitive.”

Rubens Barrichello (Brawn) 2nd – “I never thought I could finish on the podium after the start, I hit anti-stall and recovered quickly, then I was hit from behind by a McLaren and that put me sideways and I hit someone really hard.  I had a lot of mixed emotions and it was fantastic, I’m delighted”

Fernando Alonso (Renault) 5th - “In terms of the overall results and looking at our competitors, we have to be happy with the result,”

Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 7th - “First race first point, so I’m very happy,” said Buemi. “Maybe we had a bit of luck with the accidents, but even without that we were not too bad and our strategy worked well and I am very happy with the way my race went.”

Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) Ret [16th] - “It was my mistake to hit the wall, it was just sudden but I spun. Looking afterwards we would probably have finished second, and it is a shame.”

PHOTOS

Start of the 2009 Season!

Turn 1 Mayhem

Turn 1 Mayhem continued...

As predicted, many cars ended up breaking those massive front wings

Kimi Raikkonen and Mark Webber both had bad days

Hamilton and Trulli fought it out

The safety car was used a few times!

Piquet crashed

Massa broke down, completing a crap day for Ferrari

Vettel and Kubica had a coming together with a handful of laps to go, runing both their podium chances

Moments after hitting Vettel, Kubica had a nasty shunt into the wall

The incident left Vettel with the questions to answer, leading to a penalty

However Button took the flag on only his second GP win!

Brawn boys 1 and 2!

VIDEO

Race Review – Courtesy of BBC, UK ONLY

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7970518.stm

Full Press Conference – Courtesy of BBC, UK ONLY

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7970529.stm

Australian GP 2009: Button On Pole For Brawn GP

Jenson Button has slotted the brawn new Brawn BGP001 onto the pole position slot of the albert Park circuit for the 2009 Grand Prix, marking the first time a new team has gained a pole position since Jackie Stewart with Tyrrell.

Button, 29, was largely written off at the end of last season and only a month ago it looked like he would not have a drive for this season.  He will be joined by Rubens Barrichello on the front row of the grid, marking a very special first race for the Brawn team born from the ashes of Honda Racing F1.

In the first session, both Force India’s were out, as were both Toro Rosso’s.  Despite big gains for Force India, they still couldn;t make it into Q2, the 2005 Aussie GP winner Giancarlo Fisichella declared himself bitterly disappointed with the result.

Nelson Piquet Jr. was also out in this first session of qualifying, the Brazilian entering his second season of F1 in a poorly similar way to his first.

The big suprise was that World Champion Lewis Hamilton scraped into the Q2 session in last position, but before he could even put a lap on the board he had to retire as his gearbox was broken.  The Brit’s good form of luck looks like its run out, and with the 5 place grid drop for the gearbox change he will start tomorrow’s race from last position.

Heikki Kovalainen fared no better than his team mate and ended up 14th, going out with Nakajima, Heidfeld, Alonso and Webber all of whom put in stellar laps.  At one point there was just 2 tenths covering the top 9 cars.

The final session proved the Brawn cars’ dominance, they were easily fastest and with the printouts of vehicle weights we can see they were running fuel.

Vettel and Kubica did a great job in breaking the possibly illegal diffuser cars dominance of the top spots with 3rd & 4th  place, followed by Rosberg, Glock and Trulli.  Kubica also declined to run KERS at this event.

The Ferrari’s propped up the table, but they looked fast and potentially could have good levels of fuel.  Kimi Raikkonen did some scorching laps in the F60.

Pos  Driver      Team                      Q1        Q2        Q3     Laps
 1.  Button      Brawn-Mercedes        (B) 1:25.211  1:24.855  1:26.202 19
 2.  Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes        (B) 1:25.006  1:24.783  1:26.505 21
 3.  Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      (B) 1:25.938  1:25.121  1:26.830 21
 4.  Kubica      BMW-Sauber            (B) 1:25.922  1:25.152  1:26.914 19
 5.  Rosberg     Williams-Toyota       (B) 1:25.846  1:25.123  1:26.973 21
 6.  Glock       Toyota                (B) 1:25.499  1:25.281  1:26.975 19
 7.  Massa       Ferrari               (B) 1:25.844  1:25.319  1:27.033 21
 8.  Trulli      Toyota                (B) 1:26.194  1:25.265  1:27.127 20
 9.  Raikkonen   Ferrari               (B) 1:25.899  1:25.380  1:27.163 21
10.  Webber      Red Bull-Renault      (B) 1:25.427  1:25.241  1:27.246 20
11.  Heidfeld    BMW-Sauber            (B) 1:25.827  1:25.504           14
12.  Alonso      Renault               (B) 1:26.026  1:25.605           12
13.  Nakajima    Williams-Toyota       (B) 1:26.074  1:25.607           16
14.  Kovalainen  McLaren-Mercedes      (B) 1:26.184  1:25.726           15
15.  Hamilton    McLaren-Mercedes      (B) 1:26.454  no time             5
16.  Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B) 1:26.503                     10
17.  Piquet      Renault               (B) 1:26.598                     12
18.  Fisichella  Force India-Mercedes  (B) 1:26.677                     10
19.  Sutil       Force India-Mercedes  (B) 1:26.742                      9
20.  Bourdais    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B) 1:26.964                     10

Australian GP 2009: Rosberg Fastest In FP2

Nico Rosberg continued his run of form from the morning session to top the timesheets in the second free practice of the day in Australia.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time             Laps
 1.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:26.053           36
 2.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:26.157  + 0.104  38
 3.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:26.350  + 0.297  42
 4.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:26.370  + 0.317  30
 5.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:26.374  + 0.321  38
 6.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:26.443  + 0.390  42
 7.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:26.560  + 0.507  33
 8.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:26.740  + 0.687  19
 9.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:27.040  + 0.987  29
10.  Massa        Ferrari               (B)  1:27.064  + 1.011  35
11.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:27.204  + 1.151  32
12.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:27.232  + 1.179  28
13.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:27.282  + 1.229  32
14.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:27.317  + 1.264  34
15.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:27.398  + 1.345  36
16.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:27.479  + 1.426  36
17.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:27.802  + 1.749  35
18.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:27.813  + 1.760  31
19.  Piquet       Renault               (B)  1:27.828  + 1.775  35
20.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:28.076  + 2.023  33

Australian GP 2009: Rosberg Fastest In FP1

Nico Rosberg took  top spot in a highly contested free practice session, the first of 2009.

Pos  Driver       Team                      Time              Laps
 1.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B) 1:26.687           19
 2.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B) 1:26.736 + 0.049   21
 3.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B) 1:26.750 + 0.063   24
 4.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B) 1:27.226 + 0.539   21
 5.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B) 1:27.453 + 0.766   15
 6.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B) 1:27.467 + 0.780   12
 7.  Massa        Ferrari               (B) 1:27.642 + 0.955   24
 8.  Glock        Toyota                (B) 1:27.710 + 1.023   24
 9.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B) 1:27.993 + 1.306   20
10.  Alonso       Renault               (B) 1:28.123 + 1.436   16
11.  Heidfeld     BMW Sauber            (B) 1:28.137 + 1.450   20
12.  Trulli       Toyota                (B) 1:28.142 + 1.455   21
13.  Kubica       BMW Sauber            (B) 1:28.511 + 1.824   22
14.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B) 1:28.603 + 1.916   16
15.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B) 1:28.785 + 2.098   27
16.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B) 1:29.042 + 2.355   18
17.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B) 1:29.081 + 2.394    7
18.  Piquet       Renault               (B) 1:29.461 + 2.774   25
19.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B) 1:29.499 + 2.812   21
20.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B) 1:32.784 + 6.097    4

2009 ING Australian Grand Prix Preview

The start of the new season is upon us, the weeks of testing, early morning starts and all down to those few seconds as the 20 cars line up on the grid, pulses racing, the heat exhuding from the Bridgestone slick tyres, seconds feel like hours, the V8’s groan as they fire up to the top of their rev ranges…..BANG…..the lights go out and its a complete free for all as the cars race down to the first corner.

With all the new technical regulations this season, who knows what will happen but I for one cannot wait for the garage doors to open and the cars to start putting in laps.  You can throw the form book out of the window, no-one knows what will happen.

The Track

The circuit is a street based one, around Albert Park and lake area not far from central Melbourne. It never really feels like a street track, but every year it takes weeks of preparations to get the place ready for racing.  It has been flattened out in 2006, and with fast lines it is regarded as an easy circuit by the drivers.  It is a notoriously difficult place to overtake, but creates a good spectacle as the first race of the season.

The future of the track as the host of the Australian Grand Prix was in doubt, but the circuit is now confirmed to be hosting the race until 2015, but the owners do not want it turned into a night race event like Singapore.

A lap of the track

Flat out down the main straight, one of the few places to really get the throttle down.  Brake hard into the first corner, a hard right, tap the apex on the inside before throwing the car back over to the left.  Grip that apex for a little longer before the car pulls onto the outside, maybe even touching the grass a little as you put the power down before turn 3.  Hard on the brakes here, flipping the paddles down the gears, before a tiny speed burst and again hard on the brakes for turn 4, power out of the corner hard hitting the apex on the outside, watch not to unbalance the car as it is a little raised.  Pull the car back to the left, feather the throttle through turn 5.  Turns 6 and 7 require a little brakes and then a throttle feather before unleshing the V8 again before hard braking into turns 9, which is similar to turn 4.  Curved exit on 10 makes it easier to put the power down – watch the wall on the outside the scene of many tyre scuffs over the seasons.  Flat through 11 and 12, this is harder now the car has less downforce on it than previously.  As you head to turn 13, get the car as far left as possible, dab the brakes and throw the car on to just tap the apex.  Same for 14.  As you exit 14, look for the tiny apex on the left and then push the car back over to the right for turn 15, hard on the brakes about 60mph through here, watch the pitlane entrance, swing the car into the straight and flat out over the line.

Enjoy a lap with Michael Schumacher in the Ferrari F2004

[youtube=

Pre-Event Thoughts

Giancarlo Fisichella [ITA], Force India: “I was quite optimistic for the season after the first test, but I am not so excited now because unfortunately the car came late and we haven’t tested enough. Mechanically the car looks alright, with the engine and gearbox running very well, but we need downforce.

We are struggling with the grip, so for the first four races away from Europe I think we are going to struggle like last year. But hopefully when we come back in Barcelona we will have KERS and a new package, I hope it is a good step forward. The midfield may be a little bit difficult, but we will see.

Fernando Alonso [ESP], Renault: “We finished last year strongly and we want to start the new season fighting for podiums and race wins.  We will go to Melbourne aiming to win but knowing that we will have a real fight on our hands.”

Timo Glock [DEU], Toyota: “It would be great to be on the podium or even win the first race – it would be a dream. I just try and do 100 per cent. I want to come out of this weekend with the same feeling that we had over the tests – that we are in a strong position and that we have a good potential to develop the car over the year.”

Felipe Massa [BRA], Ferrari: “We are ready to start the championship and I hope we will be as competitive as in the previous years.”

Pre-Event Photos

ING To Review And Cut-Back F1 Sponsorship

The Dutch banking giant ING has said  in a statement today that it will be reviewing its F1 sponsorship as it looks to save money amidst the major economic crisis.

The company, set to make over 1million euros in losses this year is looking to downscale its participation in major sporting events, with F1 seen as a major expenditure.  Around 7,000 employees of ING are to be made redundant.

“ING will cut operating expenses by EUR 1 billion in 2009,” said the statement. “The structural expense reduction will lead to annual savings of approximately EUR 1.1 billion from 2010 onwards. Of the cutback, 35% will come from a reduction of the workforce by approximately 7000 full-time positions in 2009.

“The remainder of the expense reduction comes from decreasing costs for our head office, marketing, the Formula One program, consultancy, third-party staff and the renegotiating of certain contracts with IT-vendors. Of the total expense reduction, EUR 650 million will be realized in Banking and EUR 350 million in Insurance.”

ING are the major sponsor of Renault F1 Team, a team in jepoardy as it is, and also the sponsor to the Australian, Hungarian, Belgian and Turkish Grand Prix.

Melbourne Confident On Race Deal

Albert Park organisers have admitted they are confident that a deal to secure the future of the Australian GP can be reached.

The organisers and government are meeting Bernie Ecclestone do comprimise on requirements.

The owners do not want a night race, but Ecclestone reckons a start at around 7pm could work.

“I will be seeing Mr. Ecclestone sometime in the next three or four weeks and we will have a heart-to-heart discussion about what he wants to do,” Walker told autosport.com.

“I have known him for more than 20 years. He loves Melbourne and I am sure we will work something out.”

“I am very confident [A deal can be reached]. Business is about compromise and I’m very confident we will work something out. If you talk to the teams and the media, they love being here.

“He has said he wants 7pm, but we are looking at the light quality and hopefully there can be a margin between what he wants and we want, which is fair. It is not about money, it’s about the reach into Asia and Europe.”

Hamilton Wins The 2008 Australian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton has won the first round of the 2008 season.  The British driver started in pole position, and cruised to victory amid a large volume of accidents and mechanical retirements.

The start of the season is usually an exciting race, and as the cars revved their V8’s to 19,000rpms on the startline many pulses began racing.  Team bosses looked concerned, and no-one knew how the cars would cope without traction control.  The lights went out and the race began with people on each others backs.  Kimi Raikkonen immediatly made up places from his poor 15th start position.

Into the first corner and there was a large incident further back in the field that led to the first safety car of the season.  Giancarlo Fisichella, Sebastian Vettel both retired from a clash involving 4 cars.  Felipe Massa lost his Ferrari on the first corner, he couldn’t control his car during an overtaking manoeuvre with Kovalainen – the first setback on an appalling day for the Scuderia.  Later on in the same lap, Anthony Davidson broke his suspension in a minor incident around turn 4.  Jenson Button also had suspension problems and disappointingly had to retire, but he was not too down as he knows that the Honda will perform well in the future.  Webber also got in a tangle and had to return to the garage on lap 1, his mechanics working furiously to get the car back on track but their efforts were somewhat unsuccessful.

By this point, Kimi Raikkonen was up into 8th positon, behind the Honda of Rubens Barrichello.  A position the Finn would hold for many laps into the race, until he managed to squeeze down the inside of the experienced Brazilian.

After the safety car, the race began to pan out and an order was beginning to be shown with some more interesting drivers in the top 6, including Nico Rosberg.

Robert Kubica made the first stop, clearly having a light load which may have been why he qualified in second place, holding provisional pole for some time.

Not long after Jarno Trulli pitted, but had to retire in a bizarre circumstance when his battery failed.  The Italian was left less than impressed as he jumped out of the car.

Kimi Raikkonen benefitted from the field pitting, and he managed to get up into 3rd place behind fellow Finn Heikki Kovalainen.

Felipe Massa then had the contraversial moment of the weekend.  He made a move down the inside of David Coulthard into turn 1, the Ferrari having superior pace on the straight.  Massa dived in, DC blocked and Massa punted the back end of Coulthard’s sidepod.  Massa waved his arm in the air as Coulthard, with his rear right tyre broken flew across the grass breaking his rear wing and front left suspension.  Massa managed to continue until retiring some laps later.  On ITVF1’s coverage, Coulthard left no holds barred on what he thought of Massa, using a few explicit comments in his discussion with paddock girl Louise Goodman.

The safety car was out because of that incident, and Raikkonen managed to get right behind Kovalainen as the field bunched.  The safety car came in and all drivers pounched on the power.  Raikkonen sat, full throttle in Kovalainen’s slip-stream as they went down the straight but a move into turn 1 failed to materialise.  Into turn 3, Raikkonen braked 50 meters too late, passed Kovalainen, and went flying off into the red gravel trap, narrowly avoiding the wall.  The day was just going bad to worse for Ferrari, Kimi pitting not long after changing his softs for hards, the softs now resembling slicks!

The front group of Hamilton, Heidfeld and Rosberg made their next stops, but Kovalainen in the second McLaren didn’t, it would prove a costly decision.

Glock in the Toyota went wide, and skidded off the track onto the grass, he tried to keep momentum, but his car went over a sliproad and jumped up into the air, smashing back onto the tarmac and causing a lot of damage.  He slid into the wall, and sat in the car for a long time, but he was fortunatly uninjured – just a little shaken.

Kovalainen then had to wait until the pitlane was open before making his pitstop, which cost him places.  Rubens Barrichello pitted while the pitlane was closed, and subsequently had a 10 second stop-go penalty, which demoted him from 3rd to 8th position.  In that pitstop, which was illegal, the lollipop man lifted his stick before the fuel man had finished, and Rubens drove away, with the fuel man attached.  The second man went down, but the man right on the rig stayed with it, and managed to free it, but hit his head on the spinning wheel of the Honda.  Fortunatly, all 3 mechanics that were injured, are all fine.

Under than safety car, Kubica and Nakajima had an off camera incident, which led them both to have damage.  They pitted, Nakajima greatly suprising the Williams mechanics who had already cleared up the box!  A mechanic quaickly had to move the tyre guns before he ran them over.  Kubica went into the box, but appeared to have too much damage to continue, and retired.  Nakajima had a new wing and left the pits, crashing over a piece of equipment on his way out.

The front 3 group of Hamilton, Heidfeld and Rosberg then calmly pulled away from the craziness further back and cruised to the finish.

Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari was not sounding good, and the group of Bourdais, Alonso and Kovalainen passed him and left him way back.  The Ferrari’s engine was grumbling, which subsequently led him to retire from the race, leaving his car yet again at the end of the pitlane.  He will get a new engine and gearbox before the Malaysian GP without penalty.

Sebastien Bourdais then had an engine problem, yet another Ferrari engine gave up just 2 laps from the finish.  The Frenchman had a fantastic debut, jostling for positon right at the front, and was very unlucky.  The body language of the talented rookie was upset as he undid the harnesses of the STR.

That left Alonso and Kovalainen to fight it out for 4th and 5th.  The McLaren of Kovalainen was clearly superior, and Alonso did a good job to keep him behind him.  Kovalainen got Alonso on the last corner just as the final lap was starting, the Finn then must have thought the race was over as he slowed, Alonso swung the Renault around him and powreed off down the straight.  Realising the mistake, Kovalainen set off in pursuit, but 5th place was deemed to be his.

Rubens Barrichello finished 6th, although he is under investigation for leaving the pitlane under a red light and faces potential disqualification.

Kazuki Nakajima finished in 7th in an incredibly strange race, reminiscant of Monaco races of the past with so few finishers!  Lord knows what will happen when we end up in the principality in May, will anyone finish?!

The classified listings mean that Bourdais finished 8th scoring his first point of his F1 career, despite not finishing the race.  It also lists Raikkonen as 9th.

Results

2008 ING Australian Grand Prix;

Albert Park, Melbourne;

58 Laps, 99.9km;

Sunny, very hot – Av: 37oC;

Classified:
Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	L. Hamilton	McLaren	1.34.50.616
2	N. Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	+ 5.478
3	N. Rosberg	Williams	+ 8.163
4	F. Alonso	Renault	+ 17.181
5	H. Kovalainen	McLaren	+ 18.014
6	R. Barrichello	Honda	+ 52.453
7	K. Nakajima	Williams	+ 1 Lap
8	S. Bourdais	Toro Rosso	+ 2 Laps
9	K. Raikkonen	Ferrari	+ 3 Laps

Fastest Lap: H. Kovalainen, 1.27.418

Un-Classified
Driver	Team	Lap	Reason
R. Kubica	BMW Sauber	50	Crash Damage
T. Glock	Toyota	44	Accident
T. Sato	Super Aguri	33	Engine
N. Piquet	Renault	31	Engine/Fuel
F. Massa	Ferrari	30	Crash Damage
D. Coulthard	Red Bull	26	Accident
J. Trulli	Toyota	20	Battery
A. Sutil	Force India	9	Engine/Tech
M. Webber	Red Bull	1	Technical
J. Button	Honda	1	Suspension
A. Davidson	Super Aguri	1	Suspension
S. Vettel	Toro Rosso	1	Accident
G. Fisichella	Force India	1	Accident

Photos

Press Conference: http://f1fanatics.wordpress.com/2008-season/2008-press-conferences/

Hamilton On Pole For Australian Grand Prix

1 year after making his grand prix debut, Lewis Hamilton has secured pole position for the Australian Grand Prix.

The British driver narrowly edged Robert Kubica in the BMW Sauber who had to settle for second place.

Heikki Kovalainen followed on in third, with the best Ferrari of Felipe Massa ending up in foruth place.

Sebastian Vettel of Scuderia Toro Rosso did very well, in what is last season’s car.  The talented German got into Q3, but didn’t set a time settling instead for 10th position.  It was a bit better than rookie team mate Sebastien Bourdais who is going to start the race back in 18th positon.

Things would appear to be looking up for Honda too.  Rubens Barrichello secured 11th place, Jenson Button 13th, and within their garage there is a renewed sense of optimism.

“It was so frustrating, because the car was working well but I had a pretty rubbish couple of corners,” Button told reporters after qualifying.

“In Turn Nine I ran wide and across the line, and the last corner I ran wide and ran across the grass, so considering the mistakes I made being in P12 makes me happy.

“We lost about four tenths, which is so annoying! So we would have been in the top ten, which is where the car just about deserves to be.”

There was good news but also much bad news in the session.  If you are wondering what happened to Kimi Raikkonen, well he had fuel rpessure problems and didn’t set a time in Q2.  This means he is down in 16th place, although looks likely to go 15th now Timo Glock had his penatly.  Timo Glock impeded another driver during qualifying and has been demoted to 19th, not a good debut.

The Renault’s had an awful session, with Fernando Alonso missing the cut into Q3, and Nelson Piquet Jr. not even managing to get out of Q1.

“It’s really tough,” said Piquet. “It is really difficult to set the car up for qualifying and the race, and consider all the strategy. Everything happens quickly during weekends.”

Timesheet

Pos.	Driver	Team	Time
1	L. Hamilton	McLaren	1:26.714
2	R. Kubica	BMW	1:26.866
3	H. Kovalainen	McLaren	1:27.079
4	F. Massa	Ferrari	1:27.178
5	N. Heidfeld	BMW	1:27.236
6	J. Trulli	Toyota	1:28.527
7	N. Rosberg	Williams	1:28.687
8	D. Coulthard	Red Bull	1:29.041
9	S. Vettel	Scuderia Toro Rosso	no time
10	R. Barrichello	Honda	1:26.173
11	F. Alonso	Renault	1:26.188
12	J. Button	Honda	1:26.259
13	K. Nakajima	Williams	1:26.413
14	M. Webber	Red Bull	no time
15	K. Räikkönen	Ferrari	no time
16	G. Fisichella	Force India F1	1:27.207
17	S. Bourdais	Scuderia Toro Rosso	1:27.446
18	A. Sutil	Force India F1	1:27.859
19	T. Glock	Toyota	1:29.593
20	T. Sato	Super Aguri	1:28.208
21	N. Piquet jr.	Renault	1:28.330
22	A. Davidson	Super Aguri	1:29.059
	Post Glock Demotion

Photos