Reigning World Champion Jenson Button emerged victorious at the 2010 Australian Grand Prix after starting from fourth position. Second place went to Renault’s Robert Kubica and the final podium position went to Felipe Massa in his scarlet Ferrari. Unlike the Bahrain GP which took place a fortnight ago the Australian race at the Albert Park street circuit was very entertaining due to rain and various other incidents. We also saw more overtaking moves compared to the Middle Eastern event.
Bahrain GP winner Fernando Alonso collected fourth place ahead of Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg and Button’s team mate Lewis Hamilton. Force India did very well today with Vitantonio Liuzzi’s seventh place. Rubens Barrichello of Williams, Mark Webber of Red Bull and finally 7 times World Champion Michael Schumacher rounded off the top ten for Mercedes.
Lotus’s Heikki Kovalainen and Hispania’s Karun Chandhok were the only ones from the new teams who crossed the finish line. The Finn finished in 13th place, two laps behind Button while Karun finished five laps behind in 14th. The rest including both the Virgin cars and Bruno Senna from Hispania retired. Jarno Trulli did not start the race as his car suffered from hydraulics failure.
The incident-filled race started in wet conditions and all cars were fitted with wet weather tires. As with previous Australian GP’s, the first corner on the first lap collected some prisoners. Fernando Alonso who started from third had a poor start and was hit by eventual race winner Button causing the Spaniard to spin. Alonso then hit Schumacher. Button managed to continue while Alonso dropped to the back of the grid.
Schumacher had to pit for a new front wing as well. The ‘Gullwing’ safety car was then deployed. Just seconds later Kamui Kobayashi of Sauber hit the barrier and subsequently collected Williams’ Nico Hulkenberg as well. Sebastien Buemi from Toro Rosso also went off and retired. As the race restarted Vettel, Massa, Webber, Kubica, Rosberg, Button, Hamilton, Sutil, Barrichello, Petrov made up the top ten.
Alonso restarted in 18th and Schumacher did so in 20th. As expected both Alonso and Schumacher went on to pass slower cars although the Ferrari driver had it easier. Schumacher tried to make a move on Virgin’s Glock but Glock took the position back. That was a very interesting overtaking move.
Button then pitted at the end of Lap 6 and was the first to use slicks. He came out and it was quite slippery for him but as the tires collected more heat, Button’s decision of switching to slicks proved to be a good one. Just a while later more cars pitted as Button set the fastest lap time. At Lap 12 it was still Vettel who was leading, followed by Button, Kubica, Rosberg, Massa, Webber, Hamilton, Barrichello, de la Rosa and Alonso.
Vettel was having a comfortable lead but unfortunately for the German, the brakes on his Red Bull failed and push him onto the gravel trap. That was the end of his race after scoring his second consecutive pole position yesterday. Button took over the lead ahead of Kubica, Hamilton and Rosberg.
Towards the closing stages of the race, it was Button, Kubica, Massa and Alonso who were at the top four. Hamilton and Webber, following their pit stops were closing in on both the Ferraris. Both Massa and Alonso opt not to pit and decided to stay on with worn tires. Hamilton and Webber, thanks to fresh tires closed up and started to pressure Alonso. In a surprising move, Webber hit the back of Hamilton and pushed both of them out of the battle for fourth place.
Hamilton got back on track but only managed to finish in sixth place. Webber had to pit for a new front wing and only managed ninth. In one week’s time the Formula 1 fraternity will gather again for the 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix and hopefully we won’t see a single red flag! Although today’s race was pretty exciting, imagine if it did not pour at the beginning. For now fans can only hope for more rain to add excitement into a grand prix
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yawn !! F1 is better than counting sheeps for sleep therapy
lotus p13 ;)
Wonder where Hamilton and Webber ended up!
so what?!…..
First corner was verryy interesting
Thanks for Alonso's best effort for successfully not to let Hamilton to take over!
Vettel & Webber never seem to have any luck in Melbourne.
This race is exciting and full of drama……
Well done to Alonso for fending off challenge from hamilton….
The BEST driver of the race gone to WEBBER as he hit arrogant HAMILTON out from 2 laps left…LOLOLOL
Lewis' driving made this race interesting, too bad he got shafted by Webber at the end. At least he only lost one spot unlike the Red Bull driver.
I hope it rains in Sepang to make the race entertaining :)
Wow Paul…you are so quick. The race was just finished.
H.Kovalainen of Lotus F1 finish at the 13th place, not bad ohh…
So sad for Vettel, his second pole in a row and another lost victory. I think the driver which impressed me the most this weekend was Kubica, he jumped to 4th at the start from 9th and held on to 2nd till the end.
very exciting…from the beginning
Mercedes-Benz are really fast!
nice to see different teams on podium or pole position. no more ferrari dominance.
there is no ferrari dominance for the last 4-5 season…bro..but still support ferrari
NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! Red Bull, get reliable please =.=
Yaayyy…lotus no. 13 although the last car to finish. Ok what…
hispania last car to finish at P14..5 lap behind
bad luck for lewis hamilton after being hit by race favourite, mark webber.. good defending by the ferraris =)
1) Bad luck to Vettel I am pretty sure he was going to win if not of the failed brakes
2) Bad start for Alonso, he could have at least backed off and avoid that collision with Button and the rest in Turn 1 of the opening lap.
3) Bad luck for Hamilton because of the tyre change pit stop, he could have over-took Kubica and give McLaren a 1-2
4) Mark Webber should have considered Hamilton's suggestion for him to retire. Really.
5) Schumacher should just put his foot where his mouth is. If other drivers can handle and over-take the slower drivers in the track, why can't he? It's either 1) He is not good enough and is as bad as the slow drivers, or 2) He whinges too much
I also have a feeling that Hamilton is going to take an absolute piss at the McLaren team for calling him into the pits and losing his podium chance. More pin-pointing in the Malaysia media next week!
wonderful…mclaren F-duct is incredible…good tyre strategy for button
Sorry! Lotus couldn’t get one of their cars to start the race. 1Malaysia really tak boleh! Really making a mark in F1.
at least one start the race
While other team had both cars? Go figure.
Why don't you go figure yourself?
Dude… What a negative thinking you have there.. they make one car to start the race and it finishes the race and 3 laps in front the closest rivals of the new teams. This is only their 2nd race. they are very new and they have started to better the other new teams. I'd say we wait next year and I bet we can see them as a regular top 10. the 3rd year is very interesting… :) I hope the race in sepang will be hot and shiny so the Lotus team can show their good stuff. yeahhh!!!!
2nd in a row failed for podium finishing… poor vettel…
As expected, 1Mesia score no points…good, at least 1Mesia could maintain the consistent score…
Redbull disaster.. poor Vettel :(( ….
eh baghuan.. pity for Lotus team..
Yeah some accidents, but still boring, especially the way JB wins the race. I think Moto GP is better.
moto gp quit boring now since valentino rossi dominance
rain is the only thing keeping f1 interesting ….i still think the diference between the top teams and the news teams is simply too much…
the difference is too much.. yes. think about this… how many years have them race the top cars ? and how old is the new cars ? not even a year and this is only the 2nd race. the team is still learning,.. give them time, they will show the improvements in time… I support the Lotus F1 Team. yeah… I know Malaysia Boleh!. heads up!
Lotus in 13th, not bad…
Go Jenson!
!st…
Nice and exciting race…
at least Lotus make it it till the finish line..but what rrally happened to trulli?
hydraulic failure
Next week in Sepang, soak the track and have sprinklers all around the track to wet it down!
Kovalainen finished in 13th but too bad for trulli not even started the race.
great race with a little bit of drama at the end when Hamilton shows his frustration on pit strategy over the radio comm.
better luck next time Jarno
It is clear that the while the Red Bulls do have the pace, they simply haven't sorted out the durability yet. If they can get every bits to last the race distance, I am sure they will be the runaway winners for this season.
All that talk about RELIABILITY by Lotus has gone down the drain.!
Hydraulics problems doesn't sound goo
13th is nothing to shout about ,
Could be the highest finish this season unless in Sepang
they call the bomoh to make it RAIN.
there is no 100% RELIABILITY…even Ferrari n Mclaren hav reliability issue
I agree with you. at least, the half-year old designed car was far much better than the rest of the new teams and even some of the so called top teams…
why wishes for a rain in sepang ? we want to see them fly!
so sorry vettel….aikz….2 poles. but….
ramalan, the hydraulics issues is not Lotus fault. its X-trac. all the new teams face the same problem. apart from that, lotus is pretty much reliable,
heikki said it before, X-trac gearbox package is unrealiable, Lotus will design their own hydraulics system and will start to use it around late may in Turkey.
Its the easy way out blaming others.
Why still go for the Cosworth package
when you already know its limitation and weakness.
Because it's cheap and available fast. If you design it for yourself it takes time and time is something that Lotus didn't have.
One more thing to say is, F1 is close to flight engineering.(*as layman like me translates it)… and they are not driving it like going around the park, they are pushing it to the limit, as hard as they can.. and still tries not to broke the car.. its a long hours of race and the way they push the car can make anything broke. success comes with experience. the first year Renault into F1 also did not record a win.,.. Toyota is a big name, you can see their cars everywhere… how do they score in F1 ? are they still around ? BMW Sauber is another big name.. and pretty impressive last year. tell me where they are now ? just above Lotus. and still no points ? yes, they change managements and driver. they are new – yes. exactly what I'm trying to say… Experience 1st hand. once the team bonds and grow, they will perform. I have faith in the Lotus F1 team.
Looks like Red Bull has the fastest cars around the circuit (although not the most powerful engine, which happens to be Mercedes Benz engine this season).
Hopefully it will rain in sepang or else will be a boring race
Way to go Kubica n Renault…piss off the Alonso..
hail Kubica!
my fav driver all the time.
lotus should go for merc or ferrari engine… cosworth? sigh..