Post race wrap
Vettel wins in Malaysia while RedBull dominate with a 1-2 Finish
Apr 4th
Sebastian Vettel leading Mark Webber for the RedBull on-Two - Photograph: Mark Thompson/Getty Images
Sebastian Vettel lead from turn 1 at Sepang and never looked back to claim his first win of the season and gave RedBull the 1-2 finish that they so desperately wanted and expected to get earlier then round 3 this year.
Mark Webber was on pole for the race, however he had wheel spin off the line and didn’t fight too hard to cover his line as Vettel passed him into the braking area. Mark had a beter run into turn 2 and fought back a little bit but in the end Vetel had the drive and maintained his lead. From then on it was pretty much a processional race with Vettel, Webber and Rosberg leading the pack for the rest of the afternoon.
“I had a good start and got the tow from Mark, I took the chance I had in Turn 1, said Vettel … We had a magnificent car and the key was to pace yourself. It’s a good result after two races where we didn’t finish where we want to be.”
The rain that was predicted for this race never eventuated. It was the first dry afternoon all weekend and it meant that the conditions for the drivers were extreemely difficult and hot. It also meant there were no safety car periods and teams such as McLaren and Ferrari who were hoping for changeable weather to make their way up the grid weren’t able to make the gains they possibly would have hoped had the rain fallen.
Nico Rosberg had a trouble free race and just had to follow the RedBull procession from start to finish. P3 for Rosberg never really seemed to be under any threat and all he had to do was to steer the car home to claim the final place on the podium.
Hamilton and Mass did a great job climbing up form the back of the grid to finish 6th and 7th and claim some needed points for the team. However it was both their team-mates who provided entertainment in the dying stages of the race.
Button was caught by Alonso at the end and there was a fierce battle for position. Alonso looked to take Button several times but in the end wasn’t able to make up the pace out of the corners due to a problem with the car on the downshift which set Alonso up badly for a quick exit. The final couple of laps however proved disaterous for Alonso as the Ferrari’s engine gave up and blew, forcing Alonso to retire from the race.
Jaime Alguersuari put in a superstar drive and scored points for finishing in ninth place. He had some great on-track battles with Hulkenberg and Petrov. Jamie showed that he has loads of potential and is able to perform very well under pressure.
Lotus are happy with one of their cars finishing the race. Jarno Trulli finished the race in last place for Lotus, but it was a good result for the team to finish the race in front of a home crowd. The result however was upstaged by Hispania Racing (HRT) who managed to get both their cars to the finish to claim 15th and 16th place just ahead of the Lotus.
Massa’s lead in the championship after round3 is just 2 points clear of Sebastian Vettel who is in equal 2nd place int he championship with Alonso, both drivers are on 37 points.
The final race classifications as well as championship standings are below:
Pos Driver Team Gap
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault
2. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 4.8s
3. Rosberg Mercedes + 13.5s
4. Kubica Renault + 18.5s
5. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 21.0s
6. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 23.4s
7. Massa Ferrari + 27.0s
8. Button McLaren-Mercedes + 37.9s
9. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1m10.6s
10. Hulkenberg Williams + 1m13.3s
11. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1m18.9s
12. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1 lap
13. Alonso Ferrari + 2 laps
14. Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth + 3 laps
15. Chandhok Hispania-Cosworth + 3 laps
16. Senna Hispania-Cosworth + 4 laps
17. Trulli Lotus-Cosworth + 5 laps
Not classified/retirements:
Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 46 laps
Petrov Renault 32 laps
Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 12 laps
Schumacher Mercedes 9 laps
Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 8 laps
Glock Virgin-Cosworth 2 laps
De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari 0 laps
World Championship standings, round 3:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Massa 39 1. Ferrari 76
2. Vettel 37 2. McLaren-Mercedes 66
3. Alonso 37 3. Red Bull-Renault 61
4. Button 35 4. Mercedes 44
5. Rosberg 35 5. Renault 20
6. Hamilton 31 6. Force India-Mercedes 18
7. Kubica 30 7. Williams-Cosworth 6
8. Webber 24 8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2
9. Sutil 10
10. Schumacher 9
11. Liuzzi 8
12. Barrichello 5
13. Alguersuari 2
14. Hulkenberg 1
Melbourne Wrap-up
Mar 31st
Well I have only just got home from Melbourne and only just got back to a reliable internet connection. Apologies for the blog being qute ever since I left for the MelbGP, but the hotel I was staying in didn’t have an internet connection and I was also very pressed for time.
For the entire weekend there was a great atmosphere around Albert Park and the city. The crowd numbers were up on previous years and Melbourne seemed to be very welcoming of the event.
The local media here however made a very big deal out of Lewis Hamilton’s incident outside the track on Friday night. Unless you have been living under a rock, you would know by now that lewis was ‘egged’ on by fans to put on a show for them as he left the circuit in the Mercedes AMG C63. The fans cheered and Lewis gave them what that wanted. The police however didn’t appreciate it and immeediately pulled him over. Under the anti-hoon regulations that victoria has recently brought into place, they can confiscate and impound the cars of drivers caught hooning without any prior offenses. In light of recent media coverage regarding hoon behaviour on Victorian roads and the recent legislations, the Victorian police, really had no choice but to make an example of Leiws and as a result he was dealt the full hand of the law. Maybe if the incident didn’t take place infront of such a large group of fans, then the police might have dealt with the situation slightly differently.
Mercedes however are benefitting from the free publicity for their top of the line c-class. The car that Lewis was driving is now a sort after souvineer for mnay would be buyers. The car will sell to the highest bidder, well above the standard sale price for the vehicle. However in a wise PR move by Mercedes they have vowed to donate every dollar over the standard sale price the car fetches to charity. They have even named the charity as the Alannah and Madeline Foundation. None of this of course has anything to do with the actual action on the track.
Vettel after claiming Pole on Saturday
Qualifying on Saturday was an absolute nail biter and the Melbourne crowd were behind their man Mark Webber through all sessions. It was Sebastian Vettel however who stole the show form Webber in the dying stages of of Q3 and snatching pole, beating the long-standing Albert Park lap record that was set by Michael Schumacer in a Ferrari back in 2004. Vettel recorded an incredible 1:23.919, the record that Michael set up until Vettel’s qualifying lap was a 1:24.125. Both Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso also beat this record in Q3 when they recorded times in the low 1:24’s.
Going in to rhe race on Sunday we had a RedBull one-two on the grid with Ferrari of Alonso in P3. Mark Webber being on the front row next to his team-mate Sebastian Vetttel now has the best chance to date to win his home Gran Prix. However after a poor start he was relegated to 4th place by the first corner.
It ws evident this race was going to be a thriller in stark contrast to the 2010 season opener in Bahrain which has received much critisism as being a very boring event. The rain no doubt played a role in throwing the race wide open however it was smart pit strategy and a gamble by Button to come in early for slicks that proved to win the race for him. The McLarens intermediate tyres were wearing poorley and Button made a last minute decission to dive in for slicks rather staying out for the track to dry a little more and risk losing position on his badly worn inters’.
Button ran off he track in the first sector on the cold slicks and lost a large amount of time as a result, however he recovered to record the fastest 3rd sector of the race so far. His move now proving to be the right one almost all the teams besides the RedBulls all dived in to put on their slicks. RedBull however seemed to be looking after their inter’s very well and Vettel was still able to keep pace with button.
As the race went on, Vettel lost his lead due to another mechanical failure with the car. This time a front wheel failure due to incorrect fitment saw him run off the track under brakes at turn 13 on lap 26 and beach the car in the gravel trap. This handed a very substantial lead to button who went on to claim victory in Melbourne for the 2nd consecutive year.
Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton has a couple of scraps throughout the race and both times Webber ran off the track, the final time, with just 3 laps of the race left to go, Webber understeered into lewis when he failed to pullup due to lack of downforce running in the McLarens dirty air. This was the nail on the coffin for Mark who finished in ninth place. Mark later apologised to Lewis for the incident and no doubt both dirvers now want to put a disapointing race behind them and look forward to this weekend in Malaysia.
An extatic Jensen Button was not expecting to win the AustralianGP again this year, the McLarens went in to this race down on form compared to Ferrari and RedBull, however it goes to prove that smart pit strategy again in variable weatehr conditions will make or break a race for you and sometimes you have to take a gamble to reap the reward. “It’s very special. It’s taken me a little while to be comfortable inside the car, but the team has been fantastic. I don’t know what to say – it’s very difficult to explain. I just feel I’m building in confidence.” Said Jensen.
Robert Kubica did a fantastic job in the Renault, handing the team their first pdium of the season. Robert put in a champion drive and stayed out of trouble to finish in second place behind Jensen. Filipe Massa had a reasonably torouble free run to finish 3rd for Ferrari who maintain a strong early lead on the constructors championship.
Red Bull now look ahead to Malaysia. It is the second consecutive race for the team with a driver on pole position not being able to convert pole into a win or at the very least a podium finish due to mechanical issues in the car.
Webber summed up his feelings after the race by updating his twitter status to read “It can only get better! Felt for our whole team looking forward to KL”
Below are the final results from round2 in Melbourne:
| Pos | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Retired |
| 1 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 58 | Winner |
| 2 | Robert Kubica | Renault | 58 | +12.0 secs |
| 3 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 58 | +14.4 secs |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 58 | +16.3 secs |
| 5 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes GP | 58 | +16.6 secs |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 58 | +29.8 secs |
| 7 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | Force India-Mercedes | 58 | +59.8 secs |
| 8 | Rubens Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 58 | +60.5 secs |
| 9 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 58 | +67.3 secs |
| 10 | Michael Schumacher | Mercedes GP | 58 | +69.3 secs |
| 11 | Jaime Alguersuari | STR-Ferrari | 58 | +71.3 secs |
| 12 | Pedro de la Rosa | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 58 | +74.0 secs |
| 13 | Heikki Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 56 | +2 Laps |
| 14 | Karun Chandhok | HRT-Cosworth | 53 | +5 Laps |
| Ret | Timo Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 41 | +17 Laps |
| Ret | Lucas di Grassi | Virgin-Cosworth | 26 | +32 Laps |
| Ret | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 25 | +33 Laps |
| Ret | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 9 | +49 Laps |
| Ret | Vitaly Petrov | Renault | 9 | +49 Laps |
| Ret | Bruno Senna | HRT-Cosworth | 4 | +54 Laps |
| Ret | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 0 | +58 Laps |
| Ret | Nico Hulkenberg | Williams-Cosworth | 0 | +58 Laps |
| Ret | Kamui Kobayashi | BMW Sauber-Ferrari | 0 | +58 Laps |
| Ret | Jarno Trulli | Lotus-Cosworth | 0 | +58 Laps |
Alonso leads a Ferrari 1-2 for season opener
Mar 15th
Fernando Alonso finished his first ever race at Scuderi Ferrari in first place with team mate Filipe Massa finishing in P2. The duo gave Ferrari a fairy tale start to the 2010 season after a dismal 2009 for the team.
Sebastian Vettel was the only man who could rain on Ferrari’s parade. After qualifying on pole position for the race, Vettel stormed to the front and recored fastest lap after fastest lap. However in the late half of the race, Vettel suffered an exhaust failure and as a reault lost power. He spent the rest of the race nursing his car home, unable to hold off the Ferrari’s or the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton, Vettel finished just off the podium in P4.
The exhaust failure for Vettel may be related to the team deciding to run the exhausts underneath the car this year rather then on-top. The possibility of the exhaust being damaged on the extremely bumpy Bahrain circuit should not be ruled out.
An elated Alonso said “There is no better way to start my relationship with the best tea in the world” he went on to say “we have only one the first race..” but clearly a on-two is a great start for the team.
Massa said the race was great for him and “The car was just perfect”
In the final 25 laps of the race, both Ferrari drivers were told to short shift and conserve fuel and look after the engines when it became clear they were running away with the victory.
Mark Webber had issues with oil surge through the first few corners and after a bad start, lost further time. Mark spent the rest of the race following Button in the McLaren without any chance of passing. Mark finished in a disapointing 8th position.
The race was not as exciting as fans had hoped, it became a bit of a procession, especially after Vettel’s problems it became a familiar sight with two Ferrari running away with the lead.
The full race results will be posted shortly
UBS Chinese Grand Prix