Wrap from Down Under

I think we can all safely agree that the Melbourne Grand Prix was awash with brilliance (spot the intended pun). Compared to the Bahrain Grand Prix, which was lovely and neat and full of promises, the Aussie GP really did have everything a great race should have: dodgy weather, brilliant overtakes, near misses, a sprinkling of crashes, a McLaren in the gravel and John Travolta waving the chequered flag. Unfortunately for the locals, their hero didn’t get a podium spot, not for lack of trying though. What a race, and the final results gave everyone the ultimate tossed salad of emotions.

It’s brilliant that Button won and beat his team mate, we now finally have a team McLaren that is sufficiently supporting both of its drivers. None of this favourite child nonsense. An added bonus was Robert Kubica, sitting proudly in second and splashing the Renault colours all over the podium, finally breaking up the all too common Ferrari reds and McLaren silvers.

All in all, it was a very exciting race, the problem with very exciting races is that they are often exciting because things went wrong. Although none of the things that went wrong seemed to be related to the drivers at all.

Example being one of the favourites to win the race, pole position starter Sebastian Vettel racing for Red Bull. The young German said he would have won the Australian Grand Prix had a brake failure not driven him off the track, “Earlier on the lap I felt some vibrations. There was nothing I could have done and I lost the car. It’s a shame – I think we had the race under control even though the conditions were difficult.”

Lewis Hamilton says that the reason he didn’t win a fancy fruit bowl at the end was because of strategy. “My tyres were fine,” he said. “I started off on a good set, got a good start, was up to a pretty good position… and I was pulled in. I don’t know why I was pulled in. That is what lost us at least a one-two.”

So bad mechanics and bad strategists, although Fernando Alonso of Ferrari was one of the few with no complaints about his race, “The car was perfect…there was the possibility that you can win the race even starting last because the car was so much quicker today than all the others,” said the Spaniard. He even appeared content with playing second fiddle to his team mate, as Alonso said he was “more concentrating on Hamilton and Webber – who were coming behind, than attacking Felipe and Robert. I was super happy with fourth, so I stayed there.”

However, Aussie local Mark Webber was not as pleased with events. Webber was reprimanded by race stewards after the GP for his part in the accident involving himself and Hamilton where he lost his front wing and Hamilton landed in the gravel trap. Himself, Hamilton and Alonso were locked in the battle for fourth place, evidently the Ferrari emerged victorious, and the rest a little annoyed.

So now we have a week until the next Malaysian Grand Prix. And I leave you with this, the best quote of the year, from none other than Fernando Alonso, who came up with this winner when told that Hamilton and Webber were catching up to him: “I don’t want to hear that.”

Results:

1 Jenson Button GBR McLaren   

2 Robert Kubica POL Renault +12.034

3 Felipe Massa BRA Ferrari +14.488

4 Fernando Alonso ESP Ferrari +16.304

5 Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes +16.683

6 Lewis Hamilton GBR McLaren +29.898

7 Vitantonio Liuzzi ITA Force India +59.847

8 Rubens Barrichello BRA Williams +1’00.536

9 Mark Webber AUS Red Bull +1’07.319

10 Michael Schumacher GER Mercedes +1’09.391

11 Jaime Alguersuari ESP Toro Rosso +1’11.301

12 Pedro de la Rosa ESP BMW Sauber +1’14.084

13 Heikki Kovalainen FIN Lotus +2 laps

14 Karun Chandhok IND Hispania +5 laps

DNF Sebastian Vettel GER Red Bull- Wheel issue

DNF Sébastien Buemi SUI Toro Rosso- Accident

DNF Kamui Kobayashi JAP BMW Sauber- Accident

DNF Vitaly Petrov RUS Renault- Spin

DNF Timo Glock GER Virgin- Suspension

DNF Lucas di Grassi BRA Virgin- Hydraulics

DNF Adrian Sutil GER Force India- Engine

DNF Nico Hülkenberg GER Williams- Accident

DNF Jarno Trulli ITA Lotus- Hydraulics

DNF Bruno Senna BRA Hispania- Hydraulics

Desiree Schirlinger

Photo Credit: Mark Thompson/Getty Images