Webber reprimanded by stewards

RichardsF1    Formula 1     FIA, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, McLaren, Red Bull Racing

Mark Webber was handed an official reprimand by the FIA race stewards after the Australian Grand Prix for his part in the collision with Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren.

The Red Bull driver was involved in an exciting battle with Hamilton and Fernando Alonsi during the closing stages of the race when he lost control under braking into Turn 13 and slammed into the back of Hamilton’s McLaren.

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The Hamilton whinge-fest begins

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Lewis Hamilton, McLaren

Despite describing the Australian Grand Prix as one of his best drives in his Formula 1 career, Lewis Hamilton has continued to complain about the strategy decision that saw him make a second pit stop, costing him valuable track position to the front runners.

Hamilton’s team-mate Jenson Button managed to win the race utilising a single pit stop. Known to be gentler on his tyres than Hamilton probably afforded him this luxury more so than Lewis, who has been known to be much harder on his tyre wear.

Australian GP: As it happened

RichardsF1    F1 2010, Race Reviews    

02:30PM: Welcome all to Round 2 of the 2010 Formula 1 World Championship season, being held right here in my homeland of Australia! Normally, I’d be hoping to bring you the highlights of this great festival of motorsport right from the venue of Albert Park itself. Alas, it was my father-in-law’s 60th birthday last night, and I’ve been heavily involved in the organisation of his surprise party. For those of you interested, the night went off with barely a hitch and a great time was had by the birthday boy in question! You may only turn 60 once, but the Australian Grand Prix comes around every year!

02:35PM: Our resident IndyCar correspondent, Matt Lennon, is joining me at my place for a few beers and a BBQ in the lead-up to this afternoon’s Grand Prix. We’re both delighted that Mark Webber is on the front row, that rain is possibly forecast to spice things up, and that this race will surely be more exciting than last fortnight’s season-opening Bahrain GP.

Kubica thrilled with podium finish

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Renault, Robert Kubica

Robert Kubica was clearly thrilled with the second-placed finish he achieved at the Australian Grand Prix, but was quick to warn that the Renault team was not yet in the position to achieve such results on a consistent basis.

The man from Krakow made a very good getaway, benefiting from the Button-Alonso-Schumacher first-corner to vault up several places from his fourth-row grid slot. When the pit stops to change from wet tyres to slicks were complete, he found himself in third, although he did briefly lead from the eventual race winner, Jenson Button.

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Australian GP: Post-Race Press Conference

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Felipe Massa, Jenson Button, Robert Kubica

TV UNILATERALS

Q. Jenson, an incredible race. 50 laps plus on a set of soft tyres. You made the early gamble for the slick tyres and that was the game changer. Was that your call?

Jenson BUTTON:

It was. I think it is a lot easier for the drivers to feel the conditions. The team can see it on TV with the clouds coming in, but we can feel out on the circuit what is happening. I didn’t have a balance on the inters, I was really struggling and I lost a couple of places, so I thought ‘let’s get in, stick the slicks on.’ There was a dry line. A few places were a little bit wet. When I went into the pit lane I thought I had made a catastrophic decision as it was soaking wet in the pit lane. But once I got it going and up to speed, I had a little off at turn three, but the pace was pretty good and I was able to put in some good laps and overtake three or four cars when they stopped and put their tyres on, so it was the right call and I am very happy that I made it.

Vettel devastated by brake failure

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Red Bull Racing, Sebastian Vettel

A devastated Sebastian Vettel has been robbed of race victory for the second race running, with a sudden brake failure pitching him out of the lead and into retirement.

Just like Bahrain, the Red Bull driver led the race commandingly from pole and looked set for a certain victory until a technical failure cost him a valuable points haul.

Australian GP: Final Classification

RichardsF1    F1 2010, Results    

	Driver		Team	Laps	Result
1.	Jenson Button		McLaren Mercedes	58	1:33:36.531
2.	Robert Kubica		Renault	58	+ 12.034
3.	Felipe Massa		Ferrari	58	+ 14.448
4.	Fernando Alonso		Ferrari	58	+ 16.304
5.	Nico Rosberg		Mercedes GP	58	+ 16.683
6.	Lewis Hamilton		McLaren Mercedes	58	+ 29.898
7.	Vitantonio Liuzzi		Force India Mercedes	58	+ 59.847
8.	Rubens Barrichello		Williams Cosworth	58	+ 1:00.536
9.	Mark Webber		Red Bull Renault	58	+ 1:07.319
10.	Michael Schumacher		Mercedes GP	58	+ 1:09.391
11.	Jaime Alguersuari		Toro Rosso Ferrari	58	+ 1:11.301
12.	Pedro de la Rosa		Sauber Ferrari	58	+ 1:14.084
13.	Heikki Kovalainen		Lotus Cosworth	56	+ 2 laps
14.	Karun Chandhok		HRT Cosworth	53	+ 5 laps
	Not Classified
	Timo Glock		Virgin Cosworth	41	Suspension
	Lucas di Grassi		Virgin Cosworth	26	Hydraulics
	Sebastian Vettel		Red Bull Renault	25	Brakes
	Adrian Sutil		Force India Mercedes	9	Engine
	Vitaly Petrov		Renault	9	Spin
	Bruno Senna		HRT Cosworth	4	Hydraulics
	Sébastien Buemi		Toro Rosso Ferrari	0	Accident
	Nico Hülkenberg		Williams Cosworth	0	Accident
	Kamui Kobayashi		Sauber Ferrari	0	Accident
DNS	Jarno Trulli		Lotus Cosworth	0	Hydraulics

Rain likely for Australian GP

RichardsF1    Formula 1    

With Mark Webber’s front-row start pulling an expectant crowd to Albert Park in their thousands, fans will need to pack both sunscreen and raincoats to cope with Melbourne’s typically changing conditions this afternoon.

Despite a forecasted high of 31 degrees Celsius, the local weather bureau is also predicting a 70% chance of rain during the race, which will throw another twist into an already uncertain race.

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Brawn calls for clarification over suspension rules

RichardsF1    Formula 1     FIA, McLaren, Mercedes GP, Red Bull Racing, Ross Brawn

Mercedes GP Team Principal Ross Brawn has tried to pour water over the smouldering fire lit by McLaren boss Martin Whitmarsh, who fuelled next round of inter-team arguments by claiming that Red Bull is running with an illegal suspension system.

Red Bull Racing has moved quickly to vociferously deny that it is running such a suspension system (as it would) – and Brawn believes the FIA should step in and make a ruling on the regulations to avoid further cat-fighting between teams on the grid.

"I think we do need to tidy it up, in fairness to Red Bull because there are accusations being thrown around. It is very unfair," said Brawn. "They have a very good car, and there is no evidence they are unnecessarily doing anything untoward.”

My mother always told me…

RichardsF1    Former F1 Figures, Formula 1     Narain Karthikeyan, Nelson Piquet Jr

… Never hang out with the bad crowd…

… If you lie down with dogs, you’ll wake up with fleas …

Did Narain Karthikeyan’s mother pass on similar wise words? It would appear not!

Read more to see who he was spotted hanging out with!

Concerns raised over RBR ride height

RichardsF1    Formula 1     FIA, McLaren, Red Bull Racing, Rules

McLaren team boss Martin Whitmarsh has voiced concerns that the Red Bull Racing team is running a system on the car previously considered as illegal.

The key to the team’s success in qualifying, he believes, is by the team being able to lower the car’s ride height during qualifying via a ratchet-based ride-height control structure. Really, Martin?

Let me get this straight: the boss of the team that has developed a device that is designed to alter the aerodynamic behaviour of the car at the driver’s bidding and is, in our opinion, in complete contravention of the spirit of the rules is himself complaining about another team’s alleged behaviour that mirrors that of his own team.

Fetch me a bucket stat!

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Hamilton rues lack of qualifying pace

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Lewis Hamilton, McLaren

Lewis Hamilton has candidly admitted that he simply wasn’t quick enough when it counted during qualifying, having found himself a surprise elimination from the second qualifying period. The 2008 World Champion had looked impressive in the practice session – he was my best bet for pole, how wrong was I! – but his pace simply evaporated when it counted and he will line up 11th for tomorrow’s race. “I wasn’t fast enough,” Hamilton said to the BBC. "I feel I got everything out of the car, I just really didn’t have any more grip out of the tyres … [but] we can still have a good race tomorrow.

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Barrichello delighted with top-10 quali result

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Nico Hulkenberg, Rubens Barrichello, Williams

Rubens Barrichello emerged a pretty happy man after qualifying a sterling eighth for tomorrow’s Australian Grand Prix.

The Williams driver of Barrichello and Nico Hülkenberg have generally been anonymous so far as the timesheets have been concerned this weekend, bar the usual improved performance in the wet-dry conditions seen in the second practice session.

Interestingly, the Brazilian veteran felt he could have gone even better if it were not for traffic on his hot-lap.

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Schumacher angry at being blocked

RichardsF1    Catfights, Formula 1     Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher

After qualifying, a frustrated Michael Schumacher approached FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting, feeling he had been held up by other competitors during qualifying.

The seven-time World Champion felt that both Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso had baulked him during qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix. So annoyed was he by Alonso, in particular, that he confronted the Spaniard in parc ferme after the qualifying session had finished.

So, the man who allegedly conspired to block the circuit during the 2006 Monaco Grand Prix is now the arbiter of others’ driving standards? This should be interesting…

Australian GP: Post-Qualifying Press Conference

RichardsF1    Formula 1     Fernando Alonso, Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel

TV UNILATERALS

Q. Sebastian, what a lap. The final sector of it you were hanging it off the edge of the kerbs, you were all over the place. You certainly spoiled the day for the Webber fans here in Melbourne.

Sebastian VETTEL: Yeah, I think obviously first of all it is a great result for both of us and for the team. Mark’s home race, so it is a little bit funny remembering last year from Germany, so kind of revenge but it is a long race tomorrow. But coming back to qualifying, I think we did a good step into qualifying with the car, improving it, and the final session was all about ‘does it start to rain or not.’ Everyone went out. We waited a little bit and the first lap was the quickest and just spot on everywhere until I reached the last three corners. I would say turn 14, the fast right hander, I was still on the edge and okay but after that I think I lost a little bit, especially the last corner onto the main straight. It was a very good lap up to that point. I was very happy. I think the result says it all, so looking forward to tomorrow. It is quite good to start at the front. We don’t know how messy it might get tomorrow, safety car, no safety car. There is always a lot happening in Albert Park but it is good to be on pole. The clean side as well, so I am very happy.

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