2010 Formula 1 Qantas Australian Grand Prix

[yeti]

It's pretty obvious from the reaction of Webber that he knows he made a mistake... An F1 driver seldoms apologises... and he has - case closed.

C.

 

[Christian_C]

And what makes you think that after only one race he should be demoted to second driver?

I'm not but from a purely team perspective it potentially denied Ferrari a 2nd place finish and thus more constructers points, Felipe simply wasn't as fast as Alonso today and as such it would have been a good idea on Ferrari's part to get Alonso past. I'd have the same point of view had the positions been reversed, the faster driver should have been allowed through.

Ultimately it didn't matter as the two main competitors to the Ferrari's removed themselves from the battle but it could have lost Ferrari more points had Alonso had to try and hold off Hamilton and Webber for longer.

 

[yeti]

Actually - it was probably better for them to have Alonso behind... he is better at defending than Massa...

C.

 

[Anghammarad]

drive of the day belongs to kubica.

The drive of the day title must most certainly belong to Alonso who went from dead last to fourth and then defended that spot (fairly) against cars that were faster due to better tyres. Kubica, excellent driver he may be, could not have done that. It was also quite obvious that Alonso was held up by Massa and Kubica for many laps.

It was a very good drive by Kubica though, no doubt about it. The Renault is certainly not one of the best cars although it is probably not as bad as many thinks.

 

[Famine]

Great race, was quite exciting. Alonso did a great job, though, 4th place was more than what could be expected, especially after Button run into him and he ended up in the last position. He would've won if Button hadn't run into him.

A-hahahaha.

Alonso turned in, blind, from the middle of the track onto the apex of turn 1. He's bloody lucky he didn't end Button's race as well as Schumacher's.

Who cares what actually made the race exciting, as long as it actually was, that's all that matters.

Well... if it takes rain to make F1 exciting, we need to ship some to every track. Except Spa, Silverstone and Interlagos. They have their own supplies.

If it wasn't the rain that made it exciting, we need to work out what was absent at Bahrain but present in Melbourne and do it again.

 

[Tomaz]

Who cares what actually made the race exciting, as long as it actually was, that's all that matters.

Well we'll see who cares about excitement further in this season. The only thing that can make it exciting is wheater and good track and that we won't see much in this season. Not with 90% of all tracks in F1.

 

[niky]

I find it amazing how well Button managed to preserve his slicks, driving somewhat 50 laps on them. He really showed what it means to be easy on the tires. Hamilton is way at the other end of the scale; He came in for a new set, beat the living daylight out of them and by the end he caught up with Alonso, he was complaining over the radio of extreme tire wear.

When you're pushing over 2 seconds a lap harder than everyone else... that's to be expected.

I feel kind of bad for De la Rosa though, I really thought he was going to at least take that last point, but all of a sudden he got passed by four cars. Fantastic job by Kubica though, get this man back in a top car already! Oh, and I just realized RBR's gap with Ferrari just now: 70 points for Ferrari against RBR's 18 points. They better fix their issues if they want to close that gap...

Indeed... I actually thought he had that 8th place sewn up... and placed him there in my summary... then all of a sudden everyone had passed him... and the results were different.

It's pretty obvious from the reaction of Webber that he knows he made a mistake... An F1 driver seldoms apologises... and he has - case closed.

C.

Webber is polite. He made a mistake, but from the looks of it, it really wasn't that big a mistake. When Alonso locked up, Lewis had to brake to an almost complete stop to keep from colliding with him... Webber couldn't have expected that.

-

Alonso's drive was amazing after that spin (and no, Button didn't collect him... Alonso's spinning car actually almost collected Button!) and if he collects WDC this year, it'll be because of never-say-die drives like that... errh... as long as he doesn't keep making stupid mistakes that put him at the back of the pack... ...but hey, the man is giving excitement, right?

And Alonso holding up faster cars? Flashbacks to his back-to-back Renault championships? The master strategist is back in a car that could win it all for him... everyone else should be afraid... very afraid.

Who wants to bet that the next few races will be won only by former WDCs?

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Who cares what actually made the race exciting, as long as it actually was, that's all that matters.

Because if you hold the race up as an example of the races being more exciting without investigating why that was the case, the Powers That Be may get it into their collective minds that there is nothing wrong with the sport. Exciting as it was, there are still clearly things that need to be addressed: after all, Michael Schumacher spent twenty laps behind Jaime Alguersuari. Alguersuari might not be intimidated by Schumacher, but you can't expect me to believe that Schumacher's inability to pass was all Alguersuari's doing. Rear-end aero still needs to be addressed and fortunately - give some of the comments from the likes of Domenicalli - people in the paddock are cottoning on to this.

 

[Watchman]

A-hahahaha.

Alonso turned in, blind, from the middle of the track onto the apex of turn 1. He's bloody lucky he didn't end Button's race as well as Schumacher's.

That's your point of view. It was all Button's fault.

 

[Anghammarad]

A-hahahaha.

Alonso turned in, blind, from the middle of the track onto the apex of turn 1. He's bloody lucky he didn't end Button's race as well as Schumacher's.

Come now. Alonso had Schumacher level on the left and Button somewhat behind on the right. He had only two options either to press Schumacher out in the turn or turn in. You could even argue that Button should have seen that there was no room for three cars abreast and backed off.

 

[Famine]

That's your point of view. It was all Button's fault.

Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrright.

Come now. Alonso had Schumacher level on the left and Button somewhat behind on the right. He had only two options either to press Schumacher out in the turn or turn in. You could even argue that Button should have seen that there was no room for three cars abreast and backed off.

Of course there's room for three abreast. The track is five cars wide, even in the bends. Button had the line. Alonso and Schumacher didn't. Did you see Schumacher turning in onto the apex, or did you see him staying wide because of cars to his inside?

Not that it helped him much, as it turned out. I expect he had flashbacks to the post-Q3 "chat" he has to have with Alonso the previous day...

 

[Watchman]

Come now. Alonso had Schumacher level on the left and Button somewhat behind on the right. He had only two options either to press Schumacher out in the turn or turn in. You could even argue that Button should have seen that there was no room for three cars abreast and backed off.

True. Alonso was in front of Button in the first corner anyways, thus Button should've backed off.

EDIT:

Button had the line. Alonso and Schumacher didn't.

That's no point. See above.

 

[senamic]

When you're pushing over 2 seconds a lap harder than everyone else... that's to be expected.

Little nitpick, I know, but Webber was staying with Hamilton, and posted the fastest lap. Sorry to be pedantic, but it was the case

 

[Prince.M5]

The race was crazy... Sad day for the Red Bulls, and to some other who didn't made it to the checquered flag. Vettel must be gutted with the brake failure. Hamilton nearly got Alonso, Webber clashed with Hamilton, it's all crazy like hell!!

Owkey in my point of view, the first incident involving Button, Alonso and Schumacher, I put the blame to neither of them thus class it as a racing incident. Wasn't sure what happened to Kobayashi, looks like he had a front wing failure and crashed onto Buemi and Hulkenberg. We did see a bloody loads of overtaking maneouvres this weekend and wait a minute, who says F1 is boring??

Webber's incident. I can put the blame on Webber to be more careful but I think it's more of a racing incident. He did a great job after the pit by holding on behind Hamilton but both of their efforts just gone whhhops... Also nice to see the HRT finished the race although by 5 laps down. I'm still wondering what happened to Trulli, he didn't even start the race but great job by Kovalainen to finish the race with 2 laps down. Virgin?? They have got lots of work still... Force India also did a brilliant job with 6 points in the bag. Ah well Looking forward to Sepang because I'll be there.

Congratulations to Button for the second win in Australia, nice to see Robert on the podium with Renault and last but not least, the best finish ever in Australia for Massa.

 

[mipuumal]

Great win for Button, fully deserved.

Great result for Kubica as well, compare with Petrov and you can see how good this guy is.

Webber vs. Hammy, fully Webber's fault. He was 3 car lengths behind heading in to the apex and then decided to have a go, total bonehead move.

Some good team radio in this race, Hammy whining about the strategy pretty much takes the cake. Wasn't expecting him to be the first primadonna to lose his cool this year.

 

[Ardius]

Because if you hold the race up as an example of the races being more exciting without investigating why that was the case, the Powers That Be may get it into their collective minds that there is nothing wrong with the sport. Exciting as it was, there are still clearly things that need to be addressed: after all, Michael Schumacher spent twenty laps behind Jaime Alguersuari. Alguersuari might not be intimidated by Schumacher, but you can't expect me to believe that Schumacher's inability to pass was all Alguersuari's doing. Rear-end aero still needs to be addressed and fortunately - give some of the comments from the likes of Domenicalli - people in the paddock are cottoning on to this.

I agree with ludes, there clearly is a problem with overtaking still when, to quote Martin Whitmarsh, "you have to be 3 seconds faster than the guy in front".
The fact that the Kubica-Massa-Alonso train lasted so long, Hamilton couldn't catch Alonso for toffee despite being clearly faster and Schumacher had trouble getting past a Toro Rosso..it really says it all.
It was an exciting race but we should still worry about tracks where changeable conditions are not so certain.

That's your point of view. It was all Button's fault.

Alonso and Ferrari left it as a "racing incident" - why can't you? If Button had really done something wrong, don't you think Alonso would be the first to complain?
On the BBC they were making a point about the wing mirrors being useless these days as they are just aero devices. So Alonso wouldn't have seen him coming and Button was perfectly right to try something.

Wasn't sure what happened to Kobayashi, looks like he had a front wing failure and crashed onto Buemi and Hulkenberg. I'm still wondering what happened to Trulli, he didn't even start the race but great job by Kovalainen to finish the race with 2 laps down.

Yeah, another wing failure for Kobayashi - we didn't see what caused it so we can only assume (and hope!) it was contact earlier.
Hydarulics failure for Trulli on his lap to the grid, they couldn't possibly have got it fixed in time. Thankfully Lotus are working on their own system which may appear for Istanbul or Silverstone reportedly.

Anyway, fantastic race from all angles. I found it particularly intriguing to hear Hamilton really lose his head that race, are the Senna+Prost comparisons coming true? I'm amazed with Button, easily the best race of his career in my opinion, inspired choice of tyre change and solid running for 50 laps on the same tyres!
Great to see Kubica and Renault coming strong, hopefully they can build on that. Unsurprising result for Red Bull, reliability issues again. Ferrari strong again, but caught out on strategy and dirty air.

Great to see Lotus finish again, albeit with only one car and even better to see Chandhok finish his and HRT's first race. Virgin also unsurprising, though fantastic short battle for Di Grassi against Schumacher!👍

Liuzzi and Barrichello continuing solid and quiet running to keep the points scoring too. Disaster for Sauber (bye bye from my fantasy team).
On to Malaysia!

 

[Watchman]

Alonso and Ferrari left it as a "racing incident" - why can't you? If Button had really done something wrong, don't you think Alonso would be the first to complain?

Of course, I can. I know it can happen to anyone. Just giving my two cents.

 

[niky]

Alonso was between two other cars... Button held his line... but Michael squeezed them in... if you want to blame someone... (points at the old guy)... still it's more racing incident than anything else... a track that slippery, anything can happen.

Little nitpick, I know, but Webber was staying with Hamilton, and posted the fastest lap. Sorry to be pedantic, but it was the case

The RBR was the fastest car of the day. Before his brakes went, as soon as the slicks heated up, Vettel started pulling a gap on Button.

Of course Webber would be able to pace Lewis and preserve his tires better... he had the better car... but Lewis had won their little fracas a few laps before, and the RBR wasn't enough better for him to overtake Hamilton unless Hamilton lost time trying to get around Alonso or used up his tires...

When Alonso's brakes locked up, that was a prime chance for Webber to finally take those two positions... sadly, things didn't work out that way... he wasn't in position and when he came up to the corner, he found Hamilton's car seemingly at a dead stop in front of him. We all know the rest.

 

[Ardius]

The RBR was the fastest car of the day. Before his brakes went, as soon as the slicks heated up, Vettel started pulling a gap on Button.

Of course Webber would be able to pace Lewis and preserve his tires better... he had the better car... but Lewis had won their little fracas a few laps before, and the RBR wasn't enough better for him to overtake Hamilton unless Hamilton lost time trying to get around Alonso or used up his tires...

When Alonso's brakes locked up, that was a prime chance for Webber to finally take those two positions... sadly, things didn't work out that way... he wasn't in position and when he came up to the corner, he found Hamilton's car seemingly at a dead stop in front of him. We all know the rest.

I think Webber is easily to blame for that incident, as Brundle put it on the BBC F1 forum, "he should have known Alonso and Hamilton would be slower than normal, as they were clearly battling for position. He should have predicted this and adjusted his braking.".
It didn't help that he also locked his brakes and by his own admission "tried to have a dive anyway, but it was too late". A case of not thinking ahead and being too aggressive in my opinion. Its also been noted this isn't the first time Webber has had this kind of incident.

 

[Kakumaki]

1 J. Button McLaren 1:33:36.531
2 R. Kubica Renault + 12.034
3 F. Massa Ferrari + 14.488
4 F. Alonso Ferrari + 16.304
5 N. Rosberg Mercedes Grand Prix + 16.683
6 L. Hamilton McLaren + 29.898
7 V. Liuzzi Force India F1 + 59.847
8 R. Barrichello Williams + 1:00.536
9 M. Webber Red Bull + 1:07.319
10 M. Schumacher Mercedes Grand Prix + 1:09.391
11 J. Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1:11.301
12 P. de la Rosa Sauber + 1:14.084
13 H. Kovalainen Lotus F1 + 2 laps
14 K. Chandhok HRT F1 Team + 5 laps
Out
15 T. Glock Virgin Racing + 17 laps
16 L. Di Grassi Virgin Racing + 32 laps
17 S. Vettel Red Bull + 33 laps
18 A. Sutil Force India F1 + 49 laps
19 V. Petrov Renault + 49 laps
20 B. Senna HRT F1 Team + 54 laps
21 S. Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 58 laps
22 N. Hulkenberg Williams + 58 laps
23 K. Kobayashi Sauber + 58 laps
24 J. Trulli Lotus F1 + 58 laps

Quite funny race, a lot of mistakes and overtakes, hope we don't need rain each time to have a good show, Vettel very unlucky again... Red Bull is fast but a bit fragile, Alonso did an amazing job, I'm happy for Kubica and his second place, go Robert! 👍

 

[Sureboss]

True. Alonso was in front of Button in the first corner anyways, thus Button should've backed off.

EDIT:



That's no point. See above.

Um, no, Button had the racing line and Alonso cut across the racing line, ergo, it's his fault. Not in the least bit surprising from that front bottom.

Excellent race, should have been a McLaren 1-2 though.

 

[Ferrari_Tifoso]

Um, no, Button had the racing line and Alonso cut across the racing line, ergo, it's his fault. Not in the least bit surprising from that front bottom.

Excellent race, should have been a McLaren 1-2 though.

Um, no, MS was pushing Alonso towards the inside, and Button was pushing him towards the outside. Remember the all mighty GTP online racing rules are in complete contrast of real world racing. That was a text book racing incident. And it should've been an Alonso win.

 

[Sureboss]

Why? He was nowhere near the pace of Vettel, not really near Button either, who did an outstanding job on those tyres for 50 laps.

 

[Ian Poole]

+1 Sureboss

If Alonso was the rightful winner then why didn't he manage to get past Massa and then Kubica and then try to get past Button.

Alonso was struggling so bad that he was being caught sometimes two to three seconds a lap by Hamilton and Webber and, in my opinion, was very forunate to keep fourth. He would have been sixth if Webber and Hamilton didn't come together and then Rosberg looked like he had the beating of Alonso.

It just sounds like a very upset Ferrari fan with the opinion that Alonso should have won but sorry mate, our boy Jensinho won again and ya better get used to it!

 

[Ferrari_Tifoso]

All JB did was nurse his tires for 50 laps. Alonso actually set quite a few blistering hot laps on those softs, and still managed to keep Hamilton behind, who had fresher tires and a 6 MPH advantage on the straights.

If it wasn't for that racing incident in turn 1, Alonso would've won. JB has already said that the inters were not working for him, so if he hadn't spun, Alonso would've left him behind at that point. After he spun though, he was running behind people most of the time and still matched Vettel's lap times. I'm sure he hadn't spun he would've been right up on Vettel's gear box.

And on me getting used to JB winning, please... First, Hamilton is obviously faster than him. And second, RB and Ferrari are faster than that Macs. JB was a very lucky boy today.

These are just opinions though, and the fact is that Ferrari, Alonso and Massa still lead the WCC and WDC championships. 👍

 

[Christian_C]

Alonso would have been overtaken by Rosberg?

I highly doubt that somehow and I reckon without the incident between Hamilton and Webber he could have held them off until the end, I wont argue that Alonso was the rightful winner but he was certainly the driver of the day when it comes to the fantastic comeback he made and I believe he could (if he had not been held up by Massa) taken 2nd away from Kubica. It's wrong to claim him to be the rightful winner but you can't say that he was struggling and would have been overtaken by Rosberg.

Edit: Button wasn't lucky, he made a smart decision and it paid off earning him the race victory, just because a driver doesn't set the world on fire by running fast lap times doesn't mean he didn't deserve the race win, he made a good decision based on his own judgment which is equally as good a reason for winning as being faster than the other guy.

 

[Bram Turismo]

It just sounds like a very upset Ferrari fan with the opinion that Alonso should have won but sorry mate, our boy Jensinho won again and ya better get used to it!

Yeah, because being set back all the way down to last due to an incident, and then working your way up back into 4th position isn't an impressive performance in itself.

 

[yeti]

And it should've been an Alonso win.

Were you watching the same race?

C.

 

[daan]

Were you watching the same race?

C.

His username says no. He was watching through red tinted glasses.

Alonso set the 10th fastest race lap. You could argue he was being held up by Massa, but Massa managed a faster lap than Alonso too.

 

[J-PaP]

Why? He was nowhere near the pace of Vettel, not really near Button either, who did an outstanding job on those tyres for 50 laps.

Maybe he wasn't on the pace of Vettel but Vettel hit problems anyway which probably would have happened no matter what. Button did do a great job nursing those tyres for 50 laps but he didn't really have to overtake anyone and generally was out of anyones way. His strategy just panned out great which gave him the advantage.

Alonso had to come back from last place thus was going to stress his tyres more than he would have otherwise had he been up front. Fact is that Alonso had to fight harder to make up for lost ground and had he not had to "waste" his tyres recovering lost ground he likely would have had the pace to win the race once Vettel's car innevitably broke.

Anyway was a great race. Thoroughly enjoyed it and I'm very happy with Ferrari getting the job done given the circumstances that were not in their favour (1. Massa being weaker than other drivers on a wet/drying track and 2. Alonso having to come back from last)