Could be that a lot of teams have learned from Australia and are running lighter fuel loads because their first stint will be on the softer tyre. I'm not sure how the soft compound is faring compared to the super-soft in Melbourne, but I think a lot of people would have noticed the way BMW played their hand to Kubica into a very strong position come race's end. They'd be mad if they didn't.
[b]Grid Name Weight Fuel (kg) First stint (laps)[/b]
1 Jenson Button 660 55 20
2 Jarno Trulli 656.5 51.5 19
3 Timo Glock 656.5 51.5 19
4 Nico Rosberg 656 51 19
5 Mark Webber 656 51 19
6 Robert Kubica 663 58 21
7 Kimi Raikkonen 662.5 57.5 21
8 Rubens Barrichello 664.5 59.5 22
9 Fernando Alonso 680.5 75.5 28
10 Nick Heidfeld 692 87 32
11 Kazuki Nakajima 683.4 78.4 29
12 Lewis Hamilton 688 83 31
13 Sebastian Vettel 647 42 15
14 Heikki Kovalainen 688.9 83 31
15 Sebastien Bourdais 670.5 65.5 24
16 Felipe Massa 689.5 84.5 32
17 Nelson Piquet Jnr 681.9 76.9 29
18 Giancarlo Fisichella 680.5 75.5 28
19 Adrian Sutil 655.5 50.5 19
20 Sebastien Buemi 686.5 81.5 30[b]Pos. Name Time Fuel Corrected Time[/b]
1 Jeson Button 1'35.181 1'33.181
2 Jarno Trulli 1'35.273 1'33.373
3 Rubens Barrichello 1'35.651 1'33.451
4 Timo Glock 1'35.690 1'33.790
5 Nico Rosberg 1'35.750 1'33.850
6 Mark Webber 1'35.797 1'33.897
7 Rober Kubica 1'36.106 1'34.006
8 Sebastian Vettel 1'35.518 1'34.018
9 Kimi Raikkonen 1'36.170 1'34.070
10 Fernando Alonso 1'37.659 1'34.859
How long are the softs good for though? The super softs were giving up after about fifteen laps in Melbourne - at least, fifteen laps from the end is around the time when Button pitted - and the soft compound is obviously going to be harder, but I can't imagine they'd be good for long stints, especially on a circuit that demands heavier braking from higher speeds than Albert Park. Because if Brawn are the only team that can get something resembling heat into the hard tyres, the others had better be doing their naked rain dances.
