Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Button wins a thrilling Australian GP!!!!

Who would have guessed it!!?? After a dismally boring round 1 in Bahrain we got an absolute classic in Australia! It had everything: rain, lots of overtaking, and leading retirements among others.




Congratulations to Jenson Button who wins for McLaren for the first time. It's hard to believe that this is his first victory since Turkey last year. I think what makes this win even more impressive is the fact that he won the race strategically and on the track. It was his decision, not his team, to come in and change onto dry tyres and everyone at the time (including me) thought he had made a terrible mistake. These thoughts were justified when he slid off the road at turn three on his out lap.



But it turned out to be a stroke of genius because he got faster and faster as the track dried out and soon everyone else followed suit. After this he was in second place and looked comfortable for a podium finish but then Vettel slid off the road due to a badly fitted wheel wearing down the front left brake disc. He was out. All Jenson had to do was bring it home and he did.



It was a great race but there is no doubt that the rain helped spice up the action. Towards the end of the race we saw some of the same problems that we saw in Bahrain with regards the aerodynamics hindering the overtaking attempts. Hamilton caught up to the Ferraris’ with ease but then couldn't get passed them and then Mark Webber punted him off the road.



There are some changes that still need to be made because when we go the types of tracks that have very little overtaking opportunities we could see the same processional bore that we saw in Bahrain. For this weekend in Malaysia there is a chance of thunderstorms so we could get another classic or we could have a repeat of last year when the race couldn't be completed due to the heavy downpour and the lack of light.



Of course I’m sure many of you would have heard about Hamilton's little run in with the police. He had his car was impounded for doing burnouts and fishtails in downtown Melbourne. I read this morning that the Victorian roads minister labelling him a "dickhead"!!! The rest of his weekend didn't go exactly according to plan as he qualified eleventh and finished in sixth although he did drive a very impressive race but a combination of a bad strategy and Mark Webber crashing into the back of him really ruined his race.



Can't wait for Malaysia now!! I'd say one man to watch will be Michael Schumacher. He looked set for a decent showing in Australia but was involved in a first corner incident. He spent the rest of the race fighting with backmarkers so he will really be out to change his fortunes around. The Malaysian Grand Prix is this Sunday. Watch it because it’s going to be epic!!

1 comment:

  1. Fantastic to see Button get 1 up on Hamilton. We will see how Hamilton can cope wit a world class team mate or will he throw his toys out of the pram like when he did with Alonso?

    Hamilton blaming the team is also hard to take, is he just jealous he is not their out and out number 1? No doubt the call didnt turn out well but Hamilton has to be included when the word "team" is mentioned, he could have been involved in the decision process.

    There is no doubt Australia was one of the best GPs in a long time but perhaps we have seen the two extreems of what F1 will offer in the opening 2 races. Any new GP track should be designed around optimal overtaking opportunities, as a new track how was Bahrain ever allowed to be built as it was, thats where the real problem lies.

    As for the championship I find it hard to look past the model of consistency that is Alonso, Ferrari isn't the fastest but with alonso comsistency will win him the championship.

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