AFTER THE ditchwater-dull tedium of Bahrain, yesterday’s incident-packed Australian Grand Prix positively fizzed, with more drama packed into the first 49 seconds of the race than in the entire 49 laps of a season opener that left Formula One red-faced at the possibility it might be the soporific shape of things to come in 2010.
Before yesterday’s race Formula One insiders had been at pains to insist the uninspiring nature of the first race was no basis for sudden radical change to the formula and that spectacle in the sport ebbs and flows depending on an alchemical mix of track conditions, climate and corners. Melbourne proved the theory. Indeed, so replete was the race with incident that any number of drivers’ afternoon would provide a jumping off to describe the race.
Start with the winner, Jenson Button, who in a less complex race shouldn’t have had a sniff of a second consecutive victory here. The defending champion had qualified fourth, respectable but almost a second adrift of the rampant Red Bull Racing team, for whom Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber had annexed the front row. Catching that duo looked a forlorn hope.
But rain at the start quickly threw the race into Button’s hands. After a chaotic opening lap in which Button was hit by Fernando Alonso, a slow-starting Webber was passed for second by Ferrari’s Felipe Massa and after a huge smash which removed Kamui Kobayashi, Nico Hulkenberg and Sébastien Buemi from the race, the drivers attempted to come to grips with a wet-drying circuit and intermediate tyres.
And it was Button who reacted quickest, the McLaren driver diving into the pits at the end of lap seven for slick tyres. It looked like a disastrous choice as he immediately went off track on his out lap but by the next tour he had found a dry line and was suddenly quickest. By the time the rest of the field had followed his lead, Button was storming to second, before eventually inheriting the lead from Vettel and then holding it despite another risky decision to remain on the same set of slick tyres for the duration.
“It was my call,” Button said of the early decision to switch from intermediates. “I didn’t have balance at all on the inters. I thought ‘let’s get slicks on and see what happens’. When I entered pitlane I thought I’d made a catastrophic decision – it was so wet there. But once I got it going it was good. It was definitely the right call.”
As was his decision to remain on those tyres. With a decent gap back to Robert Kubica and the twin Ferraris of Massa and Alonso (also on a single set of slicks) Button was able to race consistently and dictate the pace, despite Lewis Hamilton and Webber flying up behind Alonso on new tyres in the late stages.
“I never thought of putting another set on, that wasn’t an option for me,” said Button. “It was always the plan to run the race on one set after the rain stopped. I set into a pace that was consistent to not destroy my rear tyres. We couldn’t have done better.”
Kubica too would have been hard-pushed to better his performance. Starting from ninth, the Pole profited from the opening lap melées to climb into the podium positions, and once there he doggedly refused to be dislodged, putting on a stunning show of defensive driving as first Hamilton and then Massa harried his slower Renault.
For the Red Bulls it was a less heroic afternoon. For 26 laps Vettel looked like he was racing in a more exalted formula in a Red Bull that is by far the quickest car on the grid. But, just as in Bahrain, where a faulty spark plug dropped him from potential victory to a fourth-place finish, it was technical failure that again wrecked the German’s race, only this time terminally – brake problems dumping him into the gravel traps and out from the lead. “It really breaks my balls,” he said. “We are all pushing and trying to do our best. It’s nobody’s fault, but we need to get on top of it.”
Vettel’s exit left the way open for Button to dominate the second half of the race, though for a brief period it seemed team-mate Hamilton might have a say. After stopping for fresh tyres and reeling in both Ferraris it seemed he would influence the outcome but when the front four of Button, Kubica, Massa and Alonso stayed out on old tyres and successfully defended, Hamilton’s chance evaporated.
The day, though, belonged to Button, and also to the twin variables of a brief rain shower and a temporary track that promotes adventure, both attributes which briefly restore F1’s reputation as a sport than can deliver.
“There’s no getting away from fact we all thought the last race wasn’t exciting but I’m glad we haven’t jumped to conclusions,” said the winner. “This was a great race. I hope it wasn’t just the weather. You know, not every football match is fun to watch. There has to be a bit of a balance. Hopefully we will have more races like this because this is what we love.”
ALBERT PARK RESULT HOW THEY FINISHED
1 J Button (Brit) McLaren 1hr 33mins 36.531secs
2 R Kubica (Pol Renault at 12.034 secs
3 F Massa (Bra) Ferrari 14.488
4 F Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 16.304
5 N Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes 16.683
6 L Hamilton (Brit) McLaren 29.898
7 V Liuzzi (Italy) Force India-Mercedes 59.847
8 R Barrichello (Bra) Williams - Cosworth 1:00.536
9 M Webber (Aus) RedBull-Renault 1:07.319
10 M Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes 1:09.391
11 J Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:11.301
12 P de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:14.084
13 H Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus-Cosworth 2 laps
14 K Chandhok (Ind) HRT-Cosworth at 5 laps
Not classified
15 T Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 41 laps completed, 16 L di Grassi (Bra) Virgin Racing 26 laps completed, 17 S Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 25 laps completed, 18 A Sutil (Ger) Force India 9 laps completed, 19 V Petrov (Rus) Renault 9 laps completed, 20 B Senna (Bra) HRT-F1 4 laps completed, 21 S Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 0 laps completed, 22 N Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams 0 laps completed, 23 K Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber 0 laps completed, 24 J Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 0 laps completed. Fastest Lap: Mark Webber, 1:28.358, lap 47.
World Championship standings
Drivers
1 Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 37pts
2 Massa (Bra) Ferrari 33
3 Button (Brit) McLaren 31
4 Hamilton (Brit) McLaren 23
5 Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 20
6 Kubica (Pol) Renault 18
7 Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 12
8 Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 9
9 Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 8
10 Webber (Aus) Red Bull 6
11 Barrichello (Bra) Williams 5
12 Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso 0
13 De la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber 0
14 Sutil (Ger) Force India 0
15 Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus 0
17 Huelkenberg (Ger) Williams 0
16 Chandhok (Ind) HRT 0
18 Buemi (Switz) Toro Rosso 0
19 Trulli (Ita) Lotus 0
20 Glock (Ger) Virgin 0
21 Di Grassi (Bra) Virgin 0
22 Senna (Brazil) HRT 0
23 Petrov (Russia) Renault 0
24 Kobayashi (Japan) BMW Sauber 0
Constructors
1 Ferrari 70pts
2 McLaren-Mercedes 54
3 Mercedes 29
4 Renault 18
5 RedBull-Renault 18
6 Force India-Mercedes 8
7 Williams-Cosworth 5
8 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0
9 BMW Sauber-Ferrari 0
10 Lotus-Cosworth 0
11 HRT-Cosworth 0
12 Virgin-Cosworth 0
