Melbourne GP 2009
A day most awaited ! With all the speculations and rumours flying around, McLaren disappointing in the winter testing, BrawnGP blowing away the field with spectacularly unbelievable performances and the diffuser row threatening to divide the teams. There were talks of Brawn using illegal car to impress a few sponsorers, and people claiming that McLaren failing because they did not have Ferrari’s plans to copy this time.
Nonetheless, the qualifying day arrived. The result was not unexpected. McLaren failed to make the cut into the Q3, in fact Hamilton retired after Q1 citing gearbox problems. Hekki managed only 14. Alonso was knocked out too. Only the Diffuser-Three, Vettel, Kubica and Ferrari saw themselves set for the shoot out in Q3. And finally Button claimed the pole position.
The D-Day ! Toyota were penalised for having an illegal movable component in their car, and Hamilton was to start 18th after changing the gearbox in his car. Massa and Kimi saw themselves promoted to the 6th and the 7th position. A hope or so I thought.
The five red lights lit one by one. The droning sound of cars, eager to explode away. And as soon as the red lights went off, the Australian GP was GO. Ferrari made an awesome start. Rubens was slow to take off and was immediately overtaken by Massa. Through the sequence of corners, Massa managed to squeeze himself into the third position. Kimi though could manage to promote himself only one rank to the sixth. Button was leading the pack of cars.
The drama was to begin quite soon. Ferrari were running on the softer option tyres. This did indeed give them extra speed, but the wear out was quick to happen. By the lap 10, the performance was deteriorating already. The Ferrari were beginning to fall back now. Cars from behind were now threatening to overtake the struggling champions. As a result, Massa and Kimi had to pit in the 11th and the 12th laps.
The game changed drastically after that. The Ferrari were no match for the front runners now. They were falling behind. The hope was fading fast. The Brawn were now threatening to destroy the competition. Indeed the pace of Button’s car was such that he was ahead of Vettel by more than 4 minutes. Oh, and Vettel I suppose was the surprise performance. He was quick. He was too quick. The german driver who has risen to stardom with his win in the Italian GP, and is being compared to Michael Schumacher himself, had a great chance to finish on the podium. Second was not so likely as the third.
However, the wonderful performance came to an end when his car touched that of Kubica’s in the latter’s attempt to overtake. Immediately the safety car came out. Only three laps were left to the end of the race. Both the Ferrari had retired by then. Rubens had managed to slip into the second position by then. There was this small matter of Truli spinning and handing the third position to Hamilton just before the safety car, and then reclaiming the position for himself. This saw him penalised 25 seconds and drop to the 12th position. Hamilton automatically got promoted to the third position and grabs lucky 6 points from a race where McLaren had no hopes. However, the penalty was doled out after the presentation ceremony, so Truli got to celebrate with the champagne at the podium.
Ferrari had a forgettable day at office. Once again plagued by technical breakdown. Coming into the race they were certainly expected to put in a race winning fight, but instead they went home nursing their cars. A bad start to the new campaign. They can take heart from the fact that Massa had failed to score in the first two races the last year too, and yet came within 1 point of winning the championship.
It is too early to say who will remain at the top after a few races. BrawnGP definitely had the better pace, but their performance was not as great as was expected. There were predictions of their cars being more than 1 minute per lap faster than the rest of the grid. In the end, they managed only about half a minute per lap gap.
But then, there can be Brawn’s shrewd brain working behind this smaller amrgin. In what I have read from a few sources, Brawn could have advised Button to narrow down the gap, otherwise the whole of the grid would have stood up in union and protested against the diffuser. As of now only Red Bull, Ferrari and Renault are appealing against the double decker diffuser. McLaren’s silence hints at a possibility of theirs already being in the process of getting one ready. Do not be surprised if they roll out a modified diffuser after a couple of races. Ferrari with their fat budget will also be working hard to develop their version of a new diffuser. Only Red Bull with a meagre budget might have some difficulty, and could perhaps be forced to see out the whole season with the same diffuser that they have now.
Either way, I suspect the dominance of BrawnGP will continue for long. The McLarens and the Ferraris will be on top of them pretty soon. BMW will not be left behind either. Though the curtain has been raised and we have had the first look into the season, I refuse to read much into the result of the first grand prix of the 2009 season. The picture will become clearer only after a few races are done.
And I really hope Ferrari come out as the better car. Please, please, please. But I also say -
Kick out Massa and Kimi, I want Vettel in a Ferrari.
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