Oz Gp Race Thread.

[Jez 0]

I'm in Oz and on channel 10 i couldn't get this incident...............did any one else get to see this incident live during the race and also did anyone get to see kimi's crash........?

No.

[HandyNZL 1]

Jenson was the star but sterling drives from Vettel, Kubica and Hamilton. The SV/RK clash was amateurish and they paid the price. JB didn't get into his box in 1st on the last pit and couldn't select neutral plus the crew buggered the re-fuel. Understandable - they've been running at the back for two years and there was bound to be some kind of glitch.

My thoughts at the time... "well this is still the Honduh pitcrew...."

4/5 secs gone but Jens smoothed it on the supersofts and maintained a second and a half gap. Could Kubica have caught him in three laps? Probably. Would he have got past JB in the last few corners? I doubt it.

I'm not so sure...there have been many races in the past, going right back to his competitve BAR days when he couldn't even fend Alonso off for a corner (in Canada if memory serves). I think he can be a smooth driver, but I have always thought his defense is a bit suspect. We will wait and see in Malaysia to see if he can fend of (a) Rubensm ( b ) the Toyotas ( c ) Rosberg ( d ) Vettel and ( e ) Kimi or Massa (and I suspect it will be Massa at Malaysia)

JB's drive is all the more astonishing when you take the track temps and ambient light into account. He couldn't get heat into his tyres in the middle stint where SV pegged him to 5 secs and under the SC the car was bottoming out. This race is run far too late, in my book - safety should be the paramount concern of FOM.

I agree with the race time....if FOM is doing this for better TV, then they assed that up, as the picture quality was crap due to poor light!

However, a stellar day for Brawn GP and something of a revival for McBenz. Ferrari are a disaster and Renault are way behind their No.1 customer, RBR. It is the latter and BMW who I see as the most serious threat to Brawn dominance in the next three races.

If this team was still Honda, they would not have won. It was certainly the Mercedes engine that Honda has lacked over the past years....as for Renault...well, design a pig ugly car and you'll get pig ugly results...Newey has designed two beautiful cars...results will follow.

It's clear to me that when the car is near-perfect, JB looks as smooth as butter at the wheel - in a class of his own. Let's hope he goes from strength to strength - to my mind, no one deserves it more.

Rubens deserves it more....having come up through Jordan and Stewart...then to be Schumi's lackey....and then two years of crap cars....finally he has a chance to be a champion. That is if BGP can stay at the front. Ferrari and Macca have the resources to claw back, as do BMW. Don't go counting chickens just yet. They are far from hatched.

[Rainmaster 7]

YYYYEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!

Finally, finally Jenson has a car to show his real talent. I always said over the years that JB can get the job done and win races just as well as anyone, so many people always tell me I'm wrong, and I'm sure he'll continue to prove me right this season.

For the first time, I can think: Button leads the championship battle, and Button has won a race from pole.

I was convinced his huge potential had been wasted and that the world would never see what I've always seen, but thats all been turned around. The press will be full of Button (they'll quickly forget Lewis) and I will be smiling the whole time.

F1 has never seen a story like this (the whole Brawn thing going from nothing to race winners), and I'm also hopeful that this season will prove to Bernie that his stupid medals system is not required at all.

Jenson v Kubica for the 2009 title? I cant believe I can actually write that and being serious about it!

I know its early days but all the signs are Jenson (& Rubens of course) will be a major player all year

Providing Brawn can keep their advantage for the first half of the season, Button should walk the title as judging by Rubens performance today he will have no real competitors. Rubens finishing 2nd today after driving like Ide is a testament to the pace of that car. Without the botched pitstop and safety cars Button would have been long gone.

The fact that he can lead from pole to flag and is solid in most other areas means he has a strong chance, even in the rain he may be virtually unstoppable. In short: unless everybody develops super quickly and Brawn screw up badly, Button should be on for a title.

I'm sure JB will either win it comfortably or that it will go horribly wrong somewhere down the line. Time will tell.

[raw 0]

Damn - Kubica & Vettel just got penalised - 10 places down the grid in Sepang

That's very encouraging and will surely boost up overtaking in future...

[Rainmaster 7]

Anybody else having trouble loading Autosport?

Okay, it finally loads, but nothing about any penalties for Kubica or Vettel. If there are penalties for them it is absolutely pathetic, it was a racing incident, a 50/50. I suppose it adds more weight to maure's conspiracy theory.

[HandyNZL 1]

Anybody else having trouble loading Autosport?

Okay, it finally loads, but nothing about any penalties for Kubica or Vettel. If there are penalties for them it is absolutely pathetic, it was a racing incident, a 50/50. I suppose it adds more weight to maure's conspiracy theory.

Well, it was avoidable on both parties. They each could have equally avoided it, but they equally didn't. That is if thats why they are being penalised...

[raw 0]

Hmm pitpass is saying that Trulli got 25 sec and Vettel got 50k euro & 10 grid penalty - not for accident but for no stopping his crashed car when he was told to.

[HandyNZL 1]

Trulli has 25sec penalty

Vettel fined $50,000

read all about it: http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_new...es_art_id=37367

[raw 0]

Well, it was avoidable on both parties. They each could have equally avoided it, but they equally didn't. That is if thats why they are being penalised...

Well if "accident could be avoided" is the rule, then Rubens should've been given 10 grid penalty for next 5 races...

[HandyNZL 1]

Bourdais now 8th....Toro Rosso have 3pts

[HandyNZL 1]

Well if "accident could be avoided" is the rule, then Rubens should've been given 10 grid penalty for next 5 races...

You get a free pass if you are the oldest guy on the grid....it's called the geriatric rule....DC made good use of it last year....

[raw 0]

Indeed

I'm really missing DC now I've made some reasonable money thanks to him - I've always bet on Webber outqualifying him.

[Rainmaster 7]

Ah, so there is no penalty relating to the actual incident, right? That makes sense because in the Vettel/Kubi incident they penalised themselves because they lost points, it's not like Vettel knocked Kubi off and then was able to carry on, then a penalty would be fair enough.

The Trulli penalty is okay and I guess so is Vettel's for not parking up, that was dumb.

[TF109ftw 0]

so much bad luck this weekend. first the rear wing penatly then this

[TF109ftw 0]

but i have a strong gut feeling that toyota will bounce back next race (a first win possibly )

[UrKo 0]

And at least Alonso got some points. Did make me laugh during a pre-race segment when he said, "...the cars are ugly..." No Alonso, just the Renaults are ugly. However, I could get past that if they'd win some races soon.

Well i think he's right...They're ugly. But if this will bring back close racing and overtakings as promised, then i dont mind that at all.

[Giorgio 0]

Hmm pitpass is saying that Trulli got 25 sec and Vettel got 50k euro & 10 grid penalty - not for accident but for no stopping his crashed car when he was told to.

i couldnt agree more.that was DANGEROUS from Vettel. not only a fine, he needs a BAN for 2 races, are we serious ?

[freaky2 1]

On Autosport it's written that the fine of 50k is for Red Bull, for making him continue like that.

[Rainmaster 7]

On Autosport it's written that the fine of 50k is for Red Bull, for making him continue like that.

Yeah, I think the teams usually end up paying for stuff like that anyway, well the rich ones.

[Jean Todt 4]

I'm angry:

-I don't want to know the fuel loads before the race,and I don't want the drivers to know it either.This prevents them from fighting in some situations,and it's extremely tiring to be reminded every 5 mins about when each one is going to pit.

-I don't want an insulting domination from BGP.

-Vettel ****ed up his race and Kubica's and gifted Barrichello a very undeserved podium.

-Alonso,unspectacular.At least he managed to grab a few points..

-Raikkonen

-Piquet,prize for regularity.

-Kers doesn't make much of a difference.According to Alonso,it doesn't work as well as expected,it's not much of a difference.

Summing up: the only thing that was worth watching was Hamilton overtaking.Oh and congrats to Buemi for a good start of his career,a shame that he couldn't manage to conserve super-soft tyres,but that's something more experienced drivers couldn't do either so well done.And well done to Trulli too,from the pit lane to the podium.

Kimi Raikkonen, DNF: "When I ended up in the wall it was my mistake. A shame as, given what happened later, I could have finished second. We lost valuable points but we will try and make up for it starting right away in Malaysia. There, we will get a clearer picture of the situation because this circuit is not very indicative of performance. The KERS worked well at the start, but there was not much room to go anywhere. If we did not think it gave an advantage, we would not use it. Definitely the main problem was in managing the tyres, but we also need to improve our overall performance."

http://www.f1technical.net/news/11975

We have to wait and see what opinions they are all going to come out with regarding KERS.

[Schumikonen 2]

Also........Ham and Fernando are my DODs.............those two are head and shoulders above the rest with incompetent cars............if anyone thinks they're lucky it's because fortune favours the brave.

Vettel...........young,brave and immature

Kubica..........the next Great one........

Ferrari..........WTF?

Here we go again with the same stuff about the Alonso and his car but Ferrari was up to the challenge I guess...well my DOD is Glock for what he did to Alonso and Rubens Barrichello who IMO had the best race he could have won this race easily.

[DOF_power 0]

2009 ING Australian Grand Prix

[AleHop 0]

Whoah Vettel and Kubica

Screwed up race.

And that's why the FIA told Bridgestone not to bring the best compounds but 2 conflicting and different.

Ok, it was Vettel's fault but that tire compound should have never been brought to Australia. I feel sorry for Kubica.

[Rainmaster 7]

And that's why the FIA told Bridgestone not to bring the best compounds but 2 conflicting and different.

Ok, it was Vettel's fault but that tire compound should have never been brought to Australia. I feel sorry for Kubica.

I don't, he could have waited. The tyres were indeed wrong though.

As for KERS and Raikkonen's comments versus Alonso's, both comments are probably true, i.e. maybe the Ferrari KERS works better than the Renault version.

[Piotr 0]

I don't, he could have waited. The tyres were indeed wrong though.

As for KERS and Raikkonen's comments versus Alonso's, both comments are probably true, i.e. maybe the Ferrari KERS works better than the Renault version.

The &^%$$#@#@$^ Germans! there were the menace, they ARE the menace! Katy, I'm blaming YOU and your Kraut boyfriend for this! Kubica was 2 sec. per lap faster than Vettel AND Button. He could have won the race! Damn! First Heidfeld, now Vettel. AHHHHHRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGHHHHHH!!!!

And Vettel apologized for the crash, so at least he sdmitted to causing it. Nicky-boy never had enough balls to do it. BUT, it must be a curse- Nakajima last year, Vettel this year. Except THIS yer Kubi was on the way to take the WIN! ahead of the annoited One (oh, wait, that 0bambi, not Hamilton). OK, let me rant at my family now....