Astralian GP - Old Order Falters - New Kids Shine

[MikeLane]

Australian Grand Prix

The Old Order Falters As The New Kids Shine.

Albert Park, Melbourne – Mar 16, 2008 – Round 1.

By

Mike Lane

F1 Correspondent.

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With the winter break over and the new season about to start, the atmosphere at the Australian F1 Grand Prix was full of anticipation. All the speculation during testing was about to be put to the test. Was Ferrari really the strongest package or would McLaren step up? What about the rest, who would dominate the pack?

We got a taste on Saturday during qualifying when we saw some changes to the expected grid order with BMW, Williams, Toyota and Red Bull all delivering strong performances.

The grid order was:-

1.Lewis Hamilton (McLaren) --------- 2.Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber)
3.Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) ------- 4.Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
5.Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) ------- 6.Jarno Trulli (Toyota)
7.Nico Rosberg (Williams) ------------ 8.David Coultard (Red Bull)
9.Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) ----- 10.Rubens Barrichello (Honda)
11.Fernando Alonso (Renault) -------- 12.Jenson Button (Honda)
13.Kazuki Nakajima (Williams) -------- 14.Mark Webber (Red Bull)
15.Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) ----------- 16.Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India)
17.Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso) -- 18.Adrian Sutil (Force India)
19.Timo Glock (Toyota) -------------- 20.Takuma Sato (Super Aguri)
21.Nelsinho Piquet (Renault) --------- 22.Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri)


With no traction control or launch aides to help at the start there were always going to be winners and losers and so it proved.

As the starter lights went out Hamilton got a great start with Kubica trying to gain advantage first one side then the other but Hamilton held his line and was first through turn one. They were closely followed by Kovalainen and Massa but Massa went through on an inside line too hot and spun to the inside of the turn.

Behind these four, the midfield filtered through the narrow turn but at the tail end there was a coming together of four or five cars and the Safety Car was deployed.

The incident had eliminated Webber, Button, Fisichella, Vettel and Davidson.
In addition, Massa went in for a new nose for the Ferrari, which was the result of his spin in turn one.

On lap 4 the Safety Car came in and the race restarted with Hamilton leading, then Kubica, Kovalainen, Rosberg, Heidfeld, Trulli, Barrichello, Raikkonen, Coultard, Alonso, Sato, Piquet, Glock, Bourdais, Sutil, Nakajima.

Massa had to go back into the pits for fuel, which he had not been able to do under the Safety Car.

The race began to settle a little but on lap 12 Sutil in the Force India car was out with technical problems and we were down to 16 cars remaining. Having qualified in 18th place, this was a disappointing end for this new team particularly as their other car had been eliminated in the first corner incident.

On lap 18 Kubica, the first of the front-runners came into the pits for fuel and tyres and then rejoined the race in 8th place behind Barrichello and Raikkonen.

Raikkonen had been trying hard to get past Barrichello whose Honda was obviously slower than the Ferrari and on lap 19 he succeeded.

Hamilton took his pit stop for fuel and tyres and when he rejoined the race he slotted in behind Heidfeld in 4th place. At this stage of the race, BMW Sauber were in 1st and 3rd places and it became clear that during winter testing they had been ‘sand-bagging’ (not showing their true form).

On lap 22 Trulli in the Toyota came into the pits for what appeared to be a routine stop but he got out of the car and was out of the race. It was later explained by Trulli that a battery terminal near his knee had been getting hotter during the race and causing some discomfort but when he came into the pits his electrics died.

As that drama unfolded, Massa overtook Sato in turn 14 for 12th place.

The following lap Heidfeld and Rosberg both took pit stops but Heidfeld got the better one and rejoined the race in front of the Williams.
To add insult to injury, as the two of them fought for their track position, Alonso dived past Rosberg to relegate him to 7th place.

At this stage of the race, lap 24, there were 15 cars left and the top ten order was Hamilton, Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Kubica, Heidfeld, Alonso, Rosberg, Barrichello, Glock and Coultard.

At the start of lap 27, Massa lunged down the inside of Coultard into turn 1 but the Scot closed the door on him and they collided, sending Coultard off the track in a wrecked car. His race was over and left him furious at the Brazilian.

The Safety Car was deployed and once again Hamilton’s lead was cut to nothing. Raikkonen tried to pit but was unable to, as it was not open.


When it opened four cars dived into the pits for fuel and tyres including Alonso, who was very close to running out of fuel. These were Kubica, Glock and Nakajima.

Having taken his pit stop Kubica rejoined the race just ahead of Raikkonen, who had been flying and taking ½ sec per lap out of Hamilton. This dulled the Finn’s progress and maybe started the frustration that was to be characteristic of Raikkonen from then on.

On lap 32 the Safety Car came in and racing once again resumed with Raikkonen now in 3rd place behind Kovalainen. He went in hard on Kovalainen for an overtake but was wildly ambitious and went straight on into the gravel trap. He was very fortunate not to smash into the barrier and was able to slowly regain the track but now at the back of the pack.

To compound Ferrari’s bad luck, Massa came to a halt and was out of the race. Piquet was also forced to retire as Raikkonen took a pit stop.

By lap 36 Sato was also out of the race, Kubica was struggling now some 4 seconds a lap slower than Hamilton and with Alonso snapping at his heels.

Amazingly, Bourdais was 6th in his maiden grand prix race having driven a steady race. No doubt his Champ car experience with Safety Cars was helping his effort.

The order at this stage was Hamilton, Kovalainen, Heidfeld, Rosberg, Barrichello, Bourdais, Kubica, Alonso, Nakajima, Glock and Raikkonen.

Kovalainen was obviously relaxed in his new team and with the McLaren as he took 1.5 seconds out of Hamilton.

The race seemed to be settled now but there was plenty to come as Heidfeld started to catch Kovalainen by 4/10 second per lap.

Meanwhile Raikkonen’s frustration emerged as he tried to overtake Glock and dropped a wheel onto the grass. Again he was lucky to get away with it, particularly as this was the same turn at which he had previously left the track after an ambitious overtake attempt.

On lap 44 Hamilton made his last pit stop and emerged behind Barrichello in the remaining Honda. His pit stop had been robot like and it seemed like he had everything under control.

The next lap Heidfeld took his last stop but the drama had not finished as Glock went wide at turn 12 and inflicted almost total destruction on his Toyota as it went airborne and then hit the ground hard.

Safety Car was once again deployed.


One lap later Barrichello went in for his last pit stop even though it wasn’t open. He was nearly out of fuel. Unfortunately, the lollypop man released him early and, as he accelerated away, he took the fuel rig with him and bowled over a mechanic. Thankfully no-one was hurt.

On lap 49 Kovalainen and Alonso took their last pit stops and rejoined the race behind Raikkonen.

At the start of lap 50 the Safety Car went in and the race restarted. At the end of the lap Nakijima collided with Kubica putting him out of the race and Nakajima had to have a new nose-cone.

By this time Alonso was in front of Kovalainen and Raikkonen, quite against the form of the cars.

Barrichello was forced to take a ten second penalty for exiting the pits against a red light during the fuel rig incident thereby spoiling his otherwise good performance.

At this stage of the race the order was Hamilton, Heidfeld, Rosberg, Bourdais, Alonso, Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Barrichello and Nakajima

Bourdais was having a fantastic race and in 4th position. Clearly his experience in Champ Car racing in the USA and particularly races under frequent Safety cars was paying off.

On lap 54 Raikkonen’s engine sounded sick and performance dropped rapidly. The question was, would he be able to continue or retire to get an engine change free of penalty?

Two laps later we got our answer when the Ferrari stopped out on track. Barrichello was now potentially 7th.

Into the final stages in this eventful race and one might have expected the order to represent the final result but on lap 57 Bourdais’s engine gave out resulting in great disappointment after such a promising debut in the Toro Rosso.

Not to be seen to give up, Kovalainen executed a great overtaking manoeuvre on former world champion, Alonso, but as he entered the straight the McLaren slowed allowing Alonso to retake him. It was later revealed that whilst trying to remove a tear off strip from his visor, Kovalainen had accidentally hit the pit-limiter button on his steering wheel. This is the device, which reduces and controls the cars speed in the pits to 50 mph.

As the chequer flag was waved, Lewis Hamilton took a well deserved win in the first Grand Prix of the 2008 season to reaffirm his intention to be a contender in the World Championship this year.


The final order was:-

1st Hamilton- with a race time of 1:34:50.616 for an average speed of 194.577km/h [119.76mph].

2nd Heidfeld +5.4 seconds

3rd Rosberg +8.1 secs

4th Alonso +17.1 secs

5th Kovalainen +18 secs

6th Barrichello +

7th Nakajima +1 lap

8th Bourdais +3 laps

9th Raikkonen +5 laps

10th Kubica +11 laps

Barrichello was later disqualified and so everyone moved up one place giving Bourdais two points on his first outing and Raikkonen a single point to launch his 2008 campaign.

This was a race of attrition where only 7 cars finished and surprises were in abundance.

Of course Ferrari has good pace but their reliability was called into question.
Rosberg got his first podium and thoroughly deserved it, whilst Kovalainen showed his potential at McLaren. He was unlucky to be caught out by the final Safety Car incident, which left him with a late pit stop.
BMW Sauber was a surprise after their low key testing performance but clearly have the pace to be a front runner.
Bourdais drove a very commendable race and but for an engine failure should have been 4th.

Down the grid we saw new boys, Force India, qualifying 16th and 18th which was a good opening performance, but unfortunately they were unable to translate that into the race after Fisichella crashed out in turn 1 and Sutil retired with technical problems.

In the end Hamilton was the star of the show. There were questions asked after his failure to clinch the championship last year, but as I said then, we had to remember he was a rookie. I doubt many would question his calm dominance in Sunday’s race and he goes to Malaysia next weekend on a well deserved high.

Mike Lane

F1 Correspondence-Home Base-England