Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello gave the new Brawn GP team an extraordinary one-two result in a dramatic season-opening Australian Grand Prix, which finished behind the safety car after Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica collided into one another while fighting over second position.
Button controlled the race from the off, making a good start from pole position. While team-mate Barrichello had to recover after the Brazilian was bogged down when his car activated its anti-stall device. Rubens was then embroiled in a first-corner clash with BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld, Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber, Force India’s Adrian Sutil and McLaren’s Heikki Kovalainen.
That first corner mayhem allowed McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and the Toyota pair of Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock to emerge into a surprising third, fourth and fifth places.
However, Trulli’s third place is currently under investigation by the FIA race stewards with McLaren suggesting that the Italian re-passed Hamilton during the safety car period after sliding off the track.
If the race results change, then the world champion could be elevated to third place, grabbing those extra six points. Even so, to see Lewis Hamilton finishing quite highly up the order after a frustrating qualifying session that resulted in taking a five-grid penalty after changing the gearbox is still a remarkable achievement. Though the car’s pace is still a major problem for McLaren.
Hamilton’s team-mate didn’t even finish the first lap, as Heikki Kovalainen was forced to retire with damage after that first corner chaos. Still, at least the team did better than rival Ferrari.
Championship runner-up Felipe Massa initially looked like a race contender after making a good start but had to retire in the late stages of the Grand Prix with a mechanical problem. As for Kimi Raikkonen, the Finn had a spin upon exiting a corner, which resulted in damaging his front wing as he brushed against the wall. He would later retire with only three laps to the chequered flag.
Double world champion Fernando Alonso brought home his slow Renault in sixth, while the bitterly disappointed Nice Rosberg finished in seventh, despite setting the race’s fastest lap. Nico was initially running in fourth with six laps to go but had used up his Bridgestone option tyres and was simply in no position to defend the place.
By the end of the race, the Williams driver just held on to his position ahead of Formula One rookie Sebastien Buemi, who drove a solid race in his maiden Grand Prix. The Swiss not only out-qualified his more experience team-mate at Toro Rosso, but he also scored a championship point with eighth.
It was lost points and opportunity for BMW Sauber in particular Robert Kubica, as the Pole was involving in a collision with Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel.
The incident happened on lap 55. Kubica was rapidly closing in thanks to his harder Bridgestone tyres offering better grip compared to Vettel (running the softer option tyre respectively). The Pole’s dramatic speed in tyre performance allowed him to challenge the young German over second position as the race was heading to the finish. On the approach to turn one, Vettel made a mistake and lost momentum. That allowed Robert the chance to pass and he got alongside his rival as they approach turn three. Neither was willing to give way, and they became entangled in the corner before both crashing on the next straight as their battered suspension gave way. This was an unfortunate accident and the fault lies between the two. Neither wanted to give up the position and the end result means two damaged cars and batted egos.
Incredibly, that melee promoted Rubens Barrichello back to second place, despite his first-lap incident and a later touch with Raikkonen, which damaged his Brawn’s front wing. To finish on the podium despite his problem, even the Brazilian was surprised. Barrichello joked that the accidents removed any potential advantage from Brawn’s controversial diffuser!
So, a fantastic achievement by Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello, Ross Brawn and everyone at the Brackley-based squad. This historic one-two result is a great positive outcome for the sport following the last couple of days of controversy regarding the legality of those diffusers… It is just unbelievable that the transformation of the former Honda team, who were massively under performing in the last two years, which went under over the winter and then rescued by a management buy-out just a few weeks before the season began is simply remarkable.
This was Jenson’s second career Grand Prix victory, following his debut win in Hungary back in 2006. He also becomes the 200th British driver to triumph and he now leads the drivers’ standings with the next race in Malaysia taking place the following week.
As for Brawn GP, this impressive result marked the first time a new team has won its first race since Jody Scheckter steered the Wolf outfit to victory in the 1977 Argentine Grand Prix.
Can this ‘fairy tale’ dream continue? Well, the Mercedes-powered BGP 001 is quick, reliable and in the case of Rubens, strong at withstanding impacts against other cars(!), then expect some more great results from Ross Brawn’s team. Roll on Malaysia for the next exciting Grand Prix!
Race Results from Melbourne, 58 laps:
1. Button Brawn GP 1h34:15.784
2. Barrichello Brawn GP +0.807
3. Trulli Toyota +1.604
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +2.914
5. Glock Toyota + 4.435
6. Alonso Renault +4.879
7. Rosberg Williams-Toyota +5.722
8. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari +6.004
9. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari +6.298
10. Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 6.335
11. Heidfeld BMW Sauber +7.085
12. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes +7.374
13. Webber Red Bull-Renault +1 lap
14. Vettel Red Bull-Renault +2 laps
15. Kubica BMW Sauber +3 laps
16. Raikkonen Ferrari +3 laps
Fastest lap: Rosberg, 1:27.706
Not classified/retirements:
Massa Ferrari 46 laps
Piquet Renault 25 laps
Nakajima Williams-Toyota 18 laps
Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1 lap
World Championship standings, round 1:
Drivers:
1. Button 10
2. Barrichello 8
3. Trulli 6
4. Hamilton 5
5. Glock 4
6. Alonso 3
7. Rosberg 2
8. Buemi 1
Constructors:
1. Brawn GP 18
2. Toyota 10
3. McLaren-Mercedes 5
4. Renault 3
5. Williams-Toyota 2
6. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1
Next race: Malaysian Grand Prix, Sepang. April 3-5.
UPDATE:
Lewis Hamilton has been promoted to third place at the Australian GP after Jarno Trulli was penalised.
Trulli’s third place was put under investigation after the Italian regained his position overtaking Hamilton during a safety car period, having run off the track when the SC was on track.
Both drivers were summoned to see the race stewards following the incident and it was decided to give Trulli a 25-second penalty which moves him outside of the points finish (P12 to be exact).
Toyota confirmed its intention to appeal the decision.
So Lewis Hamilton comes away from Australia with 6 points in a slow McLaren? That’s not a bad result but I am disappointed to see the race stewards acting harsh on Trulli. If the Italian did pass the McLaren unfairly during the second safety car period, shouldn’t the punishment be just a single place relegation to fourth behind Hamilton?
Giving him a 25-second penalty is especially unfair in this context as the race finished behind the safety car, and so it dropped Trulli many more places than it would have done had the race ended normally.
Toyota are staging a protest to reinstate Trulli’s lost podium but following the Toyota’s rear wing infringement after qualifying, will the team get it back?
UPDATE 2:
Sebastian Vettel has been given a 10-place grid penalty for the Malaysian Grand Prix next weekend following his clash with Robert Kubica in Melbourne.
Vettel crashed with BMW Sauber’s Kubica with three laps to go when the Pole tried to overtake him around the outside.
Both men were forced to retire later on.
The German driver’s Red Bull team was also fined $50,000 for instructing Vettel to stay on track despite running on three wheels.
In my mind, it seemed to be a typical racing incident and I wouldn’t have apportioned blame on either of the two. But Vettel did apologised to BMW team boss Mario Theissen so he must have considered himself at fault.
Revised race results from Melbourne
1. Button Brawn GP
2. Barrichello Brawn GP
3. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
4. Glock Toyota
5. Alonso Renault
6. Rosberg Williams-Toyota
7. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari
8. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari
9. Sutil Force India-Mercedes
10. Heidfeld BMW Sauber
11. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes
12. Trulli Toyota
13. Webber Red Bull-Renault
14. Vettel Red Bull-Renault
15. Kubica BMW Sauber
16. Raikkonen Ferrari
World Championship standings, round 1:
Drivers:
1. Button 10
2. Barrichello 8
3. Hamilton 6
4. Glock 5
5. Alonso 4
6. Rosberg 3
7. Buemi 2
8. Bourdais 1
Constructors:
1. Brawn GP 18
2. McLaren-Mercedes 6
3. Toyota 5
4. Renault 4
5. Williams-Toyota 3
6. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 3
oh my, what a race and a half! Fantastic ( in Murry’esk manner ). What an unbelievable outcome for Brawn GP. Three weeks ago, the car had not been tested for god’s sake! If that’s not a testamount to some compaines saying they need to have weeks of testing, I don’t what is. What a great weekedn for them. My heart goes out to them and espech Rubins as his seat was threatened by Senna’s, so he must be so pleased and has completely justied Brawns desision to keep him. Jenson proved as we all knew that it was a shoddy car last season that stopped him from doing, well sod all.
There must be tears of utter joy in that team today, I nearly joined them. Mr M. Walker would have some rolling down his checks for sure. I hope so much they can continue winning or at least be up there. But to do so well, it just cannot be fluke alone so I wish them all the luck in the world, as my fave team. They need all the support so they certainly have mine.
Lewis flucked third yes, but to get to 5th ( subject that that stupid accident with Vettel and Kubica ) from nearly right at the back was still a great achievment in a slow car. Talking of which what a stupid incident.I dont like Kubica anyways but he did some great overtakling. But it was totally 50/50 so no-one person should take the blame.
But I thought the BBC did a brilliant job, and those RED BUTTON features are ace. I missed the start of the replay, but just went to the rolling highlights and soon caught up. Excellent work. Did flick between the audio but ended up staying with the TV commmentary. Will give the 5LIVE one a go next week. Also the |CBBC one was quite fun with some questions raised. Like what happens if the drivers need a wee. ” well is they have to go, they have to go” was the reply! And no ad breaks!!!! Yeah, that was so good to se again after all these years. Each time that safety car came out it was like oh I’ll just go get a drink. But not this time, continuous from start to finish and time to reflect a bit more when the old AMG Merc does start to play follow the leader.
But I have to say, the odd look of the cars were soon forgotten. But the slick tyres will still be odd to see for a few races yet. It will probably be not the best race to see if the chances really do lead to more overtaking. It was all very new for everybody, and a cool track will be hard to settle in. But it did seem the cars could get closer. Having said that, close they may have got, but it was never for very long, as the closing car soon overtook. Wether this was KERS ( for those that had it ), or just the way it went today i dont know. BUt there was one time ( cant remember with whom ), where a driver was being overtaken and other driver used his KERS to keep himself on in front and on the inside line, so I think with the right car and ( light ) driver, it could be a good thing. But good old loud mouth Eddie Jordan thinks it sucks. But then he would.
Anyways, what a fantastic weekend, and one which has kept the excitement going from the the last race in 2008. I think the changes have been totally justifed so far, looking forward to just a weeks time, and that Brawn GP has cemented so much needed sponsorship. I think Elton doesn’t care for MR Branson much, but I have always loved him and for what he has done with his companies ( though dont use his trains much! ). He ceratinly isn’t in it to make a quick buck, and apart from his own crazy adventures, anything else he gets involved in, goes wrong. But bare in mind that, if this were the U.S. of A, then after that win, companies would be falling over themselves to give them money. Here, it takes until a compainy is on it’s knees, before anyone is willing to help. But then in Indy Car racing, it only needs $20m to run!
Sorry a few typo’s 🙁
Like last paragraph. Meant to say “anything else he get’s involved in rarely goes wrong”
Hey ho, not used to a non-mac keyboard.
Good Result for Brawn. Jenson fully deserves that win with all the bad results he’s had in his career.
I see Ferrari conspired to take themselves out of the running, irritating really as they were in front of Hamilton.
What Kind of Madness got into Vettel’s head? He could never maintain second the way Kubica was going, should have just given the spot to him.
So through a series of convenient occurrences that Odious git is third…
Thanks for the comments. More updates regarding the race results (It has changed again!) with the news that Lewis Hamilton is disqualified from the Australian Grand Prix after the world champion and the McLaren team were judged to have provided ‘misleading’ evidence during a post-race stewards’ hearing.
More on this news story can be read here: http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74146
As for Toyota’s Jarno Truli, the Italian was delighted and felt Lewis got the ‘full justice’. Read his views here:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74147
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74148
Such a big shame that the opening race of the new season is become a farce…