Race Results Australian Grand Prix

The nightmares of Brawn’s competitors at Melbourne Park became reality in the Australian Grand Prix this weekend, as Brawn’s drivers and cars were just as fast as feared by their competitors, finishing one-two at the finish line in both the qualifying and the race.

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The rules changes did bring about a lot closer racing and allowed the drivers to pass one another on the track as they were designed to do, which made for an exciting and adrenalin filled experience as the cars and drivers jockeyed for position with each other. Red Bull, Toyota, Williams, and BMW did run pretty fast, managing to keep pretty good pace through out the race, but couldn’t manage to match Brawn’s pace.

Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello matched a feat driving for Brawn that was first accomplished in the 1954 French Grand Prix at Rheims by Mercedes-Benz by finishing one-two at the line. Button started on the pole and never relinquished the lead, while Barrichello had problems at the start line, damaged his car at various points, but still managed to somehow finish second.

Toyota showed encouraging signs of pace that allowed Timo Glock to finish fourth, while Jarno Trulli was penalized 25 seconds, which kept him from finishing better.

Kovalainen was done for the day after being involved in an accident involving Barrichello, Heidfeld, Webber, and Sutil, but Hamilton picked up the ball and drove line a demon, finishing a nice third after Trulli’s 25 second penalty was factored in.

Renault had a pretty tough race; Alonso was behind after being stopped by the first corner traffic jam, while Piquet started well before developing brake problems that pushed the Spaniard back in the pack, before he raced his way to sixth, which became fifth place after Trulli’s penalty.

Rosberg finished in sixth for Williams, but did have the fastest recorded lap of the race, while the seeming accident prone Nakajima once again found himself on the side lines after a driving error on the 18th lap.

Nick Heidfeld placed tenth at the finish for BMS Sauber, while Robert Kubica ran well, almost catching up to Button, before being finished for the day after a crash on lap 55.

Red Bull’s Vettel showed enough pace to keep up with Brawn and was sitting in 2nd threatening to take the lead before his choice of tires brought his battle to an end. Vettel was fined $50,000 after the race for his decision and will relinquish 10 grid places when F1 gets to Malaysia.

Ferrari was an accident waiting for a place to happen, unfortunately tire choices at the start meant they never really challenged for points and fell way back, and both cars failed to finish the race.

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