Lewis Hamilton just warming up?

Hamilton battled through the race, showing the spirit and drive that makes him a world champion, but kept losing ground to the Brawn cars, no matter how well he drove. Starting 18th on the grid Hamilton fought through the race, narrowing avoiding trouble when Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica collided, and was happy to capture six points despite his cars problems with competing.
Give the world champion and his crew a few races to get the car back up to speed, and for him to get an idea of how he has to drive to compete, and he’ll be back strong and competing for the world championship again.
The Australian Grand Prix was an excellent learning lesson for Hamilton, he had to come from behind to reach third, along with a little bad luck for other drivers and good luck for him, but showed patience in hanging in and keeping his car in one piece and on the road. Give him time, probably by the third Grand Prix we’ll see him starting to pick up speed and momentum, and start to close the point’s gap on the fast-running Brawn offerings.
By the time the Grand Prix of China comes around expect the Formula One point’s race to be a lot closer and Brawn’s race team to be sweating a little more then they are at the moment. Hamilton will certainly not give up, despite his car’s problems competing, and its not uncommon for him to come from sixth or seventh in a race, so coming from behind in the Formula One point’s race, is just the kind of challenge the British love.
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Lewis Hamilton Ready to Challenge

The 2009 Formula One Season Begins

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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Race Results Australian Grand Prix

Let the adrenalin flow

Fans will be lined up along the track Friday to watch the opening rounds of testing that will carry a new level of importance and significance this year with all the changes to regulations. The limitations on testing will mean teams will need to ramp up the speed from the start and get their cars ready as they only have so much track time to get their car up to standards. BMW Sauber, Renault, Ferrari, and McLaren will be running KERS systems on their cars, while Force India, Williams, and Brawn have decided to race without the controversial system.
The testing season has been dominated by the power and speed of Brawn through the testing season that started in March, so Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button will pull up to the start line confident and full of expectations for the 2009 Formula One season. There has been a lot of controversy over the Brackley car’s diffuser design as we approach the start of the season, Red Bull has even stated they intend to protest the design if the Albert Park race stewards certify it okay for race day.
Ferrari appears to have the F60 ready to challenge for the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship. They have had a few problems with their car’s reliability, but they have been primarily keeping a track on the progress of Brawn, who testing indicates will be a major force on the track.
McLaren will be a front runner again despite problems with their car’s aerodynamics while testing in Spain, they made changes late in the Jerez testing sessions which appear to have improved the aerodynamics, so the current world champion Hamilton should be ready to challenge for a repeat of 2008.
Toyota will be appearing on the grid, Red Bull and Toro Rosso will be fielding their new Adrian Newey designed cars, while Williams expects their FW31 to challenge for the championship. Force India will be using Mercedes power, instead of Ferrari, but they will have to get the aerodynamics of their car working correctly before they can challenge for points.

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The Formula One 2009 Season

The changes will mean that after ten years driving on grooved tires, Formula One will be using slicks in 2009; with no grooves the performance gains will be noticeable for both the drivers and the fans in the straight parts of the track. The corners will be a little different, however, since the revised aerodynamic regulations implemented will mean the down-force in the corners will be significantly reduced, which will definitely decrease the cars performance when traveling through the corners.

The winds of change are coming through

Teams will also have the option of employing a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) to recover kinetic energy generated when the car brakes, store it, and then make it available to the driver in quantum amounts per lap using a “boost button” located on the steering wheel.

The FIA wants to increase reliability even more, so they are putting in limits on the revs, from 19,000 to 18,000 rpm; limiting drivers to 8 engines for the F1 season; implementing new dimensional regulations to reduce the cars aerodynamic performance, and hopefully increase a drivers’ ability to pass during the race. Teams and drivers won’t be allowed to test during the F1 season from the week before the first race until December 31 and 15,000 kilometers will be the maximum limit for testing. The pit lane will stay open during safety-car periods, so drivers will have the option of refueling during this time without being penalized and if two drivers are tied in wins at the end of the season, the championship will be awarded to the driver and team with the most race points.

March 26th, well get to see just what effect these changes really have when the drivers take the track in Melbourne, it should be interesting, and informative.

See you there!

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The Winds of Change Blow Over Formula One