The Australian Grand Prix of 2009 has again become an unexpected spectacle during which Button proved the most consistent and fastest. Rubens Barrichello finished second thanks to late crashes from Vettel and Kubica, while Trulli finishes 3th after starting from last place.
andartop wrote:Maybe the FIA could rephrase the rules to something like: all drivers have to use both available tires during the course of the race weekend! Thus they could use the super softs just for qualifying (where they belong) and have proper tires for the race. Providing two obligatory options shouldn't be a matter of "quick! let's get these silly ones out of the way asap! and then race with the good ones!", but rather a matter of "hmmm.. should we use these ones or those ones?"!
Now that's more like it! =D>
"Fortunately I've got a bag with dry ice in [my suit], which I put next to my balls, so at least they stay nice and cool!"- Sebastian Vettel, 2009 Malaysian GP Friday Practice.
Well, I got up earlyish in the morning to see the race, was very excited beforehand, so when the race came, I have to say I felt a bit like it passed me by without too much interest**. You know when you eat something, then afterwards you feel like you're not quite full, like there's a bit more to be fed? That's how the race felt to me.
It felt like neither KERS or the supposed Aero changes made any real difference, save for a few occasions when another car passed on the straights (and we couldn't see whether that actually was KERS or a slipstream - I sure as hell couldn't always tell, why was there no graphic for 99% of the race?).
Those super-soft tyres were absolutely ridiculous. I saw the Ferrari's coming in and I though, wow, both of them have damage? Then I realised, no, they knew the tyres were terrible for racing.
So, yes, I have to say I was un enthralled (and last year I enjoyed every race except for Valencia!!), except for the end, when we knew Kubica had the pace but he and Vettel tangled.
I also really disliked the fact the race was being held in the mid-evening in Australia. Maybe it was just me, but I found it pretty irritating when you could see the light getting darker, and you're only 8 laps into the race. It felt to me like the race was coming to an end after lap 15 or so!
** I have to say, I think part of the reason for me being slightly uninspired by the race was the BBC's TV commentators. Yes, Brundle is good, but my God, Jonathan Legard is worse than James Allen. I'm serious, he is WORSE. I had to change the commentary over to the David Croft-Anthony Davidson team on the radio, and they are a million times better. Davidson is also better in terms of his technical knowledge being more up to date than Martin Brundle, and is far more detailed and enthusiastic about F1. Seems to me that Brundle kind of lost his touch yesterday, he seemed a bit disinterested. Anyone in the UK have any thoughts about this? Maybe I'm being unkind of Legard but next race, it's the radio commentary on the red button all the way for me.
bonjon1979 wrote:I wondered what it was, it was distinctly underwhelming wasn't it! At least Allen had some enthusiasm. Legard is like verbal valium.
Agreed, he is very boring and far to understated.
Us Aussies got to experience good ol Muddly Talker the previous weekend as on Saturday at the Clipsal 500 V8 SuperCar race he guest commentated at the circuit on the Saturday and was awesome, he knew everything about every driver and car and was so full of enthusiasm - it brought back memories of his F1 commentaries. =D>
jddh1 wrote:But the reason I say that this season promises to be great is because of the tire rules. The difference in tire performance is so great that every race will be exciting till the end. Seems like we did not need a "passing working group" but rather have Bridgestone implement this rule a few years back. Let's all thank Bridgestone for the exciting racing.
I have to disagree. That wasn't overtake. When the other cars were overtaking Rosberg, it wasn't exciting at all. It was like the easiest thing the overtaking drivers have ever done. Rosberg simply have absolutely no grip and cannot accelerate out of the corners. He was simply a sitting duck on the straight..
I agree with freedom_honda on this. Making overtaking easy because of dangerous tyre compounds is not fun to watch at all. Now I haven't seen anything from the OWG's official final recommendation but I don't think this "huge difference in tyre performance between available compunds in a single race" is NOT A PART OF IT. This smells more like Mosely wearing his "honorary engineering degree" and Mr.Burns (BE) seeing another way of filling his pockets some more.
I stand by my comments.
I still think that the tire difference is the reason much of the action happened at the race, well, excluding Nakajima's and Piquet's spins: they just could not believe they were going to finish so decided to hit the wall.
With KERS, the two different tire compounds, and other rules changes, we got to see where the cars had more and better overtaking opportunities. What happened between Kubica and Vettel was two racers unwilling to give ground, and fighting for a valuable position. This is exactly the scenario that Bernie wants to engineer via his medals system. So if that ever gets implimented, expect a lot more of this kind of incident.
I watched Kubica's collision with the wall very carefully, because both of the left side tires departed the car. The left rear was broken at the wheel hub, you could see that part still attached to the car. The left front however, after the initial impact was caught between the undulating wall and the chassis, and actually torn off by the shearing action between the wall and car. In my opinion the tether could not have contained the tearing action. But it was distressing to see two tires bouncing away from the car.
During the post-race interview Button stated that after the safety car deployed, he could not get enough heat back into the tires and bottomed out too much. That statement raises all kinds of alarm bells and red flags. Please refer back to the causes of Senna's death, and you will see the alarming similarity between deployment of the safety car, cold tires, and the car bottoming out. We now posess improved safety standards, but this issuee needs examination and careful thought. But safety also means we challenge our habits and attitudes, and be aware that there can never be enough safety.
All in all a very interesting race. Most importantly, congratulations to Brawn racing, Jenson Button, and especially Reubens Barrichello.
Racing should be decided on the track, not the court room.
ISLAMATRON wrote: Do you just cut people off on the highway and just tell the officer " My front tires were a couple inches ahead of him so I decided I was ahead of him and so I went into his lane".
Why would you compare a race to road manners? i never want to be in the same highway as you....
bonjon1979 wrote:I wondered what it was, it was distinctly underwhelming wasn't it! At least Allen had some enthusiasm. Legard is like verbal valium.
Agreed, he is very boring and far to understated.
Us Aussies got to experience good ol Muddly Talker the previous weekend as on Saturday at the Clipsal 500 V8 SuperCar race he guest commentated at the circuit on the Saturday and was awesome, he knew everything about every driver and car and was so full of enthusiasm - it brought back memories of his F1 commentaries. =D>
As the aussies all probably know, Peter Windsor had a much greater involvement in ten's/one's coverage this year and commentated for several sessions. Now there is a person who could greatly improve the intelligence of TV commentating. His point of teams being more open and media friendly is refreshing to say the least. Shame he will be otherwise occupied next year, but on the other hand can't wait to see what they do and whether it drags the big boys down from their perch.
I just have to say what a disgrace Red Bull are for telling Vettel to continue after his accident. That loose wheel posed a serious danger had it come detached (something that was all too common with the team's 2008 car), and could have seriously if not fatally injured a marshal/spectator. We should always be looking to make the sport safer and feel that Red Bull have lost the respect of at least one F1 fan this weekend - I can't see why more people haven't picked up on this.
Button keeps journos waiting for a good reason
Monday 30th March 2009
Jenson Button is reported to have kept journalists waiting for ten minutes after his victory in Melbourne so that he could enjoy what a family website can only euphemistically describe as an apparently intimate reunion with his girlfriend Jessica Michibata.
In typically breathless terms, The Sun claims that Button, fresh from leading the season-opening race from start to finish, led Michibata away to a 'private room' for 'a special post-race debriefing'.
Button is described as emerging ten minutes later with a 'sly grin' to admit: "It got a bit steamy in there."
=D>
