The 2009 Australian Grand Prix Thread

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 2:20 pm

Klutz of the day.......Vettel

Tied with Barrichello...............

jacfan · Post by **jacfan** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 5:03 pm

Too many Sebastians!!!

Julian Mayo · Post by **Julian Mayo** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 6:38 pm

jacfan wrote:Too many Sebastians!!!

Buemi earned his pay.................

RE30B#16 · Post by **RE30B#16** » Mon Mar 30, 2009 7:16 pm

mlittle wrote:*still catching his breath*

As we watch Button triumphantly park the Brawn BGP001 into parc Ferme, think about this...........a month ago, this team didn't exist and Button, one of the veterans of F1, didn't have a ride..............

Ya gotta love Formula 1!!! What is too crappy is that there has been no mention of this race or it's results at all on ESPN's Sportcenter or Fox Sports Net. Shameful!!!

aabc01 · Post by **aabc01** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 6:57 am

Racers of the day: Vettel and Kubica!

I can explain: I'm a huge Barrichello's fan

Who could imagine that the former Honda team would make 1-2 in Australia? What a real engine can do for a car!!! That Honda baby bee engine sucked!

Congrats to Button and Buemi. And we can not forget Hamilton who drove his best to earn 6 valuable points.

.

Kapel · Post by **Kapel** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 3:53 pm

Congratulations to the 3 B's for the win!!

What a shame ,Kubica could have challenged or mayb won the race..just kidding...Brawns were unreachable ..
Vettel agreed he was stupid but 10 grid penalty is harsh as IMHO it was a racing accident & probably Kubica was to blame for squeezing the kid!

Hamilton good drive..but wht luck!!
Usual start for Ferrari - pathetic!

KERS importance i should would be felt in Malaysia or Bahrain!

I was particularly happy to see a great difference in the 2 tyre compounds...make racing & strategy interesting!!

Southernman · Post by **Southernman** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 4:50 pm

Button gets my driver of the day vote for winning the race. Despite all the evidence in pre season testing that pointed to Brawn doing well I still had my doubts

I was proved wrong big time.

sennano1fan · Post by **sennano1fan** » Tue Mar 31, 2009 5:33 pm

Southernman wrote:Button gets my driver of the day vote for winning the race. Despite all the evidence in pre season testing that pointed to Brawn doing well I still had my doubts I was proved wrong big time.

I think we all have been served a big slice of humble pie. Great result for Brawn.
Pity about the Ferraris but I had a great day with Shell/Ferrari.
Thanks Ed.

JayVee · Post by **JayVee** » Wed Apr 01, 2009 8:11 am

What a race and what a season this is going to be!!

Like most I thought Brawn weren't going to be that quick but they were (Snowy was right

). Congratulations to Ross Brawn, you are a genious.

Had to go for Button as the driver of the day, After all those years at the back, he stayed in front without making any mistakes. Barrichello didn't have as an impressive race but he managed to still finish second thanks to Kubica and Vettel. Both drove very impressive races until that moment. I wouldn't blame only Vettel but also Kubica.

Alonso had a bad start and ended up at the back. To finish 5th, that was an impressive drive. It seems though that the soft tyre was really bad for him. But it is great to see such difference in the tryes though.

The Toyota's did well too having started from the back

Lets see what Malaysia would bring. It should be better for Alonso !!

Jim Watt · Post by **Jim Watt** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 7:38 am

O.K. Chaps. The story for me was that neither Ferrari finished the race. I don't mean finished out of the points; I mean didn't FINISH the race

That they PUSHED Michael out the door was the first indication that things were beginning to fade at the Big Red Machine. I mean, come on, figure out how bad you have to be to make Michael Schumacher look like the 'good guy for standing aside to let his friend little Phil keep his ride!?! We're talking Michael Schumacher here, someone as ruthless as Ayrton Senna or Alain Prost! Jean Todt had many faults but one of them was definitely NOT forgetting that winning a manufacturing and driving title is something achieved ONLY by painstaking and ruthless effort to win, to steal, invent, or otherwise discover a way to get MAXIMUM POINTS at all times. Remember who it was who pressured Michael? Not Jean Todt; not Ross Braun. Someone closely connected to Ferrari today. An Italian who believes the Red cars win because God likes them or something.

But In the old [Todt/Braun] days it would have been a Ferrari that snuck on to the podium as a result of some crazed rules interpretation.

This time it was reigning WDC Lewis Hamilton --in a McLaren!

Wasn't it fantastic that Robert Kubica and Seb. Vettel out-drove the Ferraris and the Renaults and the McLarens!! Wasn't it incredible that NONE of the WDC's in the field would have been within spitting distance of the podium if Seb had had just six more inches of racing surface to use
at the apex and he'd been able to let Kubica by?

And best of all, it was no mistake that Ross Braun's boys, finally given a machine with the necessary power, managed not merely a one-two qualy, but a one-two finish? Fantastic. Racers to the front and let the devil take the boys with the mighty big contracts and fancy motor homes!

So. Sadly for me, this will probably be a season in which Kimi will be lucky to get 30 points. I'm just glad he got one WDC year. Given his racing luck that's about all he could expect.

The good news (for F1) is that Ferrari and McLaren might well end up struggling with Renault to be 'best of the rest' after the two RBR teams & the BMW/Sauber folks!

Brilliant. Now if we could just do something about Webbo's racing luck which appears to be even more star-crossed than Kimi's and Jensen's!!

I'm picking Jense for the next two races at least and I bet I'm not alone!

Cheers

Jim Watt

<T-K> · Post by **<T-K>** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 10:13 pm

Hamilton excluded from results!

Following a re-investigation of an incident during last weekend's Australian GP, Lewis Hamilton has been excluded from the results.

"The Stewards, having considered the new elements presented to them from the 2009 Australian Formula One Grand Prix, consider that driver No 1 Lewis Hamilton and the competitor Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, acted in a manner prejudicial to the conduct of the vent by providing evidence deliberately misleading to the Stewards..."

The Stewards have reversed the "penalty imposed upon driver No 9 Jarno Trulli of Panasonic Toyota Racing and reinstate his third place with in the race classification."

Full story

www.pitpass.com

Ed · Post by Ed » Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:24 pm

Thanks <T-K>,

McLaren have also confirmed that they accept the decision and will not appeal.

McLaren statement:

The FIA Stewards have reviewed their decision of Sunday 29th March 2009, and have excluded Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton from the results of the 2009 Australian Grand Prix.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes understands that the Stewards made their decision on the basis of reviewing radio transmissions between the driver and the Team.

The Team mistakenly believed that the radio transmissions had been reviewed by the FIA on Sunday 29th March 2009, and consequently did not believe it was necessary to discuss them with the Stewards on that date.

Nonetheless, the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes Team now regrets that it did not do so, accepts the Stewards' decision and will not appeal.

----------------------

And the FIA have not ruled out futher action against McLaren and Lewis Hamilton

Related stories:

FIA summons Hamilton to new stewards inquiry

Hamilton excluded from Melbourne results

Hamilton, McLaren 'deliberately misled' stewards

McLaren will not appeal Hamilton exclusion

'Further action' against Hamilton possible - FIA

F1greyhound · Post by **F1greyhound** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 2:32 am

Some people on here still claim SEBASTIAN VETTEL made an error.

I would really like to understand, what exactly did he do wrong and how could he have avoided it being a thoroughbred racer?

It was a great pity for ROBERT but he could have left just a bit more room for someone trying to keep 2nd place on worn tyres. He would have passed anyway within 3 or 4 turns and might have gone for JENSON, who knows? Reminds a bit of DAMON in Adelaide......only that SEBASTIAN definitely didnt want to collide!

Other than that it was a great GP, the cars are fantastic - not only can you actually follow another car closely to be in the slipstream for overtaking, the new technology definitely mixed up the field. Sorry for FERRARI and MCLAREN but their reign seems but over. And who says BRAWN, TOYOTA, WILLIAMS, BMW or REDBULL dont deserve to win races or Championships?

Im sure, a great season is awaiting us and Im most of all happy for JENSON who showed his extreme talent early on but too often found himself in an F2 car.

As for the best drives in Melbourne, there were too many to mention but I believe LEWIS was absolutely flawless with an underperforming car. Nevertheless JARNO deserves the podium and I think the stewards did right considering MCLAREN tried to profit on a false statement.

CHEERS and may Sepang begin!!!

Jim Watt · Post by **Jim Watt** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 5:49 am

I agree with F1greyhound. If it's a mistake for the car in front and on the apex of a turn to try to hold position while the overtaking car, on the outside and losing speed turns in... well, let's just say that we might as well not have any rules at all

I think you can make a case for Lewis, but 'flawless' seems a bit much. What about Fernando? In a MUCH LESS competitive machine, he actually earned points. Indeed, if Renault didn't have Fernando they wouldn't have ANYTHING!

Here's my question: what in the world has Heikki got on somebody at McLaren? Can you imagine what Glock or Trulli could do with the McLaren crew?

I'm a little worried that I don't have Rossburg in my picks for Malaya, but then, again, he's about the only guy with worse luck than Kimi and the Webbo!

On to the rain in Sepang!

Jim Watt

F1greyhound · Post by **F1greyhound** » Fri Apr 03, 2009 7:03 am

Hi Jim,

I think youre right with many things, but why do you think that the RENAULT is so much worse than the MCLAREN? Looking at the lap times I cant quite follow this perception...I would agree however that FERNANDO is a fantastic driver and all RENAULT have.

Re.NELSON or HEIKKI, I think they are also gifted but with the No.1s being supreme they are made to look ordinary. Interestingly when MICHAEL dominated his teammates it was perceived as team order whereas I have never read anything like that on FERNANDO(destroyed GIANCARLO and NELSON..) or LEWIS(who looked good against FERNANDO as a rookie and now destroys HEIKKI..).

There are obviously some more gifted guys than others but on a scale of 1(poor) to 10(excellent) I believe the field is 8+, with the majority being 9 and only a few definite 10s. Who are they?

The greatest talent has to be SEBASTIAN....and he is even a real nice guy

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The 2009 Australian Grand Prix Thread

Driver of the day ?

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