Button with superior win at Albert Park !!!
Super exciting start to the 2012 season and judging by this race battle for the top this year should be very interesting. Just a week timr to the next race, where the standings will probably become a little clearer.
The first round went to Jenson Button with McLaren and an impressive win. He at the start of race has passed his teammate Lewis Hamilton and kept leadership to the end of the race.Red Bull promptly forgot about their poor qualification session, and Vettel climbed to second place on the podium, while Mark Webber was fourth. The third position on the podium left for Hamilton who was very reserved today. We must note that Vettel and Red Bull used the safety car period, when Petrov stoped on the track, good timing for pit-stop and they got position ahead of Hamilton.
McLaren needed to satisfy with the first and third place, partly because of their apparently inflexible strategy, ie rule that a driver ahead enters the pits first, they left Hamilton a little longer on track after the first change of tires and he got stuck behind Perez. In the second change of tires, the drivers decided to enter one after another in the pits, but now it was the correct decision. This move proved superior readiness in McLaren box, but theireforts was ruined by the safety car.
Fernando Alonso made everything possible in this race and won it seems the best place Ferrari could get today, 5-th. Spanish once again proved its top capabilities of great Formula 1 driver. But we had the impression that Ferrari are still very far from the fight for top positions. Unlike him Massa race was a disaster. Shows neither speed nor managed to maintain his tires. Eventually he collided with Senna, and for both drivers the race was over.
Mercedes AMG cars are biggest loosers in the race. Gearbox failure on the car of Schumacher started in 10-th lap, and Rosberg finished on 12 place. Drivers of Mercedes AMG complained that the tires of their cars are degrading too fast. Nobody believed that after strong qualifying, they will score 0 points. Speaking of loosers, there is Romain Grosjean, Lotus, who started from third position, lost a few places, and finally was hit by Pastor Maldonado, front right suspension brakedown and it was the end for the young Frenchman. To not go unpunished, Maldonado, at the end of the race when he breathed in the neck of Alonso for 5 th place, made a mistake and smack the car in one of the protective fences.
On the other side of the teams that can be happy with this race is certainly Sauber, 6 th and 8 th place, ie with both cars in the Top 10. A perfect ending to the race had Kimi Raikkonen with 7th place and all the fun over the team radio, which proved he need time to get used to the car and "new" Formula 1. Today in points ended and Ricciardo, Toro Rosso and Paul di Resta with Force India.
The Australian Grand Prix, Albert Park.
58 laps, 307.574km, Weather: Sunny.
Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1h34:09.565
2. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault + 2.139
3. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 4.075
4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault + 4.547
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari + 21.565
6. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 36.766
7. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault + 38.014
8. Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari + 39.458
9. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 39.556
10. Paul Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 39.737
11. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 39.848
12. Nico Rosberg Mercedes + 57.642
13. Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault + 1 lap
14. Timo Glock Marussia-Cosworth + 1 lap
15. CharlesPic Marussia-Cosworth + 2 laps
16. Bruno Senna Williams-Renault + 4 laps
Fastest lap: Jenson Button - 1:29.187
Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
F.Massa Ferrari 47
H.Kovalainen Caterham-Renault 42
V.Petrov Caterham-Renault 37
M.Schumacher Mercedes 11
R.Grosjean Lotus-Renault 2
N.Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1
N.Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth not started
P.De la Rosa HRT-Cosworth not started
After 1 race:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Button 25 1. McLaren-Mercedes 40
2. Vettel 18 2. Red Bull-Renault 30
3. Hamilton 15 3. Sauber-Ferrari 12
4. Webber 12 4. Ferrari 10
5. Alonso 10 5. Lotus-Renault 6
6. Kobayashi 8 6. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2
7. Raikkonen 6 7. Force India-Mercedes 1
8. Perez 4
9. Ricciardo 2
10. Di Resta 1
