Sunday, March 16, 2008
# posted by Rich @ 6:52 AM
2008 Formula 1 ING Australian Grand Prix: Race Report
Lewis Hamilton cruised to a comfortable win in Australia ahead of Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg - it is the first win for Lewis down under, and McLaren's first since 2003. The win naturally puts Lewis in the lead of the championship, which is a familiar feeling for the young Brit, having led the championship for the vast majority of the year in 2007. McLaren head the constructor's championship after Heikki Kovalainen in the other McLaren came home fifth.
It was a hot day in Melbourne - the air temperature was 37 degrees celcius and the track temperature started out at 52 degrees celcius (although it would cool off significantly as the afternoon wore on). The action was hot as well, and as predicted, there were several incidents. The drama started early - indeed even before the formation lap Rosberg had brake difficulties which were the result of having to change brake pads after qualifying due to a vibration - the change apparently upset his brake balance and "surprised" the young German. Further down the grid, Adrian Sutil elected to start from the pit lane. As predicted, there was a first corner snarl up. Most of the drivers at the front of the grid got a good start and there was little drama on the run down to turn 1. However at the exit of turn 1, Felipe Massa got it all wrong - he stood on the throttle too soon or too hard and spun his Ferrari into the outside wall, damaging the nose cone of the car. Further back, and possibly as a consequence of trying to avoid the spinning Ferrari, several cars got together, including Fisichella, Vettel, Davidson, Button, and Webber. All five retired from the race. As a consequence the safety car was deployed to clear up the mess. During the safety car period, Felipe Massa pitted twice - once to repair his accident damage and then, after the pits were opened, once for fuel. This would drop him to 17th place.
The safety car period did not last long, and the race resumed on lap 3. Kimi Raikkonen took advantage of the situation and had climbed to 8th place, having started 15th on the grid. However, the Finn (who started on a heavy fuel load) got stuck behind Rubens Barrichello, who was now the lone Honda in the race after Button's early retirement. At the front, Lewis Hamilton began to stroll into the lead, escaping from Robert Kubica at the rate of about half a second per lap. Indeed the BMWs, although fast initially, seemed to be dropping back as their tyres began to grain. Soon, Hamilton was lapping a second per lap faster than Kubica.
The first scheduled pit stops came on lap 17 - Kubica pitted from second place and took on fuel and a fresh set of prime (medium) tyres. His 8.6 second stop indicated that he was likely on a 2 stop strategy, and he rejoined the race just behind the Barrichello/Raikkonen battle. On lap 19, race leader Hamilton pitted - he took on more medium tyres also. It was a slightly longer stop for Hamilton, but rejoined in 4th place behind Heidfeld. Kovalainen was now in the race lead.
On lap 19 Raikkonen finally found a way past Barrichello - Rubens appeared to make a small mistake into turn 3, and Raikkonen pounced. He then roared off into the distance, finally free of his mobile road block. On lap 22, Heidfeld and Rosberg pitted. The two came extremely close to each other in the pit lane, but avoided contact. They rejoined the race behind David Coulthard and ahead of Fernando Alonso. Alonso managed to muscle his way past Rosberg though, who was still on cold tyres. A lap later, both Coulthard and race leader Kovalainen pitted. Kovalainen rejoined in second place, just ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, who had yet to stop.
On lap 26, Felipe Massa made a lunge down the inside of David Coulthard at turn 1. The two collided heavily and whilst the damage on Massa's car was superficial, Coulthard's car was wrecked. David Coulthard clearly thought that Massa was in the wrong, going so far as to say "I'm gonna kick three colours of shit out of the little bastard". The awkward position of Coulthard's car, coupled with the large amount of debris, precipitated the second safety car period of the day. Once the pits opened, several cars made pit stops, including Alonso and Kubica.
On lap 30, the safety car came back in. Hamilton, who had resumed the lead, again took control and marched away from teammate Kovalainen who had Raikkonen climbing all over him. Kovalainen defended into turn 1, but Raikkonen got better drive off of turn 2. Coming down to turn 3 Kovalainen defended the inside line and Raikkonen incredibly made an error and overshot the corner. He gingerly had to negotiate the gravel trap, and after rejoining the circuit, he was in 12th and last place. Raikkonen cruised around the rest of the lap to make his first pit stop. Meanwhile his Ferrari teammate Massa coasted to a halt at the outside of turn 14. It appeared as though it was all coming unstuck for Ferrari. Further up the road, the race of attrition continued. Sato retired his Super Aguri at the end of the pit lane, followed shortly thereafter by Piquet, who abandoned his Renault at the inside of turn 9.
It was relatively plain sailing at the front of the pack - Hamilton continued in the lead, ahead of Kovalainen and Heidfled. The biggest battle on track was for 6th place, which was being fought by Bourdais, Kubica, and Alonso. Bourdais was doing an admirable job in his first Grand Prix, although of course he is not really a rookie, having been four times a Champ Car World Series champion.
At the back of the field, Kimi Raikkonen was on a charge. By lap 43 he had closed down a roughly 12 second gap to tenth placed Timo Glock but under braking for turn 3, he got his left-side wheels on the grass and spun. He avoided the gravel trap and resumed the race, but it had all gone terribly wrong yet again for the Finn. A worse fate befell Glock however - on lap 45 he ran very wide out of turn 12 and got launched over the grass. The impact upon returning to terra firma broke two wheels off his Toyota, and he screeched and slid to a halt next to the outside wall. The safety car was deployed yet again.
The safety car period benefitted Lewis Hamilton, who pitted from the lead on lap 43, and Nick Heidfeld, who pitted shortly before Glock's incident. Kovalainen, however, lost out, and had to make his pit stop from the lead once the pits opened. Fernando Alonso also had to make a stop, but had to severely conserve fuel before the pits opened otherwise he was in danger of running out. Rubens Barrichello, however, had no choice as he would have run out of fuel. It turned out to be a nightmare stop for Honda - the lollipop was raised before the fuel rig was clear of the car and as Barrichello sped away, he dragged the refuelling rig and associated pit crew with him. There were thankfully no major injuries, but Barrichello would be forced to take a 10 second stop-go penalty for pitting whilst the pits were closed. Worse may yet befall the Brazillian - he was shown exiting the pits when the red light was on - an offence that usually yields disqualification. Update: Barrichello was indeed disqualified.
The safety car was due in on lap 48, but just as it peeled off, Kazuki Nakajima ran into the back of Robert Kubica. Both had to pit, but Kubica's race was over. So, after the race resumed the order was Hamilton, Heidfeld, Rosberg, Bourdais, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Alonso, Barrichello (after his penalty), Nakajima. Kovalainen muscled past Raikkonen at turn 13, but ran wide, allowing Alonso through - he began to hunt down Bourdais. The Frenchman held off the double world champion exceptionally well, and even started to pull away once Kovalainen started challenging Alonso again. Further calamity befell Raikkonen though - his Ferrari started sounding very rough, and he was turning laps that were six seconds off the pace. As Martin Brundle put it, it was a limping prancing horse. Eventually, on lap 55, the car gave up and Raikkonen coasted to a halt in the pit lane, just as he had done in qualifying. Both Ferraris were out of the race.
Cruelly, just a lap later Bourdais retired with smoke wafting from the rear of his Toro Rosso as he exited turn 12. It was a superb performance from the Frenchman, but it was all for nought. With his retirement, all six Ferrari engined cars were out of the race. His retirement also freed up the battle between Alonso and Kovalainen. On the penultimate lap, Alonso made a small mistake at turn 13, which allowed Kovalainen to squeeze by into turn 14, much to the delight of Ron Dennis. However, just seconds later, Alonso re-passed the Finn - Kovalainen had reached for a tear-off strip and had accidently hit the pit-limiter in the middle of the front straight! You can bet that Ron wasn't best pleased about that.
But up front, it was all smooth sailing for Hamilton - he cruised home some five and a half seconds ahead of Heidfeld, and eight seconds ahead of Rosberg. There were jubilant scenes in the Williams pits, and shouts of "Nico! Nico!" as he stood on the podium. Lewis Hamilton even showed his approval by giving Nico a giant bouncing hug! The biggest smile was reserved for Ron Dennis though, and Lewis playfully tried to shower his boss with water before the podium ceremony.
So, it was an action packed race, and a race of attrition - only 7 cars were running at the end and only McLaren and Williams brought both cars home. Such was the attrition in fact that Raikkonen ended up classsified in 8th place after the disqualification of Rubens Barrichello. It was a perfect start for Hamilton and a near-perfect start for McLaren, but it was an unmitigated disaster for Ferrari. Even they must feel that scoring 1 point was, under the circumstances, lucky. They never quite got into their stride, and mechanical problems plagued Kimi Raikkonen from day one. And with the Malaysian Grand Prix just seven days away, Ferrari are in for an uphill struggle if they are to prevent a repeat of today's performance.
It was a hot day in Melbourne - the air temperature was 37 degrees celcius and the track temperature started out at 52 degrees celcius (although it would cool off significantly as the afternoon wore on). The action was hot as well, and as predicted, there were several incidents. The drama started early - indeed even before the formation lap Rosberg had brake difficulties which were the result of having to change brake pads after qualifying due to a vibration - the change apparently upset his brake balance and "surprised" the young German. Further down the grid, Adrian Sutil elected to start from the pit lane. As predicted, there was a first corner snarl up. Most of the drivers at the front of the grid got a good start and there was little drama on the run down to turn 1. However at the exit of turn 1, Felipe Massa got it all wrong - he stood on the throttle too soon or too hard and spun his Ferrari into the outside wall, damaging the nose cone of the car. Further back, and possibly as a consequence of trying to avoid the spinning Ferrari, several cars got together, including Fisichella, Vettel, Davidson, Button, and Webber. All five retired from the race. As a consequence the safety car was deployed to clear up the mess. During the safety car period, Felipe Massa pitted twice - once to repair his accident damage and then, after the pits were opened, once for fuel. This would drop him to 17th place.
The safety car period did not last long, and the race resumed on lap 3. Kimi Raikkonen took advantage of the situation and had climbed to 8th place, having started 15th on the grid. However, the Finn (who started on a heavy fuel load) got stuck behind Rubens Barrichello, who was now the lone Honda in the race after Button's early retirement. At the front, Lewis Hamilton began to stroll into the lead, escaping from Robert Kubica at the rate of about half a second per lap. Indeed the BMWs, although fast initially, seemed to be dropping back as their tyres began to grain. Soon, Hamilton was lapping a second per lap faster than Kubica.
The first scheduled pit stops came on lap 17 - Kubica pitted from second place and took on fuel and a fresh set of prime (medium) tyres. His 8.6 second stop indicated that he was likely on a 2 stop strategy, and he rejoined the race just behind the Barrichello/Raikkonen battle. On lap 19, race leader Hamilton pitted - he took on more medium tyres also. It was a slightly longer stop for Hamilton, but rejoined in 4th place behind Heidfeld. Kovalainen was now in the race lead.
On lap 19 Raikkonen finally found a way past Barrichello - Rubens appeared to make a small mistake into turn 3, and Raikkonen pounced. He then roared off into the distance, finally free of his mobile road block. On lap 22, Heidfeld and Rosberg pitted. The two came extremely close to each other in the pit lane, but avoided contact. They rejoined the race behind David Coulthard and ahead of Fernando Alonso. Alonso managed to muscle his way past Rosberg though, who was still on cold tyres. A lap later, both Coulthard and race leader Kovalainen pitted. Kovalainen rejoined in second place, just ahead of Kimi Raikkonen, who had yet to stop.
On lap 26, Felipe Massa made a lunge down the inside of David Coulthard at turn 1. The two collided heavily and whilst the damage on Massa's car was superficial, Coulthard's car was wrecked. David Coulthard clearly thought that Massa was in the wrong, going so far as to say "I'm gonna kick three colours of shit out of the little bastard". The awkward position of Coulthard's car, coupled with the large amount of debris, precipitated the second safety car period of the day. Once the pits opened, several cars made pit stops, including Alonso and Kubica.
On lap 30, the safety car came back in. Hamilton, who had resumed the lead, again took control and marched away from teammate Kovalainen who had Raikkonen climbing all over him. Kovalainen defended into turn 1, but Raikkonen got better drive off of turn 2. Coming down to turn 3 Kovalainen defended the inside line and Raikkonen incredibly made an error and overshot the corner. He gingerly had to negotiate the gravel trap, and after rejoining the circuit, he was in 12th and last place. Raikkonen cruised around the rest of the lap to make his first pit stop. Meanwhile his Ferrari teammate Massa coasted to a halt at the outside of turn 14. It appeared as though it was all coming unstuck for Ferrari. Further up the road, the race of attrition continued. Sato retired his Super Aguri at the end of the pit lane, followed shortly thereafter by Piquet, who abandoned his Renault at the inside of turn 9.
It was relatively plain sailing at the front of the pack - Hamilton continued in the lead, ahead of Kovalainen and Heidfled. The biggest battle on track was for 6th place, which was being fought by Bourdais, Kubica, and Alonso. Bourdais was doing an admirable job in his first Grand Prix, although of course he is not really a rookie, having been four times a Champ Car World Series champion.
At the back of the field, Kimi Raikkonen was on a charge. By lap 43 he had closed down a roughly 12 second gap to tenth placed Timo Glock but under braking for turn 3, he got his left-side wheels on the grass and spun. He avoided the gravel trap and resumed the race, but it had all gone terribly wrong yet again for the Finn. A worse fate befell Glock however - on lap 45 he ran very wide out of turn 12 and got launched over the grass. The impact upon returning to terra firma broke two wheels off his Toyota, and he screeched and slid to a halt next to the outside wall. The safety car was deployed yet again.
The safety car period benefitted Lewis Hamilton, who pitted from the lead on lap 43, and Nick Heidfeld, who pitted shortly before Glock's incident. Kovalainen, however, lost out, and had to make his pit stop from the lead once the pits opened. Fernando Alonso also had to make a stop, but had to severely conserve fuel before the pits opened otherwise he was in danger of running out. Rubens Barrichello, however, had no choice as he would have run out of fuel. It turned out to be a nightmare stop for Honda - the lollipop was raised before the fuel rig was clear of the car and as Barrichello sped away, he dragged the refuelling rig and associated pit crew with him. There were thankfully no major injuries, but Barrichello would be forced to take a 10 second stop-go penalty for pitting whilst the pits were closed. Worse may yet befall the Brazillian - he was shown exiting the pits when the red light was on - an offence that usually yields disqualification. Update: Barrichello was indeed disqualified.
The safety car was due in on lap 48, but just as it peeled off, Kazuki Nakajima ran into the back of Robert Kubica. Both had to pit, but Kubica's race was over. So, after the race resumed the order was Hamilton, Heidfeld, Rosberg, Bourdais, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Alonso, Barrichello (after his penalty), Nakajima. Kovalainen muscled past Raikkonen at turn 13, but ran wide, allowing Alonso through - he began to hunt down Bourdais. The Frenchman held off the double world champion exceptionally well, and even started to pull away once Kovalainen started challenging Alonso again. Further calamity befell Raikkonen though - his Ferrari started sounding very rough, and he was turning laps that were six seconds off the pace. As Martin Brundle put it, it was a limping prancing horse. Eventually, on lap 55, the car gave up and Raikkonen coasted to a halt in the pit lane, just as he had done in qualifying. Both Ferraris were out of the race.
Cruelly, just a lap later Bourdais retired with smoke wafting from the rear of his Toro Rosso as he exited turn 12. It was a superb performance from the Frenchman, but it was all for nought. With his retirement, all six Ferrari engined cars were out of the race. His retirement also freed up the battle between Alonso and Kovalainen. On the penultimate lap, Alonso made a small mistake at turn 13, which allowed Kovalainen to squeeze by into turn 14, much to the delight of Ron Dennis. However, just seconds later, Alonso re-passed the Finn - Kovalainen had reached for a tear-off strip and had accidently hit the pit-limiter in the middle of the front straight! You can bet that Ron wasn't best pleased about that.
But up front, it was all smooth sailing for Hamilton - he cruised home some five and a half seconds ahead of Heidfeld, and eight seconds ahead of Rosberg. There were jubilant scenes in the Williams pits, and shouts of "Nico! Nico!" as he stood on the podium. Lewis Hamilton even showed his approval by giving Nico a giant bouncing hug! The biggest smile was reserved for Ron Dennis though, and Lewis playfully tried to shower his boss with water before the podium ceremony.
So, it was an action packed race, and a race of attrition - only 7 cars were running at the end and only McLaren and Williams brought both cars home. Such was the attrition in fact that Raikkonen ended up classsified in 8th place after the disqualification of Rubens Barrichello. It was a perfect start for Hamilton and a near-perfect start for McLaren, but it was an unmitigated disaster for Ferrari. Even they must feel that scoring 1 point was, under the circumstances, lucky. They never quite got into their stride, and mechanical problems plagued Kimi Raikkonen from day one. And with the Malaysian Grand Prix just seven days away, Ferrari are in for an uphill struggle if they are to prevent a repeat of today's performance.
Labels: Australia, Formula 1, Grand Prix
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