F1 2009 - they're off!

[Fat Tone]

So F1 got underway at Melbourne yesterday. A great start to the season imho. Lots of action, Jenson Button finally gets some luck, and of course there's the controversy. It wouldn't be F1 without it.

If anyone hasn't been following this, three teams - Brawn GP (formerly Honda), Williams and Toyota found a way to interpret the rules that the rest of the teams didn't. Their novel rear-diffuser design has given them at least 0.5s advantage on the track. This was deemed legal by the scrutineers and stewards last Thursday, but this had been appealed and the FIA will hold a hearing after next weekends Malaysian GP.

Brawn GP managed a 1-2 finish. I'd like to think that it's not all down to the diffuser. The car has been in development for 15 months after all.

Hamilton was lucky. The McLarens are well off the pace, but due to high attrition, good strategy and an excellent drive Hamilton managed 4th and was controversially given 3rd after another silly stewarding decision.

And then there is KERS, which does appear to show promise for increased overtaking, despite Melbourne Park not being most suited to it. Next weekend will be a lot more telling.

There were some other stellar performances too (Vettel and more), and some disasters (Ferrari being a prime example). And its amazing that Barichello could have a bad start, a collision, two new noses and still finish 2nd!

Oh yes, there is an interesting and exciting season to come, particulalrly if you are support british teams and drivers.

Finally I'd like to complement the BBC on their coverage. They did an excellent job. ITV had F1 for the last 12 years. I haven't yet tried the 'Red-button' service as 5am was too early for even me to see the race live. I think the dynamic between Humphrey/Coulthard/Jordan needs a little tweaking (aka putting a sock in Jordan's mouth) but they were very insightful, much more so than Blundell ever was on ITV.

[VJ]

I didn't see the entire race, just start, finish and highlighs; but it sure looks like a promising season. I don't really like the look of the cars though (the big nose on the BrawnGP cars look like a vacuum cleaner...).

It seems to be a recurring fact that the top teams of one season underperform in the first races of the next, mostly attributed to the fact that other teams "have given up" on the season and have started focus on the next. KERS may not have come into play much at this race, but also because most teams aren't using it yet.

I do think the Trull-call was a silly decission (but as a viewer difficult to judge), as was the 10-place grid penalty for Vettel. The commentators on BBC seem to put the blame equally on both drivers, an opinion I can share (viewing the images). The penalty given to the Red Bull team for staying on track with a broken car is valid though (but IMO, penalties should never be financial).

[Fat Tone]

Hamilton has now been stripped of all points, and there's a suggestion Vettel may get some good news. I sometimes wonder if this sport is trying to kill itself.

[VJ]

Before the Malaysian Grand Prix, BBC gave a clear summary of the facts. Basically, the team gave the incorrect instructions to Hamilton to let Trulli pass him; rather than cut their losses, the tried to cover it up by making it look like Trully passed under safetycar... You can hardly blame the sport for a team trying to pull a stunt like that...

And then the Malaysian Grand Prix it self... How is it possible that they didn't know the correct order: Glock initially thought he was 2nd, and the race had been redflagged for over 45 minutes! The fact they postponed the decision to continue/abort the race, with all the teams on the grid, was ridiculous: as soon as it was mathematically no longer possible to do 3/4 race distance, they should have stopped it.

The reaction of the Toyota team during Martin Brundle's gridwalk, when he tried to look at the diffuser, was hilarious...

[Fat Tone]

To be clear, I cannot believe McLaren were SO STUPID as to think they can get away with something like that. Every car has onboard cameras, the radio chatter is easily available, every man and his dog can video the action. The decision to lie was pathetic. Its not like there was even any need as Hamilton would have got 3rd in the end anyway. I am a Hamilton supporter for his driving skills, but I am not sympathetic to him at all right now.

IMO, Davey Ryan has been made the scapegoat and McLaren have orchestrated a major press offensive to attempt to escape further sanctions. Obviously Hamilton is of more value to them than Ryan. I think Whitmarsh is probably sh*tting himself right now, and don't be surprised if you see Ron Dennis back at the helm. In all the interviews he did, Whitmarsh most definitely had the look of a condemmed man.

As to Malaysia, I think they were right to wait and see if there was any chance of restarting the race. Its not just about getting to 75%, anything can happen before then and change the result.

Of course, choosing to run at that time of day was another poor decision. It was a 10am start in the UK, 11am for most of Europe. As this was purely to attract the Euorpean TV audience, running an hour or even 2 hours earlier would not have been a problem at all. I hope they see sense next year.

Sadly I didn't see Martin@Toyota, but wifey told me how funny it was

[VJ]

I think he would have gotten fourth place, as he let Trulli deliberatly pass, but it makes for just one championship point. But yes, it does look like Davey is the scapegoat (of course, he is more expendible than Hamilton...

In Malaysia: True that anything can happen, but when they talk about running 3-4 laps (lap times were in the 2'30", 4 laps = 10 minuts) behind the safetycar due to the bad conditions, the only action would come from cars spinning off at low speeds. Maybe entertaining to watch , but not a race... IMO, it quickly became obvious that a restart with race-aspirations was not going to happen.