F1 Races (Melbourne & Malaysia)
Friday, 17. April 2009, 14:28:26
Waited nearly 6 months to see the Formula One circus again. A whole new set of rules to the '09 season all in the name of "cutting costs". A few major changes, slick tires are back, the rear wing has shrunk, the front wing has grown, introduction of a KERS Kinetic Energy Recovery System). The opening race did not disappoint...
29th of March 2009, the first race of the the 2009 FIA Formula One Word Championship. Practice sessions were dominated individually by Nico Rosberg but as a team were dominated by the "new" F1 team, Brawn GP. Brawn GP didn't exist two weeks prior to the start of the season. Qualifying saw Jenson Button taking pole, and next to him, his teammate Rubens Barrichello. Ferraris down in 7th and 9th with the McLarens down in 14th and 15th. The track was bone dry, and nobody made any mistakes, this was what the rule changes have done to the grid. World Champions struggling in the middle of the grid while most of the drivers that were previously written off were now leading the field. This was still of course after just qualifying and practice sessions. Would the race be a repeat of what happened last year?
Race day, and Button drives off into the sunset. Button was hardly seen again till the end of the race. Barrichello on the other hand had a poor start, swallowed up by the grid off the line and staying in the top 5 until the final few laps of the race.
Button looked faultless in his drive to finish line. Second and third place was being contested between Vettel and Kubica while Barrichello was fourth. But Kubica's aggressive moves on Vettel finally eliminated both himself and Vettel, though Vettel drove around the track for a while on 3 wheels. That allowed the Brawn GP team to finish one two with the Toyota's in third and fourth. Alonso pulled off a 5th place with a car that certainly shouldn't have been so high up and Rosberg bringing in home in 6th. Sebastien Buemi in his Torro Rosso delivered on debut with an impressive 7th place beating his more experienced teammate of Bourdais.
Full Results of the Australian Grand Prix
5th of April saw the Malaysian Grand Prix. Once again Rosberg dominated nearly all practise sessions but faded away in qualifying. Once again Button was on pole but his teammate Rubens back down in 4th. Trulli started in second with Vettel in third but he would take a ten place grid penalty for driving around the track at the previous race with a wheel hanging of the side of his car.
A later start time than usual, it started at 5pm local time, with many drivers voicing their concerns over visibility in the twilight hours but the race going on as scheduled. Rosberg had an excellent start taking the lead after the first corner but soon the heavens opened up. 2 safety cars later and not even half way through the race the red flag was out.
Kimi was the first to switch to full wets although the track was dry and that decision cost him his race. Glock on the other hand timed his pitstops to perfection, always the first man on the correct tyre. Final results were Button taking the win, Heidfeld an amazing second after only one pitstop, Glock in third, Trulli 4th, Barrichello 5th, Webber 6th (could have finished second had the race been stopped a lap earlier), Hamilton 7th, Rosberg 8th.
A special mention goes to Kimi. While the rest of the grid was sitting around in the rain, wondering if the race would continue, Kimi was in shorts and flip-flops, eating an ice-cream and a can of coke in hand with absolutely no worries in the world. The Ice Man truly deserves his nickname.
Full Results of the Malaysia Grand Prix
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