Formula 1 Australian GP: English Thunder Down Under

Michael Schumacher with Girls Picture Courtesy: Travelswiss

In a race that saw more retirements than an old-age home, McLaren’s Jenson Button staved off fantastic incidents and a Red Bull charge to win his first GP of 2010 thereby starting his title defence.

Earlier on, a major first lap, first corner incident saw major jumbling of positions and eminent retirements from Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Buemi, BMW Sauber’s Kamui Kobiyashi and Williams’ Nico Hulkenberg.

Sebastian Vettel’s misfortune continued from where it left off at Bahrain. The young Red Bull driver led the race from pole position until a wheel worked loose in Turn 13 (unlucky number?) of lap 20. Vettel’s team-mate, Mark Webber also saw a dismal finish in 9th place after wheelspins and contact with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton who finished 6th.

Force India’s Adrian Sutil tried hard to prolong his race but with failing cylinders, his car slumped down the order before retiring in lap 10. Colleague Tonio Luizzi drove a very good, albeit unobtrusive drive to finish a respectable 7th place and get more points for Force India.

Karan Chandok starting from the end of the grid drove patiently, collected miles and tyre experiences for his team HRT to finish the race at 14th. Not bad for a team who changed hands just a week or two before Bahrain.

His team-mate Bruno Senna however was unlucky. After moving up the grid from 21st to 14th thanks to the first corner incident, Senna had to retire thanks to a hydraulics failure.

Michael Schumacher seems to be getting in thick of things a little later as he was involved in a battle with Jaime Alguersuari of Toro Rosso. The two drivers finished 10th and 11th, respectively. Schumi’s colleague Nico Rosberg finished a respectable 5th.

Renault’s Robert Kubica had a blistering race to finish 2nd. His pace seemed too much even for Felipe Massa in the prancing horse, who finished behind him. A 4th place finish by Alonso ensued in a Ferrari 3-4 result.

Lotus Racing’s Jarno Trulli failed to start the Australian GP because of an obscure hydraulic power pack failure. His team-mate Heikki Kovalainen finished 13th.

After the thunder down under, the race moves to the very hot and humid Sepang circuit for the Malaysian GP.

Watch this space for race report.