Australian Grand Prix, Albert Park Circuit Melbourne.

Another brilliant start to the season at the Australian Grand Prix, and already F1 is surrounded by controversy.

Sauber’s impressive performance with Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi finishing 7^th and 8^th respectively has been taken away from them due to an illegal rear wing.  Sauber have said they will appeal against the decision.

This news puts Force India into the points and gives Briton Paul Di Resta his first points in F1.

Red Bull’s pace today looked unrivalled and Vettel’s win surely puts a stamp of authority on the season and sends a message to other teams and drivers.  However Red Bull’s Australian driver, Mark Webber finished in 5^th place at his home grand prix, which is disappointing for the fastest car on the grid.

McLaren however look closer to the Red Bull’s than first expected, with a bad winter session of testing the team has made a number of changes to the car which seems to have given them close to two seconds a lap extra race pace. 

Lewis Hamilton finished second and felt that McLaren are ready to take the fight to Red Bull.  Hamilton: “I think we were competitive enough today to compete for the win.”

Button’s race however was disappointing considering this race pace and team mate Hamilton’s podium finish.  Button was given a drive through penalty after cutting the corner in an overtaking move against Felipe Massa putting him right in the middle of the pack.  He did however manage to fight his way to a 6^th place finish.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso had a bad start and went wide at the first corner dropping from 5^th to 9^th.  Ferrarri Team Principal, Stefano Domenicali, told BBC Sport, Ferrari still have to understand why they did not get the performance they were expecting.  Their pace in testing indicated they were much closer to the Red Bull’s than we saw in today’s race.  Despite Fernando’s poor start he finished the race in 4^th place which is ominous if today’s pace was much less than expected.

Ferrari may come back strong in two weeks time at the Sepang Circuit in the Malaysian Grand Prix if they can understand what went wrong today.

Hispania Racing did not compete in the first Grand Prix of the season, disqualified due to the 107% rule which is reinstated this season.  Each car must get within 107% of the pole position time to be allowed to take part in the race.

The stewards ruled that there were no exceptional circumstances with which to permit Hispania Racing to race, ruling them out of the first race of the season.

The much discussed Pirelli tyres did not degrade as quickly as initially thought.  Hispania’s Sergio Perez pitted only once during the race for a change of tyres indicating that we will not be seeing five pit stops in a race as initially thought.

Already loads to discuss, question and understand and we have only had two hours of racing!

The next race will see F1 visiting Malaysia at the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur on the 10^th April.

2011 F1 pre-season excitement

Thank God there is less than a week until the first race of the 2011 calendar!  I mean THANK GOD!  My life feels back on track, I’m sure many of you sympathise!

The 2011 Formula 1 season will kick off at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne with the Australian Grand Prix in less than six days and I cannot wait!

I’m sure you have all been paying attention to all things F1 but here’s a little round up of what has been going on pre-season and what we will all be expecting, come Sunday.

 

Mclaren’s MP4 – 26 has turned out disappointing in pre season testing, which doesn’t come as good news to British fans. 

Team Principle, Martin Whitmarsh has told BBC Formula 1 that the car may yet surprise people and hopes the car will be one second faster on Sunday.

I for one refuse to rule out a team with two World Champions at the helm.  (Please find that extra second!)

Red Bull and Chief technical officer, Adrian Newey have again devised what seems to be the fastest car on the track for this season, the RB7 (based on last seasons RB6) reigned supreme in pre-season testing in Barcelona and will again be the car to beat.

There have been a few changes this season in terms of rules and regulations. 

Pirelli are now the sole tyre provider for F1 and controversially have been asked to provide a less durable tyre than previous seasons to increase the number of pit stops in a race, making races more unpredictable.

This less durable tyre will favour drivers with a smoother driving style such as Jenson Button.  Tyre management will be a key factor this season, but will this make for more exciting racing?

More pit stops mean less overtaking on track and more strategy, but I have always enjoyed watching strategy play out over the course of the race.  This is where we see all those priceless pit stop mess ups!  So I say the more pit stops the better.

The controversial ‘no team orders’ rule has been deleted from the rule book, which doesn’t really make much difference as it was ignored by most last season anyway!

Speaking of Ferrari......Will this season see their return to greatness?  I hope so, I am eagerly waiting to see the brilliance of Fernando Alonso without his drive being marred by controversy.  We all know he is probably the most talented driver on the track (and that takes a lot for a British fan to say), so let us hope he can dominate the way we know he can.

All in all it’s going to be one hell of a season, with new drivers and a new race track!  Who know what we are in store for!

I will post again later on in the week with more info, but until then............6 DAYS LEFT!!