Round 2 of 19
(Melbourne, Australia: March 28, 2010)
Whale I even managed to stay up into the wee hours of the morning two nights in a row to watch all of the action from Down Under... As after what many critics were calling “Bore-Rain,’ in regards to the season opening Bahrain GP, there’s nothing like a little precipitation to throw a “Cat amongst the Pigeon’s,” eh? As there’s nothing like seeing three World Champions with 10 Titles amongst them go into a three wide scrum in the first corner, as “M. ScueMawker, Fredrico Suave (Alonso) and ‘JENSE” (Button) all fought for their place at the front with Schumacher coming out the worst, having to pit for a new front nose, before settling into a long period of playing what must have seemed like Groundhog Day... As the Grid’s elder statesman battled all race long against the Spanish “Punk” (Jaime Alguersuari) who’s just turned a whopping 20yrs old!
The day prior had seen ‘ZEBB (Vettel) spoil Aussie Homeboy Mark Webber’s parade by snatching his second Pole of the season, with Webber alongside for Red Bull’s very first ever front row lockout, with the rest of the Top 8 filling in the rest of the first five rows, with the only unexpected casualty being “Louise” Hamilton who would be starting from P11, while ‘rubino, Kubica and Sutil all made it into Q3.
Other Top 10 Qualifiers
P8) R. Barrichello; Williams
P9) R. Kubica; Renault
P10) A. Sutil; Force India
Yet it wasn’t to be as Vettel once again retired whilst leading the race... While everybody had scrambled onto Intermediate Rubber due to the wet stuff falling, while after being passed by Hamilton, ‘JENSE was the very first brave soul to pit for “Slicks” on lap 6 and make it work all the way to the end, with the others trying to catch up...
Other Point Scorers
P2) R. Kubica; Renault
P7) V. Luzzi; Force India
P8) R. Barrichello; Williams
Race Drive of Australia
This pick seems easy to me, as I’m giving it to “The Krakow Kid,” a.k.a. Robert Kubica who seemed overshadowed by Button’s blast and the mighty scrum behind him, as the Pole held off both Ferrari’s, a McLaren, two Mercedes, the second Red Bull and the others, so good job Bob!
NOTE
This season I’m focusing upon what I’m referring to as the “Top 8;” McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari, which I expect both the Drivers and Constructors Titles to be won by these select eight participants, yet the Q3 Pole Shoot-out and Points both go to the Top 10 Competitors, so I’ll also provide any names of Drivers who make the cut that don’t belong to the top 8.
McLaren
Talk about your tale of two races, eh? As ‘JENSE seemingly came from nowhere after having played “BumperCarz,” before being the first to gamble and switch over to Slicks after the brief rain shower, then amazingly drove the next 52 laps on these tyres, in what was a great victory for the Briton... While Lewis Hamilton seemed to have a “Sophomorish” meltdown while slamming his team over the radio, as he’d simply worn out his Bridgestone rubber trying to chase down the Ferrari’s ahead of him, before Webber tried running over him...
No. 1) J. Button: Q) 4th; R) Winner
No. 2) L. Hamilton: Q) 11th; R) 6th
(Car No; Driver)
Name Q R
Button 1 1
Hamilton 1 1
(Head-to-Head Standings)
Mercedes
“Ro-Ro,” as I don’t seem to recall Nico’s race at all, although apparently he slipped past the dueling Webber – Hamilton Scrum and took the place ahead of them after their coming together, having previously pitted for new tyres to hopefully close the gap on the cars ahead of him. But Michael had a more eventful race having bloodied his nose at the start and having to play Ketsup the rest of the race, dueling with Alguersuari for a long time before ultimately grabbing the final point with his 10th place finish.
No. 3) M. Schumacher: Q) 7th; R) 10th
No. 4) N. Rosberg: Q) 6th; R) 5th
Name Q R
Schumacher 0 0
Rosberg 2 2
Red Bull
Whale I simply don’t understand what’s going on here; as ‘ZEBB has had the first two races by the scruff of the neck only to let them slip away due to mechanical gremlins! Claiming this time a front brake failure, while the local hero, “Homeboy” Webber had a mighty tussle with ‘JAGUAR before falling behind in the waning moments of the race... Yet Brembo was quick to issue a Press Release saying it was NOT a brake failure, to which the Team has subsequently acknowledged, whilst claiming to not fully understand what the exact cause was? Psst! We DON’T wanna tell our Opposition, Mates!
No. 5) S. Vettel: Q) Pole; R) Retired; Brakes/Spin (17th)
No. 6) M. Webber: Q) 2nd; R) 9th
Name Q R
Vettel 2 1
Webber 0 1
Ferrari
I only seem to recall a few fuzzy thoughts for the Scuderia Duo, most notably my happiness over Felipe finishing ahead of Fernando... As Massa apparently made a very good start from P5 to P2 on the first lap while Ferdi went to the rear after playing Wackem-O’ball with ‘JENSE ‘N Schuey... As Ferrari opted like Button and Kubica to stay out on worn rubber for extended running in order to garner points, as I think Massa held off Alonso in some “Criss-Crossing” manouvers? Yet Fredrico had my favourite radio call of the race, when his Engineer informed him that Hamilton was only 3.5 seconds behind (and closing) The Spaniard replied “I DON’T WANNA KNOW!”
No. 7) F. Massa: Q) 5th; R) 3rd
No. 8) F. Alonso: Q) 3rd; R) 4th
Name Q R
Massa 1 1
Alonso 1 1
2010 NewBoyz
The biggest noise made by this trio has to be Virgin’s fuel tank gaff, as I’m still quite baffled how Nick Wirth could have gotten the tank’s volume parameters so wrong, as suggestions claim that they’re either 12, 13, 15 or 20 liters shy of finishing a full race distance at some venues, while the other three “Cossie” (Cosworth) runners seem to have all gotten their sums correct!
Lotus
Once again “KOVY” (Heikki Kovalainen) did a Yeoman’s job of finishing his second race in a row for the upstart Team and once again was the highest placed finisher amongst the Trio le NewBoyz, while The Scrumptious ‘Juan’s *Jarno Trulli) day wasn’t exactly what he or the team ordered, when a Hydraulic Power pack failure on the Grid prior to the lights going Green caused his premature retirement.
No. 18) J. Trulli: Q) 20th; R) Retired; Hydraulics (24th)
No. 19) H. Kovalainen: Q) 19th; R) 13th (-2 laps)
Name Q R
Trulli 1 0
Kovalainen 1 2
Hispania Racing
What a difference a Fortnight makes, as Karun Chandhok who literally had a total of 5-laps in Bahrain, pleasantly surprised everyone by finishing his very first Grand Prix, and to boot, just one place behind Lotus’s KOVY in P14. Unfortunately Bruno Senna’s day didn’t fare anywhere’s as well, as the Brazilian had a Hydraulics’ failure, a la the second Lotus of Trulli, albeit a different sort of hydraulics malady.
No. 20) R-Karun Chandhok: Q) 24th; R) 14th; (-5 laps)
No. 21) R-Bruno Senna: Q) 23rd; R) Retired; Hydraulics (20th)
Name Q R
Chandhok 0 1
Senna 2 1
Virgin Racing
Due to the Virgin’s Fuel Tank capacity caper... Both cars started from Pit lane upon having finished internal modifications late, regarding setting the cars back to an earlier fuel saving consumption mode, along with requiring the Driver’s to utilize a very conservative strategy... Di Grassi was first to retire with an Hydraulics failure, thought to be an internal leak, while Glock’s suspension failure was attributed to some rear bracket failing, which allowed the rear suspension’s shims to dislodge... Hmm? You’d think Formula 1 chassis would be a little “HigherTech” wouldn’t Y’all? As Glock’s failure makes me think of Professor Matchett hammering Renault over Rookie Vitaly Petrov’s front suspension shim failure in Bahrain... Oh Whale! At least Timo admitted to enjoying his dustup with DER TERMINATOR (Schumacher) ‘N Chandhok before his retirement!
No. 24) T. Glock: Q) 21st; R) Retired; Suspension (15th)
No. 25) R-Lucas di Grassi: Q) 22nd; R) Retired; Hydraulics (16th)
Name Q R
Glock 2 2
Di Grassi 0 0
KEY
Q) = Qualifying;; R) = Race
