Australian Grand Prix Review

And yet, as is the way in modern-day F1, a pall of doubt and controversy hung over the win, with the diffuser-gate time-bomb having finally exploded as it had been threatening to do all off-season. Just why the mess could not have been resolved before the season proper is beyond comprehension. Perhaps it is because, quite simply, there is no glaring illegality in the Brawn, Williams and Toyota diffuser designs. The FIA had approved them during the winter, and the stewards in Melbourne had cleared them as well.

The dispute has all the hallmarks of Renault, Ferrari and BMW, amongst F1's grandee manufacturers, crying foul because they didn't come up with such an ingenious design themselves. McLaren and Force India have not protested, probably because Mercedes is Brawn's engine supplier. The Red Bull teams are in a different and more understandable position, in that Adrian Newey's design, which without a trick diffuser is clearly quick, cannot incorporate a different diffuser without redoing the entire rear end.

So much for FOTA unity. Bernie and Max must be laughing. Let's hope the Court of Appeal sticks with the current decision, so that we don't have results being changed weeks after the event, and so that ingenuity and rule-maximisation are rewarded. With all the talk about minimising costs and budget caps, F1 has already taken a few steps down the spec-formula path. It is important that innovation, especially from teams not normally at the front, is not scuppered at the behest of jealous teams not used to losing.

KERS was something of a damp squib, partly because the seven cars running it - the Ferraris, McLarens and Renaults, and Nick Heidfeld's BMW - were either struggling anyway or had their races compromised. While there was some evidence to suggest that the power boost is useful both as a defensive and an offensive mechanism, once again Albert Park was not the best place to evaluate the technology, and the fact that only two KERS cars made Q3 didn't help dispel the thought that it is just a weighty white elephant.

That suggestion is further supported by the fact that Brawn have spent absolutely nothing on KERS, and yet the BGP001s were the class of the field in terms of consistency. Both Button and Barrichello were competitive in practice while Williams took the spotlight, but Ross Brawn was working towards the key moments of the weekend. When they locked out the front row with 10kg more fuel than anyone else in Q3, the Brawn's superiority was clear to see.

Button was peerless in Q3 and in the race, proving that he had not forgotten how to drive despite a most mediocre 2008, and that he had been reenergised by a front-running car. He thoroughly deserved the victory; he made a clean start, maintained a healthy gap to the rest of the field throughout the race, and remained smooth and composed during the last stint on the super-softs to ensure that his pace did not drop off as quickly as others did.

His 2nd place at the end was somewhat fortuitous, but Rubens is headstrong enough to know that he can match and beat Button, and he will get his opportunities this year. All in all though, it was a remarkable weekend for Brawn GP, with Sir Richard Branson bringing Virgin on board during the course of the meeting as well, purportedly to spread an environmental message! How red-faced must Honda's executives be, for folding when they had a royal flush in their hands? 'Reject of the Race', then, to Honda's fatcats.

As it turned out, Button's main rival for most of the race was Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull. He was simply stunning in qualifying and race trim, in a standard-diffuser car. He held onto Jenson and pressurised him all race, and what is already clear is that the German knows how to perform when it counts. Contrast Mark Webber, whose race was destroyed by being hit by Barrichello at the first corner. But he was only in that position because, having been fast in practice and Q1 and Q2, he put in a scruffy final Q3 lap.

First blood to Vettel in this intra-team contest, and it will stay that way unless Mark finds a way to maximise the key moments. Mind you, Vettel is by no means perfect, as his race-ending collision with Robert Kubica showed. It was, in truth, a 50-50 racing incident. Kubica had every right to hang around the outside of turn 3 as that would have given him the inside line into turn 4, but he pinched the Red Bull and should have given Vettel more room. Vettel should have backed off, but understeered into the BMW.

REJECT OF THE RACE
The Honda Fat Cat Executives
Folded when they had a Royal Flush in their hands

Kubica had driven out of his skin to be where he was, challenging for 2nd and threatening Button's victory in the dying laps. Overall, BMW Sauber struggled for pace and in reality were duelling with Ferrari as the fifth or sixth best team in terms of raw speed. But Robert was stunning in Q3 and, like the Ferraris, he got his super-soft stint out of the way early in the race and was aided by the mid-race safety car, but unlike the red machines he was able to maintain his pace all race.

The Pole's performance meant that he carried his dominance over Heidfeld from last season into the start of this year. The German missed out on Q3 and was caught up in the first corner melee, after which his damaged car was good for nothing more than an extended test session. Nick needs to start matching and beating Kubica, especially in qualifying, to give some momentum to his 2009 campaign, and to deflect those questions about his future in the team.

Toyota had a topsy turvy weekend by anyone's standards. Both Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli were evenly matched and obviously fast throughout practice, though surprisingly it was Glock who shaded the renowned one-lap master in qualifying, after Trulli had one of his poorer and more erratic qualifying sessions. Then the team were sent to the back of the grid for a flexible rear wing and, having started from the pits, wasted no time in scything through the field.

Of course that was originally 3rd and 5th across the line, and for a few days afterwards it was just Glock in 4th with Trulli having been penalised 25 seconds for overtaking Hamilton behind the final safety car. As we now know, Hamilton had passed the Toyota after Trulli had speared wide at turn 15 under the full-course yellow, only to have been instructed - rightly or wrongly - by McLaren to let Trulli overtake him and redress the situation. The fact that Hamilton didn't admit that to the stewards post-race has now seen Lewis disqualified.

Whether Hamilton should have slowed to give Trulli the place back is not really the point. Arguably, he needn't have done so, as he had overtaken Jarno legitimately because the Toyota had gone off the track. But in the face of having told some members of the press that the team had instructed him to allow Trulli back past, Norbert Haug admitting likewise in the team's press release, and the irrefutable radio evidence, the decision by Hamilton and sporting director Dave Ryan to lie to the stewards was foolish.

Ryan has turned out to be the fall-guy. He was sent home after Friday at Sepang and appears to have been suspended if not sacked by McLaren. Hamilton has held a special press conference to lay the blame entirely at Ryan's door - a quite bizarre display. Surely, as the reigning World Champion, he should be manly enough to take some of the blame instead of sounding like he can't even decide whether or not he should breathe without team management giving him some directions.

What all this has done is to overshadow what had been quite a marvellous drive on Sunday by the Englishman. The McLaren really is as bad as pre-season testing had suggested. It has good balance but simply no grip. Going by practice form, they looked like prime candidates for the Q1 cull, only for both to survive, just. Heikki Kovalainen was then slowest of all in Q2 after Hamilton didn't even make it out onto the track with a gearbox problem. Replacing the gearbox only dropped Hamilton to the tail of the field.

By arguably triggering the first corner incident by hitting Barrichello who in turn hit Webber who tapped Heidfeld, Kovalainen missed his chance to assert himself over Hamilton. Heikki had been the more impressive of the two McLaren drivers throughout practice, and he needs to carry that form into Malaysia. Otherwise, Lewis can look back on what had been a drive of champion quality, from 18th on the grid to 4th at the line in a very average car - persistent, aggressive, with several good passes, and mistake-free.

If it was a case of missed opportunities for Kovalainen and missed points for Hamilton, then much the same could also be said for Williams. Rosberg quite astoundingly topped all three free practice sessions, but he could not reproduce that kind of form when it came to crunch in qualifying. That was followed by a long first stop in the race, a near tangle with Nelsinho Piquet at the restart as he struggled to get heat into his tyres, and a second stint spent mostly behind Buemi.

Along with Toyota, the other team that gained tremendously out of the late-race dramas was Toro Rosso, which currently see both cars in the points, Buemi emulating team-mate Sebastien Bourdais with 7th on debut. If the Williams, Toyotas and Brawns are disqualified after the diffuser-gate appeal, they will both be promoted to the podium. That will prove to be a stunning result for Buemi, who spent the early going on Friday looking like the driver who did not deserve his place in F1 that many said he was.

By Saturday morning the Swiss driver had matched Bourdais, and in Q1 he was only 0.05s away from knocking Hamilton out. He then held his own in the race, did not make any mistakes, frustrated Rosberg for most of the middle stint, and at one stage was up as high as 4th. It was a most solid and steady debut. He has proven that he can keep a car on the road, but finding consistent speed at tougher tracks will be his next challenge if he is to silence the doubters.

Bourdais, however, was desperately disappointing. Apart from moaning about the sun in his eyes as if it wasn't affecting anyone else, this was the weekend when he really had to stamp his authority as Toro Rosso's new team leader who could pick up from where Vettel left off. It was not the weekend for him to be outpaced and outraced by his rookie team-mate. His position was so compromised that he did two short stints at the start before a final stint of 36 laps. Quite simply, he must beat Buemi in Malaysia.

In truth, Alonso lacked verve for much of the weekend. He was locked in an entertaining battle with Glock for most of Sunday afternoon before eventually being overtaken by the Toyota, but really he scored his points by default. The suggestion that Renault are starting this season in much the same position as they started 2007 and 2008 - off the pace and with work to do - is already coming true. It will be interesting to see how Alonso channels his inevitable frustration - into the gravel, or into on-track brilliance.

Frustration is also something that Force India will have felt. Especially in Adrian Sutil who was 9th in both Friday free practice sessions, the VJM02 looked surprisingly competitive and a real contender to make it out of Q1. But in the end both Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella had their customary early shower in qualifying, and Fisi blotted his copybook in the race as well by losing his front wing on the first lap and missing his pit bay during his second stop.

Which just leaves the only team that got neither car to the chequered flag, and that of course was Ferrari. If they thought Melbourne 2008 was bad enough, again with a double-DNF although Raikkonen was classified in the points, then this year was worse, with zero on the board and a car which is not quite on the pace. The F60 had its moments in free practice and during segments of the race, but the team gave the impression of huffing and puffing to keep up with Brawn, Toyota, Williams and Red Bull.

Eventually, they were pushed to breaking point, with Massa experiencing suspension failure and Raikkonen hitting the wall and sustaining differential damage. Reliability problems, Kimi seemingly starting the year as seemingly as nonchalantly as he spent most of 2008, and a car that needs to be pushed to the limits to simply keep up - Melbourne did not bode well for the rest of the year. Like for McLaren and Renault, this could turn out to be a year that really tests Ferrari's mettle.