Melbourne’2009
Qualifying
Is Ross Brawn a magician? Yes, indeed. Michael Schumacher knows it and now the world has got a glimpse of his brilliance. A few months back, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello were literally unemployed. They might have surely been into an existential dilemma. There was a big question mark on their F1 career. In came Brawn (the new owner of Brawn GP) and the Honda team got a new life. This was a destiny meeting for sure.
Well, when Felipe was asked who he would rate the foremost competitor of Ferrari this year, most of us would have expected he’d say McLaren Mercedes. But to everyone’s surprise he mentioned the name of the new kids on the block – Brawn GP. And his words may just come true as this car would start at the pole position this year at the Melbourne GP.
The presence of Schumacher in the Ferrari camp was heartening. However, they could not just match up with the speed of the Brawn car and finished 7th and 9th respectively. Kimi had to encounter a hydraulic problem in his car and wasn’t able to race at all for Q3. He said that they were fortunate as this problem occurred on a Saturday (qualifying) rather than Sunday (race day). What does Sunday have in store for them, is yet to be seen.
Race day-March 29’09
Well, some people expected this after the sensational performance in the Qualifiers. The race day was no less sensational. Jenson Button was the race leader from the start itself and eventually became the first driver to lead his car to the chequered flag on its debut. He was brilliant, skilful and sustained. His partner Barichello who lost on an advantage at the kick-off starting 2nd, got a fresh leash of life in the dying stages of the race and finished just behind Button. Sebastian Vettel of the Red Bull Renault did not give up after a horrifying practice session to finish 3rd.
It was a bad day for Ferrari. Unbelievable but true. Both Massa and Kimi struggled. Massa had to slow down due to a mechanical failure whereas Kimi struggled with the tyre wear, spun and was out of contention.
Hamilton on the other hand who faced a gear box problem in the qualifying session had to replace the gear box and had to start 18th on the grid. He however managed to finish 4th collecting important championship points and was promoted to 3rd after the stewards gave 25 seconds penalty to Jarno Trulli. Force India’s Adrian Sutil managed to finish 10th and his team mate Giancarlo Fisichella finished 14th. Sutil was going good and was 8th in contention till his second break.
The Formula One season which was dominated by only 2 teams last year is thrown wide open after the very first race. There are many other teams apart from Ferrari and McLaren who performed well today. Perhaps, the law of impermanence came into effect today. The magic word however for the Brawn GP team would be consistency. They would need to sustain this performance of today. The fans would keep their fingers crossed and expect some serious action from here on.
Is Ross Brawn a magician? Yes, indeed. Michael Schumacher knows it and now the world has got a glimpse of his brilliance. A few months back, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello were literally unemployed. They might have surely been into an existential dilemma. There was a big question mark on their F1 career. In came Brawn (the new owner of Brawn GP) and the Honda team got a new life. This was a destiny meeting for sure.
Well, when Felipe was asked who he would rate the foremost competitor of Ferrari this year, most of us would have expected he’d say McLaren Mercedes. But to everyone’s surprise he mentioned the name of the new kids on the block – Brawn GP. And his words may just come true as this car would start at the pole position this year at the Melbourne GP.
The presence of Schumacher in the Ferrari camp was heartening. However, they could not just match up with the speed of the Brawn car and finished 7th and 9th respectively. Kimi had to encounter a hydraulic problem in his car and wasn’t able to race at all for Q3. He said that they were fortunate as this problem occurred on a Saturday (qualifying) rather than Sunday (race day). What does Sunday have in store for them, is yet to be seen.
Race day-March 29’09
Well, some people expected this after the sensational performance in the Qualifiers. The race day was no less sensational. Jenson Button was the race leader from the start itself and eventually became the first driver to lead his car to the chequered flag on its debut. He was brilliant, skilful and sustained. His partner Barichello who lost on an advantage at the kick-off starting 2nd, got a fresh leash of life in the dying stages of the race and finished just behind Button. Sebastian Vettel of the Red Bull Renault did not give up after a horrifying practice session to finish 3rd.
It was a bad day for Ferrari. Unbelievable but true. Both Massa and Kimi struggled. Massa had to slow down due to a mechanical failure whereas Kimi struggled with the tyre wear, spun and was out of contention.
Hamilton on the other hand who faced a gear box problem in the qualifying session had to replace the gear box and had to start 18th on the grid. He however managed to finish 4th collecting important championship points and was promoted to 3rd after the stewards gave 25 seconds penalty to Jarno Trulli. Force India’s Adrian Sutil managed to finish 10th and his team mate Giancarlo Fisichella finished 14th. Sutil was going good and was 8th in contention till his second break.
The Formula One season which was dominated by only 2 teams last year is thrown wide open after the very first race. There are many other teams apart from Ferrari and McLaren who performed well today. Perhaps, the law of impermanence came into effect today. The magic word however for the Brawn GP team would be consistency. They would need to sustain this performance of today. The fans would keep their fingers crossed and expect some serious action from here on.
I am not sure whether Ross even dreamt of it before the qualifyings, but I definitely could not have imagined this.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, some guest at my place ensured I saw only the celebration part, but for a second I couldn't even recognise the guy on the podium.
Truly, Ross is a magician. . .
keep up the good work man...... my heart skipped a beat when I came to know I won't be watching the race. But i was sure I just have to visit this place. It was a great article.
ReplyDeletechequered flag,
vishnu