Brawn GP Creates History!

In what could be the most historic moment in Formula One, for the first time since inception of the FIA World Championships, a team has made its debut and managed to get the first two places in the race.

The last time a team won on debut was when Wolf Racing won in Argentina way back in the 70’s. Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello are two of the most experienced drivers in the line-up and Button for the first time has a car to prove his credentials looks like an early favourite for the 2009 Driver’s World Championships.

If Brawn continues to perform the same way, well the constructor’s title will be well decided by mid-season. 

Traditionally Australian GP throws up a few surprises as reliability issues hits teams and usually you do expect some lower-mid rung teams to score but this year there could be a pattern which is coming in and this could be anyone’s season with Brawn GP leading the way.

The big guns of F1, Ferrari, McLaren, Renault and BMW have a lot of catching up to do as well without some luck both Alonso and Hamilton would not have scored and among the 4 teams only Ferrari and BMW seem to have it in them to challenge for podium during the next few races. 

I did pick Sebastian Vettel as the dark horse for the championship this season and I was not wrong as he proved that he has everything in him to become a World Champion and he was well on his way for a second place finish till Kubica’s over ambitious move resulted in him taking Vettel and himself out of race contention. If Vettel continues to race this way, well he sure has an outside chance but he does require more support from the car to catch up with Brawn. 

Williams were just unlucky not to have Rosberg on the podium but this could be the season where they may not win the title but could see a revival of sorts and have a driver on the podium on a regular basis and may even get lucky by winning a race or so.

Nakajima is all set to become the next Sato and I hope his performance in Australia is a one off thing as Williams needs both their drivers to score consistently. Toyota after stating from the back after the issues during qualifying where their back wing was deemed illegal will be happy to see Trulli finish 3rd and Glock finish 5th. 

There are a few things which do not seem to change from last season, though it is very early to comment on them, but still Kimi once again is all set to make the same mistakes as he did last year while Massa struggles to perform when he does not start from pole.

I still don’t know why Renault signed back Nelson Piquet but if he does not pull something special during the next few races, well at the start of the European races Alonso will have a new partner.

Force India’s renewed battle with STR at the bottom of the grid once again resulted in STR doing better than Force India and though they were lucky in scoring points, Sébastien Buemi the 19 year old rookie did went wheel to wheel with some experience drivers and well could provide some moments during the course of the season. 

Australian GP result - 58 laps 

1. Button Brawn  
2. Barrichello Brawn +0.8s
3. Trulli Toyota +1.6s
4. Hamilton McLaren +2.9s
5. Glock Toyota +4.4s
6. Alonso Renault +4.8s
7. Rosberg Williams +5.7s
8. Buemi Toro Rosso +6.0s
9. Bourdais Toro Rosso +6.2s
10. Sutil Force India +6.3s
11. Heidfeld BMW +7.0s
12. Fisichella Force India +7.3s
13. Webber Red Bull +1 Lap
14. Vettel Red Bull +2 Laps
15. Kubica BMW +3 Laps
16. Raikkonen Ferrari +3 Laps
R. Massa Ferrari +13 Laps
R. Piquet Renault +34 Laps
R. Nakajima Williams +41 Laps
R. Kovalainen McLaren +58 Laps

Fastest Lap - Nico Rosberg - 1m27.706s