Australian Grand Prix – Race
We watched practice and qualifying on the PVR but for the race, it’s got to be live! 
As always, I’ll put my notes behind a “cut”, so click on “more” to read the rest of this post.
The provisional grid, as of the end of qualifying, is: KR, FA, NH, LH, RK, GF, MW, JT, RS, TS, AD, NR, HK, JB, AW, FM*, RB, SS, DC, VL, AS, CA.
*Massa has been relegated to P22 after an engine change.
As I expected, “Spyker team chief Colin Kolles says they will go to arbitration over the legality of cars used by rival teams Super Aguri and Toro Rosso.” [source: BBC]
BBC’s blow-by-blow commentary is obviously desperate for something to say before the race starts:
Leo Sayer is also spotted in the pit-lane, testament to the glamour and excitement of the day.
The official FIA telemetry shows Albers is starting from the pit lane.
Track 39°C; air 21°C; wind 1.7m/s; humidity 52%
Formation lap:
Raikkonen leads the field away
Lots of smoke from Trulli’s Toyota
A fairly slow lap but everyone (bar Albers) is formed up…
01/58: Yellow flags on the grid for AD?
LH up to P3 through Turn 1
02: KR, NH, LH, FA, RK, GF, MW, RS
CA, who started from the pits, has already passed AD & AS – I think they colided on lap 1
03: KR fastest lap 1:28.580
FM eases past AW for P16
04: KR f/lap 1:28.185
RB asking the team to ask (tell?) JB to let him pass for P13
05: KR f/lap 1:27.502; leads NH by 2.5s
FM tries to take P15 from DC but can’t make it stick
06: KR 1:27.199
Looks like RB kissed the wall with both right wheels but continues OK
08: KR 1:27.075
Meanwhile CA (in P20) posts his personal f/lap, almost 5secs slower than KR
FM finally passes DC for P15
HL runs wide but stays ahead of teammate FA
09: FM now has RB in his sights, but RB is hoping the team will ask JB to give him P13
10/58: KR’s lead now 6.9s over NH, who is 2.2s ahead of LH
Top 10: KR, NH, LH, FA, RK, GF, MW, RS, JT, TS
11: KR 1:26.577
NH (P2) personal f/lap 1:27.743
FA (P4) personal f/lap 1:27.837
12: KR 1:26.208
CA is off through the gravel and in to the wall – that Spyker isn’t going any further; yellow flags out at Turn 3
13: KR’s lead now 10.0s
Closest battle is JB (P13), RB, FM and DC
14: FA has closed the gap to LH to 1.4s
15/58: NH pits from P2; rejoins behind MW for P7
RB passes JB for P13
17: FM just 0.2s off JB
FM passes JB easily for P14
18: KR’s lead over LH 15.1s
Ferrari pit crew getting ready – for KR?
19: KR didn’t pit … nor did FM
20/58: KR pits, giving the lead to newbie LH; 9.7s stop; hard tyres; rejoins in P4
RB pits from P13; rejoins in P19
21: GF pits from P5; 9.7s stop; squeezes JT as he rejoins in P8
22: RK pits from P3
23: FA pits from P2; hard tyres; 9.3s
MW pits too
24: LH pits from P1, handing the lead back to KR; hard tyres; 8.7s; rejoins still ahead of teammate FA
AS given a drive-through penalty for not yielding to LH
25/58: KR, LH, FA, RK, NH
RS and TS both pit
KR lead 11.7s over LH, who’s only 1.3s ahead of FA
26: AS given another penalty?
27: Top 6 have all pitted but at least a third of the field have yet to stop
28: HK, NR and JB all pit
29/58 (Half distance): DC pits
KR, LH, FA, RK, NH, GF, RS, NR; retirement: just CA
30: Drive-through penalty for JB for speeding in the pit lane 
31: Yellow flags for the parked Toro Rosso of SS
32: JB serves his penalty
AW (P12) the only one yet to pit
33: KR gesticulates at RB as he laps the Honda
34: AW finally pits
35/58: KR, LH, FA, RK, NH, GF, RS, NR
36: HK runs wide but recovers
37: RK is slowing
NR lunges past RS to take P7
38: KR laps teammate FM
RK pit from P6 and parks it straight in the garage
39: KR f/lap 1:26.172
NH pits from P4 – first of the 2nd stoppers; hard tyres; 8.4s
40/58: KR, LH, FA, GF, NH, RS, NR, HK; JB=P16
Retirements: CA, SS, RK
41: KR f/lap 1:25.929
RB pits
HK spins through the gravel in T1; recovers but he’s lost a place to FM
42: KR f/lap 1:25.235
43: KR pits; rejoins right on the tail of FA
MW spins just before the pit entrance – does a 360° turn and carries on into the pits
44: LH pits but a slow in because of TS dawdling; soft tyres for his final stint
45/58: FA, KR, LH, NH, GF, RS, FM, HK
46: FA pits from P1 – a better in and a quicker stop, so he’ll rejoin ahead of LH
RS pits from P11
47: VL & AD pit from P16 & 17
48: HK & JT pit
KR leads FA by 14.1s; FA leads LH by 3.7s
50/58: KR, FA, LH, NH, GF, FM, NR, RS; JB=17
DC has a lunge at AW – smacks into AW – DC off into the gravel with only 3 wheels on his Red Bull
On board shows DC missed AW’s head by inches!
AW manages to continue but how much damage did the Williams suffer?
52: AW only managed to reach the next corner before he parked the car
53: KR, FA, LH, NH, GF, FM, NR, RS; JB=15
Retirements: CA, SS, RK, DC, AW
54: Closest battle is FM just 0.4s off GF (P5)
FM only one yet to make a 2nd stop
55/58: ITV-F1 interview with DC – accepts he was too fast into the corner and no blame for AW
56: looking pretty settled at the front
57: FM still keeping GF honest but will he try to take him?
Pit-car for HK urging him to have a go at JT’s Toyota
58 (final lap): KR wins for Ferrari
FA takes P2
LH cruises in for P3
Provisional results:
- K.Raikkonen (Ferrari)
- F.Alonso (McLaren)
- L.Hamilton (McLaren)
- N.Heidfeld (BMW)
- G.Fisichella (Renault)
- F.Massa (Ferrari)
- N.Rosberg (Williams)
- R.Schumacher (Toyota)
- J.Trulli (Toyota)
- H.Kovalainen (Renault)
- R.Barrichello (Honda)
- T.Sato (Super Aguri)
- M.Webber (Red Bull)
- V.Liuzzi (Toro Rosso)
- J.Button (Honda)
- A.Davidson (Super Aguri)
- A.Sutil (Spyker)
- A.Wurz (Williams) – retired
- D.Coulthard (Red Bull) – retired
- R.Kubica (BMW) – retired
- S.Speed (Toro Rosso) – retired
- C.Albers (Spyker) – retired
Post-race interviews:
Kimi’s as exciting as ever ::yawn::
Nice that Lewis speaks clearly, unlike some of the people I knew in Stevenage
OK, it’s 1:00am and time for bed!
I’m watching it on Channel 10. They’re using their own commentators… including Murray Walker. YAY MURRAY!
Lucky you – Muddly Talker can make a dull race entertaining.
[...] case you’ve not seen the race or read my notes yet, I’ll put the rest of this behind a cut as usual. There don’t appear to have been [...]