F1 Fanatics at Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix

Mark Young arranged a meet-up for F1 Fanatic readers in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix. Here’s who was there and what they had to say.

During the jam packed program of activities at the Australian Grand Prix the F1 Fanatics got together to chew the fat, say G’day and discuss the best Formula 1 website on the web!

In the preceding weeks I had put out a number of messages on the different discussion topics suggesting a Saturday afternoon meeting for the F1 Fanatics at the General Admission area at the back of the circuit, near the corner where Lewis Hamilton performed his sizzling overtake on the unsuspecting Nico Rosberg.

This elicited a few replies but I was sure there were more of out there, in fact I was pretty sure they would be sitting all round me, so just before Practice 3 I ran back and forth in front of the Clark Stand (near corner 9) and sure enough, met up with a few more.

Finally, at 4pm, an hour before qualifying, I taped my sign onto the fence under the big TV and was delighted to meet a number of the Australian F1 Fanatics!

I had the pleasure of meeting Pink Peril, The Pope, Yorricksfriend, GB2009 plus his Dad and James plus his sweetheart (James I’m really sorry but I can’t for the life of me remember what your online name is!).

We were all very pleased with the turnout and had a great half hour chatting about all things F1. The summary is as follows:

1. It is BRILLIANT to make it to a Grand Prix,
2. Gee that Lewis Hamilton was a bit of a goose to get caught by the Police doing a burnout,
3. The four grandstand package for Albert Park is a great idea. Different seat for each of the four days,
4. The Pope has clearly come the furthest to get here, travelling all the way from England, and we are all envious that Pink Peril works in an office that overlooks the track.
5. If Webber wins the place is going to erupt, and finally:
6. Without question, F1 Fanatic is the best place on the web for Formula 1!

We headed back to our seats to get ready for qualifying and then for a simply sensational race the next day. Although as a man wearing a ‘myearthdreams’ polo shirt and ‘on the button’ hat, I probably enjoyed it more then the thousands of rather depressed looking Red Bulls fans come Sunday night.

Thanks to the F1 Fanatics who came over to say G’day, it was great to meet you all and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

In the picture above – James and Partner, The Pope, GB2009, Terry Fabulous, Pink Peril, YorricksFriend. Picture credit to GB2009′s Dad!

Many thanks to Mark for arranging the meet-up and telling us all about it! If you want to find other F1 Fanatic readers heading to races this year check out the links at the bottom of the page.

Geoff Richards – aka The_Pope – sent these pictures from Friday practice. The shot of the Mark Webber fan cheering on his hero is especially cool. Thanks Geoff!

Going to an F1 race in 2010? Swap notes with other fans who are going below:

• 2010 Chinese Grand Prix discussion
• 2010 Spanish Grand Prix discussion
• 2010 Monaco Grand Prix discussion
• 2010 Turkish Grand Prix discussion
• 2010 Canadian Grand Prix discussion
• 2010 European Grand Prix discussion
• 2010 British Grand Prix discussion
• 2010 German Grand Prix discussion
• 2010 Hungarian Grand Prix discussion
• 2010 Belgian Grand Prix discussion
• 2010 Italian Grand Prix discussion
• 2010 Singapore Grand Prix discussion
• 2010 Japanese Grand Prix discussion
• 2010 Korean Grand Prix discussion
• 2010 Brazilian Grand Prix discussion
• 2010 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix discussion

Massa and Webber escape the turn one mayhem at Melbourne

Find all the F1 Fanatic Australian Grand Prix coverage in one place below – from Friday practice to the post-race review.

Race

Australian Grand Prix in pictures

Button wins thrilling Australian GP – Australian Grand Prix report.

Australian Grand Prix in pictures – Photos from an action-packed Australian Grand Prix.

Hamilton fumes after strategy mistake – McLaren’s fateful decision to bring Lewis Hamilton in for a second pit stop dropped him from third to sixth.

Alonso fourth, Schumacher tenth in their battle from the back in Melbourne – Two of F1′s former champions found themselves at the back of the field and had to fight their way back to the front.

Unreliability costs Vettel another win – More woe for Red Bull.

Australian GP team-by-team analysis – Compare how each teams’ drivers got on and see who did the best.

Australian Grand Prix stats and facts – While Jenson Button scored his first win for McLaren, Sebastian Vettel has led more laps this year than every other driver put together but is yet to win a race.

Melbourne was a blast but F1′s aero problem remains (Australian GP analysis) – A wet track at Melbourne was the catalyst for a thrilling race.

Australian Grand Prix fastest laps – Mark Webber became the first Australian to set the fastest lap in his home Grand Prix.

Australian Grand Prix result – Full classification from Melbourne.

F1 championship points after Australia – Fernando Alonso remains in the lead with 37 points while Ferrari lead the constructors’ championship after two rounds.

Rate the race: Australia – Over 4,000 people have rated the Australian Grand Prix so far – add your verdict here.

Qualifying

Vettel beats Webber to Melbourne pole (Australian Grand Prix qualifying) – The home favourite missed out on pole position by one tenth of a second to his team mate.

A bad weekend gets worse for Hamilton – After his incident with the police and failing to reach the top ten in qualifying it was looking like a tough weekend for Hamilton – and that was before we knew what would happen on race day.

Australian Grand Prix qualifying in pictures – Photos from a hectic session where many drivers had problems with traffic.

Australian Grand Prix pre-race analysis – Vettel was in a strong position heading into the race.

2010 Australian Grand Prix grid – How the cars lined up for the Australian Grand Prix.

Practice

Webber fastest at home in final practice – Red Bull showed their pace ahead of qualifying.

Australian Grand Prix practice in pictures – Photos from Friday at Melbourne.

Australian GP practice two analysis – The lap times from FP2.

McLaren on top after wet second practice – Rain hit practice two at Melbourne.

Australian GP practice one analysis – The lap times from FP1.

Kubica quickest in disrupted first practice – Kobayashi causes two red flags.

Drivers on duty in Melbourne (Pictures) – Photos from the pre-race preparations.

2010 Australian Grand Prix – The F1 Fanatic unofficial race programme – Guide to the Grand Prix

Live blogs

How we saw the action as it happened.

Australian Grand Prix live blog

Australian Grand Prix qualifying live blog

Australian Grand Prix practice 3 live blog

Australian Grand Prix practice 2 live blog

Australian Grand Prix practice 1 live blog

How can we improve our coverage?

What would you like to see more of in our Grand Prix coverage? How can we make it better? Have your say in the comments.

Image (C) Ferrari spa

Alonso couldn't find a way past Massa

Fernando Alonso comfortably out-qualified Felipe Massa on Saturday but never looked likely to beat his team mate on race day.

And while Vitantonio Liuzzi scored point for Force India for the second race in a row, Adrian Sutil seems to have better pace so far.

Take a closer look at how each of the team mates compared in the Australian Grand Prix.

Compare the performances of the drivers in each team. You can get a more detailed breakdown of their qualifying and race statistics including a graph of their lap times by following the ‘Compare…’ links below.

McLaren

Jenson Button

At first Button thought his early switch to slicks had been a mistake. It turned out to be the decision that put him in a position to win the race. On lap eight he was over two seconds faster than any other car on track and he was 4.3s faster on lap nine.

It was a necessary move to pit for slicks. I was struggling for grip on the inters, and the rears were destroying themselves very quickly, so we figured it must be time for dries. As I drove down the pitlane, I could see it was soaking wet and I feared it was a massive mistake on my part. When I left the pits, I went off the circuit and just thought, ‘Oh no!’
Jenson Button

Compare Jenson Button’s form against his team mate in 2010

Lewis Hamilton

Much has already been written about McLaren’s decision to bring Lewis Hamilton in for a second pit stop which almost certainly cost him a podium finish.

Although the gamble to bring him in didn’t pay off it did look as though he’d finally found a way past Fernando Alonso when Webber took the McLaren driver out with two laps to go.

Hamilton had made life difficult for himself by failing to reach Q3 on Saturday – he was over six tenths of a second slower than Button in Q2. And he lost precious time immediately after his second stop by running off the track, without which he could have attacked Alonso sooner and with fresher tyres.

Despite all that, he’s right to be proud of a performance which featured several well-judged passes on other front-runners:

This was probably one of the drives of my life.
Lewis Hamilton

Compare Lewis Hamilton’s form against his team mate in 2010

Mercedes

Michael Schumacher

Much closer to Nico Rosberg in qualifying than he had been in Bahrain. But made surprisingly little progress after falling down the field early on after being hit at the first corner.

Read more: Alonso fourth, Schumacher tenth in their battle from the back in Melbourne

Compare Michael Schumacher’s form against his team mate in 2010

Nico Rosberg

A solid run to fifth, much like his racat Bahrain. But getting passed around the outside of turn 11 by Hamilton must have hurt his pride. Kept his nose clean, though, and was the highest-placed two-stopper in the race.

I had a bad start in the wet and after that we lacked pace and I struggled with the option tyre. The rear degradation was pretty bad so we decided to go for a second stop and get some fresh tyres to try to attack the group ahead. Even with the tyre advantage, it would have been difficult to pass once we caught up and therefore it was good to make up a couple of places when Mark and Lewis had an incident, so I’m pleased with that.
Nico Rosberg

Compare Nico Rosberg’s form against his team mate in 2010

Red Bull

Sebastian Vettel

He took pole position and led comfortably until a wheel problem threw him into a high-speed slide at turn 13. You couldn’t have asked much more of him, though it was odd he waited a lap longer than everybody else to change to slick tyres.

I felt that something was wrong one lap earlier than I went off. I had some sparks coming up from the front left wheel; we didn’t know what it was and so wanted to pit. Then, a couple of corners before, I had huge vibrations building up and as soon as I touched the brakes, I had some sort of failure going in to Turn 13 and ended up in the gravel. There was nothing I could have done, I lost the car and that was it. It’s a shame as I think we had the race in total control at every stage, even though the conditions were difficult. But to win you have to finish. It breaks my balls not to get the win, but there’s still a long way to go in this championship.
Sebastian Vettel

Compare Sebastian Vettel’s form against his team mate in 2010

Mark Webber

His race started promisingly. Despite losing a position to Felipe Massa at the start he soon passed the Ferrari driver and caught his team mate.

But it started to go wrong when he delayed his switch to slick tyres until lap ten. He then went off, letting Fernando Alonso past, and ran wide at turn 13 as well losing a position to Hamilton.

Webber was another driver who took an extra pit stop later in the race. This allowed him to jump past Rosberg, who also pitted, but left him behind the Ferraris.

He was on course for at least sixth place when he ran into Hamilton, earning an official reprimand from the stewards.

Leaving the pits I couldn’t get second gear and went wide. I knew I had to make the moves on track. We then decided to pit which worked out okay. At the end of the race we caught the leading guys, but then we had the incident. I apologise to Lewis about that. I lost all down-force in the front of the car when I got close to them, the car lifted and I slid into the back of him.
Mark Webber

Compare Mark Webber’s form against his team mate in 2010

Ferrari

Felipe Massa

Alonso out-qualified Massa by over seven-tenths of a second – the biggest gap between any pair of team mates apart from the Renaults.

Despite that Massa was able to keep Alonso behind for much of the race. However he wasn’t able to do anything about Robert Kubica.

I was able to close on Kubica but I never had a real chance of passing him, while behind me Fernando got very close on more than one occasion, making the most of a few errors.
Felipe Massa

Compare Felipe Massa’s form against his team mate in 2010

Fernando Alonso

Having comfortably beaten his team mate in qualifying Alonso collided with Button at the first corner, falling to the back of the field. It was a strange incident which made you wonder if Alonso couldn’t see Button in his mirrors, or thought he could intimidate him into backing down.

In his recovery drive he picked off the new cars then passed Pedro de la Rosa and Rubens Barrichello.

Although he’d been much quicker than Massa on Saturday he couldn’t find a way past in the race, but acknowledged he’d been keen not to crash into his team mate. He defended his position from Hamilton very carefully at the end of the race – though without Webber’s intervention it looks like Hamilton was poised to get by after Alonso locked up at turn 13.

When I found myself behind Felipe, maybe I could have gone a bit quicker, but we know it’s very hard to pass in Formula 1 and between team-mates, one should not take any unnecessary risks. If we had managed to get past Kubica, then it might have been a different story, but it wasn’t possible, apart from the fact I also had to defend my position against Hamilton and Webber, who were on fresher tyres than us.
Fernando Alonso

Read more: Alonso fourth, Schumacher tenth in their battle from the back in Melbourne

Compare Fernando Alonso’s form against his team mate in 2010

Williams

Rubens Barrichello

Barrichello also lost places with an extra second pit stop. Although he recovered the place lost to de la Rosa he wasn’t able to recover the position lost to Vitantonio Liuzzi.

It was a good race, but we should have finished in seventh really. We took the chance to change tyres when we did and go for it. I thought everyone else would also come in, which is why I went for that route.
Rubens Barrichello

Compare Rubens Barrichello’s form against his team mate in 2010

Nico Hülkenberg

Taken out of the race by Kamui Kobayashi on lap one. Hülkenberg was very enthusiastic about the Melbourne circuit which he hadn’t raced at before this weekend.

Compare Nico Hülkenberg’s form against his team mate in 2010

Renault

Robert Kubica

Steered clear of the lap one mayhem to take fourth, and gained another place during the pit stops to run third. Vettel’s retirement put him second.

Kubica lapped consistently in his long stint on soft tyres and neither Hamilton nor Massa were able to pass him.

This was a classic example of a driver getting the most out of inferior equipment and coming home ahead of several better-equipped drivers who should have been in front of him.

I managed to jump Massa in the pits and I came out ahead of Button, but it was my first lap on slicks so I could not hold him off. I thought I would pit again later in the race, but the team said we didn’t need to if I could look after the tyres until the end of the race. I tried to take care of them as much as I could, which wasn’t easy because I had Hamilton behind me and then Massa, but in the end my tyres lasted and we managed to get this great result.
Robert Kubica

Compare Robert Kubica’s form against his team mate in 2010

Vitaly Petrov

It was Petrov’s turn to fall into the Q1 trap, being eliminated along with the cars from the three new teams.

But as in Bahrain he stayed out of trouble at the start and picked up a lot of places. That was all for nothing when he spun off shortly after swapping his intermediates for slicks, while the track was still damp.

We made a change to slick tyres at the same time as most of the field, but when I was on the slicks I got caught out in the braking zone for turn three and got stuck in the gravel.
Vitaly Petrov

Compare Vitaly Petrov’s form against his team mate in 2010

Force India

Adrian Sutil

Comfortably out-qualified his team mate but retired early on with engine failure.

Compare Adrian Sutil’s form against his team mate in 2010

Vitantonio Liuzzi

Scored points for the second week in a row but the signs are Sutil has better pace.

Compare Vitantonio Liuzzi’s form against his team mate in 2010

Toro Rosso

Sebastien Buemi

Taken out of the race on lap one by Kamui Kobayashi.

Compare Sebastien Buemi’s form against his team mate in 2010

Jaime Alguersuari

Did a remarkable job keeping Michael Schumacher behind but finally cracked a few laps from home. If it hadn’t been for that he’d have scored his first ever point.

I think on the one hand I’m quite happy as I had a long fight with Michael (Schumacher) which was nice. I was under a lot of pressure, but I was able to keep him behind me for many laps until I made a small mistake at Turn 13 with a few laps to go and he managed to pass me.
Jaime Alguersuari

Compare Jaime Alguersuari’s form against his team mate in 2010

Lotus

Jarno Trulli

Did not start the race after a hydraulic power pack failed on the grid and the team were unable to replace it in time.

Compare Jarno Trulli’s form against his team mate in 2010

Heikki Kovalainen

Led the Virgins before they dropped out and brought the car home for the second race in a row, two laps down.

Compare Heikki Kovalainen’s form against his team mate in 2010

HRT

Karun Chandhok

Gave the HRT F110 its first race finish, five laps down.

Compare Karun Chandhok’s form against his team mate in 2010

Bruno Senna

Covered four laps before retiring with a hydraulic problem.

Compare Bruno Senna’s form against his team mate in 2010

Sauber

Pedro de la Rosa

The Sauber’s kindness to its tyres had been talked up by some pre-season but its performance at Melbourne suggested this claim was wide of the mark. De la Rosa dropped out of the points two laps from home as tyre wear became a serious problem. Like the top four finishers, he made only one stop.

We underestimated the tyre degradation. In the end I really had no rear tyres left. For the last 15 laps it was just a question of how to keep the car on the track. I was absolutely helpless when Michael and Jaime came in the end to overtake me.
Pedro de la Rosa

Compare Pedro de la Rosa’s form against his team mate in 2010

Kamui Kobayashi

Suffered a huge crash on the first lap when his front wing came off and lodged beneath his front tyres. He ricocheted off the turn six barrier and ploughed into Buemi and Hülkenberg, eliminating both.

He believes the wing failed of its own accord but it was his third such failure during the weekend. The first occurred when he hit a cone, the second appeared to fail of its own accord. FIA technical delegate Jo Bauer inspected the car during practice.

It looks as if I touched a kerb or another car in turn three. Everything was very close and I don’t really remember anything major, but on the data it looks like there was something. I had no worries about the front wing, but a few corners later it went off and got stuck under the car. At first I had no idea what had happened. I had no control any more.
Kamui Kobayashi

Compare Kamui Kobayashi’s form against his team mate in 2010

Virgin

Timo Glock

Made it as far as a pit stop this time, but didn’t get to the end of the race:

It was a real shame that we had a problem just 15 laps from the end of the race when I started to feel that there was something wrong with the way the car was feeling. I came in and we found a problem which we now know to be a camber shim having worked loose, and this was causing the suspension to move around on the left rear. Had we not had the suspension issue I think we would have been looking good for our first chequered flag.
Timo Glock

Compare Timo Glock’s form against his team mate in 2010

Lucas di Grassi

Stopped with a hydraulic problem.

Compare Lucas di Grassi’s form against his team mate in 2010

Qualifying

This table compares the best lap times achieved by each teams’ drivers in the latest stage of qualifying both their drivers reached.

Race – fastest laps

NB. Drivers in italics were not classified finishers (did not complete 90% of the race distance or more)

Race – average laps

NB. Drivers in italics were not classified finishers (did not complete 90% of the race distance or more)

Over to you

What’s your take on how the team mates compared in Melbourne? Who impressed and who disappointed? Have your say in the comments.

2010 Australian Grand Prix

• 2010 Australian Grand Prix - the complete F1 Fanatic review
• Australian GP team-by-team analysis
• Australian Grand Prix stats and facts
• Melbourne was a blast but F1's aero problem remains (Australian GP analysis)
• Alonso fourth, Schumacher tenth in their battle from the back in Melbourne
• Australian Grand Prix fastest laps
• Australian Grand Prix in pictures
• Unreliability costs Vettel another win
• Hamilton fumes after strategy mistake
• Button wins thrilling Australian GP

Images (C) Ferrari spa, Renault/LAT, Williams/LAT, Bridgestone, www.mclaren.com, Getty Images/Red Bull, Force India F1 Team, Lotus F1, Virgin Racing, BMW Sauber F1 Team, Motioncompany

Vettel led Button until a wheel problem ended the Red Bull driver's race

After the Australian Grand Prix Sebastian Vettel has led more laps in 2010 than all the other drivers put together. But unreliability has kept him from winning either of the races so far.

Read on for more stats and facts from round two of the 2010 F1 season.

Jenson Button scored his eighth career victory. He has now won as many races as 1967 champion Denny Hulme and Jacky Ickx.

It was also his second consecutive win in the Australian Grand Prix. The last person to win successive races in Melbourne was Michael Schumacher, who won in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

It was the tenth win in the Australian Grand Prix for McLaren. They first won the event with Alain Prost in 1986 at the Adelaide circuit.

Australian Grand Prix in pictures

Vettel started from the seventh pole position of his career, giving him the same number of first-place starts as Button as well as Jacques Laffite.

It was the first one-two start for Red Bull – but the end result of a ninth place and a DNF will have been a huge disappointment.

Fastest lap went to Mark Webber, making him the first Australian driver to set the fastest lap in his home event. But he was once again unable to improve on his best ever finish in the event, fifth place, which he first achieved with Minardi on his Grand Prix debut in 2002.

Robert Kubica reached the podium for the tenth time in his career and ended his recent run of bad luck in the Australian Grand Prix.

Karun Chandhok and HRT achieved their first race finish. The only team yet to get their car to finish a race in 2010 is Virgin. Timo Glock completed 41 laps in Melbourne, 11 short of being classified.

Ten drivers failed to finish the race, including Jarno Trulli who wasn’t even able to start it. That’s the most non-finishers since the 2008 Australian Grand Prix, when 14 drivers failed to reach the chequered flag.

Laps led in 2010

Sebastian Vettel has led more laps than all the other drivers put together but hasn’t won a race this year.

Podiums in 2010

Felipe Massa is the only driver to have finished on the podium in both races this year.

Have you spotted any more interesting stats and facts from the Australian Grand Prix? Post them in the comments.

2010 Australian Grand Prix

• 2010 Australian Grand Prix - the complete F1 Fanatic review
• Australian GP team-by-team analysis
• Australian Grand Prix stats and facts
• Melbourne was a blast but F1's aero problem remains (Australian GP analysis)
• Alonso fourth, Schumacher tenth in their battle from the back in Melbourne
• Australian Grand Prix fastest laps
• Australian Grand Prix in pictures
• Unreliability costs Vettel another win
• Hamilton fumes after strategy mistake
• Button wins thrilling Australian GP

Image (C) Bridgestone / Ercole Colombo

The wet track allowed F1 cars to race side-by-side at Melbourne

The Australia Grand Prix was every bit as thrilling as Bahrain was dull.

But don’t expect many more races like that unless we get a lot more rain, because F1′s aerodynamic problem hasn’t gone away – as the later stages of today’s race showed.

Lap 1

Australian Grand Prix: Lap 1 position change (click to enlarge)

Australian Grand Prix in pictures

In the pre-race analysis yesterday I wrote that you can count on two things happening on the first lap at Melbourne: the pole sitter keeping the lead and a crash.

Sure enough, Sebastian Vettel motored off into the lead and behind him Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher collided, tumbling down the order.

Further down the field a frightening crash eliminated Kamui Kobayashi, Sebastien Buemi and Nico Hülkenberg. Kobayashi’s front wing fell off, jammed under his front wheels and he slammed into Buemi and Hülkenberg.

Worryingly, this was the third time a front wing had come off Kobayashi’s car this weekend. The team said it did not fail on its own – Kobayashi had made contact with another car at turn three.

With the Virgins starting from the pits and Jarno Trulli not starting at all the HRTs gained the most places. Meanwhile the McLaren drivers converged – Jenson Button slipping back to sixth for fourth and Hamilton climbing four places to seventh.

Pit stops

Australian Grand Prix - pit stops (click to enlarge)

Jenson Button pitted for soft tyres on lap six and completed the remaining 52 laps without another stop for tyres – an impressive feat.

Button’s early switch from intermediate to dry tyres prompted his rivals to follow suit. Though it’s possible that his off-track moment at turn three on his out-lap led them to being more cautious than they needed to.

When they reacted on lap eight Button was 2.1s faster than any other car on the track. The next time around he was 4.3s quicker.

For some reason Red Bull delayed bringing in Vettel and Mark Webber until laps nine and ten respectively. Although Vettel kept his lead Webber lost three places, plus another one when he went off at the start of his out-lap.

Lewis Hamilton lost two places in the first round of pit stops while Fernando Alonso picked up three (one was thanks to Adrian Sutil’s retirement).

The aero problem

Hamilton and Webber catching Kubica, Massa and Alonso (click to enlarge)

During the first half of the race the Melbourne track was damp and then drying. The lack of grip meant the detrimental effect of running in the slipstream of another car was far less of a limiting factor for the drivers and so we saw lots of exciting passes and changes of position.

But it was a different story towards the end of the race. As the graph above shows even though Hamilton and Webber were up to two seconds per lap faster than Alonso/Massa/Kubica, once they caught them they couldn’t get close enough to pass.

Yes, Hamilton had asked a lot of his tyres in closing the gap to Alonso, making the job of passing him more difficult. But the fact remains the Ferrari driver had covered twice as great a distance on his rubber and Hamilton was faster. The McLaren driver couldn’t get close enough to try a pass because, now the track had dried, the cars were once again extremely sensitive to running in disturbed air.

Hamilton finally put a move on Alonso as the Ferrari driver became desperately short of grip, locking up his tyres at turn 13… and we all know what happened next.

This tells us two things about the much-debated question of – brace yourself for that horrible phrase – “improving the show”.

First, aerodynamics is still a big problem and fully dry races are likely to be much more processional than what we saw today.

However, because all the cars at Melbourne started on intermediate tyres none of them were forced to use both dry tyre compounds. As a result we saw some drivers pit more than others and as a result lapped quicker on fresh tyres later in the race – creating the opportunity for racing.

In the dry at Bahrain we saw no major differences in strategy among the front runners because of the mandatory pit stop rule. Removing this rule, and the requirement for the top ten qualifiers to start on the tyres they set their fastest time on should, looks like a good way of improving the quality of racing in F1. The next few races should provide more evidence for whether this is a good idea or not.

Read more: Bringing back refuelling will not solve F1′s overtaking problem

Race charts

Australian Grand Prix: Race chart (click to enlarge)

Here are the race charts showing the gap between the race leader and the other drivers (top) and a version of the chart based on the leaders’ average lap time (bottom). The lap chart (below) shows the position of each car on each lap.

Australian Grand Prix: Lap chart (click to enlarge)

Australian Grand Prix: Race chart (average times) (click to enlarge)

2010 Australian Grand Prix

• 2010 Australian Grand Prix - the complete F1 Fanatic review
• Australian GP team-by-team analysis
• Australian Grand Prix stats and facts
• Melbourne was a blast but F1's aero problem remains (Australian GP analysis)
• Alonso fourth, Schumacher tenth in their battle from the back in Melbourne
• Australian Grand Prix fastest laps
• Australian Grand Prix in pictures
• Unreliability costs Vettel another win
• Hamilton fumes after strategy mistake
• Button wins thrilling Australian GP

Alguersuari kept Schumacher behind for 36 laps

Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher fell to the back of the pack at the start of today’s Australian Grand Prix after colliding on the first lap.

But while Alonso climbed back through the field to finish fourth Schumacher was only able to grab tenth place and the final point on the penultimate lap.

How did Alonso managed to make such better progress than Schumacher?

Schumacher and Alonso's time gap to the race leader (click to enlarge)

The graph above shows how far Alonso and Schumacher were behind the leader on each lap of the race. The data for some other relevant drivers is included.

Alguersuari, take one

Australian Grand Prix in pictures

The one driver who made the biggest difference was Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari. Alonso and Schumacher both pitted to discard their intermediate tyres on lap eight, one lap before Alguersuari.

As Alguersuari came out of the pits Alonso was able to drive past him – but Schumacher got stuck behind the Toro Rosso driver.

Although Alonso continued to move up the field by passing other cars, and plenty of changes of positions were happening further up the field, Schumacher could do little about Alguersuari. It took him 14 laps to find a way by.

Two laps later Alguersuari pitted for fresh tyres and Mercedes decided to cover him by bringing in Schumacher on lap 27.

However, as we have seen already this year, the driver who pits first has the advantage in this situation. Sure enough, Alguersuari got the position back from Schumacher – partly because the Mercedes drivers was now stuck behind Pedro de la Rosa.

Alguersuari, take two

On the graph above, Nico Rosberg’s dashed line shows the kind of pace Schumacher might have had without Alguersuari in the way.

This time Alguersuari stayed ahead for 22 laps before making a mistake, allowing Schumacher to muscle his way around the outside of the Toro Rosso at turn 15. Alguersuari ran him out to the edge of the track, unwilling to give the place up, but Schumacher finally prevailed.

It wasn’t the first time in the race he’d been troubled by one of the cars further down the order. Timo Glock cheekily re-passed the world champion at turn 14 earlier in the race.

Happily for Schumacher, de la Rosa proved much easier to pass when he caught him the second time. Peter Sauber cannot have been very happy at the ease with which de la Rosa surrendered the final points-paying position on the 57th tour, one lap from home.

Alonso’s progress

Alonso, meanwhile, had made his way past de la Rosa 44 laps earlier and never looked back. He passed Rubens Barrichello on lap 15 and took seventh off Mark Webber when the Red Bull driver went off on his out-lap the next time around.

The Ferrari driver gained three more places thanks to Vettel’s retirement, and the extra pit stops for Webber (who had re-passed Alonso) and Lewis Hamilton.

Granted, Alonso has a quicker car than Schumacher does at the moment. But when you think back to Schumacher’s famous drives from the back at Spa in 1995 or Suzuka in 1998 and then consider he spent 36 laps behind a Toro Rosso today, you have to wonder if he’s still a little race-rusty.

2010 Australian Grand Prix

• 2010 Australian Grand Prix - the complete F1 Fanatic review
• Australian GP team-by-team analysis
• Australian Grand Prix stats and facts
• Melbourne was a blast but F1's aero problem remains (Australian GP analysis)
• Alonso fourth, Schumacher tenth in their battle from the back in Melbourne
• Australian Grand Prix fastest laps
• Australian Grand Prix in pictures
• Unreliability costs Vettel another win
• Hamilton fumes after strategy mistake
• Button wins thrilling Australian GP

Top 50 fastest laps

2010 Australian Grand Prix

• 2010 Australian Grand Prix - the complete F1 Fanatic review
• Australian GP team-by-team analysis
• Australian Grand Prix stats and facts
• Melbourne was a blast but F1's aero problem remains (Australian GP analysis)
• Alonso fourth, Schumacher tenth in their battle from the back in Melbourne
• Australian Grand Prix fastest laps
• Australian Grand Prix in pictures
• Unreliability costs Vettel another win
• Hamilton fumes after strategy mistake
• Button wins thrilling Australian GP

Hamilton passes Button in the early stages of the Australian Grand Prix

Review the action-packed Australian Grand Prix with this selection of images from the race.

More pictures will be added so check back here later.

More F1 pictures

Images (C) Ferrari spa, Bridgestone/Ercole Colombo, Virgin Racing, www.mclaren.com, Force India F1 Team

2010 Australian Grand Prix

• 2010 Australian Grand Prix - the complete F1 Fanatic review
• Australian GP team-by-team analysis
• Australian Grand Prix stats and facts
• Melbourne was a blast but F1's aero problem remains (Australian GP analysis)
• Alonso fourth, Schumacher tenth in their battle from the back in Melbourne
• Australian Grand Prix fastest laps
• Australian Grand Prix in pictures
• Unreliability costs Vettel another win
• Hamilton fumes after strategy mistake
• Button wins thrilling Australian GP
• Australian Grand Prix result
• F1 championship points after Australia
• Rate the race: Australia
• Australian Grand Prix live blog
• Vettel looks hard to beat at Melbourne (Australian GP pre-race analysis)
• Australian GP qualifying in pictures
• A bad weekend gets worse for Hamilton
• Vettel beats Webber to Melbourne pole (Australian Grand Prix qualifying)
• Australian Grand Prix grid
• Australian Grand Prix qualifying live blog
• Webber fastest at home in final practice
• Australian Grand Prix practice 3 live blog
• Make your Australian Grand Prix predictions now to win F1 prizes
• Australian Grand Prix practice in pictures
• Australian GP practice two analysis
• McLaren on top after wet second practice
• Australian Grand Prix practice 2 live blog
• Australian GP practice one analysis
• Kubica quickest in disrupted first practice
• Australian Grand Prix practice 1 live blog
• Drivers on duty in Melbourne (Pictures)
• 2010 Australian Grand Prix - The F1 Fanatic unofficial race programme
• Di Resta excited ahead of Force India debut
• 2010 Australian Grand Prix preview
• Low chance of rain at Melbourne
• Australian Grand Prix live TV Times

An extra pit stop cost Hamilton a likely podium

Lewis Hamilton performed brilliantly in the Australian Grand Prix but was clearly angry at finishing only sixth having run third earlier in the race.

Hamilton blamed the team’s decision for him to make a second stop for tyres on lap 35. That dropped him behind the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso.

Although he caught them at around 1.5 seconds per lap Hamilton struggled to pass Alonso. On the team radio he repeatedly asked the team about the decision to make an extra pit stop and complained that he had no grip on his last set of tyres.

Australian Grand Prix in pictures

Hamilton had successfully made several passes earlier in the race, beginning with a move on his team mate. He then lost several positions when most of the field pitted for tyres.

He got into a three-way battle with Massa and Ma rk Webber, first passing Massa and then trying to get by Webber at turn three. Webber ran deep into the corner and Hamilton got passed – but Massa moved ahead of the pair of them.

Hamilton got back ahead of Massa but clipped the Ferrari on his way past, damaging his front wing. He then caught Nico Rosberg.

After several attempts Hamilton got around the outside of Rosberg at the high-speed turn 11. Rosberg came back at him, but with yellow flags at the next corner due to Sebastian Vettel’s crashed Red Bull he was unable to re-pass.

Now up to third, Hamilton spent several laps behind Robert Kubica, his team took the decision to bring him in the pits for fresh tyres. Some other cars behind him had already pitted, but Kubica and the Ferraris stayed out.

After several attempts Hamilton was looking around the outside of Alonso at turn 15 when he was hit by Mark Webber.

Webber apologised to Hamilton after the race. But should the McLaren driver have been in the position in the first place?

At the end of the race it was clear the drivers who hadn’t changed tyres were lapping much slower – by up to two seconds per lap compared to drivers like Hamilton and Webber who’d taken new tyres.

If Hamilton hadn’t pitted, what state would his tyres have been in by the end of the race? While drivers like Button and Kubica had been able to preserve their tyres after their early first stop, Hamilton had given his a lot of punishment in making his way through the field.

But it’s not likely Hamilton’s tyres were in such bad shape that he wouldn’t have been able to keep the Ferraris behind.

The gamble backfired, and Hamilton clearly isn’t happy at losing a likely third and a potential second for sixth place after a great drive.

Jenson Button won in Melbourne for the second year in a row

Jenson Button scored his first win for McLaren in his second start for the team at Melbourne.

The world champion made an early switch to slick tyres on a damp track which paid dividends. But once again Sebastian Vettel lost the lead with an apparent car failure on his Red Bull.

Lewis Hamilton endured a frustrating race in the other McLaren. He made an extra pit stop in the later stages of the race and was hit by Mark Webber two laps from home.

Australian Grand Prix in pictures

Hamilton recovered to take sixth behind Nico Rosberg, who he passed earlier in the race with a brave pass around the outside of turn 11. Hamilton had been as high as third earlier in the race.

Button led home Robert Kubica who scored a fine second for Renault, and Felipe Massa who spent much of the race defending from team mate Fernando Alonso.

Webber ended the race in ninth after his collision with Hamilton. He had briefly led but delayed his switch from intermediates to dry tyres, dropping him down the running order.

Vitantonio Liuzzi scored points for Force India again with seventh ahead of Rubens Barrichello.

And Michael Schumacher claimed the final point after a long recovery drive after he hit the spinning Ferrari of Alonso on lap one. He spent much of the race trying to find a way around Jaime Alguersuari’s Toro Rosso, and claimed tenth place with a late pass on Pedro de la Rosa in the dying stages of the race.

Full report and analysis to follow.

2010 Australian Grand Prix

• 2010 Australian Grand Prix - the complete F1 Fanatic review
• Australian GP team-by-team analysis
• Australian Grand Prix stats and facts
• Melbourne was a blast but F1's aero problem remains (Australian GP analysis)
• Alonso fourth, Schumacher tenth in their battle from the back in Melbourne
• Australian Grand Prix fastest laps
• Australian Grand Prix in pictures
• Unreliability costs Vettel another win
• Hamilton fumes after strategy mistake
• Button wins thrilling Australian GP