he Grand Prix of Australia - It is going on better than last year Formule 1, F1, závody, okruhy, týmy, sport, auto, | Constructors F1 Constructors F1

he Grand Prix of Australia - It is going on better than last year

L.Pecháček | 2.4.06 | Komentáře - L.Pecháček 2006

F1 comments L.Pecháček

This year's third GP in Melbourne, Australia provided all F1 enthusiasts with yet unaccounted experience. The Friday's and Saturday's practices only allowed the chassis and engines to be tuned perfectly. The main part started in Saturday's qualification. In the first part weak drivers were eliminated, during the second it was surprisingly Massa with Ferrari, and the third part brought the struggle of the best. All the best times were reached in finishing laps. Honda proved its increasing level and Button went for his third pole position in his career. Fisichella and Alonso were more than half a second slower, Räikkönen and Montoya were almost one second behind. Of brothers Schumachers, Ralf was the better one this time with his 6th position, Michael was no better than 11th. However, as Villeneuve had to change engine and moved to the 19th place, he started from the 10th place. Even that, though, was bad for Ferrari, because Massa was 15th.

Albert Park is a circuit, where 70% is done at the full throttle and than you have to brake intensively. Therefore the teams decided for a medium downforce. But the temperature was quite low, about 20ºC, which was very little compared to the subtropics heats in the past, so everybody had problems warming up tires again. Montoya demonstrated that when he sent his car spinning in the formation lap. At the start Fisichella's engine died and he had to start from the pit lane. Button averted Alonso's attack at the beginning, but then Massa, Rosberg and Trulli met in the pack of cars and there were suddenly 3 pilots less. Klien followed in the lap 7 due to an accident. In that time there was the SAFETY CAR on the track already, which appeared two more times afterwards. Alonso went for the first position and didn't leave it for no one anymore. Räikkönen got in front of Button and Montoya was checking on them from behind. The domestic Webber did very well too, reaching even the first position in the time of the first pit stops! However, his gearbox gave up in the lap 24. That put both Williamses out of the game. Ten laps later Micheal Schumacher followed him after a wild crash. That meant that also both Ferraris were out. After the second pit stops the standings settled at the order Alonso - Räikkönen - Button. Montoya also retired. The biggest surprise awaited Button though. He got his team's warning about the overheating engine but wanted to finish at least 5th anyway. However several tens of meters to the finish his engine caught fire and he stopped just a bit before the checkered flag. It made him quite angry.Altogether the biggest number of cars retired in this season. It was 4 in the first race, 8 in the second and 9 this time. Therefore we could see Ralf Schumacher with Toyota on the podium for the first time. There were another points for Heidfeld, Fisichella, Villeneuve and Barrichello. Although Scott Speed from Toro Rosso came 8th, he was penalized for ignoring the rules, giving one point to David Coulthard. It has been the most interesting race of the season and if the Championship continues in this way, we may be looking forward to a really amazing show.Final standings: 1. Alonso (SPA) Renault, 2. Raikkónen (FIN) McLaren-Mercedes, 3. Ralf Schumacher (GER) Toyota, 4. Heidfeld (GER) BMW-Sauber, 5. Fisichella (ITA) Renault, 6. Villeneuve (CAN) BMW-Sauber, 7. Barrichello (BRA) Honda, 8. Coulthard (SCO) Red Bull. Button classified 10th losing 1 lap (even though he had perhaps 50 m to the finish line).After 3 races: Alonso 28, Fisichella a Raikkónen po 14, M.Schumacher a Button po 11, Montoya 9, R.Schumacher 7, Heidfeld a Villeneuve po 5, Massa 4, Webber 3, Barrichello a Rosberg po 2, Coulthard 1.Constructors Championship: 42 Renault, 23 McLaren, 15 Ferrari, 13 Honda, 10 BMW-Sauber,7 Toyota, 5 Williams, 2 Red Bull.All teams (except for Renault) complain about the new rules meaning that they had to start from the scratch. New engines asking for new chassis, new aerodynamics and new concept of tires. Plus the fact that there wasn't enough time for the changes (usually three seasons ahead, this time it was one year). They now have 3 weeks to turn all their gained experience into new designs in order to prepare better cars for the next GP of San Marino in Imola. 

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