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.
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.
| Driver | Laps led |
| Sebastian Vettel | 56 |
| Jenson Button | 33 |
| Fernando Alonso | 16 |
| Mark Webber | 2 |
Podiums in 2010
Felipe Massa is the only driver to have finished on the podium in both races this year.
| Driver | Podiums |
| Felipe Massa | 2 |
| Fernando Alonso | 1 |
| Lewis Hamilton | 1 |
| Jenson Button | 1 |
| Robert Kubica | 1 |
Have you spotted any more interesting stats and facts from the Australian Grand Prix? Post them in the comments.
2010 Australian Grand Prix
Image (C) Bridgestone / Ercole Colombo
Hamish
29th March 2010, 11:19
Just a quick question that sprung to mind. I’m a NZ’er, so obviously I hold in very high regard Bruce McLaren, Chris Amon & Denny Hulme. But would it be fair to say that Hulme is one of the least favourite World Champs ever? Thats not meant in a negative manner, but for some reason he is never really praised and seldom does he come up in conversation when the topic is world champs. Why is that? Bearing in mind he did beat the defending world champ in a team funded founded and named after the defending champ. I’d be interested to know peoples thoughts.
Ned Flanders
29th March 2010, 13:04
I don’t know very much about him and I never saw him race, but I’d agree he isn’t exactly highly regarded as an F1 champ. He’s one of the most obscure champions, along with Mike Hawthorn and Phil Hill.
I’ve just had a look at Autosport’s 100 best drivers feature from last December. Hulme is ranked 62nd, behind the likes of Ricardo Patrese, Tony Maggs and Alex Zanardi (!), and one place in front of Aguri Suzuki. For the record, Amon is 64th and McLaren 61st
steph
29th March 2010, 13:15
I don’t knopw much about Hulme either so maybe that says I’m ignorant or that he is overlooked by some for whatever reason.
I’d say Farina is sometimes forgotten about but maybe that’s because he wasn’t in his prime whenn he won the F1 world title.
As for Hawthorn, he was never rated as a top driver really and I think he is sometimes more remembered for his personality (he sometimes is regarded as the original F1 playboy before Hunt took that crown) and what happened at Le Mans. Mike only managed 3 wins in F1 I think which were 2 in France and 1 in Spain but I’d have to check. The year he won was perhaps meant to be Stirling’s year too -4 wins to Mike’s 1- and Stirling is a national hero for us which is ironic as he’s probably only loved as much because he didn’t win the title.
One thing I love about Mike though was that he won the title and became the first Brit WDC with Ferrari so actually I am being patriotic supporting the red team ;)
bob
29th March 2010, 17:46
If Moss wont be so friendly, Hawtorn would never become champion, because, as we all remember, they wanted to DQ Hawtorn in Morocco, but Moss was the one who said No, even it cost him WCH
And about Hulme- He was good only in that as I remember, 1967 year.
Calum
29th March 2010, 19:42
Is the rumor I heard true about SM helping MH back into a race, ultimately losing him the championship?
steph
29th March 2010, 19:49
Yeah Calum. I think it was at Porto. Hawthorn’s car stopped and he tried to push it which would have him disqualified but Moss said that Mike deserved the 2nd place. I think but I can’t remember exactly so don’t shout if that’s a load of rubbish :P
bob
29th March 2010, 19:57
steph it wasnt porto it was Morocco.
bob
29th March 2010, 17:47
LOL. What are Zanardi, Maggs and Suzuki doing there?
Harvs
29th March 2010, 21:22
Hey Hamish! did you go to the Bruce Mclaren memorial day when they opened hampton downs?
K
29th March 2010, 21:59
Phill Hill and Mike Hawthorn aren’t that obscure are they?
Hulme certainly is as well as Farina.
I often think Jochen Rindt is more famous for his death rather than winning the title, maybe because he won the title after he died.
Also I think Jim Clark doesn’t get the recognition he should.
Hamish
29th March 2010, 22:46
Hey Harvs. Yea I did make it up to Hampton downs for the weekend. It was pretty awesome and I was amazed by how many people actually in attendance!!
K – yeah its a very weird one with drivers that die. I think the question is does their death change the way they are viewed and I would say yes. I think its exactly the same as when musicians die. Jim Morrison, Bob Marley, Jim Croche, Janis Joplin, Kurt Cobain….big when alive, but bigger now they are dead.
Ronman
30th March 2010, 12:38
well this is a topic for the book… the forgotten champ… coming to a bookstore near you …. can be the perfect xmass gift.
Patrickl
29th March 2010, 11:29
Massa has performed better in the last 2 races than he has in the first two races of the last 4 seasons. In those previous 8 races he only managed 2 fifth places and one sixth. Netting him 11 points (or 28 with the current system)
Guess he was right that Ferrari could have it’s best season start in years. At least he did.
bob
29th March 2010, 17:48
He is 2nd in championship having no led laps
statix
29th March 2010, 20:23
And vettel has over 50 led laps hahahaha.
LED laps = nothing :)
Simon Stiel
29th March 2010, 11:35
Button becomes the fifth British driver to win a race for Mclaren.
He accomplished his first win for Mclaren in his second race for the team. Sooner than the other Britons, Hunt (at fourth race- Spain 1976), Watson (at 28th race- Britain 1981), Coulthard (at 17th race- Australia 1997) and Hamilton (at 6th race-Canada 2007)
david
29th March 2010, 11:41
It was the 290th race for Rubens Barrichello
It was the 30th podium for Felipe Massa
JProc
29th March 2010, 17:23
250th race for Schumacher.
bob
29th March 2010, 17:49
Isnt it 10th race to Alguersuari?
david
29th March 2010, 11:42
and an obvious one : HRT + karun Chandok’s first race finish :)
ajokay
29th March 2010, 11:55
So obvious, it’s already mentioned in the article.
bob
29th March 2010, 17:49
For the first and last time :D
steph90
29th March 2010, 11:42
It is the second time a world champion who has partnered Hamilton at Mclaren has won the second race of the season. Alonso Mal 07.
Ferrari have now been on every step of the podium this season in descending order too.
The last time Massa and Robert shared a podium was Monaco 08.
Enigma
29th March 2010, 12:18
It was the first time Massa, Kubica and Button were on the podium together.
It is the second time a world champion who has partnered Massa at Ferrari has won the first race of the season. Raikkonen Aus 07. :)
steph90
29th March 2010, 12:43
Massa qualified behind Alonso but finished ahead which was the opposite of last weekend.
Massa’s first third place since Germany 09 but that was only three race starts ago for him.
Kester
29th March 2010, 13:11
Kimi wasn’t a champion then. Also that doesn’t relate the this race in the slightest.
steph
29th March 2010, 13:22
I just think we ended up in a mini Massa fact competition :P
sato113
29th March 2010, 13:45
guys these are pretty uninteresting facts! lol. we need some more rare or special occurrences.
PeterG
29th March 2010, 11:42
There were 11 drivers on the exact same grid position as in the previous race:
1 Sebastian Vettel
3 Fernando Alonso
7 M Schumacher
9 Robert Kubica
10 Adrian Sutil
14 Pedro de la Rosa
16 Kamui Kobayashi
20 Jarno Trulli
22 Luca di Grassi
23 Bruno Senna
24 Karun Chandhok
sato113
29th March 2010, 11:47
nice one! good spot
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
29th March 2010, 11:53
Fancy that – I wonder how unusual that is?
sumedh
29th March 2010, 15:26
WOW!! You have got some eye PeterG!!
Phil
29th March 2010, 16:08
This is my favourite so far.
bob
29th March 2010, 17:52
So who will be the first, who discovers, when it was last time? :D
Enigma
29th March 2010, 18:51
good one…I wonder how many of these drivers will qualify there in Malaysia as well.
bob
29th March 2010, 18:58
Probably di Grassi, Senna, Karun, Myb Schumacher
sumedh
30th March 2010, 2:54
And Vettel as well, I think :)
Mike
30th March 2010, 4:23
Most likely, his pace in that car… wow
Enigma
4th April 2010, 11:00
Only Senna qualified 23rd again
sato113
29th March 2010, 11:46
what a win for jenson. much better than his brawn gp wins. we must remember that massa was still a bit slower than alonso in oz…
PeterG
29th March 2010, 11:47
Only 1 driver finished the same position as the previous race:
5 Nico Rosberg
Xanathos
29th March 2010, 15:43
And still, nine of the drivers who finished in the points in Bahrain also scored in Australia. Only change was Vettel out – Kubica in
bob
29th March 2010, 17:53
Also Petrov, Senna, di Grassi. But they actually didnt finish at all :D
PeterG
31st March 2010, 14:22
But this time they failed in a different order than the previous race :D
MEmo
30th March 2010, 2:54
I think that will happen in every race: 8 spots for the BIG4 and two for the others (one Willy and one Renny, or Indy might be there occasionally)…
PeterG
29th March 2010, 11:57
Points per engine:
Points Wins
Mercedes 91 1
Ferrari 70 1
Renault 36 0
Cosworth 5 0
ajokay
29th March 2010, 14:06
I was thinking yesterday that with all the engine suppliers powering more than one team, that they should have an Engines championship. Would be an interesting sidenote.
bob
29th March 2010, 17:55
If last year was such point system then comparing to 2009:
MRC +25,5 points
FER +58,5
REN +22
CSW –
BMW –
TOY –
Daniel
29th March 2010, 12:01
Like I said in Bahrain with Alonso, Button now is the second active driver to win for three different teams (Honda, Brawn and McLaren), despite all the appropriate discussion if Honda and Brawn can be considered two teams or not… anyway, at least we can say he have won wearing three different overalls :)
Herke
29th March 2010, 12:04
Does anyone know what happened to Sutil? I missed that bit.
Also, why was hamilton’s red light still flashing all through the race? – a really piddly point i know but i was just curious what the rules are on the red lights.
Enigma
29th March 2010, 12:19
His engine had loss of power and they stopped.
Karan
29th March 2010, 14:37
I am also wondering this. It would have been quite annoying for the cars behind him, I certainly noticed it whenever they showed Hamilton.
Patrickl
29th March 2010, 15:59
I think for next race they will quickly switch it off. That red light worked like a red cape on the “Webber Bull”
JProc
29th March 2010, 17:28
I was asked why the light was flashing during the race. I was going to say because its wet but it wasn’t.
bob
29th March 2010, 17:57
Myb, he forgot to turn it out? :D
Harvs
29th March 2010, 21:28
They just forget to turn it off, nothing big. could be strategy, like Le Mans cars driving around during the day with thier headlights on, to distract the competitor infront
TomD11
29th March 2010, 12:08
For the second year in a row, Lewis loses a podium finish in Australia from a dodgy team call.
steph90
29th March 2010, 12:18
I think it was more that Lewis and Mclaren lied last year. :p
Scribe
29th March 2010, 12:39
Well last year they where wrong to make him give up the place, an this year they where wrong to make him pit.
steph90
29th March 2010, 12:46
True I guess but I reckon ham would have kept the podium and Trulli moved back after had they not lied. Although his team told him to lie like they told him to pit so there is continuity there I suppose :p
Brakius
29th March 2010, 23:58
If HAM passes KUB, they don’t bring him in, he passed every other car on the track, why not Robert? Just as much a driver error to me.
Enigma
29th March 2010, 12:14
In last 4 years 4 drivers won with McLaren: BUT, HAM, KOV, ALO. 3 at Ferrari: RAI, MAS, ALO. 2 at Red Bull and Brawn GP.
bob
29th March 2010, 17:58
ANd 0 in last 5 years in Williams
GeeMac
29th March 2010, 12:18
Does this count: The first time in 2010 I spent the entire race on the edge of my seat?
Its Hammer Time
29th March 2010, 13:04
I’ll second that. A race to rival Brazil 09 for excitement…
Karan
29th March 2010, 14:38
This is the second worst race of the season!
David A
29th March 2010, 19:45
It’s going to fall down the order…
CherieChew
31st March 2010, 4:08
Well, I hope not!
Hamish
29th March 2010, 12:22
The last 4 years the driver who has won the Aussie GP wins the WDC.
Alonso – 2006
Kimi – 2007
Hamilton – 2008
Button – 2009
Ned Flanders
29th March 2010, 13:07
True, but you can also say that about the opening GP, which in 2006 and 2010 was in Bahrain. So perhaps we can assume the champion this season will be either Jenson Button or Fernando Alonso!
wolguy
29th March 2010, 13:14
You can write it also about the 1st race of a season.
bob
29th March 2010, 17:59
BTW they all 4 have driven in Mclaren
Jim N
29th March 2010, 12:31
Despite points being available for the 1st 10 places, after two races only 11 drivers have scored points.
Tango
29th March 2010, 13:45
I like that one
Patrickl
29th March 2010, 16:02
Ha yeah, that’s the result of what Xanathos said.
Deshom
29th March 2010, 13:05
that was a bloody bloody excellent race! lets hope the rain continues through the summer.. never thought i’d say that.
Ned Flanders
29th March 2010, 13:16
For the second consecutive race, a driver has won for a third different team. Jenson Button has now won for Honda, Brawn and McLaren, while Fernando Alonso has now won for Ferrari as well as Renault and McLaren. (However, technichally Honda and Brawn were the same team under different titles). Here’s a complete list:
Alonso- 3- Ferrari, Renault and McLaren
Button- 3- McLaren, Brawn and Honda
Vettel- 2- Red Bull and Toro Rosso
Schumacher- 2- Ferrari and Benetton
Barrichello- 2- Ferrari and Brawn
All other winners have only won with one team
Can anyone think of the driver to have won with most different teams? The best I can come up with is Alain Prost, who won with 4: Renault, McLaren, Ferrari and Williams
steph
29th March 2010, 13:24
Fangio I think draws. Alfa, Mas, Daimler Benz and Ferrari. But Fangio swapped teams back and forward a lot more than Prost and won more titles with different teams.
Daniel
29th March 2010, 13:30
Fangio also won with 4 teams: Alfa Romeo, Maserati, Mercedes, Ferrari
Ned Flanders
29th March 2010, 13:33
Also should point out Alonso won in two seperate stints at Renault, which makes his achievement even more impressive
DanThorn
29th March 2010, 13:46
Moss won with 5 different makes of car – Mercedes, Maserati, Vanwall, Cooper and Lotus. Both the Lotus and Cooper cars were entered by Rob Walker Racing Team however, so it’s actually only 4 teams.
steph
29th March 2010, 13:59
Was just about to say Moss Dan. Piquet won but mostly with a Brabham chassis but here are the teams actual names: Parmalat Racing Team, Fila Sport, MRD International, Motor Racing Developments Ltd, Canon Williams Team, Canon Williams Team, Benetton Formula, Camel Benetton Ford all he got wins with. Surely that has to be the most?
ajokay
29th March 2010, 14:12
I don’t think you can really count a title sponsor change as a different team. Damon Hill won for 2 teams, Williams and Jordan, not 3 teams: Canon Williams Renault, Rothmans Williams Renault and Benson and Hedges Jordan.
Piquet won for Brabham, Williams and Benetton.
Seems like 4 is the upper limit!
steph
29th March 2010, 14:16
I know but I was trying to get around it :P
Patrickl
29th March 2010, 16:04
Where do you draw the line though. Does Button winning for Honda and Brawn GP count as one team or two?
ajokay
29th March 2010, 16:50
Two, because they were officially different teams. Piquet’s wins in all the Brabhams were still all in Brabhams, they just had different title sponsors.
bob
29th March 2010, 18:02
But who has the most wins, from drivers whose all wins were in same team? Hope u understood
Bleu
29th March 2010, 20:11
I think Jim Clark has most wins for just one team – 25 for Lotus.
Matthew
30th March 2010, 0:08
@bleu Im sure Schumacher has won more than that for Ferrari.
Matthew
30th March 2010, 0:10
@bleu Nevermind, my mistake.
Hotbottoms
29th March 2010, 13:21
It is the first time in Formula1 history that only one of the drivers (Sebastian Vettel) scoring championship points in the first race of the season failed to do so in the second also. On every other season since 1950 there has always been two or more drivers, who have failed to do so. (It’s also thrilling, that if Sebastian Vettel’s technical problems in Bahrain had made him retire, every driver scoring championship points in the first race of the season would have scored points in the second race also, since Kubica was 11th in Bahrain.)
Vettel has failed to finish first two races of the season on all of his full seasons (in 2007 he replaced Scott Speed in middle of the season).
Hotbottoms
29th March 2010, 13:23
Oups, the latter fact is obviously wrong since Vettel finished Bahrain this year.
bob
29th March 2010, 18:03
Thats cool. But was it even when only 5 drivers were awared with points?
Ned Flanders
29th March 2010, 13:26
This isn’t really a stat, but can anyone think of the last time such a boring race race was followed by a thriller, as has happened in the last two races. The best I can think of is Valencia followed by Spa in 2008- one of the worst races of the decade followed by one of the best
ajokay
29th March 2010, 14:20
I remember one year within the last 10, probably somewhere in the 2002-2005 region, there was a desperately dull (even moreso than usual) Spanish Grand prix, followed by what I remember being an incredibly exciting Canadian Grand Prix.
Can’t think which year though.
Ned Flanders
29th March 2010, 14:35
2007 mabye? The Spanish GP that season was typically boring, but the Canadian GP was a crashy special, 4 safety cars, Kubica’s huge accident, Alonso getting ovetaken by a Super Aguri, Hamilton’s first win, Wurz on the podium… great race!
Actually, just thought that can’t be right, the 2007 Canadian GP was preceded by Monaco (although come to think of it this was also really boring)
ajokay
29th March 2010, 15:01
Yeah, it definately wasn’t that recent. I have foggy memories of the Williams having BMW engines, possibly Montoya and Ralf driving them, and there were Jaguars…
tombo
29th March 2010, 15:06
i remember this happening quite a lot. the best example i can recall vividly was 1999 spain followed by 1999 canada. autosport was all over that, much like it will be on thursday for this most recent bore->what a race!
ajokay
29th March 2010, 15:17
Maybe it was 1999… wasn’t it on the cover of autosport: a train of cars following each other down the main straight.
Or maybe it was in a newspaper “Bore-mula 1” or something was the headline after Spain.
Then the Canadian race, for whatever reason, blew several socks off.
Ned Flanders
29th March 2010, 16:10
It was a McLaren 1- 2 at Barcelona, which seems pretty boring to me. I remember Schumacher got stuck behind Villeneuve’s really slow BAR for ages and couldn’t get past- easy to forget that overtaking has been difficult for many years now
But Canada 1999 was great, I watched it on YouTube a few months agoa ctually, there were lots of crashes and overtaking
ciaran
29th March 2010, 14:03
Australia was the 13th time Michael Schumacher was outqualified and outraced by his team-mate.Bahrain was the 12th.
wakenabeb
29th March 2010, 14:51
Is that true? That’s incredible.
sato113
29th March 2010, 14:04
with the old points system the championship would look like-
ALO 15
MAS 14
BUT 12
HAM 9
ROS 8
KUB 8
Journeyer
29th March 2010, 14:28
And using the 10-6-4 system, we have:
ALO 13
BUT 10
MAS 10
KUB 6
HAM 5
ROS 4
VET 3
MSC 1
ajokay
29th March 2010, 14:31
And using the medals system, Button and Alonso are joint World Drivers Champions!
Patrickl
29th March 2010, 16:07
No, Alonso would be leading.
bob
29th March 2010, 18:07
Constructors cup in 10-8-6..
FER 29
MCL 21
MRC 11
REN 8
RBR 6
IND 2
WIL 1
sato113
29th March 2010, 18:17
does this all mean the old 10,8,6… points system would have been better?
bob
29th March 2010, 18:43
Actually sato, its no diffrence. Only a little bit. If you make them as percents old:
100-80-60-50-40-30-20-10
new:
100-72-60-48-40-32-16-8-4
bob
29th March 2010, 19:07
And BTW Constructors cup with 10-6-4-3-2-1:
FER 23
MCL 15
REN 6 (+1 position)
MRC 5 (-1 position)
RBR 3
Jelle van der Meer
29th March 2010, 14:21
Counting with new point system, Alonse in now tied on 3rd with Ayrton Senna on career points. Alain Prost as 2nd is 185 points ahead and M. Schumacher in 1st place is a massive 763 points ahead.
Lewis is now ranked 2nd in most points per GP (excl those with less than 10 GP starts)
Also Schumacher still has 18 more wins than all other active drivers combined – so even without any wins he will still have 1 more at end of season
Jelle van der Meer
29th March 2010, 14:34
25% of active drivers still have to score their 1st point, all are drivers in their 1st full season.
With Heidfeld not being active, Pedro de la Rosa is the most experienced driver without a win with 74 races (1 podium). Rosberg is closely 2nd with 72 races (2 podiums) without win.
Below all time ranking of 8 main title candidates, na means not in top 50.
Driver Points Wins Poles F. Laps Podiums
M. Schumacher 1 1 1 1 1
F. Alonso 3 10 11 21 9
Jenson Button 15 33 34 na 34
Felipe Massa 16 26 18 22 27
Lewis Hamilton 22 25 15 na 29
Mark Webber 47 na na na na
S. Vettel na 42 41 na na
Nico Rosberg na na na na na
ajokay
29th March 2010, 15:03
[blockquite]Nico Rosberg: na na na na na, I’m outscoring yooooo-ooooouuu[/blockquote]
Is that what Little Nicci have been jesting Schumi with, whilst sticking his thumb to his nose and waggling his fingers?
ajokay
29th March 2010, 15:05
Ooh, quotefail. I want the edit button back.
Karan
29th March 2010, 14:41
I don’t understand how Sauber were fast in the winter testing, yet they would be right at the back if it wasn’t for the new teams. Wouldn’t be suprised if Lotus are on the pace with the Saubers.
Also, Lotus finished 3 places away from the points.
steph
29th March 2010, 14:49
Wings falling off doesn’t help, they don’t have the best line up, they will suffer in the development race probably and it was expected to be the races where they were impressive particulary with tyres. However, the tyres are so good it maybe isn’t as much of a benefit as first thought, this was a fairly unique race and Sauber could well have been deliberately flying in testing to try to attract sponsors etc…it wouldn’t be the first time that tactic had been employed by a team
MEmo
30th March 2010, 3:03
Sauber is clearly the weakest of the stablished teams; even TR is better. But to be fair, Sauber is much more of a new team than an stablished team now that BMW is gone…
Osvaldas
29th March 2010, 15:16
In recent weeks there was much talking about improving races, and one thing sprung to my mind. Remember a few years ago Ecclestone suggested to mount water showers around the track to spice up racing, remember? I thought that wouldn’t be such a bad idea to dampen the track before races. What do you think?
MuzzleFlash
29th March 2010, 16:32
If you only did it before races, a dry line would appear after a few laps, unless your in Bahrain or Abu Dhabi, in which case it would all evaporate rather quickly.
You’d need to be constantly dampening it, which would be impractical, costly, probably dangerous if the rest of the track was bone dry because some people would be on slicks, and anyone on wets would have them worn away rather quickly.
Considering that the main goal of it would be to reduce cornering speeds and traction, you may as well just take the wings off the cars and make the tyres from a harder compound.
I think it’s the cars which need looked at, other series’ have no trouble overtaking on the same tracks.
In short, let’s have a couple of testbed cars with wheel fairings, ground effects, active suspension, and remove the wing endplates, having wings at shallow angles of incidence only to be used for adjusting balance. Preferably a high aspect ratio one sitting out over fat sticky rear tyres ^_^
Osvaldas
29th March 2010, 16:42
Well, I’m talking about just dampening the track before race to wash out the grip and spice up the start:)
ajokay
29th March 2010, 16:55
It’s never the start that needs spicing up though, it’s always the middle and end.
I vote that because the first 5 laps are always the most interesting, The cars start, race 5 laps, then line up again on the grid in the order in which they crossed the finish line at the end of the 5th lap. Once everyone is lined up, they do another start, and race for another 5 laps…
Repeat x 12, and you have yourself an evenly exciting grand prix.
bob
29th March 2010, 18:11
Im totally agree with you ajokay
martinb
29th March 2010, 20:09
Instead of a safety car, have a water truck — one of those racing trucks with a big tank on the back. Bring it out on some randomly-chosen lap and water the track while the field bunches up and the viewers make a cup of tea. Then there’s a couple of laps of close-quarters hairy racing until a dry line appears.
Or:
Instead of making the track slippery, make the tyres slippery. Embed something like a thin teflon strip in every tyre at some random depth that causes the tyres to go off for a couple of laps until the strip is worn away. This opens up a window for other drivers to attack, and the driver must demonstrate his defensive ability.
Okay, I know they are stupid ideas. But no one seems to have come up with the definitive answer to the lack of overtaking.
Jason Lopez
29th March 2010, 15:19
Podiums in 2010
Didn’t Alonso win the first Grandprix? That would be two podiums, same as Massa.
ajokay
29th March 2010, 16:02
Alonso came 4th in Australia though.
Jason Lopez
29th March 2010, 16:10
That is very true! Sorry, my bad!
Andrew White
29th March 2010, 16:10
He finished fourth in Australia, so only that one podium in Bahrain so far.
Jason Lopez
29th March 2010, 15:28
Another fact: Michael Schumacher has never finished tenth. :-) Cheeky, but a fact is a fact.
bob
29th March 2010, 18:12
So we only now have to wait when Vettel Qualifies 5th, which he hasnt done yet
sato113
29th March 2010, 18:17
that’s a pretty good fact actually.
Bleu
29th March 2010, 20:15
You are wrong. He was tenth in 1998 Monaco GP and 2005 Italian GP. No points of course in those days.
bob
30th March 2010, 13:38
look @ http://www.statsf1.com find Schumacher and u will see…
sumedh
29th March 2010, 15:33
Ok, I bet no one might have thought of this:
A Ferrari has spun every alternate year at Turn 1 , Lap 1 of Australian GP.
Massa touched someone, spun and crashed into the wall in 2006. Massa spun again in 2008. And now, Alonso spun in 2010 :D :D :D.
Andrew White
29th March 2010, 16:14
The six practice sessions so far have been topped by six drivers from six different teams: Sutil (Force India), Rosberg (Mercedes), Alonso (Ferrari), Kubica (Renault), Hamilton (McLaren), Webber (Red Bull.
Both races this year have been won from the second row: Alonso from 3rd and Button from 4th.
BBT
29th March 2010, 16:36
They will all be trying to Qualify 5th for the next race then :-)
bob
29th March 2010, 18:14
Only Vettel is going to get P1, but what will happen in race? :D
Terry Fabulous
29th March 2010, 22:34
Yes! Neil Crompton was talking about this on the track TV on Saturday and I was thinking, I have to get onto the Stats and Facts after the race and post it! Good spot mate.
MuzzleFlash
29th March 2010, 16:46
McLaren have won more Aussie GP’s than Ferrari (and anyone else) and British drivers have won half of them since 1994.
TrueF1Grit
29th March 2010, 17:12
Button is the first driver in its 26-year world championship history to win the Australian Grand Prix in consecutive years for two different teams: Brawn GP last season, McLaren this.
F1Fan
29th March 2010, 17:15
Here is another statistic:
1. Button, +3 places from race start
2. Kubica, +7
3. Massa, +2
4. Alonso, -1
5. Rosberg, +1
6. Hamilton, +5
7. Liuzzi, +6
8. Barrichello, 0 (even)
9. Webber, -7
Only Webber could have thrown away a certain podium finish. This is yet another example of this guy screwing a good thing mercilessly.
K
29th March 2010, 22:07
If Hamilton had hit Webber instead of the other way around there would have been an uproar but since it’s Webber on Hamilton no-one really cares.
F1NATIC
29th March 2010, 17:21
this is more of a failure of a stat. I think it was Schumis 250th start. every other 50th race Schumacher had celebrated with a win. But in this case he failed. Also its the second time Rosberg not only outqualifies him but finishes better than him. he better start shaking that rust off or he will totally damage his other hundreds of statistics.
ciaran
29th March 2010, 21:39
It wasn’t Schumis 250th start,it was his 251st.
Juha82
29th March 2010, 17:24
Yeah, Vettel is facing same what Kimi with Mclaren. Reliability problems over and over again, which will cost him maybe WDC…what a pity…
bob
29th March 2010, 17:41
1) di Resta, who started in FP1, is Dario Franchitti’ cousin
2) Renault is first engine who has led more then 2000 laps in Australia GP
3) Top31 fastest laps were made by 3 drivers- Webber, Rosberg, Hamilton
4) Massa in Ferrari has now scored as much points as Hill in Williams
5) Alguersuari becomes 200th driver in F1 history, who hasnt lapped at least 2 Grand Prix.
6) First time 3 Spanish drivers finishes.
7) Felipe now has 30 podiums
Thats all from me :)
bob
29th March 2010, 19:11
8) This is Trulli’s 4th Did Not Started. All 4 were made by different teams- Minardi, Prost, Toyota (from pole), and now Lotus
bob
29th March 2010, 19:56
Keith why 8 ) together means smily? I didnt want to put smily, I want to put 8 )
Cacarella
29th March 2010, 20:25
Cool!!! Smiley with sunglasses??? 8)
bob
29th March 2010, 20:28
yeah :( I dont want it :D
Realist
29th March 2010, 18:42
So, nobody’s going to ask the most obvious question of the sunday? Why Button wasn’t punished for the first corner crash? Or Alonso? One of them should be held responsible.
VXR
29th March 2010, 18:54
Racing incident (IMO Alonso turned across Button). It’s the crappy mirrors that are to blame though, more than anything.
Rubens Barrichello said that all of the drivers had agreed to do something about the mirrors at a GPDA meeting in Oz – all except Lewis that is. Which, given his recent run-in with the ‘fuzz’, you would think that he would be a little more concerned about safety.
jabg
29th March 2010, 19:04
why? it was a racing incident even Ferrari said that during the race.
Realist
29th March 2010, 19:14
I’m sure the guys at Mercedes disagree.
Hyoko
29th March 2010, 20:45
I don’t think anybody should be punished, but I think it was Fernando’s fault. Of course I don’t mean he did that on purpose. Maybe he just didn’t see Button, or maybe he was unable to control his car.
BTW, I haven’t read every post but I am surprised that nobody seems to have pointed out a serious mistake of Fernando (or am I just wrong??). In the starting grid his left tyres were on top of a white paint line, and I think it ruined his grip at the start. If he had stopped his car just a couple of inches more to the inside of the track his start should have been much better.
Patrickl
29th March 2010, 21:41
Yeah I noticed that too.
When you listen to the clip of Alonso’s on-board footage from the start you can hear him struggling with the grip.
Forgot who posts those clips though *shame*
bob
29th March 2010, 19:16
If someone is interested, I published almoast all these facts (or im still publishing) in my twitter page http://www.twitter.com/f1latvija . If someone is interested, there are shorter and I tried to make them easier to understand
David A
29th March 2010, 19:49
Massa’s third straight podium, since he didn’t race in Hungary and the rest of 2009 sfter that.
david
29th March 2010, 20:02
Its the first wet race in Melbourne since it started in 1996, and the last was in 1991 in Adelaide, on that occaion Arton Senna won.
Hope im right :D
K
29th March 2010, 22:01
You are indeed.
Ben
29th March 2010, 20:41
Albert Park also has the distinction of being the only venue to hold the Australian Grand Prix in both World Championship and non-World Championship formats.
Prior to the 1996 Australian Grand Prix, a modified version of the current circuit was used for both the 1953 and 1956 Australian Grands Prix.
During this time Albert Park actually ran anti-clockwise as opposed to the current GP circuit which runs clockwise.
verstappen
29th March 2010, 20:44
I can’t remember an Australian GP without seeing the undersideplank of at least one car.
Am I right?
And, how far back does this go?
Enigma
29th March 2010, 22:02
In last 4 years the 2nd race was won by the current WDC 3 times. Alonso in Malaysia 2007, Raikkonen in Malaysia 2008, Button in Australia 2010.
Terry Fabulous
29th March 2010, 22:40
This is the first track that Jenson has won at Twice.
Single wins at Hungary, Bahrain, Malaysia, Monaco, Spain and Turkey.
Jake Butler
29th March 2010, 22:45
Tonio Liuzzi becomes the first Force India driver to get 2 points finishes for the outfit. In 2009 both Sutil and Fisico secured one points finish each and in 08 neither opened their accounts.
Every year Lewis Hamilton has scored in the opening 2 rounds he has gone on to challenge for the title.
Button becomes the 2nd driver on the grid to win for 3 seperate teams, and in succession. Will Barrichello or Schumacher take the spoils in Malaysia?
The first wet championship Austrailian gp not to be red flagged at any point.
6 different brits (Button (09, 10), Hamilton (08) Coulthard (97, 03) Irvine (99) Hill(95, 96) Mansell (94)) have won 9 races in austrailia, making them the most successful nation in OZ- statistic for championship races only.
The last Mclaren to win in Austrailia ended up top of the WDC… just off thr top of my head, im sure if i had another half hour i could fill a page!!!
Jake Butler
29th March 2010, 22:54
Robert Kubica scored 2nd place for the 2nd time at the second round of the year (malaysia 2008 for BMW)
Harvs
29th March 2010, 23:00
If the Championship was going to be decided on qualifying position then the Championship would currently look like this…
1. VET 50
2. ALO 30
3. MAS 28
4. WEB 26
5. ROS 18
6. BUT 16
7. HAM 12
8. SCH 12
9. BAR 4
10. KUB 4
11. SUT 2
And the Constructor championship would look like this…
1. RED BULL RACING 76
2. SCUDERIA FERRARI 58
3. MERCEDES PETRONAS 30
4. MCLAREN MERCEDES 28
5. WILLIAMS COSWORTH 4
6. RENAULT 4
7. FORCE INDIA MERCEDES 2
bob
30th March 2010, 7:48
then I put fastest lap ranking:
Web 40
Ham 27
Alo 26
Sut 18
Ros 18
Bar 18
Mas 16
Sch 12
But 10
Liu 8
Kub 4
Alg 4
Bue 1
Btw 0 pts Vettel
Mr. Zing Zang
30th March 2010, 2:52
What about the pass statistics?
David A
30th March 2010, 2:54
I’ve heard there were 32 (11 more than Bahrain).
shery
30th March 2010, 12:49
Button has become the 2nd driver on the grid to win for three different teams..only other driver is fernando alonso
bob
30th March 2010, 13:39
So who will be third: Bari or Schumi? :)
Ben
30th March 2010, 23:40
It might be Fisichella if one of the Ferrari drivers is out of action.
just curious
30th March 2010, 14:00
Am I the only one who saw Vettels’ front left wheel spark against the kerb on his Pole Lap – was this the cause of his wheel failure during the race?
bob
30th March 2010, 16:12
when last time driver who won GP, had been last after some lap?
Paul Gilbert
30th March 2010, 22:21
4th race in a row that the polesitter has suffered some sort of mechanical problem during the race.
Enigma
31st March 2010, 5:05
Amazing! nice spot
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
31st March 2010, 8:51
Hadn’t noticed that at all, nice one Paul.
bob
31st March 2010, 14:38
Cool fact Paul!
Paul Gilbert
31st March 2010, 18:10
Apparently the last time that a team locked out the front row but failed to manage even a podium finish was Australia 2003, when Ferrari locked out the front row, but Barrichello retired early on and Schumacher could only manage 4th (the first race since 1999 without a Ferrari on the podium!).
wasiF1
1st April 2010, 16:24
It was nice to see HRT finishing the race.Good race for Kubica.