I bet Pat Symonds is kicking himself right now.  Fernando Alonso was being held up by Michael Schumacher, who was struggling in his Ferrari, so Renault tries to get some faster laps for Alonso by calling him in early.  The problem was that Ross Brawn simply called Schumacher in on the next lap and he exits just ahead of Alonso making the whole exercise fruitless.  Speculation is that Alonso had another 5 laps of fuel in the car and may have been able to jump ahead of the Ferrari if he stayed out.  Oh well,  hindsight is always 20/20 in these cases.

The truth is that Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari won the race not because it was the fastest car out there but because it is impossible to pass at Imola.  He was a good 2-4 seconds a lap slower after his first pit stop and never really recovered from the loss of grid his used tires suffered.  If he made any mistake at all, Alonso would have passed him for the win.  As we all know, Schumacher rarely makes mistakes and that was the case today.  So, the result shows that Ferrari still has some work to do to catch Renault, but, given the right track and position on it, they can win races.  Having Ferrari in a position to challenge for a win is a good thing for the sport whether or not you are a fan of the Scuderia.

The race was largely a procession with the only bits of excitement being the constant attempt by Alonso to gain the lead from Schumacher, the first corner punt of Christian Albers’ Torro Rosso by the Super Aguri of Ide, and the Jenson Button lollipop incident during his second pit stop.  I can tell you that the Honda team will be holding lollipop exercises over the next couple of weeks to make sure it is not raised until after the fuel rig is removed from the car.  Thankfully no-one was seriously injured by Jenson taking off with the fuel rig attached and collecting a half-dozed pit crew members in the process.

I have to admit that I was surprised that Jacques Villeneuve did not finish any better than 12th.  He was up to sixth in the race with only a single pit stop to go and looked like he would finish in the points.  Unfortunately for him, he suffered from pit lane slowness and dropped back significantly.  Just goes to show, is it did for Button, that no matter what you do on the race track, it can all become unravelled when you stop for tires and fuel. 

McLaren was never really in the race but both Montoya and Raikkonen finished in the points with Juan Pablo salvaging a podium largely thanks to Honda’s misfortune.  Kimi never really had much of a chance to do anything but did finish fifth, just behind the other Ferrari of Felippe Massa.  I’m sure Ron Dennis is happy for the points helping with the quest for the Constructor’s Championship. 

Red Bull had an early exit for both Christian Klien and David Coulthard, while Williams had mixed results with Webber finishing sixth and Rosberg tenth.  The rest of the field was pretty much as expected with the Super Aguri and Midland drivers at the back of the pack.  Full results are as follows:

P. No  Driver       Team - Engine   Tyres   Gaps/Laps     Average
 1.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1h31′06″486  201.261 Km/h  
 2.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   +  0′02″096  201.184 Km/h  
 3.  4  MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes  M   +  0′15″868  200.679 Km/h  
 4.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B   +  0′17″096  200.634 Km/h  
 5.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   +  0′17″524  200.618 Km/h  
 6.  9  WEBBER       Williams Cosworth B   +  0′37″739  199.881 Km/h  
 7. 12  BUTTON       Honda             M   +  0′39″635  199.813 Km/h  
 8.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   +  0′40″200  199.792 Km/h  
 9.  7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   +  0′45″511  199.600 Km/h 
10. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M   +  1′17″851  198.435 Km/h 
11. 10  ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth B   +  1′19″675  198.370 Km/h 
12. 17  VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber        M   +  1′22″370  198.274 Km/h 
13. 16  HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M      1 lap(s)               
14. 20  LIUZZI       Toro Rosso Cosw.  M      1 lap(s)               
15. 21  SPEED        Toro Rosso Cosw.  M      1 lap(s)               
16. 18  MONTEIRO     Midland Toyota    B      2 lap(s)               
17. 14  COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari   M     15 lap(s)               
18. 22  SATO         S. Aguri F1 Honda B     18 lap(s)               
19. 15  KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari   M     22 lap(s)               
20. 23  IDE          S. Aguri F1 Honda B     39 lap(s)               
21.  8  TRULLI       Toyota            B     57 lap(s)               
22. 19  ALBERS       Midland Toyota    B     62 lap(s)               

The current points standings for the drivers championship are:

 Points Driver       Team - Engine     
    36  ALONSO       Renault         
    21  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari         
    18  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  
    15  FISICHELLA   Renault             
    15  MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes  
    13  BUTTON       Honda             
     9  MASSA        Ferrari  
     7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota  
     6  WEBBER       Williams Cosworth  
     5  HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber
     5  VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber  
     2  BARRICHELLO  Honda  
     2  ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth  
     1  COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari  
     1  KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari   

The current points standing for the constructors championship are:

 Points Team - Engine     
    51  Renault         
    33  McLaren Mercedes  
    30  Ferrari         
    15  Honda             
    10  BMW Sauber         
     8  Williams Cosworth  
     7  Toyota
     2  RedBull Ferrari   

It was the only record that I can think of that Michael Schumacher did not hold - the most poles in an F1 career.  Ayrton Senna held it for the longest time with a total of 65 poles in his career and today Michael Schumacher broke it securing his 66th pole position at the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola.  This event is significant for a number of reasons.

The obvious thing here is that if there was any doubt that Michael Schumacher is the greatest Grand Prix driver of all time, securing this one last significant record should lay that to rest.  Now, I’m not saying he is the most exciting F1 racer to watch - for me that title still belongs in a two-way tie between Ayrton Senna and Gilles Villeneuve - but he is the one that has smashed all the records.  I think Alain Prost was a more tactical racer on the track and Nigel Mansell had more passion, but Michael has surpassed them all.  I still remember the Belgian Grand Prix where he made his debut subbing for an injured Thierry Boutsen and raised plenty of eyebrows by his exciting performance in an under-powered car.  Mind you back then all the races were closer than those for most of Michael’s F1 career. 

The second reason that Michael taking the pole is significant is that it may indicate that Ferrari is back on the upswing.  Felippe Massa qualified fourth, which modes well for the team, assuming he makes it through the race.  The pole time was almost 2/10ths ahead of the BAR of Jenson Button so it may indicate that Ferrari could be back to the performance we have grown used to expecting from them, unless they are running a low fuel load, which, knowing the way Ross Brawn works, is possible though unlikely.

The other reason that a Ferrari on the pole is significant is that the Tifosi needed something to smile about after the disasters of Australia and Malaysia.  The Italian press was riding Ferrari quite hard over the last few weeks and the fans were getting worried after such a long dry spell.  They needed something to cheer about and a pole goes part of the way - a win completes it.

The surprises of the session were the second and third place results for Honda, and a fifth and eleventh for Renault.  Jenson Button has been doing well in qualifying so far this year but Rubens Barrichello could not get a handle on his car.  Today, it appears that he and the mechanics and Honda have finally come to an understanding and he is able to get the most out of his car.  Alonso, on the other hand, could not carry the promise show in practice to a result in qualifying.  That notwithstanding, he is one to watch during the race since he could make it to second or even take the lead by the first corner since those Renaults have magic in their starts.

I was a bit disappointed with the seventh and eight place showing of the McLaren runners, so let’s hope they are just carrying a lot of fuel.  The rest of the grid and the results from qualifying are as follows:

P. No  Driver       Team - Engine   Tyres    Times 
 1.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1′22″795                
 2. 12  BUTTON       Honda             M   1′22″988                
 3. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M   1′23″242                
 4.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B   1′23″702                
 5.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   1′23″709                
 6.  7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   1′23″772                
 7.  4  MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes  M   1′24″021                
 8.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   1′24″324                
 9.  8  TRULLI       Toyota            B   1′24″172               
10.  9  WEBBER       Williams Cosworth B   1′24″795     

Scott Speed of Scuderia Torro Rosso lost his 8th, and final points-paying position, to David Coulthard after the stewards decided he passed Coulthard when yellow flags were waving.  As a result, 25 seconds were added to his time losing him the lone point.  Apparently he did no take it that well as he was also fined $5000 for using abusive language with another competitor in the meeting.  How much do you want to bet he was talking to and about the guy that got his point in the end?

Wasn’t that an exciting finish to the Australian Grand Prix??  I’m not talking about Fernando Alonso winning the race - that was a forgone conclusion as soon as he took the lead.  No, I mean the way Jenson Button’s Honda engine exlpoded on the main straight within pushing distance of the finish line.  Martin Brundle and James Allen of ITV were urging him to get out and push.  If he did, he may have actually gotten a point instead of finishing 10th.  Who know’s?  Maybe he’s picking up some of that bad luck from Kimi Raikkonen, who managed to finish second?

I have to admit that I was quite proud of Canada’s own Jacques Villeneuve.  Starting 19th and finishing 6th is quite an accomplishment, especially when you only took on one set of tires (most others had two tire changes) and had a heavier fuel load than most other drivers.  I believe that if we did not have so many Safety Car periods he may have finished even further up the grid.  Even better, both BMW Saubers finished in the points with Nick Heidfeld picking up 4th place.  Heidfeld lost 3rd to Ralf Schumacher on a re-start otherwise we could have seen the first podium for the newly BMW-owned team.

The story of the race has to be the sheer number of accidents.  It was exciting to watch until the Safety Car came out then the cars parade around the track, waving and bobbing to keep their tires warm on a relativelty cool day in Melbourne.  The restarts were priceless with Fernando Alonso having a distinct future in Champ Cars if he ever gets bored with F1.  He controlled the pace of the restarts and took off 6 seconds ahead of everyone else by the time they crossed the finish line.  Mind you, having a couple of Midland F1s between you and Kimi Rakonnen always helps.

On the Ferrari saga, Ross Brawn had nothing up his sleeve.  Both Ferraris crashed out of the race with Massa not even getting a single lap in.  I think he managed to at least take the first corner and that was that.  Nico Rosberg of Williams was also out as a result of that first corner incident.  Michael Schumacher, who was as inconsistent as he has almost never been, hit a bad bump in the grass on the final corner and crashed his Ferrari into the wall and then walked into the Toyota pits.  Looking for his brother maybe??

Another notable crash, or failure to finish, included Juan Montoya, who also hit the same patch of grass as Schumacher but managed to save it only to have the car shut off by itself.  Could this be one of those new McLaren features to save costs by not allowing a car to crash?   In any case, he was rather animanted talking to his mechanics after he got to the pits clearly trying to convince them that it was not his fault.  Other than that, he had a great race and the first lap action of Montoya and Raikkonen battling for position reminded me of that other battling McLaren duo from days gone by - Alain Prost and the late great Ayrton Senna.  The only difference between then and now is that McLaren’s were winning most of the races back then.

Neither of the Williams cars managed to cross the finish line, with Mark Webber going out of his home Grand Prix leading the race.  He wasn’t going to keep the lead but he could have gotten a podium had his car not expired.  This makes two races in a row where neither Williams finished, which I’m sure is not making Sir Frank all that happy. 

Finally, other quick snippets of excitement included Liuzzi in the Toro Rosso passing Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari, which led Louise Goodman of ITV ask if the Cosworth V10-powered Torro Rosso cars have an unfair advantage, to which Schumacher replied No, it just shows how slow we are.  Another similar example of a B team trumping a top team is Takuma Sato of the Super Aguri keeping his Honda-powered 2002 Arrows chassis (modified to 2006 specs) convincingly ahead of Rubens Barrichello’s works Honda.  The only consistent thing about driver performance was Fernando Alonso was consistently fast (Fisichella got publicly chastised on the team radio by his engineer for being 2 seconds a lap slower with the same fuel load), and the Midland F1 team was consistently slow - a set of moving chicanes if you will.

The official results of the Australian Grand Prix are:

P. No  Driver       Team - Engine   Tyres   Gaps/Laps     Average 
 1.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   1h34′27″870  191.990 Km/h  
 2.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   +  0′01″829  191.928 Km/h  
 3.  7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   +  0′24″824  191.153 Km/h  
 4. 16  HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M   +  0′31″032  190.945 Km/h  
 5.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   +  0′38″421  190.698 Km/h  
 6. 17  VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber        M   +  0′49″554  190.326 Km/h  
 7. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda             M   +  0′51″904  190.248 Km/h  
 8. 14  COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari   M   +  0′53″983  190.179 Km/h  
 9. 21  SPEED        Toro Rosso Cosw.  M   +  1′18″817  189.357 Km/h 
10. 12  BUTTON       Honda             M      1 lap(s)               
11. 19  ALBERS       Midland Toyota    B      1 lap(s)               
12. 22  SATO         S. Aguri F1 Honda B      2 lap(s)               
13. 23  IDE          S. Aguri F1 Honda B      3 lap(s)               
14.  4  MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes  M     11 lap(s)               
15. 18  MONTEIRO     Midland Toyota    B     18 lap(s)               
16. 20  LIUZZI       Toro Rosso Cosw.  M     20 lap(s)               
17.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B     25 lap(s)               
18.  9  WEBBER       Williams Cosworth B     35 lap(s)               
19. 15  KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari   M     53 lap(s)               
20.  8  TRULLI       Toyota            B     57 lap(s)               
21. 10  ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth B     57 lap(s)               
22.  6  MASSA        Ferrari           B     57 lap(s)               

The current points standings for the drivers championship are:

 Points Driver       Team - Engine     
    28  ALONSO       Renault         
    14  FISICHELLA   Renault             
    14  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  
    11  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari         
    11  BUTTON       Honda             
     9  MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes  
     7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota  
     5  HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber
     5  VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber  
     4  MASSA        Ferrari  
     3  WEBBER       Williams Cosworth  
     2  BARRICHELLO  Honda  
     2  ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth  
     1  COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari  
     1  KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari   

The current points standing for the constructors championship are:

 Points Team - Engine     
    42  Renault         
    23  McLaren Mercedes  
    15  Ferrari         
    13  Honda             
    10  BMW Sauber         
     7  Toyota
     5  Williams Cosworth  
     2  RedBull Ferrari   

The land down under hosts the third Grand Prix of the season in the lovely city of Melbourne.  I can say that from experience having had the pleasure of visiting the city some years ago.  The Albert Park Circuit is also a fun one to watch, thought I’ve actually not been there myself during the F1 weekend.   

Australia is usually where the season kicks off but this year the Commonwealth Games forced the organizers to move the race to a point slightly later in the year.  No matter, Merlbourne is always a fun one to watch.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Jacques Villeneuve’s dramatic F1 debut where he took pole position in his very first race at the then season-opening Australian Grand Prix at this same race track.  He would have won the race too had it not been for an oil leak that forced him to let his then team-mate Damon Hill pass forcing Jacques to finish second.  This year Jacques also qualified well for BMW Sauber by making it to the third session and setting the 9th best time.  The only downside is that he had an engine change earlier in the weekend which means he starts 19th.

Qualifying was exciting and challenging, or so it appears.  There was a red flag in each of the two first sessions effectively making qualifying a 5 session event instead of 3.  A lot of drivers seemed to get caught by the tighter quarters of a street circuit after the wide open spaces of Bahrain and Sepang, with Felipe Massa destroying his Ferrari after a spin across the gravel trap.  In fact, neither of the Ferraris made it to the final session prompting many to wonder if this is a ploy by Ross Brawn, the master strategist, or simply Ferrari’s lack of speed.  Only tomorow will tell.

The surprise of qualifying was Jenson Button who managed to place his Honda on pole position displacing the Renault team for the first time this year.  Honda was boasting before qualifying started that this will be the weekend they get pole position and their first race win.  Jenson got the pole position and we’ll see if he can finally manage to win a race.  Rubens, on the other hand, did not fare as well and is starting 16th (as of now - things could change).

The results of qualifying are:

P. No  Driver       Team - Engine   Tyres    Times  
 1. 12  BUTTON       Honda             M   1′25″229                
 2.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault           M   1′25″635                
 3.  1  ALONSO       Renault           M   1′25″778                
 4.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes  M   1′25″822                
 5.  4  MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes  M   1′25″946                
 6.  7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   1′26″612                
 7.  9  WEBBER       Williams Cosworth B   1′26″937                
 8. 16  HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M   1′27″579                
 9. 17  VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber        M   1′29″239               
10.  8  TRULLI       Toyota            B   1′26″327      

The actual starting grid for the race currently stands at:

 P. No  Driver       Team - Engine
 1. 12  BUTTON       Honda   
 2.  2  FISICHELLA   Renault 
 3.  1  ALONSO       Renault         
 4.  3  RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes   
 5.  4  MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes   
 6.  7  R.SCHUMACHER Toyota  
 7.  9  WEBBER       Williams Cosworth  
 8. 16  HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber 
 9.  8  TRULLI       Toyota          
10.  5  M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari   
11. 14  COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari 
12. 20  LIUZZI       Toro Rosso Cosw. 
13. 15  KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari 
14. 10  ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth 
15.  6  MASSA        Ferrari        
16. 11  BARRICHELLO  Honda          
17. 19  ALBERS       Midland Toyota  
18. 21  SPEED        Toro Rosso Cosw. 
19. 17  VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber 
20. 18  MONTEIRO     Midland Toyota  
21. 22  SATO         S. Aguri F1 Honda 
22. 23  IDE          S. Aguri F1 Honda