Formula 1 Melbourne 2009 Race Result
March 29th, 2009 by James | This article was viewed 2,280 times.The Formula 1 race started in Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia 2009 with the KERS drivers doing all the actions.
The Ferraris started the race with super soft, coupled with KERS system, quickly got up to 3rd and 5th place for Massa and Raikkonen.
Rubens Barrichello had an awful start due the anti stall kicked in at the start of the race. Rubens also caused trouble in the first corner knocking the Australian driver, Webber that resulted an accident with Heidfeld and Kovaleinen’s retirement in lap 2.
Button got the perfect start of the race, securing his line to the first corner. At the end of lap 3, button is already 4 seconds faster than second runner Sebastian Vettel. In the mean time, Hamilton in the super soft used his KERS effectively at the back end of the race.
In lap 10, Kimi Raikkonen lost 2 places to Rosberg and Rubens in lap 10 due to the super soft tyres graining very badly. Apparently, the super soft tyres were bad choice made by the teams, so the Ferraris and Mclaren had to come in a few laps earlier just to change their grained tyres.
Nico Rosberg’s plan to pass the Ferrari was compromised as he was delayed in the pits in lap 16. Both Massa and Kimi passed him as he comes out of the pits.
Nakajima spun in between turn 3 and 4 on lap 17. Jenson Button from Brawn GP went into the pits as soon as he gets the news and surprisingly the safety car comes out only after Button leaves the pit.
As the race restarted, everybody tackled first corner cautiously except for young Piquet who spun off the racetrack due to the cold tyres. Massa were unable to overtake Sebastian Vettel for P2 as Lewis Hamilton went up to P11 pushing Timo Glock back with his KERS. Jenson Button lose all his built-up lead to Vettel.
At lap 34 Kubica is chasing down Vettel but unfortunately was unable to overtake the charging Red Bull and went into pits at lap 39. Raikkonen also went into the pits at lap 39.
At the closing stages of the race, Hamilton went into pits at Lap 44 and came out right in front of Massa. Massa was unable to follow him while Kimi Raikkonen spun at lap 45 and recovered without any damage. On lap 47, Massa Slowed down and retired.
Button’s pitstop at lap 47 was awful as the main fuel hose failed. Ross Brawn commented that the Brawn GP guys were just taking it easy. He did not lose his position but Vettel was just right behind him.
At lap 52, Rubens Barrichello entered the pits from P3 place dropping to P5, this allowed kubica to chase up with Button and Vettel.
Nico Rosberg is struggling for pace and lost his place to Barrichello who has a less bumpy road on his side of the track. Trulli also passed Nico Rosberg at Lap 54. After awhile Hamilton overtook him again, Nico Rosberg was struggling with his graining soft tyre.
With just 2 lap remaining, Sebastian vettel went too deep and was aligned by Robert Kubica. They bumped and both of them crashed into separate walls after a few meters of driving.
Safety car was deployed and comes into the pits at the end of last lap as Jenson Button wins the Grand Prix in Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia without any mistakes.
Rubens Barrichello finished a lucky second, along with three drivers who started at the back of the grid, Trulli (P3) from Toyota, Hamilton (P4) of Mclaren and Timo Glock (P5) from Toyota.
Race Results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time/Retired |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes | Winner |
| 2 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn-Mercedes | +0.8 secs |
| 3 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | +1.6 secs |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | +2.9 secs |
| 5 | Timo Glock | Toyota | +4.4 secs |
| 6 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | +4.8 secs |
| 7 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | +5.7 secs |
| 8 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | +6.0 secs |
| 9 | Sebastien Bourdais | STR-Ferrari | +6.2 secs |
| 10 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | +6.3 secs |
| 11 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | +7.0 secs |
| 12 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India-Mercedes | +7.3 secs |
| 13 | Mark Webbe | RBR-Renault | +1 Lap |
| 14 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | +2 Laps |
| 15 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | +3 Laps |
| 16 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | +3 Laps |
| Ret | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | +13 Laps |
| Ret | Nelsinho Piquet | Renault | +34 Laps |
| Ret | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams-Toyota | +41 Laps |
| Ret | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren-Mercedes | +58 Laps |
As a conclusion to the race, like most of the drivers expected, KERS is extremely useful during overtaking. We’ll definitely be looking at more cars with KERS in Malaysia.







April 10th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
I was glad to see that Brawn Racing is doing well, its kinda of a refreshing thing to the Formula 1 Scene :) And they followed it up 2 weeks in a row! Maybe Rubens Barrichello can get the win next at china?
April 11th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Indeed it is exciting to see a different team winning at the start of the grand prix. However, I have a feeling that Brawn GP is a step faster than the rest of the pack and would dominate F1.
I hope somebody like RedBull would make a difference because I want to see Championship finishes like 2007 and 2008.
Maybe Jenson Button can crash out in China and let somebody else from other team win. Like Sebastian Vettel.
April 11th, 2009 at 7:26 pm
Yeah I definitely hope for a redbull in victory lane this season, I think it would be fun to see Sebastian Vettel win, I think the kid deserves it. :)