Formula 1 Qualifying session 2009 started out in Melbourne, Australia with a blast! Every qualifying sessions was breathtaking. In the end of the day, Brawn GP savoured their first and second with only 1 second separating them from 10th place, Mark Webber.

Albert Park Qualifying 1

Never once in formula 1 where every teams were restless in qualifying 1. Even Mclarens and Ferraris were restless, in fact, they were struggling. The only team that is not struggling this weekend is Brawn GP.

Both STR Ferrari and Force India along with rookie Sebastian Buemi failed to advance to Q2. Lewis Hamilton struggled pass Q1 but had reported to have a gear problem in Q2.

Albert Park Qualifying 2

As Lewis had retired from the qualifying, the other 14 runners fight for the first position. Until a point where the first 9 runners were only 0.2 seconds apart! This is how competitive every team is.

Both the Mclaren Mercedes did not pass through Q2. Surprisingly Fernando Alonso did not advance to Q1 despite the confident talks last week. Kazuki Nakajima failed to advance as well.

The weird thing is Nick Heldfeld, the only BMW Sauber that is mounted with KERS, did not pass through as well. Does that mean that KERS fitted engines were outperformed by cars without KERS?

Albert Park Qualifying 3

The pole shootout was superb. Both the Brawn GPs were on their league of their own. Jenson Button will be starting from pole position with his 1.26.202 qualifying time alongside with his teammate Rubens Barrichello, just 0.3 away.

Racing genius Sebastian Vettel will be starting at 3rd position followed by Kubica, Rosberg, Glock.

The Ferraris will start at 7th and 9th position with Jarno Trulli in the middle. Australian favourite Mark Webber will be starting at 10th position.

Qualifying Standing

The chart has been overturned. Midfielders in 2008 are now up front and front runners 2008 will stuck in midfield in Melbourn GP. Tomorrow’s race at 5PM local time will be extremely interesting.

Update #1: Unfortunately for the reigning champion Lewis Hamilton, he has been dropped back 5 places. His gear box failed this evening and he will be starting at 20th place at the end of the grid.

Update #2: After the post-qualifying inspection, both the Toyota F1 cars were found to have some sort of “degree of freedom” with their aerofoils on the spoiler. Thus both Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli will be at 19th and 20th position. Hamilton has been pushed up to 18th from the grid. I guess this is what Martin Whitmarsh calls it “Damage limitation”.