| The Spaniard once again remained above the passions that boiled over in the race Fernando Alonso completed his performance at the Melbourne circuit with his second victory of the season. Now he has 28 points out of 30 possible. Kimi Raikkonen from McLaren lost just over a second to the Renault driver. Ralf Schumacher finished the race in third place, giving Toyota its first podium of the season.
Despite the tiny gap from the second prize-winner, it cannot be said that the champion had to try very hard to achieve his cherished goal. Fernando confidently controlled everything that happened in the race. The Spaniard kept his rivals at a decent distance for almost the entire distance, only allowing Raikkonen to get closer on the last lap. The radio dialogue that followed after the Spaniard’s lost pace was noticed on the command bridge of the French stable is quite eloquent:
-What's the matter? - asked the concerned team leader Flavio Briatore.
“I’m just relaxing,” came the relaxed answer.
“Well, you’re not very there,” the boss asked, rather as a precaution.
The absence of a fight for first place, however, does not mean that the race was uninteresting. The Australian Grand Prix has always been characterized by an increased accident rate, and this year was no exception. Already in qualifying, Felipe Massa had an unpleasant incident, crashing his Ferrari. The Scuderia's cars, which after the second stage were carefully analyzed for compliance with technical regulations, noticeably lost speed and controllability over the course of three weeks. Perhaps the opponents of the Italians were right, claiming that the too flexible aerodynamic tail of the “red” cars did not quite comply with the rules. McLaren and BMW also came under suspicion. And although the FIA inspectors did not officially find any violations, these teams were required to make changes to the aerodynamic packages at an unofficial level. As it turned out, Ferrari suffered the most, whose cars are also experiencing problems with tires, similar to those that hampered the racers last year.
Massa was also unlucky in the race in which he participated, as they say, until the first post. This pillar turned out to be Christian Klin's Red Bull, which maneuvered too actively in the first turn. Massa's Ferrari flew to the safety barrier from the impact, cutting off the tail of Nico Rosberg's Williams along the way. For both, the race was over, and Klin continued on his way. However, although this moment turned out to be the most impressive at the start, some pilots were able to distinguish themselves even earlier. During the warm-up lap, Juan Pablo Montoya's McLaren spun. While the Colombian was clumsily returning to the right direction, risking being late for the green traffic light, Giancarlo Fisichella's hand rose up - the Renault, which had already taken its starting position, stalled. As a result, Montoya still made it to the start, and Fisichella was forced to start from the pits, exchanging second position for a place at the back of the peloton.
Fernando Alonso benefited the most from this. For him now there is no more dangerous opponent than his own teammate. The Spaniard did not seem to take pole position holder Jenson Button seriously. Having qualified third, the Spaniard complained about Nick Heidfeld, who ruined his fast lap, but did not look too upset, because this season this is his best result in qualifying. Having lost support or, on the contrary, competition from his partner, the champion focused on Button. Having made a couple of attempts to overtake the Englishman’s Honda, but having encountered stiff resistance, he decided to moderate his ardor, waiting for a more favorable situation, which was created by Massa’s accident. The restart from the move went better for Alonso, who dived ahead of Button already into the first turn.
Jenson, of course, was frankly unlucky. The Safety Car appeared on the track four times, and in three of them Button lost one position. “Every time after the restart I took a very long time to warm up the tires and lost too much time,” he complained after the race.
The driver of the safety car did not remain unemployed for long. Only six laps had passed since the first accident, and Christian Klin caused the second. True, he did not ram anyone else, having checked the strength of the fence around the highway. Michael Schumacher made the yellow flashing lights of his official car turn on for the third time. The Ferrari of the most titled driver behaved uncontrollably for almost the entire race. If you didn’t know in advance who was sitting behind the wheel of a car flying from side to side in every turn, you would think that it was some newcomer trying out his fragile strength. The “great and terrible” himself was in the cockpit and demonstrated impressive speed. But once again throwing the car too wide into the turn, at the exit from it Shumi ended up with an uncontrollable stallion trying to jump over the barrier on the fly.
Toyota experienced similar difficulties with Bridgestone tires. But the Japanese brought modified tires to Australia that are capable of maintaining operating temperature even in relatively cool conditions. And it seems that things are getting better at Toyota. Although it is difficult to regard Ralf Schumacher's single success as anything other than a lucky coincidence. The younger Schumi himself did not try to hide this: “I was very lucky with the periods when there was a safety car on the track. We are still behind the top teams, but we know a way to get closer to them."
Already at the finish line, Button and Fisichella acted out a skit with which, in fact, the race was supposed to begin. Giancarlo, rising from the depths after a bad start, actively put pressure on Jenson. The Englishman pushed his Honda to the limit, but held on to fifth place. It was only a matter of time before the checkered flag when the Honda engine still couldn’t withstand the frantic pace of the chase. Having spewed out a column of fire, smoke and oil, in which Fisichella almost disappeared, the Englishman’s car froze a few meters from the cherished line. A truly electrifying finale.
Just a few hours after the end of the race, the fate of eighth place became clear. American Scott Speed showed his violent temper both on and off the track. First, he lost eighth place and his first point in F1 (25 second penalty) for overtaking David Coulthard under yellow flags, and then another $5 thousand for insulting the Scot during the review of the incident.
Australian Grand Prix. Melbourne. April 2.
1. Alonso (Renault) - 1 hour 34 minutes. 27 sec. 2. Raikkonen (McLaren) - lag 1.8 seconds. 3. R. Schumacher (Toyota) - 24. 4. Heidfeld (BMW) - 31. 5. Fisichella (Renault) - 38. 6. Villeneuve (BMW) - 49. 7. Barrichello ( Honda - 51. 8. Coulthard (Red Bull) - 53.
Personal competition. Alonso - 28 points, Fisichella, Raikkonen - 14 each, M. Schumacher (Ferrari), Button (Honda) - 11 each.
Constructors' Cup. Renault - 42, McLaren - 23, Ferrari - 15, Honda - 13. Dmitry SITNIK |
|
