Fisichella storms to Australia victory
Renault's Giancarlo Fisichella had about as perfect a race weekend
as one can have, capturing pole position, and more or less leading the entire Australian Grand Prix en route to his
second F1 victory (and his first well deserved podium celebration). With the new two-session aggregate qualifying
system in play, and rearing its ugly head due to torrential rains during the first session, the starting grid was
noticably jumbled, with Michael Schumacher's Ferrari starting on the back row behind both Minardi's and
Jordan-Midland's machines. The expectation of seeing good racing was quickly put to rest as it became apparent that
regulations changes, designed to reduce costs and improve racing, were doing little to help the on-track action.
One of those rules, that an engine must last through two race weekends, was immediately shown to have glaring
loopholes for teams to exploit. It would appear that both BAR Honda and Ferrari ‘retired’ Jenson Button and Michael
Schumacher’s cars from the race in order to have the ablility to start the next race with a fresh engine. The fact that
Button posted his fastest lap the lap prior to ‘retiring’ should raise a few eyebrows. The new tire rules, namely that
a car must use a single set of tires for the entire race, should actually help the racing by forcing drivers to
conserve their tires to last the entire race distance. That in and of itself should provide for some opportunity for
some racing. However, FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting, quickly backpedaled on the rule, and would allow teams to
change one tire per pitstop.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of the race weekend was the pace of the new Red Bull Racing team, which finished with
both cars in points (fouth and seventh), with David Coulthard in podium position for much of the race, and holding off
BMW.Williams’ Mark Webber for much of the race. It appears that Red Bull may have what it takes to get where Jaguar
Racing so often talked about.
Perhaps the biggest disappointment of the race was the incident between Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher and BMW.Williams’ Nick Heidfeld on lap 43. Schumacher having just pitted was still bringing his tires up to temperature, and a noticably quicker Nick Heidfeld was attempting to pass. Schumacher, threw a noticable blocking maneuver which forced Heidfeld onto the inside grass and as he corrected back into Schumacher spinning them both into the gravel. Heidfeld retired on the spot, while Schumacher was able to be pushed from the gravel by safety workers, but slowly made his way back around to the pits where he promptly retired.
The opening round showed where each team lies relative to one another, after race one, Renault appears to be the team to beat, but Mercedes-McLaren, BMW.Williams, Ferrari and perhaps even Red Bull if they can continue their form will be looking to continue to challenge. The Malaysian Grand Prix is two weeks away…
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
ThomD 11:02PM (12/18/2005)
OH MY GOD! Autoblog did it again. Didn't we have a little talk about not giving race results in the intro paragraph, or WORSE in the title (think RSS)? Fortunately, for me, I don't follow F1, but I'm sure a couple of fellow blogsians are not going to be happy about this.
Please Autoblog, you have an aweome power, only use it for good.
-t
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tr 11:02PM (12/18/2005)
i was so hoping for a Red Bull podium spot, to finally bury the disappointment of the old Jaguar team. but 4th isn't bad at all. and it was nice to Coulthard place in front of the Mclaren drivers.
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Brian 11:02PM (12/18/2005)
I'm sure most of the people who really follow Formula One enough to care probably watched the race when it was on the first time.
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Vexorg 11:02PM (12/18/2005)
Hopefully it doesn't take long before the people in charge figure out that these new rules on tires and engines are a crock and do away with them. Probably about the time we see everyone out of the points on the next race "retire" in order to get a new engine. Two races on an engine I can actually see (although the loophole they've thrown in is freakishly huge) but FIA eventually wants that number to be eight races, which is ridiculous. The sheer stupidity of the FIA people in charge never ceases to amaze me. More and more, it seems obvious that they want a spec series, and that's what they're trying to turn F1 into.
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forma3 11:02PM (12/18/2005)
David is right, those that follow F1 are likely to already know the results. I, for one, an am avid F1 fan, so I watched the live race yesterday.
Suffice to say, as a big Renault fan, I was quite pleased with the result. I can't say the tire rule bothers me too much, few teams seemed to experience many problems in that regard (Trulli's Toyota, which suffered from blistering tires the only exception that comes to mind).
The engine rule however appears due for a quick adjustment. I can't imagine how FIA would leave it in for much longer. Otherwise we'll see everyone past position eight (the last position that awards championship points) retire without taking the checkered flag.
Good coverage with the above by the way. I would note that the two-session aggregate qualifying hardly was "rearing its ugly head" since the positions would have been jumbled in a similar fashion if it had rained in a single-session structure. Those that posted good times in the first session ended up in similar spots for the next session and into the race.
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forma3 11:02PM (12/18/2005)
Er, not David, Brian is right. Mental lapse there...
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Perry 11:02PM (12/18/2005)
Please, no more result on the front page. I am a huge F1 fan. I occasionally watch the F1 race on my ReplayTV. It always bugs me that I see the result on ESPN Sports Center or some other websites by accident. Or, at least don't give out any hints on the front page. Other wise, I have to avoid all car or news related websites until I finish my F1.
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camson 11:02PM (12/18/2005)
Nice wrap up.. look forward to seeing one of these for each race this season. Although, I do understand why giving away the result in the title is a nuisance for some. Perhaps a spoiler notifying headline might be a good idea? Nonetheless.. great work from my perspective :)
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ThomD 11:02PM (12/18/2005)
Brian, forma3 - one word for you - Tivo. Sporting events are especially suited for Tivo because you can replay the parts you want to see agin, not what the announcers think you want to see again.
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David Thomas 11:02PM (12/18/2005)
For F1 which is huge I don't think we can forego the results. You don't see the Chicago papers not report a Cubs score cause some readers might have tivoed it. We'll take the winners name out of headlines though.
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ThomD 11:02PM (12/18/2005)
David,
I think leaving the results out of the headline is a good solution. Thanks
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