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Melbourne F1 Grand Prix – update Stosur Moves Into Miami Quarters

Button Wins Back-to-Back Melbourne F1 GPs

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Formula One Drivers Championship carsThey said the Bahrain F1 GP was boring, well Melbourne sure changed all that. There was action aplenty right from the start of the race at Albert Park.

On the first corner Jenson Button made contact with Fernando Alonso and sent the race one winner into a spin. Alonso was at the back of the race and Sebastian Vettel charged off in the lead. Michael Schumacher was caught up in the Alonso-Button incident and was forced to pit to replace the front wing.

At the same time as this Massa edged past Webber to take P2. Hamilton also made some good ground.

Still on the first lap came a big crash as Kamui Kobayashi lost control of his car down the right side of the track, he then came flying back across the bunch and collected Nico Hulkenberg. This could have easily been a lot worse, thankfully there appeared to be no injuries.

This crash brought out the safety car, which by the way is a flash looking Mercedes.

After a few laps under the safety car it was back to full throttle racing. Vettel continued to lead the field and was looking on track to take a well deserved win. That was until he was again hit with bad luck as brake failure saw him lock up and then just go straight off the track into a gravel trap. Race over for Vettel on lap 25.

Before Vettel left the track we had seen seven other cars retire. All up we had 10 retirements.

With Vettel gone it was now the 2009 race winner and World Champion Jenson Button who was out in front. He managed to keep things that way as the action took place behind him.

Perhaps McLaren made a tactical error when they asked Lewis Hamilton to pit to get fresh tyres but in the end it is hard to say. After getting new tyres he made good ground on the two Ferrari’s  and looked likely to get past. As has been seen before it can be one thing to go fast in the clear but when close behind another car the aerodynamics change and it is difficult to pass.

As Hamilton looked likely to pass Alonso after the Ferrari driver locked brakes, Mark Webber lost downforce on his car and made contact with Hamilton, both cars went off, but recovered to rejoin the race. Webber had to pit for a new front wing and ended the race in 9th while Hamilton held on for 6th.

Ahead of that battle we saw Button cross for the win. He was 12 seconds ahead of Robert Kubica who surprised many by guiding his Renault to second place. Next came Massa, Alonso and Rosberg.

After Webber’s pitstop Liuzzi in the Force India car moved up to take 7th with Barrichello 8th. Michael Schumacher after being at the back of the field after pitting for a new wing took the final points scoring position in P10.

Just four other cars completed the race. The last of them was Karun Chandhok in the HRT-Cosworth. He was five laps down.

So there we have it. Button is again the winner in Melbourne. The F1 championship heads to Malaysia for another race next weekend.

The weekends results sees Fernando Alonso still leading the Formula One drivers championship with 37 points. His teammate Massa is second on 33 points. Button is third with 31, Hamilton 23, Rosberg 20, Kubica 18, Vettel 12, Schumacher 9, Liuzzi 8, Webber  on 6 points rounds out the top ten.

Ferrari leads the contructors championship with 70 points ahead of McLaren on 54, Mercedes GP is in third with 29, Renault fourth with 18 as are Red Bull Racing.

After two races Red Bull clearly have the pace to win races, the problem is reliability, at least for Vettel.

The Easter weekend will see the action take place in Malaysia. Next up is the Chinese grand prix on 16-18 April. The European leg gets underway with the Spanish GP on the weekend of 7-9 May, this is followed by Monte Carlo on 13-16 May.

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