HRT 2011 Australian GP Analysis
March 30th, 2011

Tonio Liuzzi – DNQ

Managed to be 1.8 seconds outside the 107% qualifying cut of time. That’s actually not bad considering the car basically hadn’t had any real running until qualifying.

Narain Karthikeyan – DNQ

Narain was over 1.5 seconds slower than Tonio, that’s not good but he is only just back in Formula 1 and basically hasn’t driven a grand prix car for years until qualifying. Still, he will struggle to keep up with Liuzzi.

The Team

A terrible pre-season preparation led to a terrible showing in Australia. With that said it looks like the car is fundamentally good based on the time Liuzzi managed. If they manage more running time in practice for the next grand prix I don’t expect the team fail to qualify again.

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Mercedes-Benz 2011 Australian GP Analysis
March 30th, 2011

Nico Rosberg – DNF

Looks to have been on to score a few points but an overzealous maneuver from Barrichello caused the end of his race. A good effort in qualifying saw him in the top 10 and ahead of his teammate, but with that said I’m sure Nico would have been hoping for a race winning car this season which doesn’t look like he will get.

Michael Schumacher – DNF

Schumacher’s race effectively lasted 3 turns before a collision causes his right rear tyre to fail. Even so he still qualified behind his team mate Rosberg so at this stage it looks like things have continued from where they ended last year. Michael will surely want to correct this soon, whether he can or not is to be seen.

The Race

The team had various problems this weekend which hampered their ability to setup the car properly, nevertheless I don’t expect them to be challenging for race wins this year. They may get the odd podium but when you consider they have at least Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Renault ahead of them in terms of performance it will be big mountain to climb.

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Williams 2011 Australian GP Analysis
March 29th, 2011

Rubens Barrichello – DNF

The accident with Rosberg put a black mark on an otherwise good showing from Rubens. A transmission problem ultimately ended his race early but he was well down the order at this stage. Hard to see what he was thinking with that attempt at an overtake, clumsy is an understatement.

Pastor Maldonado – DNF

Hard to comment about Maldonado performance this weekend as he only managed 8 laps before his transmission failed. He was out-qualified by his team mate by close to half a second, but this was his first GP.

The Team

Two transmission issues for the Williams team caused both cars to fail to finish. This is a far cry from the Williams team of 15 years ago where championships were the norm. I hate to say this because Williams is such a great team, but they look to be cemented in the midfield for the foreseeable future. Can’t see them winning races anytime soon.

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Virgin 2011 Australian GP Analysis
March 29th, 2011

Jérôme d’Ambrosio – 14th

An uneventful race but a good effort from d’Ambrosio to bring the car home on his first attempt. Jerome managed to stay pretty close to Glock for the first part of the grand prix and showed good pace throughout the race. Obviously still early days for him but a good first showing.

Timo Glock – Not Classified

Timo doesn’t really deserve to be driving at the back of the field but unfortunately that’s where he finds himself at the moment. For the equipment he had under him his speed was good, being able to keep up with the Lotus cars well. Unfortunately a botched pit stop caused him to lose a number of laps, from there it was just driving around to bring the car home.

The Team

I don’t expect much from Virgin this year. I don’t think their packages is good enough to challenge Lotus so I’m expecting the Virgin cars to be at the back of the field this year.

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Team Lotus 2011 Australian GP Analysis
March 29th, 2011

Jarno Trulli – 13th

Jarno didn’t make much impression on the race, his pace was not enough to stay with the midfield while also being great enough to stay well clear of the Virgin cars.

Heikki Kovalainen – DNF

Kovalainen was in contention with the midfield early in the race but a water leak ended his day early. Unlikely to have been able to stay will the midfield pack for the whole race.

The Team

In qualifying the team was well off the pace compared to where they want to be, however they did show better performance during the race. The Lotus team is insisting that their performance this weekend did not show their true potential and that they will perform better in Malaysia. We shall see.

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Toro Rosso 2011 Australian GP Analysis
March 28th, 2011

Sébastien Buemi – 8th

Buemi had a good race this weekend, being promoted to 8th place from his 10th place finish due to the disqualification of the Sauber cars. He managed to qualify in the top 10 and showed good pace throughout the race although damaged to his car caused by his team mate slowed down his speed slightly.

Jaime Alguersuari – 11th

A messy race from Jaime, all caused during the first lap. First he tagged the back of his team mate and then was hit by Michael Schumacher, causing Jaime to lose his front wing. From there it was just a recovery drive from him but did not have the speed to get into the points. He was out qualified by his team mate, so he’ll be looking to change that at the next race.

The Team

A good step forward from the team with the end result not necessarily being what they deserved. You can expect more points finishes from the team in the future. Still a mid-field team however with their likely opposition being Sauber, Williams, Force India and possibly Mercedes and Lotus.

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Ferrari 2011 Australian GP Analysis
March 28th, 2011

Fernando Alonso – 4th

Alonso got the maximum performance out of a car which was unable to compete with the Red Bulls and McLarens, however a three stop pit strategy cost him a podium position. He was chasing down Petrov in the closing stages of the racing, having fresher tyres than the Russian, but just ran out of time. We may see that scenario a few times this year, were a car with fresh tyres is chasing down a car which has made fewer stops.

Felipe Massa – 7th

Massa got off to a good start, but it was immediately clear that he did not have the same performance as the other front running cars. Massa struggled with high degradation of his tyres so Ferrari will need to analyze this. Tyre management is crucial this season and you will be on the back foot if you use up your tyres quicker than your competitors.

The Team

A lot of work to do for Ferrari if they want to win races this year, they weren’t close to the front running Red Bull and McLaren this weekend. It will be interesting to know if the Ferrari was even capable of the two stop strategy, if the car uses its tyres quicker than other cars then it doesn’t bode well for the future. Still too early to tell if this is the case though.

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Renault 2011 Australian GP Analysis
March 28th, 2011

Vitaly Petrov – 3rd

A brilliant performance from Petrov earned him 3rd place. While his closest competition opted for a three stop strategy, Vitaly went for just two stops, which gave him enough of an advantage to secure his first podium position. He never had any direct competitors around him so it was all a matter of driving quickly and consistently to make the two stop strategy. In the final moments of the race the fast closing Alonso put some pressure on him, but he managed it well. It’s now time for Petrov to prove he is a class act and to show he belongs in grand prix racing.

Nick Heidfeld – 12th

Pretty simple to sum up Nick Heidfeld’s weekend: disappointing. A poor qualifying performance and a first lap collision spoilt his race, but the fact is he was out-performed by his teammate all weekend. This is Heidfeld’s last chance in Formula 1, he needs to step up otherwise he’ll find himself looking elsewhere for his motor racing.

The Team

Renault have taken a clear step up this year, they are unable to challenge the Red Bulls at this stage but should be able to put pressure on the McLarens and Ferraris. One does have to wonder how Kubica would have gone in Australia if he was available, would he have been able to challenge Hamilton? Vettel? Probably not, but something we will never know. However I do think they have a very capable driver in Heidfeld, and now possibly Petrov as well, who should be able to extract close to the maximum performance from the car.

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McLaren 2011 Australian GP Analysis
March 28th, 2011

Lewis Hamilton – 2nd

A strong drive from Hamilton secured 2nd position for him. He didn’t have the pace to seriously challenge for the win and nor did anybody else have the pace to challenge him for 2nd position, so a fairly routine and uneventful race from Hamilton. Interestingly, despite his car being equipped with KERS and neither Red Bull car having the system, he’s start off the line was slower than both of his competitors, indeed Webber almost had him into the first corner. This may have been due to Hamilton starting from the dirty side of the track, but I still find it surprising.

Jenson Button – 6th

If it weren’t for a drive through penalty then Button would have been challenging for the final podium position, however he still came home a credible 6th position. Still, he was outpaced by his team mate this weekend so he will need to make a step up for Malaysia. However at this early stage it looks like Button can manage his tyres quite well, consistent performance will bring some good results for him this season.

The Team

McLaren have the 2nd best car in the field at present, however there is quite a big gap to Red Bull. Some hard work will be required if they were to close this gap, but they do have the talent within the team to achieve this. I do expect McLaren to be challenging for race wins shortly, although it will take a few races to do so, so even at this early stage a world championship this year is looking less likely unless big gains can be made quickly.

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Red Bull 2011 Australian GP Analysis
March 28th, 2011

Sebastian Vettel – 1st

A world class performance from Vettel gave him the 11th win of his career. A completely faultless performance made even more noteworthy since he did not have KERS available to him during qualifying or the race itself. Vettel will be the man to beat this year.

Mark Webber – 5th

In contrast to his teammate, Webber had a disappointing grand prix being completely out-shined by his team mate. Qualifying almost 0.9 seconds slower than Vettel, an eternity in Formula 1, he never looked like challeging for the win at any stage during the race. Trying to determine why he was so far off the pace is difficult, although it wasn’t such a bad performance during the race itself. Obviously his performance was hurt by not having KERS, a possible podium was available if he had use of the system. Still, a lot of work to do if Webber wants to be world champion this year.

The Team

Red Bull have clearly got the fastest car in the field at the moment, a dominate performance from Vettel proving this. However they need to analyze their KERS issues as they can’t expect to have enough of a performance gap at every grand prix to overcome this. Somewhat surprisingly that even without KERS both Red Bull cars got off the line at the start well, I would have expected a car to struggle going into the first corner without KERS.

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