2010 Australian Grand Prix

 2010 Australian Grand Prix

Racing data
2nd of 19 races in the 2010 Formula 1 World Championship
Surname:	LXXV Qantas Australian Grand Prix
Date:	March 28, 2010
Place:	Melbourne
Course:	Albert Park Circuit
Length:	307.574 km in 58 laps of 5.303 km
Weather:	cloudy, occasional rain
Spectator:	~ 108,500
Pole position
Driver:	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault
Time:	1: 23.919 min
Fastest lap
Driver:	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault
Time:	1: 28.358 min (lap 47)
Podium
First:	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes
Second:	Robert Kubica	Renault
Third:	Felipe Massa	Ferrari

The 2010 Australian Grand Prix took place on March 28th at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne and was the second race of the 2010 Formula 1 World Championship .

Reports

background

After the Bahrain Grand Prix , Fernando Alonso led the drivers' standings with seven points ahead of Felipe Massa and ten points ahead of Lewis Hamilton . Ferrari led the constructors' championship with 22 points ahead of McLaren-Mercedes and with 25 points ahead of Mercedes .

Qantas returned as the title sponsor of the Australian Grand Prix after holding that position from 1997 to 2001.

For the past four years, the Australian Grand Prix winner has also won the world title. With Michael Schumacher (four times), Alonso, Hamilton and Jenson Button (once each), four former winners competed in this Grand Prix.

The 2010 Australian Grand Prix was held for the 15th time on the Albert Park Circuit.

training

In the first free practice, Robert Kubica set the fastest lap ahead of Nico Rosberg and Button. Force India test driver Paul di Resta started this training session with Adrian Sutil's racing car and took part in a race weekend for the first time. The second free practice took place under changing conditions. In the middle of the training session the track was wet after a rain shower, but the track was dry at the beginning and the end. Hamilton sat at the head of the field. Button and Mark Webber followed in second and third place . Local hero Webber was the fastest in the third free practice session on Saturday. Alonso finished second, Schumacher third.

Qualifying

Sebastian Vettel posted the fastest lap in the first section of qualifying . The HRT , Virgin , Lotus pilots and Vitaly Petrov were eliminated. In the second segment of the qualification, Vettel took the lead in the field. The Toro Rosso and Sauber pilots as well as Nico Hülkenberg , Vitantonio Liuzzi and Hamilton were eliminated. As in the first two sections, Vettel was also the fastest in the final section and secured pole position in front of his team-mates Webber and Alonso.

run

Timo Glock dropped out again

It had rained before the race, which made the track wet. The Virgin drivers had converted their car and therefore had to start from the pit lane. Jarno Trulli did not compete in the Grand Prix because Lotus could not repair a hydraulic damage in time. Because of the wet track, all drivers decided to start with intermediate tires.

After Alonso had started badly, Button touched the Ferrari in the first corner. Then Alonso's racing car spun and hit Schumacher. All three drivers were able to continue the race, but Alonso fell back to the bottom of the field and Schumacher was last after changing his front wing. On the first lap, the front wing on Kamui Kobayashi's BMW Sauber failed . The vehicle could then no longer be controlled and Kobayashi first drove into the lane and then collided with Sébastien Buemi and Hülkenberg. All three drivers were uninjured, but the race was over for them. The safety car came out to rescue the racing cars.

While the initial phase did not go optimally for Alonso, his teammate Massa had a good start and finished second behind Vettel. The Renault drivers also got off to a good start, with Kubica in fourth and Petrow in tenth place. In addition, Hamilton had improved from eleventh to seventh place. HRT driver Bruno Senna also got off to a good start and finished 14th, but he had to give up his race on the fourth lap due to a technical problem.

In the lap after the restart there were a few overtaking maneuvers. Webber overtook Massa and finished second and Hamilton passed his teammate Button. Then Button decided to go into the pit lane and switch to dry tires. After initially having problems with the wet track and once slipping into the run-off zone, two laps later most of the drivers also decided to switch to dry tires. Only the Red Bull drivers and Sutil fell by the wayside. One lap later, the leader Vettel also decided to pit and Webber took the lead from his teammate. On the tenth lap, Petrov was eliminated after a driving mistake and one lap later Sutil had to end his race with a technical defect. Webber was the last driver to pit on the eleventh lap, two laps after Vettel. The German took over the lead again. The winner of the pit stops was clearly Button, who finished second behind Vettel. Webber, on the other hand, was one of the losers and fell back to sixth place.

Robert Kubica surprisingly finished second

Alonso and Schumacher were able to overtake a few drivers in the back field and so Alonso already finished eighth on lap 14. On this lap, Schumacher was 13th behind Jaime Alguersuari. On lap 16, Webber passed Massa and Hamilton was also able to overtake the Brazilian. However, Webber and Hamilton touched on the next corner and Massa overtook both of them back. Webber then fell back to eighth place behind Alonso. At the top, Vettel took off from Button round after round. Kubica and Rosberg, who took the places behind the leading duo, could not follow the two.

Both Ferrari drivers lost one position on the 22nd lap. Massa was finally overtaken by Hamilton and Webber passed Alonso again. Hamilton then shortened the gap to Rosberg and overtook the German on lap 26 before Turn 11 . Rosberg tried a counterattack and was on the straight in front of the Ascari next to the McLaren driver. However, he had to abort the overtaking maneuver as yellow flags were waved in front of the Ascari. The trigger for the yellow flags was the leading Vettel, who had slipped into the gravel. While it was assumed that the brakes were damaged in the course of the race, it was later discovered that a loose wheel nut was responsible for Vettel's failure. Then Button took the lead in front of Kubica and Hamilton. On lap 28, Massa was also overtaken by Webber. Then Alonso tried to pass Massa, but the Brazilian managed to keep his teammates behind him. Further ahead, Hamilton had caught up with Kubica, but could not overtake him.

In the meantime, Schumacher had passed Alguersuari. However, after both pitting for the second time, he fell behind the Spaniard again. In the leading group, Webber was the first to make his second stop and managed to overtake Rosberg, who stopped one lap later. After Hamilton drove back onto the track after his stop, Webber also pulled past the McLaren driver. He missed the racing line and Hamilton overtook the Australian back. After these stops, Button led the race ahead of Kubica, Massa and Alonso. The four pilots decided against a second stop and so the three pilots who had been in the pits had to catch up again.

For Virgin the race was over after 44 laps when Timo Glock retired with a damaged suspension. Lucas di Grassi had previously retired, but returned to the track for a few laps. After a total of 26 laps he had to park his car with a hydraulic damage.

Jenson Button won for McLaren-Mercedes for the first time

Hamilton, Webber and Rosberg took advantage of their new tires and caught up with the Ferrari drivers. However, Hamilton initially had no chance to pass Alonso. However, the back of the field, there was an overtaking maneuver as Rubens Barrichello of Pedro de la Rosa was passing and drove in ninth place. Behind de la Rosa were Alguersuari and Schumacher. With three laps to go, Schumacher managed to overtake Alguersuari and put pressure on de la Rosa. Earlier on, Hamilton complained to his team on pit radio that he had made a second stop. He then tried an overtaking maneuver against Alonso in front of the Ascari, but failed and collided with Webber, who had braked late. While Hamilton only had to let Rosberg pass, Webber, who had to change his front wing, fell further back. Shortly before the end of the race, Schumacher passed de la Rosa and thus secured another point.

Finally, like last year, Button won the Australian Grand Prix. It was his first win for McLaren-Mercedes and the first since the 2009 Turkish Grand Prix . The other podium places went to Kubica, who finished second, and Massa. After his race to catch up, Alonso had to be content with fourth place behind Massa. The other points went to Rosberg, Hamilton, Liuzzi, Barrichello, Webber and Schumacher.

Alonso kept the lead in the world championship before Massa. Button improved to third place. Ferrari maintained the top position among the designers.

Registration list

team	No.	driver	chassis	engine	tires
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes	01	Jenson Button	McLaren MP4-25	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	B.
	02	Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team	03	Michael sSchumacher	Mercedes MGP W01	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	B.
	04th	Nico Rosberg
Red Bull Racing	05	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull RB6	Renault 2.4 V8	B.
	06th	Mark Webber
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro	07th	Felipe Massa	Ferrari F10	Ferrari 2.4 V8	B.
	08th	Fernando Alonso
AT&T Williams	09	Rubens Barrichello	Williams FW32	Cosworth 2.4 V8	B.
	10	Nico Hulkenberg
Renault F1 Team	11	Robert Kubica	Renault R30	Renault 2.4 V8	B.
	12	Vitaly Petrov
Force India F1 Team	14th	Paul di Resta	Force India VJM03	Mercedes-Benz 2.4 V8	B.
		Adrian Sutil
	15th	Vitantonio Liuzzi
Scuderia Toro Rosso	16	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso STR5	Ferrari 2.4 V8	B.
	17th	Jaime Alguersuari
Lotus Racing	18th	Jarno Trulli	Lotus T127	Cosworth 2.4 V8	B.
	19th	Heikki Kovalainen
HRT F1 team	20th	Karun Chandhok	HRT F110	Cosworth 2.4 V8	B.
	21st	Bruno Senna
BMW Sauber F1 Team	22nd	Pedro de la Rosa	Clean C29	Ferrari 2.4 V8	B.
	23	Kamui Kobayashi
Virgin Racing	24	Timo Glock	Virgin VR-01	Cosworth 2.4 V8	B.
	25th	Lucas di Grassi

1. ↑ ^{a b} Di Resta drove the Force India with the number 14 in the first free practice. Sutil then took over the vehicle for the rest of the race weekend.

Classifications

Qualifying

Item	driver	constructor	Q1	Q2	Q3	begin
01	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	1: 24.774	1: 24.096	1: 23.919	01
02	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1: 25.286	1: 24.276	1: 24.035	02
03	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	1: 25.082	1: 24.335	1: 24.111	03
04th	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	1: 24.897	1: 24.531	1: 24.675	04th
05	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1: 25.548	1: 25.010	1: 24.837	05
06th	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1: 24.788	1: 24.788	1: 24.884	06th
07th	Michael sSchumacher	Mercedes	1: 25.351	1: 24.871	1: 24.927	07th
08th	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	1: 25.702	1: 25.085	1: 25.217	08th
09	Robert Kubica	Renault	1: 25.588	1: 25.122	1: 25.372	09
10	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	1: 25.504	1: 25.046	1: 26.036	10
11	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1: 25.046	1: 25.184	-	11
12	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1: 26.061	1: 25.638	-	12
13	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	1: 26.170	1: 25.743	-	13
14th	Pedro de la Rosa	Clean Ferrari	1: 26.089	1: 25.747	-	14th
15th	Nico Hulkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	1: 25.866	1: 25.748	-	15th
16	Kamui Kobayashi	Clean Ferrari	1: 26.251	1: 25.777	-	16
17th	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1: 26.095	1: 26.089	-	17th
18th	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	1: 26.471	-	-	18th
19th	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus Cosworth	1: 28.797	-	-	19th
20th	Jarno Trulli	Lotus Cosworth	1: 29.111	-	-	20th
21st	Timo Glock	Virgin Cosworth	1: 29.592	-	-	21st
22nd	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin Cosworth	1: 30.185	-	-	22nd
23	Bruno Senna	HRT-Cosworth	1: 30.526	-	-	23
24	Karun Chandhok	HRT-Cosworth	1: 30.613	-	-	24

run

Item	driver	constructor	Round	Stops	time	begin	Fastest lap
01	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	58	1	1: 33: 36.531	04th	1: 29.291 (52nd)
02	Robert Kubica	Renault	58	1	+ 12.034	09	1: 29,570 (32nd)
03	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	58	1	+ 14,488	05	1: 29,537 (52nd)
04th	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	58	1	+ 16.304	03	1: 29.707 (47th)
05	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	58	2	+ 16.683	06th	1: 28,489 (53rd)
06th	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	58	2	+ 29.898	11	1: 28.506 (47.)
07th	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	58	1	+ 59.847	13	1: 29.685 (55th)
08th	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	58	2	+1: 00.536	08th	1: 29.210 (58.)
09	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	58	3	+1: 07.319	02	1: 28.358 (47th)
10	Michael sSchumacher	Mercedes	58	3	+1: 09.391	07th	1: 29.185 (58.)
11	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	58	2	+1: 11.301	17th	1: 29.713 (49.)
12	Pedro de la Rosa	Clean Ferrari	58	1	+1: 14.084	14th	1: 30.587 (54th)
13	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus Cosworth	56	1	+ 2 rounds	19th	1: 33.638 (52nd)
14th	Karun Chandhok	HRT-Cosworth	53	2	+ 5 rounds	22nd	1: 35.045 (48th)
-	Timo Glock	Virgin Cosworth	41	1	DNF	box	1: 34.230 (37.)
-	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin Cosworth	26th	2	DNF	box	1: 36.607 (17.)
-	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	25th	1	DNF	01	1: 31.556 (22.)
-	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	09	0	DNF	10	1: 43.223 ( 06.)
-	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	09	1	DNF	18th	1: 43.132 ( 06.)
-	Bruno Senna	HRT-Cosworth	04th	0	DNF	21st	2: 27.276 ( 04th)
-	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	00	0	DNF	12	-
-	Nico Hulkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	00	0	DNF	15th	-
-	Kamui Kobayashi	Clean Ferrari	00	0	DNF	16	-
	Jarno Trulli	Lotus Cosworth	-	-	DNS	20 1	-

¹ Jarno Trulli was 20th on the grid but was unable to race due to a hydraulic problem.

World Cup stands after the race

The first ten of the race got 25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 point (s) respectively.

Driver ranking

Item driver constructor Points 01  Fernando Alonso Ferrari 37 02  Felipe Massa Ferrari 33 03  Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 31 04th  Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 23 05  Nico Rosberg Mercedes 20th 06th  Robert Kubica Renault 18th 07th  Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 12 08th  Michael sSchumacher Mercedes 9 09  Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 8th 10  Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 6th 11  Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 5 12  Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0

Item driver constructor Points 13  Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 0 14th  Pedro de la Rosa Clean Ferrari 0 15th  Heikki Kovalainen Lotus Cosworth 0 16  Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 0 17th  Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 0 18th  Sébastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 19th  Jarno Trulli Lotus Cosworth 0 -  Timo Glock Virgin Cosworth 0 -  Lucas di Grassi Virgin Cosworth 0 -  Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 0 -  Vitaly Petrov Renault 0 -  Kamui Kobayashi Clean Ferrari 0

Constructors' championship

Item constructor Points 01  Ferrari 70 02  McLaren-Mercedes 54 03  Mercedes 29 04th  Renault 18th 05  Red Bull-Renault 18th 06th  Force India-Mercedes 8th

Item constructor Points 07th  Williams-Cosworth 5 08th  Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 09  Clean Ferrari 0 10  Lotus Cosworth 0 11  HRT-Cosworth 0 -  Virgin Cosworth 0

Individual evidence

1. ↑ “Qantas is Aussie GP naming-rights backer” ( Memento from February 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) (speedcafe.com on February 24, 2010)
2. ^ "GP Australia in Melbourne / 1st free practice" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 26, 2010)
3. ↑ "Force India is still optimistic" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 26, 2010)
4. ^ "GP Australia in Melbourne / 2nd free practice" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 26, 2010)
5. ^ "GP Australia in Melbourne / 3rd free practice" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 27, 2010)
6. ↑ ^{a b} "Lotus is proud: And now the home race" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 28, 2010)
7. ↑ "Vettel: This time it was the wheel nut!" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 28, 2010)
8. ↑ "Virgin confident: 'It's going ahead'" (Motorsport-Total.com on March 28, 2010)

Web links

Commons : Australian Grand Prix 2010  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Weekend statistics at Motorsport-Total.com