The second race of the season has been one of the best races in the recent years. It had a bit of almost everything. Light rain, fights, mistakes, strategies and above all pure race driving.
As Vettel started from the pole, he pulled off ahead with Felipe Massa, who had a great start, turning second and Webber third. In the first corner Jenson Button touched Alonso who spinned causing Michael Schumacher to hit him. Both drivers fell back in the last positions.
As the track started to dry out, Button was the first to change his tyres. A lap after that he recovered a pace over a second faster than the rest of the drivers. Seeing this, all teams called their pilots in pit to do the same.
With Vettel ahead and Button in second place, the fight seemed to have just begun. But then an unexpected brake failure on Vettel's RBR, caused him to go into the gravel and retire. It was the second reliability issue that his car faced in as many races.
Button claimed the first place and stayed there till the end as he opted not to change his tyres again. Hamilton and Webber did though, but it costed them a lot of time. Although they were up to 2sec/lap faster than the first they couldn't reach the McLaren driver as there was not enough time.
They managed to catch up on Alonso though who had his fight with Massa and Kubica at the time. And there we have seen the Spaniard driving and pushing in a brilliant way, leaving no edge for Hamilton to consider passing.
Alonso stayed behind his teammate, covering him while he managed to shut all doors to the following drivers. It was a great driving for him, who had also opted not to change tyres for the second time (along with Kubica and Massa). When Hamilton tried to pass from the outside, Alonso stayed in the inner line, after an impressing braking, causing Hamilton to lose his line, and Webber to hit him from the back.
This was the end of the fight 3 laps before the finish line. Hamilton stayed on track and lost his place to Rosberg, while Webber had to pit as he lost his front wing, and finish in 9th place.
The end of the race found Button in first place, with an impressive Kubica in second with his Renault, Massa third, Alonso fourth (all of them on their optional tyres set for more than 30 laps). Rosberg, Hamilton, Liuzzi, Barichello, Webber and Schumacher, completed the points awarding positions.
Until now we can see that there are many cars and drivers who can be challenging. Ferrari seems to have the lead at this point, McLaren is improving, Renault can be fast, and of course Red Bull Racing is very competitive but its lack of reliability has costed the team 2 victories until now. We expect to see the next race before we can start making solid predictions about the 2010 F1 world championship. The championship will continue in Malaysia next week.
The Race Results Are As Follows
1. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1h33:36.531
2. Kubica Renault + 12.034
3. Massa Ferrari + 14.488
4. Alonso Ferrari + 16.304
5. Rosberg Mercedes + 16.683
6. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 29.898
7. Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes + 59.847
8. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth + 1:00.536
9. Webber Red Bull-Renault + 1:07.319
10. Schumacher Mercedes + 1:09.391
11. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1:11.301
12. De la Rosa Sauber-Ferrari + 1:14.084
13. Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth + 2 laps
14. Chandhok HRT-Cosworth + 4 laps
Did Not Finish
Glock Virgin-Cosworth 41
Vettel Red Bull-Renault 26
Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 25
Sutil Force India-Mercedes 12
Petrov Renault 10
Senna HRT-Cosworth 5
Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1
Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1
Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1
Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1
