Chinese GP Review

The Chinese Grand Prix at Shanghai proved to everyone that it was certainly not going to be a one horse race for the championship, as Brawn's initial domination atfter the first two races came to an end.

Having looked strong all weekend, the Red Bull team put their drivers in 1st and 3rd, with Vettel being the lead driver, the pair being split by a light-fuelled Fernando Alonso in his Renault. Meanwhile the Brawns only achieved 4th and 5th with Barrichello out-qualifying his teammate for the first time this season. They were closely followed by the Toyota of Jarno Trulli.

Due to heavy rain, the race began behind the safety car. The race finally began proper after eight laps and it was only a couple of laps later when Webber and Vettel pitted for their first stops of the race. This allowed Button to lead after passing his teammate on lap 11, and the early stopping Alonso. Button proved to be the only driver to really challenge the Red Bull of Mark Webber, Vettel on the otherhand drove a perfect race in the wet and looked untouchable in a race reminiscent of Micheal Schumacher. The McLarens also performed well, Hamilton having fought his way up to 5th but dropped back down the field following a spin. This was another race that Ferrari would rather forget after 2008 runner-up Felippe Massa retired with an electronic problem and 2007 Champion Kimi Raikkonen failed to break into a points scoring position finishing tenth.

The final points finishers were as follows:

1. Sebastian Vettel
2. Mark Webber
3. Jenson Button
4. Rubens Barrichello
5. Heikki Kovalainen
6. Lewis Hamilton
7. Time Glock
8. Sebastien Buemi
   

Malaysian GP Review.

Due to the way Button dominated the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne, alot of the fans expected to see another domination by the Brawn GP team. This was far from true as the other teams had managed to close the gap, even thought there was only a 1 week break between races.
The race was scheduled to take place much later in the afternoon than in previous years which would prove to have a dramatic effect on the race as it is not un-common for it to rain at that time of the day.

Q1 proved to be a shock for the Ferrari team, as they thought they had the lap time required to get them into Q2, but they were soon proved wrong as 2008 runner-up Felippe Massa was knocked out after finishing the session in 16th place. The McLaren also had a big lack of pace as they qualified in 13th and 14th with Hamilton leading the pair. Button once again achieved pole position but was now only 0.1s ahead of the Toyota of Trulli, with Vettel in third and team mate Barrichello in 4th.

There was another slow starter on the Malaysian grid, this time being the BMW of Robert Kubica who dropped to the back of field, and then went on to retire the following lap. On the otherhand the Williams of Nico Rosberg was very quick off the grid and managed to jump from 6th place to be the first driver into the first corner. Heikki Kovalainen had another first lap accident, this time having a self-inflicted spin in turn 5 and ending his race. Button was pushed down to fourth after being pushed wide by Rosberg at the first, but was able to retake 3rd by passing Alonso on the pit straight the following lap.

As the teams had predicted, it was about 20 laps into the race that the heavens opened, and the track was hit by what can only be described as monsoon type weather. This now turned into a race of correct tyre choices and weather anticipation. Ferrari got this badly wrong as they sent Raikkonen out on wet weather tyres before the rain even started, who then went on to destroy them and virtually end his race as he dropped down the pack. All of the drivers put the wqet weather tyres on once the rain started except for the Toyota of Timo Glock who put on intermediates and then proceeded to scythe his way through the pack. This got the Brawn team worried who also decided to put intermediates on, but soon the rain got too heavy and had to put wets on again.

Due to the many of the cars constantly spinning and going off track, many of the drivers called for a red flag which was approved by race director Charlie Whiting on lap 31, this brought an end to the race due to time and light restraints.

The following drivers scored half points due to the fact that less than 75% of the race distance was completed:

1. Jenson Button
2. Nick Heidfeld
3. Timo Glock
4. Jarno Trulli
5. Rubens Barrichello
6. Mark Webber
7. Lewis Hamilton
8. Nico Rosberg
   

Australian GP Review.

The first race of the season is the first time the teams are able to really size each other up as each of the teams may not be driving to their full potential during pre-season testing.

Australia proved to us that the Brawn GP team was really a force to be reckoned with, having only been in existence for a couple of weeks prior to the maiden race of the season due to the liquidation of the Honda Racing team, they wowed onlookers in testing with fastest times in almost every session.

The main title contenders from 2008 however had a more difficult time getting to grips with things. I believe this is because they were busy trying to win the 2008 championships as opposed to developing their car for 2009 which many of the mid-field and back-marker teams had the time to do as they didnt need to worry about any championship battles.
With their impressive pace, the Brawns put both their cars on the front row of the grid, Sebastian Vettel and a surprisingly quick Robert Kubica were the closest to them, although they were a full 0.6 seconds off the pace of Jenson Button.

The start of the race proved an easy getaway for Button, which is more than can be said for his team mate, Rubens Barrichello suffered an apparent clutch problem at his initial getaway and fell far down the grid. He then managed to out-brake himself into turn 1 and hit the Red Bull of Mark Webber, who then continued into the side of Heikki Kovalainen along with other collisions further down the pack.

Button continued to pull away from the field without much difficulty, with Vettel having a secure second position, the rest of the field was left to fight it out for the remaining points positions. The crash of Kazuki Nakajima saw the field close back up again, and Nelson Piquet Jr. careered off the track after the restart having suffered a break failure. Lewis Hamilton proved impressive in an under-performing car and managed to climb into the points. A second safety car was required only a couple of laps from the end when the cars of Vettel and Kubica, in 2nd and 3rd places respectively, collided at turn 3, and then went on to hit the wall on the exit of turn 5. Vettel tried to continue the race and get points with his severely damaged car, but this earned him a fine for contravening the rules.

Controversy then followed after the race as the McLaren team allowed Trulli to pass for 3rd place while under the safety car, and claimed they were overtaken unfairly, they have now been requested to appear in front of the FIA to attempt to defend their actions. Hamilton was then disqualified and Trulli was allowed to claim his 3rd place.

The final points scorers were as follows:

1. Jenson Button
2. Rubens Barrichello
3. Jarno Trulli
4. Timo Glock
5. Fernando Alonso
6. Nico Rosberg
7. Sebastien Buemi
8. Sebastien Bourdais