2010 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX

Background

The Grand Prix was contested by twelve teams with two drivers each. The teams (also known as constructors ) were Red Bull , Mercedes , McLaren , Ferrari , Renault , Williams , Force India , Sauber , Toro Rosso , Lotus , Hispania and Virgin . Tyre supplier Bridgestone brought four different tyre types to the race: two dry compounds (soft "options" and hard "primes) and wet-weather compounds (intermediates and full wet). The Soft compound was distinguished by a green stripe on th...

Race

The reigning Drivers' Champion Jenson Button who had won the 2009 Australian Grand Prix was pleased to be returning to Albert Park and set himself the target of finishing on the podium. After losing victory in Bahrain because of a faulty spark plug, Vettel was certain that Red Bull could challenge for the victory in Australia: "I think, coming out of Bahrain, we have a very good car. There is no reason why we shouldn't be competitive here." Vettel's teammate Mark Webber who was ente... Some teams made modifications to their cars in preparation for the event. Virgin Racing were granted permission from Formula One's governing body the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) to change the size of their car's fuel tanks because their capacity was not large enough for their drivers to complete a Grand Prix at full speed; the chassis would not be ready until the Spanish Grand Prix on 9 May. McLaren had to modify the opening of their diffusers following a rule clarific... Racing resumed at the end of lap four when the safety car pulled into the pit-lane with Vettel leading Massa. Kubica attempted to pass Webber but the Australian maintained his position by moving to the outside. Schumacher attempted to pass di Grassi for 19th position on the same lap. di Grassi managed to retake the position from Schumacher by driving around the outside of Ascari corner, but Schumacher got ahead of di Grassi on the pit straight. At the end of the first racing lap, Vettel l... Thus, Vettel regained the first position as he began to slowly pull away from Button who was 1.7 seconds behind Vettel on lap 13 with Kubica a further two seconds adrift in third. Alonso had moved into tenth position by lap 13 and gained a further after he overtook de la Rosa at turn nine on the same lap. Alonso passed Barrichello for eighth on the 14th lap and set a new fastest lap on the following lap, a 1:31.573. Hamilton and Webber passed Alonso for fifth and sixth positions at... Hamilton closed up on Kubica by the same lap; Hamilton attempted to overtake Kubica while in traffic but Kubica fended off Hamilton's attempt. Hamilton feigned passing manoeuvres at the Brabham and Whiteford corners with the latter attempt resulting in Hamilton losing time to Kubica and fell back in front of Rosberg. Webber made a pit stop for soft compound tyres on lap 33, while Hamilton tried another pass on Kubica on the back straight but Kubica closed the door on Hamilton. Rosberg made his p... Hamilton attempted to pass Alonso around the outside at Ascari corner on the same lap but Alonso closed the door on Hamilton. Webber took advantage but missed his braking point because his front wing stopped producing downforce which prevented him from reducing his speed and locked his tyres. He collided one of Hamilton's rear tyres, sending both drivers into the gravel trap. Both drivers managed to continue and Webber drove into the pit lane to replace his front wing. Butto... The top three drivers appeared on the podium to collect their trophies and in a later press conference. Button said it was "very special" that he won in his second race for the McLaren team as it taken him time to get used to his car. He felt that his confidence was increasing and hoped something similar would occur in the following race of the year. Kubica said that he had not been expecting to finish on the podium and thanked the effort of his Renault team for helping him achievin... Hamilton was disappointed not to have finished in a higher position and accused Webber of "not thinking" following the collision between the two drivers on the 57th lap. Although Webber apologised to Hamilton he was issued with a reprimand by the stewards. He said that he wanted to achieve a podium finish but that it was a "tough day" for the Red Bull team and had been determined to not give up. Vettel believed he could have won the race had he not been affected by a car failure sa... The result meant Alonso remained the leader of the Drivers' Championship with 37 points with his teammate Massa reducing the deficit to four points. Button's victory meant he moved into third place with 31 points and Hamilton fell down to fourth. Rosberg remained in fifth position on 20 points. In the Constructors' Championship Ferrari remained the leader although McLaren cut their lead to be 16 points behind. Kubica's second place allowed Renault to tie Red Bull for fourth place with 18 points ... Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold. Notes:

Qualifying

Hamilton, who qualified eleventh, was the fastest driver not to advance into the final session. His best time of 1:25.184 was nearly 1.1 seconds slower than Vettel's pace in the second session. He was held up by traffic during the first run of the second session which meant he made an early pit stop for new tyres and to have a clear track. However Hamilton struggled with finding time in the final sector of the track. Buemi took twelfth, with Liuzzi in thirteenth; the latter encountered a ... The fastest lap in each of the three sessions is denoted in bold.