Buzzin F1 - Formula One Blog

Lewis Hamilton dominated the first race of the season from the start in an action packed Australian Grand Prix.

The second McLaren driver, Heikki Kovalainen looked like it was going to be a McLaren one-two, until the third safety car was deployed compromising his race and forcing him back down the passing Heidfeld the second place position in the BMW Sauber.

The Williams Toyota driver, Nico Rosberg had an impressive race and  was rewarded with the third place on the podium.  His team mate Kazuki Nakajima finished in seventh spot after an earlier collision with Robert Kubica behind the safety car.

Fernando Alonso came in fourth for the Renault team after seeing him battling it out with Kovalainen in the final two laps.

Rubens Barrichello finished in sixth place in the Honda but his race was not without incident.  He received a stop and go penalty after the lollipop man instructed him to go before refuelling was finished seeing him leave the pit lane under a red light and not only driving off with the fuel pipe still attached but taking one of the pit crew with him, it remains to be seen if his sixth place will stand.

The Toro Rosso driver, Sebastien Bourdais was seen holding back Alonso and Kovalainen in the final laps while in fourth place but unfortunately he suffered an engine failure with the chequered flag in sight although he still received eighth spot as no other cars were running.

Neither of the Ferrari drivers, Felipe Massa or Kimi Raikkonen received points after a disastrous race for the pair.  Raikkonen was seen making his way through the pack early in the race but after battling with Kovalainen made a mistake which saw him slide into the gravel trap.  He recovered but then pitted which saw him going back down the field once again. He soon picked up his pace but on trying to pass Timo Glock he was again seen spinning out and before long his car developed engine problems and he retired from the race.

Massa started on the grid in fourth place but on the first lap he spun on turn one and had to go to the pits for a new front wing.  He then made contact with David Coulthard, again on turn one of lap 26 and ended up retiring with mechanical problems.

Robert Kubica was another impressive driver but sadly lacked the pace to keep up  with Hamilton and some badly timed pit stops saw him dropping back down the field before being hit from behind by Nakajima which ended his race.

The Toyota driver Timo Glock, was having a solid race until in the later stages when he ran wide and was spectacularly launched into the air before crashing back to earth shattering most of his suspension and ending his race and any chance of points for the team as his team mate Jarno Trulli had retired earlier with battery issues.

Five of the drivers were out on the first couple of corners, they were Giancarlo Fisichello, Sebastian Vettel, Anthony Davidson, Jenson Button and Mark Webber.  Adrian Sutil in the second Force India started the race from the pit lane after damaging his first car in qualifying yesterday but ended up retiring due to mechanical problems.

The teams now head to Malaysia ahead of next weeks race.

Here are the Results for the race:

*Rubens Barrichello has been disqualified from sixth position after leaving the pit lane with the red light on.  Nakajima promoted to sixth ahead of Bourdais and Raikkonen.

Lewis Hamilton, (McLaren) 10 points, Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) 8 points, Nico Rosberg (Williams) 6 points, Fernando Alonso (Renault) 5 points, Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) 4 points, Kazuki Nakajima (Williams) 3 points, Sebastian Bourdais (Toro Rosso) 2 points, Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) 1 point, [Retired Drivers] - (Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber), Timo Glock (Toyota), Takuma Sato (Super Aguri), Nelson Piquet (Renault), Felipe Massa (Ferrari), David Coulthard (Red Bull), Jarno Trulli (Toyota), Adrian Sutil (Force India), Mark Webber (Red Bull), Jenson Button (Honda), Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri), Sebastien Vettel (Toro Rosso), Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India), Rubens Barrichello (Honda)