This entry was originally part of a separate blog. I’ve merged them together now to make life easier.
All the dates that the entries were originally published have been preserved.
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I wish I’d have had time to do this while it was still all fresh in my mind… if I’m honest I don’t remember a huge amount about the race. There’s a few factors here. The first being the time of day. 2am is not a time when my brain is at its best – and because of the nature of one of my jobs, I rarely get to see races live these days – so I had to get up to watch it live. I say get up… I pretty much didn’t go to bed. So I’d been up at 7am the previous morning and got the sleep after the race at 5am. Then was up again for work at 8am! My own stupid fault I guess and I’d like to say it was worth it.
This brings me to the second factor of forgetfulness. It really wasn’t much of a race. No huge moments to remember.
Sure, there was Lewis Hamilton‘s excellent debut to finish third and Kimi Raikkonen’s victory on his debut for Ferrari, a feat not achieved for the marque since Nigel Mansell in 1990 (I think – certainly one Michael Schumacher didn’t do that). There was also David Coulthard’s near lethal overtaking move on Alex Wurz. But apart from those what else happened?
(click photos for biggability)
Kimi Raikkonen, Australian GP, Melbourne; Sunday March 18th, 2007.
Lewis Hamilton (yellow helmet, right) and Fernando Alonso; Australian GP, Melbourne; Sunday March 18th, 2007.
David Coulthard, Red Bull (left); Alex Wurz, Williams; Australian GP, Melbourne; Sunday March 18th, 2007.
McLaren looked quite fast, World Champion Fernando Alonso finishing second and Hamilton third – although had their strategy favoured him the rookie could’ve beaten the champion.
Renault looked fairly mediocre after their title winning success of the past few years, although is that down to the quality of their drivers?
Ferrari were dominant – Raikkonen winning but Massa nowhere due to an engine change, is that a sign of weakness?
Honda were woefully slow, although they put into force their new green ethos by not reaching the final qualifying session and therefore not having to complete the ludicrous fuel-burning section. If that’s not saving the planet, I don’t know what is…
BMW could just show that their excellent testing form isn’t a fluke. Nick Heidfeld finished fourth after a solid run but Robert Kubica‘s gearbox got stuck in fifth gear – again, a sign of weakness?
The Toyota’s were 8th an 9th – hardly surprising, but they have the biggest budget (apparently) of the grid and don’t ever seem to make progress. I’d be embarrassed!
Adrian Newey’s Red Bull car still lacks development, David Coulthard providing his memorable near-decapitation move and Mark Webber could only manage 13th.
Williams were respectable after an awful last year. Nico Rosberg finished 7th and Wurz suffered at the hands of Coulthard.
Toro Rosso skirted around the issues of legality (there’s the massive row going on about theirs and Super Aguri’s cars – they are both seemingly updated versions of other peoples: the Toro Rosso of this year’s Red Bull and Super Aguri of last year’s Honda) and Liuzzi brought it home in 14th while Scott Speed failed to finish after a puncture.
Spyker did well for a team that has been through the change from Jordan to Midland to Spyker in recent times. Adrian Sutil finished 17th but Christijan Albers didn’t finish after losing concentration while adjusting his earpiece!
Finally, Super Aguri who had an impressive weekend despite the distractions (see the customer car row). Takuma Sato reached the final section of qualifying and eventually lined up 10th on the grid, impressive for a team that didn’t even exist 18 months ago. He eventually crossed the line in 12th. Anthony Davidson, starting his first full season on F1 after 3 lacklustre outings in previous seasons, finished 16th – but was in agony throughout the race after being winded and later in the hospital after a collision with Albers.
[All photos via Autosport.com – the copyright remains with their original owners]
