Australian Grand Prix 2013: Race

Up bright and early, 4 hours after going to bed, to watch this race. Settled nicely downstairs with Kit and a cup of coffee. I will certainly be taking a nap after this one even though it’ll be roughly 8am by the time the race is over.

Nico Hulkenberg had a major fuel system problem on his Sauber meaning he doesn’t start the race.

Lap 1: Vettel gets a decent start and leads into Turn 1 with Massa up to second, Hamilton and Alonso are side by side with Webber crowded out! It’s a terrible start for Webber and he is down to seventh spot in the other Red Bull. Vettel has a major advantage over the Ferrari pair already while Hamilton is wheel-to-wheel with Raikkonen in the Lotus – he leads Massa by two seconds after the Brazilian held off his team-mate around the first lap.

Lap 5: Button has pitted to get rid of those super-soft tyres. He takes on the medium compound and drops to the back of the field. A little bit of a surprise that the first stop of the season is so early, but at the end of the earlier qualifying session, most car’s tyres looked dreadful – a mix of a slippery surface, cold weather and a lack of understanding of the newer Pirelli construction.

Lap 11: Most of the top 10 qualifiers have now pitted – just Hamilton and Rosberg are left and they lead the race ahead of Sutil in the Force India. There are some dark clouds gathering – although most expect the race to stay dry.

Lap 15: Rosberg pits, giving the lead to Sutil who is still to pit. Sutil has Vettel right behind him along with both Ferraris. (Hamilton pitted at the end of lap 14)

Lap 20: Sutil still leads the Red Bull of Vettel and the two Ferraris. Alonso pits at the end of the lap.

Lap 21: Both Sutil and Vettel pit, handing the lead to Massa. Sutil’s stop is faster and so Vettel stays behind him. Top 3 are now Massa, Raikkonen and Hamilton.

Lap 26: Halfway through the race. A screen showing rain on its way has been displayed – it is expected in roughly 8 minutes. Maldonado has spun off into the gravel and becomes the first person to retire from a race in 2013. 20 drivers are still running. Raikkonen, Hamilton, Alonso are the top three.

Lap 27: Rosberg is out after pulling to the side of the track. No obvious reason for him to have stopped, so some sort of mechanical issue.

Lap 28: Webber’s radio tells him that there should be light drops of rain at turns 13 and 14, but it will not be anything to worry about. Massa’s on board camera appears to have drops of rain on it.

Lap 31: Alonso passes Hamilton, who dives into the pits at the end of the lap. Vettel is very close to Alonso too.

Lap 34: Raikkonen leads with Alonso, Vettel, Sutil, Massa, Hamilton, Webber, Button, Grosjean and di Resta completing the top 10. However, Raikkonen pits at the end of the lap giving up his lead to come back out in 5th behind Massa. Alonso becomes the leader of the race.

Lap 36: Most drivers have now completed 2 pit stops. The exceptions are Sutil (1), van der Garde (3), Chilton (3) and the retired Maldonado (1) and Rosberg (1). As I type, Massa comes in for his 3rd stop.

Lap 38: The 3 stop drivers are now coming in: Button, Grosjean and Vettel have all stopped again now. Alonso continues to lead but Raikkonen is very quick and should need to pit again.

Lap 40:  Webber and Alonso have both completed their 3rd stops. Sutil leads again but he has to stop again as he has only used the medium tyres and both compounds must be used in a dry race – he will have to be on the super soft tyres at some point if it stays dry. Massa passes Hamilton to go 5th.

Lap 43: Raikkonen passes Sutil for the lead. 15 laps to go.

Lap 47: Most of the pit stops have been completed. Sutil is now 5th. Raikkonen continues to lead from Alonso, Vettel and Massa with 1o and a half laps to go.

Lap 51: Hamilton overakes Sutil, closely followed by Webber. 5th to 7th in one lap. His team mate, di Resta, is in 8th behind him. Raikkonen continues to lead.

Lap 55: Three laps left. Can’t see much shifting Raikkonen from the lead now. Alonso, Vettel, Massa and Hamilton are the top 5 behind him.

Lap 58: Last lap. Raikkonen is 11.5s ahead of Alonso. He completes the lap to win the race by from 12.4s Alonso. Vettel finishes third, but his race pace has been disappointing. Massa ends up 4th, with Hamilton fifth. Webber takes sixth ahead of Sutil who managed to hold onto seventh ahead of his team mate di Resta. Button and Grosjean round off the top 10.

Four drivers retired from today’s race:

1. Ricciardo retired in the pits with two-thirds of the race gone.
2. Rosberg stopped on the circuit when a strong finish looked possible.
3. Maldonado spun at Turn 1 at the midway stage.
4. Nico Hulkenberg didn’t take part in the race, after the fuel system failed on the Sauber in the hour before the start.

Result:

1. Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus-Renault, 1h30:03.225
2. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, + 12.451
3. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault, + 22.346
4. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, + 33.577
5. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, + 45.561
6. Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault, + 46.800
7. Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes, + 1:05.068
8. Paul di Resta, Force India-Mercedes, + 1:08.449
9. Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes, + 1:21.630
10. Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Renault, + 1:22.759
11. Sergio Perez, McLaren-Mercedes, + 1:23.367
12. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso-Ferrari, + 1:23.857
13. Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber-Ferrari, + 1 lap
14. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Renault, + 1 lap
15. Jules Bianchi, Marussia-Cosworth, + 1 lap
16. Charles Pic, Caterham-Renault, + 2 laps
17. Max Chilton, Marussia-Cosworth, + 2 laps
18. Giedo van der Garde, Caterham-Renault, + 2 laps

Fastest lap: Kimi Raikkonen, 1:29.274

Not classified/retirements:

• Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso-Ferrari, 40 laps

• Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 26 laps
• Pastor Maldonado, Williams-Renault, 25 laps
• Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber-Ferrari, Did not start

Things that have stood out for me from this race:

• Red Bull’s race pace is a lot slower than expected. Was this to do with temperatures? It was very cool in Australia today.
• Raikkonen in the Lotus looks very good, however Grosjean was nowhere at all spending a lot of the race in the mid-field. Is he just getting more from the car with his experience?
• Mercedes seems quick but unreliable – however not quick enough to mount a Championship challenge just yet.
• This race is pretty unrepresentative. History shows that the circuit, along with general first race problems, make the Australian Grand Prix a bit of an odd one to show a car’s true pace. This year has had the added element of a broken up qualifying and poor weather overall.
• Force India is very kind to its tyres, both Sutil and di Resta showed good pace today.
• McLaren appear to be in trouble – they have been discussing how they haven’t got a good understanding of the car yet and it shows.