Formula One: Australian Grand Prix, Raceday Part 9
The crowd was getting impatient, the respective pit crews seemed tense and the drivers were well aware of the fact there was little margin for error – Too much hard work had been put in to ensure a competitive car on the Albert Park circuit.
The race headed into the final set of laps... Kobayashi continued to run in 8th position behind the Sauber teammate Perez. Massa looked to be the most purposeful as he had all to gain after a poor start. The Brazilian backed his determination
with the fastest lap of the race with a 1 minute 28.947 seconds – Saubers watch out!
Lap 56... Alonso was on a similar mission as he looked to pile on the pressure on 3rd placed Vitaly Petrov. The Spaniard managed to close the gap on the Russian down to just 2.7 seconds – With merely 2 and a half laps to go, could the former World
Champion be able to steal the final podium position from the Renault in front?
The Australian Grand Prix entered its second lap. It appeared too little too late for Alonso to make a realistic lunge on the car in front – Could it be chalked down to Ferrari’s inability to cope with the Pirelli revolution? The Scarlet team has been faithful
with Bridgestone for some time now. Even when the motorsport was shared between Michelin and Bridgestone, with the majority opting for the former, Ferrari still stuck with their marriage with Bridgestone.
Meanwhile, Hamilton dropped his pace and was effectively 17 seconds behind race leader Vettel – With a damaged underside, it proved out to be a tough struggle for the McLaren. With just 1 lap to go, it appeared that Hamilton’s hard work would soon reap rewards
with a respectable 2nd on the day.
Sebastian Vettel started the 58th and final lap of the race. The German looked well on course to sign off his dominant drive with his 11th career win. Soon after, the chequered flag was waved as the Red Bull crossed the line first to
score victory. Lewis Hamilton’s under-tray survived the race and he finished 2nd. A brilliant drive by Petrov saw him score his first career podium in 3rd. Renault team members flashed important messages with well wishes for Robert Kubica.
On the day, 16 cars were classified as finishers. It was A fruitful outing for Sauber duo of Sergio Perez and Kamui Kobayashi to finish in 7th and 8th respectively.
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