F1 Australia - The Race

It's good to be back in Melbourne and the stage for the first F1 race of the 2010 season. This season we have five world champions on the grid, Sebastian, Jenson, Lewis, Michael & Fernando and they are the cream of the crop. We all hope Mark can have an impact this season after being so close in 2010.

There remains one unanswered question, who is going to fight at the front with Red Bull as we certainly don't want a procession as we have had in the past. Hopefully the new form at Mclaren will keep both drivers up there, surely Ferrari are going to fight at the front, Mercedes are showing signs of being competitive and Renault also seem to have a good car from the start.

The new DRS (Drag Reduction System) will make a huge difference on the straights and at tracks like Monza, Silverstone and Spa it will be interesting to see the speeds they can achieve. The problem for the drivers is they have to be careful when they open up the rear spoiler as it obviously affect balance as we saw in quali yesterday as Adrian Sutil came onto the start/finish straight.

KERS is also back and the teams all seem to have problems one way or another and even Mclaren who seemed to perfect it had issues in Q3 yesterday and when it doesn't work it affects brake balance too. Red Bull didn't use it yesterday and amazing that they can throw away eighty horse power and still put in the stunning laps they do.

So new technology, new tyres, five world champions, four new drivers and it is all in place for the 2011 season but Sebastian's mighty lap yesterday doesn't bode well for the others. However, race pace is always different to qualifying pace, or let us all hope that is the case.

Prior to the start all the drivers and teams came to the front of the grid for a special one minute silence for the poor people in Japan after the earthquake and tsunami and others around the world less fortunate.

We all welcome David Coulthard to the commentary team along with Martin Brundle but we must all have noticed Bernie is missing, which is most unusual as he is in America discussing a new street race so we all wish him well with that.

As I mentioned yesterday during qualifying the track doesn't appear to rubber in like most circuits but it is a temporary circuit and normal roads when the Grand Prix has finished. There are also some support races here from Thursday onwards which is also unusual.

Most cars start the race on the soft tyres and of course on full tanks. So 17000 horsepower launches off the grid and Lewis didn't get a good start but he did retain his second place in front of Mark but Jenson lost two places, Michael lost a tyre completely after a puncture, Felipe shot up into fourth but Sebastian opened two seconds plus at the front which is bad news.

Up at the front Sebastian was still out front but Lewis is homing in followed by Mark, Vitaly and Felipe in a tremendous scrap with Jenson and Fernando is about to join then on lap eleven. The tyres are already going off and then all of a sudden Jenson shot past Felipe but not on the circuit and then when Fernando went past Felipe the question is whether Jenson had to let them go past.

To then add further confusion Ferrari pitted and it was then down to the stewards to decide what the position is. In the meanwhile cars were in for the first tyre change of the 2011 season and the leader stopped on lap fifteen. However, Lewis didn't and if he can do a fast lap he could pip Sebastian after his tyre stop.

After the pit stops it hadn't worked and Sebastian extended his lead out to six plus seconds and appears to be moving away. Mercedes are not doing well on lap twenty one with Nico down in eighth and Michael way down in twentieth.

Michael then retired with a technical failure, Rubens is now making headway up in ninth and closing in on Nico but he attacked and spun around and dropped back down to fifteenth. Nico then had smoke pouring from his Mercedes and it looks like both Merc's are out. That bodes well for Jenson as it moves into the points in eighth.

Mark doesn't seem to have the pace and comes in for his second tyre stop at the end of lap twenty six setting the mould for a three stop strategy. The new boy Paul Di Resta is doing a good job in his first race in eleventh and maybe he can get a point and Vitaly is still driving well still in third.

It will be fascinating to see how the tyre stops play out over the last few laps as there is so much difference between new and used tyres. Lewis then went off as his front under tray broke and we will await how it affects the car but still running in P2. The under tray is catching onto the floor and that will slow him down.

Sebastian came in on lap thirty seven followed by Lewis who doesn't seem to be affected by his floor problem. Sebastian in the meanwhile was still holding his lead to Lewis at now around twelve seconds and looks supreme out in front. Jenson then changed tyres on lap thirty eight in a meteoric stop in only 3.8 seconds.

A good scrap developed between Mark and Fernando and even with DRS Fernando struggled to get close enough to go by. Then Mark pitted on lap forty two and Fernando must have sighed as he now had a clear track. Fernando then pitted and his extra lap put him out in front of Mark whilst rookie Sergio Perez in his Sauber was driving brilliantly and starting to attack Jenson.

As we enter the last ten laps it will be interesting to see how the tyre strategies play out with some on hard and others on soft compounds. Jenson moved past Felipe into sixth although he went in for his last tyre stop. Meanwhile Perez in his Sauber was driving brilliantly and now in seventh but with only one pit stop.

At the flag the top ten were: Sebastian, Lewis, Vitaly, Fernando, Mark, Jenson, Sergio, Kamui, Felipe and Sebastien (B). So eventually nobody could match Sebastian in his Red Bull albeit Lewis did have a damaged car running to the end.

Pirelli appear to have done a good job and the last ten lap tyre issues didn't develop. Some great drives through the field including Sergio Perez, Paul Di Resta and Vitaly finishing third for his first podium.

Not a great race but a good start to the 2011 season and we await higher levels of competitive racing during the season. There is some debate as to whether Lewis's car will pass scrutineering which would be a shame.

So we start off as we finished last season with Red Bull. with at least one car way ahead and let us all hope Lewis and his Mclaren particularly are able start to fight harder up at the front. The new Renault also seems to be competitive after a great drive by Vitaly and one has to ask what would have happened if the injured Robert Kubica.

Lewis and Jenson must be satisfied with their performance after the initial running in pre-season testing.

We look forward to the next race in two weeks in Malaysia.