Interesting read..... FEATURES Editorial | Off On F1 | Letters | Race Features Ten Conclusions From The Australian GP Sunday 16th March 2008 F1 returned with a bang and a few improvements... It's Great That Formula One Is Back Because that was a lot of fun. Lewis Hamilton Is Still Improving In the preamble to the new Formula One season, it was opined that Lewis Hamilton's hardest task would be improving on the best rookie season in the sport's history. In the very first race of his second season, Hamilton has achieved his primary objective. The youngster - and he is still young, just as it needs to be remembered that this is still only his second season in the sport - delivered a faultless performance that was so serene that it was largely ignored by a television director understandably preoccupied with the woes of his peers. Thus the ironic 'sight' of Hamilton impressing in contrast without making much of an appearance. Nor did Lewis impress through impressive lap times. Instead he excelled by matching his speed to the demands of the situation: putting his foot down at the start and when released from behind a safety car, managing his tyres in cruise control to guarantee victory. In terms of professionalism, it was close to perfection. "I wouldn't say it's the perfect win but I think in terms of managing my tyres, controlling my pace and confidence and being comfortable in the car, it's the best race I've had so far," he remarked afterwards with good reason. Felipe Massa Is Struggling Of the many problems that Ferrari encountered this weekend, few will cause as much introspection as the problem that Felipe Massa encountered all weekend. As suggested by the winter rumour mill, the Brazilian is struggling without traction control - a substantial flaw that resulted in a host of errors and substandard lap times from Friday morning onwards. His first-corner mistake was no surprise and thus particularly concerning: if Massa has not adapted after pounding out lap after lap in winter testing, what hope of the Brazilian learning the answer during the examination of a grand prix weekend? A petulant threat from an old man was the least of Felipe's worries as he left Melbourne probably mindful of the truism that driver after driver declared this weekend: the removal of traction control will separate the very good from the merely good. Ferrari Don't Possess The Predicted Pace Or Reliability It may be the case that Ferrari's thrashing was a one-off, a horrible combination of worst-case scenarios, and the sort of nightmare afternoon that only the very best can suffer. The second of Kimi Raikkonen's off-track excursions was, for instance, the consequence of a sportsman at the peak of his profession being undone by overconfidence and irritation. A podium was there for Kimi's taking if he was willing to accept an offering he clearly regarded as meagre. Yet it is probably also the case that the advantage it was believed Ferrari held over McLaren is either marginal or non-existent. Barring another calamity in qualifying, Malaysia will provide a better indication of which team has the upper hand but it is reasonable to conclude from events this weekend that Ferrari's work over the winter was over-hyped and unreliable. As Raikkonen reflected glumly, the quality of his own work became irrelevant when his engine faltered with five laps remaining. Robert Kubica Needs More The Pole had a curious race. Ultimately, it was wrecked by BMW's ill-advised decision to change his strategy mid-race, opting to fuel Kubica to the finish as if his car was a midfield plodder, but that clanger does not explain the rest of his afternoon. It began brightly, with Kubica resisting Heikki Kovalainen, yet he faded thereafter and Nick Heidfeld was much the faster BMW driver. A curiosity, then, and one that encapsulated his F1 career: a hint of superstardom as yet unfulfilled. BMW Are There Or Thereabouts. Probably/Possibly The credibility of the winter testing guide took a heavy dent when Honda and BMW took to the track in Melbourne and suddenly produced the sort of lap times that had seemed beyond them in January and February. Honda's improvement was attributed to the introduction of a new aerodynamic package at a behind-closed-doors test in Jerez two weeks ago but what of BMW? Nick Heidfeld's fastest race lap time was just three-tenths shy of Lewis Hamilton's best. Were they really sandbagging during the winter? Perhaps. But perhaps not. While convinced the F1.08 represented an improvement, both the team's drivers repeatedly bemoaned balance in testing. Presumably they found its sweet spot in Melbourne. Yet they will need to find it again - did it elude Kubica in the second half of Sunday's race? - in Sepang before a breakthrough can be proclaimed. If Skoda Raced This Year, They Might Have Won Some Points Just seven cars finished the race. Just imagine what might happen when the absence of traction control is coupled with rain. Super Aguri's tactic might be to crawl around in second gear and wait for everyone else to fall off the track. Renault Need More Than Six Tenths Fernando Alonso will be delighted with fourth place and he made no attempt to disguise the extra satisfaction he gleaned from taking back fourth place from Kovalainen when his replacement at McLaren accidentally turned on his pit-lane limiter along the pit straight - the motor racing equivalent of stalling in the fast lane of the M25 on a Friday night. Yet that joy will be tempered by the timesheets which found Renault over a second slower than McLaren. In other words, Alonso needs to deliver double the improvement he claimed to have brought his team last season. Qualifying Matters Even Less Now Qualifying has never mattered as much since it was diluted from being a pure guide of pure speed. Long gone are the days when Saturday afternoon would reveal which driver - and which team-mate - had the superior speed in a shoot-out. Judging by events in Melbourne, it will count for even less this year. While the removal of traction control made for tremendous entertainment on Sunday afternoon, it also means that a good start off the line could be worth as much as 40 yards. In Kimi Raikkonen's case, that represented an eight-place improvement. In a blink of an eye, his failure to make even the second round of qualifying - something which should have been a significant handicap - ceased to matter. Nobody is saying that it's not better for a driver's start to be the product of his own reactions rather than the wizardry of a computer boffin in Milton Keynes. But it's debatable whether it should offer such a vast and quick opportunity for drivers to rectify the mistakes of twenty-four hours previously. It's Very Dark At 3am And alarm clocks can inspire a surprising amount of hostility. Pete Gill
