Mayhem Down Under
Australian Grand Prix

By Erik Nielsen
Photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media

First, a few facts. Don't worry, I'll get to my normal rants and raves, but I need to build up my case a bit so that everyone knows why I thought the series of mistakes that were made could have been addressed if a couple of people were paying attention, and more importantly, if those engineers had a few words with the drivers. Bare with me, it will be worth it.

Fact: This week's race was a few weeks later in the season than it has been in the past.

Fact: Australia is in the southern hemisphere.

Fact: Winter in the southern hemisphere happens in July, so as the northern hemisphere (where all of the F1 teams are based) goes into spring and warmer weather, Oz gets cooler.

Fact: Modern F1 tires work best when they are hot.

Fact: A rubber compound that worked well in warmer weather last season will not work the same later in the year if the temperatures are cooler.

Fact: No one sat Juan Pablo Montoya down with pictures to explain that his tires weren’t going to work the same as last year.

Fact: Just because the race starts doesn't mean that tires will stay at temperature.

Fact: No one got on the radio during the first safety car period to remind Juan Pablo Montoya that he might want to be a little careful warming up his tires.

So, what happens following that chain of logic? A spin on the formation lap by a leading driver trying to put heat in the tires causes everyone to wonder if the Columbian really knows what he is doing while lobbying for a ride in 2007. This is followed by his fan club's president leaving the bar upon the second spin. See, I told you it was worth it.

One way to avoid most of these messes is to try and get up front and stay there. When it was all said and done, that's what Fernando Alonso did and the reigning champion tacked up another win, adding even more distance between him and his competitors.

Even a new nose didn't help Kimi Raikkonen at the end. The Finn put in a good effort, but the time charts lie. He was much further back than a few seconds if you look at all of the time he was able to make up under numerous safety car periods.

Ralf Schumacher finished the race in third which caused a few of his champion supporters to cheer in Japan and explain that he was well worth the fee and the car is right up there with the best. The detractors should point out that the chance of the stars lining up the way they did for this one again are about the same as the chances of Flavio Briatori not trying to date any woman ever again.

Nick Heidfeld came in first of the non-podium point scores after a more or less uneventful race. He was lucky to be running near the front giving the ad men smiles at BMW.

Fifth place looked like a race between Jenson Button and Giancarlo Fisichella, but the Italian won the day when Honda tried their new rocket assisted V8 engine and it flamed out yards from the finish line. Actually, Button blew the motor and rather than take 4 points and a 10 position penalty, the Honda crew decided it would be better to start San Marino with a new motor. No one reminded them that there is a long way to go and those four points could be meaningful later in the season.

Sixth place went to Jacques Villeneuve. But let's be honest, with the level of attrition in this race, even an American driver had a decent shot at scoring points. He did beat Rubens Barichello, which is an insult to Burinho...

Speaking of American drivers, Scott Speed almost finished 8th, which was a points paying position, but the rookie was penalized for ignoring yellow flags with a time penalty and ended up behind David Coulthard. Speed was fined for colorful language, but I'm sure his team will pick up the tab, if for nothing more than the additional media coverage.

And there is yelling and finger pointing going on in Maranello with both Ferraris DNF'ing. Massa was caught up with Klein and Rosberg on lap one, bringing out the safety car. Michael Schumacher tried just a little too hard and crashed out on lap 33 as he went wide over the curb, went airborne, and hit the wall. Juan Pablo tried to show the world that he could drive as well as a multiple champion by knocking out the electronics on his McLaren on the same curb.

The teams are looking forward to the end of this round of fly away races to get back to Europe and try the new tricks that the designers and test teams have been working on when racing returns to Italy, rather "San Marino", for the next round in this year's championship. Renault has really capitalized on the distance races and has built up a nice lead to come back home with, but the race fans hope that someone else closes the gap so that the Spaniard doesn't run away with the title and make the series as exciting to watch as paint drying.