Barry's friends

View all>>

F1 Starts Down Under (A Greener Sport)

posted on Sunday, March 29, 2009 01:59 PM

Englishman Jenson Button Wins Down Under

The first race of the 2009 F1 (Formula One) season got off to a pulsating and thrilling start down under in Melbourne, Australia. All eyes were focused on Button and the newly formed Brawn GP team (with investment from Richard Branson’s Virgin empire) after claiming pole position in qualifications. Eyes were also on the defending champion Lewis Hamilton who started last on the grid in 18th after a poor qualification session (it’s fair to say the Maclaren car is not yet up to standards for the new season). This was an English focused race in a British commonwealth back garden. However, eyes were also on Massa and the Farrari team as well as Nakajima, the only F1 racer carrying the Japanese flag. Unfortunately, he crashed out mid way through the race. He is going to have to improve big time if he wants to keep his contract beyond this racing year.

I’ve been watching F1 since as long as I can remember… back to the days of Nigel Mansel, and I haven’t once swayed from my loyality in support of the Maclaren team. Firstly, I support British racers, and that’s a joint second with supporting the Maclaren team, so you can imagine how delighted I was when Lewis Hamilton became one of the drivers for Maclaren. It’s heaven for me! My story and support of Maclaren and Hamilton goes a bit deeper than him just being British. My brother, Lewis Hamilton’s cousin and I all went to the same secondary school (high school) back in London. Our friend (Hamilton’s cousin) also did some racing and often spoke of Lewis. Our friend had a talent for both football and go-karting, however a car crash brought any future dreams and ambitions to a sad premature end.

Button had a fantastic race and stayed in pole position throughout… there were crashes and tight battles all over the track, and with just a few laps to go, a rush of blood went straight to the young Vettel’s head as he collided with Kubica, allowing Barrichello into 2nd space to give Brawn GP a 1st and 2nd grand prix finish. What a dream start to the new season for the newly forged team after Ross Brawn bought out Honda (who pulled out due to being caught in the global recession). However, the racer of the day has to go to Maclaren’s Lewis Hamilton. Starting in last position to finish 3rd is just simply amazing and seldom done in F1. Welcome done mate… it was a fantastic day for the Brits! All the talk now is focused on Brawn GP and their powerful and strong car. It seems that F1 is no longer just going to be about Farrari and Maclaren, and thank god for that! More competition makes things interesting.

Brawn GP, who could take on the Virgin name in full (decision to be made within the next month or so) have a lot more to celebrate than just winning the open race of the 2009 F1 season. The car is in top condition with fantastic speed and smoothness. Button didn’t need to come in for a second pit stop until right towards the end of his race, proving that the car can hold heavy fuel. Richard Branson has come into the sport because the officials have said they intend for the sport to become more environmentally friendly. Being the eco-friendly champion that Branson is, he has invested a lot of money into a company called GEVA. One of the tasks they have had is to see if they can come up with a fuel for Formula One, maybe called the Virgin fuel, that is clean, doesn’t emit any carbon, and can perform as well as the dirty fuels used in cars to date. Branson was delighted to announce that they have come up with such a fuel, and over the next few months we will be trying to talk to Formula One and the various car companies to see if we can have it introduced as the one F1 uses so it can go from being a slightly polluting sport to a clean sport. Fantastic stuff!

Can Hamilton retain his title? Most definitely so. Can Button and Brawn GP prove to be title contenders? Definitely… Wow, what an exciting season ahead of us… up next, Malaysia.

www.formula1.com

Comments

Add your comment

(you must be logged in)