Number One Aussie

Mark Webber in the dirt.

The weekend saw veteran Formula 1 driver Mark Webber capture his inagural Grand Prix. For me, someone who has been a fan of the sport for several years now, it was a great pleasure to see him not only grab the checkered flag, but start from pole as well.

What is more astonishing is fron the start Webber bumped Brawn GP driver Ruebens Barrichello before turn one on lap one which was later reviewed by the stewards.  About a dozen or so laps into the race, Team Red Bull was forced to have Webber do a drive through on pit lane which is typically a death nail in a drivers day.  Webber still prevailed which made for a nice change of pace.

On the other end of the spectrum, last year’s drivers champion Lewis Hamilton made a strong push off the start but damaged his car going a little wide on the first turn.  I can’t impart on how much I enjoy watching Hamilton relegated to the back of the pack week after week.  The team he drives for McClaren, along with Ferrari, for the past few seasons (and in the case of Ferrari about a decade) have dominated the F1 scene.  This year everything has been turned on it’s ear and it makes race weekends more enjoyable.

Barrichello had good pace in his ride, but ended up off the podium along with teammate and leading drivers point champion Jenson Button.  This was the first non-Brawn GP podium of the season which was also nice.  However, this wasn’t the most notable item to come from team principal Ross Brawn’s camp.  Barrichello, who wanted to switch from a three stop to a two stop race strategy, had no nice words for his team after the race.

One more race one the docket before the summer break.   On July 26th, Formula 1 will travel to Hungary where drivers will try to earn some more points at the Hungaroring.