Button dominates in Melbourne
Jensen Button showed why he's the defending world champion on Sunday with an inspired win at the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. Taking tyre strategy responsibility and saving time spent on wets on a drying track, the Englishman called in for new slick rubber earlier than his team wanted him to do (six laps in!). It turned out to be a wise decision and Button was able to control the race after Vettel's retirement.
Once again the Red Bull's proved fragile, as Sebastian Vettel suffered a broken wheel rim whilst leading the race, and his team mate Marc Webber found himself in the sand-trap after a collision with Lewis Hamilton, eventually coming home ninth. The Australian misjudged his braking and accidentally took out Hamilton's McLaren with two laps to go. Fortunately Hamilton was also able to finish after cracking race, pulling himself up through the field from eleventh in the grid, with only a wrong pit stop call and the Webber collision hindering him.
Michael Schumacher and the Mercedes team are still finding their way, with the German finishing tenth after being caught in the opening Kayobashi/Hulkenburg fracas at the first corner and having to work his way up the field. I wouldn't be quick to write him off just yet as he did post the fourth fastest race lap...
Massa beats off the opposition
Phillipe Massa put in a dominant display during yesterdays Turkish Grand Prix, coming first in front of Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen. It is the third time Massa has triumphed at Istanbul Park in the last three years. However, it was not all plain sailing as he had to content with a sustained challenge from Lewis Hamilton, who was on a three stop strategy to cope with the tyre demands of the anti-clockwise circuit.
The lighter McLaren allowed him to overtake Massa in the middle part of the race, however Massa was still able to reclaim the lead and take the chequered flag. As the race progressed, Hamilton came under pressure from Raikkonen and only narrowly beat him to second place. Further down the field, the BMW team carried on their quiet march into the big league with a solid fourth and fifth for Kubica and Heidfeld respectively.
By clinching victory, Massa underlined just how good he is on his day. The problem for him is to sustain that performance over the course of a season, something that he has previously not been able to do. It is not unlikely that after yesterdays performance, he'll be wedged in the barriers on the Monaco harbour side at the next race....