Live text
Formula 1
Australian GP
F1: 2009 Australian Grand Prix Race day at Albert Park
Live Standings
presented by
Stopped
Summary
Live Text
Sort by
Lap 50: The gaps are close at the front, with 4.4 seconds covering Button in the lead to Kubica in fourth. The BMW is all over the tail of Barrichello.
Lap 49: Button leads with ten laps to go in Australia from Vettel, Barrichello, Kubica, Alonso and Glock.
Lap 49: Lewis Hamilton meanwhile, can smell a point. He is currently tenth, and closing in on Jarno Trulli in ninth, and Giancarlo Fisichella in eighth.
Lap 48: Button resumes ahead of Vettel, despite that fumble on the fuel hose.
He has 11 laps to the flag on the softer tyre.
He has 11 laps to the flag on the softer tyre.
Lap 48: Massa pits the Ferrari. The mechanics wheel the car into the garage. It is all over for the 2008 championship runner-up.
Lap 48: Button pits the Brawn ... and it is a slow stop! The fuel hose was not connected very quickly.
Lap 47: Felipe Massa has been off the road, on the grass exiting the Turns 8-9 chicane. He has recovered to the track but is touring slowly.
Lap 47: Felipe Massa has a problem with his Ferrari ...
Lap 47: Vettel holds on to his place and is pulling away from Barrichello.
Lap 47: The reason for Kimi Raikkonen's third pitstop now reveals itself. Coming out of Turn 13 the Finn lost the rear end of the Ferrari and looped the car round, gently nudging the front wing into the wall.
Kimi recovered, and pitted at the end of that lap. He is now running in 16th place following that stop.
Kimi recovered, and pitted at the end of that lap. He is now running in 16th place following that stop.
Lap 46: Vettel comes out in a direct scrap with Barrichello's Brawn.
Lap 46: Sebastian Vettel pits from second. He will have 13 laps to the flag on the softer rubber.
Lap 45: Nico Rosberg pits for his final stop.
Lap 45: Hamilton and Massa are 10th and 11th. Right behind them is the recovering Sebastien Buemi, who made his final stop a couple of laps ago.
Lap 44: Kimi Raikkonen has also made a stop - his third of the day.
Lap 44: Hamilton pits the McLaren, sneaking past Massa's Ferrari on the way out of the pits.
Lap 43: Sebastien Buemi pitted from a remarkable fourth place. The debutant in the Toro Rosso rejoins the fight in 13th place.
Lap 43: Lewis is finding some pace at this point, closing quickly on the Williams of Rosberg.
Lap 42: Lewis Hamilton is up to fifth in the McLaren after a long middle stint, but he is yet to make a final stop.
Lap 42: Robert Kubica rejoined in seventh place, and is close to Lewis Hamilton, who has been promoted to sixth following this latest rash of stops.
Lap 41: Button continues to lead by 4.7 seconds over Vettel. Both need to pit for the softer tyres to complete the race.
Lap 40: Both rejoin with the favourable harder tyre, having completed a stint on the softer compound at the start.
Lap 40: Raikkonen also pits the Ferrari.
Lap 39: Kubica pits the BMW for his final stop.
Lap 39: Hamilton's next lap is another personal best and the gap to Rosberg in seventh is 2.0 seconds.
Lap 38: Lewis Hamilton sets his personal fastest lap of the race and pulls in four-tenths of a second on Nico Rosberg. The gap between them is 2.6 seconds.
Lap 38: Rosberg continues to tail Buemi for sixth, but the Swiss rookie is still holding on to his place.
Lap 37: Timo Glock (10th) sets his fastest lap of the race and in doing so he is closing in on Fernando Alonso. The battle for ninth continues, with Hamilton two seconds up the road in eighth.
Hamilton has not been able to make any further progress, and is three seconds behind Nico Rosberg (seventh).
Hamilton has not been able to make any further progress, and is three seconds behind Nico Rosberg (seventh).
Lap 37: Robert Kubica continues to set the pace with another fastest lap. Having used the super soft rubber already, the Pole could be on for a great result if the lead pair struggle with the softer rubber.
Lap 36: Jenson Button continues to lead, now by 5.3 seconds over Vettel.
Lap 35: Adrian Sutil pits from 12th position in the Force India. This is his final stop and he rejoins after a total pitlane time of 23.3 seconds. The German is now 17th and last.
Lap 35: Robert Kubica sets the fastest lap in 1:27.989 as he closes in on second-place man Vettel.
Lap 34: The closest battle on circuit at the moment is at the very back of the field.
Sebastien Bourdais is 15th. He has Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber pressing hard to pass him.
Sebastien Bourdais is 15th. He has Nick Heidfeld and Mark Webber pressing hard to pass him.
Lap 34: Jarno Trulli makes his second stop, having first visited the pits on lap ten.
Lap 34: Felipe is told on his radio that he needs to deliver the maximum possible speed, with engineer Rob Smedley thinking that Kubica and Raikkonen are a threat due to running much longer on fuel in this middle stint.
Lap 32: The field stream past the Ferrari, and Felipe rejoins the race in a lowly 14th place.
Lap 32: Felipe Massa pits his Ferrari for an early second stop.
Lap 31: Lewis Hamilton is beginning to find just a little more speed. He remains in 10th, but has just moved into the 1:29s, and is leaving Fernando Alonso behind. Hamilton is just over one second behind Nico Rosberg.
Lap 31: Rosberg and Buemi continue to scrap over eighth, with Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren slowly catching the battle.
Lap 30: The next battle behind Timo Glock, is the Force India fight. Adrian Sutil has been quicker than his team-mate Fisichella for several laps, and the German passes Giancarlo as the pair exit Turn 3. Sutil 13th, Fisichella 14th.
By: Emlyn Hughes, Geoff Creighton
Published:
Lap:
