- 176th victory for McLaren
- 149th fastest lap for McLaren
- 72nd victory for McLaren, Mercedes and Mobil 1
- 28th victory for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
- 13th victory for Jenson Button
- 7th fastest lap for Jenson Button
JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-27A-02
- Started: 2nd
- Finished: 1st
- Fastest lap: 1m29.187s (1st)
- Pitstops: two: laps 16 and 36 (Op-Pr-Pr)
- 2011 points: 25 (1st)
“Every victory means a lot – but today shows just how important it was to have a strong winter. The starts of the past two seasons have both been tricky for us, so today is really encouraging. The guys at the circuit and all the men and women back in Woking have done an amazing job to get us here.
“Today means a lot to me, and I’m sure it’ll mean a lot to all of them too: it’ll make those extra hours worked in the early hours of the morning all the more worthwhile, because we know we can do great things with this car.
“At the start, I really wanted to get away fast in the first two laps to avoid the threat of DRS – it wasn’t easy because I had Lewis right on my tail. But the race went smoothly after that. My biggest worry was the late-race Safety Car: I had a 10-second advantage, which was pretty healthy, but the Safety Car cut that to nothing.
“And, since it was 6.00pm, with the sun going down, it was quite difficult to keep temperature in the tyres when we were running slowly behind the Safety Car. That was a big worry for me, but it worked out okay in the end: I got clear of Seb [Vettel] and the DRS zone pretty quickly and was able to pull out an advantage and hold it to the end.
“There’s a huge amount of positives to take away from this weekend: we’ve got a great car and we can fight for the world championships. This is a perfect start to my season and I’m already looking forward to Malaysia.”
LEWIS HAMILTON
- MP4-27A-03
- Started: 1st
- Finished: 3rd
- Fastest lap: 1m29.538s (+0.351s, 4th)
- Pitstops: two: laps 17 and 36 (Op-Pr-Pr)
- Points: 15 (3rd)
“Congratulations to Jenson and the whole team for such a great result today.
“While it’s a bit disappointing not to have been able to convert pole position into victory, I’m not downhearted – there are still plenty of races ahead and lots more opportunities to score points.
“I struggled out there a little – it wasn’t my day. But what’s most important is that we showed today that we have a very quick racing car – that’s a massive positive for the team.
“I’m not sure what happened at the start, but I lost ground and then suffered from tyre degradation at the end of the first stint. Then, at the end of the race, I wasn’t able to close the gap to Seb – he was very quick on the straights which meant that it was always going to be difficult to pass him – so I dropped back into some clear air, then Mark [Webber] put me under pressure.
“I’ll just re-focus now, get my head down and look to the next race. The world championships are all about consistency, so that’s what I’ll be aiming for.”
MARTIN WHITMARSH
Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
“Jenson was utterly immaculate today.
“He made a brilliant start, slipping past Lewis who got bogged down momentarily, and after that he controlled the race with consummate authority.
“Lewis, too, drove extremely well, but was unfortunately deprived of second place when the Safety Car was deployed late in the race. A Vodafone McLaren Mercedes one-two had been there for the taking; but I guess it’s a very good sign when you feel a little disappointed by a one-three, so we’ll settle for that!
“We never under-estimate our opposition, and undoubtedly there’s a long hard road ahead of us between now and the end of the season. But we’ve started well, and in a few days’ time we’ll roll into Sepang, Malaysia, hungry to score a repeat victory.
“I want to thank everyone at not only Vodafone McLaren Mercedes, but also at Mercedes AMG HighPerformancePowertrains, for a fantastic effort over the past few weeks and months. We’ve all worked incredibly hard – and, today, in dappled late-afternoon sunshine in Melbourne’s Albert Park, all that hard work paid off.”
* Official photos and report courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes *
Copyright © 2012, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.
A strong weekend in Melbourne came to a disappointing end for the MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS team today with Nico Rosberg finishing the Australian Grand Prix in 12th place and team-mate Michael Schumacher retiring.
• Both drivers had excellent starts with Michael making up one place to third, and Nico moving from seventh to fourth
• Michael was still running in third position when a gearbox problem forced him to retire the car on lap 11
• Nico ran a two stop race with an option/option/prime tyre strategy, stopping on laps 12 and 31
• He would have finished in the points before a clash with Perez on the last lap dropped him to back to 12th place
Nico Rosberg
“I had a perfect start today and was able to gain three positions, however unfortunately we weren’t able to maintain that pace, and the race did not turn out as we had hoped. The end was particularly unfortunate with Perez when we touched on the straight, causing a puncture which took away a points scoring finish. We have a lot of work to do to understand what went wrong, and how we can use the full potential which our car definitely shows. I’m still positive as Malaysia is a completely different track so I’m looking ahead to next weekend now.”
Michael Schumacher
“It was an unfortunate end to my race when I lost drive going into turn one. I was trying different gears and occasionally the drive came back, but in the end, I had to go onto the grass to avoid the risk of the car being forced into a spin. It was especially unfortunate as we have not had this problem during the winter tests and were very reliable. This is why I am not concerned, as I know things like this happen in racing, and our reliability is not in question. I believe I could have had a good race this afternoon and I can still take some positives out of the weekend, as we have seen our car was confirming our feelings, and is definitely a clear step forward. We can now build on that and start improving further.”
Ross Brawn
“After a very encouraging weekend, today was not a good result for us. Despite excellent starts, both Michael and Nico had difficulties from the start of the race with their tyres. With the development of the circuit and the track temperatures, we fell out of the working window, and struggled with degradation. However we remain positive as both here and over the winter tests, we have demonstrated that we have a fundamentally quick car and we have a lot to build on. So we need to look at what happened today, unravel the problem and work out where we need to improve.”
Norbert Haug
“Michael was defending third place when his gearbox had a problem which caused his retirement. Nico did not have the necessary speed due to problems in the tyre usage, the reason for which we are currently investigating. The collision on the last lap cost Nico points but more concerning for us today is that we could not use the tyres as we did during testing and earlier this weekend. The team will work hard to understand the problem and to be in better shape next week in Malaysia.”
Official photos and report courtesy of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS
Copyright © 2012, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.
“The most beautiful car in Formula 1 – and, today, the fastest!”
- 148th pole for McLaren
- 69th pole for McLaren-Mercedes
- 23rd pole for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
- 20th pole for Lewis Hamilton
- 1st all-McLaren front row since Hungary 2008
- 1st front-row lock-out for Lewis and Jenson
LEWIS HAMILTON
- MP4-27-03
- P3 programme: 1st, 1m25.681s 18 laps
- Qualifying:
- Q1: 9th, 1m26.800s (on Primes)
- Q2: 3rd, 1m25.626s (on Options)
- Q3: 1st overall, 1m24.922s (on Options)
“I’m massively proud of my team. We’ve been working incredibly hard throughout the winter: we’ve never given up, and everyone has just kept pushing and pushing. We’ve had some tough years, but everyone in this team wants to succeed: to be the best. I’m proud that I was able to do the job for them today.
“My first lap in Q3 felt pretty special – at the end of it, I felt it’d be surprising if anyone could push ahead of that. I tried even harder on my final run, but braked a little too late into the first corner and spoiled the lap. After that, I was just hoping that nobody would go any quicker.
“I just love qualifying, especially when you get the lap just right; when it all flows, the tyres work and you hit the sweet-spot everywhere. It’s like heaven.
“Today we showed that we not only have the most beautiful car in Formula 1, but also the fastest! Of course, there’s still a long way to go tomorrow – looking after the tyres will be key – but we’re in the best possible position to have a strong race.”
JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-27-02
- P3 programme: 4th 1m25.906s (+0.225s) 17 laps
- Qualifying:
- Q1: 11th, 1m26.832s (on Primes)
- Q2: 4th, 1m25.663s (on Options)
- Q3: 2nd overall, 1m25.074s (on Options)
“Lewis nailed a great lap in Q3, but I think the whole team is really happy to have both cars on the front row – it’s been a long time coming to have the two of us there together. You always want to be first, but I couldn’t quite do that today. Nevertheless, I think we both want to thank the team – it’s a big vindication of how far we’ve come this winter.
“And that’s been crucial: having a good winter can really make the difference. We still don’t know exactly how strong our car will be in the race, but yesterday it appeared to be consistent and looked after the tyres during the stint. Tomorrow will be about getting the tyres to the right working temperature and looking after them across the stint.
“Tomorrow is the important day, and today is about making life easier for tomorrow. Still, this has been a great day for everyone in the team.”
MARTIN WHITMARSH
Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
“It feels very good to be back at the front of the grid, not only bagging pole position but also P2, to tie up the entire front row for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes.
“Both our drivers have driven really well all weekend, and this afternoon they were fantastic. Lewis’s pole lap – the 148th in McLaren’s Formula 1 history – was a brilliant combination of commitment and control.
“It wasn’t easy though, for either Lewis or Jenson. Traffic was a challenge in Q1, and in Q2 and Q3 it was a question of working hard to get the best out of the tyres.
“But, as I say, today we notched up McLaren’s 148th ever Grand Prix pole position, and tomorrow we’ll be aiming to score McLaren’s 176th ever Grand Prix victory.
“We think we’ll have a good race car; we know we’ll have two great race drivers; so, although we never under-estimate our competition, and although we’re sure tomorrow’s race will be as demanding as it will be entertaining, I guess you could say that we fancy our chances.”
* Official photos and report courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes *
Copyright © 2012, Mercedes-Benz-Blog. All rights reserved.
