Day 3 at Albert Park

Saturday began with our first late start, not needing to be into Albert Park until half 10. The day began as any other, with the Historic Demonstration of the cars of yesteryear, before the Formula 5000′s took to the track. Their race was disrupted midway through as one driver got a bit too excited on the throttle coming onto the main straight, and promptly buried his car into the wall.

Sadly, we couldn’t quite make out anymore of what had happened apart from shadows round the corner, but it showed the true spirit of an F1 fan – we all love an incident as we crowded to the barrier to try and see what had happened. I have a couple of long distance silhouettes of his car strewn over the track, but nothing conclusive.

Thankfully, there was more of this to come in the Red Bull Race off, as David Coulthard (F1 driver), Rick Kelly (V8 driver), Daniel Ricciardo (F1 driver) and Robbie Maddison (stunt bike driver) took to the track in their Red Bull sponsored Renault’s to see who would cope best. DC had an early off with a hugely ambitious move on turn 3, leaving the Aussie’s to battle it out. With the two racers concentrating on each other, it was eventually Robbie Maddison who found the clear air and accelerated away to victory. Sadly, no major incidents – not that there was a lack of desire to win, they were just too good to be driving into each other.

A few more displays, both on the track and off thanks to the Kiowa helicopter team, before a gap to clear the track allowed us the time to wander round the stalls of Albert Park. The top performing cars on the track and on the road, both from the far past and the near future were on display, and this also set us up nicely to watch FP3 from a different point of the track, where the cars seemed even louder.

Sticking to the track through everything, before rapidly disappearing away, they really are something. This also heralded the first time the Hispania team managed to get their car out of the garage and on to the track, approximately 10 minutes before the session finished. The times they posted didn’t look promising for the now re-enforced 107% rule.

Then, it was a casual stroll back to our stand for qualifying, the first chance to see these cars driven in anger. Vettel might have drawn the plaudits with his drive, while Webber drew the home crowd cheers, but Sutil had busied himself with the stunt side of things.

An audible gasp greeted his entirely unexpected 360 spin on the home straight, and as the car vanished behind a cloud of tyre smoke, we listened for the inevitable crunch into the barrier. When it didn’t come, the very fortunate German earned himself quite a round of applause for somehow rescuing his car and carrying on. I don’t think he could do it again if he tried.

The Second V8 race took place before we headed back into the city, another day of racing under our belt.

And finally, here is Sutil’s incredible save on the Albert Park circuit. It almost seems a shame that it ruined the lap he was completing and the lap he was about to begin.

For those who are interested, I was sat immediately after the last right hand corner, in the stand to the right of the raised camera thingy. You can see it from about 13 seconds in.