The aftermath of the qualifying session in Melbourne saw penalties and protests lobbed around, and when the dust settled, both Lewis Hamilton (gearbox change) and Toyota (illegal wing) were moved to the back of the grid.
Both Toyotas had qualified in the top ten, but the post-qualifying scrutineering discovered that the rear wings of the TF109 cars were in breach of the technical regulations, namely the rule that the rear wings must be fixed and inflexible. "The Stewards have received a report from the Technical Delegate that the upper rear wing elements of cars No. 9 and 10 are showing extreme flexibility in contravention of Article 3.15 of the 2009 Formula One Technical Regulations," read a thrilling statement from the FIA afterwards, "It is the Stewards decision that cars number 9 and 10 be excluded from the Qualifying Session Official Classification."
With Trulli and Glock's times from qualifying wiped, they will now start the from the back of the grid.
Meanwhile, they will be just behind Lewis Hamilton, after the team were forced to change his gearbox. The failure kept the reigning champion from completing a single lap in Q2, and as a result the drop from 15th to 18th isn't that major, it continues the humbling opening weekend of the season for Hamilton.
Any further changes to the increasingly complicated grid were ruled out after the Williams team withdrew a protest they had lodged, somewhat strangely, over the legality of the Red Bull and Ferrari cars, two of the teams that had protested the Williams diffuser earlier in the week.
The rumours are that the protest related to the front edge of the sidepods of the two cars, but although Williams entered the protest after qualifying, they withdrew it a short time after, stating that "After further detailed consideration, Williams has withdrawn both protests in the interests of the sport.
"Williams recognises the possibility that in this area there could be more than one interpretation of the rules and therefore does not feel it appropriate to continue with the protests."
The removal of the protest led the FIA to make the grid, with Hamilton's and Toyota's penalties applied, official.
| Revised Melbourne Grid | ||
| Pos | Driver | Car |
| 1 | Jenson Button | Brawn - Mercedes |
| 2 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn - Mercedes |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull - Renault |
| 4 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber |
| 5 | Nico Rosberg | Williams - Toyota |
| 6 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari |
| 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari |
| 8 | Mark Webber | Red Bull - Renault |
| 9 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | Renault |
| 11 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams - Toyota |
| 12 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren - Mercedes |
| 13 | Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso - Ferrari |
| 14 | Nelson Piquet Jr | Renault |
| 15 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India - Mercedes |
| 16 | Adrian Sutil | Force India - Mercedes |
| 17 | Sebastien Bourdais | Toro Rosso - Ferrari |
| 18 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren - Mercedes |
| 19 | Timo Glock | Toyota |
| 20 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota |
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