F1 World Championship 2009 Thread

[san.W10]

Ferrari will not run KERS in China

Ferrari will not use its kinetic energy recovery system in this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, team boss Stefano Domenicali has announced.

The reigning constructors' champion was one of only four teams ready to run KERS in time for the Melbourne season-opener, but has had a very poor start to the season and is currently at the foot of the points table having failed to score in the first two rounds.

Domenicali revealed that Ferrari would not be using KERS in a press briefing at the Shanghai circuit this afternoon.

The non-KERS cars have dominated the results so far this season, although Nick Heidfeld used the device on the way to second place for BMW Sauber at Sepang.

While Ferrari is putting its KERS on hold for China, BMW driver Robert Kubica is set to run the system for the first time in practice tomorrow, having previously felt that his height meant the weighty device was a disadvantage for him.

But Fernando Alonso, whose Renault team had KERS from the start of the year, said today that the squad is "open-minded" about whether to continue using the system.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74492

[Woj]

Dennis relinquishes McLaren's F1 duties

The McLaren team has confirmed Ron Dennis is stepping back completely from his involvement with the Formula 1 squad, as AUTOSPORT predicted on Wednesday.

McLaren said on Thursday that Dennis has already handed his responsibility as CEO of McLaren Racing to Martin Whitmarsh, who was named team principal earlier this year.

Dennis will focus entirely on leading the new sports car business, McLaren Automotive, which will now become an independent company, and which plans to launch the first model of McLaren sports cars in 2011.

Dennis, who missed his first grand prix for many years when he skipped the Malaysian GP, said the decision to step down was made by him alone.

"I passed the role of Team Principal of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes to Martin Whitmarsh on January 16th, the day of the launch of our new Formula 1 car," said Dennis.

"That day I was asked many times whether I would attend the 2009 Australian Grand Prix. My answer was 'yes'. I duly attended it - albeit not as the person in charge of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes. It was, I admit, a strange feeling.

"The next race, the Malaysian Grand Prix, I watched on TV in the UK - an activity I found surprisingly easy. I'd expected to be more emotional about it, after an unbroken run of attending so many grands prix for so many years.

"I admit I'm not always easy to get on with. I admit I've always fought hard for McLaren in Formula 1. I doubt if Max Mosley or Bernie Ecclestone will be displeased by my decision. But no one asked me to do it. It was my decision.

"Equally, I was the architect of today's restructure of the McLaren Group. Again, no-one asked me to do it. It was my decision.

"I feel enormously enthused about the prospects for the McLaren Group and for McLaren Automotive, and have no qualms about leaving Martin to report to the board regarding matters connected with Formula 1."

McLaren also said Richard Lapthorne will be appointed Non Executive Chairman of the McLaren Group and a Non Executive Director of McLaren Automotive.

"This is a very exciting time to be joining the McLaren Group and to be working closely with Ron and his team on McLaren Automotive's expansion into the sports car market," said Lapthorne.

"It's a rare opportunity to be involved at a key stage in the development of a British sports car company of an entirely new sort, especially one that has such a great racing pedigree and such a world-class reputation as McLaren."

Autosport

[Beastage]

Ferrari will not run KERS in China

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74492

It was coming, the FIA dropped the ball on KERS, teams with it suffer and on top the teams with it also have smaller diffusers... it is like the FIA mislead some teams.

I don't see how anyone thinks this season is more competitve, so far it is dominated by a couple of teams and drivers just like the previous seasons.

[Subject Delta]

Doesn't explain why Red Bull had their similarly designed diffuser declared illegal by the FIA when they were first designing it now does it? ;)

Nope, but having not seen RBR's design, I cannot comment further on that, I can only guess that there was some other part of it that was illegal

Ferrari will not run KERS in China

Ferrari are going to be in for a tough time without it, as I can recall Massa saying they where nowhere without it. Obviously they need to resolve the reilability issues that it has presented them. Seems strange to me that of all the teams the only decent KERS unit has been produced by McLaren, which is probably why they aren't right at the back of the field.

[san.W10]

Alonso slams 'ridiculous' tyre choice

Double world champion Fernando Alonso is 'very worried' about Bridgestone's decision to bring super-soft compounds as the option tyre for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, the Spaniard saying it is entirely unsuited to the abrasive nature of the Shanghai circuit.

The Renault driver claims that the use of the tyre makes the drivers 'look ridiculous' because of the time differential between the option and prime rubber - which was as much as six seconds when the super-soft and hard tyres were used in Australia.

"I think it is the worst decision they made in a long time, because it is a ridiculous tyre for here, for Shanghai," he said.

"I don't know if Bridgestone made the decision or the FIA, but they have to reconsider this type of decision because we look ridiculous on television and we look ridiculous for the spectators, and it is a joke to be in front of TV six seconds slower.

"We will need to change the tyres after five or six laps, is our calculation, because this track is harder than Melbourne and there we only did eight or nine laps.

"And if they want to be funny and mix the results and have overtaking, they can do a better job – a funny solution, maybe they can put us on the wet tyres or something. Like this it looks more spectacular – the difference in the speed. I don't know...

"I'm very worried about this and I'm very sad about this, because we look strange in front of people."

Alonso also revealed that the drivers have not been consulted on which tyres should be used, and added that the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) expressed their fears over safety on the issue following the Australian Grand Prix, when Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel collided while contesting second place.

"We expressed our concerns after Australia, after the accident of Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel – it was due to the difference of the speed," he said.

"He (Kubica) tried to overtake, Vettel was not in control of the car with that tyre, you cannot brake, you cannot turn-in, you cannot do anything. And then Robert had a big crash after that because he damaged the car.

"Then we expressed our concerns and now in the third race we have the same tyre at a worse circuit. This is something that we need to change immediately."

Alonso added that he considered both the super-soft and the hard tyres to be unsuited to Shanghai.

"I think the super-soft on this type of circuit with long, high-speed corners... in Turn 1 it will be destroyed and in Turn 10 there will be no more left tyre. :rofl:

"One will be too hard and one will be too soft. The right tyre is at home! The soft tyre is at home, and this happened in Australia as well. And the understanding that this is for a better show, for overtaking...

"As I said, for a better show, maybe we can pick up our number and then whoever picks up number 15 can put on wet tyres, or whatever, and it is a better show and it's funny. Like this it is not funny."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74491

didnt know Alonso is a funny guy :D

[arrrgh]

maybe they can put us on the wet tyres or something. Like this it looks more spectacular – the difference in the speed. I don't know...

I'm expecting Ferrari to sue Alonso to find out who leaked out their latest tyre strategy for China.

[Subject Delta]

:laugh:

I agree with Alonso, I think the new tyre rules are just an arbitrary way to induce artificial performance differences. Also, they are supposed to be making F1 safer, not more dangerous

[Nicholas-c Veteran]

Holy cow ? Mclaren 1/4 ? (First fri prat) Ferrari still struggling... Not good for my guess >.>

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Complete FP1 result:

Pos  Driver		Team					  Time			  Laps
1.  Hamilton	  McLaren-Mercedes	 (B)  1:37.334 +		 22
2.  Button		Brawn GP-Mercedes	(B)  1:37.450 + 0.116   18
3.  Barrichello   Brawn GP-Mercedes	(B)  1:37.566 + 0.232   19
4.  Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	 (B)  1:37.672 + 0.338   23
6.  Trulli		Toyota			   (B)  1:37.764 + 0.430   19
7.  Rosberg	   Williams-Toyota	  (B)  1:37.860 + 0.526   24
8.  Glock		 Toyota			   (B)  1:37.894 + 0.560   21
9.  Alonso		Renault			  (B)  1:38.089 + 0.755   19
10.  Bourdais	  Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:38.195 + 0.861   24
11.  Raikkonen	 Ferrari			  (B)  1:38.223 + 0.889   23
12.  Vettel		Red Bull-Renault	 (B)  1:38.274 + 0.940   20
13.  Buemi		 Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:38.307 + 0.973   26
14.  Sutil		 Force India-Mercedes (B)  1:38.319 + 0.985   18
15.  Massa		 Ferrari			  (B)  1:38.418 + 1.084   20
16.  Heidfeld	  BMW Sauber		   (B)  1:38.456 + 1.122   21
17.  Fisichella	Force India-Mercedes (B)  1:38.460 + 1.126   19
18.  Kubica		BMW Sauber		   (B)  1:38.463 + 1.129   18
19.  Nakajima	  Williams-Toyota	  (B)  1:38.730 + 1.396   25
20.  Piquet		Renault			  (B)  1:38.825 + 1.491   20

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

So much for McLaren being able to be in front. And wtf@Ferrari...

[.mcman]

McLaren's new diffuser. :)

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Ferrari: Removing KERS has not helped

Ferrari has admitted that removing its KERS for the Chinese Grand Prix has not proved beneficial so far.

After several reliability problems in the previous races, Ferrari decided to abandon the new system for Shanghai. But after struggling in practice today, Felipe Massa said getting rid of KERS was actually a backwards step.

"Here we are also running without KERS and as a result, we are losing even more performance, in addition to not having as much aerodynamic downforce as the best cars," he said.

"Our fight for the championship is ever more compromised.

"We must try and push as hard as possible on the development of the car, but we know it will be very hard to catch up. The only recipe for getting out of this difficulty is to work."

Team boss Stefano Domenicali reckoned that because the car had been designed with KERS in mind, removing the troublesome system had turned out to be counter-productive.

"Clearly, without KERS, we lose a bit of performance and initial indications are that we are not seeing any improvement in the balance of a car that, let's not forget, was designed to carry this system," he said.

"We are in a difficult situation and we must try and stay calm and work hard on all fronts."

But Kimi Raikkonen was less bothered by the loss of the device.

"The balance of the car isn't bad and one doesn't feel the lack of KERS," he said.

"The point is that we are too slow compared to the teams currently at the top of the order. We must try and improve the car. At the moment, we are not able to fight for the title."

Source: Autosport

Translation: 'We're farked.'

[brentaal]

Ferrari's finally fit for a 1-2.

1-2 points, that is.

[Beastage]

At this point I wish Ecclestone medals idea was accepted, it would be hillarious to see Button declared champion after 7-8 races.

[Subject Delta]

Ferrari, looked like their car was a real handful. Bad balance, significant tyre graining (especially on Massa's car), the removal of Kers was for me a mistake when their car is evidently aerodynamically unsound.

As for McLaren, they do appear to have made some inroads to their performance deficit. I don't expect them to run at the front, but I would imagine they will be in for a pretty strong points shout.

For me, I feel some of the rot from the early 90's is starting to creep its way back into Ferrari, they just don't look as much of a menace as they where during the "dream team" era.

As for Brawn, my gut feeling is they have pace in hand, and are again starting this race as favourites, but I expect Toyota to give them a bit more of a fight, as long as it stays dry

[digitalsoft]

Slightly dissapointed with the result. Was very interesting watching the live timing and pretty close really. Gonna be an interesting race! Interested to see how Alonso fairs in that first corner... Button for the win though please!

[.mcman]

Pre-race weights & provisional grid

1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 644kg

2. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 637

3. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 646.5

4. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 661

5. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 659

6. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 664.5

7. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 650.5

8. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 673.5

9. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 679

10. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 673

11. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 679

12. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 697

13. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 690

14. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 682.7

15. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso, 690

16. Nelson Piquet, Renault, 697.9

17. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 659

18. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 648

19. Timo Glock, Toyota, 652

20. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 679.5

[simonlang]

im soooo happy for vettel! snatching away the pole from alonso who is a little bit screwed now with his superlight car. :D

and vettel deserves it! :)

brawn gp will be a factor tomorrow, and if they cant win, they ll go for p2 or p3, still good ennough.

it slightly disturbs me that ferrari got rid of luca baldisseri and now raikkonens former race engineer is responsible for both ferraris. that explains massas frustration and so does it mine! they better bring back kers in their cars next race, even if it hampers raikkonen one more time, but the car will be faster then.

mclaren looks like making slowly but steady progress and they are usually reliable. lewis could end up p4 tomorrow who knows?

[Nicholas-c Veteran]

wow wasn't excepting that, only problem is that brawn are once again 20kg Heavier than others at the front so they will be going for a 2 stop with vettels/alonso having to pit relativly early on what I imagine is a 3-stop

[brentaal]

im soooo happy for vettel! snatching away the pole from alonso who is a little bit screwed now with his superlight car.

I dont agree that hes screwed. KERS should take care of that at the very start.

[Subject Delta]

From what I have heard, Renault have removed their KERS systems.

One of the RBR drivers appeared to bork kovalinen, interesting (but not surprising) that nothing has been done about it

[simonlang]

I dont agree that hes screwed. KERS should take care of that at the very start.

yep renault is not running kers. therefore my comment. :)

and hav u seen how little fuel he has onboard? according to mercedes boss norbert haug, alonso will pit in lap 10 or 11. :laugh:

[Subject Delta]

im soooo happy for vettel! snatching away the pole from alonso who is a little bit screwed now with his superlight car. :D

and vettel deserves it! :)

brawn gp will be a factor tomorrow, and if they cant win, they ll go for p2 or p3, still good ennough.

it slightly disturbs me that ferrari got rid of luca baldisseri and now raikkonens former race engineer is responsible for both ferraris. that explains massas frustration and so does it mine! they better bring back kers in their cars next race, even if it hampers raikkonen one more time, but the car will be faster then.

mclaren looks like making slowly but steady progress and they are usually reliable. lewis could end up p4 tomorrow who knows?

A fast car is absolutely useless if it is unreliable, and until Ferrari can sort the glitches out, all it will do is cause them to drop out of more races. At this moment in time McLaren seem to be the only team that have really built a decent KERS system, and I feel it would be a massive advantage to them if they had a better aero package.

However, KERS is not dead, and I expect more teams to run it when they manage to get it working the way they want

[ViZioN]

Anyone else watching the rain madness right now? Managed to force myself to get up early :p

[Nicholas-c Veteran]

Good race, Button didn't seem to have the confidence in and out of the corners on the throttle nor brakes, Still believe that Brawn with own the dry but Red Bull will be ones to watch. I thought Massa was doing absolutely great since he has been slow (and failing) all season until his engine cut out...

McLaren are back!!