F1 World Championship 2009 Thread

[Lechio]

It is a track which separates the good drivers from the rookies.

You saying Schumacher was a rookie?

"Michael Schumacher's car being carried after retiring from the 2006 Japanese Grand Prix."

:p

[ahmz]

His car had an engine failure while he was leading the GP.

[.mcman]

Pre-race weights & provisional grid

1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 658.5kg

2. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 655.5

3. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 656

4. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 660

5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 661

6. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 675

7. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 684.5

8. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 686

9. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 650

10. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 660.5

11. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso, 682.5

12. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 658.5

13. Giancarlo Fisichella, Ferrari, 661.5

14. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 665.4

15. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 695.7

16. Romain Grosjean, Renault, 691.8

17. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 689.5

18. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India, 682.5

19. Timo Glock, Toyota, n/a

20. Mark Webber, Red Bull, n/a

This is gonna be interesting. Can't wait! :woot:

[MagicAndre1981]

Yeah, now Sebastian Vettel has a chance to Win. Hopefully Barrichello and Button don't finish the race

[ahmz]

Watch for Lewis off the line..

[Lechio]

His car had an engine failure while he was leading the GP.

A good driver has to know how to take care of his engine... :shifty:

Was just messing with Mephistopheles, with the fact that the Wikipedia entry for Suzuka has a picture of Schumacher's car being carried. :p

Suzuka truly is a difficult circuit, where even experienced pilots have a hard time racing it. Let's hope tomorrow we can watch a good race.

[san.W10]

i see kimi in podium :laugh:

[ViZioN]

Anyone staying up to watch the race? :)

[MightyJordan]

Anyone staying up to watch the race? :)

Yep, I am.

[ViZioN]

Yep, I am.

I'm surprisingly awake for 5am. I thought about going for a sleep around 3 for a few hours but decided against it.

[sundayx Veteran]

Live stream anyone?

[.mcman]

Live stream anyone?

I use FilmOn to watch BBC. Don't register just press skip in log in screen.

[.mcman]

It's quiet in here... Everybody went to sleep? :)

Interesting race. Vettel was great as usual. Too bad Lewis couldn't keep second place. Still it's only 2 points between him and Kimi and the same between Ferrari and McLaren. Last 2 races are promising to be very exciting!

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

The race was less eventful than I had expected it to be after yesterday's qualifying.

Vettel's race was flawless. The Brawns were meh - they're still going to win both titles, but today they were too far off the pace.

We'll have to see what becomes of this. It would be a shame if Rosberg loses his well-deserved fourth place imho.

Rejects of the race today: Giancarlo Fisichella for his rookie-like pit exit, Heikki Kovalainen for ruining Adrian Sutil's race.

[MightyJordan]

It's quiet in here... Everybody went to sleep? :)

Well I did. :p I ballsed up. I blacked out about 15 minutes before the start and didn't wake up until about 5 minutes from now.

Luckily it looks like I didn't miss much. Vettel stayed first throughout, a safety car spoiled Brawn's chance to win the constructors championship today, and only two drivers retired, both of them Toro Rosso.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

No action taken on Rosberg incident

The Japanese Grand Prix stewards have decided Nico Rosberg did not deserve a penalty and so the Constructors' Championship is still up for grabs.

Rosberg and Williams technical director Sam Michael were summoned by the stewards after the race following claims from Jenson Button that the German had set his best sector time during the safety car period.

Button reckoned he could have beaten the German had he been slower and the Briton expected Rosberg to be penalised.

A penalty would have given Button's Brawn team the title, as it needs just 0.5 points to clinch it and both the Briton and team-mate Rubens Barrichello would have moved up a position.

The stewards, however, deemed Rosberg had done nothing wrong.

"The Race Director reported to the Stewards that Car No 16, Nico Rosberg exceeded the time delta from when the 'Safety Deployed' message was displayed until crossing the Safety Car line," a statement from the FIA said.

"The Stewards met with the drivers and the team representatives and considered the telemetry data, GPS records, timekeeping and video evidence. This evidence showed a 'low fuel' message on the drivers display had overridden the time delta information preventing the driver from being able to accurately follow the timing information.

"However the telemetry data shows that the driver from a safety point of view had reacted adequately to the yellow flags and safety car boards. In view of this the stewards intend to take no further action."

News source: Autosport

[Subject Delta]

Pretty boring race that, but excellent performance from Vettel

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Kubica joins Renault for 2010

Robert Kubica will replace the Ferrari-bound Fernando Alonso as Renault's lead driver in 2010, the French team has announced.

The 24-year-old Polish driver moves to Renault having spent his whole Formula 1 career so far at BMW Sauber.

Kubica had been strongly linked to Renault in recent weeks, and team boss Bob Bell said the team had been eyeing him for some time.

"Ever since Robert made his grand prix debut in 2006, he has been on our radar as one of the most naturally talented drivers of his generation, and he has delivered on that promise so it's great to have secured him in one of our cars next season," said Bell.

"Renault has high ambitions and hopes for the future of the team and we feel that Robert can play a big role in fulfilling them."

Kubica made his F1 testing debut with Renault four years ago, when he was given a test as a reward for winning the 2005 World Series by Renault title. But he was not offered a deal by the team and instead went to BMW to start his F1 racing career.

"I am very happy I will be joining Renault in the 2010 season," said Kubica. "I feel I have a special connection with this team because in 2005 I won the World Series by Renault. This gave me the chance to test with the team in Barcelona, which led to my debut in Formula 1.

"I share with Renault a strong winning mentality and feel comfortable with their friendly and open attitude. I'm highly motivated and optimistic that together we can be at the front of the grid next year and hopefully fighting for the world title."

Kubica finished on the podium in only his third grand prix, and went on to take his sole victory to date in Canada in 2008 - a result that helped him mount a surprise world championship challenge.

The Pole expected to be a title contender from the outset in 2009, but the BMW Sauber F1.09 proved uncompetitive and the manufacturer announced in the summer that it will pull out of F1 at the end of the year. Although the team has been bought by the Qadbak group, its future remains uncertain as it does not currently have a 2010 entry.

Toyota had also been keen to sign Kubica for 2010, but team boss John Howett admitted in Japan that it appeared Renault had won the race for his services.

News source: Autosport

[Subject Delta]

The second totally unsurprising driver move falls into place...

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

The second totally unsurprising driver move falls into place...

Rumour has it that we're going to see a surprising driver move soon. (This was also mentioned by the German commentators during the Japan GP qualifying broadcast.)

If that happens Australian F1 fans will need more than 24 cans of beer a day to console themselves. :p

[Subject Delta]

Webber will get another drive somewhere else, hopefully they will put him alongside Lewis at McLaren, I rate him far more highly than Kovalinen.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Glock ruled out of Brazilian GP

Kamui Kobayashi will deputise for Timo Glock at Toyota in the Brazilian Grand Prix after it was revealed that Glock sustained a cracked vertebrae in his Suzuka accident.

The German missed last weekend's Japanese GP having crashed heavily at the exit of the chicane in qualifying. It was initially thought that his injuries were limited to a cut leg, which restricted his mobility enough to rule him out of the Suzuka race but was not expected to cause any further problems.

But today Toyota announced that further medical checks in Germany have revealed the injury to his back as well. This will prevent Glock from racing in Brazil, and team boss John Howett admitted that he was also in doubt for the season closing Abu Dhabi GP a fortnight later.

"Obviously everyone in the team is very disappointed and feels for Timo," said Howett. "We wish him a very speedy recovery. Based on the initial diagnosis, we fully expected Timo to return in Brazil but unfortunately a different injury has been revealed which prevents that.

"He will remain in Germany to recover and we hope he can recuperate in time for Abu Dhabi, although at this stage the situation is not clear."

Toyota reserve driver Kobayashi had deputised for Glock when an illness prevented him from running in Friday practice at Suzuka. His Interlagos appearance will mark the GP2 Asia champion's grand prix debut.

"Kamui was the natural choice to step in and he proved in Suzuka that he is capable of holding his own," said Howett.

"It is a difficult task for him but he knows the team will give him its complete support and we know he is motivated to make the most of this unexpected opportunity."

News source: Autosport

[san.W10]

Williams announces split with Toyota

Williams has confirmed that it will part company with Toyota at the end of the 2009 season.

The move ends an engine supply deal that began at the start of 2007, and had been anticipated for several weeks, with senior Williams figures openly admitting that the team was reviewing its engine options for 2010.

Team boss Frank Williams thanked Toyota for its support over the last three seasons.

"At a time of great difficulty for us as a team, Toyota stepped forward and agreed to supply us with engines for 2007 through to the end of 2009," he said.

"Toyota has been a very decent partner who have always respected our independence and provided us with a first-rate technical product. We are proud that we have been able to work with such a great company and we are grateful to the team in Cologne for their support.

"I would like to single out for our thanks the Toyota engineers and technicians who have worked within our race team tirelessly for the past three years."

Toyota motorsport boss Tadashi Yamashina added: "We have enjoyed a productive working relationship with Williams and I believe both companies have benefited from that partnership. We respect the wishes of Williams to look for other opportunities and wish them well for the future."

Williams's statement said that its new engine supplier would be announced "in due course."

The team has been linked with both Renault and Cosworth for next season.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/79418

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McLaren: Beating Ferrari is important

Edited October 14, 2009 by san.W10

[Subject Delta]

McLaren: Beating Ferrari is important

When you are McLaren beating Ferrari is always important :laugh: and to be honest I would also expect them to do it, because of Fisichella struggling to get to grips with their car, it is going to be one Ferrari scoring points against 2 McLarens, I believe McLaren have the car there to take 3rd from Ferrari, and with things as they are I feel it will be a season failure if they don't. Having said that even taking 2 wins is one hell of an achievement considering how bad their car was at the start of the season

[san.W10]

Lotus F1 reveals first shots of new car