F1 World Championship 2009 Thread

[.mcman]

That is some strange F1 when Ferrari and McLaren are not fighting for the victory. Vettel was amazing today. Congrats to Red Bull. I think they will be very hard to beat once their new diffuser is ready.

[StealMySoda]

Forced myself to get up too. Missed the first 15 minutes or so, which I'm quite glad of as nothing exciting happened :p

Shame about Massa he'd done really well to get where he was. And once again Ferrari cocked up with when they chose to pit.

[sundayx Veteran]

I didn't expect Red Bulls really, but hey, what a result!

[simonlang]

what a race. this was one of those you just had to stay on track and getting points in reward. ferrari let felipe down another time. :(

[ViZioN]

Great result for Red Bull. Nice to see Mclaren picking up some points too, although I think they've still got quite a bit of work to get done to get to Brawn's race pace.

[Subject Delta]

Another bad race for Ferrari.. Mechanical unreliability, poor strategy, and still one of only 2 teams on 0 points. Their season needs to be turned around quickly.

Red Bull... Their performance didn't surprise me. They are the quickest car in the wet, and that showed. I still believe Brawn have a pace advantage over them in the dry, although when Red Bull bring their B spec car out with the new Diffuser, they will IMO be Brawn's most serious threat.

So far, Brawn and RBR are the only teams to have shown consistant pace, the rest of the teams have been up and down and IMO need to get their acts together, especially Ferrari who are flagging badly

[Crazysah]

For the second time, Force India were 5 ;aps from getting a point! Last year (I forgot which race), Raikonnen hit the back of Fisichella and he loast 5th or 6th place.

In this race, Adrian Sutil was 5 laps from the finish and had a crash! He was ahead of Hamilton!

When are Force India going to get a point?

Also, Vettel was super impressive today!

[CrashG]

Tried to stay up to watch it live but just couldn't make it so I had to DVR it.

Good race for Vettel and Webber for the Red Bull team. That was a great battle between Button and Webber for a few laps.

As for Ferrari: 3 races and 0 points, looks like a hopeless season for them at this point.

[san.W10]

For the second time, Force India were 5 ;aps from getting a point! Last year (I forgot which race), Raikonnen hit the back of Fisichella and he loast 5th or 6th place.

In this race, Adrian Sutil was 5 laps from the finish and had a crash! He was ahead of Hamilton!

When are Force India going to get a point?

Also, Vettel was super impressive today!

actually it was Sutil both the times :p

& in monaco he was running 4th.

sutil was in tears last year.

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this time all the customer teams are doing fantastic, except Force India (bad name for a team) :| .

RBR with renault engine scored 1-2, brawn with merc. & so on.

lol

[arrrgh]

There's quite a bit of talk going on about McLaren pulling Kovalainen to pits one lap after Hamilton.. without the move Kovalainen would have had an excellent chance to beat Barrichello. Kovalainen was gaining on Hamilton, wanted to stay on the track, had excellent tyres and 18kgs of fuel left... then McLaren pulls him into pits and he gets stuck behind Sutil.

On Finnish interview:

"It felt like it would have been better to stay on the track, now I got stuck behind Sutil for couple laps. You have to ask the team if there was another reason to pull me in, I had more than plenty of fuel left. I was wondering about the situation myself too." -Kovalainen

Edited April 20, 2009 by macel

[sundayx Veteran]

My predictions for the next race are ready. *nudge*

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

My predictions for the next race are ready. *nudge*

Predict away.

[san.W10]

FIA publishes full diffuser decision

[Nicholas-c Veteran]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport...one/8015028.stm

Ekk ?

[brentaal]

First Practice Session results:

1 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:33.647 19

2 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:33.907 17

3 R. Kubica BMW 1:33.938 17

4 N. Rosberg Williams 1:34.227 24

5 J. Button Brawn GP 1:34.434 15

6 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:34.502 24

7 R. Barrichello Brawn GP 1:34.531 18

8 F. Massa Ferrari 1:34.589 17

9 M. Webber Red Bull 1:34.827 21

10 K. R?ikk?nen Ferrari 1:34.827 19

11 K. Nakajima Williams 1:34.880 212 S. Vettel Red Bull 1:34.938 21b>

13 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:34.974 21

14 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:35.021 18

15 J. Trulli Toyota 1:35.036 22

16 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:35.042 16

17 T. Glock Toyota 1:35.333 218 F. Alonso Renault 1:35.348 24b>

19 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:35.353 22

20 S. Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:35.369 15

:(:(

[sundayx Veteran]

1st practice, I wouldn't look too much into it.

[Subject Delta]

Most people mess about with fuel in practise, and do tyre simulation runs. The true pecking order isn't usually shown till qualify, although viewing onboard footage usually gives you some idea of who has the grip and poise, and once again it looks like Ferrari are in for a hard weekend, KERS or not. Still should IMO be between RBR and Brawn though Toyota are in with a shout

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

FP3 result:

Pos  Driver		Team					  Time			  Laps
 1.   Glock		 Toyota			   (B)  1:32.605		   16
 2.   Massa		 Ferrari			  (B)  1:32.728 + 0.123   20
 3.   Rosberg	   Williams-Toyota	  (B)  1:32.906 + 0.301   18
 4.   Hamilton	  McLaren-Mercedes	 (B)  1:32.975 + 0.370   16
 5.   Raikkonen	 Ferrari			  (B)  1:32.986 + 0.381   18
 6.   Piquet		Renault			  (B)  1:33.176 + 0.571   19
 7.   Kubica		BMW Sauber		   (B)  1:33.195 + 0.590   13
 8.   Nakajima	  Williams-Toyota	  (B)  1:33.302 + 0.697   17
 9.   Trulli		Toyota			   (B)  1:33.397 + 0.792   19
10.  Heidfeld	  BMW Sauber		   (B)  1:33.415 + 0.810   14
11.  Vettel		Red Bull-Renault	 (B)  1:33.443 + 0.838   16
12.  Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	 (B)  1:33.478 + 0.873   12
13.  Alonso		Renault			  (B)  1:33.482 + 0.877   13
14.  Sutil		 Force India-Mercedes (B)  1:33.534 + 0.929   17
15.  Button		Brawn GP-Mercedes	(B)  1:33.586 + 0.981   17
16.  Barrichello   Brawn GP-Mercedes	(B)  1:33.686 + 1.081   17
17.  Buemi		 Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:33.720 + 1.115   15
18.  Webber		Red Bull-Renault	 (B)  1:33.726 + 1.121   14
19.  Fisichella	Force India-Mercedes (B)  1:33.962 + 1.357   15
20.  Bourdais	  Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:34.990 + 2.385	7

Looks like we're going to see a very close qualifying today.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Qualifying result:

Pos Driver	   Team					  Q1		Q2		Q3	  
 1.  Trulli	   Toyota				(B) 1:32.779  1:32.671  1:33.431  
 2.  Glock		Toyota				(B) 1:33.165  1:32.613  1:33.712  
 3.  Vettel	   Red Bull-Renault	  (B) 1:32.680  1:32.474  1:34.015  
 4.  Button	   Brawn-Mercedes		(B) 1:32.978  1:32.842  1:34.044  
 5.  Hamilton	 McLaren-Mercedes	  (B) 1:32.851  1:32.877  1:34.196  
 6.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes		(B) 1:33.116  1:32.842  1:34.239  
 7.  Alonso	   Renault			   (B) 1:33.627  1:32.860  1:34.578  
 8.  Massa		Ferrari			   (B) 1:33.297  1:33.014  1:34.818  
 9.  Rosberg	  Williams-Toyota	   (B) 1:33.672  1:33.166  1:35.134 
10. Raikkonen	Ferrari			   (B) 1:33.117  1:32.827  1:35.380 
11. Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes	  (B) 1:33.479  1:33.242 
12. Nakajima	 Williams-Toyota	   (B) 1:33.221  1:33.348
13. Kubica	   BMW-Sauber			(B) 1:33.495  1:33.487
14. Heidfeld	 BMW-Sauber			(B) 1:33.377  1:33.562
15. Piquet	   Renault			   (B) 1:33.608  1:33.941
16. Sutil		Force India-Mercedes  (B) 1:33.722 
17. Buemi		Toro Rosso-Ferrari	(B) 1:33.753 
18. Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B) 1:33.910 
19. Webber	   Red Bull-Renault	  (B) 1:34.038 
20. Bourdais	 Toro Rosso-Ferrari	(B) 1:34.159

[Subject Delta]

The pecking order is so mixed up at the moment, that it fluctuates race to race, I am beginning to think this is likely to turn into another 2003 type season with a lot of different winners

[Popcorned1]

^ I agree, the field is separated by less than 2 seconds.

[brentaal]

I cannot wait to see the weight... I'm especially interested in Ferrari's, whether their Q3 times are a result of their strategy or poor car performance.

[san.W10]

Briatore: FOTA seeking 2010 KERS ban

The Formula One Teams' Association is looking at banning Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS) from next season, according to Renault boss Flavio Briatore.

With the devices having only been adopted by a minority of teams this season, Briatore has revealed that F1's teams are looking at getting rid of the technology totally - despite the FIA's insistence that it is important for the sport's green credentials.

Speaking to Gazzetta dello Sport about KERS disappearing from F1 at the end of the season, Briatore said: "Yes: FOTA wants to ban it from 2010.

"We understood immediately that KERS was a money-sucking genius, and the FIA should have taken note of that. It should have been discussed before the start of the season, and the same goes for the diffusers. Having failed to do that has forced on us expenses that are crazy as much as useless."

Briatore remains angry about the development costs his team is facing because of the need to develop a double-decker diffuser.

"The fault is the rules being unclear," he explained. "They must become transparent again. It's either black or white.

"To this day I don't yet understand what the FIA means by hole in the diffuser, so I can imagine the embarrassment for the viewers. And besides that, we must all get back on the same footing: today in F1 there are some racing with KERS and some without, some with the super diffuser and some without. That's not good."

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74793

[MightyJordan]

I was half-expecting that Briatore would be complaining. He's a real sore loser. First he criticises Button, now this.

Flavio, man up and get with the times, or get the fudge out!

[san.W10]

Sutil handed three-place penalty

Adrian Sutil has been handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Mark Webber during qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The Force India driver had qualified in 16th position, but will now start from 19th after he spoilt Webber's final run in Q1.

The Red Bull Racing driver was knocked out in the first session after the incident.

"I just tried to stay in my position to get a clear start to the lap. It was a misunderstanding and I apologised to Mark after the end of the session," said Sutil.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74812

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UPDATE:

Webber angry after qualifying 'disaster'

Edited April 25, 2009 by san.W10