The Official Formula 1 thread

[TofuEater]

Na, it was at the race start. You can see who was carrying more fuel, but you also have to take into consideration the fact that the KERS weighs around 30kg.

[Temp]

Pretty stupid having to post your pre race start, pre race.

I mean you may as well just make them tell you what lap they're going to stop on. Can anyone justify that to me in how does it improve the racing?

Also think qualifying should be qualifying, i.e. go as fast as you can and then do whatever you like with your fuel load.

I like the qualifying how it comes down to the 10 shootout, but do not like how they have to fuel up enough to make it to their first pit stop, including q3, drive to the grid, do the warmup laps and make it to the first stint all on the same tank.

Don't get me started on the medals.

[TofuEater]

Also think qualifying should be qualifying, i.e. go as fast as you can and then do whatever you like with your fuel load.

I like the current system for the top ten. It means that they have to work out a compromise between the amount of fuel and whether they want to be on the front of the grid.

For some teams that aren't going to win the championship it makes sense to get as light as possible, grab a pole and keep the sponsors happy. For the championship contenders, they have to look at where their rivals were going to come in and fuel up for a lap or two more. I'm pretty sure if you went back to the previous way that it would make pole even more boring than it is now (well the last ten years or so).

[Temp]

I think qualifying should be about who has the faster car, call me a purist I guess.

[Xt1ncT]

I think qualifying should be about who has the faster car, call me a purist I guess.

Agreed.

After all, isn't motor racing about being the quickest?

[kilabee]

Agreed.

After all, isn't motor racing about being the quickest?

Meh,I dunno.I like the fact that the new system mixes it up a bit.Its far better than seeing the biggest spender take pole in each race.Brings in a hell of a lot of strategy into it also.

[TofuEater]

Agreed.

After all, isn't motor racing about being the quickest?

Na, seemingly it's all about whether your team name is McLaren. :cussing:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10565837

Motorsport: McLaren may be banned for season

The FIA is again looking to make an example of McLaren, with an extraordinary meeting of the WMSC in Paris this month.
Lewis Hamilton's nightmare season went from bad to worse yesterday when motorsport's governing body, the FIA, announced that his McLaren team had been "invited" to appear before an extraordinary meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris at the end of the month.

[Zarkov]

Na, seemingly it's all about whether your team name is McLaren. :cussing:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10565837

Bad show Tofu.

It's conspiracy theories like that and an introspective outlook such as yours that has led the poor people of North Korea into decades of poverty and isolation.

[TofuEater]

Bad show Tofu.

That seems to be your standard response when you know i'm right.

[TofuEater]

The FIA has announced that the diffusers used by Brawn GP, Williams and Toyota. Interestingly, Mclaren wasn't one of the teams that had been involved with the challenge as to their legality - i suspect because they have a diffuser of their own ready to go. Will we see a return to the old order once all the teams have installed diffusers? I'm suspecting so.

Article link: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10566900

[Zarkov]

The FIA has announced that the diffusers used by Brawn GP, Williams and Toyota. Interestingly, Mclaren wasn't one of the teams that had been involved with the challenge as to their legality - i suspect because they have a diffuser of their own ready to go. Will we see a return to the old order once all the teams have installed diffusers? I'm suspecting so.

Article link: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10566900

Just another anti-Ferrari decision from the FIA.

Ron's probably behind it.

[TofuEater]

Just another anti-Ferrari decision from the FIA.

Banned for the season and forced to pay US$100m?

[Zarkov]

Vettel makes a little Red Bull history


Qualifying for Sunday’s 56-lap Chinese Grand Prix proved a thrilling affair with the provisional pole position changing hands numerous times before Sebastian Vettel flashed across the line to claim his second career pole and the first for the Red Bull Renault team.

While Vettel celebrates his success, Fernando Alonso will be thrilled to line up second after the Renault team worked late into the night fitting a new aerodynamic package to the R29 challenger. The double world champion duly rewarded the hard-working Enstone crew with a front-row start, two-tenths shy of Vettel.

Mark Webber ran well throughout qualifying and lines up third in the second Red Bull Renault while Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button line up fourth and fifth for Brawn Mercedes. The result is not what Button would have hoped for as he was chasing his third straight pole, but we do not yet know what fuel levels the fastest three runners opted to run in qualifying.

It was a fairly mixed day for the Toyota team with Jarno Trulli having a relatively routine run to sixth position on the grid while team-mate Timo Glock suffered a gearbox failure in practice and then was just 14th fastest when it counted. With a five position grid position penalty for the unscheduled gearbox change, Glock lines up at the back between the Force India duo.

Nico Rosberg topped the timesheets in practice but will be slightly disappointed to line up seventh in the leading Williams Toyota. Team-mate Kazuki Nakajima failed to shine again in qualifying and was 15th fastest of the 15 runners to make it into the second round of qualifying.
Click here to find out more!


The Ferrari looks a real handful to drive in Shanghai this weekend, but stripped of KERS Kimi Raikkonen at least managed to qualify eighth but there was further qualifying disappointment for Felipe Massa down in 13th position following a small error on his critical lap.

Defending champion and 2008 race winner Lewis Hamilton qualified ninth in his modified McLaren Mercedes while Heikki Kovalainen was unfortunate to find traffic on his final qualifying run and was just 12th ahead of Massa, Glock and Nakajima.

While Vettel grabs all the headlines, one additional stand out performance was from Swiss Rookie Sebastien Buemi who qualified tenth in his Toro Rosso Ferrari. Given his more experienced team-mate Sebastien Bourdais failed to make it out of the first round of qualifying, it was a great effort from Buemi to qualify tenth.

Nick Heidfeld led the BMW Sauber charge today with the 11th fastest time but it was fundamentally a disappointing session for the team. Robert Kubica failed at the first hurdle and Heidfeld only just scraping into the second round of qualifying.

The team opted to run the harder prime tyre for the first run before switching to the softer option late in the first round of qualifying. Heidfeld managed a better lap but Kubica is left a very disappointed 18th on the grid ahead of only the Force India Mercedes duo of Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella and behind Bourdais and Nelson Piquet in the second Renault.

Congratulations to Vettel and Red Bull but we will get a clearer picture of what to expect on race day when the FIA publish the qualifying weights.

[Zarkov]

Just another anti-Ferrari decision from the FIA.

Ron's probably behind it.

Ron's gone btw.

Lewis Hamilton's dad didn't like him apparently.

[Temp]

Nice to see Alonso up in 2nd!

[Zarkov]

15     Sebastian Vettel     RBR-Renault    56     Winner     1     10
2    14    Mark Webber    RBR-Renault    56    +10.9 secs    3    8
3    22    Jenson Button    Brawn-Mercedes    56    +44.9 secs    5    6
4    23    Rubens Barrichello    Brawn-Mercedes    56    +63.7 secs    4    5
5    2    Heikki Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    56    +65.1 secs    12    4
6    1    Lewis Hamilton    McLaren-Mercedes    56    +71.8 secs    9    3
7    10    Timo Glock    Toyota    56    +74.4 secs    19    2
8    12    Sebastien Buemi    STR-Ferrari    56    +76.4 secs    10    1
9    7    Fernando Alonso    Renault    56    +84.3 secs    2    
10    4    Kimi Räikkönen    Ferrari    56    +91.7 secs    8    
11    11    Sebastien Bourdais    STR-Ferrari    56    +94.1 secs    15    
12    6    Nick Heidfeld    BMW Sauber    56    +95.8 secs    11    
13    5    Robert Kubica    BMW Sauber    56    + 106.8 secs    17    
14    21    Giancarlo Fisichella    Force India-Mercedes    55    +1 Lap    20    
15    16    Nico Rosberg    Williams-Toyota    55    +1 Lap    7    
16    8    Nelsinho Piquet    Renault    53    +2 Laps    16    
17    20    Adrian Sutil    Force India-Mercedes    50    +6 Laps    18    
Ret    17    Kazuki Nakajima    Williams-Toyota    43    +13 Laps    14    
Ret    3    Felipe Massa    Ferrari    20    +36 Laps    13    
Ret    9    Jarno Trulli    Toyota



Sebastion Vettel is a wonderful driver.

Terrific result for Red Bull.

[Zarkov]

Trulli back on the pole with Toyota!


Toyota had already shown impressive pace in practice ahead of qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix and were one of the three teams to spend two week’s testing at the 5.412km circuit in the off-season. The hard work paid off handsomely for the German-based squad today as Jarno Trulli stormed to pole position from team-mate Timo Glock.

As ever, we do not know the fuel loads until later today, but the TF109 package looked strong and Trulli put in a faultless performance to stop the clocks in 1:33.431s, just under three-tenths of a second clear of Glock.

While Toyota celebrate a superb qualifying result - and their first pole since Suzuka 2005 - Chinese Grand Prix victors Red Bull Renault had a very mixed day with Sebastian Vettel qualifying a solid third while team-mate Mark Webber fell at the first hurdle courtesy of some inattentive driving from Adrian Sutil.

Championship leader Jenson Button lines up fourth and was disappointed with the qualifying pace of the Brawn Mercedes while team-mate Rubens Barrichello was sixth best in the second BGP 001. Defending champion Lewis Hamilton meanwhile enjoyed his most competitive qualifying session of the season as he split the Brawn duo with the fifth fastest time in his McLaren Mercedes.

Fernando Alonso lines up seventh in the leading Renault while team-mate Nelson Piquet was at least able to make the second round of qualifying for the first time this year and was 15th fastest in his updated R29. Still, there will be no escaping the massive second plus gap between the Renault duo in the second round of qualifying plus another error from the under-pressure Brazilian racer.

Ferrari are having a tough start to the season with the F60 package but at least today both Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen both made it into the final round of qualifying. Massa starts eighth with Raikkonen seemingly heavily fuelled starts tenth.
The team are of course chasing their first points of the season and while the car may not yet feature any developments, the Italian squad seem in much better shape than in recent events.

Williams Toyota have flattered to deceive again this weekend after Rosberg looked very strong in practice only to qualify ninth in his updated FW31. Team-mate Kazuki Nakajima starts 12th behind the second McLaren Mercedes of Heikki Kovalainen.

BMW Sauber have not looked fast for some time now and today was no exception as Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld slithered around to 13th and 14th positions on the grid. For a team leading the championship a year ago, the updates to the F1.09 package cannot come soon enough.

Adrian Sutil qualified 16th in the leading Force India Mercedes behind Piquet, but was involved in an incident late in the first round of qualifying that saw him inadvertently block Webber. The end result was the Red Bull Renault driver had his final qualifying lap severely compromised and the disappointed Australian was 19th fastest. However, the Force India racer was later handed a three position grid penalty dropping him to 19th and promoting Webber up one position.

Sebastien Buemi qualified 17th in his Toro Rosso Ferrari and will therefore start 16th in his Toro Rosso Ferrari ahead of Giancarlo Fisichella in his Force India, Webber, Sutil and Sebastien Bourdais in the second STR4.

[Quasikomodo]

Brendon Hartley gets reserve driver slot at Red Bull!

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=10569841


Wonder how long it takes for him to get a start? will he get a start?

[Baffled]

Time to get rid of Bourdais.

[Shasta]

And Piquet.

And Kovaleinen.

Both are being immensely outclassed by their teams mates consistently. Are they talented? Who knows. Are they working in their current teams? Hell no.

[Zarkov]

FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO DE ESPANA TELEFONICA 2009



Pos    No    Driver    Team    Q1   Q2   Q3    Laps

1    22    Jenson Button    Brawn-Mercedes    1:20.707   1:20.192   1:20.527    21
2    15    Sebastian Vettel    RBR-Renault    1:20.715   1:20.220   1:20.660    15
3    23    Rubens Barrichello    Brawn-Mercedes    1:20.808   1:19.954   1:20.762    20
4    3    Felipe Massa    Ferrari    1:20.484   1:20.149   1:20.934    18
5    14    Mark Webber    RBR-Renault    1:20.689   1:20.007   1:21.049    17
6    10    Timo Glock    Toyota    1:20.877   1:20.107   1:21.247    25
7    9    Jarno Trulli    Toyota    1:21.189   1:20.420   1:21.254    25
8    7    Fernando Alonso    Renault    1:21.186   1:20.509   1:21.392    20
9    16    Nico Rosberg    Williams-Toyota    1:20.745   1:20.256   1:22.558    22
10    5    Robert Kubica    BMW Sauber    1:20.931   1:20.408   1:22.685    15
11    17    Kazuki Nakajima    Williams-Toyota    1:20.818   1:20.531      16
12    8    Nelsinho Piquet    Renault    1:21.128   1:20.604      20
13    6    Nick Heidfeld    BMW Sauber    1:21.095   1:20.676      16
14    1    Lewis Hamilton    McLaren-Mercedes    1:20.991   1:20.805      12
15    12    Sebastien Buemi    STR-Ferrari    1:21.033   1:21.067      15
16    4    Kimi Räikkönen    Ferrari    1:21.291         5
17    11    Sebastien Bourdais    STR-Ferrari    1:21.300         8
18    2    Heikki Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    1:21.675         10
19    20    Adrian Sutil    Force India-Mercedes    1:21.742         11
20    21    Giancarlo Fisichella    Force India-Mercedes    1:22.204

[Baffled]

Haha look at the side of the Brawn car, it has Terminator sighnage on the wing for the weekend.

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2009/5/9318.html


And lol, Ferrari make a mess of it once again. Raikonnen out in Q1.

[TofuEater]

18    2    Heikki Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    1:21.675         10

What a waste of money.

[Zarkov]

FORMULA 1 GRAN PREMIO DE ESPANA TELEFONICA 2009



Pos    No    Driver    Team    Laps    Time/Retired    Grid    Pts

1    22    Jenson Button    Brawn-Mercedes    66    1:37:19.202    1    10
2    23    Rubens Barrichello    Brawn-Mercedes    66    +13.0 secs    3    8
3    14    Mark Webber    RBR-Renault    66    +13.9 secs    5    6
4    15    Sebastian Vettel    RBR-Renault    66    +18.9 secs    2    5
5    7    Fernando Alonso    Renault    66    +43.1 secs    8    4
6    3    Felipe Massa    Ferrari    66    +50.8 secs    4    3
7    6    Nick Heidfeld    BMW Sauber    66    +52.3 secs    13    2
8    16    Nico Rosberg    Williams-Toyota    66    +65.2 secs    9    1
9    1    Lewis Hamilton    McLaren-Mercedes    65    +1 Lap    14    
10    10    Timo Glock    Toyota    65    +1 Lap    6    
11    5    Robert Kubica    BMW Sauber    65    +1 Lap    10    
12    8    Nelsinho Piquet    Renault    65    +1 Lap    12    
13    17    Kazuki Nakajima    Williams-Toyota    65    +1 Lap    11    
14    21    Giancarlo Fisichella    Force India-Mercedes    65    +1 Lap    20    
Ret    4    Kimi Räikkönen    Ferrari    17    Hydraulics    16    
Ret    2    Heikki Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes    7    Gearbox    18    
Ret    9    Jarno Trulli    Toyota    0    Accident    7    
Ret    12    Sebastien Buemi    STR-Ferrari    0    Accident    15    
Ret    11    Sebastien Bourdais    STR-Ferrari    0    Accident    17    
Ret    20    Adrian Sutil    Force India-Mercedes

[Goose_111]

Looking forward to watching the highlights today, had a huge night sat and feel asleep b4 the race started how do you all think the race went?!  sounds like it was a good one, and wicked that button has got another one under his belt. Was looking at the photos on the F1 site, man jenson’s dad is all class with the open pink shirt and all he just needs some grid girls and to hang out with Richard Branson and he will be sorted.