Belgian Race Report: What A Race, What A Result

Sunday 30th August 2009

Kimi Raikkonen claimed the victory in the Belgian GP, just managing to hold off Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella - and what a race it was.

After Valencia's tedium and snores, Spa-Francorchamps delivered the exact opposite with no fewer than four drivers, including Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, crashing out at Les Combes on the opening lap.

This brought out the Safety Car with Fisichella, who had started from pole position, leading the way ahead of Raikkonen. But three laps later, with the debris clear and the Safety Car coming in, Raikkonen launched his attack, easily taking the lead from the Force India driver.

Game over - or so many thought...

Race Report
With no rain predicted for the race, in bright sunny conditions, Giancarlo Fisichella led the drivers round on a very slow parade lap. The ambient temperature was at 16C with the track at 30C.

As the lights went out the man in P4 on the grid was immediately in trouble, the anti-stall mechanism on the Brawn kicking in and Rubens failing to get underway for the third time this year and everyone streaming past him on the grid.

Into La Source and Kimi Raikkonen was forced out wide by the gaggle of cars at the apex, while further back Jenson Button also took that route. Polesitter Giancarlo Fisichella had got away cleanly into the lead, but behind him P2 man Trulli was overtaken on the inside by Nick Heidfeld and on the outside by Raikkonen.

Heidfeld, once past Trulli, effectively into P2 or P3 by now, was slow away from La Source and Trulli ran his front wing into him, loosening it but thankfully it remained in place. Heidfeld's lack of pace on the exit was seized upon by Robert Kubica who swept through on the inside and into P2.

Down the hill they charged: Fisichella, Kubica, Raikkonen (joining from the run-off) followed by Heidfeld, Trulli, Glock and the two Red Bulls.

Further back Adrian Sutil had taken a tightish line into La Source only to find Nico Rosberg inside him and Fernando Alonso inside Rosberg. Contact with Rosberg spun Sutil around and as the Williams driver escaped, Fernando Alonso ran over Sutil's front wing.

It seemed as though Alonso had got away with it, but events later in the race would prove otherwise.

Down the hill to Eau Rouge they charged, the rest of the pack trampling over Sutil's front wing. Kimi Raikkonen, using the Ferrari's KERS button, was straight onto the tail of Kubica and easily outdragged him up the hill to Les Combes, although the Ferrari driver was tentative on the brakes into the corner and took a narrower angle than the normal racing line. Slow on the exit, he was almost punted up the rear by Kubica.

Behind them, Nick Heidfeld missed his braking and went over the grass on the inside, losing a place to Glock and Trulli straight away and subsequently Mark Webber.

Behind them, Jenson Button had got a reasonable start and was P11 (from P14) through Eau Rouge. Going up the hill to Les Combes he got on the inside of Kovalainen and was able to outbrake the McLaren on the outside to take P10 - at which point Romain Grosjean's Renault - trying to follow him through- hooked a wheel inside of his and spun the BrawnGP car into the barriers, wrecking his own car against the Armco in the process.

Lewis Hamilton had got a poor start with the anti-stall almost kicking in and was coping with Barrichello coming up on the outside at Les Combes when he was clattered into by the Red Bull of Jaime Alguesuari. Four drivers out in one corner. The stewards decided they would investigate both incidents after the race.

Something they didn't investigate, but surely must, was Rubens Barrichello's overtaking of a pack of cars using the outside escape route at Les Combes. Barrichello recovered maginificently from last place on the grid and dodged round a few cars at La Sourceand in the run down to Eau Rouge. Up the hill into Les Combes he was alongside Hamilton on the outside, realised he wasn't going to make the turn and took the escape road, dodging all the frantic action involving the four wrecked cars.

With four cars out and debris at La Source it was an easy decision to call out the Safety Car. So as Giancarlo Fisichella led everyone over the line the race order was: Fisichella, Raikkonen, Kubica, Glock, Webber, Heidfeld, Rosberg, Vettel, Alonso, Kovalainen.

Vettel was soon on the radio complaining that Rosberg had overtaken him under Safety Car conditions while Trulli, Barrichello and Sutil headed for the pits. Trulli and Sutil needed new front wings and Barrichello took the opportunity of taking on more fuel under Safety Car conditions - the Brawn having gone the lightest in qualifying.

The race was restarted on Lap 5 but already the major dramas were over. Fisichella didn't manage to shake off Kimi Raikkonen in the corners before the start and as the Ferrari followed the Force India car through Eau Rouge, KERS power was easily able to take him past before Les Combes.

From that point on it was assumed that Raikkonen would open a gap to Fisichella in his cruise to his fourth Belgian GP victory - especially when he set the Fastest Lap on Lap 8 with a 1:47.749. It didn't happen.

On Lap 12 the first pit-stops started to unfold and it was assumed that the Red Bulls - who had gone slightly longer on fuel - would start to take advantage. Glock and Kubica came in first and Toyota had to switch to the reserve fuel ring for Glock sending him back down the race order from P4 before the stop.

On Lap 13 Nick Heidfeld showed his intention of getting a place back off Mark Webber by setting the Fastest lap at 1:47.738.

A lap later and both Raikkonen and Fisichella pitted together, their cars separated by an entire pitlane but the positions staying the same. Behind them, Mark Webber and Nick Heidfeld pitted at the same time. Heidfeld got away first and looked to have made up a position, but just as the BMW approached the Red Bull garage the Red Bull lollypop was raised.

It was yet another dangerous Red Bull release and though they had got away with one the race before, this time round Heidfeld had to take avoiding action and brake to avoid running into the back of Webber in the pitlane. Whether that was on the team's mind or not is unknown but Heidfeld was able to overtake Webber going into Les Combes that lap, while Rubens Barrichello pulled a fantastic overtaking move into the high-speed Blanchimont of all places.

The incident must have severely unsettled Webber because the following lap he started to block and move around in the braking zone trying to keep the Force India of Adrian Sutil behind going into Les Combes.

Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel had a much better time of it, jumping Heidfeld for a place and also his team-mate in the process. It was then announced that Webber would have to serve a drive-through penalty for the team's (not his) pitlane mess-up. He emerged from the pitlane on Lap 18 back in P.13.

The positions on Lap 19 were: 1.Raikkonen, 0.9 in front of... 2.Fisichella, 3.Alonso (not stopped), 4.Kubica, 5.Kovalainen (not stopped), 6.Buemi (not stopped), 7.Vettel, 8.Heidfeld, 9.Barrichello, 10.Sutil

Lap 20 and 21 saw a remarkable feat. Luca Badoer set the timing screens to purple setting the fastest first sector on successive laps.

The Ferrari team were keen for Kimi Raikkonen to put a gap between himself and Giancarlo Fisichella, fearful that the Force India could run a lap or two longer in the middle stint. They asked him to push and try and edge him by a tenth of a second a lap (interestingly it was not Kimi's engineer Chris Dyer who passed on the message). This was duly broadcast on television and then relayed back to Fisichella behind.

By Lap 24 the gap was still only 0.7 though, the Force India easily having the legs of the Ferrari. If Force India could run longer, then they were sitting pretty.

Fernando Alonso was still in P3 and yet to have his first pit-stop. On Lap 25 he came in for what would be his solo stop of the race. However his front left tyre wheel would not accept the wheel spinner and after several seconds of wrestling, the mechanic had to give up and use a replacement.

This was the same wheel that had impacted Adrian Sutil's Force India on the first corner, a result of Alonso taking a risky narrow inside line. The delay had dropped him from P3 to a disastrous P14 and a lap later the team brought him back in to retire as the telemetry showed that the wheel might come loose. They were not going to run the risk of what had happened in Hungary.

Towards the end of the second stint Sebastian Vettel started to close on Robert Kubica's P3 and back in P5, Nick Heidfeld began to close on the pair of them. The two BMWs pitted on Lap 30 and Lap 32 while Vettel was able to stay out till Lap 35 and leapfrog past Kubica.

The biggest battle was always going to be Ferrari versus Force India in the final pit-stops. On Lap 31 the Ferrari mechanics came out into the pitlane and must have been very relieved to find the Force India crew out at the same time. Neither made a mistake and though they resumed in P2 and P3, when Vettel stopped four laps later they would resume P1 and P2.

So on Lap 36 the order with gaps in front of the next car was:
1.Raikkonen 0.8
2.Fisichella 5.9
3.Vettel 2.5
4.Kubica 2.7
5.Heidfeld 12.6
6.Kovalainen
7.Barrichello
8.Rosberg
9.Webber
10.Glock

Vettel put in a series of Fastest Laps in a vain attempt to catch Fisichella and Raikkonen but was never close enough. In the closing laps of the race the excitement was provided by Rubens Barrichello's car which started to blow smoke intermittently on lap 42 of 44 and then constantly from Lap 43 onwards. It gave hope to the following Rosberg in P8 and Webber in P9, but Rubens managed to nurse his car to the line and 7th place.

It was the Ferrari team's first win of 2009, but the biggest celebrants were Force India. Having not scored a point all year, they easily had the fastest car in the race and had scored eight in one go. What's more, they stand even more of a chance for a race win at Monza in two weeks' time.

Sebastian Vettel will be relieved to have finished on the podium again, but the Red Bull team will have been hoping for much more from the race. BMW picked up 4th and 5th through Kubica and Heidfeld and Heikki Kovalainen came home unchallenged in 6th.

Yet again it proved Spa's remarkable ability to provide a memorable race. Even without rain.

FH

Results
01 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:23:50.995
02 G. Fisichella Force India F1 + 0.938
03 S. Vettel Red Bull + 3.875
04 R. Kubica BMW + 9.966
05 N. Heidfeld BMW + 11.276
06 H. Kovalainen McLaren + 32.763
07 R. Barrichello Brawn GP + 35.461
08 N. Rosberg Williams + 36.208
09 M. Webber Red Bull + 36.959
10 T. Glock Toyota + 41.490
11 A. Sutil Force India F1 + 42.636
12 S. Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 46.106
13 K. Nakajima Williams + 54.241
14 L. Badoer Ferrari + 1:42.177
Did not finish
15 F. Alonso Renault + 18 lap(s)
16 J. Trulli Toyota + 23 lap(s)
17 J. Button Brawn GP + 44 lap(s)
18 R. Grosjean Renault + 44 lap(s)
19 L. Hamilton McLaren + 44 lap(s)
20 J. Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso + 44 lap(s)

Source : Planet F1

European Grand Prix Preview

Cut the elevator music, it's time to go racing again. The summer break is over, but thanks to the incident-packed Hungarian Grand Prix, we haven't had four weeks of tumbleweed blowing through the F1 news.

There's little doubt that Renault wouldn't have been facing the ludicrous penalty of a one-race ban had Massa not made connection with Rubens Barrichello's flukily bouncing rear spring on the Saturday of the last GP weekend.

Pit-stops cock-ups happen all the time, but it takes the mind of a Machiavelli to think that Renault might have deliberately sent Alonso back onto the track knowing that he would lose a wheel.

Thankfully common sense has now prevailed and the Renault team are allowed to race in Valencia, but it took an act of blatant stupidity to impose such an inappropriate penalty in the first place. Presumably FIA Race Director Charlie Whiting will now face similar charges for failing to black flag Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari after he drove round with a flailing exhaust chimney at the French GP in 2008.

The excitement at the prospect of seeing Schumi race again, in Massa's stead, was very real while it lasted. Presumably the former World Champion wanted to drive the current machinery to check out whether his 'secretly fractured' neck would stand up to the strain. When various teams - including Williams, who owe him at least one pie in the face - vetoed a ride in an F60 he must have calculated that the risk of failure was too great.

In his place Luca Badoer will face a tough test at a circuit he doesn't know, in one of the few Ferraris he's had little time in. Certainly the car that he'll be presented with on Friday will be a quantum leap forward from the one he drove in pre-season testing.

It wouldn't be a surpise to see Kimi Raikkonen put a whole second between himself and the Massa replacement. Ferrari are in a bit of a dilemma right now. There are stories doing the rounds that Raikkonen is going to be offered a lot of money not to race for them in 2010 so they can bring Alonso on board.

What they can't know is how Felipe Massa will react to his big accident. Williams' Patrick Head is fond of the theory that after drivers have experienced major accidents they are never quite as fast again. Amongst those he cites are Ralf Schumacher who had a big testing accident at Monza while he was with Williams.

It hasn't seem to have deterred Robert Kubica after his titanic shunt in Canada in 2007, but Patrick's seen enough drivers to know what he's talking about. Ferrari will have to make a decision about 2010 before they can know the true state of Massa's recovery.

Back at the World Championship Brawn should have had enough time to analyse the data from Hungary and work out why they weren't fast on a hot track that was supposed to favour them. Button is good on street circuits and if he can nudge his Brawn in front of the two Red Bulls in Valencia and the following race at Spa, which is a track at which he excels, then he can start to feel less nervous.

The good news for Jense is that Mclaren are looking good for back-to-back wins, with Hamilton supremely strong at the Hungaroring and Kovalainen being given the hurry up from the team. Raikkonen is also looking quick and on home soil Alonso rarely disappoints.

So if all that lot are in front of the Brawn GP cars and the Red Bulls, then Button will not be at all worried. If Red Bull are in front, but Brawn are behind, then it's very bad news indeed. Team orders are an easy call for the Brawn team but for Red Bull any intervention is still a long way off.

With a fine win in Hungary and yet more swanky new parts for the McLaren, Lewis Hamilton will be looking to make it two wins on the trot at the European GP. What's more, he and Raikkonen have the advantage of the KERS boost button which they both used to their advantage on the similarly tight confines of Budapest. Ferrari and McLaren may have given up their Championship-winning ambitions, but they'd both like to finish third in the Constructors' title.

Williams will also be looking to join in the fun and demote either the Red Bulls, or more likely the Brawns down the order, while Toyota will be struggling to hold back the tide of Ferrari and McLaren development and retain fourth in the Constructors'.

Both Fisi and Adrian Sutil are good on street circuits and Sutil in particular will be pitching in there for Force India's first points. Surely his luck has to turn sooner or later. After all, Mark Webber's did.

Romain Grosjean will be making his debut for Renault and all eyes will be on him to see if he can close the gap between the two Renauts. This is probably not the race to do it, though. Don't expect an exhilarating overtaking fest from the dock side - sorry, harbourside - circuit of Valencia, but whatever happens, there will be some significant action.

Source : Planet F1

F1 News - Prac One: Red Bull and Brawn resume battle

Friday 10th July 2009

The battle between Red Bull and Brawn GP resumed in Friday's opening practice for the German GP with Mark Webber setting the pace.

The Australian driver, who Jenson Button believes is the favourite to win at the Nurburgring this weekend, clocked a 1:33.082 to outpace Button by 0.381s.

Third place went to Felipe Massa as the Ferrari driver demonstrated the Scuderia's continuously improving pace.

Report: With the track temperature sitting at just 14'C, Sebastian Vettel left the Red Bull garage to put in his installation lap in front of his home crowd. He was soon joined by another German driver as Adrian Sutil ventured out, followed by a train of drivers. Within ten minutes everyone barring Lewis Hamilton and Timo Glock had completed their sighting lap.

Sebastien Buemi set the first lap time of the weekend as a few spots of rain began to fall, a 1:43.315 for the Toro Rosso driver. Giancarlo Fisichella was the next to record a time, going quickest after taking three seconds off Buemi's time. The track action, though, stopped shortly after as the rain came down a little harder.

With the rain abating, drivers ventured out again with Jarno Trulli going quickest with a 1:39.7. Fisichella dropped to second with Nico Rosberg, Heikki Kovalainen and Buemi behind him. Rosberg and Kovalainen improved their times with Kimi Raikkonen slotting into third place between the two. Raikkonen continued lapping, taking second place while Trulli lowered the benchmark to a 1:36.1. Kovalainen went second.

Halfway through the session, the top eight were Trulli, Rosberg, Mark Webber, Kovalainen, Raikkonen, Kazuki Nakajima, Nick Heidfeld, Felipe Massa. Raikkonen and Heidfeld almost immediately moved up the order while Sutil, Jenson Button, Seb Bourdais, Rubens Barrichello, Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso had yet to set times.

Webber went quickest with a 1:34.4, taking a full second off his time over the course of the next two laps. Rosberg moved up to second place behind him while Sutil impressed with a 1:35.0, which put him third quickest. The German's run, though, came to an end shortly after as he car stopped on the side of the track at the exit of Turn 1.

Vettel went second to give Red Bull the 1-2 but was soon overhauled by Massa, the only driver to get within a second of Webber's P1 time. Alonso moved up to fourth place with Fisichella slotting in behind him and ahead of Robert Kubica, Rosberg and Nelson Piquet.

Vettel, having just improved his time, was the second driver - and the second German - to drop out of the session as the Red Bull racer brought his car to a standstill in almost the exact same place as where Sutil stopped minutes before. The marshals quickly pushed his car out of harm's way.

Force India's impressive run continued with Fisichella moving up to second place with Button also improving as he went P5. Meanwhile, at the back of the pack lay Hamilton, who was 2.5s off the pace with only Buemi slower. Hamilton's fellow Brit, Button, climbed the order to third place, 0.5s off Webber's P1 time before moving up to second on the next lap. Hamilton slot up the timesheets, taking seventh place, while Webber improved his P1 time.

Trulli overhauled Fisichella for third place while his team-mate Timo Glock remained down in 16th place, unable to find the pace needed to challenge at the front in his home grand prix weekend. Raikkonen put in a charge to move up from 17th to fourth place, 0.7s off the pace.

The final few minutes saw a major push from the drivers with Massa going off at the Castrol S chicane before taking third place on the following lap.

The session ended with Webber at the top of the timesheets with a 1:33.082. Button was second ahead of Massa, Trulli, Fisichella and Raikkonen.

Times
01 M. Webber Red Bull 1:33.082 19 laps
02 J. Button Brawn GP 1:33.463 18 laps
03 F. Massa Ferrari 1:33.745 21 laps
04 J. Trulli Toyota 1:33.795 23 laps
05 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:33.839 26 laps
06 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:33.840 23 laps
07 N. Rosberg Williams 1:33.902 26 laps
08 S. Vettel Red Bull 1:33.909 13 laps
09 K. Nakajima Williams 1:33.952 25 laps
10 F. Alonso Renault 1:34.148 16 laps
11 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:34.221 25 laps
12 R. Barrichello Brawn GP 1:34.227 17 laps
13 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:34.483 14 laps
14 R. Kubica BMW 1:34.694 23 laps
15 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:34.738 24 laps
16 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:34.827 27 laps
17 S. Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:34.878 28 laps
18 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:34.893 26 laps
19 T. Glock Toyota 1:34.911 23 laps
20 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:35.092 6 laps

Source : Planet F1

Ferrari: We won't race unless conditions are met

Friday 12th June 2009

Despite being included in next year's line-up, Ferrari have again insisted they will not race unless FOTA's conditions are met.

Earlier this week Ferrari told the FIA not to sign them up unless they are willing to abide by the conditions laid out by the Formula one Teams' Association in their May 29th block entry.

Those conditions include the scrapping of Max Mosley's proposed 2010 regulations and the budget cap as well as the signing of a new Concorde.

However, motorsport's governing body claim they have a contract with Ferrari, forcing them to compete in Formula One until 2012. And as such, Ferrari's name appeared as an unconditional entry when the FIA published the 2010 entry list earlier today.

The Italian marque, though, are sticking by their threat not to race, adding that Mosley's planned rules 'violate' any previous contract Ferrari had with the FIA.

"Ferrari submitted on 29 May 2009 an entry to the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship which is subject to certain conditions," said the statement. "As of today, these conditions have not been met.

"Notwithstanding this and despite Ferrari's previous written notice to the FIA not to do so, the FIA has included Ferrari as an unconditional participant in next year's Formula One World Championship.

"For the avoidance of any doubt, Ferrari reaffirms that it shall not take part in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship under the regulations adopted by the FIA in violation of Ferrari's rights under a written agreement with the FIA."

Ferrari are not alone in their stand as Red Bull Racing and Toro Rosso, who were also unconditionally entered as a result of their 2012 deal with Bernie Ecclestone, insist they too will not race.

"Following the FIA's publication of the entry list for the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship, Red Bull Racing would like to make it clear that its entry was submitted as a conditional entry, consistent with those of all other FOTA members," said Red Bull's statement.

"Red Bull Racing remains committed to FOTA and fully endorses all its principles."

Toro Rosso released a similar statement.

Source : Planet F1

All ten teams included but five are provisional

Friday 12th June 2009

All ten of the existing Formula One teams have been included in next year's line-up but that doesn't mean the war is over.

Despite submitting conditional entries as part of the FOTA application, Ferrari, Red Bull and Toro Rosso have all been put down for next year's Championship as the FIA believe they have a binding contract with the three teams to race until 2012.

Ferrari, though, have already made it clear that they won't race unless motorsport's governing body accept FOTA conditions, which including running next year's Championship under this year's regulations.

So at least one battle remains there.

Meanwhile, McLaren, BMW, Renault, Toyota and Brawn GP have also been included in next year's entry list, however, the FIA have urged them to drop their conditional entry before next week Friday.

"These five teams have submitted conditional entries," said the FIA statement. "The FIA has invited them to lift those conditions following further discussions to be concluded not later than close of business on Friday 19 June."

Those 'discussions' relate to FOTA's conditions for entry into next year's Championship, which Ferrari, Red Bull and Toro Rosso are also standing by.

Should those five outfits - and Ferrari if they take the FIA to court over being forced to race next season - fail to reach an agreement with FIA President Max Mosley over the regulations they will be replaced with new teams.

But in the mean time the three new outfits chosen to complete the 13-team grid are Manor Grand Prix, Campos Grand Prix and Team US F1.

2010 Entry List
Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro Ferrari
Scuderia Toro Rosso STR TBA
Red Bull Racing Red Bull Racing TBA
At&T Williams Williams Toyota
Force India F1 Team Force India Mercedes
Campos Grand Prix Campos Cosworth
Manor Grand Prix Manor Cosworth
Team US F1 Team US F1 Cosworth
Vodafone McLaren Mercedes* McLaren Mercedes
BMW Sauber F1 Team* BMW Sauber
Renault F1 Team* Renault
Panasonic Toyota Racing* Toyota
Brawn GP Formula One Team* Brawn TBA

* These five teams have submitted conditional entries. The FIA has invited them to lift those conditions following further discussions to be concluded not later than close of business on Friday 19 June.

Source : Planet F1

IT'S THE CAR, STUPID!

I'm going to attempt to explain one of the most intriguing and least understood aspects of F1 racing, which some people may understand, some will not and some others don't care. I'm not very technically adept nor have I been watching F1 for 20 years. I am very interested in the goings on in F1 and try my best to read up on any material that I can get my hands on, plus I try to have discussions with like minded people as much as possible.

There have been many arguments lately about drivers and their ability to drive a modern F1 car to the limit and perform seemingly incredible and heroic feats on the track. So much so that fans of certain drivers or teams have become fanatics who cannot see any wrong in their heroes no matter what. They also always see wrong in other drivers and teams and always find excuses to run them down.

I have been following F1 since the Senna days but only started being a fanatic the season before Lewis Hamilton joined i.e. 2006. That's because I was part of a group of people offering F1 simulators for corporate rental. We developed the simulators ourselves and used the official F1 game at the time - F1 Challenge 99-02 with the requisite mods to simulate the current seasons.

A simulator or simulation is different from a game, so F1 Challenge is not the same at F1 2006 on the PS2. With a simulator you have total control over the car i.e. you can change almost all the settings like the real car and the tracks dimensions are actual i.e. they were mapped based on the real tracks. Plus the physics employed were real too, you can't just turn the wheel in a corner and let the car drive itself. You have to continuously adjust to get the perfect line, if not you'll lose vital tenths.

Playing around with this simulator gave me an insight into the intricacies, detail and difficulty of F1 I never realized before. It is so difficult to even improve on 1/1000th of a second if the car setup is not right, your reflexes are not right and the other conditions are not right. But when all the conditions are right, it seems like you are just gliding on water, everything is just smooth. You can telegraph your thoughts to the car and it will almost drive itself and produce a stunning lap time.

It is this "talent" for the driver to be able to dial in into the car that impresses us and makes us look at them as gods. But there are days when even they can't "dial-in" and sometimes the car just doesn't want to cooperate. When the car is designed in such a way that it is difficult to set-up or doesn't flow with the driver's style, it will produce an excuse for fans to ridicule those drivers or teams that they don't support.

I have noticed that these seasonal issues crop up when something changes - either driver or rules change. For example, why is it suddenly that Jenson Button is winning every race in sight when the last 2 years he was sucking exhaust fumes at the back? And why is it that Lewis Hamilton can't even make it into Q2 of qualifying when the last 2 years he was defying the laws of physics to push the car around the track to win? Luck? A bit but I don't think so.

It's the car, stupid! Yes the car. Think Schumacher was a racing god? Sorry to deflate your pride there but it was the car. On our simulator when we want to set the best times on most tracks, we always use the Ferrari F2004. That was the fastest car of that year and maybe the best of the batch in which Schumacher won his 5 world titles.

How can Button win 6 out of 7 races this year so easily and serenely? It's like he's cruising around to victory everytime. The Brawn car had the benefit of 15 months of development as Honda decided to scrap development on the 2008 car and concentrate on this year. They had lots of time to look at the new regulations and think of solutions. It's not just the double diffuser, if it was just that, how come Red Bull were so competitive from day one without a double diffuser?

Plus Brawn had all the resources of Honda to develop the car - a lot of cash, 2 wind tunnels, CFDs, the lot. The car now is powerful (courtesy of the Mercedes engine), aerodynamically almost perfect, technically sound, smooth to drive, easy on the tires and well balanced. With a car like that, any driver on the current grid can become world champion. At least 50% of the equation in winning a race is the car. With the right car even Nelson Piquet Jr could become champion.

So ultimately, all F1 drivers are good, if not they wouldn't be there driving F1 cars. Their main limitation is the car that is available to them. All other issues could be ironed out with the team and resources available.

Qualifying: Vettel pips Button to pole

Saturday 6th June 2009

Sebastian Vettel brought an end to Jenson Button's spate of pole positions as he crossed the line 0.105s ahead of the Brawn GP driver at the Istanbul Park circuit on Saturday.

Vettel, who hadn't shown much pace in the weekend's final practice session, came good when it really mattered to take the coveted grid slot, with a 1:28.316. It was the Red Bull driver's second pole of the season and once again highlights that he is Brawn GP's biggest threat.

As for Button, he had to settle for second place on the grid with his team-mate Rubens Barrichello finishing behind him. Mark Webber and Jarno Trulli were next in line, having qualified ahead of the two Ferraris, Kimi Raikkonen in front of Felipe Massa.

Meanwhile, defending World Champion Lewis Hamilton failed to make it through Q1 as his McLaren lacked the pace and stability needed around this high speed track.

Qualifying 1
The characteristic close grid had tightened over the three practices with the gap between first place and twentieth at 1.9 seconds in first practice, 1.7 in the second and 1.4 in the third.

In bright sunlight at the Istanbul Otodrom the ambient temperature stood at 28C with the track at 46C. The track temperature was critical because Bridgestone had supplied their hard and soft compounds for the race weekend. Any warmer than 46C and they estimated that the harder tyre would be the fastest, any colder and it would be the soft.

Nick Heidfeld set the first meaningful P1 time at 1:28.794 in the revised BMW with its new double deck rear diffuser. This was edged steadily downwards as a succession of drivers took P1: Raikkonen, Trulli, Nakajima, Massa, Rosberg, Vettel, Nakajima on his second quick lap, Raikkonen (out for a second time) and then Jarno Trulli at 1:27.529

Having done little to the threaten the top five places in the timesheets over the whole weekend Sebastian Vettel then set the timing screens alight with a P1 of 1:27.330.

Nelson Piquet was enduring another torrid weekend with his Renault, appearing on cameras drifting sideways like a rally car in the fearsome Turn 8. It would be a consistent problem for both Renault drivers through the qualifying period.

As the clock ticked down to three minutes, the danger positions were: 11.Alonso, 12.Heidfeld, 13.Kovalainen, 14.Glock, 15.Sutil, 16.Hamilton, 17.Piquet, 18.Buemi, 19.Fisichella, 20.Bourdais.

Lewis Hamilton was finding his McLaren very difficult to drive and whereas the Brawn of Jenson Button looked extraordinarily smooth, Hamilton looked twitchy and uncommitted through Turn 8.

He failed to get into the top 15 on his final run just as brake failure on Nelson Piquet's cars put him into the gravel and out. In the closing seconds it was less about moves at the back of the field and more about moves at the front as the Brawns of Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello sprung up to P2 and P3 respectively.

So out of qualifying went:

16.Hamilton
17.Piquet
18.Buemi
19.Fisichella
20.Bourdais.

Hamilton was the only major casualty of the session which saw a return to form for the BMWs.

Qualifying 2
With the track temperature dipping to 44C the green-walled soft tyres became more prominent as the tyre of choice. Nico Rosberg set P1 at 1:27.672, Felipe Massa reduced this to 1:27.462 on soft tyres. Rubens Barrichello took P1 with a 1:27.418 and Jenson Button hammered it down to 1:27.322.

Despite two purple (fastest) sectors Sebastian Vettel could only manage P2 on 1:27.333. He went round for a second lap to try and improve, set two more fastest sectors in S1 and S2 and then promptly dived down the pitlane.

As we got to the three-minutes-to-go mark there was just 0.25 separating P1 and P10.

The danger positions were: 7.Heidfeld, 8.Rosberg, 9.Raikkonen, 10.Alonso, 11.Nakajima, 12.Glock, 13.Kovalainen, 14.Sutil, 15.Webber (who had had to ditch his first timed run after running wide at Turn 8)

In the last few minutes everyone, including P1 man Button, took to the circuit for a final run. Across the line they came. Mark Webber made himself safe by grabbing P3, Kimi Raikkonen took P3, Timo Glock could only manage a disastrous P13, to rub this in team-mate Jarno Trulli took P1 with a 1:27.195, seconds later that was deposed by Vettel with a sensational 1:27.016. Alonso squeezed into P9, Rosberg took P8 and Heikki Kovalainen cemented McLaren's misery in P14.

So out went:

11. Heidfeld (just 0.5 off P1)
12.Nakajima
13.Glock
14.Kovalainen
15.Sutil

Kovalainen's exit was not surprising, but it was rare to see Timo Glock fall so short of Jarno Trulli, while the big news was that Robert Kubica had actually got his BMW into Q3 for a change.

Qualifying 3
The track was back to 46C for the final session and so drivers could choose to do one banzai lap on softs, one slow and one fast lap on softs, or two/three fast laps on hards.

Kimi Raikkonen set a tentative P1 with a 1:29.405, which Jarno Trulli sailed inside with a 1:28.858. On his first run Button could only set the P2 time before Sebastian Vettel claimed P1 with a 1:28.801.

Rubens Barrichello went out late with the idea of reeling off three timed laps - the last intended to be the fastest. After the first hot laps the positions were: Vettel, Trulli, Button, Webber, Alonso, Raikkonen, Massa, Barrichello, Kubica and Rosberg.

Fernando Alonso had an off-track excursion at Turn 8 like his team-mate which meaned he wouldn't keep his P5 for much longer. Rubens jumped to P7 but had another lap left.

Kimi Raikkonen took P2 as his fuel level reduced, but team-mate Felipe Massa looked curiously sluggish. Webber jumped into provisional pole which lasted for several seconds before Jenson Button crossed the line with a 1:28.421, Trulli couldn't better it and came home in P3 while Rubens crossed the line in P2.

All eyes switched to Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull as he set the fastest first sector, but went slower than Jenson in S2. Coming into the final turns he was still ahead, though, and crossing the line he clinched pole by 0.1 of a second. Making it a Red Bull, Brawn, Brawn, Red Bull mirror across the first two rows.

Ross Brawn was quick to admit that they were fuelled to Lap 17 and early indications are that the Red Bulls are fuelled to around Lap 15. Which means the Brawn cars are potentially still the quickest out there.

For the race; Jenson Button has been quicker off the line than Vettel this year and has the inside line for a Turn 1 that comes up very quickly. However Button will know that Barrichello has pulled two great starts on him this year and will be keen to get ahead. Certainly there is the potential for an all-out race between the top three drivers in the World Championship when the red lights go out tomorrow.

FH

Times
01 S. Vettel Red Bull 1:28.316
02 J. Button Brawn GP 1:28.421
03 R. Barrichello Brawn GP 1:28.579
04 M. Webber Red Bull 1:28.613
05 J. Trulli Toyota 1:28.666
06 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:28.815
07 F. Massa Ferrari 1:28.858
08 F. Alonso Renault 1:29.075
09 N. Rosberg Williams 1:29.191
10 R. Kubica BMW 1:29.357
11 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:27.521
12 K. Nakajima Williams 1:27.629
13 T. Glock Toyota 1:27.795
14 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:28.207
15 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:28.391
16 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:28.318
17 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:28.582
18 S. Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:28.708
19 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:28.717
20 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:28.918

Source : Planet F1

TURKISH GP 2009

The Turkish GP is here again this weekend. Both Friday practices were over today with some improvement from the big name teams of McLaren, Ferrari and BMW. The surprise were the Brawns were off the pace and Vettel had some soft of mechanical failure on his car.

I am pleasantly surprised that McLaren have made by the current standards a huge improvement compared to Monaco 2 weeks earlier. I was thinking that they would be having a problematic time at the low-medium downforce and fast flowing Istanbul track but so far they showed not only do they have pace but the grip is also there. The notorious and incredible turn 8 did not really throw them around.

For a more detailed report, I will re-publish the report from Planet F1 following this.

Alvin.