The Rise of Dupont F1: 2009-?? (Season 1: Magna)

[CaptainGetz12]

(So this is a series I have been working on for a couple months using Grand Prix 2. I wanna use this series to get used to using GP2 for different series down the road so I won't be just a participant in the PMMC community.

The team name comes from Julia Wurz's book Superego, which follows a journalist that is writing about a team called Dupont F1. This series differs in that there will be no fictional drivers, though the two teams in the book of focus (Magna and Dupont) will be in the series.

For the first season only Magna will be participating, and Dupont will appear in the following season. This means I will probably not spend too much time with the first season, since the real shenanigans won't start until 2010.

Without further ado, here is the Autosport season preview, which starts right before final practice at Barcelona:)

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2009 Formula One Final Preview by Autosport

Well the wait is over, and the much-anticipated year of 2009 is upon us. As the world finally seems to be coming down from a financial downturn, Formula 1 will began its first year in a new formula With the final round of testing upon us the field is starting to shape up.

Looking at the new format, the cars have a radically different look. With its tall wings and an even more planted stance downforce looks to be the deciding factor for this new breed of cars despite the lack of elaborate fins and dressing.

A few teams will also be debuting the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) which turns braking power
into a bit of extra horsepower for a few moments a lap. This system is controversial, with its detractors
claiming that it makes the sport too artificial and overtaking too easy. Final approval will be done after the first
round of testing so we will soon see if these worries have merit.

All 13 teams will make it to our final round of testing at Catalunya this Saturday. Here is a look at the team lineups so far:

//Mclaren-Mercedes//

The reigning champions finally appear to have came down from the crazy celebrations over their 2008 victory to prepare for the daunting task of a new formula. From early prospects it looks like the team shows no signs of sinking back from the top of the grid, but their title defense does not look to be in perfect shape.

The team debuted their car first with the MP4-24 unveiled in January. The car certainly looks striking with the Vodafone chrome and red. Past the livery the car appears to have a pretty conventional setup. The team may be wanting to tone down their aggressive development a little bit to see how the new formula works, but they should be careful not to be too conservative, lest they find themselves caught off-guard this season. The team at least got a KERS system running, and they'll be hoping it will be last bit they need to let the car cut through the field.

Reigning champion Lewis Hamilton showed in interviews that he is eager to adapt to the new formula. Winning the 2008 Driver's title in only his second year he's certainly itching for another title. Should his team fumble this year he certainly has many seasons ahead of him to get another title. Heikki Kovalainen remains Hamilton's partner, quietly helping the team develop the new car. He is certainly a dependable driver who can bring in consistent points finishes and will again be the reliable number two Mclaren needs to keep them in the title hunt if things go south.

The chrome arrows face a daunting task ahead defending their title in such a drastic turn of car design, but with their experience on the track and in the garage they certainly act like the team to beat. Hamilton will again be a major threat on most occasions, while Kovalainen will bring a steady stream of points in the background.


//Ferrari//

The new formula may appear to be just another chapter for the guys at Maranello. The team has competed in every season since the inaugural championship in 1950. Ferrari bring note to this occasion by christening their 2009 challenger the F60, to commemorate competing in their 60th grand prix season.

The car itself is a mix of both old and new. The new formula forced Ferrari to smooth out their once aero-littered design, and the team appeared to streamline and improve on whatever they can at a glance. At the same time, the team is one of the first to develop a KERS system, which will certainly they are betting on being an important boost to their efforts. The package appears pretty promising despite the lack of radical changes, and it should stay in the top flight of cars without any problem.

This is good news for Felipe Massa. With his 2nd title charge in a row ending up in smoke, he is praying that third time is the charm. He is certainly one of the fastest drivers in the field, but he doesn't have the youth of Hamilton, so he'll be looking to get at least one title in at Ferrari. His equally fast teammate Kimi Raikkonen will again prove a major challenger for the driver's championship. His cold, collected style will continue to bring surprise results to the team, and in a shake-up of a year such as this one don't be surprised if his cool head wins him another title.

Ferrari remains right on Mclaren's tail, and even with the potential for new titans to rise to the front the Prancing Horses will remain a major contender for the championship for 2009.

//BMW Sauber//

BMW's gamble to ditch Williams for the small team from Switzerland appears to finally be paying off. With the team claiming their first win at Montreal last year the German-Swiss partnership continues to look upward. The team hopes to make a serious title bid for 2009, and have spent much of the off-season on developing a radically new car to meet the challenge.

Sauber's 2009 car certainly delivers on being innovative. The machine has one of the most advanced wing designs of the field, having learned from the hiccups of their 2008 car. On top of that the team has spent the most time on developing a KERS system, claiming that it will be a crucial add-on to the car that will give them that extra boost they need. With safety concerns regarding the system the team's head-honchos will be crossing their fingers that the FIA won't give their expensive system the cut before the season starts.

The team has a bit of a shakeup in the driver lineup as well. Robert Kubica remains at Sauber after giving the team their first win last year. The Pole remains dependable and capable of fighting with the old titans, so expect more podiums if the car is up to snuff. Partnering him will be Rubens Barrichello, who after having enough with the chaotic Honda team decided to move to the Hanwil squad. He certainly has much to prove, especially since the man he is replacing is taking his spot at the newly formed Magna team. BMW will be wanting to have the Brazillian back on the podium, and that Magna have not struck gold with the Honda chassis.

The team has been a darkhorse for the past few seasons and their commitment may finally get them a permanent spot on the top end of the grid. It will all depend on whether their devotion to aero and KERS will either cement them at the top or force them to play catch-up for the season.

//Renault//

The Enstone-based Renault team has plenty to look up to after their solid finish to the season last year. Back-to-back wins from Alonso showed that their team has the potential to be a title contender with a little more improvement. However, their 2009 prospects don't seem to be the best at the moment, especially with the team's mother company starting to feel pressure from the economic downturn.

Their newest car has some aerodynamic promise, but not to the degree of other teams that the French firm is up against. The team put together a KERS system, but as with BMW they will be hoping that it will not only be legal by the time they reach Melbourne, but also give more than a hint of extra performance on-track. So far the car has had erratic pace, so the team may be in for another unpredictable year.

It makes more than a few people wonder why Fernando Alonso continues with the team when more promising prospects are available. Perhaps he is still afraid to leave nest after his rollercoaster of a season at Mclaren? Or maybe it's his ability to bring great finishes with less-than-stellar equipment; The Spaniard has a knack at hauling spectacular results in an unoptimized car last year, so he may be looking for long-term prospects. Said prospects could spell trouble for Nelson Piquet Jr., who partners Alonso again this year. The Brazillian has been inconsistent so far at the team, and has gotten into more than a few questionable crashes that make people question if there is more to his presence in the sport than just his namesake.

With many other teams looking to move up the grid, Renault may be looking to sink a bit due to their conservative approach to 2009. It will again be up to Alonso to make the most of what he's got and perhaps bag a few more podiums, while Piquet will be looking for results that convince the big-wigs in France to keep him onboard.

//Toyota//

Toyota spent enough money to fund entire countries on its Formula One team and yet have not seen any major results. With a couple podiums last year and the openings a new formula brings the German-based team may finally get the fight for the championship they (and many fans) been waiting for.

The TF109 goes a different path of the another big teams: instead of going for overall improvement or focusing on KERS, Toyota instead spent their time creating a radical double diffuser system that looks to be very effective in this new grip-centric formula. With other teams turning heads and the car setting very fast times Toyota may finally have their ace in the hole.

The team maintains the same driver lineup as last year. Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock are two drivers from different eras, but both are good at keeping the car going the right way and pulling the occasional surprise. Trulli's qualifying pace will certainly give the team shots at more podiums, and Glock continues to sharpen his skills in the number two slot. With the radical new car expect the pair to either be right at the front or wallowing toward the back. Either way, it will again be hard to tell which one would come out on top by season's end, with both drivers being within two seconds of eachother in the previous testing sessions.

2009 could be the year Toyota's investment finally pays off if the team can build and keep a good momentum this year. The double diffuser will be a boon, but the team's tendency to mellow out over the season could again hold them back from being midfielders with a frontrunner's budget.


//Toro Rosso-Ferrari//

Shockingly, Red Bull's B-Team starts 2009 with lower numbers than its Austrian big sister. Or perhaps not shockingly considering the heroics of Sebastian Vettel last year. The team may have a win under their belt and better placing than its counterpart in 2008 but it will be a herculean task to replicate those results. Vettel now drives for Red Bull's main gig, so Toro Rosso already lost its main edge for this year.

As usual, Toro Rosso's car received major development help from the A-team operation, resulting in a similar but not as refined machine as its sister team. Like Red Bull the car debuted just in time for testing, so that extra development time should give the STR4 a healthy but not spectacular chassis. As testing progresses the car looks to be steadily behind their big sister.

With Vettel off to join the A-team and Sébastien Bourdais off to the states for Indycar the Faenza squad have a fresh pair of drivers to work with. Takuma Sato's gamble to test for the team last year saved his skin, so the Japanese driver jumped ships from the sinking Super Aguri to join Toro Rosso. Sato may be starting to realize that his days in F1 are numbered, and in a cutthroat team like Toro Rosso he certainly can't afford to stay lackluster for long. On the other end, Sebastien Buemi makes the jump from GP2 for his first season. Being the first Swiss driver since Jean-Denis Délétraz in 1995 he has shown promise in the lower formulas, but with the come-and-go attitude of Red Bull's driver program he will be giving his all just to stay in the hot seat.

After the surprise performances of 2008 Red Bull will be looking to knock Toro Rosso back in place behind the A-effort. Sato has done shocker drives before with far less, but on the whole don't expect the same level of performance from the junior team as last year.


//Red Bull-Renault//

An ominous storm is gathering at the world's fastest energy drink billboard. With Adrian Newey in full force and their driver program striking gold, Red Bull is looking to be among the faster teams of the field for 2009. As much as people complain about the Austrian firm's 2-team presence in the sport their six years of progress and technical development may produce their best season yet.

Red Bull took their time with developing their 2009 contender, debuting the RB5 less than two weeks before testing began. It may not have a double diffuser or KERS, but Newey shows just what you can do with the new format, producing a cutting-edge design that will have other engineers taking notes. The car was fairly anonymous in Jerez, but at Barcelona the car stood among the class of the field.

The driver line-up also looks like a real powerhouse. Mark Webber no longer has David Coulthard to stack behind, and with his racing skills he will want to cement himself as numero uno at the Austrian squad. He will face a major challenge in Sebastian Vettel. Having won at Monza last year in a Toro Rosso, with a proper chassis he looks to challenge for more podiums this year. The fact that Webber still shows a weak launch from standing starts could lead the Australian ending up number two once again, this time to a German wunder kind.

The chaos of the off-season may be the perfect storm for Red Bull. With a carefully crafted chassis and two drivers with plenty of pace and much to prove the team will be fighting for podiums and wins, maybe even an outside bid for the constructor's title.

//Williams-Toyota//

Frank Williams' team continues its steady climb out of its slump of the mid 2000s, and 2009 looks to be another strong step further up the grid. The team will face a very close field this year, but they have the potential both car-wise and driver-wise to pull some upsets. Frank himself was cautious in interviews, saying that he wants to get comfortable with the new formula first before thinking of returning to the top.

Williams has the luck of getting their chassis done early. Following in the footsteps of Toyota, the FW31 has a controversial double diffuser that has given them a pretty quick machine in testing. If the diffusers get the green light for Melbourne, the chassis looks to be a quick on more technical circuits. The Toyota engine remains a descent all-rounder that will keep the team on pace on the straights, but all-in-all the chassis will do its best on the curvier courses.

Nico Rosberg will be a strong upper midfielder this year. He has shown excellent pace at a common frequency, showing the strengths of the team's cars. The FW31 will allow the young German to put the team further up the field in qualifying, but his race pace could use further improvement. For his partner, Williams had enough of the lackluster Kazuki Nakajima and after discussing with Toyota they will take a gamble on Kamui Kobayashi. A star in Asia the driver is not the most experienced on an international level if his GP2 placing is any indication. He will be a good partner to Rosberg, and will be looking to impress the Toyota big-wigs.

Frank expects to stay in the midfield for this season, but with Rosberg and the double diffuser the team could show great pace on the less straight-heavy courses. Rosberg will be a regular in the top 10 come race day, but the team will likely not be a top 4 team this year.

//Force India-Mercedes//

It's sophmore year for F1's first Indian team and this will be the year where we will see just what they can do with
the Silverstone garage. The team has stabilized its driver lineup and secured the powerful Mercedes powerplants, which is certainly a step in the right direction. The team lost notable technical staff in the off-season, including team principal Colin Kolles, but team owner Vjay Mallaya says that this will not hamper his team's progress.

Debuting only a couple days before public testing began, the VJM02 spent over half a year in development. Gone is the old Jordan chassis, and in its place is a brand-new design. The Mercedes engines will give the team an edge on high-speed courses, but from testing the car looks to be one that is hard to handle and not the most reliable. The car at least stands out on the grid, with the colors of the Indian flag showing the team's pride.

Force India decided to stay with the same duo as 2009. Adrian Sutil remains a constant at the Silverstone garage, but after three seasons his skill as a driver is still in question. Mallaya expressed confidence in him, but the German will want to bring results to silence the critics. Meanwhile, Giancarlo Fisichella is starting to show his age behind the wheel. No other team is interested in him, so he too will need to impress if the wants to stay in the sport.

Force India stands at a crossroads: The shake-up of the new formula can be the chance for the team to crack the midfield, or it will be the season where they will fall firmly into a status as backmarkers. Points will be their main target for this season, and making sure they beat Prodrive to earn the status as Mercedes' B-Team.


//Prodrive-Mercedes//

A solid first year puts Prodrive on good terms with Mclaren, and as a result they earned a better standing at Mercedes over Force India. The team narrowly missed its first points last year at Canada thanks to the heroics of Pedro De La Rosa. However, the fallout with Alexander Wurz and the major loss of pace in the latter half of the season puts their in-season abilities to question. 2009 will be a true test of the team's ability to perform, and with Force India fighting for rights to the Mercedes engines they cannot afford to fall behind.

Good results, plus David Richards' cosy relationship at Mclaren, gave the team a bit more cash to develop their 2009 machine. As with last year, the car has notable design cues from the Mclaren, which may not be a good thing this year considering how conservative the MP4-24 looks. The car's testing times are firmly at the back half of the field, so the team will have plenty of hard races ahead.

Pedro de La Rosa stays another year in the sport with a cosy number one position at Prodrive. He frequently sparred with the Force Indias last year and came close to bagging the team's first points. With this looking like the team he will finish his career on the veteran Spaniard will want to end his career on a good note with a points finish or two. With Wurz firmly out of the picture, DTM driver Gary Paffett picks up the full-time position at Prodrive after filling in for the last few races of 2008. He is certainly a solid development driver, but his pace last year is one that may have him out as quickly as he came in. Don't expect too much from him, with largely anonymous drives to define his season.

It will be the war with Force India that will define Prodrive's 2009 season. De la Rosa stands as their best chance to score points early in the season, but unless the team can get its late-season act together it could find itself playing second-fiddle to Force India, a fate they cannot really afford if they want to become consistent midfielders.

//Carlin-Renault//

It's only been a year and Renault is already turning its attention away from poor Carlin. With Red Bull showing more promise, Renault already cut off much of its development help to this minor team when they really need investment. With its mother turning its back, things already do not look well for Trevor's squad. The team scrambled for sponsors in the off season, but whatever they found can't replace the precious development help of the French firm.

The TC02 debuted with little fanfare last week. The team got stable sponsorship from Eintracht FC, painting the car a warm yellow. Under the paint scheme the car looks very conservative in design, looking almost like a cheap knockoff of Renault's already average design. The car spent most of testing steadily behind Prodrive and Force India, showing how the loss of funding really set them back.

The only bright spot lies in the team's driver line-up. Vitantonio Liuzzi stays at Carlin having been their best driver last year. He will need to keep showing his pace however he can, since he no longer has Red Bull money to throw around. In the other seat Romain Grosjean makes his debut after testing for a year at Renault. With his first year in a woeful machine it will be a baptism by fire for the Frenchman. Beating Liuzzi would be a step in the right direction, since he still has Renault's backing and could gain a seat should Piquet Jr. fall short of expectations.

The sophmore blues will hit Carlin the hardest. Without any major funding the team will have a hard time catching Force India and Prodrive. A season as backmarkers beckons, with both of its drivers looking to perform well enough to gain promotion to better things.

//Super Aguri-Honda//

Low and Behold, everyone's favorite backmarker is alive after its implosion last year, having to miss the last few races due to financial difficulties. The team lost most of its technical staff over a painful off-season, with Honda having to create a stimulus package to save the team. One wonders why Honda would give help to Super Aguri as the Japanese firm begins its withdrawal from F1, especially considering the potential powerhouse over at their former garage...

Having next to no development last year, the SA09 will barely make it in time for the final test session.
From screenshots the SA09 looks like the SA08 clobbered up to meet the new regulations. We don't know how this will translate on track, but it won't be anything good.

Takuma Sato may have had a point jumping ship to Toro Rosso. Anthony Davidson now leads the team, his time as a loyal number two giving him favor. He is very consistent, but he lacks the pace of most grand prix drivers and is far from the best leader. The team's second driver is only contracted for the first few races, that driver being Giedo Van Der Garde. Giedo has notable experience in driving F1 cars, having tested for various teams since 2005. He has the potential to pull upsets, but said potential will be wasted on a woefully slow car. He will want to do well enough to earn more than a few drives for the season.

It's a fight to survive for Super Aguri, and an increasingly hopeless one at that. To think of them to do any better than the back of the grid will be wishful thinking. They may nip at the heels of Carlin, but that's as far as they will climb.

//Magna-Honda//

One wonders just what the fatcats at Honda were thinking to withdraw midway through the off-season. The team's last couple seasons coupled with a strong economic downturn prove enough for Honda to cut loose from grand prix racing. With the Honda team for sale, the mysterious Magna group has purchased the operation. An Italian-based firm, their negotiations not only convinced team manager Ross Brawn to stay onboard, but also gain the team several major sponsorships for the season. With the potential the Honda package has the team may be onto something incredible for 2009.

With Magna completing the machine that Honda started building in the off-season, Magna's first car will be called the cryptic MI , supposedly standing for M-1 in Roman Numerals. As ridiculous as the name sounds the car is perhaps one of the best of the field. The car has a double-decker diffuser that is more radical than the ones Toyota or Williams made, and is the cause of the protests against these unconventional designs. Sponsor-wise the car is a striking black and yellow, and is covered head-to-toe in sponsors. The only question mark is the Honda engine: The engine freeze keeps the powerplant as one of the more powerful builds, but it has trouble staying in one piece over race distance. The car certainly has pace, but the engine issues may haunt them this season.

This will provide an interesting test for the team's two drivers. Jenson Button stays aboard as number one driver, and with his skill he will be fighting for podiums from race one if the car is as fast as people think it is. Pairing with him will be Nick Heidfeld, who was unceremoniously sacked from Sauber. Without a win despite his championship-contending pace the Magna may be his last chance to drive a top-tier machine. He needs to grab his first win to prove that he deserves to be at the top.

Magna could be the true stars of 2009 if the cards fall into place. The radical design and the two fast drivers could have Magna racing for wins from the get-go. Will a title challenge beckon, and allow the team make history as the sport's first ever rookie champion? We will have to wait and see.

[CaptainGetz12]

Here will be each weekend layout:
-Qualifying will be done in two 30 minute sessions, taking the fastest time across both sessions
-Race sessions will be full length
-Penalties will be either time penalties, DSQs, or race suspensions for a length based on the severity of the brain fa-err, infraction

Season Calendar:
1) Australia (Albert Park)- 58 laps
2) Malaysia (Sepang)- 56 laps
3) China (Shanghai International)- 56 laps
4) Bahrain (Bahrain International)- 57 laps
5) Spain (Circuit de Catalunya)- 66 laps
6) Monaco (Circuit de Monaco)- 78 laps
7) Turkey (Istanbul Park)- 58 laps
8) Canada (Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve)- 70 laps
9) Great Britain (Silverstone "Bridge" Circuit)- 60 laps
10) Germany (Nürburgring GP)- 60 laps
11) Hungary (Hungaroring)- 70 laps
12) Belgium (Spa-Francorchamps)- 44 laps
13) Italy (Monza)- 53 laps
14) Singapore (Marina Bay)- 61 laps
15) Japan (Suzuka)- 53 laps
16) Brazil (Interlagos)- 71 laps
17) Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina)- 55 laps

Points will be the same as in 2009 in real life: 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1

In addition, there will be press releases showing stuff going on between each grand prix to try and flesh out the season however possible.


Current Standings (Round 6 of 17)

Drivers Championship
1) Nick Heidfeld 40
2) Sebastian Vettel 35
3) Timo Glock 25 (1 1st)
4) Fernando Alonso 25 (2 3rds)
5) Mark Webber 21 (1 1st)
6) Nico Rosberg 21 (1 3rd)
7) Jenson Button 17
8) Robert Kubica 11
9) Felipe Massa 9
10) Jarno Trulli 8
11) Heikki Kovalainen 7
12) Kimi Räikkönen 5
13) Lewis Hamilton 4 (1 6th)
14) Rubens Barrichello 4 (2 7ths)
15) Kamui Kobayashi 2
16) Pedro de la Rosa 0 (1 10th)
17) Takuma Sato 0 (1 11th, 1 12th, 2 15ths)
18) Sébastien Buemi 0 (1 11th, 1 12th, 1 15th)
19) Romain Grosjean 0 (1 12th)
20) Adrian Sutil 0 (2 13ths)
21) Nelson Piquet Jr. 0 (1 14th, 1 15th)
22) Giancarlo Fisichella 0 (1 14th, 1 16th)
23) Vitantonio Liuzzi 0 (1 15th)
24) Giedo van der Garde 0 (1 16th, 1 17th)
25) Gary Paffett 0 (1 16th, 3 19ths)
26) Anthony Davidson 0 (1 17th)
27) Lucas di Grassi 0 (1 20th)

Constructors Championship
1) Magna-Honda 57
2) Red Bull-Renault 56
3) Toyota 33
4) Renault 25
5) Williams-Toyota 23
6) BMW Sauber 15
7) Ferrari 14
8) Mclaren-Mercedes 11
9) Prodrive-Mercedes 0 (1 10th)
10) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 (2 11ths)
11) Force India-Mercedes 0 (2 13ths)
12) Carlin-Renault 0 (1 15th)
13) Super Aguri-Honda 0 (1 16th)

[CaptainGetz12]

Drivers and Cars


Vodafone Mclaren Mercedes
Car: MP4-24
Engine: Mercedes FO 108W
1) Lewis Hamilton
2) Heikki Kovalainen


Scuderia Ferrari marlboro
Car: F60
Engine: Ferrari 056
3) Felipe Massa
4) Kimi Räikkönen


BMW Sauber F1 Team
Car: F1.09
Engine: BMW P86/9
5) Robert Kubica
6) Rubens Barrichello


ING Renault F1 Team
Car: R29
Engine: Renault RS27
7) Fernando Alonso
8) Nelson Piquet Jr. (Round 1-5)
Romain Grosjean (Round 6-)


Panasonic Toyota Racing
Car: TF109
Engine: Toyota RVX-09
9) Jarno Trulli
10) Timo Glock


Scuderia Toro Rosso
Car: STR4
Engine: Ferrari 056
11) Takuma Sato
12) Sébastien Buemi


Red Bull Racing
Car: RB5
Engine: Renault RS27
14) Mark Webber
15) Sebastian Vettel


AT&T Williams F1
Car: FW31
Engine: Toyota RVX-09
16) Nico Rosberg
17) Kamui Kobayashi


Force India F1 Team
Car: VJM02
Engine: Mercedes FO 108W
18) Adrian Sutil
19) Giancarlo Fisichella


Prodrive F1
Car: PRO-02
Engine: Mercedes FO 108W
20) Pedro de la Rosa
21) Gary Paffett


Carlin Motorsport
Car: TC02
Engine: Renault RS27
22) Vitantonio Liuzzi
23) Romain Grosjean (Round 1-5)
Lucas di Grassi (Round 6-)


Super Aguri F1 Team
Car: SA09
Engine: Honda RA809E
24) Anthony Davidson
25) Giedo van der Garde


Magna Racing
Car: MI
Engine: Honda RA809E
26) Jenson Button
27) Nick Heidfeld

[CaptainGetz12]

(After real life decided to throw me some curveballs, I have finally got around to getting this damn show on the road.

Qualifying will be done in two sessions, and the results put on one post if possible. Again, the best times across both sessions will decide the grid for race day.)

Friday, March 27th
Webber beats Vettel in final moments as Red Bull take Top 2 for the Day

The first few months of 2009 hinted at that a major shake-up of Formula One's gird hierarchy would soon come. Said hints became reality earlier today. On an unusually hot Australian afternoon the 26 cars began their first qualifying runs of the season, quickly making laps under the new 20 minute session.

In the first laps the Toyota powered machines showed how much they gained ground in the off-season. Trulli and Glock putting solid top 10 times and Nico Rosberg taking 3rd by the first third of the session. However, they soon found themselves playing second fiddle to two darkhorse drivers, with Jenson Button putting the ominously quick Magna in 2nd, only for the young Sebastian Vettel to snatch pole a few seconds later.

Magna and Red Bull proved to be the class of the day, with the old titans of Mclaren and Ferrari stumbling. Heikki Kovalainen could only muster a 9th today, and the defending champion Lewis Hamilton sank down to 14th position by the time qualifying ended.

Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen faired better, but Kimi's run was ruined by an impeding Vitantonio Liuzzi. the Finn expressed his discontent with the Italian driver as the Carlin held him and Pedro de la Rosa up for half a lap. Despite this hold up, The iceman managed to plant his Ferrari in a solid 6th.

The heat proved too much for many of the cars, with about half of the field managing 1 lap before having to pull in for various issues. The session hit the other Renault-powered cars the hardest: Alonso could only manage 12th, Piquet Jr. a dismal 17th, and the Carlins wallowed in the back. Liuzzi, despite getting extra pace by holding up other cars, still ended up on the backrow behind one of the underdeveloped Super Aguris.

The session did prove excellent for this year's rookies. Kamui Kobayashi managed to make provisional 10th today, while Sebastien Buemi, Romain Grosjean, and Giedo van der Garde finished comfortably ahead of their more experienced teammates.

By the final 5 minutes the times looked set, but Mark Webber shocked the crowd by beating his teammate in the final minute of qualifying, clinching provisional pole by three-hundreths of a second.

Red Bull took the top 2 spots for Friday, with the Magnas within a couple tenths in the two spots behind. Tomorrow's qualifying session will have the teams competing to beat Friday's time, with the driver's fastest time across both sessions used to determine the grid.

1) Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) 1:29.847
2) Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) +0.036
3) Jenson Button (Magna-Honda) +0.277
4) Nick Heidfeld (Magna-Honda) +0.363
5) Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) +0.474
6) Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) +0.599
7) Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) +0.673
8) Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 0.843
9) Heikki Kovalainen (Mclaren-Mercedes) +0.882
10) Kamui Kobayashi (Williams-Toyota) +0.961
11) Jarno Trulli (Toyota) +1.074
12) Fernando Alonso (Renault) +1.118
13) Timo Glock (Toyota) +1.161
14) Lewis Hamilton (Mclaren-Mercedes) +1.196
15) Rubens Barrichello (BMW Sauber) +1.274
16) Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) +1.307
17) Nelson Piquet Jr. (Renault) +1.552
18) Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) +1.707
19) Takuma Sato (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) +1.788
20) Pedro de la Rosa (Prodrive-Mercedes) +1.836
21) Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes) +2.230
22) Gary Paffett (Prodrive-Mercedes) +2.427
23) Romain Grosjean (Carlin-Renault) +2.522
24) Giedo van der Garde (Super Aguri-Honda) +2.628
25) Vitantonio Liuzzi (Carlin-Renault) +2.822
26) Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri-Honda) +2.938

[CaptainGetz12]

Saturday, March 28th
Webber extends pole as Red Bull locks the front row

With more test time under their belts the teams got ready for the second qualifying session before race day. With the track a few degrees cooler many drivers were able to improve their laptimes after unsatisfactory performances yesterday.

Mark Webber went out early and again impressed the crowd by setting pole. He set the pace time of 1:29.765, beating his previous time by almost a tenth of a second. He set his time in clean air then spent the rest of qualifying calibrating the car, his time left untouched for the whole session. Amid the scuffle for 2nd Nico Rosberg came close to beating Sebastian Vettel's time to no avail, while Nick Heidfeld fell just a hair short of starting in the top 3, his best time less than a thousandth of a second behind Rosberg's.

On the whole mechanical woes found during yesterday's session seemed fixed for almost all of the teams. Gary Paffett and Fernando Alonso had to end their sessions early due to engine irregularities, but both drivers were able to trim their lap times.

The old veterans could not find lost pace on Saturday, with Alonso, Barrichello and Hamilton down around the middle of the midfield all session. Lewis claimed that his car had mechanical problems during the session, but his teammate Heikki Kovalainen, who got his car to the top 10, said that Hamilton had trouble adjusting to the new formula over the off-season.

The rookies continued to impress; Sebastien Buemi again set times consistently ahead of Red Bull foreigner Takuma Sato, and Kamui Kobayashi proved the skeptics wrong by starting just outside the top 10 on his debut weekend.

At the back of the grid, Pedro de la Rosa got the better of the Force India drivers by the end of Saturday, while Carlin struggled being faster than the Super Aguris. Romain Grosjean ended up getting enough clean air to beat fellow rookie Giedo van der Garde by two-tenths, but Vitantonio Liuzzi could not improve his time and ends up starting in last place on Sunday.

For the first time in the team's history Red Bull will start tomorrow on the front row, with Rosberg and the Ferraris not too far behind. Mclaren and Renault have catching up to do while Kobayashi and Buemi look to have strong debut races while their teammates flounder.

( Place) Name (car) Q1 Q2 )
1) Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) 1:29.847 1.29.765
2) Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 1:29.883 1:29.996
3) Jenson Button (Magna-Honda) 1:30.124 1:29.929
4) Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) 1:30.321 1:30.210
5) Nick Heidfeld (Magna-Honda) 1:30.210 1:30.518
6) Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) 1:30.446 1:30.678
7) Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) 1:30.520 1:30.565
8) Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 1:30.690 1:30.678
9) Heikki Kovalainen (Mclaren-Mercedes) 1:30.729 1:30.917
10) Jarno Trulli (Toyota) 1:30.921 1:30.804
11) Kamui Kobayashi (Williams-Toyota) 1:30.808 1:30.835
12) Timo Glock (Toyota) 1:31.008 1:30.876
13) Rubens Barrichello (BMW Sauber) 1:31.121 1:30.888
14) Fernando Alonso (Renault) 1:30.965 1:30.926
15) Lewis Hamilton (Mclaren-Mercedes) 1:31.043 1:30.971
16) Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:31.154 1:31.365
17) Nelson Piquet Jr. (Renault) 1:31.399 1:31.751
18) Pedro de la Rosa (Prodrive-Mercedes) 1:31.683 1:31.445
19) Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) 1:31.554 1:31.446
20) Takuma Sato (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:31.635 1:31.718
21) Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes) 1:32.077 1:32.194
22) Gary Paffett (Prodrive-Mercedes) 1:32.274 1:32.355
23) Romain Grosjean (Carlin-Renault) 1:32.399 1:32.284
24) Giedo van der Garde (Super Aguri-Honda) 1:32.475 1:32.553
25) Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri-Honda) 1:32.785 1:32.588
26) Vitantonio Liuzzi (Carlin-Renault) 1:32.689 1:32.592

Reject of Qualifying: Lewis Hamilton. Lack of pace and lacking experience with the new format is not the way to start your title defense.

[CaptainGetz12]

Sunday, March 29
Webber overcomes bad start to win at home

With his team's first ever pole in front of his homecrowd Mark Webber faced a major task come race weekend to turn it into Red Bull's first win. With his teammate Sebastian Vettel and the ominously fast Magnas close behind this would prove a tricky task.

Come the end of lap 1 Webber's slow starting pace struck again, with the Aussie sinking down to 6th. Turn 1 itself proved a disaster for the opening, with Jarno Trulli losing his rear tires after being forced to stop for a near-still Nico Rosberg, causing Lewis Hamilton to ram him from behind. Crazier still, Pedro de la Rosa forced Takuma Sato into a wall having nowhere to go, totalling the Toro Rosso before he could even cross the starting line.



From there the field quickly settled out, but numerous battles surfaced and ended over the course of the race. Kamui Koyabashi fought hard to break into the top 8 and did a fantastic job keeping his position away from Heikki Kovalainen to score his first championship point on debut. Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton sparred for much of the race, but by the end Alonso proved the winner of that fight, leaving Hamilton without a point after race 1.

The two Magnas fought eachother and Webber for most of the race, being on par with the lightning-fast Red Bulls all weekend. Button held the lead for the first half of the race, but was forced to retire after the car's gearbox failed.



Sebastian Vettel dipped into the grass on lap 12, shredding part of his wing and forcing him to add an extra pitstop to his schedule to fix it. Despite this set back and young German charged through the field and was back in the top 8 by the halfway mark. Meanwhile Kimi Raikonnen made a hard charge into the top 5, but a tire puncture forced him out of the race.

Nico Rosberg proved the surprise drive for the day. Although he fell down the grid more than Webber and looked to stay there, good pit strategy and great offensive driving brought the Williams home in 3rd place. Robert Kubica had a strong, if uneventful drive as well, with an early stop proving to his advantage for undercutting his opponents to finish 5th.

The race proved competitive for the backmarkers as well. Romain Grosjean broke free of the backmarkers for much of the race and even sparred with the Force Indias for a good portion of the race, while Giedo van der Garde held off the Carlins and Gary Paffett for most of the race whilst his teammate Anthony Davidson DNFed from a puncture early on.

By the time Button broke down Webber got the better of Heidfeld. His teammate Vettel had a bad final stop, putting him too far back to be a threat. He did face trouble when Toro Rosso partner Sebastien Buemi held him up for a few laps, but Heidfeld could not capitalize on this obstacle. With Button out of the picture the Australian stormed to victory in front of his countrymen, giving the Red Bull alpha team their first ever Grand Prix victory.

( place) name (car) time points)

1) Mark Webber (Red-Bull-Renault) 1:31:56.667 10
2) Nick Heidfeld (Magna-Honda) +8.255 8
3) Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) + 12.788 6
4) Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) +21.566 5
5) Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) +42.433 4
6) Fernando Alonso (Renault) +51.662 3
7) Felipe Massa (Ferrari) +52.802 2
8) Kamui Kobayashi (Williams-Toyota) +57.699 1
9) Heikki Kovalainen (Mclaren-Mercedes) +59.259
10) Timo Glock (Toyota) +1:12.038
11) Lewis Hamilton (Mclaren-Mercedes) +1:15.748
12) Rubens Barrichello (BMW Sauber) +1:20.815
13) Pedro de la Rosa (Prodrive-Mercedes) -1 lap
14) Nelson Piquet Jr. (Renault) -1 lap
15) Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) -1 lap
16) Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) -1 lap
17) Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes) -1 lap
18) Romain Grosjean (Carlin-Renault) -1 lap
19) Giedo van der Garde (Super Aguri-Honda) -1 lap
20) Gary Paffett (Prodrive-Mercedes) -1 lap
21) Vitantonio Liuzzi (Carlin-Renault) -1 lap
NC) Jenson Button (Magna-Honda) Transmission
NC) Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) Puncture
NC) Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri-Honda) Puncture
NC) Jarno Trulli (Toyota) Accident
NC) Takuma Sato (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) Accident

Fastest Lap: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 1:32.322

Reject of the Race: Lewis Hamilton. Showed no pace or will to improve all weekend. Hopefully this is just a fluke for the defending champion.

Standings After the Race

Drivers Championship
1) Mark Webber 10
2) Nick Heidfeld 8
3) Nico Rosberg 6
4) Sebastian Vettel 5
5) Robert Kubica 4
6) Fernando Alonso 3
7) Felipe Massa 2
8) Kamui Kobayashi 1
9) Heikki Kovalainen 0 (1 9th)
10) Timo Glock 0 (1 10th)
11) Lewis Hamilton 0 (1 11th)
12) Rubens Barrichello 0 (1 12th)
13) Pedro de la Rosa 0 (1 13th)
14) Nelson Piquet Jr. 0 (1 14th)
15) Sébastien Buemi 0 (1 15th)
16) Adrian Sutil 0 (1 16th)
17) Giancarlo Fisichella 0 (1 17th)
18) Romain Grosjean 0 (1 18th)
19) Giedo van der Garde 0 (1 19th)
20) Gary Paffett 0 (1 20th)
21) Vitantonio Liuzzi 0 (1 21st)
22) Jenson Button 0 (1 DNF)
23) Kimi Räikkönen 0 (1 DNF)
24) Anthony Davidson 0 (1 DNF)
25) Jarno Trulli 0 (1 DNF)
26) Takuma Sato 0 (1 DNF)

Constructors Championship
1) Red Bull-Renault 15
2) Magna-Honda 8
3) Williams-Toyota 7
4) BMW Sauber 4
5) Renault 3
6) Ferrari 2
7) Mclaren-Mercedes 0 (Best Result: 9th)
8) Toyota 0 (Best Result: 10th)
9) Prodrive-Mercedes 0 (Best Result: 13th)
10) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 (Best Result: 15th)
11) Force India-Mercedes 0 (Best Result: 16th)
12) Carlin-Renault 0 (Best Result: 18th)
13) Super Aguri-Honda 0 (Best Result: 19th)

[CaptainGetz12]

Friday, April 3rd
Button beats Red Bull on Friday as heat and traffic scramble the field

The Malaysian summer rears its head again, with this weekend promising to be hot and humid enough to trip up much of the Formula One grid. Several drivers had to take short stints to avoid overheating their engines, and some cars could not even set a lap time by the session's end. Kubica and Heidfeld could only manage a few seconds of track time before time was called, while Gary Paffett's car spent the whole day in the garage as the crew tried to get the car's electronics working.

Being a deceptively long course the drivers scrambled to set times, resulting in some drivers spoiling potential hot laps through Sepang's twisting corners. Kimi Räikkönen and Rubens Barrichello could not find clean air, and since both ran on light fuel loads their only lap times left them outside the top 10. Sébastien Buemi demonstrated his potential speed by posting the 11th best time today, while Kamui Kobayashi had a largely anonymous run.

The weather provided a strange shakeup toward the back of the field. The Force Indias could not find grip on Friday, while the Super Aguris were able to find a good setup. As a result, Gincarlo Fiscichella stands at 19th, behind the rookies Grosjean and Van der Garde in inferior machines. Vitantonio Liuzzi again could not find a good groove, and stands again as the slowest time of the day.

Mclaren finally found some pace today, with Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen both qualifying within the top 10, and from pace the cars look to improve even further tomorrow. The Renaults had an up-and-down session. Fernando Alonso qualified a healthy 7th place, while Nelson Piquet Jr. placed in an alarming 21st behind one of the Carlins. But it was Toyota that proved the best of the rest, with Glock managing 4th best and Trulli 6th best.

Jenson Button set a blistering time at the start of the session, but the Red Bulls placed right on his tail. Sebastian Vettel faced some traffic at the start of his hotlap, but a strong time in the 2nd and 3rd sectors got him 2nd fastest of the day. Australia's winner Mark Webber had clean air for his time, but he fell just short of beating his teammate.

Saturday looks to be slightly cooler, which hopefully would give the rest of the field a chance to catch the lightning-quick Red Bulls and Magnas.


1) Jenson Button (Magna-Honda) 1:39.485
2) Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) +0.084
3) Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) +0.087
4) Timo Glock (Toyota) +0.620
5) Felipe Massa (Ferrari) +0.932
6) Jarno Trulli (Toyota) +1.160
7) Fernando Alonso (Renault) +1.272
8) Lewis Hamilton (Mclaren-Mercedes) +1.317
9) Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) +1.433
10) Heikki Kovalainen (Mclaren-Mercedes) +1.472
11) Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) +1.550
12) Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) +1.583
13) Rubens Barrichello (BMW Sauber) +1.622
14) Kamui Kobayashi (Williams-Toyota) +1.901
15) Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) +2.046
16) Pedro de la Rosa (Prodrive-Mercedes) +2.169
17) Takuma Sato (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) +2.358
18) Romain Grosjean (Carlin-Renault) +2.936
19) Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes) +3.169
20) Giedo van der Garde (Super Aguri-Honda) +3.253
21) Nelson Piquet Jr. (Renault) +3.286
22) Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri-Honda) +3.515
23) Vitantionio Liuzzi (Carlin-Renault) +4.136
NC) Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) NO TIME
NC) Nick Heidfeld (Magna-Honda) NO TIME
NC) Gary Paffett (Prodrive-Mercedes) NO TIME

[CaptainGetz12]

Saturday, April 4
Vettel dominates Saturday, heat continues to plague the drivers

Last year Sebastian Vettel took an unlikely pole in the Italian Grand Prix with the Toro Rosso, which he turned into the team's first and so far only win. Today, against the weather and traffic, the young German not only took pole position away from Jenson Button, but every lap he drove proved better than anything the Briton did so far this weekend. Vettel took two quick stints in his Red Bull around Sepang, and steadily trimmed down an already quick time to edge himself to a 1:39.409 on his final lap. Magna again clashed closely with the Red Bulls over the top two rows, with Heidfeld setting 4th fastest time overall after being unable to run yesterday.

Not all was well at the Red Bull garage however. Australian winner Mark Webber did not even leave his pitbox on Saturday due to problems with his car's cooling system. As with Friday three drivers did not set times, with Glock and Kobayashi also staying in the pits, having trouble getting their Toyota engines working.

Despite cooler weather and less aggressive traffic, Saturday kept most of the grid well-contested. Sébastien Buemi pushed hard to stay within striking distance of the top 10, while Mclaren's drivers pushed back up the field, eager to prove that they're still capable of defending their titles.

Romain Grosjean surprised again with his hot laps today, and for Sunday he starts ahead of both Piquet Jr. and Fisichella. Many older drivers fared poorly throughout qualifying: Räikkönen wallowed in the midfield again, Sato could not manage to beat an on-point Pedro de la Rosa, and Liuzzi could not keep off the grass, and starts in last place once again.

For tomorrow Magna and Red Bull are mixed up in the top 2 rows, with the Ferraris and Toyotas not too far behind. Buemi will be looking for his first points finish, while Mclaren will need to play catch-up again despite their improvement. The teams will be hoping that the weather won't beach their cars before the lights go out tomorrow, and will be working hard to get the engines to be as bulletproof as possible.

1) Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 1:39.569 1:39.409
2) Jenson Button (Magna-Honda) 1:39.485 1:39.685
3) Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) 1:39.572 NO TIME
4) Nick Heidfeld (Magna-Honda) NO TIME 1:39.799
5) Timo Glock (Toyota) 1:40.105 NO TIME
6) Fernando Alonso (Renault) 1:40.757 1:40.369
7) Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 1:40.417 1:40.381
8) Jarno Trulli (Toyota) 1:40.645 1:40.770
9) Lewis Hamilton (Mclaren-Mercedes) 1:40.802 1:40.998
10) Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) 1:40.918 1:40.917
11) Heikki Kovalainen (Mclaren-Mercedes) 1:40.957 1:40.958
12) Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:41.035 1:41.373
13) Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) 1:41.068 1:41.349
14) Rubens Barrichello (BMW Sauber) 1:41.107 1:41.075
15) Kamui Kobayashi (Williams-Toyota) 1:41.386 NO TIME
16) Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) 1:41.531 1:41.462
17) Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) NO TIME 1:41.537
18) Pedro de la Rosa (Prodrive-Mercedes) 1:41.654 1:41.690
19) Takuma Sato (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:41.843 1:41.927
20) Romain Grosjean (Carlin-Renault) 1:42.421 1:42.277
21) Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes) 1:42.654 1:42.353
22) Nelson Piquet Jr. (Renault) 1:42.771 1:42.391
23) Giedo van der Garde (Super Aguri-Honda) 1:42.738 1:42.886
24) Gary Paffett (Prodrive-Mercedes) NO TIME 1:42.810
25) Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri-Honda) 1:43.000 1:42.856
26) Vitantonio Liuzzi (Carlin-Renault) 1:43.621 1:43.499

Reject of Qualifying: Giancarlo Fisichella and Nelson Piquet Jr.. Both of their teams had trouble finding a good setup with their cars, but while their teammates found ways to make due they drove slower than Grosjean on both days.

[CaptainGetz12]

Sunday, April 5th
Rallycross and shredded wings for many drivers as Vettel takes second ever win

The humidity did not let up at all for Sunday, leaving the prospect of performing 55 laps in the blistering Malaysian heat a daunting task for the F1 grid. Analysts expected many mechanical failures for the race, pointing to the lack of development on the new cars this early in the season. What they did not expect was to have a plethora of major driver errors to be cause of mechanical damage for the field. By Sunday's end the track marshals collected almost a dozen set of front wings lost from off-track excursions.

The race began with little trouble, with Nick Heidfeld pushing to the front of the pack, while last race's winner Mark Webber and defending champion Lewis Hamilton ending up deep in the field. Heidfeld's time at the front proved short-lived, as Vettel soon took the lead and began building a gap. Webber fought his way out of the midfield and as a result both Red Bulls ran in the top 2 places by the halfway point.

The Red Bull dominance soon became overshadowed however, as the humidity proved to affect more than just the cars and the squealing tires. Lewis Hamilton spun off the track early on, as did Robert Kubica. Timo Glock and Nico Rosberg soon collided with eachother in Turn 7, forcing Glock to make an extra pit stop to replace his wing. Then, in a shock move, Jenson Button ran into the dirt on the same corner, putting his Magna back in 13th place.

As the race progressed many drivers tripped up and found themselves in the dirt some way or another. Felipe Massa spun out embarrassingly from 6th place, while Rubens Barrichello took too wide a line into Turn 5, clipping a tire on the grass and bringing the Sauber the wrong way around. But the most frequent visitor to the gravel was Adrian Sutil. Sutil went off four times over the course of the race, having to add three extra pitstops to his schedule due to losing his wing in three of the four occasions.

In terms of actual mechanical failures, there were only four: Lewis Hamilton retired early on due to mechanical problems, as did Kimi Räikkönen thanks to a broken gearbox. Gary Paffett retired in the final twenty laps from suspension failure, while Anthony Davidson parked his Super Aguri with 5 laps remaining due to his engine overheating.

The numerous blunders left many drivers playing catch-up, and as such the race had a large number of overtakes. The lower points stayed contested for 90% of the race, with the two Toyotas sparring with Rosberg and Barrichello for position. Webber and Button charged up the field, and by final twenty laps both drivers returned to the top 5.

Then, in one last moment of brainfade, Webber and Glock collided going into Turn 6, sending both cars spinning into the gravel. Both drivers made a hard-charge in the closing twenty laps, and by race's end Webber snatched the 8th and final points position from Glock, a far cry from the potential podium finish his car could have achieved.

Amidst the mayhem, Vettel ran the race unopposed. Even with a couple slow moments due to lap traffic the German took the checkered flag with over forty seconds over second place. This marks Vettel's second ever win since his miracle run for Toro Rosso at Italy last year, and the young gun looked ecstatic in post-race celebrations. With Webber out of the picture Button passed Alonso to take third, bringing a double podium finish for the new team.

With two races completed, Nick Heidfeld leads the Drivers Championship by one point over Vettel despite Heidfeld not winning either event. Mclaren scored their first points of the season thanks to Kovalainen's 6th place finish. Red Bull maintains a four point lead over Magna in the Constructors Championship.

( place) name (car) time points)

1) Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 1:39:24.117 10
2) Nick Heidfeld (Magna-Honda) +41.611 8
3) Jenson Button (Magna-Honda) +57.314 6
4) Fernando Alonso (Renault) +1:07.169 5
5) Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) +1:29.914 4
6) Heikki Kovalainen (Mclaren-Mercedes) +1:30.069 3
7) Jarno Trulli (Toyota) +1:31.058 2
8) Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) +1:31.261 1
9) Timo Glock (Toyota) +1:32.337
10) Rubens Barrichello (BMW Sauber) +1:39.808
11) Felipe Massa (Ferrari) -1 lap
12) Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) -1 lap
13) Pedro de la Rosa (Prodrive-Mercedes) -1 lap
14) Kamui Kobayashi (Williams-Toyota) -1 lap
15) Takuma Sato (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) -1 lap
16) Nelson Piquet Jr. (Renault) -1 lap
17) Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) -1 lap
18) Romain Grosjean (Carlin-Renault) -1 lap
19) Vitantonio Liuzzi (Carlin-Renault) -2 laps
20) Giedo van der Garde (Super Aguri-Honda) -2 laps
21) Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes) -2 laps
22) Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) -3 laps
23) Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri-Honda) Engine
NC) Gary Paffett (Prodrive-Mercedes) Suspension
NC) Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) Transmission
NC) Lewis Hamilton (Mclaren-Mercedes) Mechanical

Fastest Lap: Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) 1:45.091

Rejects of the Race: Mark Webber, Timo Glock, and Adrian Sutil. The former two spun away two potentially great results, while the latter wracked up quite a repair bill for Force India thanks to his off-road expeditions.

Standings after the Race

Drivers Championship
1) Nick Heidfeld 16
2) Sebastian Vettel 15
3) Mark Webber 11
4) Nico Rosberg 10
5) Fernando Alonso 8
6) Jenson Button 6
7) Robert Kubica 4
8) Heikki Kovalainen 3
9) Felipe Massa 2 (1 7th, 1 11th)
10) Jarno Trulli 2 (1 7th, 1 DNF)
11) Kamui Kobayashi 1
12) Timo Glock 0 (Best Result: 9th)
13) Rubens Barrichello 0 (Best Result: 10th)
14) Lewis Hamilton 0 (Best Result: 11th)
15) Sébastien Buemi 0 (Best Result: 12th)
16) Pedro de la Rosa 0 (Best Result: 13th)
17) Nelson Piquet Jr. 0 (Best Result: 14th)
18) Takuma Sato 0 (Best Result: 15th)
19) Adrian Sutil 0 (Best Result: 16th)
20) Giancarlo Fisichella 0 (Best Result:17th)
21) Romain Grosjean 0 (Best Result: 18th)
22) Geido van der Garde 0 (Best Result: 1 19th, 1 20th)
23) Vitantonio Liuzzi 0 (Best Result: 1 19th, 1 21st)
24) Gary Paffett 0 (Best Result: 20th)
25) Anthony Davidson 0 (Best Result: 23rd)
26) Kimi Räikkönen 0 (Best Result: DNF)

Constructors Championship
1) Red Bull-Renault 26
2) Magna-Honda 22
3) Williams-Toyota 11
4) Renault 8
5) BMW Sauber 4
6) Mclaren-Mercedes 3
7) Toyota 2 (1 7th, 1 9th)
8) Ferrari 2 (1 7th, 1 11th)
9) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 (Best Result: 12th)
10) Prodrive-Mercedes 0 (Best Result: 13th)
11) Force India-Mercedes 0 (Best Result: 16th)
12) Carlin-Renault 0 (Best Result: 18th)
13) Super Aguri-Honda 0 (Best Result: 19th)

[CaptainGetz12]

Friday, April 17
Webber Fastest on Friday

After the humid conditions of Malaysia, Shanghai looks to be pretty cold for the weekend. In the much tamer conditions Mark Webber placed the fastest time of Friday by a good margin. The Australian beat Nick Heidfeld's 2nd place time by about a third of a second. Timo Glock rounded out the podium times with a time just above four-tenths of a second, showing the Toyota's potential in a mid-downforce setup. Sebastian Vettel faced slower traffic on his hotlap, but the German still managed to set the 4th fastest time.

Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso set the exact same time of 1:42.733 according to the official race timer. After the stewards looked at both drivers' on-board time recorders Massa received the higher place of 6th since his time proved to be .0002 seconds quicker than Alonso's time. Alonso almost improved his current time on his final hotlap, but he ruined his run by locking up his tires in the final corner.

Felipe Massa again placed in the low top ten, while Kimi Räikkönen and Lewis Hamilton placed 13th and 15th respectively. Hamilton spoke in an interview after the session that the Mclaren had difficulty in the low-speed corners due to the car's downforce setup, and that the team is currently hoping to fix the problem by the car's next update.

Towards the back of the grid, Sutil managed to just beat de la Rosa for 18th, but Giancarlo Fisichella placed about half a second behind. Nelson Piquet Jr. proved lackluster again, the Brazilian two and a half seconds off the pole time.

Romain Grosjean proved to be a surprise at the very end of the session: The frenchman smashed his previous time that he finished with less than a second before the session ended. His time of 1:47.033 puts him just ahead of his teammate and ahead of both Super Aguris and Gary Paffett, who only managed one lap before returning to the pits.

1) Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) 1:43.966
2) Nick Heidfeld (Magna-Honda) +0.359
3) Timo Glock (Toyota) +0.435
4) Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) +0.568
5) Jenson Button (Magna-Honda) +0.730
6) Felipe Massa (Ferrari) +0.7671
7) Fernando Alonso (Renault) +0.7673
8) Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) +0.813
9) Heikki Kovalainen (Mclaren-Mercedes) +1.123
10) Jarno Trulli (Toyota) +1.125
11) Rubens Barrichello (BMW Sauber) +1.168
12) Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) +1.210
13) Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) +1.332
14) Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) +1.368
15) Lewis Hamilton (Mclaren-Mercedes) +1.453
16) Kamui Kobayashi (Williams-Toyota) +1.622
17) Takuma Sato (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) +1.889
18) Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) +1.941
19) Pedro de la Rosa (Prodrive-Mercedes) +1.975
20) Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes) +2.455
21) Nelson Piquet Jr. (Renault) +2.498
22) Romain Grosjean (Carlin-Renault) +3.067
23) Vitantonio Liuzzi (Carlin-Renault) +3.099
24) Giedo van der Garde (Super Aguri-Honda) +3.105
25) Gary Paffett (Prodrive-Mercedes) +3.154
26) Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri-Honda) +3.464

[CaptainGetz12]

Saturday, April 18th
Webber Stays on Pole for a Red Bull Front Row

Although many comers tried to oust his time, Mark Webber's Friday time remained unbeaten come the end of Saturday. Webber himself came close to beating his own time with a 1:44 on the dot, just short of his Friday time by a few hundredths. His partner Sebastian Vettel, placed two-tenths behind, giving Red Bull their second front row lockout this year.

Nick Hieldfeld proved best of the rest about 3.5 tenths behind Webber. Jenson Button looked to set a fast time, but he had to pull the car in during his lap do to engine irregularities, according to his post-qualifying interview.

There was minimal traffic to impede drivers on their hotlaps, save for a small pack where Rosberg and Kovalainen had to get past a slower Takuma Sato. Lewis Hamilton also had a good run, but in the final corner he went too wide and fishtailed into the inside wall. Tire squeals were a common sound when drivers dove into turn one, suggesting that most of the teams ran slightly lower downforce settings for the session.

Fisichella and Piquet Jr. could not crack the midfield, the two drivers four-tenths of a second behind in both sessions while Pedro de la Rosa stayed just within two seconds of the pole time. Anthony Davidson was the only mechanical failure for the session, with his right-front tire coming loose during his hotlap.

For tomorrow Heidfeld will again try to take the fight to the Red Bulls, as will Timo Glock if his times on Friday are any indication. Massa has a chance to get another strong finish, while Alonso and the Mclarens look to be stuck in the midfield.

1) Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) 1:43.966 1:44.000
2) Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 1:44.534 1:44.252
3) Nick Heidfeld (Magna-Honda) 1:44.325 1:44.372
4) Timo Glock (Toyota) 1:44.401 1:44.371
5) Jenson Button (Magna-Honda) 1:44.696 1:44.640
6) Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 1:44.7331 1:45.014
7) Fernando Alonso (Renault) 1:44.7333 1:44.765
8) Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) 1:44.779 1:45.177
9) Heikki Kovalainen (Mclaren-Mercedes) 1:45.089 1:46.147
10) Jarno Trulli (Toyota) 1:45.091 1:45.699
11) Rubens Barrichello (BMW Sauber) 1:45.134 1:45.145
12) Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) 1:45.176 1:45.259
13) Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) 1:45.298 1:45.429
14) Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:45.334 1:45.987
15) Lewis Hamilton (Mclaren-Mercedes) 1:45.419 1:45.907
16) Kamui Kobayashi (Williams-Toyota) 1:45.588 1:45.581
17) Takuma Sato (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:45.855 1:47.071
18) Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) 1:45.907 1:46.029
19) Pedro de la Rosa (Prodrive-Mercedes) 1:45.941 1:46.099
20) Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes) 1:46.421 1:46.835
21) Nelson Piquet Jr. (Renault) 1:46.464 1:46.426
22) Romain Grosjean (Carlin-Renault) 1:47.033 1:46.597
23) Gary Paffett (Prodrive-Mercedes) 1:47.120 1:46.920
24) Vitantonio Liuzzi (Carlin-Renault) 1:47.065 1:47.112
25) Giedo van der Garde (Super Aguri-Honda) 1:47.071 1:47.078
26) Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri-Honda) 1:47.430 NO TIME

Reject of Qualifying: Lewis Hamilton. Alonso also spoiled his lap in the final corner, but at least he could save the car...

[CaptainGetz12]

Sunday, April 19th
Vettel Wins Amidst Shanghai Shenanigans

The start of the Chinese Grand Prix had no incidents, so some stewards hoped that today would be a calm race. Despite the fair weather the stewards had to deal with many collisions and off-track excursions, mainly from veteran drivers.

Many drivers went off on turns 6 and 14, with the likes of Trulli, De La Rosa, Fisichella, and Massa going off toward the tire barriers. Barrichello went off twice in the same corner (turn 14), while Trulli had trouble finding reverse gear when he facing a wall head-on. Minor collisions were pretty frequent too, the only major one being when Geido van der Garde collided with a spun Mark Webber in turn 11.

But the biggest controversy of the race would be the two pitlane traffic jams that occurred during the first round of pit stops. Felipe Massa tried to pull out of his pitstall, only for Lewis Hamilton to get caught when pulling into his stall. Both drivers laid stuck, with Robert Kubica's pit entry only adding to the jam. thankfully all three drivers sorted out the mess before the half the field arrived to pit row. A more controversial pitlane collision occured a couple laps later. Mark Webber finished his pitstop right as Nico Rosberg pulled in, and the Australian PITed Rosberg to the side, pushing the German out of his pitstall and being forced to go another lap. Webber spoke after the race claiming that Rosberg dove too close to the Red Bull pitbox and that he had nowhere to go, but Rosberg claimed that he was barreled into and that he gave plenty of room for Webber. The stewards ultimately found Webber's actions unsportsmanlike, and the driver was disqualified from his 3rd place finish.

Outside of racing incidents lap traffic and pit strategies proved to provide eventful racing. Timo Glock spent the first half of the race in contention for a podium finish, but a slow second pitstop ruined his run. Fernando Alonso tried to make long stints for the whole race, but this strategy quickly fell apart due to high tire wear. Nick Heidfeld's 2nd place came a good chance for a win after Vettel had a slow second stop, but he found himself bogged down in traffic, allowing Vettel and teammate Jenson Button to catch up. His race came to an infuriating end when his engine blew on lap 34 as he was passed by Vettel.

Carlin Motorsport wracked a major repair bill when both of their cars' engines failed on the same lap and both cars retiring in the same corner. Sébastien Buemi retired due to electrical problems, while Anthony Davidson again retired very early due to his engine overheating.

Jenson Button made a late charge in the final ten laps, but could ultimately could not keep pace with Vettel, giving the German his second win in a row. Lewis Hamilton managed to hold off Nico Rosberg to score his first points of the season. Kimi Räikkönen also kept his car together to score his first batch of points. Webber's disqualification put Fernando Alonso on the podium and promoted Felipe Massa to 8th.

Despite Webber's disqualification Red Bull extended their championship lead over Magna, and Sebastian Vettel now leads the drivers championship.

( place) name (car) time points)

1) Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 1:43:01.587 10
2) Jenson Button (Magna-Honda) +5.859 8
3) Fernando Alonso (Renault) +35.454 6
4) Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) +1:00.654 5
5) Timo Glock (Toyota) +1:03.332 4
6) Lewis Hamilton (Mclaren-Mercedes) +1:07.323 3
7) Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) +1:08.256 2
8) Felipe Massa (Ferrari) +1:17.803 1
9) Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) +1:23.504
10) Kamui Kobayashi (Williams-Toyota) +1:36.582
11) Takuma Sato (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) +1:48.128
12) Jarno Trulli (Toyota) +1:49.152
13) Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) +1:49.925
14) Pedro de la Rosa (Prodrive-Mercedes) -1 Lap
15) Nelson Piquet Jr. (Renault) -1 Lap
16) Heikki Kovalainen (Mclaren-Mercedes) -1 Lap
17) Rubens Barrichello (BMW Sauber) -1 Lap
18) Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes) -1 Lap
19) Gary Paffett (Prodrive-Mercedes) -1 Lap
20) Giedo van der Garde (Super Aguri-Honda) -1 Lap
NC) Romain Grosjean (Carlin-Renault) Engine
NC) Vitantonio Liuzzi (Carlin-Renault) Engine
NC) Nick Heidfeld (Magna-Honda) Engine
NC) Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) Electrical
NC) Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri-Honda) Engine
DSQ) Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault)

Fastest Lap: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 1:46.342

Car #13 (Mark Webber) was disqualified for a collision with car #16 (Nico Rosberg) in the pit lane.

Reject of the Race: Mark Webber. Punting aside a car in pitlane was dangerous and uncharacteristic of an experienced driver. Cost his team a double-podium weekend too.

Standings after the Race

Drivers Championship

1) Sebastian Vettel 25
2) Nick Heidfeld 16
3) Jenson Button 14 (1 2nd)
4) Fernando Alonso 14 (1 3rd)
5) Nico Rosberg 12
6) Mark Webber 11
7) Kimi Räikkönen 5
8) Timo Glock 4 (1 5th, 1 9th, 1 10th)
9) Robert Kubica 4 (1 5th, 1 9th, 1 17th)
10) Heikki Kovalainen 3 (1 6th, 1 9th)
11) Lewis Hamilton 3 (1 6th, 1 11th)
12) Felipe Massa 3 (1 7th)
13) Jarno Trulli 2
14) Kamui Kobayashi 1
15) Rubens Barrichello 0 (Best Result: 10th)
16) Takuma Sato 0 (Best Result: 11th)
17) Sébastien Buemi 0 (Best Result: 12th)
18) Pedro de la Rosa 0 (Best Result: 13th x2)
19) Adrian Sutil 0 (Best Result: 1 13th, 1 16th)
20) Nelson Piquet Jr. 0 (Best Result: 14th)
21) Giancarlo Fisichella 0 (Best Result: 17th)
22) Romain Grosjean 0 (Best Result: 18th)
23) Geido van der Garde 0 (Best Result: 1 19th, 2 20ths)
24) Gary Paffett 0 (Best Result: 1 19th, 1 20th, 1 DNF)
25) Vitantonio Liuzzi 0 (Best Result: 1 19th, 1 21st)
26) Anthony Davidson 0 (Best Result: 23rd)

Constructors Championship

1) Red Bull-Renault 36
2) Magna-Honda 30
3) Renault 14
4) Williams-Toyota 13
5) Ferrari 8
6) Toyota 6 (1 5th)
7) Mclaren-Mercedes 6 (1 6th)
8) BMW Sauber 4
9) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 (Best Result: 11th)
10) Prodrive-Mercedes 0 (Best Result: 2 13ths)
11) Force India-Mercedes 0 (Best Result: 1 13th, 1 16th)
12) Carlin-Renault 0 (Best Result: 18th)
13) Super Aguri-Honda 0 (Best Result: 19th)

[CaptainGetz12]

Autosport F1 Round-up: April 23, 2009

Three wins in a row for Red Bull: Horner Downplays Title Challenge

In an unprecedented string of performances Red Bull Racing took the first three wins of the 2009 season, the first wins of the team's existence. Sebastian Vettel leads the championship with two of those three wins under his belt. Vettel points to the strong off-season work the Austrian team performed to develop the car. "We spent countless hours on track and in the simulator refining every last detail, and to bring the team into the championship lead is one of the best feelings ever!"

Team principal Christian Horner also expressed praise, particularly in the RB9's aerodynamic design. "When I looked at Newey's design for this year I felt we may have something special. As always we put ungodly amounts of hours preparing for 2009 and we are all ecstatic with the fruits of of our labor." When asked about the potential for Red Bull to take the constructor's championship Horner was a bit more cautious. "We have the pace on the more technical tracks but there are still some bugs in our team's strategies. We have the idea of a title in the back of our minds but we're certainly not expecting one to be handed out to us by race three."

Toyota to Sell Team at the End of the Season

Toyota announced last Monday that it is withdrawing from Formula One at the end of the 2009 season claiming financial difficulties from its parent company. The company listed both the global financial downturn and the lack of results from the team as the main reasons for the departure. After the final race of the season the team plans to sell off an unspecified amount of telemetry and equipment to potential buyers, though Toyota would still own the team's wind tunnel facility in Cologne.

Jarno Trulli expressed sadness over Toyota's decision, but claimed that he would help the team in finding buyers that could keep the team alive. "I am sad that the team me and Glock spent so much time working with is leaving the sport, after we got the team back on the podium last year. However, I won't argue against them and I will do what I can to help the team make a steady exit and perhaps have our team live on through another team or startup."

Honda Shifts Funding to Magna from Super Aguri, Aguri Files Protest

Although Honda no longer has a Formula One team, the firm still provides financial support to its two former teams. Honda's former B Team Super Aguri revealed yesterday that Honda cut its funding and gave it to Magna Racing, Honda's former A-Team. The team's owner Aguri Suzuki filed protest to Honda, claiming that the drop in funding would prevent the team from reaching the end of the season. "Without Honda's help we our team would not still be in F1 and providing much-needed sponsorship and driver seats to Honda's academy of drivers, and this move put our team in financial risk once again. We ask that the Honda executives repeal this move immediately."

Magna is currently 2nd in the Constructor's Championship, scoring podiums in every single race so far this year. Team principal Ross Brawn commented on behalf of Magna's team owners to explain the situation. "Honda designed a machine that they had no idea was a potential race winner, and essentially folded with a straight flush in their hands. With this shift in funding Magna can put up a title challenge that will put this team out of financial mire and be able to stay afloat once Honda completes its exit from Formula One. Super Aguri proved unproductive in its few years of existence, and our team is doubtful the [Aguri] Suzuki's effort could get back on its feet even with its mother's support."

[CaptainGetz12]

(edit: Webber and Vettel's positions switched)

Friday, April 24
Button Beats the Bulls

Returning from the Asia tour Formula One arrives in Bahrain. Most of the teams are downplaying this weekend in preparation for unveiling the first major round of upgrades for the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix. Magna Racing said that they had made some adjustments to their aero kit thanks to a boost in funding from Honda, and said adjustments may have paid off.

Jenson Button had some trouble getting around the Super Aguri of Anthony Davidson, whose team is protesting Honda's shift in funding, and despite not having as clean air as the Red Bulls the Briton posted the fastest time of the day, beating Mark Webber by about fifteen thousandths of a second. Teammate Nick Heidfeld had clean air for his run, but could only manage 4th, almost half a second behind the Red Bulls.

Mclaren got both of their cars into the top 10 in a qualifying session this year, with Lewis Hamilton just squeezing Rubens Barrichello out of the final spot. The team's new boss Martin Whitmarsh said that the team is steadily making progress, though he admits that they have a long and tough road ahead this season if they want to defend their titles.

Further back, Fernando Alonso only managed 15th after he spent his hot laps behind the Toro Rosso of Sébastien Buemi. Alonso almost got past the rookie going into turn one, but the Swiss held the inside and forced him wide. Renault filed protest to the stewards to investigate Buemi's actions, claiming that his driving was obstructive and went far beyond the reasonable amount of defense a driver can use to defend his place. Toro Rosso argues that Buemi's driving was reasonable, and that he was attempting to catch the slipstream of Pedro de la Rosa's car ahead. The FIA has not released a final statement as of yet regarding the situation.

Few incidents occurred on-track otherwise. Kamui Kobayashi spoiled his final hot lap by clipping part of his car's front wing off on a curb, while Nelson Piquet Jr. locked up the tires going into turn 13.

Saturday expects the Red Bulls to move hard to obtain another pole position, something Magna cannot afford if they want to contend for the Drivers Championship. Rosberg and Glock look strong again as well, while Mclaren hope to cement themselves over Ferrari by keeping their cars in the top 10 for race day.

1) Jenson Button (Magna-Honda) 1:35.925
2) Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) +0.154
3) Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) +0.196
4) Nick Heidfeld (Magna-Honda) +0.438
5) Timo Glock (Toyota) +0.467
6) Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) +0.856
7) Felipe Massa (Ferrari) +0.932
8) Heikki Kovalainen (Mclaren-Mercedes) +0.945
9) Jarno Trulli (Toyota) +0.980
10) Lewis Hamilton (Mclaren-Mercedes) +1.058
11) Rubens Barrichello (BMW Sauber) +1.094
12) Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) +1.169
13) Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) +1.249
14) Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) +1.455
15) Fernando Alonso (Renault) +1.530
16) Kamui Kobayashi (Williams-Toyota) +1.556
17) Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) +1.714
18) Takuma Sato (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) +1.841
19) Pedro de la Rosa (Prodrive-Mercedes) +1.845
20) Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes) +1.918
21) Nelson Piquet Jr. (Renault) +2.147
22) Romain Grosjean (Carlin-Renault) +2.426
23) Gary Paffett (Prodrive-Mercedes) +2.579
24) Vitantonio Liuzzi (Carlin-Renault) +2.893
25) Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri-Honda) +3.099
26) Giedo van der Garde (Super Aguri-Honda) +3.638

[CaptainGetz12]

Saturday, April 25
Button on Top for Both Days

With Saturday being hotter and more humid than yesterday it would be difficult for drivers to improve on their times. This proved true in the timesheets: eight of the top 10 drivers for the final grid set their faster times on Friday, with no driver able to crack the 1:35s and usurp Button's pole time. This means that Button will lead the two Red Bulls, sitting alongside Mark Webber on the front row tomorrow.

Fernando Alonso had clean air today, and slid the Renault into 9th place despite a lock-up in Turn 11. Sébastien Buemi had no further incident today after the controversy of supposedly blocking Alonso's hotlap yesterday, improving to 15th position. After qualifying the stewards ultimately decided that the Swiss would receive no penalty for his actions on Friday.

Lewis Hamilton again qualified outside the top 10; despite having very fast times in the first 2 sectors, his final sector proved sluggish enough to cancel any possibility of a high starting position. Kimi Räikkönen had a slow time after having difficulty getting around the Carlin of Vitantonio Liuzzi, placing a hot-lap half a second slower than yesterday. Jarno Trulli also had trouble getting around lap traffic, potentially losing a chance at a top 10 time as a result. Neither Ferrari nor Renault filed a complaint to the stewards regarding the traffic.

Pedro de la Rosa again outpaced Fisichella and Piquet Jr., further placing both drivers under scrutiny for their inability to perform well while their teammates excelled. Romain Grosjean again proved the fastest of the backmarkers, though he remained a third of a second behind the next car. Carlin promised more upgrades next race, but the possibility to crack the midfield remains unlikely.

Sunday forecasts predict cooler weather. Button will be hard-pressed to hold off the two Red Bulls to break their win streak and score Magna their first win. Rosberg and Glock again place high on the grid and look to get big results, while Räikkönen and Hamilton continue to play catch-up.

1) Jenson Button (Magna-Honda) 1:35.925 1:36.084
2) Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) 1:36.079 1:36.319
3) Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 1:36.121 1:36.162
4) Nick Heidfeld (Magna-Honda) 1:36.363 1:36.427
5) Timo Glock (Toyota) 1:36.392 1:36.545
6) Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) 1:36.781 1:36.911
7) Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 1:36.857 1:36.790
8) Heikki Kovalainen (Mclaren-Mercedes) 1:36.870 1:37.095
9) Fernando Alonso (Renault) 1:37.455 1:36.894
10) Jarno Trulli (Toyota) 1:36.905 1:36.948
11) Lewis Hamilton (Mclaren-Mercedes) 1:36.983 1:36.941
12) Rubens Barrichello (BMW Sauber) 1:37.019 1:37.050
13) Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) 1:37.094 1:37.569
14) Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) 1:37.174 1:37.180
15) Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:37.639 1:37.181
16) Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) 1:37.380 1:37.372
17) Kamui Kobayashi (Williams-Toyota) 1:37.481 1:37.534
18) Takuma Sato (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:37.766 1:37.688
19) Pedro de la Rosa (Prodrive-Mercedes) 1:37.770 1:37.758
20) Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes) 1:37.843 1:37.889
21) Nelson Piquet Jr. (Renault) 1:38.072 1:38.393
22) Romain Grosjean (Carlin-Renault) 1:38.351 1:38.393
23) Gary Paffett (Prodrive-Mercedes) 1:38.504 1:38.544
24) Vitantonio Liuzzi (Carlin-Renault) 1:38.818 1:38.783
25) Giedo van der Garde (Super Aguri-Honda) 1:39.563 1:38.858
26) Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri-Honda) 1:39.024 1:38.948

Reject of Qualifying: Kimi Räikkönen. Even with lap traffic he lost half a second in a top-tier car.

The stewards concluded an investigation into the defensive driving by car #12 (Sébastien Buemi) during Friday qualifying. The stewards decided that no further action was warranted.

[CaptainGetz12]

Sunday, April 26
Dominant Button loses win to Vettel due to Driver Error

The Bahrain Grand Prix is where Magna's aero upgrades make their debut in the hopes of taking the championship fight to Red Bull and break the Austrian firm's unprecedented 3-win streak. In the opening laps it looked like the Magnas had the pace to take their first win, but first place quickly became a back-and-forth battle on the track and in the pits. With Mark Webber's 1-stop strategy ruined by suspension problems that would lead to a DNF, Sebastian Vettel found himself alone against the two Magnas in a fight for the lead. Vettel made a lunge on Nick Heidfeld around the halfway mark, but the two Germans collided, giving Jenson Button an opportunity to take the lead in the race.

Heikki Kovalainen found himself in the lead off-cycle, but he provided quite a difficult driver to pass for Vettel and the Magnas. The Finn's careful use of the Mclaren's KERS system allowed him to fight off Button and Fernando Alonso early on, demonstrating the defensive potential of a few extra horses on tap. However he could not hold off Button for long, giving the Briton time to build a gap as Vettel and Heidfeld struggled to pass the Mclaren.

Down in the midfield no one stayed in the same position for long. The Force Indias clawed their way up the field before Adrian Sutil's car gave out and Giancarlo Fisichella began to lose pace to the rest of the field. In addition, several drivers lost control of their cars in the blistering heat. Felipe Massa and Mark Webber lost crucial positions due to braking too late, while Sébastien Buemi and Rubens Barrichello both spun their cars on their own volition.

The race also had numerous retirements as well. Both Carlins retired within a lap of eachother, with Grosjean having a broken gearbox and Liuzzi's suspension failing. Suspension issues also ended Webber's race after visiting the pits twice to try to fix the problem. Adrian Sutil retired early from suspension problems as well, while Buemi exited late in the race when his engine blew. Felipe Massa developed problems with his Ferrari's left-front brakes, but his crew were able to correct the issue with a quick pit-stop.

By the final 10 laps Button looked assured to take the win, with a four second gap over Vettel. However, Button took the penultimate corner too wide, and ended up clipping his wing, forcing him to pit on lap 53. Vettel kept his pace up to prevent Heidfeld from catching him, but Nick did not have the pace to catch the Red Bull. The closing laps also had Jarno Trulli fighting desperately to fend off Kovalainen and Alonso for 6th place. The Italian failed to fend off Kovalainen, but Alonso also lost his front wing, letting Trulli settle for 7th. His teammate Timo Glock pushed hard to earn a strong 3rd place for Toyota, and had the potential to catch Heidfeld if he had a few more laps.

Vettel's victory over Heidfeld extends his championship lead to 11 points over his fellow German. However, Red Bull's lead in the constructors championship is reduced to 5 points over Magna thanks to Magna's double-point finish and Webber's retirement. Rosberg's finish ties him with Button in points in the drivers championship and puts Williams 3rd in the constructors.

1) Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 1:37:00.291 10
2) Nick Heidfeld (Magna-Honda) +6.377 8
3) Timo Glock (Toyota) +8.188 6
4) Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) +31.010 5
5) Heikki Kovalainen (Mclaren-Mercedes) +35.426 4
6) Jenson Button (Magna-Honda) +36.220 3
7) Jarno Trulli (Toyota) +42.689 2
8) Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) +54.804 1
9) Lewis Hamilton (Mclaren-Mercedes) +58.086
10) Rubens Barrichello (BMW Sauber) +1:10.325
11) Fernando Alonso (Renault) +1:12.772
12) Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) +1:13.767
13) Felipe Massa (Ferrari) +1:26.608
14) Kamui Kobayashi (Williams-Toyota) +1:34.306
15) Takuma Sato (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) -1 lap
16) Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes) -1 lap
17) Nelson Piquet Jr. (Renault) -1 lap
18) Pedro de la Rosa (Prodrive-Mercedes) -1 lap
19) Gary Paffett (Prodrive-Mercedes) -1 lap
20) Geido van der Garde (Super Aguri-Honda) -1 lap
21) Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri-Honda) -1 lap
NC) Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) Suspension
NC) Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) Engine
NC) Vitantonio Liuzzi (Carlin-Renault) Suspension
NC) Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) Suspension
NC) Romain Grosjean (Carlin-Renault) Transmission

Fastest Lap: Jenson Button (Magna-Honda) 1:38.964

Rejects of the Race: Jenson Button and Nelson Piquet Jr. The former for choking away a win that was in the bag, and the latter for proving so off the pace that he had trouble passing a Carlin for much of the race in a notably faster car.

Standings after the Race

Drivers Championship

1) Sebastian Vettel 35
2) Nick Heidfeld 24
3) Jenson Button 17 (1 2nd)
4) Nico Rosberg 17 (1 3rd)
5) Fernando Alonso 14
6) Mark Webber 11
7) Timo Glock 10
8) Heikki Kovalainen 7
9) Kimi Räikkönen 5 (1 4th)
10) Robert Kubica 5 (1 5th)
11) Jarno Trulli 4
12) Lewis Hamilton 3 (1 6th)
13) Felipe Massa 3 (1 7th)
14) Kamui Kobayashi 1
15) Rubens Barrichello 0 (Best Result: 10th)
16) Takuma Sato 0 (Best Result: 11th)
17) Sébastien Buemi 0 (Best Result: 12th)
18) Pedro de la Rosa 0 (Best Result: 2 13ths)
19) Adrian Sutil 0 (Best Result: 1 13th, 1 16th)
20) Nelson Piquet Jr. 0 (Best Result: 14th)
21) Giancarlo Fisichella 0 (Best Result: 16th)
22) Romain Grosjean 0 (Best Result: 18th)
23) Gary Paffett 0 (Best Result: 2 19ths)
24) Geido van der Garde 0 (Best Result: 1 19th, 3 20ths)
25) Vitantonio Liuzzi 0 (Best Result: 1 19th, 1 21st)
26) Anthony Davidson 0 (Best Result: 21st)

Constructors Championship

1) Red Bull-Renault 46
2) Magna-Honda 41
3) Williams-Toyota 18
4) Renault 14 (1 3rd, 1 4th)
5) Toyota 14 (1 3rd, 1 5th)
6) Mclaren-Mercedes 10
7) Ferrari 8
8) BMW Sauber 5
9) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 (Best Result: 11th)
10) Prodrive-Mercedes 0 (Best Result: 2 13ths)
11) Force India-Mercedes 0 (Best Result: 1 13th, 2 16ths)
12) Carlin-Renault 0 (Best Result: 18th)
13) Super Aguri-Honda 0 (Best Result: 19th)

[CaptainGetz12]

Autosport F1 Wrap-Up: April 28, 2009

Mclaren and Ferrari Hope to Close the Gap in Spain

After four races two teams have been strangely absent from the podium. Mclaren and Ferrari, who last year fought tooth and nail over the championships, have yet to score a podium this year. Defending champion Lewis Hamilton in particular had a very rocky start, down in 14th place behind his teammate as well as the 2008 runner-up Felipe Massa. "It's been quite a fall from grace," said Mclaren Team Manager Martin Whitmarsh. "Magna and Red Bull certainly got the edge on us over the season opening, but we're confident that we can close the gap quickly."

Lewis Hamilton said he's been having difficulty getting used to the new format in the off-season, but he remains confident that he can mount a title challenge. "I've been working non-stop with the team to get the car working for me, and I also had a hand in shaping up the first round of upgrades. Come May we'll be in a much better spot to turn this season around."

Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali is also confident that his team can turn their misfortunes around at Spain. "Despite the recent dearth of results, with the F60's updated wings we hopefully will be back fighting in the top 5 on a regular basis. It's the 60th anniversary of the team in Formula One so we really don't want it to be marked by a horrid season."

Briatore: "Is Piquet even trying?"

Renault F1's team manager gave choice words regarding Nelson Piquet Jr. after the Bahrain Grand Prix. Flavio Briatore claimed that Piquet's performance "Should make his father ashamed. It's as if he doesn't even know how to drive fast anymore!" Nelson Piquet Jr. has not only failed to score a point this year, but has not even come close to the top 8: His best performance so far has been a 14th at Melbourne, and on occasion he was outpaced by the Carlin of rookie Romain Grosjean.

Piquet Jr. was unavailable for comment, though his teammate Fernando Alonso was willing to talk. "From testing he said that the car felt pretty off, that it feels like he can't put out 100%. I found a groove to work with in this car, though I do hope upcoming upgrades can put the car back in the running more often."

When asked about who would replace Piquet Jr. if the Brazilian was dropped, Flavio replied: "He's on the grid this year and he shows what you can do when the chips are down. Piquet needs to do the same if he wants to keep his seat."

New British Grand Prix Venue for 2010?

Bernie Ecclestone recently revealed that he has been in negotiations with the owners of Donington Park over the potential to move the British Grand Prix from Silverstone to Donington. "The BRDC seems pretty willing to put in the effort to make a top-notch grand prix venue, and if Silverstone is not willing to renew it's license for the grand prix then I can make the switch to Donington no problem." Donington Park last held a Formula One race in 1992 and is undergoing renovations to bring the venue to top FIA status. The track's owners hope to have the renovations complete by the end of the year.

Silverstone Circuit's owners claim that funding issues may have them reconsider renewing their license to host the British Grand Prix, which the venue has held every year since 1987. With plans to renovate the circuit falling apart due to funding constraints from the global financial crisis the venue has yet to respond to the FIA's offer to renew the license for the next 17 years.

[CaptainGetz12]

Friday, May 8th
Vettel and Button Trounce Friday Field

Barcelona started with a bit of controversy before the weekend even started, with Super Aguri not running their second car until qualifying itself. Aguri Suzuki explained that the team was unsure of who would drive their car for the Spanish Grand Prix since Geido van der Garde did not respond to their request to extend his contract beyond the first four races. By Friday however Van der Garde arrived to drive the car, the stewards allowing him to participate in the rest of the weekend despite missing Thursday and Friday practice. When asked about the situation he said that his place on the team is precarious due to an issue regarding his sponsorship, though he was confident that he would keep his place on the team until the latter half of the season.

Qualifying itself started with some blunders. Sebastian Vettel spun his car on his first hotlap, losing a part of his front wing, forcing the German to retreat to the pits for repairs. Timo Glock held pole position for the first half of the session, though he too had his potential best lap end in the gravel. Mark Webber had trouble with his wing setup and other hotlapping cars, but despite his difficulties he was still able to place his Red Bull in the top 5.

Ferrari and Mclaren had uneventful runs, though the best to come from the two teams was a 7th place from Felipe Massa. Both teams believe that their cars' new aero kits would give them an edge over the much faster field, but the midfield results of today put to question the effectiveness of the upgrades.

Nelson Piquet Jr. had perhaps the worst day, the Brazilian finishing in 25th, behind both of the Carlins as well as Van der Garde by half a second at least. Piquet explained that he was having trouble finding a good setup, and that he will certainly improve on Saturday. With his position on the Renault team in jeopardy he will hope that tomorrow will bring him further up the field.

The second half of the session had Jenson Button place a blisteringly fast time, the Briton lapping a third of a second faster over his teammate. Vettel would then just nick the pole from him shortly after, then proceed to trim his time down further. On his inlap Vettel looked to shave another tenth of a second off of his time.

Both Magna and Red Bull look to be a firm step ahead of the rest of the field, though Saturday may bring a more mixed grid, especially with Timo Glock and Fernando Alonso keeping pace in the top 6.

1) Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 1:26.518
2) Jenson Button (Magna-Honda) +0.049
3) Nick Heidfeld (Magna-Honda) +0.328
4) Timo Glock (Toyota) +0.400
5) Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) +0.444
6) Fernando Alonso (Renault) +0.751
7) Felipe Massa (Ferrari) +0.762
8) Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) +0.800
9) Jarno Trulli (Toyota) +1.000
10) Heikki Kovalainen (Mclaren-Mercedes) +1.165
11) Lewis Hamilton (Mclaren-Mercedes) +1.231
12) Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) +1.234
13) Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) +1.241
14) Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) +1.319
15) Rubens Barrichello (BMW Sauber) +1.360
16) Kamui Kobayashi (Williams-Toyota) +1.641
17) Pedro de la Rosa (Prodrive-Mercedes) +1.836
18) Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) +1.924
19) Takuma Sato (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) +2.003
20) Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes) +2.352
21) Romain Grosjean (Carlin-Renault) +2.450
22) Gary Paffett (Prodrive-Mercedes) +2.647
23) Geido van der Garde (Super Aguri-Honda) +2.722
24) Vitantonio Liuzzi (Carlin-Renault) +2.878
25) Nelson Piquet Jr. (Renault) +3.363
26) Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri-Honda) +3.444

[CaptainGetz12]

Saturday, May 9th

The Bulls Beat Back Button

Saturday qualifying had no incidents of note on track, though the grid shuffled around quite a bit across the session. The biggest surprise would be Mark Webber, who not only took pole from his teammate, but would continuously improve his time across the session. To add insult to injury Webber went out in the last 2 minutes and bet his time yet again, so the Australian looks to be quite the challenge to beat come Sunday.

Timo Glock and Fernando Alonso improved their times from Friday, but they remained no higher than the top 6, unable to catch the Red Bulls and Magnas. Only the top 8 cars came within a second of Webber's time, and of those only the top 3 were within a quarter of a second. Ferrari filed a complaint to the stewards claiming that the Red Bulls were driving underweight, and the stewards have yet to respond to their inquiry.

Few drivers improved their times by a substantial margin, with hardly anyone in the midfield gaining more than a single position for the race. Adrian Sutil was able to overcome Pedro de la Rosa's time, showing that the battle between Force India and Prodrive starting to heat up. Rubens Barrichello made up a couple positions for Sauber, hoping that it would be a good enough spot to get his first points points of the season in the race.

Toward the back Nelson Piquet Jr. improves by 8 tenths up to 22nd, but he still qualified behind the Carlin of Romain Grosjean, his potential replacement. Vitantonio Liuzzi failed to improve his time, leaving him again behind the two Super Aguris.

Red Bull lock the front row out for tomorrow, with the Magnas filling row 2. Red Bull seems to have the edge over the Magnas, though Webber's tendencies to flub standing starts can put a screw in the works.

1) Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) 1:26.962 1:26.445
2) Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 1:26.518 1:25.588
3) Jenson Button (Magna-Honda) 1:26.567 1:26.601
4) Nick Heidfeld (Magna-Honda) 1:26.846 1:26.921
5) Timo Glock (Toyota) 1:26.918 1:26.955
6) Fernando Alonso (Renault) 1:27.269 1:27.153
7) Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 1:27.280 1:27.193
8) Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) 1:27.318 1:27.315
9) Jarno Trulli (Toyota) 1:27.518 1:27.599
10) Heikki Kovalainen (Mclaren-Mercedes) 1:27.683 1:27.602
11) Lewis Hamilton (Mclaren-Mercedes) 1:27.749 1:27.643
12) Rubens Barrichello (BMW Sauber) 1:27.878 1:27.683
13) Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) 1:27.752 1:27.837
14) Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:27.759 1:27.882
15) Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) 1:27.837 1:27.917
16) Kamui Kobayashi (Williams-Toyota) 1:28.159 1:28.084
17) Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) 1:28.442 1:28.190
18) Pedro de la Rosa (Prodrive-Mercedes) 1:28.354 1:28.278
19) Takuma Sato (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) 1:28.521 1:28.387
20) Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes) 1:28.870 1:28.833
21) Romain Grosjean (Carlin-Renault) 1:28.968 1:29.045
22) Nelson Piquet Jr. (Renault) 1:29.881 1:29.045
23) Gary Paffett (Prodrive-Mercedes) 1:29.165 1:29.273
24) Geido van der Garde (Super Aguri-Honda) 1:29.240 1:29.397
25) Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri-Honda) 1:29.962 1:29.387
26) Vitantonio Liuzzi (Carlin-Renault) 1:29.396 1:29.565

Reject of Qualifying: Nelson Piquet Jr. Was able to get out of the back row, but still finished behind the Renault "Junior team" and his potential replacement.

[CaptainGetz12]

Sunday, May 10th
Heartbreak for Heidfeld, Glock takes Toyota's Maiden Victory

Sunday looked to be in favor of the Red Bulls on paper: With the day abnormally hot and the front grid locked
it looked to be Red Bull's race to lose. For the first half of the race it looked to be the case. After a disastrous start that left the wallowing Nelson Piquet Jr. out turn 1, Mark Webber retired on lap 10 when his engine burst into flames, but Sebastian Vettel pushed away from the field once a fast Jenson Button retired a few laps later from a suspension failure.

However, the race was blown wide open when Vettel pulled into the pits and into the garage, with engine irregularities putting him and his team out of the race. Nick Heidfeld seized the opportunity and started pulling a gap from the rest of the field. Nico Rosberg tried to pursue, but traffic would prove to be against his favor. Vitantonio Liuzzi tried to unlap himself from Rosberg, as would Giancarlo Fisichella a couple laps later. As Rosberg gave less-than-appropriate gestures to the two drivers the time he lost gave Felipe Massa the chance to snatch 3rd place from him. Rosberg fought back against the Ferrari, but in the end he pushed his tires bare, allowing Fernando Alonso to pass him as well for 5th. Williams's day was not too bad despite the shortcomings, with late retirements allowing Kamui Kobayashi to slip into 8th and get both cars in the points. Rubens Barrichello would pick up his first points of the season thanks to great defensive driving. His teammate Kubica would also bring home points, beating his teammate through better pit strategy.

Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikonnen, and Jarno Trulli found themselves playing the long game to salvage bad starts with the former two having atrocious launches and the latter having to pit early to fix a loose front wing. Hamilton showed masterful overtaking to climb up the field, while Kimi and Trulli put one-stop strategies to great effect. Their races would become unraveled though: Kimi's engine started leaking oil on lap 44, and Hamilton's race ended with an engine failure right as he took 8th position. Trulli would only manage 9th despite putting up a valiant effort.

Surprisingly the most competitive part of the pack would be the back. Carlin and Super Aguri were at odds for the whole race, and a disastrous running by Force India had them caught by the other minnow teams. Romain Grosjean took the fight to Force India's drivers for position in the last quarter of the race. Sutil actually had a chance to reach the top 10, but a spin about halfway through caused him to stall the car, putting him far down the field.

Heidfeld built quite a gap over Glock, and the race looked locked shut provided he could keep the car in one piece. However, on lap 37 Heidfeld spun the car at turn 10, leaving first place to Glock. Heidfeld proceeded to put in lap of lap to catch the Toyota, hoping not to choke away his first win. By the final ten laps Heidfeld caught up to Glock but just couldn't find room to overtake due to traffic. By the final lap Jarno Trulli gave Glock room to build a gap and left Heidfeld wallowing back behind the Italian. Glock took the win in front of an estatic Toyota pit crew, with Heidfeld looking visibly livid after the race. Massa would hold onto 3rd, finally bringing a Prancing Horse to the podium.

If there is a silver lining to the near-victory it's that Heidfeld's finish closed the gap to Vettel and even overtook the Austrian team in the Constructors Championship. Glock's win puts Toyota 3rd in constructors while Barrichello picks up his first points of the season.

1) Timo Glock (Toyota) 1:41:39.647 10
2) Nick Heidfeld (Magna-Honda) +1.191 8
3) Felipe Massa (Ferrari) +29.707 6
4) Fernando Alonso (Renault) +35.158 5
5) Nico Rosberg (Williams-Toyota) +42.010 4
6) Kobert Kubica (BMW Sauber) +50.464 3
7) Rubens Barrichello (BMW Sauber) +1:03.105 2
8) Kamui Kobayashi (Williams-Toyota) +1:18.817 1
9) Jarno Trulli (Toyota) -1 lap
10) Pedro de la Rosa (Prodrive-Mercedes) -1 lap
11) Sébastien Buemi (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) -1 lap
12) Takuma Sato (Toro Rosso-Ferrari) -1 lap
13) Adrian Sutil (Force India-Mercedes) -1 lap
14) Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India-Mercedes) -1 lap
15) Romain Grosjean (Carlin-Renault) -1 lap
16) Gary Paffett (Prodrive-Mercedes) -1 lap
17) Giedo van der Garde (Super Aguri-Honda) -1 lap
18) Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri-Honda) -2 laps
19) Lewis Hamilton (Mclaren-Mercedes) Engine
NC) Vitantonio Liuzzi (Carlin-Renault) Brakes
NC) Kimi Räikkönen (Ferrari) Oil Leak
NC) Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) Engine
NC) Heikki Kovalainen (Mclaren-Mercedes) Transmission
NC) Jenson Button (Magna-Honda) Suspension
NC) Mark Webber (Red Bull-Renault) Engine
NC) Nelson Piquet Jr. (Renault) Accident

Fastest Lap: Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) 1:30.026

Reject of the Race: Nick Heidfeld. Perhaps one of the biggest chokes of recent memory. The look on his face on the podium says it all.

Standings after the race

Drivers Championship
1) Sebastian Vettel 35
2) Nick Heidfeld 32
3) Nico Rosberg 21
4) Timo Glock 20
5) Fernando Alonso 19
6) Jenson Button 16
7) Mark Webber 11
8) Felipe Massa 9
9) Robert Kubica 8
10) Heikki Kovalainen 7
11) Kimi Räikkönen 5
12) Jarno Trulli 4
13) Lewis Hamilton 3
14) Rubens Barrichello 2 (1 7th)
15) Kamui Kobayashi 2 (2 8ths)
16) Pedro de la Rosa 0 (1 10th)
17) Takuma Sato 0 (1 11th, 1 12th, 2 15ths)
18) Sébastien Buemi 0 (1 11th, 1 12th, 1 15th)
19) Adrian Sutil 0 (2 13ths)
20) Nelson Piquet Jr. 0 (1 14th, 1 15th)
21) Giancarlo Fisichella 0 (1 14th, 1 16th)
22) Romain Grosjean 0 (1 15th)
23) Gary Paffett 0 (1 16th)
24) Geido van der Garde 0 (1 17th)
25) Anthony Davidson 0 (1 18th)
26) Vitantonio Liuzzi 0 (1 19th)

Constructors Championship
1) Magna-Honda 49
2) Red Bull-Renault 46
3) Toyota 24
4) Williams-Toyota 23
5) Renault 19
6) Ferrari 14
7) Mclaren-Mercedes 10 (1 5th, 2 6ths)
8) BMW Sauber 10 (1 5th, 1 6th)
9) Prodrive-Mercedes 0 (1 10th)
10) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 (2 11ths)
11) Force India-Mercedes 0 (2 13ths)
12) Carlin-Renault 0 (1 15th)
13) Super Aguri-Honda 0 (1 17th)

[CaptainGetz12]

Piquet Jr. to be replaced by Grosjean at Renault

The Monaco Grand Prix will see one famous name off of the grid. Nelson Piquet Jr. is found to have been dropped from Renault F1's driver seat. The team's principal Flavio Briatore claimed that Piquet's performance over the last few races was "disgraceful". Briatore announced that Romain Grosjean would take over the Brazilian's seat immediately.

Piquet argued that his seat was secured and that the sudden driver change violates his contract. "Flavio made a deal to keep me on for at least another season. To give me the axe like this is clearly illegal." Piquet hinted that he would take Briatore to court over his contract violation, though he declined to bring up further details.

Romain Grosjean spent the first few races of the 2009 season at Carlin in order to earn experience. In that time he consistently outperformed his teammate, Vitantonio Liuzzi, and even Piquet driving a much faster machine. "I'm glad to be able to drive for Renault's own team. It will be tough but I will be sure to give it my all.

With Romain Grosjean's seat at Carlin now open the team decided to take GP2 driver Lucas Di Grassi. Di Grassi finished 3rd in GP2 last year and tested for both Renault and Honda as well.

[CaptainGetz12]

Thursday, May 21st
Red Bull Top of Stands as Magna is Mired in Traffic

Monaco tends to bring a mix-up of results and puts cars' reliability to the test. For Thursday there were no major mechanical issues, though there were was some mix up of the usual hierarchy for Day 1 of qualifying.

The biggest contorversy of the session would be Jenson Button being held up by Pedro de la Rosa during his hotlap, the Briton only managing a 17th place during the 30 minutes as a result. "I don't he was doing there, he should have let me past on his outlap." Spoke Button after the session. Magna would file a complaint to the stewards over De la Rosa's refusal to move aside for the faster Button. Heidfeld would also face some traffic briefly, but would still manage 3rd place for the day. With cleaner air both Red Bulls set the 2 fastest times of the day, with Webber edging his teammate by about a tenth of a second.

Rosberg, Alonso and Kovalainen showed strong pace today, while Spain's race winner Glock would only manage 13th. Hamilton and Räikkönen would again qualify outside the top 10, steadily behind their teammates. Glock faced traffic in the form of Kamui Kobayashi, but Toyota did not file a complaint to the stewards.

Romain Grosjean made his first start for Renault today after Nelson Piquet Jr. was dropped for poor performance. The Frenchman would only manage 21st, only a tenth of a second ahead of Lucas di Grassi, who debuted in place of Grosjean at Carlin. Di Grassi managed to top the backmarkers, beating his more experienced teammate by two-tenths.

Saturday qualifying will give another chance for the drivers to improve, and at Monte Carlo a good starting spot is key to performing well on race day.

Code: Select all

1) Mark Webber 1:22.548
2) Sebastian Vettel +0.121
3) Nick Heidfeld +0.457
4) Fernando Alonso +0.583
5) Nico Rosberg +0.757
6) Jarno Trulli +0.877
7) Felipe Massa +0.906
8) Heikki Kovalainen +1.034
9) Rubens Barrichello +1.044
10) Robert Kubica +1.209
11) Kimi Räikkönen +1.257
12) Lewis Hamilton +1.284
13) Timo Glock +1.373
14) Sébastien Buemi +1.374
15) Kamui Kobayashi +1.540
16) Pedro de la Rosa +1.629
17) Jenson Button +1.666
18) Adrian Sutil +1.710
19) Takuma Sato +1.915
20) Giancarlo Fisichella +2.203
21) Romain Grosjean +2.249
22) Lucas di Grassi +2.302
23) Giedo van der Garde +2.375
24) Gary Paffett +2.459
25) Vitantonio Liuzzi +2.504
26) Anthony Davidson +2.548

Car number 20 (de la Rosa) is under investigation for holding up car number 25 (Button) on its hotlap.

[CaptainGetz12]

Saturday, May 23
Button Toward the Bottom, Red Bull Lock Out Front Row

Saturday proved a trial for cars on the streets of Monte Carlo. Although no car retired off to the side many drivers had to end their hotlaps due to mechanical issues. Adrian Sutil and both Super Aguris had to pull in due to engine problems, while Jarno Trulli, after fighting through slow traffic, had to pit in after a potential top 5 lap due to an issue with his steering column. Trulli's teammate fared better, with Glock gaining 9 places up the grid to 4th.

Jenson Button again faced rotten luck behind a Prodrive, this time due to Gary Paffett. Button aggressively sought to get past his fellow Briton, but could not get past and ended up unable to set a clear lap. Button will start down in 18th due to the lack of progress on his already hampered time last Thursday. "It's ridiculous, do none of these guys watch the blue flags?" Button answered in interview.

Prodrive ended up with a 15 second post-race time penalty for both of their drivers. This comes at a time where the team seems to be slipping backward to where Carlin and Super Aguri have a chance to get the upper hand. Lucas Di Grassi showed good pace, the Brazilian one place down on the Renault of Romain Grosjean, the Frenchman having difficulties adjusting to his new machine while his teammate again starts in the top 10.

Toward the front Red Bull locked out the front row without much trouble, with Nick Heidfeld about 3 tenths off Mark Webber's pole time. Both Webber and Heidfeld want another shot at victory, with both drivers failing to reach the top on multiple occasions so far this season.

Overtaking is always difficult at Monaco, so Button will have his work cut out if he wants to salvage any points on Sunday.

Code: Select all

1) Mark Webber   1:22.548   [1:22.507]
2) Sebastian Vettel   [1:22.669]   1:22.706
3) Nick Heidfeld   1:23.005   [1:22.797]
4) Timo Glock   1:23.921   [1:22.917]
5) Fernando Alonso   [1:23.131]   1:23.256
6) Nico Rosberg   1:23.305   [1:23.293]
7) Felipe Massa   1:23.454   [1:23.338]
8) Jarno Trulli   [1:23.425]   1:25.000
9) Heikki Kovalainen   [1:23.582]   1:23.967
10) Rubens Barrichello   [1:23.592]   1:23.676
11) Kimi Räikkönen   1:23.805   [1:23.750]
12) Robert Kubica   [1:23.757]   1:23.805
13) Lewis Hamilton   [1:23.832]   1:23.876
14) Sébastien Buemi   1:23.922   [1:23.887]
15) Kamui Kobayashi   [1:24.088]   1:24.252
16) Adrian Sutil   1:24.258   [1:24.136]
17) Pedro de la Rosa   1:24.177   [1:24.169]
18) Jenson Button   [1:24.214]   1:24.889
19) Takuma Sato   1:24.463   [1:24.249]
20) Giancarlo Fisichella   [1:24.751]   1:24.850
21) Romain Grosjean   1:24.797   [1:24.760]
22) Lucas di Grassi   [1:24.850]   1:25.225
23) Giedo van der Garde   [1:24.923]   1:24.964
24) Gary Paffett   [1:25.007]   1:25.129
25) Vitantonio Liuzzi   [1:25.052]   1:25.091
26) Anthony Davidson   1:25.096   [1:25.094]

Reject of Qualifying: Button's strategy team. Backmarkers aside, Button kept getting released in the thickest bits of traffic on both days.

Cars 20 (de la Rosa} and 21 (Paffett) will have 15 seconds added to their finishing times for the race for ignoring blue flags on Thursday and Saturday respectively.

[CaptainGetz12]

Sunday, May 24
Webber Wins Monaco in Messy Last Half

With Red Bull locking out the front row once again this season it looked like it would be a fairly easy win for either driver. The opening laps however brought an unexpected challenger in Fernando Alonso, forcing his way up to 2nd and playing a very defensive drive. Webber would pull away from Alonso to build up a lead, but it would not be unchallenged as the Australian hoped it wouldn't.

The race has several hairy moments. From the first few laps Adrian Sutil and Heikki Kovalainen had to make extra stops due to overdriving into one of the circuit's many walls. Both drivers managed to reach the back of the field, but neither driver could find their way past the slower cars, Kovalainen in particular faced trouble when he suddenly swerved in front of Sebastien Buemi, causing the Swiss driver to go airborne and colliding with Pedro de la Rosa. Against all odds neither driver suffered any significant damage to their cars as a result of the incident. Both drivers would eventually run out of luck in the end, with Buemi (and his teammate Sato) both retiring from engine leaks and De la Rosa putting his car in the wall right before the tunnel.

Jenson Button managed to steadily climb his way up the field from 18th position, though he too faced difficulties getting past slower cars. An early pit stop on lap 25 proved to work in his favor, putting the Briton up in the top 10 by the time pit stops ended. Unfortunately Button would end up pointless due to trouble with Kamui Kobayashi and later, Lewis Hamilton, with both drivers putting on strong performances to hold off the faster Magna for most of the race.

With a successful undercut pitstop Sebastian Vettel looked to snatch the win from Webber after Alonso held up much of the grid and Webber slowed by lap traffic, but Vettel's race ended around halfway due to a suspension failure, dashing any hopes of extending his championship lead.

The back of the field had several teams pretty close in pace, resulting in many battles for position. Lucas di Grassi put on a good performance against Fisichella and Kovalainen, but his car failed to reach the checkered flag due to a suspension failure. Anthony Davidson brought his outclassed Super Aguri as high as 12th, while Gary Paffett fought off several drivers for 13th despite facing a post-race time penalty.

The closing laps brought about a fairly messy conclusion to the weekend. Jenso Button and Lewis Hamilton fought for the last points position for the last 20 laps, with Hamilton's teammate proving difficult to pass and almost collided with his teammate. "He was driving like a raging bull out there, and I was screaming at him to let me by!" Hamilton spoke in the post-race press conference. Button failed to capitalize on the situation and could only manage 9th.

Mark Webber would take the checkered flag, but almost lost it on the final lap when he punted aside Gary Paffett partway through the tunnel. Webber argued to the stewards that Paffett drove erratically and could not get out of the way in time, and the stewards ultimately found no further action to be warranted. Webber finished just ahead of several lapped cars, of which Vitantonio Liuzzi snatched 15th place from Giedo van der Garde on the final stretch. Davidson ran into the back of Kamui Kobayashi after he crossed the line, losing his front wing in the process. Nick Heidfeld found a way past Alonso to take 2nd, while Alonso had little trouble with lapped traffic and cruised his way to 3rd.

Heidfeld's fifth 2nd place this season puts him back on top of the Drivers Standings over Vettel. Webber's win today puts him back in the top 5. Magna inches ahead of Red Bull in the Constructor's Standings by 1 point despite not having a win, while Sauber overtakes Ferrari and Mclaren thanks to today's double-points finish.

Code: Select all

1) Mark Webber  1:55:11.913  10
2) Nick Heidfeld  +9.931  8
3) Fernando Alonso  +24.430  6
4) Timo Glock  +26.378  5
5) Jarno Trulli  +46.098  4
6) Robert Kubica  +1:14.969  3
7) Rubens Barrichello  +1:17.135  2
8) Lewis Hamilton  +1:24.479  1
9) Jenson Button  +1:25.022
10) Felipe Massa  +1:27.903
11) Kamui Kobayashi  +1 LAP
12) Romain Grosjean +1 LAP
13) Heikki Kovalainen +2 LAPS
14) Adrian Sutil +2 LAPS
15) Vitantonio Luizzi +2 LAPS
16) Giedo van der Garde +2 LAPS
17) Anthony Davidson +2 LAPS
18) Giancarlo Fisichella +2 LAPS
19) Gary Paffett +3 LAPS (Accident)
NC) Lucas Di Grassi (Transmission)
NC) Sebastian Vettel (Suspension)
NC) Nico Rosberg (Engine)
NC) Pedro de la Rosa (Accident)
NC) Takuma Sato (Oil Leak)
NC) Sébastien Buemi (Water Leak)
NC) Kimi Räikkönen (Transmission)

Car Number 2 (Kovalainen) was investigated for colliding with Car Number 21 (Paffett), putting the latter out of the race. The stewards decided that no further action was warranted.

Cars 20 (De la Rosa) and 21 (Paffett) have 15 seconds added to their race time for impeding cars in qualifying on multiple occasions.

Fastest Lap: Sebastian Vettel 1:25.181

Reject of the Race: Heikki Kovalainen. Caused trouble for leading cars, could not get around slower cars, almost caused a major accident, and almost cost his teammate a points finish. Not a good way to go about convincing your team to extend your contract...

Standings after the Race
Drivers Championship
1) Nick Heidfeld 40
2) Sebastian Vettel 35
3) Timo Glock 25 (1 1st)
4) Fernando Alonso 25 (2 3rds)
5) Mark Webber 21 (1 1st)
6) Nico Rosberg 21 (1 3rd)
7) Jenson Button 17
8) Robert Kubica 11
9) Felipe Massa 9
10) Jarno Trulli 8
11) Heikki Kovalainen 7
12) Kimi Räikkönen 5
13) Lewis Hamilton 4 (1 6th)
14) Rubens Barrichello 4 (2 7ths)
15) Kamui Kobayashi 2
16) Pedro de la Rosa 0 (1 10th)
17) Takuma Sato 0 (1 11th, 1 12th, 2 15ths)
18) Sébastien Buemi 0 (1 11th, 1 12th, 1 15th)
19) Romain Grosjean 0 (1 12th)
20) Adrian Sutil 0 (2 13ths)
21) Nelson Piquet Jr. 0 (1 14th, 1 15th)
22) Giancarlo Fisichella 0 (1 14th, 1 16th)
23) Vitantonio Liuzzi 0 (1 15th)
24) Giedo van der Garde 0 (1 16th, 1 17th)
25) Gary Paffett 0 (1 16th, 3 19ths)
26) Anthony Davidson 0 (1 17th)
27) Lucas di Grassi 0 (1 20th)

Constructors Championship
1) Magna-Honda 57
2) Red Bull-Renault 56
3) Toyota 33
4) Renault 25
5) Williams-Toyota 23
6) BMW Sauber 15
7) Ferrari 14
8) Mclaren 11
9) Prodrive-Mercedes 0 (1 10th)
10) Toro Rosso-Ferrari 0 (2 11ths)
11) Force India-Mercedes 0 (2 13ths)
12) Carlin-Renault 0 (1 15th)
13) Super Aguri-Honda 0 (1 16th)