Formula 1 - 2009 Season

[nutball]

This may not be directly related to Hamilton's skin colour, but it's definately some sort of manipulation to make the race for the championship closer than it probably would have been.

I'm not convinced that the latter is related to Hamilton at all, Hamilton's presence on the scene may be entirely coincidental. I do sense however that the powers that be in F1 have decided that they need to be more pro-active in their meddling to make F1 more of a marketable soap-opera for the main-stream media.

So the new arrangement, with teams/drivers no longer winning points during a race, rather merely receiving some points on loan for a few weeks, is great for keeping the non-specialist media interested It also helps deliver on the obligations they have to the circuits to ensure that every race is in some way relevant to the championship.

 

[chavvdarrr]

I think the problem isn't Hamilton being punished unfairly, it's more him being punished for every wrong doing, while numerous other drivers have been ignored.

Point at 3 drivers who ever lied intentionally to stewards. Twice.

 

[catisfit]

I won't be missing Ron Dennis either, because he's just so supremely conservative, though he's more of a racer and a sportsman than Todt ever was, though watching Ron Dennis choking up and crying when his drivers won was pretty hilarious.

Well, Todt actually was a racer, and co-driver

But I agree, it's hard to see how someone with the balls to put Senna and Prost together and let them fight it out could end up so risk averse and corporate minded.

I think the problem isn't Hamilton being punished unfairly, it's more him being punished for every wrong doing, while numerous other drivers have been ignored. There have been less post-race decisions before last year.

Indeed, in 2007 (when Hamilton was competing for a World Championship in his debut season) he could seemingly do no wrong.

This seems to be going round in circles. All drivers get away with things they should probably have been punished for, and similarly get punished for things that they probably should have got away with. Taking all such incidents into account tends to show that it balances out.

It's exacerbated in Hamilton's case because he was a very high profile rookie entrant into F1 and has (for whatever reason) been involved in a surprisingly large number of "incidents" in his short career.

 

[Bludd]

Well, Todt actually was a racer, and co-driver

Yes, I know, which is why I wrote it as I did. Senna + Prost was awesome and ballsy but I think it may have soured Dennis on it and it came back and bit him in the ass with Alonso + Hamilton in 2007.

He's for sure not going out on a high.

 

[Bludd]

I think Red Bull (and thus Toro Rosso) won't be the fastest (they are saying Monaco, which is at the end of May) and I think Ferrari, Renault and BMW may have one for Spain. McLaren? Who knows, maybe they'll be excluded, nobody knows what will happen to them on April 29th, but if they get their shit together, they can have one out for Spain too I think.

Force India? Dunno.

Hm, the first question here suggests Renault have indeed slapped on a new rear diffuser. Anyone got more info?

 

[Dave Baumann]

http://en.f1-live.com/f1/en/headlines/news/detail/090415162756.shtml

They appear to have an interim solution that they think may help.

 

[Bludd]

So it must be what they claimed they were working on off season that the FIA rejected? It seems risky if there are subtle differences that some other team can protest.

 

[Dave Baumann]

Its reported that McLaren has an updated diffuser as well. I kinda suspected that this may be the case with them not protesting the designs but wanting to be present at the hearing - they probably wanted to know as early as possible whether it would be legal to strap it on to the car.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8002297.stm

 

[Bludd]

Cool, but Ferrari are totally in the shit and Red Bull has to do much more work to their cars.

 

[Dave Baumann]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74511

McLaren have got an initial, somewhat interim, solution that apparently apes some of the areas that Toyota's design is using.

 

[DJ12]

Well it's worked, god help the rest of the field when they design a diffuser that really works for their car.

 

[Kaotik]

Well it's worked, god help the rest of the field when they design a diffuser that really works for their car.

It's not that simple, Heikki wasn't exactly slow and he doesn't have the diffusor or new front wing, so let's see how the times develop during weekend.

 

[catisfit]

It's not that simple, Heikki wasn't exactly slow and he doesn't have the diffusor or new front wing, so let's see how the times develop during weekend.

Exactly. Friday session 1 isn't renowned for setting the tone of the weekend.

 

[Kaotik]

And 2nd practice shows quite a different image of McLaren performance

1.  Jenson Button        Brawn-Mercedes      1.35,679  35 kierrosta
2.  Nico Rosberg         Williams-Toyota      + 0,025  36
3.  Rubens Barrichello   Brawn-Mercedes       + 0,202  35
4.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault     + 0,426  32
5.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault     + 0,488  22
6.  Jarno Trulli         Toyota               + 0,538  42
7.  Kazuki Nakajima      Williams-Toyota      + 0,698  32
8.  Timo Glock           Toyota               + 0,869  40
9.  Heikki Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     + 0,995  34
10. Sebastien Bourdais   Toro Rosso-Ferrari   + 1,121  34
11. Adrian Sutil         Force India-Mercedes + 1,150  30
12. Felipe Massa         Ferrari              + 1,168  34
13. Lewis Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes     + 1,262  28
14. Kimi Räikkönen       Ferrari              + 1,375  33
15. Sebastien Buemi      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   + 1,540  34
16. Nelsinho Piquet      Renault              + 1,594  36
17. Robert Kubica        BMW Sauber           + 1,812  34
18. Nick Heidfeld        BMW Sauber           + 1,865  28
19. Fernando Alonso      Renault              + 1,959  28
20. Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes + 2,071  31

 

[Bludd]

The times are very good. Last year's pole was Hamilton's 1m36s303 and Hamilton also set the fastest lap in the race 1m36s325. Race lap record is 1m32s238 set by Michael Schumacher in 2004 which was a crazy year for records (tyre war, V10 engines etc)

 

[Bludd]

Now Renault have ditched KERS for this race, so only McLaren and Heidfeld's BMW are battery-powered.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74563

Seems like the tyre wear is trumping boost since we have the super-soft and medium tyre compounds, the cars must be really sensitive to balance and it is easier to achieve without KERS because you can fit ballast and play around with the positioning.

Edit: But Alonso only did 6 laps of practice 3. Did he crash or maybe Renault are scrambling to work on the car, maybe to refit KERS or something? When does parc fermé come into effect?

 

[Dave Baumann]

Now Renault have ditched KERS for this race, so only McLaren and Heidfeld's BMW are battery-powered.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74563

Seems like the tyre wear is trumping boost since we have the super-soft and medium tyre compounds, the cars must be really sensitive to balance and it is easier to achieve without KERS because you can fit ballast and play around with the positioning.

Brundle has commented a couple of times about the McLaren having the best KERS system and I read a report indicating that they had a very compact battery unit. It sounds like the McLaren might be compromised less by the weight of the unit and it may be providing them more of a net benefit over other systems so far.

 

[Bludd]

Yeah, from what I've seen that seems to be the case. Ferrari are having reliability issues and Renault's system is probably just too heavy.

 

[Mendel]

Go Vettel and Webber!

No super diffuser
No KERS
One hell of a great job!

 

[pocketmoon66]

My attempt at adjusting grid postion allowing for weight.

1. Rubens Barrichello
2. Jarno Trulli
3. Jenson Button
4. Sebastian Vettel
5. Kimi Raikkonen
6. Mark Webber
7. Lewis Hamilton
8. Fernando Alonso
9. Nico Rosberg
10. Sebastien Buemi


So Alonso show-boating and the Brauns looking good