Formula 1 - 2009 Season

[Kaotik]

What a dramatic ending for the race, Brawn GP got 1st & 2nd place, Hamilton was one luck bastard once again with drivers crashing left and right in front of him

 

[Rurouni]

Summing up of the first ~15 laps

Barrichello screwed up in start, caused havoc and several crashes, including Kovalainens crash who had to quit the race
He also crashed Kimi to get past him

The controversial diffusors work really well, they're really, really fast all of them

Supersofts were a big mistake, everyone with them had to come to pits several laps earlier than planned to switch them off

Does a team need to use the supersoft? or they allowed to run with the 2 sets of hard tyres for the entire race (although I do think that 2 sets of hard can't last for the whole race)?

Barrichello got a bad luck when the car stalled, but in the end he also got lucky that the two cars in front on him took out each other... poor Vettel and Kubica..

Toyota cars also looking very good, considering they started from the pit stop.

 

[V3]

Yes, Teams need to use a supersoft in the race. Typical Australian GP really. Great win by Button and 1&2 finished for the debut Brawn GP Team. Truli and Hamilton also did great drive. Fourth for Hamilton is really rabbit out of a hat.

 

[Gerry]

Fourth for Hamilton is really rabbit out of a hat.

Third. Trulli got hit with a 25sec penalty.

 

[V3]

Yes, just heard that. He really does have the rabbit's foot. I think he'll be world champ again by the year end.

 

[Kaotik]

Hamiltons 3rd place might still be under jeopardy, this is from finnish MTV3 (broadcasts F1 in Finland), quick sum up by me:

The 25 sec time penalty for Toyota driver Jarno Trulli got under strange light after McLarens Lewis Hamilton admitted letting Trulli past him on purpose in the situation which caused Trulli the penalty.

Trulli was penalized for passing Hamilton under safety car

"I was behind Trulli in safety car situation, where you're not allowed to pass. He drove out in the 2nd last corner to the grass. Probably his tires were cold. I had to pass him even though I slowed as much as I could. I was then told to let him back in front of me, but I don't know are the rules really such" Hamilton told reporters.

Trulli was amazed about the penalty that took him from 3rd spot to 12th

"When safety car came on track, Lewis Hamilton passed me, but soon after he suddenly slowed down and pulled his car aside. I thought he had a problem so I passed him, because there was nothing else I could do" Trulli explained the situation.

Toyota leader Tadashi Yamashina has confirmed that he left complaint about Trullis penalty.

 

[V3]

That's just confusion, what's the rule for going off track and losing a place under safety car situation ? Do you get to retain your original position by passing everyone ?

 

[Kaotik]

That's just confusion, what's the rule for going off track and losing a place under safety car situation ? Do you get to retain your original position by passing everyone ?

Apparently depends on "how severe" the going out / spinning / whatever is. But seriously though, the penalty should be removed from Trulli, if Hamilton forced him to take back his spot, he can't be penalized for it.

 

[V3]

Reading your summary again, who told Hamilton to let Trulli through ? And they protest after that. Nice. I think they should just put Trulli to fourth and Hamilton to third. That's what it should be.

 

[Kaotik]

Reading your summary again, who told Hamilton to let Trulli through ? And they protest after that. Nice. I think they should just put Trulli to fourth and Hamilton to third. That's what it should be.

The team (McLaren) told him, no-one else can really communicate with drivers during race.

 

[V3]

Yes I know, and they protest after that. Pretty dirty trick huh ?

 

[Gerry]

Yes I know, and they protest after that. Pretty dirty trick huh ?

Where does it say that McLaren protested?

 

[Mariner]

Ooh. Has the Hamilton hate begun already then?

Not really that interested in F1 myself but I bet that Button can't believe his luck after thinking he may have been out of a job just a few months ago!

 

[Bludd]

Good race, great result for Brawn, Button and Barrichello. The fourth B in that team, Richard Branson is a lucky, lucky man.

 

[Dave Baumann]

Where does it say that McLaren protested?

I've not seen any reports that indicate anything of the sort. In fact McLaren appear to be trying to stay as far out of the FIA's eye as they possibly can so far this season - for instance they've, thus far, been very quiet on the whole diffuser issues when other teams have been making quite a lot of noise about them. I'm thinking that with the switch from Ron to Martin, Martin just wants to keep their nose clean for a while and not stick his head too far over the parapet.

 

[DJ12]

I think it's more down to the fact one of the teams is a customer of Mercedes rather than trying to keep their noses clean.

Anyway, all the big teams will have diffusers ready to go by China so Brawn best enjoy it while it lasts.

 

[Bludd]

Brawn will have to seriously consider KERS. I think the new non-consecutive tyre compounds is a great thing because the greater difference makes tyre choice really important strategically (how do you use them in quali, how many saved for the race) and tactically (when in the race you use each).

I am happy because the racing is overshadowing the politicking, at least it is for me.

 

[tongue_of_colicab]

Yeah it was pretty good (even though for some reason I was not that exited), I think I saw more real overtaking this race than I saw the last season together.

I'm not sure about KERS. Just look at the teams that used KERS today, the only reason the KERS user got where they are is because of the mistakes made by others, not because KERS was such a big help. It would have been button, barri, trulli, kubica, rosberg, vettel before Hamilton as the first KERS car I think?

Though KERS could help later on in the race when you're tyres are gone and you atleast have the extra raw power left. Than again, if everybody has uses it it will just even out again but I suppose if they want it they can just buy the Mercedes unit? As they dont have any time or money to build their own.

And Ferrari needs to hire some freakin non Italians and get their shit together. I want my red cars to be up front

Oh, and did you guys see the Renault? My god that things looks so god forsaken awfull that I dont know if I have to trow up or laugh my ass off Its even uglier on tv than in the pictures. Its just awfully shaped and it has the worst colour scheme ever (I wonder which company came up with that so that I know who not to hire)

 

[Bludd]

Fisichella could have done with it in Monte Carlo 2004.

Anyway, my poor, poor team!

tongue_of_colicab: Yup

Another thing that I found funny was Eddie Jordan's Freudian slip of saying "confuser" instead of "diffuser" in the BBC coverage on Saturday.

 

[Kaotik]

This is interesting, some experts apparently are claiming that Räikkönen didn't spin out of his own mistake, but a gearbox fault, and when you crash yourself you're allowed to switch parts without penalties, so taking the blame would allow them to fix the fault without the normal penalty (gearbox has to last 4 races)