Formula One discussion - Season 2009

[Áļéאָ]

Sure, british media cei so. Must be true

 

[newbie original]

Ferrari always do well in Malaysia. Raikkonen and Massa had the fastest two laps during the opening two practice sessions. WATCH OUT!!!

Good "view" of changes for this season:

(WATCH IN HIGH QUALITY here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu96geMY8-Y&feature=channel)



EDIT:

Car weights including fuel (in kg, by grid order for the 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix)

1. BUTTON Brawn 660.0
2. TRULLI Toyota 656.5
3. GLOCK Toyota 656.5
4. ROSBERG Williams 656.0
5. WEBBER Red Bull 656.0
6. KUBICA BMW 663.0
7. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 662.5
8. ALONSO Renault 680.5
9. BARRICHELLO Brawn 664.5
10. HEIDFELD BMW 692.0
11. NAKAJIMA Williams 683.4
12. HAMILTON McLaren 688.0
13. VETTEL Red Bull 647.0
14. KOVALAINEN McLaren 688.9
15. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 670.5
16. MASSA Ferrari 689.5
17. PIQUET Renault 681.9
18. FISICHELLA Force India 680.5
19. SUTIL Force India 655.5
20. BUEMI Toro Rosso 686.5

 

[rpvankasteren]

Dude, stop watching the practice sessions like they give an accurate view of team performance. Force India performed well in them, which should be enough to prove they don't.

 

[Dipanjan]

Two Words. Jenson Button.
Two Words and a Syllable. What A Race!

 

[newbie original]

McLaren in tatters

Source: www.bbc.com​

McLaren will appear before an extraordinary meeting of the FIA World Motorsport Council in Paris on April 29, the FIA have confirmed.

The team will be asked to answer charges that they lied to stewards at the Australian Grand Prix.

The International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement on Tuesday that the team of world champion Lewis Hamilton were charged with breaching the international sporting code on five counts.

McLaren are accused of being in specific breach of Article 151c of the sporting code, relating to 'any fraudulent conduct, or any act prejudicial to the interests of any competition or to the interests of motor sport generally.'

In a FIA statement, McLaren are to answer charges that: On 29 March, 2009, they told the stewards of the Australian Grand Prix that no instructions were given to Hamilton in car No. 1 to allow (Jarno) Trulli in car no. 9 to pass when both cars were behind the safety car, knowing this statement to be untrue.

. Procured its driver, Hamilton, the current world champion, to support and confirm this untrue statement to the stewards.

. Although knowing that as a direct result of its untrue statement to the stewards, another driver and a rival team had been unfairly penalised, made no attempt to rectify the situation either by contacting the FIA or otherwise.

. On 2 April, 2009, at a second hearing before the stewards of the Australian Grand Prix, (meeting in Malaysia) made no attempt to correct the untrue statement of 29 March but, on the contrary, continued to maintain the statement was true, despite being allowed to listen to a recording of the team instructing Hamilton to let Trulli past, and despite being given more than one opportunity to correct its false statement.

. On 2 April, 2009, at the second stewards' hearing, procured its driver Hamilton to continue to assert the truth of the false statement given to the stewards on 29 March, while knowing what he was saying to the stewards was not true.

In a statement issued by McLaren, the team have confirmed they have sacked Dave Ryan, their former sporting director.

Ryan was suspended on Friday after the storm surrounding the case blew up ahead of the weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix.

The McLaren statement read: "McLaren acknowledge receipt of an invitation to appear at an FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting in Paris on April 29, received this afternoon.

"We undertake to co-operate fully with all WMSC processes, and welcome the opportunity to work with the FIA in the best interests of Formula One.

"This afternoon McLaren and former sporting director, Dave Ryan, have formally parted company. As a result, he is no longer an employee of any of the constituent companies of the McLaren Group."

The incident in question occurred towards the end of the season- opening race in Melbourne following an accident involving BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel.

It led to the safety car being deployed, behind which Trulli ran wide onto the grass at one stage whilst running in third, allowing Hamilton to legitimately pass and take up that position.

Hamilton soon informed the team he had passed Trulli, only to shortly after be explicitly told twice by his race engineer Phil Prew to allow the veteran Italian to pass.

At the time Prew was acting under instruction from Ryan, who was looking to conduct the situation by the book bearing in mind what unfolded in last season's Belgian Grand Prix, when Hamilton was penalised for cutting a chicane.

However, Ryan soon appreciated he had made a mistake, handing third place on a platter to Trulli, leaving Hamilton to finish fourth.

Within an hour of the grand prix's conclusion, Ryan and Hamilton were called to see the three stewards presiding over the race.

It is understood that prior to meeting with them, Ryan instructed Hamilton to lie, that no order to allow Trulli to pass was given.

With no audio, the stewards based their decision on video footage and testimony from Ryan and Hamilton.

The verdict saw Trulli handed a 25-second penalty, demoting him from third to 12th, with Hamilton elevated into a podium position.

However, in the build-up to the race in Malaysia, the FIA came to hear of an interview Hamilton gave immediately after the race at Albert Park.

Hamilton confirmed the team instructed him to allow Trulli by, and it is at that stage the stewards look into the radio transmissions between Hamilton and the pit wall.

It is became abundantly clear Ryan and Hamilton lied, although the latter under orders from the former, who was soon suspended by team boss Martin Whitmarsh.

On Friday, a contrite, visibly upset Hamilton then issued a sincere apology for his actions, laying the blame firmly at Ryan's door.

Hamilton, who was excluded from the classification of the race in Australia, is now in the clear as far as the FIA is concerned.

The WMSC will now focus on taking the team to task, with another hefty fine the logical outcome. However, they have the power to either suspend McLaren from races, or even exclude them from the championship.

Anthony Hamilton is reportedly considering whether he should advise his son Lewis to leave McLaren.

In the wake of the 'liargate' scandal, which saw the near-tearful World Champion offer a grovelling public apology on Friday in Sepang after admitting he misled Australian GP stewards upon the instruction of McLaren's Sporting Director Dave Ryan, The Daily Mail claims that 'Hamilton's future with McLaren is on a knife-edge'.

'Hamilton Snr is understood to be pondering whether to turn his back on McLaren, the team who supported Lewis through the ranks at an estimated cost of £5million, and switch to rivals less prone to shooting themselves in the foot,' the newspaper reports.

'The biggest stumbling block to engineering an escape route concerns where to place Lewis.

'Ferrari are favourites, if he can wriggle out of his five-year contract worth £75m, but they are currently as slow as McLaren. He is into his second year of the deal but various get-out clauses could cut his stay short.'

SOURCES: www.skysports.com

 

[Kibe Kru]

yeah, sure, leave the team that nurtured him into what he is today and gave him a world title, for a mistake he could have avoided, in a moment when they most need him. Model professional.

 

[Dipanjan]

I always knew Hamilton was lyk this. Even if all of this turns out to be a rumour, I will still feel lyk that.

 

[MikeyM]

yeah, sure, leave the team that nurtured him into what he is today and gave him a world title, for a mistake he could have avoided, in a moment when they most need him. Model professional.

Doesn't suprise me about either of them - Hamilton's father is like a shadow over his shoulder all the time, Hamilton jr also seems to have let his instant success go to his head. That's a real big thank you to a team that even allowed a double World Champion to move for fear of upsetting him!

Actually I hope he does leave McLaren and let someone who deserves to be there have his seat. If he's the superstar he thinks he is then obviously it won't matter if he's in a weaker team.

I'm glad Jenson is doing well, at least there is one Englishman on the grid we can be proud of.

 

[newbie original]

Well, Jenson Button's diffuser has been ruled legal.....so now the mad dash to catch up(by the other teams) begins.

In other news, Ron Dennis has quite F1 to focus solely on McLaren's new sports car project. He was the guy who stayed by Lewis Hamilton's side and brought him into F1. With him gone, if McLaren continue to struggle, it could open the door for Hamilton to leave.

EDIT:

Ferrari have suggested that they will be forced to alter the design of their current F60 chassis in light of the FIA's approval of controversial diffuser design.

 

[Áļéאָ]

uhm.. the last part is no news. Every team will do so asap

 

[Elber2k3]

Go Vettel!

 

[MaestroZidane]

This is my second year of watching F1 Racing, I missed it entirely last year. I gotta say that I love and enjoy every minute of it.

China race was a great one to watch. And looks like the big boys have gotten off to a bad start.

 

[MaestroZidane]

This is my second year of watching F1 Racing, I missed it entirely last year. I gotta say that I love and enjoy every minute of it.

China race was a great one to watch. And looks like the big boys have gotten off to a bad start.

 

[MikeyM]

This is my second year of watching F1 Racing, I missed it entirely last year. I gotta say that I love and enjoy every minute of it.

China race was a great one to watch. And looks like the big boys have gotten off to a bad start.

I think we're seeing a new era, F1 is cyclical, in the mid 90's Ferarri were midfield. Only really the Schumacher era changed that, before that McLaren were dominant, and before them Williams.

Brawn and Red Bull are clearly the better cars out there, we are seeing the young talent rise up like Vettel. It's very refreshing to see McLaren, Williams and Ferarri take a backseat for a bit.

 

[newbie original]

Disappointed that Toyota had such a bad day..relatively speaking ofcourse. I thought they had it in them to push for a 1-2 finish...

Apparently Brawn is going to be getting faster in the coming races....whatever the hell that means.

BMW continues to be absolutely horrible. Atleast Ferrari improved.

 

[Elber2k3]

BMW continues to be absolutely horrible. Atleast Ferrari improved.

Ah well I don't think that BMW would have been that bad yesterday, both of their drivers had to do a pitstop after just a few laps.

 

[Elber2k3]

Huh?

 

[Tosiek]

The guy just deleted his post.

 

[nor-rbk]

Nah, I did. Spammer.

 

[newbie original]

That was a stunning end to qualifying...that's one of the most exciting F1 qualifying sessions I have watched in a long time..maybe ever.

As far as the race, it was clear that Brawn did NOT want Barrichello to win. He should be quite irked, to be honest. If they had allowed him to race Button, who knows what might have happened. Ruebens had the faster car, as was evident at the start of the race when he surged from 3rd to 1st, on a circuit he dominated in pre-season testing. A 3-stop strategy was designed to allow Jenson to pass, if it came to it during the race. It did, and Button eased away to victory after Brawn switched him over to a 2-stopper while keeping Barrichello on a 3-stopper.

"I had the race in my hands and I was quite surprised when they told me they were switching Jenson to two," the 36-year-old Brazilian said.

"I would like to understand why they changed that," he added, explaining that his third set of tyres also slowed him down.

"If that happens I won't follow any team orders anymore," Barrichello told reporters in Barcelona. "I'm making it clear now so everyone knows."

"We are all here to win, and today it just went my way and it didn't for him," Button said. "It could swing around for the next race, that's the way things go in F1."