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Nick Fry Adds Voice Of Concern Over Processional Races

Oliver White — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 11:33:10 +0000

Following the concerns about the spectacle of Formula One from McLaren chief and FOTA chairman Martin Whitmarsh yesterday, Mercedes Grand Prix CEO Nick Fry has added his voice to the discussion, mirroring those of Whitmarsh. Fry believes the teams need to all get together to discuss potential changes to the rules in order to spice up the races and avoid the grands prix turning into one-stop processions.

Yesterday evening, Whitmarsh stated his desire to look at mandating pitstops, improving the tyre situation with Bridgestone and making the cars better able to race closely together on the track.

I personally believe that more challenging tyres will help the spectacle of the show. I also personally believe that we should have two stops mandated because we want to stop this. Today, if we had had a safety car on lap five, we’d have all piled in [to the pits] and we’d have all gone on the prime tyre and run to lap 49 without a stop. That was a real danger.

We do need to look at mandating stops, we do need to look at the tyres and make them more fragile, and we do need to work on making the cars capable of racing close together and easier to overtake. Martin Whitmarsh.

Today has seen more team bosses speak up over the less-than-exciting opening race in Bahrain and concerns over races becoming processional with little-to-no overtaking. Nick Fry believes the technical regulations cannot be changed now because of the costs involved with updating the cars would be excessive. However, Fry is willing to take a closer look at the sporting regulations to see if something can be done here to add excitement to the grands prix.

I think we have all seen a race that was far from the most exciting that we have ever seen, and what we now need to do is between us have a look at it and establish what we do need to do.

Technical changes are obviously very difficult to make, and expensive. But I think we should look at both the technical side and the sporting side, with Bernie and the FIA, and see what we can do about it. Nick Fry.

Fry went on to say that he believes the teams should look again at mandating pitstops in order to prevent the drivers completing just one stop and driving most of the race on one tyre. Of course, this idea was discussed prior to the season’s opening race in Bahrain, but agreement between all squads was not forthcoming and the idea was quietly forgotten about.

[Mandating pitstops] is the one of the things that we should look at. We decided against it before, but is something that clearly could be done. I don’t think it would provide a particular advantage or disadvantage to anyone as far as I could see, but I am sure it is going to be high up on the list. Nick Fry.

Elsewhere in the paddock, Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner echoed the feelings of most others, saying that he believes it is crazy that his staff “train like hell” for just one pitstop per driver. Horner though does believe that an immediate reaction would be ill-thought and would prefer to wait until the fourth or fifth round before implementing changes.

I think we should consider whether we do two mandatory stops. It seems ridiculous that the guys train like hell for one stop.

We’ve only had one snapshot today, so perhaps we should review it after the first three or four races. Everybody thought I didn’t want it because of tyre degradation, but I think we have shown today that tyre degradation isn’t a problem for Red Bull. Christian Horner.

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali also thinks it would be prudent to wait three or four races before making decisions and changes to the rules.

Let’s wait. I can understand his [Whitmarsh] point but let’s wait and see how the other races will develop. It may be a different situation in different conditions, so I would like to tell you my opinion after a couple of races so we can at least have a different scenario that we can say, [whether] this is the real situation or not. Stefano Domenicali.

It would seem that the team bosses are in agreement that the issue should at least be discussed and if the Australian and Chinese grands prix continue in similar vein to Bahrain, then consider making changes to the regulations. It is interesting that there has been little comment on the Bahrain circuit and the additional loop after the fourth corner. The extra length in the track reduced the total number of laps raced and added no extra overtaking possibilities for the drivers. Admittedly, I don’t think McLaren or Ferrari would want to annoy the Crown Prince of Bahrain, both teams receiving funding from Middle East companies. However, from a personal view it would be desirable to see the Sakhir circuit return to its traditional configuration for next year’s event.

And for the last word, I think I’ll leave that to Mark Webber…

Wow! New rules, not sure huh? Why do they keep dicking with it? Followed Mercedes power for the whole race, no chance to overtake – again @AussieGrit.

Image © HondaF1.

Original article by BlogF1.

Nick Fry Adds Voice Of Concern Over Processional Races

Martin Whitmarsh Calls For Immediate Rule Changes

Oliver White — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:18:04 +0000

In the wake of the 2010 Bahrain Grand Prix, a race that saw Ferrari take a one-two and McLaren a little shy on pace, Martin Whitmarsh has called for immediate changes to be made to the rules in order to prevent the sport becoming a dull procession with all drivers pitting just the once. The McLaren chief’s comments come after a relatively unexciting opening race where the element of strategy seemed to be dumbed down as a result of the in-race refueling ban.

Refueling was banned for a number of reasons for the 2010 world championship, with the teams hoping to save money by not having to transport heavy rigs around. Along with saving money, the pitlane is made safer with the teams not having to refuel a race car under pressure during a grand prix. However, this has resulted in pitstops only being required to change tyres, which teams must do at least once during a normal dry race. Of course, pitstops are significantly quicker now, but the real issue is the way the teams are approaching them.

Over the course of a grand prix weekend it usually becomes apparent early on that one tyre compound is better suited to the track than the other. Having to run both compounds during the race, drivers tended to stick to one-stop races. This was emphasised when it became known that the Bridgestone rubber supplied for the Bahrain Grand Prix was actually very durable and even the super-soft choice, which many feared would fall apart after a couple of laps, lasted for much longer than expected.

The result is drivers running the less-preferred or less-durable tyre for the first stint before changing very soon in the race to the durable option. This allows the teams to get the less-favourable compound out of the way and frees them up to run until the end of the race without having to make any further pitstops.

Combine this lack of pitlane activity with the fact that drivers are still struggling to overtake due to the efficiencies in the aerodynamics, and you’re left with a procession of 24 Formula One cars touring a circuit on a Sunday afternoon. As a sport, the whole show becomes a lot less desirable.

The Bahrain Grand Prix wasn’t too bad and there were some interesting battles in the mid-back field. At the front though, we saw several drivers just tail the car in the front, seemingly unable to pass. Even with the increase in points-margin between the positions, drivers simply couldn’t pass. It wasn’t a case of motivation and rather a case of physics.

If the Bahrain event had seen more pitstops, then there may have been more passes. Admittedly, these moves may have taken place in the pitlane and not on the race track, but at least the show would have been spiced up a little. Of course, if the Sakhir circuit had been run on its usual Grand Prix configuration, the lap length would have been shorter and more laps could have been completed. Furthermore, the drivers wouldn’t have been forced to complete the silly mickey-mouse section after T4.

After the race had been completed, Martin Whitmarsh, who is also the chairman of FOTA, spoke to the BBC about these concerns and how he would like for the rules to be changed as soon as possible. Whitmarsh has suggested revisiting the mandatory two-stops idea, or pushing Bridgestone to supply tyres that simply won’t last half a race distance.

We were one of three teams, that said we should have two mandatory pitstops because we were worried about one-stopping.

I think we have to re-examine that. But I think if we can now push on Bridgestone to have ‘racier’ tyres, we need a super-soft tyre that is really going to hurt if you take it to 20 laps. You shouldn’t be able to do that with a super-soft tyre and I think even the prime, if it’s a struggle to get it to do half a race distance, then you force [the issue].

The tyres were much closer in the race than we expected and they determined the spectacle. There was no real serious degradation of the tyres, we started the roll of pitstops because we were trying to get ahead of [Nico] Rosberg and everyone started to come in at that point.

But otherwise, just based on tyre degradation, we could have run to lap 25 or more on the super-soft tyres. If you can do that on the softest tyre, then the primes are just going to romp through for as long as you like. Martin Whitmarsh.

Whitmarsh went on to say that through FOTA, he is dedicated to improving the show

Formula 1 has to be entertaining, people have to be switched on to what is going to happen in the race, if it’s processional they are not going to be. Today was not the best show, we know that and we have all got to work together to improve it.

I personally believe that more challenging tyres will help the spectacle of the show. I also personally believe that we should have two stops mandated because we want to stop this. Today, if we had had a safety car on lap five, we’d have all piled in [to the pits] and we’d have all gone on the prime tyre and run to lap 49 without a stop. That was a real danger.

We do need to look at mandatings stops, we do need to look at the tyres and make them more fragile, and we do need to work on making the cars capable of racing close together and easier to overtake. Martin Whitmarsh.

While the McLaren boss is talking sense with regards to the tyres, it should not be forgotten that it was FOTA who pushed for these changes along with the sport’s governing body, the FIA. From the outset it was clear that if the drivers can get the harder tyre to last for most of the race, they will in order to avoid pitting. Formula One is after all a competition. Among those competing is Whitmarsh himself.

Also mentioned was the fact that despite trying to cut the downforce generated by the cars, overtaking is still very difficult due to the lack of close racing caused by overly-efficient aerodynamics. Again, the team bosses are desperate to reclaim any lost performance that arises from rule changes, and the designers and engineers are simply doing their jobs when they create these cars.

There is a solution to all this somewhere, simply because there has to be. But with the teams unlikely to unanimously agree to rule changes that could see them penalised (why would Ferrari vote in favour of mandatory pitstops?) I guess, for now at least, it comes down to the sport’s sole tyre supplier who are intent on leaving at the end of the season.

Original article by BlogF1.

Martin Whitmarsh Calls For Immediate Rule Changes

Bahrain 2010: Pitstop Strategies

Oliver White — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 14:30:46 +0000

With no refueling during the race, the pitstop strategies this year are entirely focused on tyre changes and where the drivers will feed back out onto the circuit with regards to traffic. The vast majority of the top-ten qualifiers started on the super-soft compound with the sole exception of Adrian Sutil.

Elsewhere in the pack there was an interesting mix of prime and option compounds, and more drivers opted to run the opening stint on the softer tyre than expected, which came as a surprise. As expected though, one-stopping was the preferred strategy with only Jaime Alguersuari appearing to take a definite two-stopper, Nico Hulkenberg being forced to pit early and out of sequence. The Hispania duo may have also opted for a two-stopper, but as both retired their strategies are unknown at the moment.

Bahrain 2010 Pitstop Strategies	Stint 1 (Start Tyre)	Stint 2 (Lap)	Stint 3 (Lap)	Stint 4 (Lap)
Jenson Button McLaren	Super Soft	Medium (16)
Lewis Hamilton McLaren	Super Soft	Medium (15)
Michael Schumacher Mercedes	Super Soft	Medium (15)
Nico Rosberg Mercedes	Super Soft	Medium (16)
Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	Super Soft	Medium (17)
Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	Super Soft	Medium (16)
Felipe Massa Ferrari	Super Soft	Medium (17)
Fernando Alonso Ferrari	Super Soft	Medium (16)
Rubens Barrichello Williams	Medium	Super Soft (19)
Nico Hulkenberg Williams	Super Soft	Super Soft (3)	Medium (25)
Robert Kubica Renault	Super Soft	Medium (12)
Vitaly Petrov Renault	Super Soft	DNF (14)
Adrian Sutil Force India	Medium	Super Soft (15)
Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India	Medium	Super Soft (20)
Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	Medium	Super Soft (25)
Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso	Medium	Super Soft (13)	Medium (26)
Jarno Trulli Lotus	Medium	Super Soft (24)
Heikki Kovalainen Lotus	Medium	Super Soft (30)
Karun Chandhok Hispania Racing	Super Soft	DNF (2)
Bruno Senna Hispania Racing	Super Soft	Medium (11)	DNF (19)
Pedro De La Rosa Sauber	Super Soft	Medium(14)	DNF (29)
Kamui Kobayashi Sauber	Medium	DNF (13)
Timo Glock Virgin Racing	Medium	DNF (18)
Lucas Di Grassi Virgin Racing	Medium	DNF (3)

Not yet entirely certain of the Saubers starting compound.

Original article by BlogF1.

Bahrain 2010: Pitstop Strategies

Brazil 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Oliver White — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:38:22 +0000

The qualifying weights of the top-ten qualifiers and the declared weights of the remaining ten drivers have been published by the FIA and from what we have been told we can work out who did well in qualifying and who didn’t do so good. We can also estimate the first pitstop of each driver going by Williams’s prediction of fuel consumption around the 4.309km Interlagos circuit. With the race being 71 laps we can also suggest what kind of strategy each driver is aiming to run during tomorrow’s Brazilian Grand Prix.

From the table below we can see that Rubens Barrichello was indeed one of the lightest drivers in qualifying, but the difference to those around him isn’t a great deal and the Brazilian pilot should be pitting at around the same time as Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso. However, the extra two or three laps his rivals have on-board will make his job of winning tomorrow’s race a little trickier than perhaps he would like.

Looking closer at the top ten, Sebastien Buemi stands out as a driver who performed well in qualifying yesterday, the Swiss rookie having placed his Scuderia Toro Rosso in P6 with the second-heaviest car, only having less fuel than Kazuki Nakajima who is in P9. A mighty effort from the young driver who will surely be pleased with his efforts. Also performing well was Adrian Sutil who is on par with those around him and Nico Rosberg isn’t running as heavy as I had imagined earlier in the day, aiming to stop around lap 25.

Everybody in the top ten appears to be going for a two-stopper with the possible exception of Kazuki Nakajima who has given himself some flexibility. Outside the top ten, a one-stop race appears to be the preferred option, with only Heikki Kovalainen (who I think for the first time in his career is fueled lighter than his team mate), Lewis Hamilton and Nick Heidfeld looking to run aggressive two-stop races.

The heaviest drivers on the grid are Giancarlo Fisichella and Sebastian Vettel, each hoping to get as far as lap 38 or so, and the lightest drivers are Rubens Barrichello and Nick Heidfeld who will only go as far as lap 21. Of course, all of this is dependent on a dry opening stint and no safety car, which after witnessing qualifying is perhaps a little overly optimistic.

Brazil 2009 Post-Qualifying Car Weights		Car Weight Kilograms	Fuel Weight Kilograms	First Stop Estimated Lap
1.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	650.5	41.6	21
2.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	656	47.1	24
3.	Adrian Sutil Force India	656.5	47.6	24
4.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	658.5	49.6	25
5.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	651.5	42.6	22
6.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	659	50.1	25
7.	Nico Rosberg Williams	657	48.1	24
8.	Robert Kubica BMW	656	47.1	24
9.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	664	55.1	28
10.	Fernando Alonso Renault	652	45	23
11.	Kamui Kobayashi Toyota	671.5	62.6	32
12.	Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso	671.5	62.6	32
13.	Romain Grosjean Renault	677.2	68.3	35
14.	Jenson Button Brawn	672	63.1	32
15.	Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India	680	71.1	36
16.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	683.5	74.6	38
17.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	656.5	47.6	24
18.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	661	52.1	26
19.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	650.5	41.6	21
20.	Giancarlo Fisichella Ferrari	683.5	74.6	38

Original article by BlogF1.

Brazil 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Singapore 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Oliver White — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 21:44:16 +0000

The FIA have published the measured and declared car weights from the Singapore Grand Prix qualifying session and from the data they have provided, we can make a fairly good guess as to which lap the drivers will make their first pitstop, and how many they are likely to make during the race. Of course, this all relies on no safety car and usual weather. While the weather looks good for the race tomorrow, the safety is expected due to the nature of the circuit.

Williams reckon it takes around 2.5kg of fuel to cover a normalised distance of 5km in Singapore trim, and therefore each 5.067km lap of the Marina Bay circuit will consume around 2.5335kg of gas. Taking off the minimum weight of the cars from the declared weights (we assume every team achieves minimum weight and adds ballast) and also take away a couple of laps for grid forming and margin, and what’s left can be divided by 2.5335 to work out haw many laps of fuel each driver has.

From the table below we can see that most of the top-ten have elected to run a two stop strategy although Sebastian Vettel and Nick Heidfeld look to going for a three-stopper. Vettel, who qualified in P2, will undoubtedly be hoping he can get ahead of the KERS-enabled Lewis Hamilton before the first sequence of corners tomorrow.

Moving further down the grid we can see that the bottom-ten have elected to run a one-stopper with the sole exception of Vitantonio Liuzzi, who qualified right at the very back of the grid. Force India often split their strategies, as do Toyota who sometimes put an awful lot of fuel in one of their cars. This time it is Jarno Trulli’s turn to lug around a heavy fuel tank for the first part of tomorrow’s race.

The heaviest drivers on the grid are Adrian Sutil and Jarno Trulli, while the lightest are Sebastian Vettel and Nick Heidfeld.

Singapore 2009 Post-Qualifying Car Weights		Car Weight Kilograms	Fuel Weight Kilograms	First Stop Estimated Lap
1.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	660.5	50.4	20
2.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	651	40.9	16
3.	Nico Rosberg Williams	657.5	47.4	19
4.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	654.5	44.4	18
5.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	655.5	45.4	18
6.	Fernando Alonso Renault	658	51	20
7.	Timo Glock Toyota	660.5	50.4	20
8.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	650	39.9	16
9.	Robert Kubica BMW	664	53.9	21
10.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	664.5	54.4	21
11.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	680.7	70.6	28
12.	Jenson Button Brawn	683	72.9	29
13.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	680.5	70.4	28
14.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	678	67.9	27
15.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	690.9	80.8	32
16.	Adrian Sutil Force India	693	82.9	33
17.	Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso	683.5	73.4	29
18.	Giancarlo Fisichella Ferrari	678.5	68.4	27
19.	Romain Grosjean Renault	683	72.9	29
20.	Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India	656	45.9	18

Original article by BlogF1.

Singapore 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Monza 2009: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies

Oliver White — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 13:48:28 +0000

After all was said and done, the one-stop strategy worked out best as both Brawn drivers threaded their way through to take a one-two finish at Monza. Both Jenson Button and race winner Rubens Barrichello completed one single pitstop this afternoon, out-performing the McLaren of Lewis Hamtilon and the Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen. Once again, KERS proved to be not a winner, but it was clear throughout the race that Hamilton and Raikkonen were able to defend their position well with the power-boost.

Monza 2009 Pitstop Strategies	Stint 1 (Start Tyre)	Stint 2 (Lap)	Stint 3 (Lap)	Stint 4 (Lap)
Ferrari
Giancarlo Fisichella	Soft	Medium (30)
Kimi Raikkonen	Soft	Soft (19)	Medium (37)
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton	Soft	Medium (15)	Medium (34)	DNF (53)
Heikki Kovalainen	Medium	Soft (28)
BMW
Robert Kubica	Soft	Medium (10)	DNF (16)
Nick Heidfeld	Soft	Medium (31)
Renault
Fernando Alonso	Soft	Medium (27)
Romain Grosjean	Medium	Soft (34)
Toyota
Jarno Trulli	Medium	Soft (35)
Timo Glock	Soft	Medium (38)
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Jaime Alguersuari	Medium	DNF (20)
Sebastien Buemi	Medium	Soft (36)
Red Bull Racing
Mark Webber	Medium	DNF (0)
Sebastian Vettel	Medium	Soft (28)
Williams
Nico Rosberg	Medium	Soft (5)	Soft (17)	Soft (41)
Kazuki Nakajima	Soft	Medium (35)
Force India
Adrian Sutil	Soft	Medium (18)	Soft (37)
Vitantonio Liuzzi	Soft	DNF (23)
Brawn
Jenson Button	Soft	Medium (28)
Rubens Barrichello	Medium	Soft (29)

Original article by BlogF1.

Monza 2009: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies

Belgium 2009: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies

Oliver White — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 14:21:54 +0000

Having won the Belgian Grand Prix from Giancarlo Fisichella and Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Raikkonen took his first victory of the year for both himself and the Ferrari team, partly with thanks to slick pitwork on each of his two pitstops. The safety car played a huge part in the strategies of teams, the drivers being able to save a bit of fuel while following the Mercedes-Benz AMG. Some drivers altered their strategies, and both the leading pilots pitted together. It seems the two-stopper. Kimi Raikkonen won with two two stops, team mate Luca Badoer brought up the rear with one stop.

Belgium 2009 Pitstop Strategies	Stint 1 (Start Tyre)	Stint 2 (Lap)	Stint 3 (Lap)	Stint 4 (Lap)
Ferrari
Luca Badoer	Soft	Medium (25)
Kimi Raikkonen	Soft	Medium (14)	Soft (32)
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton	Medium	DNF (1)
Heikki Kovalainen	Soft	Medium (27
BMW
Robert Kubica	Soft	Medium (12)	Soft (31)
Nick Heidfeld	Medium	Medium (14)	Soft (33)
Renault
Fernando Alonso	Medium	Soft (25)	DNF (27)
Romain Grosjean	Medium	DNF (1)
Toyota
Jarno Trulli	Medium	Medium (1)	Soft (21)	DNF (22)
Timo Glock	Medium	Soft (12)	Soft (33)
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Jaime Alguersuari	Medium	DNF (1)
Sebastien Buemi	Medium	Medium (21)	Soft (31)
Red Bull Racing
Mark Webber	Medium	Medium (14)	Drive Thru (18)	Soft (35)
Sebastian Vettel	Medium	Medium (17)	Soft (35)
Williams
Nico Rosberg	Medium	Medium (18)	Soft (34)
Kazuki Nakajima	Medium	Soft (29)
Force India
Adrian Sutil	Medium	Medium (1)	Soft (27)
Giancarlo Fisichella	Soft	Soft (14)	Medium (32)
Brawn
Jenson Button	Medium	DNF (1)
Rubens Barrichello	Soft	Medium (1)	Medium (28)

Original article by BlogF1.

Belgium 2009: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies

Belgium 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Oliver White — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:18:26 +0000

The FIA have published the measured and declared weights of all the runners and riders for tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix. With a Force India on pole position, it had been expected that Giancarlo Fisichella was light on gas. As you will see in just a moment, the Italian is not that skinny, and in P2, Jarno Trulli is heavier and poised for a Trulli-train; Rubens Barrichello is probably kicking himself right now.

If we take Williams’s figure of 2.25kg of fuel needed to cover a normalised distance of 5km, we can figure out that a Formula One car will on average use 3.15180kg of fuel to complete a 7.004km lap of Spa Francorchamps. Allowing for a couple of laps for grid formation and margin and taking off the minimum weight of the cars, we can guess when the drivers will first call into the pits for fuel and tyres, assuming the weather is dry and the safety car remains at the end of the pitlane.

Belgium 2009 Post-Qualifying Car Weights		Car Weight Kilograms	Fuel Weight Kilograms	First Stop Estimated Lap
1.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	648	36.7	12
2.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	656.5	45.2	14
3.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	655	43.7	14
4.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	644.5	33.2	11
5.	Robert Kubica BMW	649	37.7	12
6.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	655	43.7	14
7.	Timo Glock Toyota	648.5	37.2	12
8.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	662.5	51.2	16
9.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	658	46.7	15
10.	Nico Rosberg Williams	670	58.7	19
11.	Adrian Sutil Force India	678.5	67.2	21
12.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	693.5	82.2	26
13.	Fernando Alonso Renault	684.4	77.4	25
14.	Jenson Button Brawn	694.2	82.9	26
15.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	697	82.2	26
16.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	685	73.7	23
17.	Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso	704.5	93.2	30
18.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	706.1	94.8	30
19.	Romain Grosjean Renault	704.7	93.4	30
20.	Luca Badoer Ferrari	691.5	80.2	25

From the table we can see that Fisichella is not the lightest of the front runners and in fact Rubens Barrichello should be calling into the pits before him. Fisichella is on par with Robert Kubica and Timo Glock, and only a couple of laps lighter than Jarno Trulli, Nick Heifeld and Kimi Raikkonen. If Rubens is to have an impact on the leading trio, he will need to make up places on the first lap, otherwise he could find himself stuck behind the slower BMW and Toyota.

The top ten all seem to be on a two-stopping strategy (although Nico Rosberg remains flexible), and the bottom ten all seem to be attempting a one-stop strategy. The heaviest driver on the grid is Kazuki Nakajima, closely followed by Romain Grisjean and Jaime Alguersuari. The lightest car starting the race tomorrow is Rubens Barrichello, which just highlights the problems facing the Brawn team at the moment.

Original article by BlogF1.

Belgium 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Valencia 2009: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies

Oliver White — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 16:19:41 +0000

Valencia proved to be a mix bag in terms of strategy, with many teams and drivers opting for two-stops, but a fair few attempting just one scheduled stop. although the incidents at the start of the race meant that although a few drivers did realistically make one stop in terms of their strategies, they did indeed make two visits down the pitlane to get some damage rectified. The choice of tyre compound also proved to be interesting, with a no defining way to go and the teams running different uses of the tyres during the race. The winning strategy of Rubens Barrichello saw the Brazilian start on the soft (harder) compound and remain that way until the second stop before changing to the super-softs. Barrichello divided the 57 laps in to thirds, stopping on lap 20 and lap 40.

Valencia 2009 Pitstop Strategies	Stint 1 (Start Tyre)	Stint 2 (Lap)	Stint 3 (Lap)	Stint 4 (Lap)
Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen	Super Soft	Super Soft (19)	Soft (40)
Luca Badoer	Super Soft	Super Soft (29)	Soft (44)
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton	Super Soft	Super Soft (16)	Soft (37)
Heikki Kovalainen	Super Soft	Super Soft (17)	Soft (38)
BMW
Robert Kubica	Super Soft	Soft (16)	Super Soft (40)
Nick Heidfeld	Super Soft	Super Soft (23)	Soft (43)
Renault
Fernando Alonso	Soft	Soft (17)	Super Soft (42)
Romain Grosjean	Soft	Soft (1)	Super Soft (29)	Super Soft (43)
Toyota
Jarno Trulli	Soft	Super Soft (35)
Timo Glock	Soft	Soft (1)	Super Soft (33)	Super Soft? (49)*
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Jaime Alguersuari	Soft	Super Soft (23)	Super Soft (34)
Sebastien Buemi	Super Soft	Super Soft (1)	Super Soft (25)	DNF (44)
Red Bull Racing
Mark Webber	Soft	Soft (20)	Super Soft (43)
Sebastian Vettel	Soft	Soft (16)	Soft (17)	DNF (24)
Williams
Nico Rosberg	Soft	Soft (20)	Super Soft (43)
Kazuki Nakajima	Soft	Super Soft (31)	Super Soft (40)	No Tyres (57)
Force India
Adrian Sutil	Soft	Super Soft (23)	Super Soft (38)
Giancarlo Fisichella	Soft	Super Soft (32)
Brawn
Jenson Button	Soft	Soft (19)	Super Soft (42)
Rubens Barrichello	Soft	Soft (20)	Super Soft(40)

Original article by BlogF1.

Valencia 2009: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies

Valencia 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Oliver White — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 22:31:25 +0000

The FIA have published the weights of the top ten in qualifying earlier and the declared weights of the bottom half of the grid ahead of tomorrow’s European Grand Prix. From this, we can estimate the first pitstop of all the runners by taking Williams’s 5km-normalised fuel consumption for Valencia of 2.45kg. This means the 5.419km lap will use up 2.65531kg of fuel, and less a couple of laps for grid forming and margin, we can see who did well in qualifying, and who needs to do better.

Lewis Hamilton was indeed lighter than Heikki Kovalainen, which is a standard McLaren tactic. However, what is perhaps slightly surprising is that there wasn’t a lot of difference in it. Kovalainen has just one extra lap of fuel on board, indicating that until the Finn messed up his final run in Q3, he was actually setting very competitive times. Both McLaren pilots are on a similar strategy and will stop around the lap 16 mark.

Brawn too are opting for a same strategy for both drivers, with Jenson Button taking the lighter of the two. Unfortunately for the Briton, team mate Rubens Barrichello out-qualified him on a heavy fuel load, suggesting Button was not as keyed-in to Valencia on Saturday than the Brazilian. Both will stay out longer than the McLarens, which means that if they can keep up with the silver cars for the opening stint, they look good for a decent result. If the KERS-enabled MP4-24s power away though, it will be over relatively quickly.

Red Bull Racing have split their strategies slightly, with Sebastian Vettel stopping around the same time as the McLarens, and Mark Webber stopping around the same time as the Brawns. It is interesting to compare the cars of Vettel and Hamilton, as each had similar fuel loads, but the RB5 was 0.3s slower, proving just how much the McLaren team have improved their car.

The lightest drivers on the grid are Hamilton and Vettel, and Robert Kubica has opted for a fairly aggressive strategy as well, aiming for lap 18 for his first stop. The heaviest cars out there on race morning will be Jarno Trulli, who can theoretically go until lap 37 before stopping, and Kazuki Nakajima who can last until lap 35. Toyota aren’t afraid of running ridiculously long into stints, and while sometimes it works, it doesn’t always prove successful. Although as Trulli qualified in P18, I guess there’s no harm in trying something a little radical.

Valencia 2009 Post-Qualifying Car Weights		Car Weight Kilograms	Fuel Weight Kilograms	First Stop Estimated Lap
1.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	653	42.7	16
2.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	655	44.7	17
3.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	662.5	52.2	20
4.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	654	43.7	16
5.	Jenson Button Brawn	661.5	51.2	19
6.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	661.5	51.2	19
7.	Nico Rosberg Williams	665	54.7	21
8.	Fernando Alonso Renault	656.5	49.5	19
9.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	664.5	54.2	20
10.	Robert Kubica BMW	657.5	47.2	18
11.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	677	66.7	25
12.	Adrian Sutil Force India	672.5	62.2	23
13.	Timo Glock Toyota	694.7	84.4	32
14.	Romain Grosjean Renault	677.7	67.4	25
15.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	688.5	78.2	29
16.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	692.5	82.2	31
17.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	702	91.7	35
18.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	707.3	97	37
19.	Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso	678.5	68.2	26
20.	Luca Badoer Ferrari	690.5	80.2	30

Original article by BlogF1.

Valencia 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Hungary 2009: Penalty Updates

Oliver White — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 17:16:44 +0000

The race at Hungary this afternoon was quite hectic at times, and during the event Kimi Raikkonen was being investigated for his actions at the very start. There were two other incidents of note during the grand prix that the stewards didn’t initially state they were investigating, but after the race the appropriate team members were summoned to the steward’s office to offer explanations. Renault have been suspended from the next race, and Red Bull have been reprimanded for the second race in a row.

As the lights went out in Hungary and the race got underway, Kimi Raikkonen was making use of his KERS device and was thundering up the field. The Finnish pilot squeezed Sebastian Vettel over to the right and the German Red Bull driver believes contact was made. After the first corner, Vettel radioed his team to say that he thought there was damage to the front wing, but it turned out to be more serious. The front-left suspension on the RB5 had been broken, and at about the mid-point of the race, it gave way. Vettel was forced to retire his car.

Despite this though, the stewards, who were investigating the incident, said that it was just a racing incident and that no punishment would be handed out.

However, Renault have been given a very harsh penalty following the incident that saw Fernando Alonso’s wheel come off mid-lap. The team, Piquet inclusive, will not race in Valencia in a months time. Although it is rumoured that Piquet will not be racing for Renault again anyway, penalty or no penalty. Further information on the Renault suspension can be read in this post.

Also, Red Bull have been reprimanded for the second race in succession. In Germany, Vettel was released early following a pitstop and the Milton Keynes squad were given a slap on the wrists. And again in Hungary this time, Mark Webber was released into the path of Kimi Raikkonen following a bodged pitstop that almost saw the fuel man get dragged to the floor. Webber thought he had been given the indication to go, but in fact the fuel nozzle was still attached to the RB5. Webber quickly backtracked his motions and stopped, but now under pressure, the team released him without checking the fast lane again and Webber was forced to back out of the throttle to avoid colliding with the Ferrari.

Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Sebastien buemi, who was enjoying a great weekend starting in P10, has not only finished in last place and been beaten by his rookie team mate, but has also received a fine for €1800 for speeding in the pitlane.

All in all, it was quite the Hungarian Grand Prix. Renault are out for one race, Raikkonen got away with being a bit boisterous at the start and Red Bull are treading on a very thin line with regards to pitstops.

The live race notes can be viewed here: Hungary 2009: Live Race Notes
The race result can be viewed here: Hungary 2009: Race Result
The race report can be viewed here: Hungary 2009: Lewis Hamilton Returns McLaren To Top With Victory
The pitstop and tyre strategies can be viewed here: Hungary 2009: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies
The fantasy racers round-up can be viewed here: Hungary 2009: Fantasy Racers Update
The Renault penalty post can be viewed here: Hungary 2009: Renault Have Been Suspended From The European Grand Prix

Original article by BlogF1.

Hungary 2009: Penalty Updates

Hungary 2009: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies

Oliver White — Sun, 26 Jul 2009 16:12:00 +0000

Below is the strategies table from the Hungarian Grand Prix, which saw a high number of retirements for 2009 – three drivers failed to make the chequered flag. Of all the strategies employed, everybody went with a two-stopper, taking out unscheduled visits to the pitlane for damage repair. Most drivers started on the Super-Soft compound and changed to the harder Soft compound for the final stint, although there were a limited few who chose otherwise.

Hungary 2009 Pitstop Strategies	Stint 1 (Start Tyre)	Stint 2 (Lap)	Stint 3 (Lap)	Stint 4 (Lap)
Ferrari
Felipe Massa	DNS
Kimi Raikkonen	Super Soft	Super Soft (19)	Soft (46)
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton	Super Soft	Super Soft (20)	Soft (47)
Heikki Kovalainen	Super Soft	Super Soft (22)	Soft (44)
BMW
Robert Kubica	Super Soft	Super Soft (22)	Soft (53)
Nick Heidfeld	Super Soft	Super Soft (19)	Soft (50)
Renault
Fernando Alonso	Super Soft	Super Soft (12)	Soft (13)	DNF (17)
Nelson Piquet Jr.	Super Soft	Super Soft (23)	Soft (49)
Toyota
Jarno Trulli	Super Soft	Super Soft (29)	Soft (59)
Timo Glock	Super Soft	Super Soft (32)	Soft (61)
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Jaime Alguersuari	Super Soft	Super Soft (29)	Soft (53)
Sebastien Buemi	Soft	Super Soft (27)	Super Soft (?)
Red Bull Racing
Mark Webber	Super Soft	Soft (19)	Super Soft (51)
Sebastian Vettel	Soft	Soft (22)	Soft (28)	DNF (31)
Williams
Nico Rosberg	Super Soft	Super Soft (20)	Soft (50)
Kazuki Nakajima	Super Soft	Super Soft (23)	Soft (57)
Force India
Adrian Sutil	Soft	DNF (2)
Giancarlo Fisichella	Super Soft	Super Soft (30)	Soft (48)
Brawn
Jenson Button	Super Soft	Super Soft (26)	Soft (56)
Rubens Barrichello	Soft	Soft (34)	Super Soft(58)

The live race notes can be viewed here: Hungary 2009: Live Race Notes
The race result can be viewed here: Hungary 2009: Race Result
The race report can be viewed here: Hungary 2009: Lewis Hamilton Returns McLaren To Top With Victory
The fantasy racers round-up can be viewed here: Hungary 2009: Fantasy Racers Update
The Renault penalty post can be viewed here: Hungary 2009: Renault Have Been Suspended From The European Grand Prix
The penalty updates post can be viewed here: Hungary 2009: Penalty Updates

Original article by BlogF1.

Hungary 2009: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies

Hungary 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Oliver White — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 17:55:21 +0000

The FIA have published the weights of the top ten qualifiers and the declared weights of the remaining ten cars following the qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. Using Williams’s reckoning of the Hungaroring using 2.48kg of fuel over a normalised distance of 5km, we can figure out that over the course of a 4.381km lap, the cars will use 2.17298kg of fuel. Taking the minimum weight of 605kg off, and allowing for a couple of laps for grid formation and margin, we can estimate when the cars will make their first pitstop tomorrow, and therefore their strategies. Assuming of course it doesn’t rain and that the safety car remains in the pitlane.

Hungary 2009 Post-Qualifying Car Weights		Car Weight Kilograms	Fuel Weight Kilograms	First Stop Estimated Lap
1.	Fernando Alonso Renault	637.5	28.2	13
2.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	655	45.7	21
3.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	652	42.7	20
4.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	650.5	41.2	19
5.	Nico Rosberg Williams	654	44.7	21
6.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	655.5	46.2	21
7.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	651.5	42.2	19
8.	Jenson Button Brawn	664.5	55.2	25
9.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	658	48.7	22
10.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	671.5	62.2	29
11.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	671.3	62	29
12.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	689	79.7	37
13.	Timo Glock Ferrari	679.2	69.9	32
14.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	667.7	58.4	27
15.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	658	48.7	22
16.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	680.5	71.2	33
17.	Adrian Sutil Force India	683.5	74.2	34
18.	Robert Kubica BMW	666	56.7	26
19.	Jaime Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso	675.5	66.2	30

From the table, we can see that Fernando Alonso was quite light in qualifying. In fact, he is the lightest car on the grid, by some margin. The Red Bulls have hit the fuel load somewhere around the same as most others, although Jenson Button is the heaviest of the top ten.

Felipe Massa isn’t included in the table because his car weight was not mentioned, the F60 in question being substantially damaged following the Brazilian’s qualifying-ending accident.

Outside of the top ten, we can see that most are opting for a three-stop race, although Sebastien Buemi, Jarno Trulli, Rubens Barrichello, Timo Glock, Nelson Piquet Jr., Giancarlo Fisichella, Adrian Sutil and Jaime Alguersuari are going to attempt a two stop race. Robert Kubica and Jenson Button remain fairly flexible and could go either way, depending on how their races unfold.

The heaviest driver on the grid is Rubens Barrichello, who with his fuel load can get all the way to lap 37 in theory. The lightest driver is pole-sitter Fernando Alonso, who will be visiting his garage for a glug of fuel shortly after the lights go out tomorrow afternoon (around lap 13).

The qualifying results can be viewed here: Hungary 2009: Qualifying Result.
The live notes can be viewed here: Hungary 2009: Live Qualifying Notes
The qualifying report can be viewed here: Hungary 2009: Fernando Alonso Takes A Well Timed Pole Position
The grid can be viewed here: Hungary 2009: The Grid

Original article by BlogF1.

Hungary 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Germany 2009: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies

Oliver White — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 18:07:22 +0000

Most drivers started the race on the Super Soft compound to get it out of the way early on in the race, although some teams did split their strategies between their drivers, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Renault and Toyota doing just this. Also, most drivers went with the two-stop approach to the race, although Timo Glock (who started from the pitlane) went for a one-stopper. Jarno Trulli and Adrian Sutil ended up completing three stops, but only because of damaged parts that needed replacing.

Germany 2009 Pitstop Strategies	Stint 1 (Start Tyre)	Stint 2 (Lap)	Stint 3 (Lap)	Stint 4 (Lap)
Ferrari
Felipe Massa	Super Soft	Super Soft (24)	Medium (45)
Kimi Raikkonen	Super Soft	Super Soft (24)	DNF (35)
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton	Super Soft	Medium (2)	Super Soft (38)
Heikki Kovalainen	Super Soft	Medium (15)	Medium (40)
BMW
Robert Kubica	Super Soft	Medium (23)	Super Soft (44)
Nick Heidfeld	Super Soft	Super Soft (26)	Medium (47)
Renault
Fernando Alonso	Super Soft	Medium (?)	Medium (46)
Nelson Piquet Jr.	Medium	Medium (26)	Super Soft (48)
Toyota
Jarno Trulli	Super Soft	Super Soft (3)	Medium (22)	Super Soft (49)
Timo Glock	Medium	Super Soft (38)
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Sebastien Bourdais	Medium	DNF (21)
Sebastien Buemi	Super Soft	Super Soft (22)	Medium (38)
Red Bull Racing
Mark Webber	Super Soft	Medium (19)	Medium (43
Sebastian Vettel	Super Soft	Medium (22)	Super Soft (44)
Williams
Nico Rosberg	Medium	Medium (29)	Super Soft (47)
Kazuki Nakajima	Medium	Medium (31)	Super Soft (50)
Force India
Adrian Sutil	Medium	Medium (27)	Medium (28)	Super Soft (46)
Giancarlo Fisichella	Super Soft	Super Soft (19)	Medium (36)
Brawn
Jenson Button	Super Soft	Super Soft (13)	Medium (31)	Super Soft (51)
Rubens Barrichello	Super Soft	Super Soft (14)	Medium(32)	Medium (50)

Original article by BlogF1.

Germany 2009: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies

Germany 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Oliver White — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 20:06:04 +0000

With the weights of all twenty cars now published, we can see who did well in qualifying and who did less well. Williams reckon it takes 2.43kg of fuel of cover a normalised distance of 5km, which for the Nurburgring, means the cars will be using approximately 2.5kg of gas per lap of the 5.148km circuit. And with the stated and weighed fuels of the cars, we can take a guess at just how far into the first stint they can each go before having to pit, weather and safety car periods aside.

Germany 2009 Post-Qualifying Car Weights		Car Weight Kilograms	Fuel Weight Kilograms	First Stop Estimated Lap
1.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	661	54	22
2.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	647	40	16
3.	Jenson Button Brawn	644	37	15
4.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	661	54	22
5.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	654.5	47.5	19
6.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	664	57	23
7.	Adrian Sutil Force India	678.5	71.5	29
8.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	673.5	66.5	27
9.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	674	67	27
10.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	676	69	28
11.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	681	74	30
12.	Fernando Alonso Renault	668.2	61.2	24
13.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	683.6	76.6	31
14.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	683.7	76.7	31
15.	Nico Rosberg Williams	689.6	82.6	33
16.	Robert Kubica BMW	673.5	66.5	27
17.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	674.5	67.5	27
18.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	662.5	55.5	22
19.	Timo Glock Toyota	662.3	55.3	22
20.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	689.5	82.5	33

From the table we can see just how well Mark Webber did. The Australian was heavier than both the Brawn drivers and the same as his team mate, whom he beat by 0.25s. An impressive performance by the former Minardi and Jaguar pilot. Also doing well in Q3 was Adrian Sutil, who not only posted Force India’s best ever grid position, but also managed it on a heavier full than the Ferrari cars he went faster than.

The heaviest drivers on the grid, and therefore those are going for a one-stopper, are Nico Rosberg, Sebastien Bourdais, Adrian Sutil, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen, Nelson Piquet Jr, Nick Heidfeld, Kazuki Nakajima, Jarno Trulli and finally, Sebastien Buemi. All others have opted for a clear two stop or have enough fuel for a one, but have left it close in case they want to switch to a two.

Original article by BlogF1.

Germany 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Silverstone 2009: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies

Oliver White — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 17:26:14 +0000

Below is the table for the pitstop strategies for the British Grand Prix, showing that most drivers opted for a two-stopper at Silverstone. The only drivers to attempt a one-stop race were Nelson Piquet Jr and Adrian Sutil. The tyres were fairly evenly matched as well, with many drivers complaining that they couldn’t get them up to temperature. Brawn particularly struggled with this, although Ferrari seemed to have improved significantly in this area. Only two drivers retired at Silverstone; Sebastien Bourdais and Heikki Kovalainen.

Silverstone 2009 Pitstop Strategies	Stint 1 (Start Tyre)	Stint 2 (Lap)	Stint 3 (Lap)	Stint 4 (Lap)
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton	Soft	Soft (20)	Hard (44)
Heikki Kovalainen	Soft	Hard (32)	Hard (33)	DNF (37)
Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen	Soft	Soft (15)	Hard (42)
Felipe Massa	Soft	Soft (21)	Hard (45)
BMW
Nick Heidfeld	Soft	Hard (21)	Soft (46)
Robert Kubica	Hard	Soft (28)	Soft (47)
Renault
Fernando Alonso	Hard	Hard (18)	Soft (38)
Nelson Piquet Jr.	Hard	Soft (29)
Toyota
Jarno Trulli	Soft	Soft (18)	Hard (46)
Timo Glock	Soft	Soft (19)	Hard (48)
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Sebastien Buemi	Hard	Soft (21)	Soft (42)
Sebastien Bourdais	Soft	Soft (26)	Hard (33)	DNF (38)
Red Bull Racing
Sebastian Vettel	Soft	Soft (20)	Hard (44)
Mark Webber	Soft	Soft (20)	Hard (46)
Williams
Nico Rosberg	Hard	Hard (18)	Soft (43)
Kazuki Nakajima	Hard	Hard (14)	Soft (41)
Force India
Giancarlo Fisichella	Soft	Soft (21)	Hard (?)
Adrian Sutil	Hard	Soft (?)
Brawn
Jenson Button	Soft	Hard (18)	Soft (49)
Rubens Barrichello	Soft	Hard (19)	Soft (46)

Original article by BlogF1.

Silverstone 2009: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies

Silverstone 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Oliver White — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 16:29:10 +0000

With the car weights from qualifying now published, we can see who did well during Saturday afternoon’s running and who did not. We can also work out how much fuel was in the cars and therefore how far they each go into the first stint before stopping. The key figure comes from Williams, who say that a lap of Silverstone uses about 2.48kg of fuel. Taking away the car and driver combined minimum weight of 605kg, and minus a couple of laps for grid formation and margin, we can divide the remainder by the per-lap amount and see who is going for a two stopper and who is heavy and going for a one stop race.

Silverstone 2009 Post-Qualifying Car Weights		Car Weight Kilograms	Fuel Weight Kilograms	First Stop Estimated Lap
1.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	666.5	56.1	23
2.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	657.5	47.6	19
3.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	659.5	49.6	20
4.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	658	48.1	20
5.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	652.5	42.6	17
6.	Jenson Button Brawn	657.5	47.6	18/19
7.	Nico Rosberg Williams	661.5	51.6	21
8.	Timo Glock Toyota	660	50.1	19/20
9.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	654	44.1	18
10.	Fernando Alonso Renault	654	44.1	18
11.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	675	65.1	27
12.	Robert Kubica BMW	689.5	79.6	33
13.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	695.5	85.6	35
14.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	682.5	72.6	30
15.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	665.5	55.6	23
16.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	668	58.1	24
17.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	687.5	77.6	32
18.	Adrian Sutil Force India	692	82.1	34
19.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	666	56.1	23
20.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	672.5	62.6	26

From the table we can see that both Brawns are on the same strategy, supposedly pitting on the same lap, although it is likely that one of them would be brought in earlier than anticipated. Button is likely to be on the most flexible of strategies because the team will want to know how to play his race out after the opening lap. Therefore it is Button who may be brought in first. Interestingly though, to highlight Button’s troubles with the car, both he and Barrichello had the same fuel level on board, yet Rubens went 0.4s faster.

We can also see that Sebastian Vettel took pole comfortably from the Brawn pilot, but Vettel was in fact heavier than his team mate Mark Webber. Therefore, Webber’s performance in Q3 earlier has to be questioned. The Australian looked good all day, but then in the final 10 minutes appeared to be struggling, before finally getting distracted by a very slow Kimi Raikkonen who was sitting on the racing line.

Kazuki Nakajima is considerably lighter than those around him, including his team mate who he managed to out-qualify today. Also of note are Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando, who are on the same fuel load in P9 and P10 respectively. Considering their lap times in qualifying were only 0.03s apart, one can presume that at Silverstone, the pace of the two cars is fairly even. So either Ferrari are having a bad weekend or Renault have improved.

Outside of the top-ten, where the car weights are declared by the teams rather than weighed in Parc Ferme, we can see that Heikki Kovalainen is once again the heaviest on the grid. And again it has to be asked why McLaren feel it necessary to fill Heikki up so much; has it actually worked yet in the past year and a half?

Nick Heidfeld and Lewis Hamilton are relatively light and will be looking to make places up at the start. And for the last mention, look out for Giancarlo Fisichella. the force India driver is on a strategy that implies he his competitive, and given that the car has looked good until qualifying went horribly wrong, I think the Italian could make a few places up. Adrian Sutil could also come into play for a top-ten finish later on, the German being heavier than his team mate and playing the long-game.

The qualifying results can be viewed here: Silverstone 2009: Qualifying Result.
The qualifying report can be viewed here: Silverstone 2009: Silverstone 2009: Sebastian Vettel Romps To British Pole
The grid can be viewed here: Silverstone 2009: The Grid

Original article by BlogF1.

Silverstone 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Turkey 2009: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies

Oliver White — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 15:42:48 +0000

Most drivers started the Turkish Grand Prix on the preferred harder compound tyre and divided the race in to three stints with two stops. However, some decided to be a little daring and try three stops (and even one stop), but it seemed that the two-stop option turned out to be the faster. The talking point is Sebastian Vettel’s race, who started on a three-stopper, but after losing his advantage, Red Bull should have changed him to a two-stop. They didn’t and the German spent most of the afternoon chasing other drivers.

Two drivers suffered unusual pitstops in Istanbul; Jarno Trulli overshot his garage of mechanics, forcing them all to shift up in order to change the tyres and engage the fuel nozzle. Kazuki Nakajima was also delayed during one of his pitstops, the front-right wheel cover not going on properly.

Turkey 2009 Pitstop Strategies	Stint 1 (Start Tyre)	Stint 2 (Lap)	Stint 3 (Lap)	Stint 4 (Lap)
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton	Hard	Soft (33)
Heikki Kovalainen	Soft	Hard (19)	Soft (43)
Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen	Hard	Hard (18)	Soft (44)
Felipe Massa	Hard	Hard (17)	Soft (42)
BMW
Nick Heidfeld	Hard	Hard (28)	Soft (46)
Robert Kubica	Hard	Hard (21)	Soft (44)
Renault
Fernando Alonso	Soft	Hard (15)	Hard (47)
Nelson Piquet Jr.	Hard	Hard (31)	Soft (48)
Toyota
Jarno Trulli	Hard	Hard (17)	Soft (43)
Timo Glock	Hard	Hard (31)	Soft(47)
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Sebastien Buemi	Hard	Hard (25)	Soft (43)
Sebastien Bourdais	Hard	Soft (33)
Red Bull Racing
Sebastian Vettel	Hard	Hard (16)	Hard (29)	Soft (48)
Mark Webber	Hard	Hard (18)	Soft (43)
Williams
Nico Rosberg	Hard	Hard (18)	Soft (40)
Kazuki Nakajima	Hard	Hard (26)	Soft (43)
Force India
Giancarlo Fisichella	Hard	DNF (4)
Adrian Sutil	Hard	Hard (21)	Soft (37)
Brawn
Jenson Button	Hard	Hard (17)	Soft (43)
Rubens Barrichello	Hard	Hard (14)	Soft (39)	DNF (48)

Original article by BlogF1.

Turkey 2009: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies

Turkey 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Oliver White — Sat, 06 Jun 2009 14:56:30 +0000

The post-qualifying weights of the cars competing in the Turkish Grand Prix have been (not quite) published by the FIA, and from the data provided we can see who did well during Saturday’s running and who did not. Also, from this data and Williams’s reckoning that a normalised distance of 5km around Istanbul Park requires 2.49kg of fuel, we can work out that the 5.338km circuit would use 2.66kg of fuel. Taking away the minimum car-and-driver weight of 605kg, plus 2 laps (5.32kg) for grid forming and margin, we can have a guess at when each of the drivers will stop first.

Turkey 2009 Post-Qualifying Car Weights		Car Weight Kilograms	Fuel Weight Kilograms	First Stop Estimated Lap
1.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	649.5	39.2	15
2.	Jenson Button Brawn	655.5	45.2	17
3.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	652.5	42.2	16
4.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	656	45.7	17
5.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	652	41.7	16
6.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	658	47.7	18
7.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	654	43.7	16
8.	Fernando Alonso Renault	644.5	34.2	13
9.	Nico Rosberg Williams	660	49.7	19
10.	Robert Kubica BMW	664	53.7	20
11.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	681.5	71.2	27
12.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	680.4	70.1	26
13.	Timo Glock Toyota	689	78.7	30
14.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	665	54.7	21
15.	Adrian Sutil Force India	668.5	58.2	22
16.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	696.5	86.2	32
17.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	689.6	79.3	30
18.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	686.5	76.2	29
19.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	688.5	78.2	29
20.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	701	90.7	34

Sebastian Vettel is a little lighter than both the Brawn pilots, but there is only one lap in it to Rubens Barrichello and two to Jenson Button. Interestingly, Jenson Button managed to out-qualify his team mate with a heavier car, indicating that Barrichello wasn’t entirely happy with the handling of his BGP 001. The rest of the top-ten is fairly standard, with Kimi Raikkonen Nico Rosberg and Robert Kubica being the heaviest. Although Fernando Alonso sticks out a little as being light in comparison to those around him – I’d expect Alonso to make up a place or two at the start.

Heikki Kovalainen and Adrian Sutil in P14 and P15 respectively have very similar fuel loads. This should make for some interesting viewing tomorrow, as Lewis Hamilton lost out to Sutil in qualifying, the Force India pilot making his Mercedes-powered car go faster than the similarly powered McLaren. If Kovalainen cannot get away from Sutil, then I fear there may be trouble on the horizon for the Finn.

Nick Heidfeld, Kazuki Nakajima and Timo Glock could be attempting a two-stopper, each having enough fuel to get to around the halfway mark. Also going for the mid-race point before stopping are Lewis Hamilton and Sebastien Bourdais (the two heaviest on the grid) and possibly Giancarlo Fisichella, Sebastien Buemi and Nelson Piquet Jr.

The starting tyre choice for the two-stoppers will depend on what the track temperature does tomorrow afternoon. As we saw in qualifying today, the track could easily pass the 45°C mark, which is the recommended limit Bridgestone have imposed on the soft compound. Interestingly though, the track cooled slightly as qualifying progressed, indicating that the two-stoppers may want to start on the hard and move to the soft.

The qualifying results can be viewed here: Turkey 2009: Qualifying Result.
The live qualifying notes can be viewed here: Turkey 2009: Live Qualifying Notes.
The grid (inclusive of penalties) can be viewed here once published: Turkey 2009: The Grid.
The qualifying report can be viewed here: Turkey 2009: Sebastian Vettel Takes Pole Position Ahead Of Brawns.

Original article by BlogF1.

Turkey 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Spain 2009: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies

Oliver White — Sun, 10 May 2009 16:32:50 +0000

The pitstops and tyre strategies proved interesting for the Spanish Grand Prix, with eventual race winner Jenson Button being switched to a two-stopper despite the team’s simulations indicating that three stops was the faster option. Rubens Barrichello remained on a three-stopper and finished the race in second. All drivers started on the soft compound apart from Giancarlo Fisichella and Sebastian Bourdais, who tallied four stops during the race. Most teams opted for a two-stop race, although Kazuki Nakajima joined Barrichello with three visits to his team.

Spain 2009 Pitstop Strategies	Stint 1 (Start Tyre)	Stint 2 (Lap)	Stint 3 (Lap)	Stint 4 (Lap)	Stint 5 (Lap)
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton	Soft	Soft (30)	Hard (48)
Heikki Kovalainen	Soft	DNF (7)
Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen	Soft	DNF (19)
Felipe Massa	Soft	Soft (21)	Hard (43)
BMW
Nick Heidfeld	Soft	Soft (30)	Hard (50)
Robert Kubica	Soft	Soft (23)	Hard (46)
Renault
Fernando Alonso	Soft	Soft (19)	Hard (44)
Nelson Piquet Jr.	Soft	Soft (?)	Hard (46)
Toyota
Jarno Trulli	Soft	DNF (1)
Timo Glock	Soft	Soft (18)	Hard (47)
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Sebastien Buemi	Soft	DNF (1)
Sebastien Bourdais	Hard	DNF (1)
Red Bull Racing
Sebastian Vettel	Soft	Soft (21)	Hard (43)
Mark Webber	Soft	Soft (20)	Hard (49)
Williams
Nico Rosberg	Soft	Soft (25)	Hard (49)
Kazuki Nakajima	Soft	Soft (1)	Soft (37)	Hard (51)
Force India
Giancarlo Fisichella	Hard	Soft (1)	Soft (29)	Soft (53)	Soft (55)
Adrian Sutil	Soft	DNF (1)
Brawn
Jenson Button	Soft	Soft (19)	Hard (48)
Rubens Barrichello	Soft	Soft (20)	Soft (30)	Hard (49)

The race results can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Race Result.
The live race notes can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Live Race Notes.
The current championship standings can be viewed here: Championship Standings.
The race report can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Button Leads One-Two For Fourth Win Of Year.

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2009: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies

Bahrain 2009: Pitstop & Fuel Strategies

Oliver White — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 15:36:38 +0000

With fast cars being stuck behind slower cars during the Bahrain Grand Prix, a few drivers altered their strategies as the race unfolded, with Rubens Barrichello going for a three-stop run rather than a two-stopper like his team mate. Ultimately, for those at the front the two-stop scenario worked out better for them and Jenson Button won after timing his stops perfectly; a classic trait of team principal Ross Brawn. Here are the pitstop timings and tyre choices made by the twenty competing drivers this afternoon.

Bahrain 2009 Pitstop Strategies	Stint 1 (Start Tyre)	Stint 2 (Lap)	Stint 3 (Lap)	Stint 4 (Lap)
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton	Super Soft	Super Soft (15)	Medium (37)
Heikki Kovalainen	Medium	Super Soft (12)	Super Soft (38)
Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen	Super Soft	Super Soft (20)	Medium (44)
Felipe Massa	Super Soft	Super Soft (3)	Super Soft (30)	Medium (47)
BMW
Nick Heidfeld	Medium	Super Soft (3)	Super Soft (37)
Robert Kubica	Medium	Super Soft (2)	Super Soft (34)
Renault
Fernando Alonso	Super Soft	Super Soft (16)	Medium (37)
Nelson Piquet Jr.	Super Soft	Super Soft (23)	Medium (43)
Toyota
Jarno Trulli	Super Soft	Medium (11)	Super Soft (37)
Timo Glock	Super Soft	Medium (10)	Super Soft(33)
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Sebastien Buemi	Super Soft	Super Soft (21)	Medium (40)
Sebastien Bourdais	Medium	Super Soft (19)	Super Soft (36)
Red Bull Racing
Sebastian Vettel	Super Soft	Super Soft (19)	Medium (40)
Mark Webber	Super Soft	Medium (14)	Super Soft (38)
Williams
Nico Rosberg	Super Soft	Super Soft (20)	Medium (46)
Kazuki Nakajima	Super Soft	Super Soft (2)	Super Soft (31)	DNF (50)
Force India
Giancarlo Fisichella	Super Soft	Super Soft (15)	Medium (38)
Adrian Sutil	Super Soft	Super Soft (23)	Medium (42)
Brawn
Jenson Button	Super Soft	Super Soft (15)	Medium (37)
Rubens Barrichello	Super Soft	Super Soft (14)	Super Soft (26)	Medium (47)

The race result can be viewed here: Bahrain 2009: Race Result.
The race notes can be viewed here: Bahrain 2009: Live Race Notes.
The race report can be viewed here: Bahrain 2009: Jenson Button Wins In The Intense Bahrain Heat.

Original article by BlogF1.

Bahrain 2009: Pitstop & Fuel Strategies

Bahrain 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Oliver White — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 16:29:50 +0000

With qualifying complete the FIA have released the weights of the cars so we can ascertain who did well and who did not during Saturday’s running. We can also take a look and see what the group outside the top-ten are doing with their strategies and providing rain or safety cars do not hamper the race, we can also take a guess as to when the drivers will be making their first stops and also how many stops they may make.

Bahrain 2009 Post-Qualifying Car Weights		Car Weight Kilograms
1.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	648.5
2.	Timo Glock Toyota	643
3.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	659
4.	Jenson Button Brawn	652.5
5.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	652.5
6.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	649
7.	Fernando Alonso Renault	650.5
8.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	664.5
9.	Nico Rosberg Williams	670.5
10.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	671.5
11.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	678.5
12.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	680.9
13.	Robert Kubica BMW	698.6
14.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	696.3
15.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	677.6
16.	Adrian Sutil Force India	679
17.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	678.5
18.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	652
19.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	656
20.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	667.5

From the above table we can see that Jarno Trulli managed to claim pole position with a heavier a car than his team mate, further emphasising the Italian’s ability to extract the most from his machine over the course of one lap. However, while being heavier will enable Trulli to run longer in the first stint, up to about 2 laps longer, it will mean he may be hampered at getting off the line. This could allow Timo Glock to squeeze into the lead of the race and control the pace from the front.

What is also very interesting is just how much heavier Sebastian Vettel is in comparison with the Brawns. Vettel was carrying 6.5kg more fuel than Jenson Button, but was able to lap the Sakhir circuit 0.026s faster. Further adding to the strangeness of the lap times set with weight being taken into consideration, Button is fuelled heavier than team mate Rubens Barrichello, but the Briton lapped the track almost 0.2s quicker.

The heaviest of the top ten are the two final placed drivers of Nico Rosberg (P9) and Kimi Raikkonen (P10), each carrying around 670kg of fuel. Felipe Massa is clearly scheduled to stop before his team mate, and Kazuki Nakajima will go a few more laps longer in to the first stint than Rosberg as well. By far the heaviest of all though are the two BMWs who look to be doing something strange. Both Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld are carrying around 697kg of fuel, compared to the next heaviest driver of Nakajima who is carrying 680kg.

With Bridgestone once again bringing the super soft compound to the race, it is unlikely that we will see drivers attempting a one stop race as the drivers have to use both types of tyre, and the super soft will simply not last long enough to enable such a strategy. Instead it is likely that the BMW drivers are just going to go very deep into the first stint before making another stop right before the end for the super softs.

As a final mention, Red Bull seem to be adopting a fairly aggressive strategy with Mark Webber, who is trapped towards the back in P18. On a similar strategy to his team mate Sebastian Vettel, it is likely that the team are pinning their hopes on Webber being able to use the superior chassis of the RB5 to push his way up through the field.

The qualifying results can be viewed here: Bahrain 2009: Qualifying Result.
The live qualifying notes can be viewed here: Bahrain 2009: Live Qualifying Notes.
The qualifying report can be viewed here: Bahrain 2009: Toyota Lock Out Front Row With Trulli On Pole.
The grid (inclusive of penalties) can be viewed here: Bahrain 2009: The Grid.

Original article by BlogF1.

Bahrain 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Shanghai 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Oliver White — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 11:07:08 +0000

Detailed below are the weights of all the cars post-qualifying. With this information now available from the FIA, we can assess the competitiveness of each of the drivers in qualifying and also have a few guesses at their strategies for tomorrow’s race. Safety car periods negate any prediction though, as the pilots can conserve fuel when following the Mercedes, although in previous Chinese Grands Prix, Bernd Mylander was rarely pressed into action. The results are listed in order of qualifying lap times, and it should also be noted that although Timo Glock set the fourteenth fastest time in Q2, the German has been demoted to nineteenth due to a penalty.

Shanghai 2009 Post-Qualifying Car Weights		Car Weight Kilograms
1.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	644
2.	Fernando Alonso Renault	637
3.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	646.5
4.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	661
5.	Jenson Button Brawn	659
6.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	664.5
7.	Nico Rosberg Williams	650.5
8.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	673.5
9.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	679
10.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	673
11.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	679
12.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	697
13.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	690
14.	Timo Glock Toyota	652
15.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	682.7
16.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	690
17.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	697.9
18.	Robert Kubica BMW	659
19.	Adrian Sutil Force India	648
20.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	679.5

From the table above, we can see that both Red Bulls are much lighter than the Brawns and that Sebastian Vettel will likely pit ahead of team mate Mark Webber. Although the first of the stops will be most likely be made by Renault, with Fernando Alonso being the lightest on the grid by some margin. The next heaviest car to the Spaniard is Vettel’s Red Bull, but even then the difference is a substantial 7kg.

Lewis Hamilton, Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastien Buemi are all heavy and thus qualified in the final three positions of the top ten, although this is perhaps the best they could achieve in reality. Having said that though, this trio is not the heaviest of all, not by a long-shot. Heikki Kovalainen and Nelson Piquet Jr have 697kg and 697.9kg of fuel onboard respectively. My initial reaction to this was a daring one-stopper, but there is no way the tyres would be able to withstand that kind of pressure on the abrasive Shanghai surface – they would be worn down to the canvas and beyond. Instead, it is likely that both Kovalainen and Piquet will just run deep into the first stint.

Original article by BlogF1.

Shanghai 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Malaysia 2009: Pitstop & Fuel Strategies

Oliver White — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 14:00:07 +0000

With the heavy rainfall experienced in Sepang, all strategies went cleanly out of the window. All cars started on the soft tyre, the compound being not as soft as the super-softs Bridgestone took to Melbourne last weekend. Because of this, the soft tyre lasted a lot longer than the super-soft did and the durability meant that the drivers could use it for longer stints. The ruling about drivers using both compounds is negated when it rains, and as the drivers ended up swapping between the full wet weather tyre and the intermediate rubber, the hard compound was not used.

Malaysia 2009 Pitstop Strategies	Stint 1 (Start Tyre)	Stint 2 (Lap)	Stint 3 (Lap)	Stint 4 (Lap)	Stint 5 (Lap)
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton	Soft	Wet (22)	Int. (27)	Wet (31)
Heikki Kovalainen	Soft	DNF
Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen	Soft	Wet (18)	Int. (30)	Wet (31)	DNF
Felipe Massa	Soft	Wet (22)	Int. (30)	Wet (31)
BMW
Nick Heidfeld	Soft	Wet (22)
Robert Kubica	Soft	DNF
Renault
Fernando Alonso	Soft	Wet (22)	Int. (29)	Wet (31)
Nelson Piquet Jr.	Soft	Wet (22)	Int. (30)	Wet (31)
Toyota
Jarno Trulli	Soft	Soft (17)	Wet (22)	Int. (29)	Wet (31)
Timo Glock	Soft	Soft (16)	Int. (26)	Wet (31)
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Sebastien Buemi	Soft	Soft (3)	Wet (22)	DNF
Sebastien Bourdais	Soft	Wet (21)	Int. (27)	Wet (31)
Red Bull Racing
Sebastian Vettel	Soft	Soft (14)	Wet (22)	Int. (27)	DNF
Mark Webber	Soft	Soft (17)	Wet (22)	Int. (30)	Wet (31)
Williams
Nico Rosberg	Soft	Soft (15)	Wet (22)	Int. (27)	Wet (31)
Kazuki Nakajima	Soft	Wet (22)	Int. (29)	Wet (31)
Force India
Giancarlo Fisichella	Soft	Soft (19)	Wet (29)	DNF
Adrian Sutil	Soft	Soft (16)	Wet (19)	Wet (32)
Brawn
Jenson Button	Soft	Soft (20)	Wet (22)	Int. (30)	Wet (31)
Rubens Barrichello	Soft	Soft (21)	Wet (22)	Int. (29)	Wet (31)

In reality, there isn’t much more to say about the strategies. The teams would have liked to have done two pitstops during the race, and they probably would have ended on the hard compound. Some may have been tempted to use the hard tyre in the middle, but with the threat of rain, why bother using something that they may not need to?

The only points that are worth mentioning are Ferrari’s gamble with Kimi Raikkonen on the full wet weather tyre, taken on lap 18. By lap 24, Raikkonen had radioed his team to say the grip had completely gone. Also of note is Timo Glock’s excellent timing, being the first to go to the intermediate tyre and also, just as everyone else was catching up, the first to revert to the full wet. Adrian Sutil did not return to the track after his final stop and finished in the pitlane.

Original article by BlogF1.

Malaysia 2009: Pitstop & Fuel Strategies

Malaysia 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Oliver White — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 15:25:56 +0000

Listed below are the weights of all the cars post-qualifying. The information is now made available by the FIA after qualifying is complete and it allows us to see who did well and who didn’t during Saturday’s running. From this we can work out who might be stopping first and we can have a guess at strategies for each driver. However, some factors will come in to play during tomorrow’s race, the safety car having the biggest impact on fuel consumption, and therefore pitstop times.

Malaysia 2009 Post-Qualifying Car Weights		Car Weight Kilograms
1.	Jenson Button Brawn	660
2.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	656.5
3.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	647
4.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	664.5
5.	Timo Glock Toyota	656.5
6.	Nico Rosberg Williams	656
7.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	656
8.	Robert Kubica BMW	663
9.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	662.5
10.	Fernando Alonso Renault	680.5
11.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	692
12.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	683.5
13.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	688
14.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	688.9
15.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	670.5
16.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	689.5
17.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	681.9
18.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	680.5
19.	Adrian Sutil Force India	655.5
20.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	686.5

What grabs my attention immediately from looking at the weights of the cars is that Jenson Button, the driver who took pole position, was on 660kg, whereas directly behind him, Jarno Trulli and Sebastian Vettel were actually lighter. This only emphasises the dominance of the Brawn car at the moment, as Button was able to go faster with a heavier car.

We can also see that both Brawns are on a similar strategy, although Button will pit first. The same can be said of the Toyotas, and it should also be noted that with the same amount of fuel, Jarno Trulli was able to go quicker than his team mate; the Italian really is pretty handy at qualifying.

Sebastian Vettel qualified with very low fuel, the German clearly hoping to get as high up the grid as possible before the FIA demote him ten places for the penalty he incurred in Melbourne. Team mate Mark Webber is on a similar strategy to others around him, so he will be hoping to get among the front runners and score some decent points.

The heaviest driver on the grid is Nick Heidfeld, and once again McLaren will likely pit Lewis Hamilton before Heikki Kovalainen. Force India look to have split their strategy, with Giancarlo Fisichella going longer into the first stint as opposed to team mate Adrian Sutil, who will pit around the same time as the front runners.

Original article by BlogF1.

Malaysia 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Australia 2009: Pitstop & Fuel Strategies

Oliver White — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 11:12:09 +0000

The strategies employed for the Australian Grand Prix were fairly standard with most teams aiming for a two stopper during the 58 laps. As with 2008, all drivers must use both compounds of tyre, which for the Albert Park race was Super-Soft and Medium. New for 2009 is the different grades of compounds issued by Bridgestone; they’re further apart, which made the difference between the stints even more noticeable. The Super-Soft tyre degraded after about ten laps of the circuit, so all drivers used the Medium tyre for much of the race.

Australia 2009 Pitstop Strategies	Stint 1 (Start Tyre)	Stint 2 (Lap)	Stint 3 (Lap)	Stint 4 (Lap)
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton	Super-Soft	Medium (12)	Medium (44)
Heikki Kovalainen	Medium
Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen	Super-Soft	Medium (10)	Medium (40)	Super-Soft (44)
Felipe Massa	Super-Soft	Medium (12)	Medium (32)
BMW
Nick Heidfeld	Medium	Medium (1)	Medium (20)	Super-Soft (44)
Robert Kubica	Super-Soft	Medium (13)	Medium (40)
Renault
Fernando Alonso	Medium	Medium (20)	Super-Soft (52)
Nelson Piquet Jr.	Medium	Medium (20)
Toyota
Jarno Trulli	Super-Soft	Medium (10)	Medium (34)
Timo Glock	Medium	Medium (19)	Super-Soft (51)
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Sebastien Buemi	Medium	Medium (19)	Super-Soft (42)
Sebastien Bourdais	Super-Soft	Medium (10)	Medium (22)
Red Bull Racing
Sebastian Vettel	Medium	Medium (17)	Super-Soft (46)
Mark Webber	Medium	Medium (1)	Super-Soft (36)
Williams
Nico Rosberg	Medium	Medium (17)	Super-Soft (45)
Kazuki Nakajima	Medium
Force India
Giancarlo Fisichella	Medium	Medium (20)	Super-Soft (50)
Adrian Sutil	Medium	Medium (1)	Super-Soft (23)	Medium (35)
Brawn
Jenson Button	Medium	Medium (19)	Super-Soft (47)
Rubens Barrichello	Medium	Medium (19)	Super-Soft (52)

Most drivers started the race on the Medium compound, hoping to run until about ten laps from the end and then use the softer of the tyres for the final dash to the chequered flag.

Exceptions to this were both Ferraris, Robert Kubica, Jarno Trulli, Sebastien Bourdais and Lewis Hamilton. Some drivers ended up making an extra stop due to sustaining damage in the first corner accident, although Rubens Barrichello – the main driver involved – was able to get his car through to his first scheduled pitstop.

Original article by BlogF1.

Australia 2009: Pitstop & Fuel Strategies

Lights, Camera, Action: Ferrari Haven’t Given Up On Pitlane Lights

Oliver White — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 18:15:04 +0000

Last year Ferrari suffered many embarrassments in the pitstops when both Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen dropped the clutch too early, resulting in near-misses with other cars (mainly similarly powered Adrian Sutil). The reason for the near misses wasn’t always driver error, and Ferrari’s lighting system came under a lot of criticism, so much so that the Maranello squad reverted back to the standard lollipop for the final three races. But the idea isn’t completely dead and buried just yet.

The main issue wasn’t really to do with the lights themselves – on the face of it they are a very good idea and remove one person from the pitlane. However, the first problem came when the fuel nozzle-retraction from the car didn’t indicate the lights to change. The second issue centred around the human on the pit wall who was charged with giving the final confirmation that all was clear for the car to go. It seemed that sometimes it didn’t always go to plan.

In Valencia, Kimi Raikkonen left the garage early, replays suggesting the light was amber, indicating that this was driver error. But in Singapore, Massa was given the green light to go. Unfortunately for the Brazilian, the fuel hose was still attached and ended up being dragged down the pitlane. In both cases, team members were pulled to the ground and received minor injuries.

So for the final three races of 2008, Ferrari reverted to the traditional lollipop system, whereby a member of the team stands in front of the car and gives instructions to the driver via the lollipop. But all these embarrassments haven’t stopped Ferrari from pursuing the lighting system, and now it is expected to make a return in 2009.

We’ve analysed the mistakes made in 2008 and we’ve improved the system. An electronic program will prevent the car from leaving when the fuel hose is still attached. Luca Baldisserri.

Since the end of the 2008 season, Ferrari have researched what happened and why the accidents occurred. The team have made several changes to the system, notably the software, and are now confident that it should work as expected, with a very good fail-safe systems in place to prevent any more early releases. Perhaps Ross Brawn let a few documents slip through the net in exchange for a few Italian-built motors…?

Original article by BlogF1.

Lights, Camera, Action: Ferrari Haven’t Given Up On Pitlane Lights

Brazil 2008: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies

Oliver White — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 22:20:10 +0000

Well, that was a race and a half concerning pit stops. There were so many I actually lost count. The following information is just from my own observation, and I rushed the post for Sidepodcast and their live recording of their podcast. I think my math is wrong but I’ll correct it later tonight. Most started on wets, although Robert Kubica started on mediums, but pitted for wets and took the start from the pitlane.

Brazil 2008: Tyre/Race Strategies

Prime Tyre: Medium
Option Tyre: Hard
Wets: Intermediates

Due to the start of the race being wet, the drivers were able to run on one tyre for the entire race – the rule about running both compounds is negated in these circumstances.

Driver/Team	Stint 1 (Lap)	Stint 2 (Lap)	Stint 3 (Lap)	Stint 4 (Lap)	Stint 5 (Lap)	Stint 6 (Lap)
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton	Wet	Hard (9)	Hard (38)	Wet (64)
Heikki Kovalainen	Wet	Hard (8)	Hard (40)	Wet (63)
Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen	Wet	Hard (9)	Hard (39)	Wet (64)
Felipe Massa	Wet	Hard (8)	Hard (35)	Wet (65)
BMW
Nick Heidfeld	Wet	Hard (?)	Hard (40)	Wet (63)
Robert Kubica	Wet (0)	Hard (?)	Hard (45)	Wet (63)
Renault
Fernando Alonso	Wet	Hard (6)	Hard (38)	Wet (65)
Nelson Piquet Jr.	Wet
Toyota
Jarno Trulli	Wet	Hard (9)	Hard (47)
Timo Glock	Wet	Hard (6)	Hard (44)
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Sebastian Vettel	Wet	Hard (7)	Hard (?)	Hard (49)	Wet (65)
Sebastien Bourdais	Wet	Hard (5)	Hard (36)	Extreme (?)	Wet (65)
Red Bull Racing
David Coulthard	Wet
Mark Webber	Wet	Hard (6)	Hard (46)	Wet (65)
Williams
Nico Rosberg	Wet	Hard (5)	Hard (38)	Wet (65)
Kazuki Nakajima	Wet	Hard (6)	Hard (50)	Wet (61)
Honda
Rubens Barrichello	Wet	Hard (6)	Hard (38)	Extreme (?)	Wet (64)
Jenson Button	Wet	Hard (6)	Hard (34)	Hard (?)	Extreme (?)	Wet (65)
Force India
Giancarlo Fisichella	Wet	Medium (1)	Medium (36)	Extreme (?)	Wet (65)
Adrian Sutil	Wet	Medium (6)	Medium (42)	Extreme (?)	Wet (62)

Original article by BlogF1.

Brazil 2008: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies

Shanghai 2008: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies

Oliver White — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 09:27:20 +0000

Most drivers started the Chinese Grand Prix on the harder compound supplied by Bridgestone, although both Ferraris and both Williams started with the softer tyre, as did Adrian Sutil in the Force India. Most drivers two-stopped, although Timo Glock, Giancarlo Fisichella, David Coulthard and Kazuki Nakajima only pitted once. Robert Kubica did not change his tyres at his first stop, keeping the hard tyres on for his second stint. Sebastien Bourdais was the heaviest driver in Q3 yesterday, getting as far as lap 24 in today’s race before stopping.

Shanghai 2008 Pitstop & Tyre Strategies			Prime: Soft	Option: Hard
Driver/Team	Stint 1 (Starting Tyre)	Stint 2 (Lap)	Stint 3 (Lap)	Stint 4 (Lap)
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton	Hard	Hard (16)	Soft (37)
Heikki Kovalainen	Hard	Hard (19)	Soft (36)
Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen	Soft	Hard (16)	Soft (37)
Felipe Massa	Soft	Soft (15)	Hard (36)
BMW
Nick Heidfeld	Hard	Hard (18)	Soft (38)
Robert Kubica	Hard	No Change (31)	Soft (39)
Renault
Fernando Alonso	Hard	Hard (15)	Soft (35)
Nelson Piquet Jr.	Hard	Hard (25)	Soft (37)
Toyota
Jarno Trulli	Hard
Timo Glock	Hard	Soft (33)
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Sebastian Vettel	Hard	Hard (19)	Soft (40)
Sebastien Bourdais	Hard	Soft (24)	Soft (38)
Red Bull Racing
David Coulthard	Soft	Hard (31)
Mark Webber	Hard	Soft (13)	Soft (32)
Williams
Nico Rosberg	Soft	Soft (16)	Hard (38)
Kazuki Nakajima	Soft	Hard (32)
Honda
Rubens Barrichello	Hard	Hard (20)	Soft (39)
Jenson Button	Hard	Hard (24)	Soft (45)
Force India
Giancarlo Fisichella	Hard	Soft (31)
Adrian Sutil	Soft

Please note, this data is from my own observation and may not be 100% accurate.

Original article by BlogF1.

Shanghai 2008: Pitstop & Tyre Strategies

They Haven’t Worked For Ferrari, But That Hasn’t Stopped Honda Developing Pitstop Lights

Oliver White — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 04:03:30 +0000

Despite Ferrari’s pitstop lighting system having let the team down on two occasions thus far, Honda are testing a similar system with the view of running it next season. Like with Ferrari, the lights hang from a gantry above the driver during a pitstop and indicate when it is safe to to leave the box and continue with the race. Although Ferrari haven’t had much luck with them, Ross Brawn believes the lights are safer than the traditional lollipop.

Honda tried the system for the first time during the Thursday pitstop practice at Fuji yesterday and have even mooted the idea of running them during Friday’s practices in China and Brazil. And speaking to Autosport, Ross Brawn stated that he believes it could be safer than having a team member stand near the car with a lollipop.

We can see a lot of safety benefits from the system. But like any system it has got to be very robust and you have got to be very confident in the technology you are using. It is quite a delicate situation.

At the moment we are really going through an assessment period. We wanted to do some trialling in the practice days at the race track to be in a good position to make a judgement over the winter about what we want to do. Ross Brawn.

The current issue surrounding pitstops is two-fold. Firstly, the danger of the car leaving while the fuel hose is still attached can add unnecessary danger to an already dangerous part of the race. In Singapore, Felipe Massa lept away from his pitstop too early and the hose was ripped from the refuelling rig, taking a team member down and briefly spraying fuel as it flew past. The second issue is being released into the fast lane in front of another driver. This aspect of the pitstop comes down to human judgement, but the consequences of getting wrong are potentially race-ending penalties.

The light system is designed to help with problem-one, the lights not changing until the hose is clear from the car. This is an automatic part of the process and in theory, shouldn’t fail in the way a human can. Of course, that doesn’t mean to say it won’t, but as Brawn says, you have to be confident in the technology you’re using.

We can see, despite the poor exposure the system has had recently, a lot of safety benefits of the system – because the interlocks you create can, in theory, make it impossible for the car to be released without all the actions being completed.

But someone has to make the call for whether there is a gap in the pitlane for the car to exit into, and we haven’t yet worked out a way to deal with that. We have thought about sensors in the pitlane that sense when other cars are there and things like that, but that is still a human judgement.

It would still be human judgement if you had a lollipop though. And, with a lollipop, the guy is also trying to make that judgement at the same time as watching all the other activities that are going on with the car. That is where it is more difficult for him. Ross Brawn.

Interestingly, Ferrari are reverting away from the auto-lights in Fuji in favour of the traditional and proven pitstop-lollipop. One thing that inspires confidence in Honda’s approach though is that they are quite clear with the fact they won’t rush into the new system, but instead want to extensively test it over the winter first.

Original article by BlogF1.

They Haven’t Worked For Ferrari, But That Hasn’t Stopped Honda Developing Pitstop Lights

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Hungary 2009Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Car WeightKilograms

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First StopEstimated Lap

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Stint 3(Lap)

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Silverstone 2009Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Car WeightKilograms

Fuel WeightKilograms

Bahrain 2010
Pitstop Strategies

Stint 1
(Start Tyre)

Stint 2
(Lap)

Stint 3
(Lap)

Stint 4
(Lap)

Brazil 2009
Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Car Weight
Kilograms

Fuel Weight
Kilograms

First Stop
Estimated Lap

Singapore 2009
Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Car Weight
Kilograms

Fuel Weight
Kilograms

First Stop
Estimated Lap

Monza 2009
Pitstop Strategies

Stint 1
(Start Tyre)

Stint 2
(Lap)

Stint 3
(Lap)

Stint 4
(Lap)

Belgium 2009
Pitstop Strategies

Stint 1
(Start Tyre)

Stint 2
(Lap)

Stint 3
(Lap)

Stint 4
(Lap)

Belgium 2009
Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Car Weight
Kilograms

Fuel Weight
Kilograms

First Stop
Estimated Lap

Valencia 2009
Pitstop Strategies

Stint 1
(Start Tyre)

Stint 2
(Lap)

Stint 3
(Lap)

Stint 4
(Lap)

Valencia 2009
Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Car Weight
Kilograms

Fuel Weight
Kilograms

First Stop
Estimated Lap

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Stint 1
(Start Tyre)

Stint 2
(Lap)

Stint 3
(Lap)

Stint 4
(Lap)

Hungary 2009
Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Car Weight
Kilograms

Fuel Weight
Kilograms

First Stop
Estimated Lap

Germany 2009
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Stint 1
(Start Tyre)

Stint 2
(Lap)

Stint 3
(Lap)

Stint 4
(Lap)

Germany 2009
Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Car Weight
Kilograms

Fuel Weight
Kilograms

First Stop
Estimated Lap

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Stint 1
(Start Tyre)

Stint 2
(Lap)

Stint 3
(Lap)

Stint 4
(Lap)

Silverstone 2009
Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Car Weight
Kilograms

Fuel Weight
Kilograms

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Estimated Lap

Turkey 2009
Pitstop Strategies

Stint 1
(Start Tyre)

Stint 2
(Lap)

Stint 3
(Lap)

Stint 4
(Lap)

Turkey 2009
Post-Qualifying Car Weights

Car Weight
Kilograms

Fuel Weight
Kilograms

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Estimated Lap

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(Start Tyre)

Stint 2
(Lap)

Stint 3
(Lap)

Stint 4
(Lap)

Stint 5
(Lap)

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