Fantasy Racers Spain 2009 Update	Points Scored Team/Driver	Race Result Position	Overall Position Championship
BlogF1 Racing	677	1006th	1061st
Adrian Sutil	1
Jenson Button	236
Nico Rosberg	106
Rubens Barrichello	186
Sebastian Vettel	146
Budget Remaining	2
Team Finitalia	146	4849th	4524th
Giancarlo Fisichella	72
Heikki Kovalainen	12
Jarno Trulli	4
Kimi Raikkonen	23
Budget Remaining	35
Pentaerythritol Tetranitrate	543	2510th	2763rd
Jarno Trulli	4
Jenson Button	236
Nick Heidfeld	116
Rubens Barrichello	186
Budget Remaining	1
Blogger’s Dog Racing	411	3877th	2424th
Adrian Sutil	1
Kimi Raikkonen	23
Mark Webber	156
Sebastian Vettel	146
Timo Glock	85
Budget Remaining	0
Inner Pickle Racing	659	1175th	1721st
Jenson Button	236
Rubens Barrichello	186
Sebastian Vettel	146
Timo Glock	85
Budget Remaining	6

As we can see from the table, BlogF1 Racing again did well thanks to a one-two from Brawn today, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello collecting a combined total of 422 for the team. Sebastian Vettel performed okay as did Nico Rosberg, which left the team in 1006th for the Spanish Grand Prix and improves them to 1061st overall. In the Sidepodcast League, BF1R are in 150th.

Inner Pickle Racing are also continuing to run well, again having both the Brawn drivers onboard is doing them no harm whatsoever, and also having the two Germans of Vettel and Glock is also proving useful. IPR scored 659 points in Spain as opposed to the 677 of BF1R. In fact, IPR now move ahead of Mr. C’s Longitudinal Inertia team in the Sidepodcast League, P245 vs. P221. [Insert smile here.]

Rather embarrassingly, the Italians and the Fins performed terribly in Spain for Team Finitalia, with only Giancarlo Fisichella finishing the race. The least said about that the better, I think. PETN did okay but Blogger’s Dog Racing lost positions from the last race and went from an overall 2013th after Bahrain to 2424th after Spain. Some changes are on the way for these squads, me thinks.

Fantasy Racers is a fantasy Formula One competition. It is free to sign up but if you wish to have more than team you will need to make a donation to the site. You can also join private leagues, and currently BlogF1’s set of squads race in the Sidepodcast League.

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2009: Fantasy Racers Update

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

Rubens Barrichello enjoyed a great start as the Brazilian squeezed his Brawn ahead of his team mate. Elsewhere down the grid, Hamilton too had a great start initially, but as the Briton tried to get his McLaren between the wall and Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard edged over, clearly unaware that Hamilton was there and forced the Briton onto the grass and out of the throttle.

Hamilton and Alonso wasn’t the biggest incident of the start though as the pack threaded their way through the first and second corners. Jarno Trulli ran out wide as his Toyota leaned out of the left hander and over to the right for the long right-hander. Skating over the gravel Trulli was effectively off the track.

Behind, Adrian Sutil was having his own issues as the German skipped the left hander and crossed the run-off. As both drivers rejoined the track, Sutil cut into Trulli and forced the Toyota into a spin. Sebastien Bourdais got out of the throttle to avoid the accident ahead of him, but this only meant that Sebastien Buemi plowed into the back of him.

Trulli, Sutil and both Scuderia Toro Rossos retired on the spot as the field struggled to get through the carbon fibre that was flying up in the air and scattering itself over the tarmac.

Also suffering from the word go was Kimi Raikkonen, who on the grid-forming lap radioed his team to say he was having a problem with the KERS on his Ferrari F60. It later turned out that Raikkonen couldn’t see the light properly in his car and was therefore unsure when he could use the power boost.

The first corner incident brought out the safety car, although it did take a few moments before race control finally made the decision. The pack closed up and followed Bernd Maylander in the Mercedes-Benz sports car. The safety car was only out for a few laps though but the restart looked worrying for the leading Brawns.

Felipe Massa had managed to get himself into P3 from the line thanks to KERS. And once again, with KERS enabled and charged, Massa could attempt to gain another position, especially as the cars are already travelling at the 100km/h limit for the device to be used. Alas, Barrichello closed the pack up well and jumped on the throttle as he lead the field through the final sequence of corners. The Brawns maintained their lead.

Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso shared some tarmac on the restart as the pair battled their way down to the first corner. Alonso managed to draw alongside the Australian, positioning himself between the RB5 and pitwall as they dragged each other down to T1. Comfortably ahead thanks to the KERS on the R29, Alonso moved back over the left to take a more standard line into the corner only to find that Webber had darted back under the Renault and braked desperately late. Webber somehow managed to make the car stick to the road, hit the apex and reapplied the throttle, retaking the position from the double world champion and leaving myself gawping at the scene.

On L6, Heikki Kovalainen slowed on track and eventually pulled into the pitlane to retire his McLaren, the Fin enduring a very difficult start to the season having only finished one race so far in 2009. This time it was the gearbox on his MP4-24 that caused the retirement.

Rubens Barrichello edged out a small gap over Jenson Button as the team switched the strategies of their cars. Button went onto a two-stopper while Barrichello remained on the original plan of a three-stopper. Because both cars had been fuelled relatively light before the race, it meant that Button would have to endure a long middle stint before he could pit for the final time. However, the plan worked out for the Briton in the end.

Behind the leaders, it became clear that Felipe Massa was holding Sebastian Vettel up and although the German was running very close behind the Ferrari, Vettel couldn’t make any moves stick and the Red Bull pilot spent most of the race studying the rear wing of the Ferrari F60.

Further back, Kimi Raikkonen was also being held up as he couldn’t find a way pass the BMW of Nick Heidfeld. The Finnish pilot was struggling with his KERS and although Raikkonen had a couple of looks, he just couldn’t make one stick. By L19 though, Raikkonen’s race was over as he slowed down and pulled off the track. Another retirement for Ferrari is not good, especially as they have made a big improvement in pace for this weekend, not being able to capitalise on it is disastrous.

On L19, Button pitted for tyres and fuel, and the amount of fuel that was pumped into the Brawn meant that he lost a lot of time to the leader Barrichello. However, the plan was that Jenson would be able to regain this by having to make one less stop than his team mate. Barrichello pitted on the following lap and reemerged in the net-lead, which six laps later would be more than 10s.

If Barrichello was to win the race he had to set some stunning laps and pull out a margin to Button in the middle stint. By L30, Rubens pitted for the second time, but the lead was only 13.5s and wasn’t enough to cover the stop. With each driver having one more stop to make, the race was Jenson’s barring any other problems.

Further back Sebastian Vettel was still looking at the back of Massa’s Ferrari. The pair duelled for most of the race and even a wheel-cover flying off the F60 didn’t help the Red Bull pilot much.

As the second round pitstops happened, Mark Webber managed to leapfrog Massa, which was important for his race. On L43, both Massa and Vettel pitted, leaving once again in the order that they came in. Webber got the hammer down and pumped in some good laps and by the time the Australian had completed his second stop, was ahead of the pair in essentially a net-P3.

It was after the final round of pitstops that a communication from Rob Smedley to his driver Felipe Massa that caused concern. Ferrari had not pumped enough fuel into Massa’s car during both stops due to a problem with the rig. Thus, Massa was light on fuel and had to conserve. The problem for the Brazilian is that he was vigorously defending his position from the frustrated Vettel directly behind. If Massa backed-off and short-shifted through the gears, Vettel would simply drive by.

A few laps later, with the fuel issue becoming critical for the safety of Massa’s race – he would either have to splash-and-dash and fall out of the points, or retire – Smedley ordered Felipe to let Vettel go. With 16s to Fernando Alonso further back, it would be touch and go if even P5 would be safe for the Ferrari pilot. Alas, it was not and by the end of the race, Alonso had simply driven around the Ferrari for fifth.

Although some of the gaps between the drivers closed up towards the end of the race, with Lewis Hamilton having to defend to Timo Glock and Mark Webber having caught up with Rubens Barrichello, the positions remained and Jenson Button crossed the line to take his fourth victory of the year, a win he wasn’t expecting. Brawn felt the two-stop strategy was not the fastest, and with Button struggling with the car’s balance all weekend, the pole position on Saturday that was converted to victory on Sunday will undoubtedly be very sweet.

Mark Webber completed the podium while team mate Sebastian Vettel came home fourth to give Red Bull another dose of points. Fernando Alonso had his fans on their feet as the local hero finished in P5, unexpectedly finding himself ahead of the Ferrari. Massa collected three points, his first of the year and equal now to team mate Kimi Raikkonen. Although the F60 did splutter to a halt on the slow-down lap. Nick Heidfeld and Nico Rosberg complete the top eight finishers.

Brawn now have a very healthy lead in the constructors championship and Button leads the drivers from Barrichello by fourteen points. Red Bull extend their lead over Toyota who did not score today, while Ferrari doubled their tally thanks to Massa nursing his emptying fuel tank to the finish. Those extra three points from the Brazilian mean that the Scuderia have moved ahead of Scuderia Toro Rosso and Williams and now sit in P7 in the constructors.

The circus will now fly to Monaco, a race that is often considered the jewel on a drivers CV. Jenson Button would love to win around the streets of Monte Carlo, but as we have seen in Barcelona, the others are catching up a little and it is getting harder for the Brackley squad to maintain the lead. However, a little bit of hard work, some good strategy calls from the pitwall and clearly Brawn are the team to beat. With an awesome chassis though, I think Monaco might lean towards the favour of the Red Bull squad, but we’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

• 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 pitstops and fuel strategies can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Pitstop & Fuel Strategies.

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2009: Button Leads One-Two For Fourth Win Of Year

A live updated results post is also here, updated as drivers retire and finalised after the drivers take the chequered flag.

• Brundle grid-walking towards the back of the field: “Fisi’s not having a great year, but at least he’s qualified in the top-twenty.”
• Christian Horner has told the BBC that Massa will be the only driver in the top four who is starting on scrubbed tyres. Therefore, Vettel has to keep Massa behind him to prevent Massa from running away.
• The right-hand side of the track was grippier in the support race earlier, even though the left is the racing line. The right-hand side is the inside line into T1, so the fight for the lead is going to be fascinating.
• Most drivers appear to be starting on soft compound tyres.
• Raikkonen saying there is a KERS problem on his Ferrari already. It’s only the grid-forming lap!
• ALO good start.
• BAR leads.
• MAS good start into P3.
• BUE, SUT, BOU and TRU accident.
• SC out.
• SUT left track. Rejoined and speared into TRU who ran wide and was rejoining himself. The STRs were picked up in the melee.
• L1: FIS pits.
• L1: NAK pits.
• L1: HAM FL!
• L2: BAR FL under SC.
• L3: ROS FL under SC.
• ROS tagged TRU which sent him onto the gravel. SUT, separately, went over the run-off. As both TRU and SUT rejoined, they came together. The STRs were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
• L4: NAK fastest lap under SC.
• L5: Race is on again.
• L5: ALO passes WEB on the grass. WEB came straight back into T1. Awesome battle.
• How on earth did WEB make the apex in T1. Stunning!
• L6: Brawns continue to lead. BAR, BUT, MAS, VET, WEB, ALO, ROS, GLO, HEI.
• L6: KOV slow.
• L6: HAM passes PIQ.
• L7: KOV pits, likely to retire.
• L9: BUT puts hammer down to reclaim margin to leading BAR.
• KOV retired with gearbox failure.
• L10: BAR takes back FL.
• L11: BAR edges lead out to 1.3s.
• Note to BBC: Please say which Sebastien at STR you are talking to. When you only hear audio, it can be tricky working out if its a French or Swiss accent. (Thanks to Brundle for clarifying.)
• L13: BAR leads by 1.6s.
• L14: VET is in a poor position. MAS is ahead and is ruining his race.
• L14: BUT FL.
• L15: RAI attacks HEI. Can’t pass.
• L17: RAI still cannot pass HEI into T1.
• The race has now settled into a procession as the pack head into the first pitstop window.
• L17: BUT FL again. Gap down to 1.3s though.
• L18: GLO pits. Soft tyres.
• L19: BUT pits. Soft tyres.
• L19: ALO pits.
• L19: RAI slow. Retires.
• L20: BAR pits. Soft tyres.
• L20: WEB pits.
• L21: MAS (soft), VET (soft) pit.
• L21: VET couldn’t get out ahead of MAS. The hold positions.
• L22: DC says VET had issue in pits. They couldn’t get the fuel hose off.
• L23: KUB pits. Soft.
• L25: ROS pits. Soft compound.
• McLaren tell HAM to keep up with HEI. They reckon they can pass him in the pits for a points finish.
• L26: BAR leads BUT by 10.5s. They are on different strategies.
• RAI says KERS worked, but he couldn’t see the lights so didn’t know when he could use it. Academic though, as he’s retired.
• L27: MAS and VET still separated by a second.
• Ah, no problem with VET’s pitstop. The question was why didn’t the fuel guy short fill the Red Bull. But that’s naughty and the teams aren’t supposed to it. The fuel level is assigned in the system and the nozzle shouldn’t be removed early.
• L29: BAR FL. 12.1s in the lead.
• BMW preparing for HEI’s pitstop.
• L29: FIS pits.
• L30: BAR pits. 13.5 ahead of BUT prior to stop. Soft tyres.
• L30: HEI and HAM pit. Both soft tyres.
• L31: HAM, GLO and KUB all battling for P11 as HAM exits pitlane.
• L33: VET and MAS still separated by a second.
• ***Live timing is really not working for me today.***
• Loving the onboard camera on the Ferrari of Massa. The camera is lower than the usual, just behind the drivers helmet on the left. A great view that is slightly closer to the view of the driver.
• L37: NAK pits, according to dodgy Live Timing.
• L39: BAR given hurry up. Has to lap in the 1m23s. Currently doing 1m24.0s.
• L39: A wheel-bin flew off MAS’s Ferrari. Pits have a spare ready.
• L41: VET on a charge. BAR falling back a little.
• L42: HAM says his rear tyres are finished.
• L43: MAS pits. Hard tyres.
• L43: VET pits. Hard tyres.
• L44: BAR given another hurry up.
• L44: ALO pits. Hard tyres. Just got out ahead of HAM.
• L45: HAM’s tyres are shot. The rears are gone and he cannot apply the throttle effectively. The front right is also worn considerably.
• L46: KUB pits. Hard tyres.
• L46: PIQ pits. Hard tyres.
• L47: GLO pits.
• L48: BUT pits. Hard tyres.
• L48: HAM pits. Hard tyres.
• L49: ROS pits. Hard tyres.
• L49: BAR pits. Hard tyres. Rejoins ahead of MAS.
• L49: WEB pits. Hard tyres. Rejoins ahead of MAS.
• L50: HEI pits.
• L51: BAR 7.1s behind BUT in P2.
• L51: NAK pits.
• L52: VET and MAS very close on track.
• L53: FIS pits.
• MAS is told to save fuel to get to the end. He is not conserving fuel well enough.
• L55: FIS pits again.
• WEB’s race will need some analysing. Early on he appeared to lose time, but has managed to leapfrog his team mate and MAS to get into P3.
• L56: VET can get close to MAS, but cannot pass as MAS applies KERS.
• L57: Smedley tells MAS they need conserve fuel or they won’t get to the end. MAS replies asking what he can do as he has to defend his P4 to VET. Might be better to let VET go and get to the end of the race. Retiring/pitting will equal zero points. If MAS kets VET go, he could finish in P5.
• L58: WEB now very close to BAR.
• L58: GLO harassing HAM.
• L59: Ferrari say they did not get the correct amount of fuel into MAS’s car during his stop.
• L60: VET is starting to get frustrated. Using all the track in a attempt to close up on MAS and get a run.
• L61: WEB to BAR gap now 1s.
• L62: VET passes MAS. MAS did not defend. MAS had to let him go so that he can conserve fuel. Smedley ordered MAS to let VET go. MAS has 16s on ALO.
• L64: BUT laps HAM.
• L65: ALO now 8.7s behind MAS. MAS in 1 lap short of fuel. It’s gonna be very close. He’ll be clear of HEI though.
• L66: ALO is right behind MAS. ALO passes MAS around the outside. MAS now in P6.
• L66: BUT wins for a 4th time this year.
• L67 (parade lap): MAS ran out of fuel and has a long walk back to the pitlane.

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2009: Live Race Notes

According to Williams (via F1Minute), fuel consumption around Circuit de Catalunya is about 2.27164 kilograms/lap.

Spain 2009 Post-Qualifying Car Weights		Car Weight Kilograms	Fuel Weight Kilograms	First Stop Lap
1.	Jenson Button Brawn	646	41	16
2.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	651.5	46.5	19
3.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	649.5	44.5	18
4.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	655	50	20
5.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	651.5	46.5	19
6.	Timo Glock Toyota	646.5	41.5	16
7.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	655.5	50.5	20
8.	Fernando Alonso Renault	645	40	16
9.	Nico Rosberg Williams	668	63	22
10.	Robert Kubica BMW	660	55	22
11.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	676.6	71.6	30
12.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	677.4	72.4	30
13.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	676.3	71.3	29
14.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	683	78	32
15.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	678	73	30
16.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	673	68	28
17.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	669	64	26
18.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	657	52	21
19.	Adrian Sutil Force India	675	70	29
20.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	656	51	20

From the table we can see that Jenson Button was relatively light on his final run, indicating that the other teams have indeed started to close the gap up to the Brackley squad. Sebastian Vettel and Felipe Massa did quite well with slightly heavier cars than those immediately around them, and both Red Bulls are on the same fuel level, although unless one driver falls particularly far behind the other in the opening laps, it is unlikely they will pit on the same lap.

Also worthy of a mention is Fernando Alonso, who is running light and will hope to make up some places at the start. Although it highlights how much his Renault is under-performing at the moment. Nico Rosberg is particularly heavy and will run a long first stint, as will many of those behind him. Lewis Hamilton is the heaviest driver while team mate Heikki Kovalainen is obviously looking to make up some places at the start as he is comparatively light.

• The qualifying results can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Qualifying Result.
• The live qualifying notes can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Live Qualifying Notes.
• The grid (inclusive of penalties) can be viewed here: Spain 2009: The Grid.
• The qualifying report can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Jenson Button Claims Pole On Final Last Gasp Attempt.

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

2009: The Grid Inclusive of penalties given.
1		Jenson Button Brawn 1m20.527s
			Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 1m20.660s		2
3		Rubens Barrichello Brawn 1m20.762s
			Felipe Massa Ferrari 1m20.934s		4
5		Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 1m21.049s
			Timo Glock Toyota 1m21.247s		6
7		Jarno Trulli Toyota 1m21.254s
			Fernando Alonso Renault 1m21.392s		8
9		Nico Rosberg Williams 1m22.558s
			Robert Kubica BMW 1m22.685s		10
11		Kazuki Nakajima Williams 1m20.531s
			Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault 1m20.604s		12
13		Nick Heidfeld BMW 1m20.676s
			Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1m20.805s		14
15		Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1m21.067s
			Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1m21.291s		16
17		Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1m21.300s
			Heikki Kovalainen McLaren 1m21.675s		18
19		Adrian Sutil Force India 1m21.742s
			Giancarlo Fisichella Force India 1m22.204s		20

• The qualifying results can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Qualifying Result.
• The live qualifying notes can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Live Qualifying Notes.
• The post-qualifying car weights can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights.
• The qualifying report can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Jenson Button Claims Pole On Final Last Gasp Attempt.

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2009: The Grid

The fuel loads haven’t been published as I type this and they will likely tell a slightly different story, but so far it looks as though Brawn are maintaining their dominance over the rest of the field. Red Bull still look good though, especially as Mark Webber is in a stronger position in this race and Sebastian Vettel is on the front row. If the German is lighter, he may be able to squeeze himself by into the first corner. Also worthy of a mention is that Felipe Massa in fourth is the leading KERS-equipped car; will he be able to get ahead as the lights go out tomorrow?

Have your say, who’s your favourite to win the 2009 Spanish Grand Prix?

• The qualifying results can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Qualifying Result.
• The live qualifying notes can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Live Qualifying Notes.
• The grid (inclusive of penalties) can be viewed here: Spain 2009: The Grid.
• The post-qualifying car weights can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights.
• The qualifying report can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Jenson Button Claims Pole On Final Last Gasp Attempt.

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2009: Who Is Your Favourite For The Spanish Victory?

Qualifying is important at the Circuit de Catalunya as overtaking can be difficult. All the cars test in Barcelona over the winter and therefore each driver has an optimum set up and they all know the track very well. Despite this though, Sebastien Buemi still left the tarmac in Q2 and Heikki Kovalainen struggled all the way through Q1.

The first session started slowly with only the Force Indias and Kovalainen running for the first few minutes, and immediately it was clear that the number-2 McLaren was not behaving well for its Finnish driver. Kovalainen was running wide through some corners, missing apexes and even skating over some and being forced to correct a tank-slap on the exit. Needless to say, the Finn was one of the names in the bottom five after the first twenty minute stint was up. Kovalainen did say after qualifying that Nick Heidfeld held him up slightly on his final run, but also admitted that it wouldn’t have made that much of a difference.

However, Kovalainen wasn’t the biggest surprise of Q1 as Ferrari once again fell foul of their strategy and Kimi Raikkonen was forced to vacate his car and take no further part in qualifying. The team miscalculated Raikkonen’s lap time in comparison to the others and decided that he didn’t need to run again, presuming he was safe for the second part of qualifying. Unfortunately, both Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet Jr improved their times towards the end and Raikkonen was pushed down to P16 and out.

Both Williams pilots looked very handy in Q1 as Nico Rosberg managed P5 and Kazuki Nakajima managed P6. Unfortunately for the Grove team, the performance slipped the further into qualifying they went, but the initial running was fairly impressive, especially as Nakajima was only 0.073s off his team mate’s pace.

Also failing to make the grade in Q1 were Sebastien Bourdais in the Scuderia Toro Rosso (his team mate Sebastien Buemi managed P11) and both Force Indias of Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella, who line up P19 and P20 respectively. Felipe Massa managed the fastest lap, which was in stark contrast to the efforts of the sister Ferrari.

Q2 is where it started to unravel for the second Scuderia Toro Rosso, as Sebastien Buemi skated over the gravel at T9 after losing his car on the entry. Buemi just missed the barrier and was able to rejoin the track. It wasn’t a great confidence booster though and the Swiss pilot only managed P15, 0.262s slower than Lewis Hamilton ahead of him.

Once again, the BMW drivers left it until late in the 15 minute session before venturing out on track. It looked troublesome for the German squad to begin with, but Robert Kubica managed to string together a decent time. Nick Heidfeld though couldn’t and left qualifying after his final attempt at improving. Heidfeld finished in P13, just behind Nelson Piquet Jr.

The battle at the front was hotting up as Sebastian Vettel managed a fastest time of 1m20.220s. Team mate Mark Webber eclipsed this with a 1m20.007s which was then obliterated by Rubens Barrichello who became the only driver in qualifying to dip into the sub-80s lap times, setting a 1m19.954s. Felipe Massa came close as did Jenson Button, but it was the second Brawn that lead the pack into the final showdown.

It looked to be Barrichello’s day after his fine performance in the second qualifying session, and his fastest lap of the final 10 minute run was a belter. However, Vettel and Button had other ideas and on his final run, the Red Bull pilot pulled a special lap out of the bag. Vettel managed to lap the Barcelona track 0.102s quicker and looked very healthy in the pole position.

Jenson Button wasn’t about to give up and crossed the start/finish line with barely enough time on the clock to blink. Managing to get through though, Button’s final lap would count. The Briton looked a little off-colour though throughout qualifying, instead seemingly deferring the glory to his team mate. This was rectified soon enough as the Brawn driver set about his final tour of the track. By the time Button approached the timing beacon for the final time, he was more than a tenth up on Vettel and stole the pole position from right under the Red Bull pilot’s nose.

Felipe Massa drove very well to take P4, ahead of Mark Webber and the Toyotas of Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli. Fernando Alonso managed P8 in front of his home crowds while Nico Rosberg and Robert Kubica rounded out the top-ten.

• The qualifying results can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Qualifying Result.
• The live qualifying notes can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Live Qualifying Notes.
• The grid (inclusive of penalties) can be viewed here: Spain 2009: The Grid.
• The post-qualifying car weights can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights.

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2009: Jenson Button Claims Pole On Final Last Gasp Attempt

Spain 2009 Qualifying Results		Q1 20 minutes	Q2 15 minutes	Q3 10 minutes
1.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m20.707s	1m20.192s	1m20.527s
2.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m20.715s	1m20.220s	1m20.660s
3.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m20.808s	1m19.954s	1m20.762s
4.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m20.484s	1m20.149s	1m20.934s
5.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m20.689s	1m20.007s	1m21.049s
6.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m20.877s	1m20.107s	1m21.247s
7.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m21.189s	1m20.420s	1m21.254s
8.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m21.186s	1m20.509s	1m21.392s
9.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m20.745s	1m20.256s	1m22.558s
10.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m20.931s	1m20.408s	1m22.685s
11.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m20.818s	1m20.531s
12.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	1m21.128s	1m20.604s
13.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m21.905s	1m20.676s
14.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m20.991s	1m20.805s
15.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m21.033s	1m21.067s
16.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m21.291s
17.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m21.300s
18.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	1m21.675s
19.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m21.742s
20.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m22.204s

• The live qualifying notes can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Live Qualifying Notes.
• The grid (inclusive of penalties) can be viewed here: Spain 2009: The Grid.
• The post-qualifying car weights can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights.
• The qualifying report can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Jenson Button Claims Pole On Final Last Gasp Attempt.

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2009: Qualifying Result

The qualifying times can be viewed here: Spain 2009: Qualifying Result.

Q1

• It’s nice to see there’s still a lot of Renault/Oviedo blue in the stands (Renault’s former colours and also those of Alonso’s home town).
• Will Fernando run light if he gets through to Q3?
• Only Ferrari and McLaren using KERS in Spain.
• Hard and Soft tyres are being used for the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend. Soft tyres have the green stripe on the outer edge.
• SUT, FIS and KOV out first.
• KOV sets first lap: 23.7. Ran wide and doesn’t look overly hooked up.
• SUT: 23.5
• HEI: 23.3
• HEI: 22.6 on his second lap.
• TRU: 22.3
• VET: 22.192
• KOV struggling with his McLaren, sliding over apex and tank slapping it on exit.
• GLO: 22.185
• VET: 21.532
• BOU in P2, BUE in P5 at the moment.
• ROS: 21.396
• VET: 20.7
• MAS: P2
• KUB finally goes out.
• HAM: 21.244 – P4
• MAS: Purple in S1.
• MAS: Purple in S2.
• MAS: 20.4 – P1
• KUB: 21.1 – P4
• HEI and KOV in bottom 5.
• KOV still P16, on soft tyres as well.
• HEI: 21.3 – P11
• BAR in bottom 5.
• ALO – P6
• ROS: 20.9 – P5
• NAK – P3
• WEB – P2
• BAR – P5
• BOU – P14 – just in on second run.
• PIQ improves.
• TRU – P15
• RAI and KOV are out.
• KOV believes a BMW held him up. Brundle says “you’re having a laugh.”
• RAI only set 5 laps in Q1.
• KOV says HEI held him up a little, but in a post-qualifying interview says it didn’t make much a difference.
• Ted Kravitz explains that RAI left qualifying in Q1 because of a team error – they mis-calculated and believed he didn’t need to set another lap. It wasn’t Kimi’s fault, it was the team’s fault.

Q2

• NAK, BUE, PIQ and ROS on track.
• BUE: 21.499
• ROS: 21.145
• VET: 20.220
• BUE in gravel at T9. Recovering. Just missed the barriers.
• WEB: 20.007
• VET: 20.254 (second lap on soft tyres)
• MAS: 20.652 – P6 (scrubbed softs)
• BMW yet to run.
• HEI: 20.676 – P7
• KUB: 20.408 – P3
• MAS: Equal in S1.
• MAS: Slightly down in S2.
• MAS: 20.149 – P2
• ROS: 21.907 – still in bottom 5
• HAM: 20.805 – P10
• BUT: 20.379 – P5
• BAR: 19.954 – P1
• HAM dropped out as PIQ and ALO improved.
• HAM says his McLaren isn’t any better with the updates they’ve made to it for this weekend.

Q3

• TRU and GLO first out.
• TRU: 22.5
• GLO: 22.1
• BAR: 21.442
• WEB: 21.936 – P2
• VET: 21.301 – P1
• ALO: 22.160 – P5
• MAS: 22.004 – P5
• BAR: Purple in S1.
• BAR: Purple in S2.
• BAR: 20.762 – 0.539s up – P1.
• WEB pushing.
• VET also running fast.
• WEB: 21.049 – P2
• VET: Wide in T12. 20.660 – P1 – incredible.
• MAS – P3
• GLO – P5
• BUT: 20.527 – steals pole on final run – incredible.

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2009: Live Qualifying Notes

Alonso’s team mate Nelson Piquet Jr is enjoying some revived form so far this weekend, breaking for lunch in P7 and finishing the second session in P8. His day wasn’t easy though with incidents in both practices. The afternoon run saw the Brazilian scrape the barrier and his Renault required the assistance of the marshals before he could rejoin the track. A second spin later on showed that improvement is still needed.

Toyota fared less well than earlier and ended up towards the bottom of the timing sheet, Timo Glock posting the eighteenth fastest lap and Jarno Trulli just 0.3s down in nineteenth. Also not doing as well as expected were both the McLarens with Lewis Hamilton completing his Friday running in P13 and Heikki Kovalainen in P14.

Giancarlo Fisichella showed promise in the Force India, just as he did in Bahrain with a fine P12. Unfortunately for the team though, Adrian Sutil was forced to watch from the pitlane as his fuel cell developed a problem. And also running well this afternoon were both Scuderia Toro Rossos, with Sebastien Buemi out-performing his team mate once again and finishing in P9, ahead of Sebastien Bourdais in P11.

Spain 2009 Friday Free Practice Two		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m21.588s	43 Laps
2.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m21.740s	40 Laps
3.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m21.781s	36 Laps
4.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m21.843s	39 Laps
5.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m22.027s	37 Laps
6.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m22.052s	35 Laps
7.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m22.082s	45 Laps
8.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	1m22.349s	26 Laps
9.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m22.571s	17 Laps
10.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m22.599s	40 Laps
11.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m22.615s	30 Laps
12.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m22.670s	32 Laps
13.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m22.809s	31 Laps
14.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	1m22.876s	29 Laps
15.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m22.878s	35 Laps
16.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m22.948s	40 Laps
17.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m23.173s	39 Laps
18.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m23.360s	46 Laps
19.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m23.623s	47 Laps
20.	Adrian Sutil Force India	No Time	0 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2009: Friday Practice Two

Unsurprisingly, Jenson Button leads the pack with a benchmark time 0.355s faster than second-placed driver Jarno Trulli. Ross Brawn stated this week that although few updates have been made to the championship leading BGP 001 since the first race in Australia, the Spanish round would see the chassis receive some upgrades.

The next surprise were the BMWs, with Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld setting the third and fourth quickest times. As with testing, it is unknown what fuel loads the drivers are carrying and the laps set may just have been run on fumes. But to see both drivers in the mix (albeit 0.4s apart) is certainly encouraging.

The Williams showed off their now customary practice pace, although credit where it is due, it wasn’t just Nico Rosberg who was beaming his way around the paddock as team mate Kazuki Nakajima went ever so slightly faster. In fact, the young Japanese pilot was only 0.001s shy of Nick Heidfeld ahead of him.

Surprise number three came from Nelson Piquet Jr, who posted the seventh fastest lap of the morning, a second shy of the pace setting Brawn and 0.4s the better of team mate Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard ended up in P17, although the difference between the pair can be explained by the team allowing Piquet more low-fuel mileage in practice in order to help the Brazilian with his qualifying form.

Timo Glock, Felipe Massa and Rubens Barrichello rounded out the top ten.

The Red Bulls had a low-key session with Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel breaking for lunch in P12 and P13. They did remain ahead of the McLaren duo though, with Lewis Hamilton down in P14 and Heikki Kovalainen in P19. All in all, there were few incidents in the first session, with only Vettel, Webber and Glock running wide through corners and Rosberg had a brief spin in his Williams.

Spain 2009 Friday Free Practice One		Lap Time Fastest Time Set	Laps Set Number Laps Set
1.	Jenson Button Brawn	1m21.799s	21 Laps
2.	Jarno Trulli Toyota	1m22.154s	30 Laps
3.	Robert Kubica BMW	1m22.221s	24 Laps
4.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	1m22.658s	14 Laps
5.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	1m22.659s	24 Laps
6.	Nico Rosberg Williams	1m22.667s	26 Laps
7.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	1m22.753s	24 Laps
8.	Timo Glock Toyota	1m22.828s	29 Laps
9.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	1m22.855s	15 Laps
10.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	1m22.859s	24 Laps
11.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	1m22.873s	20 Laps
12.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	1m22.934s	25 Laps
13.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	1m22.959s	24 Laps
14.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren	1m23.077s	21 Laps
15.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m23.088s	30 Laps
16.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	1m23.089s	25 Laps
17.	Fernando Alonso Renault	1m23.157s	18 Laps
18.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	1m23.185s	31 Laps
19.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	1m23.522s	17 Laps
20.	Adrian Sutil Force India	1m23.536s	19 Laps

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2009: Friday Practice One

According to McLaren, a clear lacquer coat was applied to the outer-clamp surface, and this caused the wheel to distort and eventually fail.

It has been established that, owing to a process fault during manufacture, the outer clamp surface of the wheel was given a clear lacquer coating. As a consequence of this fault, the clamp load that attached the wheel was not to specification.

In running, the consequent loss of load caused the wheel to fret and distort, leading to its eventual failure.

Vodafone McLaren Mercedes and the wheel supplier have now established new procedures designed to prevent a re-occurrence of this issue. McLaren Press Statement.

Initially, some reporters had suggested a link to Lewis Hamilton’s accident at the Nurburgring circuit last year, where the Briton’s wheel essentially fell off. Although Lewis was uninjured in that accident, the impact was quite heavy. However, replays of the footage tended show it was more of a tyre failure on Heikki’s car than a wheel failure. As it turns out, it was the wheel that did fail, but it is not linked to any previous incident.

Original article by BlogF1.

McLaren Conclude Investigation Into Heikki’s Shunt

Following a medical examination this morning by the FIA Medical Delegate, Professor Jean-Charles Piette, and the Chief Medical Officer of the event, Dr. Cem Boneval, Heikki Kovalainen was cleared to race in the 2008 Turkish Grand Prix. FIA Statement.

Due to the nature of Kovalainen’s accident, and the fact he suffered a concussion (amazingly, his only real injury), Heikki had to pass a mandatory FIA medical test before being given the okay to race again. This he did earlier this morning at the Istanbul Park circuit, ahead of free practice tomorrow. Kovalainen seems relatively unfazed by the accident, his second large shunt in his Formula One career so far.

Everyone involved in the sport, the FIA in particular, is always working on improving safety for the drivers, but Formula One is a risky business. You know that as a driver, but you don’t think about it. If you worry about things like that, you lose focus; I guess it is just not in my psyche.

I think the accident probably looked worse than it was for me. I had a little headache but was back in training almost immediately. I now look forward to the rest of the weekend and the rest of the season. Heikki Kovalainen.

Original article by BlogF1.

Heikki Kovalainen Fit To Race In Turkey

I have a slight headache and a stiff neck, but apart from that I am feeling well and in good spirits. Heikki Kovalainen.

Considering Heikki impacted the barrier at what must have been close to 140mph, his injuries are impressively minor. Heikki was rested in hospital due to concussion, but a CT scan revealed no other damage to his head.

What is especially important is the fact that the monocoque withstood the heavy impact, so credit should also be given to everyone at Vodafone McLaren Mercedes for that. Heikki Kovalainen.

And looking at the photographs of the remains of Heikki’s MP4-23, the monocoque appears to have done its job perfectly. The entire front of the car was destroyed in the impact, but it is clear that the area from the footwell backwards remains visually intact, exactly where the life-cell begins.

The accident saw Kovalainen spear off the track at high speed and clout the tyre wall almost head-on. The accident is similar to that of Michael Schumacher’s at Silverstone in 1999. In that particular incident, the world champion’s Ferrari went straight on at Stowe corner at high speed and dug in deep into the tyre wall. Schumacher suffered multiple breaks in his legs which forced him to sit out the remainder of the season.

Kovalainen’s McLaren also penetrated the tyre wall deeply, and a photograph taking from the line of impact shows just how far into the wall the Finn went. Also visible from the photograph is the rise in the tyres, suggesting they lifted as the car went in, pretty much null-and voiding any measure of safety they are meant to provide. My memory is a little vague on the Schumacher incident, but I do remember the tyres not providing as much help to the German as we thought they were meant to.

Safety barriers aside though, it is good news that Heikki will eventually walk away from this scary crash, and I’m sure we all look forward to seeing his return in the McLaren in a week-and-a-halves time.

My focus is on getting better as soon as possible so I can pass the FIA medical inspection required to allow me to race in Turkey.

I don’t remember anything from the accident or what happened afterwards but would obviously like to thank all the circuit emergency staff, the FIA medical team at the track and the doctors at the hospital for all their efforts in looking after me. Heikki Kovalainen.

Heikki also insisted that while it was clearly a problem with the wheel that caused the accident, the team still don’t know exactly what happened and will wait until further analysis has been completed before specifying the reason for the tyre failure.

Original article by BlogF1.

Kovalainen Pays Tribute To Strong Car & Attentive Staff

The Start

The start saw a text book get-away from the Scuderia drivers, Lewis Hamilton also doing well and Alonso leaving the line cleanly. Initially it looked as though everyone made it around T1 unscathed but it didn’t take long for the Safety Car to see some action, as Adrian Sutil touched the back of David Coulthard and suffered damage at the front of his Force India. This caused a knock-on effect as everybody behind tried to avoid the ensuing incident, but there was nowhere for Sebastian Vettel to go and the inevitable contact resulted in each Germans retirement.

After the race resumed everybody settled into a consistent pace and nobody really pulled away from anybody else. The unfortunate effect of high levels of downforce combined with a circuit that doesn’t encourage overtaking means little can be done about the car in front.

Heikki’s Accident

The second safety car period came on lap 22 has Heikki Kovalainen’s McLaren was buried deep in the tyre barrier. From the replays, it showed the front-left tyre deflate quickly, causing the Finn to spear off the track at T8 and impact the wall at around 140mph. The Finn wasn’t immediately shown to be moving and the McLaren looked to be very deeply penetrated in the tyres. Marshals immediately scrambled over the car to assess Heikki’s condition and the Medical Car was deployed, following the Safety Car around to the scene of the incident. Heikki was stretchered away a few minutes later, giving the crowds the thumbs-up as he was wheeled into the ambulance. According to doctors at the medical centre, Kovalainen was stable and talking, but concussed. It has been reported that he has no broken bones at this moment.

The cause of the accident has still not been verified, but McLaren have suggested a stone got in between the tyre and wheel rim, causing the rubber to let go. As the incident didn’t appear to be any kind of catastrophic failure of any one part due to design, Lewis Hamilton was able to continue.

The safety car was on track for a while, enabling the marshals and doctors plenty of time to assist Heikki at the side of the track, and for his battered McLaren to be lifted away from causing further danger to the remaining drivers.

Renault

Renault endured a tough weekend, despite showing improved form on Friday and during Saturday’s qualifying session. Laps six and eight were all about Nelson Piquet Jr, the rookie driver having a couple of detours around parts of the circuit not designed for fast driving. The first incident saw Piquet run wide apparently all of his own doing. Two laps later he made a late move on David Coulthard, who didn’t appear to be expecting it and turned in on the Brazilian. Nelson’s Renault was left stranded on the inside of the corner, his race effectively over.

And poor Fernando Alonso, who was running a decent race considering he was the first to pit, ended up pulling his R28 over to the side of the track at about mid-distance, the Spaniard having lost drive due to an apparent engine failure. All in all, what was looking to be a promising weekend for the squad turned out to be one of achievement in the long term, but a disaster on the day.

BMW

BMW similarly have endured a poor showing in Spain, Robert Kubica being the only saving grace with his five points collected for fourth place. Nick Heidfeld, who didn’t qualify particularly well, suffered the pitlane lottery during the second safety car period. The German driver was forced to pit for fuel and thus was handed a drive-thru penalty, which he took on lap 33. Heidfeld eventually finished in ninth, just outside the points.

McLaren

Aside from Heikki’s accident, McLaren did well to collect six points for Hamilton’s podium. There were times during the race where Lewis appeared to be on strong form, keeping up with the Ferrari’s and refusing to let them run away with the race. However, the Briton was unable to do much about passing and quietly crossed the line to earn himself and the team a few points.

Honda

Honda collected their first points of the year as Jenson Button brought his RA108 home in sixth. Rubens Barrichello suffered another poor race though as the Brazilian driver damaged his front wing during his second stop and eventually retired on lap 36. The three points earned by Button puts the Honda squad just ahead of Scuderia Toro Rosso in the overall standings.

The Final Point

Towards the end of the race the hottest battle appeared to be between the pundits who were trying to guess which car would eventually finish in eighth, thus collecting one championship point. For a short while Takuma Sato looked good for it, and had it happened it would have been a monumental achievement for the small team considering what they have been through in the past fortnight. However, it wasn’t to be this time, and Sato finished the race in thirteenth and last place.

After Sato was ruled out, all eyes were on Giancarlo Fisichella, who looked reasonably strong to collect a point for the improving Force India team. Unfortunately, as the chequered flag fell the Italian could only get into tenth place.

Toyota & Williams

In the end, it was Jarno Trulli who picked up the final point, the Toyota driver finishing just behind the Williams of Kazuki Nakajima. The Japanese driver earned his second set of world championship points this year in Spain, and made up for the retirement of Nico Rosberg, the German driver pulling off the track with suspected engine failure.

Red Bull

Red Bull Racing managed to get both cars to the finish line, but a string of incidents meant David Coulthard could only add a twelfth place to his record book. Mark Webber, on the other hand, kept his head down and drove well to collect four points from fifth place. The Australian has now doubled his total points haul up to before this race and sits ahead of similarly powered Alonso in the title tables.

Sum Up

All in all, the Spanish Grand Prix has been another let down in terms of excitement. There were a few great scraps down the field, the thought of either a Super Aguri or Force India pickling up points was enticing. However, because of the nature of the track and the cars, we saw very little overtaking; it wasn’t a classic race. However, it was for Raikkonen who goes away with an extended lead in the drivers title. Lewis Hamilton is clinging on to second but has only a one-point margin to Robert Kubica in third. Ferrari take the lead of the constructors title, thanks to the Italian team earning 18 points to BMW’s 5. McLaren are in third, just one point behind the Hinwil-based team.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2008: Kimi Extends While McLaren & BMW Falter

Spain 2008: Race Result

Full report to be posted shortly.

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2008: Race Result

The safety car was immediately deployed with the Medical car in tow. Marshals swarmed over the McLaren trying to assess Heikki’s condition, but from the camera view, the McLaren went very deep into the barrier.

The doctors are suggesting that Kovalainen is okay. One said Heikki said he was fine, and another says he is 100% okay. We await official word though.

Heikki was stretchered away, waving to the crowds and giving the thumbs up. From the replay shown, it appears the Finn has a deflated front-left tyre. McLaren still don’t know exactly what has happened, but have suggested a stone got between the rim and tyre and caused the tyre to let go.

Currently, Kovalainen is being flown by helicopter to hospital for checks. Although his legs don’t appear to have been strapped and set, indicating no broken bones.

I will post more news when it becomes available.

Original article by BlogF1.

Heikki Kovalainen Suffers High-Speed Incident

Speaking of which, Nelson Piquet Jr made his first appearance in Q3 this afternoon, the Brazilian driver highlighting the improvements made to the car in the last three weeks of intensive testing. Thus far in 2008 Nelson has failed to impress me, having an even worse start to his maiden year than Heikki Kovalainen did last time around. If I’m honest, Piquet Jr still isn’t making me look up and take notice, but the young charger is clearly improving with the car.

McLaren aren’t looking particularly well at the moment, the drivers going fifth and sixth , Lewis Hamilton pipping his team mate. Hamilton had a sizable moment earlier in the afternoon, a sign that he wasn’t entirely happy with the set up of his MP4-23. However, knowing that qualifying wasn’t going their way it is likely that the team have pumped a fair amount of fuel in the car, intending to see him quite some way into tomorrow’s race.

BMW also didn’t perform to their usual standard and look decidedly off pace this weekend. Robert Kubica hauled his F1.08 into fourth, but Nick Heidfeld has disappointed with ninth.Along with McLaren they are probably aware of their troubles have have added a fair bit of fuel to the cars to see them be able to fight with the Woking team for remainder of the points.

Red Bull Racing have endured another bitter-sweet qualifying session, this time Mark Webber getting the legs on his team mate and going seventh. Conversely however, David Coulthard didn’t get any more than 20 minutes running, the Scot failing to get past Q1. Sister team Scuderia Toro Rosso were more consistent, with Sebastien Bourdais getting into Q2, but going slowest in that session and Sebastian Vettel only getting as far as eighteenth.

Toyota enjoyed a reasonable day, with Jarno Trulli looking quite handy for much of the 45 minutes of track time available to the drivers. The Italian driver finished his afternoon in eighth and will be looking for a few more points tomorrow to add to his haul of 8 so far. Timo Glock, who is usually not too far behind his team mate couldn’t quite manage a similar feat this time around, only setting the fourteenth quickest lap time.

Kazuki Nakajima managed to out-qualify his team mate Nico Rosberg, although celebrations will be muted as Nakajima sits in twelfth and Rosberg in fifteenth. It seems as though Williams have taken the FW30 in a wrong direction since the first race of the season in Australia. I was hoping for a turn-around now they have had chance to test prior to the European leg of the campaign, but at the moment it appears the Oxfordshire-based team haven’t been able to get back on track. Honda enjoyed a small resurgence at Barcelona though, and although they haven’t peaked particularly high, both drivers have started to perform well with the car. Rubens Barrichello delighted fans and team members by qualifying eleventh, Jenson Button sits directly behind his team mate on the grid in thirteenth.

Force India, who have been pumped up all weekend and are now enjoying relative luxury courtesy of a new motor home (which mirrors neighbouring McLaren’s Brand Centre), were hoping to get into Q2 for the first time this year. However, the enthusiastic team will have to wait another fortnight before they can consider such an achievement again, for Giancarlo Fisichella could only get as high as nineteenth, Adrian Sutil going 0.7s slower and slotting in next to the Italian on the grid. Super Aguri qualified for the race, Anthony Davidson getting the better of Takuma Sato and both drivers managing to close the gap to Force India, the difference only being a tenth or so.

Tomorrow’s race looks set to be a relatively straight-forward event. Fernando Alonso, although looking great at the front of the pack again, is likely to be pitting early. However, his position will only hamper the McLarens who will be trying to make up as many places as possible from the start-line. Watching the BMW’s will be interesting as the team clearly appear to a little off this weekend. They may be able to convert their qualifying strategy into some form of decent race pace though, so I think Heidfeld will be able to push further into the top four-six.

Final qualifying positions can be seen here.

Images courtesy of Ferrari and Sutton Images.

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2008: Qualifying Report

Spain 2008: Qualifying Results

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2008: Qualifying Result

David Coulthard managed to climb into eighth place and led the two Force Indias into very respectable positions. McLaren and BMW disappointed today but as with previous sessions their final times shuld be taken with a rather large grain of salt. Lewis Hamilton went eleventh, followed by Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld. Heikki Kovalainen could only get as high as sixteenth. Both Super Aguris went slower in the afternoon session than they did in the morning.

One possible explanation for the slightly skewed times are the strategies the teams were employing, apparently some running with much higher fuel loads than others. Although Hamilton was clearly not enjoying his post-lunch run, having spun at T10 and then coming to a halt in the pit entry after his final run of the day. Kovalainen was also having a nightmare afternoon, his MP4-23 suffering with a gearbox problem. The Finn only managed eight laps.

Spain Friday Practice Two

Image courtesy of VRoig.

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2008: Friday Afternoon Practice

Super Aguri were on track and Takuma Sato got within 0.2 seconds of twentieth placed driver Sebastian Vettel, while Force India were grouped together in sixteenth and seventeenth, Adrian Sutil getting the slight upper hand on his experienced team mate Giancarlo Fisichella. The mid-field were very tightly packed together, the gap from Timo Glock in eleventh and Nico Rosberg in twelfth only being one-thousandth of a second. In fact, from eleventh down to seventeenth was only 0.2s.

Spain Friday Practice One

Original article by BlogF1.

Spain 2008: Friday Morning Practice

Alonso said at the time that he felt the taunting of Lewis Hamilton during pre-season testing was an isolated case and while the double champion didn’t say too much, he certainly gave the impression that more was being made of this than was necessary. That isn’t to say that Fernando didn’t care or wasn’t concerned, just that it appeared he didn’t want to get directly involved or be associated with the people who called themselves Alonso-fans. But seeing as it was reported to be some Spanish fans causing the trouble, it does seem odd that the FIA wouldn’t want to set an example by including two of the countries highest profiled sport-people.

I was not aware of this campaign or anything, to be honest.

All I can say is that the Spanish people will show to the world how good they are this weekend, and how good historically they’ve been. We’ve never had any problems here before and we will never have. Wait and see. Pedro De La Rosa.

Either way, Fernando Alonso said today that he wasn’t expecting any trouble, and like the rest of the Formula One fraternity, I certainly hope that the sport can move on from this and no repeat occur. So far, it certainly looks like Catalunya will be hosting a great race this weekend, even if Alonso has ruled himself out of any decent finish.

Original article by BlogF1.

Alonso & De La Rosa Knew Nothing Of EveryRace

It was rumoured last night that Aguri had managed to cobble together a new deal with Magma, who were left high and dry after their investors – Dubai International Capital – pulled out at the last minute. But with both drivers soldiering on, at least the race will have 22 cars on the grid. Interestingly, Sato was able to lap the Montmelo circuit just 0.2s shy of Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Sebastian Vettel this morning, a slight improvement over previous form. Is it possible that Aguri are confident of a deal, and are now less concerned about the Japanese driver trashing the car?

Original article by BlogF1.

Super Aguri Will Go To The Ball

For the first three races, both Anthony Davidson and Takuma Sato had been ordered to take it easy in the cars, the team being very much aware that they don’t have the money to spend on a re-build should one of them throw it into the scenery. However, while the conservative approach has meant four finishes from the six entered, the Aguri drivers weren’t exactly pushing the cars ahead of them.

Thus, is it worth having Super Aguri on the grid just to make up the numbers? Last year, particularly at races with extraordinary circumstances, Takuma Sato was able to mix it up with the larger teams ahead of him quite well, even passing (at the time) reigning world champion Fernando Alonso in Canada. But to have a team this year just running around at the back of the field, is it really worth it? Is it really what the sport needs?

Original article by BlogF1.

Super Aguri Are On Their Way, But Is It Worth It?