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

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

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

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

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 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		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 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		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 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		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

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		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

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

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		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 Pitstop Strategies	Stint 1 (Start Tyre)	Stint 2 (Lap)	Stint 3 (Lap)	Stint 4 (Lap)
McLaren
Lewis Hamilton	Wet	Wet (33)
Heikki Kovalainen	Wet	Wet (33)
Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen	Wet	Wet (27)
Felipe Massa	Wet	DNF (21)
BMW
Nick Heidfeld	Wet	Wet (18)
Robert Kubica	Wet	Wet (36)	Wet (?)
Renault
Fernando Alonso	Wet	Wet (7)	Wet (36
Nelson Piquet Jr.	Wet	Wet (20)	Wet (29)	Wet (?)
Toyota
Jarno Trulli	Wet	Wet (19)	DNF (20)
Timo Glock	Wet	Wet (24)
Scuderia Toro Rosso
Sebastien Buemi	Wet	Wet (19)	Wet (46)
Sebastien Bourdais	Wet	Wet (30)
Red Bull Racing
Sebastian Vettel	Wet	Wet (15)	Wet (37)
Mark Webber	Wet	Wet (14)	Wet (39)
Williams
Nico Rosberg	Wet	Wet (5)	Int. (41)	Wet (50)
Kazuki Nakajima	Wet	Wet (32)	Wet (42)	DNF (45)
Force India
Giancarlo Fisichella	Wet	Wet (33)
Adrian Sutil	Wet	Wet (3)	Wet (19)	DNF (51)
Brawn
Jenson Button	Wet	Wet (19)	Wet (42)
Rubens Barrichello	Wet	Wet (19)	Wet (44)

Original article by BlogF1.

Shanghai 2009: Pitstop & Fuel Strategies

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 Post-Qualifying Car Weights		Car & Driver Weight Kilograms
1.	Jenson Button Brawn	664.5
2.	Rubens Barrichello Brawn	666.5
3.	Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing	657
4.	Robert Kubica BMW	650
5.	Nico Rosberg Williams	657
6.	Timo Glock Toyota*	670
7.	Felipe Massa Ferrari	654
8.	Jarno Trulli Toyota*	660
9.	Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari	655.5
10.	Mark Webber Red Bull Racing	662
11.	Nick Heidfeld BMW	691.5
12.	Fernando Alonso Renault	680.7
13.	Kazuki Nakajima Williams	685.3
14.	Heikki Kovalainen McLaren	690.6
15.	Lewis Hamilton McLaren*	655
16.	Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso	675.5
17.	Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault	694.1
18.	Giancarlo Fisichella Force India	689
19.	Adrian Sutil Force India	684.5
20.	Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso	662.5

* Toyota sent to the back of the grid, along with Lewis Hamilton.

So we can see that the Brawn cars were about average in terms of fuel load, and therefore their pace really is genuine; Button and Barrichello are mighty fast. Of the oddities, we can see that Nick Heidfeld, Heikki Kovalainen and Nelson Piquet Jr. are among the heaviest. Last year, Kovalainen often ran the heavier strategy, and this looks set to continue.

Mark Webber was heavier than Sebastian Vettel, which explains the difference in positions for them. Interestingly, Timo Glock managed to qualify two places and two tenths ahead of his team mate Jarno Trulli, despite carrying an extra 10kg of fuel. Considering Glock is often said to be very good over one lap, although less so over a race distance, Timo must been on fire this afternoon.

Those drivers who qualified outside the top-ten may adjust their fuel loads prior to the start of the race tomorrow, but those inside the top-ten will start on the fuel the finished qualifying with.

Edit: Lots of differing figures around the Internet at the moment regarding the weights. I’m off to find some kind of accuracy from somewhere…

Original article by BlogF1.

Australia 2009: Post-Qualifying Car Weights

This is a Formula One pitstop, and you don’t have time to stand and stare.

Brief Introduction

Pitstops are an important part of any Formula One grand prix. In an era where strategy plays a huge role in the outcome of a race, a tenth gained while the car is stationary can win a driver or race. Conversely, loosing a tenth because of sticky wheel-nut can send a driver from the lead to midfield in next to no time. So how is this possible, how is this achieved? Let’s take a look at how a team pit a car, from hitting the limiter line at the start to hitting the delimiter line at the end, having changed the tyres and filled the tank, all in the time it took you to read the first paragraph.

Before I begin, I should quickly point out that some circuits have slightly different rules regarding the pitlane, but on the whole whenever I make blanket statements in this post I am excluding Monaco for the time being. The small Principality will be discussed later on.

On average a driver pits twice during a race. There are many factors to consider when figuring out a strategy, but during 2007 most drivers stopped by twice for new tyres. The reasons governing this partly come down to a new rule that came into force last season, whereby each driver had to run both sets of tyre during the grand prix. While it was possible to run a short stint on the soft compound and the remainder on the harder, it was judged that this would have placed too much pressure on the tyres and drivers and an extra stop would be beneficial.

The Call

As the driver starts the lap he will pit on he would usually get a radio message from his engineer. The language used varies and is likely to be the most easy to hear and understand phrase for the driver; remember, he is sitting only a few centimetres away from an engine that revs 19,000 times each minute. Listening doesn’t really play a big part in his job.

In this lap. In this lap.

Box. Box. Box.

Two of the most common phrases that pass into a drivers ear as they race towards the pitlane. Teams used to utter the word “Box” quite a lot in Formula One. When radios were in their infancy the quality of sound was terrible, and combined with the general noise the driver has to endure, the word to pit needs to be as clear and as concise as possible. The word “Pit” is actually quite soft. The “P” and “I” don’t come over very well on the radio and this can lead to confusion. Instead, the teams started to use the word “Box”. I cannot find the exact source of this word, but I do recall two possible resons for its use. The first possible explanation is that the teams are referring to the pit box, the part of the pitlane where the car stops. The second is that the word is the Italian for pit, but this doesn’t ring true with some searches online. Either way, the reason for its use is straight-forward; the “X” sound is much clearer and far less ambiguous. If a driver hears an “X” sound, it can only mean one thing.

The Approach

The speed at which a Formula One car can travel down a pitlane is limited for safety. It never used to be this way but in the mid-nineties the governing body realised that pitting a car is actually quite dangerous. Limits were introduced at this time and currently they rest at 80kmh (~50mph) during the race. The limit starts at a designated point in the entry to the pitlane, well before any team personnel should be moving around, and the drivers can tell the point at which the limit begins by a white line painted across the pitlane.

Whenever a driver pits it is almost a given fact that his tyres will be changed, thus, the tyres currently on the car will be disgarded. Thus you will occasionally see a driver locking his front wheels just prior to the limit line, obviously not caring if they end up with a flat-spot. This is often called “attacking the line” and something Michael Schumacher became quite a master at. Of course, should a driver get this wrong and pass the line faster than the limit, a penalty will almost certainly be handed out.

At the limit line, the car must be travelling at less than the limit. The driver brakes and downshifts just prior to the line, and once there he activates the electronically controlled rev-limiter by pressing a button on his steering wheel. The driver would then release the brakes and floor the throttle. This causes the car to hit rev-limiter at just the right point to prevent the car from moving any faster than the limit. As the limiter is activated the fuel cover pops open in preparation for the pitstop, although much like your road car, the fuel is still kept safe from spillage.

Finding Your Garage

At this point the driver is able to relax a little. The car is travelling relatively slowly in a straight line. Often this is a good time to discuss anything with his engineer or take a sip of his drink. If the driver is sitting in the previous title winning car, his garage will be first in the pitlane. It is advantageous to have this spot because the angle needed to turn into the other spots is hindered by other teams; pitlanes tend to be quite cramped at the best of times. With the first spot though, the entry line is much smoother and the driver doesn’t have to worry about other team’s equipment or even cars getting in the way. For 2008, McLaren will be at the very far end of the pitlane as they were disqualified from the 2007 championship. With Ferrari at the beginning of the pitlane, the Scuderia will have an advantage over them, albeit very slight.

The pitlane is divided into two lanes. The fast lane is where the cars travel down at the speed limit, located nearest to the pitwall. The inner lane is where the cars are worked on by the mechanics while it is stationary. If a driver enters the pitlane with a problem and stops in the fast lane, the car may not be worked on by the mechanics. Should the mechanics touch the car (in an attempt to recover it), the car and driver are out of the race. If however a car stops in the inner lane part at or very close to the correct garage, the car can be pushed into place and worked on; this is considered a normal pitstop.

As the driver approaches his garage, often highlighted by the lollipop holder standing at the edge of the inner lane waving his instrument at the driver, the driver slows the car and turns into the slow lane. This is one of the most dangerous parts of a pitstop and where experience and practice really pays off. The garage isn’t an empty space. You can’t just pull in at any-old-angle and jump on the brakes. The garage is actually lined by 20 of your colleagues. Get it wrong and you face hitting a member of your team at 50mph. This is exactly what happened to Kazuki Nakajima during the 2007 Brazilian Grand Prix. As he pulled into his first F1 pitstop in anger, he got it wrong and clipped one mechanic, causing him to fall into another. Thankfully the mechanic wasn’t seriously injured, but it compromised Nakajima’s race and was generally unpleasant.

The Actual Stop

A pitstop in Formula One these days comprises of two essential parts; tyres and fuel. Fuelling wasn’t always a part of a pitstop as it is a very dangerous thing to be handling while under extreme pressure. However, systems have since been introduced to minimise and control the danger and since 1994 refuelling has played its part in a pitstop.

The Tyres

As the car pulls into the garage, and assuming the driver hits his stopping mark exactly, to the centimetre, the wheel-gunners follow the wheel they are designated with. As the car stops the gunner leans forward, connects the gun to the nut and squeezes the trigger. By now the car will have been lifted by the jacks at the front and rear. Once the nut is off he leans back and his colleague, who already has a firm grip of the hot tyre slides it off while a third mechanic slides the new wheel on. As the new tyre is slid on the gunner leans forward again and replaces the nut. Once the gunner is happy the nut is firmly on he leans back, and ensuring no equipment is near the car raises a hand to indicate he is done.

Once all four tyres are changed, the car is lowered off its jacks and the lollipop man spins his lollipop around to tell the driver to pull in the clutch and select first gear. Some teams have introduced a light system on the lollipop, but as of 2007 most still still use the spinning technique.

Believe it or not, this is the easy part of a pitstop and only takes five seconds or so for the four tyres to be switched. Currently, McLaren hold the record for the fastest tyre change; it took them just 3.8 seconds.

The refuelling of the car almost always takes longer, so while the gunner sits on the tarmac with his hand in the air the other mechanics remove the old tyres to the garage along with any other bits and pieces that could interrupt their or someone else’s stop. It is also worth mentioning that a wheel gunner has a spare air-gun to hand in case the primary one fails as well as spare nuts. This forethought came in handy for BMW during the 2007 Spanish Grand Prix. As Nick Heidfeld registered his cue to leave the pitlane the front-right gunner was struggling with his nut. As the BMW pulled forwards the nut came flying off and rolled down the pitlane to the neighbouring garage. Heidfeld was forced to leave the pits and complete a slow lap before returning to get the wheel put on properly.

The Fuel

While the tyres are being changed, two large burly men lean forward over the engine cover just behind the drivers head and attach a heavy hose to the car. This is the refuelling rig, and when I say it requires two large burly men I’m not being sexist, I mean it really does take two large burly men. The rig is heavy even without fuel passing through it and the resulting dangers of getting it wrong can be catastrophic.

The fuel rig is prepped for each driver, pre-filled with the correct amount of juice for the next stint. Often there is a back-up rig as they can be notoriously unreliable, made so because of the stringent safety measures involved. Inside the lead-refuller’s helmet are two lights, red and green. As the hose is lowered down to the engine cover, the lead-refuller has to carefully align the hose with the cap and squarely insert one into the other. The action has to be precise as any awkwardness involved leads to the electronic device refusing to pass fuel. If done correctly, the hose pushes into the car and is locked into position by the refueller. The light inside the refuller’s helmet changes from red to green meaning fuel is now passing at no more than 12.1 litres per second.

The second refueller is important at this point because it is he who needs to take the weight of the heavy hose, allowing the lead refuller to concentrate on his job. Once the fuel is in the light inside the helmet changes back to red and the rig is pulled out exactly the same way as it went in. Again, not getting it square-on causes delays. Lifting the rig out is actually harder than getting it on as the refuller is now working against gravity. As soon as the hose is clear the refuellers step back, indicating to the lollipop man that they are done. Barring complications, this signals the end of a pitstop for the crew.

The Release

The release of the car from the garage is another key area that has to be done correctly. Failing to get this right can lead to an accident or at minimum, a penalty from the stewards.

The refueller steps away and the lollipop man can see four hands in the air and all jacks are away from the car. A restarter is often placed at the rear, ready to restart the motor should the driver stall it. With the all-clear from the mechanics, the lollipop man looks back down the pitlane to see if there are any cars near to his driver. If a car is very close, or the driver in the previous garage has already been released, he must hold his driver by keeping the lollipop firmly down on the bridge of the car.

Once the pitlane is clear, the lollipop man lifts the lollipop cleanly into the air and steps to the side away from the car. The driver drops the clutch and pulls out into the fast lane, ensuring the rev-limiter is still activated. The driver may take this opportunity of not having much to do and take a tear-off strip from his visor, have another sip of drink or speak to his engineer via the radio. Once the car reaches the end of the pitlane a white line designates the end of the speed-restricted area, the rev-limiter is depressed and the car gets away, rejoining the race track at speed.

Why Monaco Is Different

The Monaco circuit is a little different when it comes to pitstops because of the restricted size of the area. Being held on normal every-day roads means that where some areas of other tracks are designed to be spacious, Monaco has to put up with what is already there. Thus, the pitlane at Monaco is narrow and relatively cramped in comparison. Due to the narrow lanes, the speed limit at Monaco is reduced to 60kph for the race, ensuring that the dangers are minimised and controlled better.

Anything Else?

There are a few other regulations surrounding pitstops, mostly designed to control the dangers of 22 cars thundering down a pedestrianised area of the circuit. The teams are not allowed out of the actual garage until their car is approaching the pitlane. Personnel may cross the pitlane but they must do so with upmost care. It used to be quite common to see a manager or telemetrist wandering across the pitlane in the mid-nineties, but with advancements in radio technology there is less need for team members to be moving around during a race. For some reason I have a vivid memory of Patrick Head from Williams almost being run over by a pitting Formula One car as he crossed, but I can’t remember the race or the year.

Formula One also varies from most other racing series in that it only allows one pit crew per team. This means that during a race the pitstops of both cars have to be staggered sufficiently for the one crew to reconvene with all correct equipment. Occasionally, a team may queue its cars in the pitlane. This can be advantageous during a safety car period, but I can imagine the stress imposed on the pit crew during this kind of situation must be almost unbearable.

Along with the restarter, there is another member of the pit crew who is not usually called upon to work on the car; the fire extinguisher man. It is his (or her) job to standby with a handheld extinguisher just in case the worst happens. This extra job became mandatory after the horrific fire that was triggered on Jos Verstappen’s Benetton in 1994. The extinguisher must attempt to control a blaze long enough for the crew and driver to evacuate the area. Having said that, it is worth noting that the person holding the extinguisher is also employed by the team. When Felipe Massa had a minor fire on his engine cover at the Spanish Grand Prix, I don’t remember seeing any foam. Although the fire was very minimal and happened just as Massa was pulling away (it had extinguished itself by the time he got to the end of the pitlane), I still noted at the time that little or no attempt was made to put it out by the extinguisher.

Original article by BlogF1.

Five Seconds Flat: The Anatomy Of A Pitstop

The Reasoning

Fixing races (subtle or not) is prohibited in the rules set out by the FIA. The organisation monitor radio traffic during the race weekend and will hand out severe penalties to any team that has breached these regulations. But at times, team orders will come into play. You may not agree with it, but when a championship could be ruined by one hitch, a multiple-million pound company can lose out in a very big way. To be honest, it is expected that the teams will pre-orchestrate a result in their favour should it get to crunch time, normally at the very end of the year. That doesn’t mean blatant position changes, hiccups in the pitlane or mythical throttle problems. It means that the whole weekend will likely be shaped towards the leading driver should the second placed man be out of the championship.

This is pretty much how I believe McLaren would have played 2007 out had they been in the position to do so. As it happens, their final race of the year in Brazil went a little wrong and Ferrari trounced all over them. But is this approach wise? Is allowing both team mates to race each other during the season, sharing wins and champagne and ultimately points, a good thing?

The Past

Ferrari famously backed Michael Schumacher during his tenure at Maranello. It was even rumoured to have been mentioned in the contracts of both drivers. With more relaxed rules back in the pre-2002 seasons, Schumacher received full support not only from the team, but also from his team mate, initially Eddie Irvine and later Rubens Barrichello before Felipe Massa. With this support Michael romped to three world titles and contributed to four constructors between 1996 and 2002. The team won, Michael won. Quite simply, from the teams perspective, it worked.

Conversely, during the same time period (‘96 – ‘02), McLaren claimed two drivers titles for Mika Hakkinen and one constructors. From looking at these statistics alone, it surely favours putting weight behind one of the drivers.

The Present

However, Heikki Kovalainen has insisted since signing for McLaren that he will have equal status with Lewis Hamilton, saying that the team will work for both drivers and give each a chance to perform to their maximum.

I would not have come to a team if I did not think I had an equal chance to fight for the championship. With McLaren, I have that. You do not know how the season is going to go, but at least to start with I have exactly the same opportunity as Lewis has, and it is up to me to build a relationship with the team and to make it as strong as I can. And we will see what happens. Heikki Kovalainen.

Heikki’s quote suggests that should one driver pull out an impenetrable margin over the other, the team would shift focus, but my question to you is should McLaren start out with supporting one for the title. History favours that tactic, even if the fans don’t. For now, I’m a fan and will prefer the team to continue the way they are. But if I owned a team, owed several million dollars to the FIA and hadn’t won a title in a fair few years, I might be thinking about other approaches.

Original article by BlogF1.

Should McLaren Favour One Driver Over Another?