Forumla One 2009

[Mike]

The Malaysian GP Practice Sessions are now underway. Hopefully Millie will enjoy her second GP of her life on Sunday!

[Andy]

I'm gutted about this GP. Last year, I was out in Malaysia and Geoff (Row's dad) could have got me a ticket through work but he thought I didn't like Formula 1 because I had never mentioned it. This year, due to school hols being later and escalating airfares I miss it completely and he would have got me a ticket. Now that is annoying!

Still, last year I got to see one of the F1 cars because it was shoved in the middle of a massive shopping complex and I also got to see some of the training circuits. Plus, we went for a meal at the Mandarin which was amazing and were sat next to some of the corporate fat cats and believe me, they were loaded beyond belief. How do I know they were loaded? Fat, ugly, drunk, boisterous, old guys with young, beautiful caucasian women... go figure.

When I was in Singapore I also went on a quick tour of the circuit in the city that they would use and that was amazing and very cleverly done. It is amazing place if any of you ever get the chance to visit - tea at Raffles, mmmm. Anyway, I digress, if I see any of the stuff again, which is possible but not definite as I go to Thailand pretty much straight away, I will take some photos and upload them for you guys.

[Mike]

Malaysia has been red flagged! I don't ever recall seeing a race being stopped like this! If the race ends here then Jenson Button would win the race and get half points. The new rules and technical specifications are introducing a new excitement to the sport with lots of battles and overtaking. Great race chaps, shame it was running short but at the end of the day better safe than sorry!

[Mike]

I don't recal seeing this news story at the time but Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the Australian GP for misleading the race stewards about communication from the Team about letting Jarno Trulli past him under safety car conditions. This is not too good for the racer who worked very hard to make sure that his uncompetitive car managed to come fourth (or third) in race conditions.

[mr_e]

To be honest, the radio communication was fairly damning:
"Trulli ran wide and I passed him, should I let him back though?"
"Wait a minute [...] yes, let him through."

He needs to work on his memory of race events a bit. It was still a good effort though, so he can take some encouragement from it. I need to start making time to watch the races live, they're sounding pretty good so far.

[BarcelonAl]

Ron Dennis quits F1. He's left to concentrate on McClaren's new sports car project...apparently!

[Mike]

I had heard that rumour that he was going to announce his move today but it was just a rumour when I read it. The Chinese GP starts this weekend. Does anyone think that Jenson will be able to make it 3 from 3 pole positions to race victories? I am quite excited about this season, the overtaking and racing has been excellent and the most exciting for years.

[Mike]

Chinese Practice Sessions are underway at the moment. Practice 1 and 2 have finished with Lewis Hamilton beating Button by 0.116 to claim the fastest spot in practice 1. This might have something to do with the new McLaren diffuser fitted since Wednesdays approval of the type of system used by Brawn GP.

Hamilton fell to 13th position in Practice 2 with a modest improvement on times with Button claiming the fastest spot.

Ferrari have had a horrid start to the weekend with Kimi and Massa not even breaking into the top 10 - probably following a problem with their tyres beading during the race. The new BBC website has rather poor coverage I am afraid so I can't actually re-find the report about the tyres

Briatore throws his dummie out of the pram becuase his team and drivers are not winning races and the 'old guard' are down in the mouth about not being able to get points. At the end of the day how is it more exciting to see Ferrari or Renault storm the field? Sounds like bitterness to me.

[Mike]

Vettel managed to rack up a Forumula One victory in China yesterday in a race in extremely bad weather. Button was third but a very good race. We will have to see how Red Bull do over the next few races as they are the only car without the controversial diffuser.

Headlines.
Alonso for Renault qualifies second with a very light fuel load.
Button is fast but Red Bull is faster in the wet.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikonnen has given up on this world championship. Not really a world championship winning attitude. I think they should sack him for not really giving it his all.
Vettel manages a virgin F1 win!

[Mike]

Toyota full front row with Vettel and Button following up in 3rd and 4th! Hamilton was 5th in the final rankings.

[BarcelonAl]

Just watching the highlights...the Brawn car is very good, but will someone come up with something to beat it as the season progresses? Hamilton is looking quicker and the Toyota's are pretty quick as well. I'd like to see Jenson win as you've always been able to see the talent in him, he's just been let down by the cars he was in.

[mr_e]

Actually caught some of the race, but looks like I missed most of the drama... Button was well ahead by the time I tuned in. The guy's dominating and they seemed to have the right race strategy as well.

[Mike]

Interestingly I don't think I would say they were dominating. Brawn were lucky in a sense because they kept their noses clean in the first hectic lap, had a good strategy and their competitors held up race contenders in traffic after they re-joined from the pits and had to 'race' a slower car for position. That is not intended to sound like I am taking anything away from Jenson, he managed a storm of inlaps prior to his last pitstop which was able to nail the race for the team. I bet Honda are kicking themselves this year, yes they saved lots of money but they lost the pride of beating their Toyota competitors to real race winning form - that must hurt!

You have to sort of feel sorry for Jarno Trulli, he managed to get pole but faded in the race. It was a shame to watch as Toyota failed to get their first race win - yet again!

The start was amazing btw - you should watch the first five laps of the GP to get all the overtaking madness on the iPlayer.

[Mike]

F1 teams to have a $40m budget cap starting in 2010. This is rewarded with unlimited testing and greater technical freedom. Is anyone else feeling the irony that you are allowed to have unlimited testing but lets be honest, you probably can't afford it!

[mr_e]

Hmm... the "greater technical freedom" part could be interesting. Looks like it's a work in progress though, so we'll have to see what they thrash out. It would help if I knew what some of the budgets actually were at present, but I'm taking a wild guess Ferrari's is just a bit more than the $40 million. I don't see the problem though, they're free to spend more if they want to.