New World Order

Looks like the 2009 Formula 1 season has it's story line already, to paraphrase the great Bill Murray "Cinderella story. Outta nowhere. A former greenskeeper, now, about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac... It's in the hole! It's in the hole! It's in the hole! "

And indeed it appears to really be all "in the hole" or rather, "holes". I translated this animation from Gazzetta Dello Sport explaining what is going on with Brawn GP's diffuser.

Kudos to to Brawn for finding this loophole though I wonder how this will be handled by the FIA. Ferrari had found a "gray area" solution last season at it was taken away from them. It is worth noting that the Brawns qualified with much more fuel than the rest of the Q3 cars.

Fernando Alonso was observed being quite friendly with Lewis Hamilton, I'm sure he could not resist saying "Now you know how I feel, buddy!"

2009 Australian GP Qualifying results (Toyotas failed tech and are starting last along with Hamilton who's gearbox had to be replaced)

Pos  Driver      Team                      Q1        Q2        Q3     Laps
1.  Button      Brawn-Mercedes        (B) 1:25.211  1:24.855  1:26.202 19
2.  Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes        (B) 1:25.006  1:24.783  1:26.505 21
3.  Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      (B) 1:25.938  1:25.121  1:26.830 21
4.  Kubica      BMW-Sauber            (B) 1:25.922  1:25.152  1:26.914 19
5.  Rosberg     Williams-Toyota       (B) 1:25.846  1:25.123  1:26.973 21
6.  Glock       Toyota                (B) 1:25.499  1:25.281  1:26.975 19
7.  Massa       Ferrari               (B) 1:25.844  1:25.319  1:27.033 21
8.  Trulli      Toyota                (B) 1:26.194  1:25.265  1:27.127 20
9.  Raikkonen   Ferrari               (B) 1:25.899  1:25.380  1:27.163 21
10.  Webber      Red Bull-Renault      (B) 1:25.427  1:25.241  1:27.246 20
11.  Heidfeld    BMW-Sauber            (B) 1:25.827  1:25.504           14
12.  Alonso      Renault               (B) 1:26.026  1:25.605           12
13.  Nakajima    Williams-Toyota       (B) 1:26.074  1:25.607           16
14.  Kovalainen  McLaren-Mercedes      (B) 1:26.184  1:25.726           15
15.  Hamilton    McLaren-Mercedes      (B) 1:26.454  no time             5
16.  Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B) 1:26.503                     10
17.  Piquet      Renault               (B) 1:26.598                     12
18.  Fisichella  Force India-Mercedes  (B) 1:26.677                     10
19.  Sutil       Force India-Mercedes  (B) 1:26.742                      9
20.  Bourdais    Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B) 1:26.964                     10

All Timing Unofficial