It was the best of teams, it was the worst of teams...

Brawn, USF1... You can understand why the sellers are, shall we say, downplaying the USF1 aspect.

You will remember how the North Carolina based "team" said it had bought transports and trailers from Brawn GP.

Lucky for the sellers, Peter Windsor never got around to putting new stickers on at least one of those trailers so this still is the trailer of the most successful "rookie" team in F1 history and it has Jenson Button's number on it. Looks like trailer 2 has no stickers but was the machine shop, trailer 1 has a conference area.

As Alex said in his message "What a great way to make an entrance at a Trackday World Championship 2010 event. Whoever buys it and turns up at a trackday only to unveil a tired, abused track-miata will be my hero. "

Calling Dale.... Dale Lomas? More pictures after the jump.

Brawn GP Trailers for sale: Trailer 1 Trailer 2





FOR SALE BY ORDER OF THE HIGH COURT (NO RESERVE)

*PLEASE NOTE THESE ITEMS ARE NOT OWNED BY BRAWN GP. THE GOODS HAVE BEEN SEIZED FROM A MOTORSPORT TEAM THAT PURCHASED THEM FROM BRAWN GP AND SUBSEQUENTLY FAILED TO QUALIFY FOR THEIR SERIES*



In accordance with law, the seized goods as detailed above will be sold to the highest bidder.



You are viewing one (of two) ex-Formula One Motorsport Trailers for sale without reserve.

All bids are for the trailer only.

As stated above, the trailer was previously owned by Brawn GP and this trailer is currently sign written with their logo and the name Jenson Button 22 on the side. This may infringe on copyright and/or trademark law and it is recommended the purchaser removes this livery upon collection.



Test Trailer (TT2) Triple axle straight frame chassis with 1250mm pin height.

MOT until November 2010
Transportation of equipment and Engineers office in front.
Rear fitted with Lista Cabinets and cupboards, power and data sockets fitted throughout.
Engineers office for approximately 10 engineers, with data cabinet, data and power sockets in tables, overhead storage, counter at front for data engineers.
2 off air operated masts.
Air conditioning.
Eberspacher night heater.
Side door on LHS onto slide out platform with aluminium clip on steps.
External storage lockers with coach style doors
90Kva Webb Generator. (serviced)
2 ton D’Hollandia Race Car tailift with central access door, aluminium clip on steps.
Hydrovane compressor.

Viewing is highly recommended at can be arranged by appointment only.

The trailer will need to be collected within 72 hours of sale from our storage facility in Oxfordshire.

The Sheriffs Office will require payment in full by bank transfer within 48 hours of the sale finishing.

Should you have any queries please contact us accordingly.

Trailer 2

Test Trailer (TT1) Triple axle step frame chassis with 1250mm pin height.

MOT until November 2010
Transportation of 3 single seater race cars and equipment.
Rear area fitted with Lista Cabinets, cupboards and overhead lockers, power and data sockets throughout.
Machine shop equipped with Lathe/Mill, draws/cupboards and overhead lockers.
Side door on RHS onto slide out platform with aluminium clip on steps.
Air-conditioning.
Eberspacher night heater.
Scissor lift to transfer Listas etc up onto swan neck area
90Kva Webb Generator. (serviced)
2 ton D’Hollandia Race Car tailift with central access door, aluminium clip on steps.
Low level external lockers.
Hydrovane compressor.

2009 Formula 1 Highlights

The FIA really stepped up it's game this year and I must say, for once eclipsed the efforts of fan produced clips which in the past have put the big boys to shame.

Next season may be the beginning of the austerity and cost saving era in Formula 1 but this year's clip, shown at the FIA gala in Monaco, clearly had to cost more than a warehouse full of USF1 carbon fiber toasters!





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Power Means Nothing Without Control

As was rumored and expected for months, Mercedes bought Brawn GP and dropped Mclaren from a quasi-works team to customer status. Mercedes is citing the "new economic climate" and "cost cutting" but like with Toyota, BMW dropping out, it's likely deeper than that.

Manufactures don't mind spending money but what they cannot justify is footing the bill without controlling, well... everything if they could. Bridgestone is leaving because the FIA put them in a situation where they have to produce "bad" tires artificially, what's their incentive for staying? It's not quite as bad for auto manufactures yet but you see where Ferrari was going with its "12 little indians" press release.

Mercedes "married" Mclaren when the Woking team was hot. They built a fantastic new house, they had great success but then things began to go sour. Shoplifting, SLR, economy, take your pick, Mercedes has found a new younger and less "complicated" mistress and I'm sure it's thinking that as long as it is paying the bills it might as well have her wear silver and call the shots, something they could not do with Ron Dennis.

It's not a cost cutting measure, I'm sure the pre-nupt with Mclaren was ferocious. Mercedes will sell back its 40% Mclaren stake in 2 years and had to commit to supply engines until 2015 and beyond (one might wonder how the 40% sell back and the engine supply are tied) yet from the wording of the Mclaren press release, Mclaren is not obliged to stay with Mercedes engines. Mercedes is also getting flack from its unions who are complaining that at a time when workers are getting their hours cut, management should have done a "Toyota" and use the excuse to drop out rather than go out and buy a whole new team. It's an expensive move for MB.

Engines is where it gets interesting. Ron Dennis wants to be Enzo Ferrari and had seen the writing on the wall long ago, at least as long ago as the plans to produce the MP4-12c road car with a Mclaren built engine started. Mclaren is banking on a future as a self contained manufacturer more or less like Ferrari or Porsche are/were. They already build standard ECU's for other teams and I'm sure the idea of becoming an engine supplier has crossed their minds, with teams likely to come and go in the next few years an alternative engine supply should be welcome once the FIA lifts its idiotic requirement that new teams buy powerplants only from Cosworth.

Brawn proved this year that a superior car will make up for lack of driver "star power". This is a line of thinking beloved by manufactures, BMW, Toyota and at times in the past, Ferrari have gone down that road, historically with resounding failures. Brawn's pulled it off this past season but they also had the double diffuser advantage in part to thank. It will be interesting to see where Mercedes is going with Button, Heidfeld and Raikkonen.

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Brawn World Champions, Button World Champion

Congratulations to Brawn GP and Jenson Button. I read many articles along the lines of "but is Jenson Button worthy..." yada yada. Ultimately, pointless: you win Championships by having the most points and Button was able to do that. You may debate style but not substance.

And you can get as "Oliver Stone" as you like but there is no denying one basic thing about Brawn GP, Along with Mercedes they built a package that was not just fast but incredibly strong and reliable. Why did Button win the championship even after other teams fitted their cars with "double diffusers" and closed the performance gap? Because his car, unlike his those of his rivals, did not break once in sixteen races (he was punted off track in Belgium). Rubens had one mechanical. That is simply fantastic, the car was a tank.

As for today's race, Button, like Hamilton, had a dry setup and as expected sliced through the field. But from the start the seas parted for Button as, once again, cars in front of him got into trouble. Raikkonen was shut down hard by Webber, Trulli and Sutil got cozy and bumped each other out taking Alonso with them. Rosberg had a mechanical, Nakajima crashed. Mclaren drove off with a fuel hose attached and managed to light Kimi's Ferrari on fire for a second ( way more embarrassing than Singapore last year, the fuel man was not even close to done when the lead mechanic released the car...)
Button had some trouble with the very impressive Kamui Kobayashi and had, I thought, a bit of a lame moment when he complained over the radio the rookie was not making things easy for him ("we'll let Charlie know" was the reply from the team). Yes Jenson, it's called racing... I like Kobayashi, he fought hard and showed Button and other veterans zero respect, reminded me a bit of when Alonso was dealing with Schumacher way back...

And Barrichello, once again jinxed in Brazil, he owes Brawn for a chance to see if eighteen's the charm for winning his home GP!

Oh yes, almost forgot, Webber won, Kubica had a great race and Vettel not a so great race.
Feel free to weigh in, as usual.


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So who won at Monza?

Ross Brawn won it, from the pit wall. Sure, Barrichello drove very well, I just cannot get behind a guy who is all lovey dovey with his team when things go well yet is quick to throw hissy fits and "blah blah blah" when they don't go his way. I cannot get behind the guy who criticizes Renault's Briatore for questioning Piquet Jr's manhood but was all too happy to call Schumacher a fag in public.

Whatever, Rubens drove a mistake free race, he qualified one spot in front of Button and finished the same way, the first of the cars with the ''right''one stop strategy. Good for the Brazilian but I'm sure that if Button ends up winning the championship it will be Oliver Stone time again from Rubens.

Sebastian Vettel was pretty bad, his first lap was really pretty nasty stuff. Maybe he had really started to believe he was in the championship hunt and it got to him. Mark Webber could be the new David Coulthard.

Raikkonen for the first time I heard critical of Ferrari, in his mild mannered Finnish way. He drove as fast as it would go but was not too happy he could barely keep ahead of of the non KERS Force India. Adrian Sutil scored fast lap of the race, amazing. Fisichella meanwhile was perfectly happy not to be last and to have a job for next year.

Finally Hamilton: he tried, he was on the ''wrong'' 2 stop strategy but charged the whole race. He made one mistake in the wrong place and boom, from hero to zero. But at least he tried, he did not just settle for third and, according to people who were at the track, even Ferrari's Stefano Domenicali went to of his way to congratulate him after the race....(or maybe he was just thanking him for the extra points!)

I superimposed the relevant section of the lap before Hamilton's accident and the final lap. There is not much difference but then again, it does not take much. See if you can spot it and give us your theory as to what happened at Lesmo. Monday morning driving coaches welcome!



After the jump I have another special treat for our readers...




Here is the complete race from onboard cameras. Don't worry about the sound, it starts towards the end of the warm up lap. I always find the warm up lap fascinating from onboards:when drivers try to get temperature into their tires you really get the sense of how easy it is to make the cars understeer with low downforce and how little it takes to spin the rear wheels.

The different quality video is because not all car carry the new for this year HD cameras.

Valencia Wrap.

Rather than the usual summary, I though readers might find the BBC's post race show interesting for a change.

I will refrain from commenting on Luca Badoer's performance, it would be like shooting on the Red Cross, suffice it it to say that I never thought I would see a race driver willingly give up a position while still in pit lane...

The race, amid the picturesque Valencia shipping container facility, was much less exciting than reports would have you believe especially as we were robbed of a potential exciting finish when Mclaren threw away Hamilton's first place with a botched pit stop. Mclaren are, bizarrely, spinning it as if the mistake did not make any difference. I don't think anyone is buying their story and many must be scratching their heads as to why they would prefer claiming they were slow rather than mistaken... a clause in Hamilton's contract?

Call me cynical but I had to laugh when I heard Berrichello's race engineer, Jock Clear, say that "winning in a top car like Ferrari is one thing but in Brawn..." and calling him "..a class act". All I can think about is Rubens' hissy fit after the German GP...

As usual I welcome your comments.

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Where did the spring come from?

This video from Gazzetta Dello Sport shows the basic workings of the Brawn GP's rear suspension. It it though that the string from the center shock is what broke off in Barrichello's car. Some reports give the weight of the spring at around 800grams, Massa's speed at around 260km/h. You do the math.

Without translating the whole video, you can see that is the only coil spring and is used in conjunction with torsion bars embedded in the gearbox.








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"To Be Honest..."

After today's German GP, Rubens Barrichello went into one of his usual hissy fits claiming he would have won the race if it hadn't been for the team screwing up his strategy and pit stops.

"To be honest, I wish I could just get on a plane and go home now. I don't want to talk to anyone in the team, because it would be a lot of bla, bla, bla, bla... And I don't want to hear that. I'm just terribly upset,"

Ross Brawn actually was honest and replied to the assembled journalists:

"Rubens had the 11th fastest time in the race today....You cannot win a race, whatever strategy you have, if your best lap is only 11th quickest. It is just not possible. Those are the facts."

To be honest Barrichello, who famously called Schumacher gay, should make an effort to enjoy his last seven races in F1 rather than spend his time crying. On the other hand he has more material for that famous tell-all book he threatenend to write.

(via Autosport)

(via Scuderia Asino Grigio)

And here is the rest of it.

Kubica+Button at Brawn GP in 2010

According to a silly season report on French TV. That would leave two empty seats at BMW if you believe other rumor about Heidfeld leaving.
(via CircusF1.com)




And here is the rest of it.

No team orders at Brawn GP

Riko.it




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The Chosen ones.

The way it works is, everyone writes about Vettel coming in 4th rather than Webber's great race for 3rd. (which included an overtaking of Fernando Alonso that will be in highlight reels for ages). Vettel is the next superstar sadly held up by Massa, Webber is given a pat on the back. That the way it is at Red Bull.

At Brawn we have Barrichello, as we predicted, complaining about team orders.

"I think (Ross Brawn) really likes me...". Right Rubens, he was your team manager for years at Ferrari, I'm sure he "liked you" but he still made sure the team and its number one driver won.

Is there any doubt that Button is first drive at Brawn? Only for Rubens apparently. His declarations on the verge of a hissy fit are not surprising, he's always had a persecution complex, but on Sunday it was not the strategy but his driving in the second part of the race that was the issue. Even Button spurred him on over the radio.

Barrichello was not the only whiner of the week end. Lewis Hamilton went as far as saying he drove great "like I always do" but the car was a dog, an extraordinary way to endear yourself to your team who have, one way or another, worked extremely hard on that car.

Ferrari also put a lot of work into their cars and they gained the most compared to the frontrunners Brawn and Red Bull, what they do not have yet is reliability. God knows if there is something that will break on a car, Raikkonen will find it but, unlike Hamilton, Kimi will take the fall for his and maybe even other's mistakes.

Massa drove a great race, Ferrari must have decided to race Vettel for third and that's why the early stop. What happened with the fuel, if it was a machine error or a human error we might never know, but at least when the cars ran (and had gas) they were very close to the frontrunners.

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Chinese GP Qualifying: Technolgy fails, Men make the difference

KERS is a miserable failure, that was made abundantly clear in China where all teams that removed it were relatively faster than they had been in Malaysia.

Diffusers aside it seems that weight distribution may be more effective than KERS, no wonder all the major teams are furious at the FIA for forcing them to use it while at the same time giving a fee pass to the smarty pant diffuser crowd.... but that's about politics and for another post.

This week end so far showed precisely why champions matter and why teams need that ultimate performance component if they hope to win. Sebastian Vettel had one shot at pole. There were mechanical issues and he is very light on fuel which meant he had only one flying lap each session including the final Q3. In Q3, he had just the warm up lap to get used to the new fuel load. His lap, which you can see below, was absolutely perfect. He's light on fuel along with Alonso and Webber but he delivered in a crunch the way only great champions are able to. Why BMW let this kid slip through their fingers I'll never understand.

Fernando Alonso got a new diffuser on the car just this morning and while the lightest of the top 5 he managed once again to make the best with what he had and get on the front row. Impressive.

The Red Bull and Renault strategy will depend on them making the most out of the soft tires which have been problematic over more than a couple of laps. Keep an eye on who starts on which tire.

Mclaren and Ferrari are both very heavy with fuel but Raikkonen and Hamilton left their teammates way behind. Massa because he made a mistake on his final Q2 lap, Kovalainen likely because he does not have anywhere near the same car as Hamilton this week end. I think at this point poor Heikki can kiss his career goodbye. His only hope may be a move and a stroke of luck similar to Button's and Barrichello's.

Speaking of Barrichello, he's been crying again, feeling like he can't get respect... His latest beef with Flavio Briatore who, jokingly referred to the Brazilian as a "pensioner" and Button as a "rolling speed bump". Rubens got all outraged and shot back calling Briatore "a stupid man". Well Rubens, I hate to tell you but... that's just the facts, if it wasn't for Brawn, you were going to retire and Button was certainly a rolling chicane last year with that Honda. Sheesh, some people just never know when to keep quiet and enjoy their luck!

Full results and Qualifying weights after the jump

Pos  Driver       Team                       Q1        Q2        Q3      Laps
 1.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B) 1:36.565  1:35.130  1:36.184  11
 2.  Alonso       Renault               (B) 1:36.443  1:35.803  1:36.381  21
 3.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B) 1:35.751  1:35.173  1:36.466  19
 4.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B) 1:35.701  1:35.503  1:36.493  21
 5.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B) 1:35.533  1:35.556  1:36.532  19
 6.  Trulli       Toyota                (B) 1:36.308  1:35.645  1:36.835  21
 7.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B) 1:35.941  1:35.809  1:37.397  23
 8.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B) 1:36.137  1:35.856  1:38.089  19
 9.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B) 1:35.776  1:35.740  1:38.595  17
10.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B) 1:36.284  1:35.965  1:39.321  21
11.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B) 1:36.525  1:35.975            14
12.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B) 1:36.646  1:36.032            10
13.  Massa        Ferrari               (B) 1:36.178  1:36.033            11
14.  Glock        Toyota                (B) 1:36.364  1:36.066            14
15.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B) 1:36.673  1:36.193            13
16.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B) 1:36.906                      10
17.  Piquet       Renault               (B) 1:36.908                      10
18.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B) 1:36.966                      8 
19.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B) 1:37.669                      10
20.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B) 1:37.672                      10

All Timing Unofficial

Pos. Driver         Car weight
 1.  Vettel          644.0kg           
 2.  Alonso          637.0kg           
 3.  Webber          646.5kg           
 4.  Barrichello     661.0kg           
 5.  Button          659.0kg           
 6.  Trulli          664.5kg           
 7.  Rosberg         650.5kg           
 8.  Raikkonen       673.5kg           
 9.  Hamilton        679.0kg           
10.  Buemi           673.0kg           
11.  Heidfeld        679.0kg           
12.  Kovalainen      697.0kg           
13.  Massa           690.0kg           
14.  Glock           652.0kg           
15.  Nakajima        682.7kg           
16.  Bourdais        690.0kg           
17.  Piquet          697.9kg           
18.  Kubica          659.0kg           
19.  Sutil           648.0kg           
20.  Fisichella      679.5kg       

Diffusers are go...

As expected the FIA, probably most interested in not contradicting itself, declared the Brawn, Toyota and Williams diffusers to be legal.

What was not expected and a big disappointment was to hear Ferrari's lawyer refer to Ross Brawn as "a person of supreme arrogance" for essentially coming up with his own, clever interpretation of the rules as written. Compound that with the apparent argument made by Adrian Newey that these diffusers are unsafe because they make cars too fast and the whole thing just looks bad plain stupid from the outside.

As a counterpoint of course, this ruling goes completely against the FIA stated intentions of cutting costs as many teams will be forced to spend huge amounts to rush new parts onto the cars. It was rumored Mclaren spent a few million on a front wing just for Interlagos last year, imagine what a complete re design of the rear aerodynamics of the car must cost.

Also the 2009 rules arise from recommendations made by the Overtaking Working Group which was made up by designers from Ferrari, Mclaren and Renault. It is understandable why those three teams made the argument that there was an infraction against the spirit of the regulations and it is understandable why their cars were not designed the same way. However proving infractions against spirits never worked very well and good luck getting a ruling that would have annulled what has been a dream media story again for Formula 1, right at a time when the sport so needs to be at the center of attention. Not to mention stifling that essential element for technical progress: creative disregard for "the way it's done".

For one interpretation of how the Brawn diffuser works look HERE

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Malaysian GP Executive Summary

Whatever you may say about how the cars look, there is no doubt that between the funky wings, the tires and the KERS, there is a lot more overtaking in Formula 1 this year. The start and the first lap were fantastic and there were many exciting battle on track, while it lasted anyway.

The Malaysian GP was cut off early because of rain but also because since as the race had a 5pm local time start in order to accommodate european television audiences, it simply became too dark to race.

Once again the "diffuser" cars were the class of the field with Heidfeld coming in second solely based on strategy and the luck of the draw.

Throwing the dice did not pay off at all for Ferrari who made a wild gamble running Raikkonen on full wets when the track was not yet even wet. If the downpour had come that lap, Ferrari's crew would have been heroes, but it was not to be. Last Year Ross Brawn said you have to race for the condition you have, not the ones you think you may get. Simple, effective.

Jenson Button was again flawless, a performance more impressive considering nobody had yet driven the Brawns in the wet..ever!

And here is the rest of it.

Michael Schumacher back in Formula1 with Brawn GP!

"To be honest, Lance Armstrong is an inspiration" Michael Schumacher revealed to the assembled press in Kuala Lumpur this morning where it was announced that the seven time world champion would join the Brawn GP team effective immediately.

As you may know, Schumacher's contract with Ferrari is up this summer but the German, together with his manager Willi Webber and with full backing of Richard Branson and an ecstatic Bernie Ecclestone , decided this was the right time to reconstitute the all conquering dream team with Ross Brawn.

Perhaps more of a shock to all is that Schumacher will step in in place of Jenson Button, winner of the first race of 2009 in Australia.

"It was important for us to have the old team in place" said the German champion "it just would not be the same without Rubens behind me, we need to write a final chapter of this great novel". The Brazilian was said to have been moved to tears by the gesture.

There has been no comment yet from either Button or Ferrari's Luca di Montezemolo, both are sure to consider legal action.

And here is the rest of it.

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

Brawn, Williams and Toyota Diffusers are legal.

Stewards in Melbourne rejected protests by Red Bull BMW Ferrari and Renault. Teams will probably have to copy the Brawn, Toyota , Williams diffuser solution. If pre-season testing times stand up, this is a huge advantage for the first "away" races part of the season.




And here is the rest of it.

Formula Chaos

One week before the 2009 season start in Melbourne and Formula 1 is in turmoil. If you have not followed the pre season dramatics let me try and summarize for you:

On track:

No doubt you have heard about Brawn GP's miraculous testing times by now. Bernie Ecclestone himself tipped Button for as a possible world championship contender (poor Rubens...).

While the Brawn is obviously a good car, it must be remembered that this is testing and there are no obligations for cars to pass tech inspection. Further scrutiny of slow corner exit acceleration hints the Brawn could be running below fighting weight. Barring vastly superior mechanical grip, the 5 to 6 mph differential observed cannot be explained otherwise, especially as the Brawn is not getting any help from a KERS system.

The buzzword in this 2009 pre-season has been "diffusers" and there have been accusations, starting with Flavio Briatore, but in the last week also Ferrari's Stefano Domenicali, that some teams have interpreted regulations a bit too loosely.

The teams in question are Brawn, Williams and Toyota. Just yesterday the FIA technical delegate Charlie Whiting told Auto Motor und Sport that while no official complaint have been made to date, the diffusers in question were designed exploiting a gray area in the regulations.

Will there be a protest similar to Mclaren's protest of Ferrari's sprung floor? A good possibility, especially as limited testing makes successfully coming up with a copy more complicated.

Other assorted tidbits and rumors:

Mclaren's troubles are in part due to a structural problem with their diffuser which flexed enough to disturb the airflow. They tried a different extractor design but if we see a MP4-24/b soon we'll know this was more than conjecture.

Red Bull is sandbagging.

Off Track:

Briatore may like it but I have read not one single positive comment about the last minute scoring change the FIA dictated this past week amongst fans. Stunning, especially as this change was purportedly the result of a fan poll.
While last year Hamilton was crowned champion with one less win than Massa, with the new system you might have a champion scoring less points than second place. You might also have the season decided very early in the season. Quite a difference coming from two seasons decided in the last few laps. A simple increase in the points awarded to first place would have worked so much better.

The mandated two tier budgets from 2010 on, unlimited but with technical restrictions or 30 million pounds ($42M) with technical innovations allowed, is very much about money but also about a power struggle between the FIA and the constructor's association, FOTA.
FOTA had, amazingly, managed a very united front in its brief existence, the FIA's newfound love for the little guy aims squarely at driving a wedge in the group. It's fairly complicated and appropriately Machiavellian, if you want to delve into it more I highly recommend you read Chris Sylt about F1's commercial rights and then GrandPrix.com's "The danger of getting what you want"

Teams will of course pick the option with allowing technical innovation, and the budget cap? Well there is an obvious solution already used by Red Bull: you run two teams.

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Diffusers.

Fascinating look at the different the different diffusers teams are trying at Jerez this week.

Anyone want to venture a guess on what's on the Mclaren's right rear?

And here is the rest of it.

Barcelona Tests: Trouble for Mclaren?

There is more than one voice out there that suggests all is not going quite as planned with the Mclaren MP4-24 as the Silver Arrows have been somewhat off the pace set by Ferrari, Toyota and BMW. All amusing speculation in advance of the first race in Melbourne, what's more interesting to see in this clip are the significant evolutions which have already emerged on many of the cars.

If you look carefully, you can catch a glimpse of Mclaren's radical new floor profile (described HERE). In fact, Mclaren tested a new floor, front wing and engine cover. You can certainly see Renault running a completely different front wing that no longer flips the air up and over the tire but out and around them, a solution adopted by most other teams.

Interesting to see these angled top front wing elements, most pronounced on the Toyota but used also on the Ferrari.

Brawn GP, you may have noticed, is different from all other cars in that it has a low bulbous nose. Speculation is that this is to focus more weight and aero pressure on the front at the expense of airflow volume under the nose cone. How well that works remained to be seen. James Allen has a description of the cars under braking today:

"...The new rules have cut the maximum downforce level available on the cars to below the level they used to have on low downforce tracks. This has meant many things, but one of them is that braking stability is now harder to find, as downforce is an important part of getting the car slowed down. I stood at the heavy braking zone at Turn 10 for a few hours this morning and studied this closely. Everyone is more jittery than they were there last year, but if I had to pick a winner under braking I would say that it’s the Ferrari. The Brawn car is giving a little bit away there compared to the Toyotas and BMWs, and so is the Renault."

Ferrari and BMW seem to be the least changed of the cars, a good omen for them?