Singapore Rewind...

September 28, 2009

"...For me the most entertaining part of the week end was the podium press conference. Fernando Alonso literally stunned the whole of the F1 press into silence by dedicating his result to "Flavio watching at home". Dependent on the FIA for their access most new sites did not know how to comment last night. This morning the party line is along the lines of "Oh that means he's going to Ferrari"...you don't say.

Aside from the stunning news the FIA did not manage to cancel Flavio's Formula 1 pay-per-view subscription, that was as big a public razberry to Max Mosley as I've ever seen and good show of Alonso's character. He and Mark Webber proved to be real men, not tempted to feign moral outrage. Don't be afraid Mosley is going to revoke your superlicence, Alonso is saying, just imagine him in the nude sipping tea with the hookers. In a sport where a team is deemed "too big to fail", Alonso just asked the FIA to try him. Let's see your moral outrage now!

Fernando is right of course, he thanked the team and he thanked Briatore who is the reason Renault is and, paradoxically now, will stay in F1. Briatore is also responsible for the deals that brought Alonso to Ferrari and likey, Kubica to Renault, all good things for Formula 1...."

SIngapore 2009


end of post

In his Own Words

Button commented his attempt to make the pass on Webber in the final lap at Abu Dhabi. Webber did a great job with weak brakes keeping the Brawn behind but I guess we'll never know what happened to Button when he got on the inside, right before the cameras cut away. I was sure he had gotten the Red Bull...





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Kate's Dirty Sister Does it Again!

The Story of Kate's Dirty Sister

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Abu Dhabi Grand Prix
Yas Marina, United Arab Emirates;
55 laps; 305.470km;
Weather: Dry.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1h34:03.314
 2.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +    17.857
 3.  Button        Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  +    18.467
 4.  Barrichello   Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  +    22.735
 5.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +    26.253
 6.  Kobayashi     Toyota                (B)  +    28.343
 7.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  +    34.366
 8.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +    41.294
 9.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)  +    45.941
10.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  +    48.180
11.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +    52.798
12.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  +    54.317
13.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  +    59.839
14.  Alonso        Renault               (B)  +  1:09.687
15.  Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  +  1:34.450
16.  Grosjean      Renault               (B)  +     1 lap
17.  Fisichella    Ferrari               (B)  +     1 lap
18.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  (B)  +     1 lap

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:40.279

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)    21
Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)    19


World Championship standings, round 17:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Button        95        1.  Brawn-Mercedes        172
 2.  Vettel        84        2.  Red Bull-Renault      153.5
 3.  Barrichello   77        3.  McLaren-Mercedes       71
 4.  Webber        69.5      4.  Ferrari                70
 5.  Hamilton      49        5.  Toyota                 59.5
 6.  Raikkonen     48        6.  BMW Sauber             36
 7.  Rosberg       34.5      7.  Williams-Toyota        34.5
 8.  Trulli        32.5      8.  Renault                26
 9.  Alonso        26        9.  Force India-Mercedes   13
10.  Glock         24       10.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari      8
11.  Kovalainen    22       
12.  Massa         22       
13.  Heidfeld      19       
14.  Kubica        17       
15.  Fisichella     8       
16.  Buemi          6       
17.  Sutil          5       
18.  Kobayashi      3       
19.  Bourdais       2       
       
All timing unofficial

More Sebastian Vettel on Axis

Hamilton kicks some sand in Button's face

Really, the only interesting thing about the Abu Dhabi race is the cat fight between the two Brit champs.

I figure Hamilton thinks Button is cut rate and only won because of his car and is bitter he's not the UK media's darling anymore. Button desperately wants to show he actually knows how to win without a massive car advantage.

They are playing on neutral ground, a track nobody has seen before and qualifying weights make it clear that they were both going for pole. Hamilton schooled Button who blamed a bad vibration in his brakes for 5th place, behind Barrichello.

Red bulls are in fine shape with a heavier fuel load. Good last qualifying for SauberBMW. Especially embarrassing show from Ferrari, right in front of their monumental amusement park. Luca Di Montezemolo looked distinctly un-amused.

Pos  Driver                             Weight (kg)
1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes        658.5
2.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault        663.0
3.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault        660.0
4.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes          655.0
5.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes          657.0
6.  Trulli       Toyota                  661.0
7.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber              654.5
8.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber              664.0
9.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota         665.0
10.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari      661.5
11.  Raikkonen    Ferrari                 692.0*
12.  Kobayashi    Toyota                  694.3*
13.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes        697.0*
14.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota         704.0*
15.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari      696.5*
16.  Alonso       Renault                 708.3*
17.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes    695.0*
18.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes    696.0*
19.  Grosjean     Renault                 710.8*
20.  Fisichella   Ferrari                 692.5*

* Declared weight

end of post

Las Dhabi World!

Looks to me like what we have here in the Yas Marina circuit is a combination Paul Ricard and Speed Racer 2008, something that looks beautiful on TV but has no substance and will probably give you a headache after 10 minutes.

Mostly long straights followed by hairpins or left right quasi-chicanes, it's yet one more Formula 1 track built as an amusement park without any natural features (this more than any other has NO natural features as it's built on a landfill) and where it's hard to imagine any consequences paid for mistakes made.

Apparently there are fantastic accommodations for the teams and their guests, for the press and, with the lights on, it will make TV directors happy but ... It feels like what it set out to be: an amusement park...complete with FerrariWorld ride. A middle eastern Las Vegas/Disney World, Bah. We'll see this week end if, at least, the circuit allows for good racing.

Free practice saw the Mclarens in front but as usual the first 13 cars are within one second of each other. Note Kobayashi in 5th!!
That might explain why Trulli's silly behaviour at the Thursday press conference which was best commented by Fernando Alonso with a "we will discuss tomorrow...deep". check it out after the jump.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps
 1.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:41.307            35
 2.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:41.504  + 0.197   34
 3.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:41.541  + 0.234   39
 4.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:41.591  + 0.284   37
 5.  Kobayashi    Toyota                (B)  1:41.636  + 0.329   34
 6.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:41.683  + 0.376   37
 7.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:41.684  + 0.377   34
 8.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:41.831  + 0.524   38
 9.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:41.931  + 0.624   39
10.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:41.987  + 0.680   39
11.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:42.180  + 0.873   28
12.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:42.245  + 0.938   36
13.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:42.278  + 0.971   36
14.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:42.409  + 1.102   30
15.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:42.530  + 1.223   33
16.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:42.782  + 1.475   29
17.  Fisichella   Ferrari               (B)  1:42.932  + 1.625   37
18.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:43.021  + 1.714   37
19.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:43.022  + 1.715   39
20.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:43.708  + 2.401   13

All Timing Unofficial

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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The Curious Case of Jensomin Button

(Steven Tee/LAT Photographic)

Has Jenson Button actually figured out a way to go from a seemingly insurmountable lead to losing the world championship to Ruben Barrichello? Sure looked like it during qualifying, Button plain blew it, no excuses. Barrichello barely made Q3 but then got the job done with a light car to score his first pole in a long time.
Vettel also blew it and then blew a gasket in a not so cool "toy out of the pram toss" episode... Dude, conditions were tough for everyone.

Of course some cars will have gambled on dry setups and in the unlikely case of a dry race, watching the "drys" make their way through the field should be very entertaining.

Because Liuzzi has to change his gearbox (destroyed when he crashed in Q2) he will start from the back which means Button and Vettel will start side by side.

Barrichello is on pole but he has been traditionally jinxed in Brazil and he has the lightest fuel load. Webber looks like a real threat but Raikkonen is also there ready to pounce and now probably very motivated to show well.

Don't miss the race this afternoon!


(Ercole Colombo)

Pos  Driver       Team                       Q1        Q2        Q3
1.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:24.100  1:21.659  1:19.576
2.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:24.722  1:20.803  1:19.668
3.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:24.447  1:20.753  1:19.912
4.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:24.621  1:20.635  1:20.097
5.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:23.047  1:21.378  1:20.168
6.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:24.591  1:20.701  1:20.250
7.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:22.828  1:20.368  1:20.326
8.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:23.072  1:21.147  1:20.631
9.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:23.161  1:20.427  1:20.674
10.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:24.842  1:21.657  1:21.422
11.  Kobayashi    Toyota                (B)  1:24.335  1:21.960 
12.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:24.773  1:22.231 
13.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:24.394  1:22.477 
14.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:24.297  1:22.504 
15.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:24.645 
16.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:25.009
17.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:25.052
18.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:25.192
19.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:25.515
20.  Fisichella   Ferrari               (B)  1:40.703

All Timing Unofficial

Brazil Practice Samba

Interlagos

Weather uncertain, Button's clinch uncertain... Formula 1 script writers heading for another successful season finale!

end of post

Wacky Qualy

Crazy Qualifying, bad day for Red Bull/Toro Rosso mechanics.

My daughter Arabella made a suggestion for the highlight reel...

Pos  Driver       Team
 1.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault
 2.  Trulli       Toyota
 3.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes 
 4.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber
 5.  Raikkonen    Ferrari  
 6.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota
 7.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber
 8.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  *
 9.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        *
10.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari
11.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        *
12.  Fisichella   Ferrari
13.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      **
14.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    *
15.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota
16.  Grosjean     Renault
17.  Alonso       Renault               *
18.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  **
19.  Glock        Toyota                ***
20.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      ***

*   Five-place grid penalty
**  Five-place grid penalty for changing gearbox
*** Will use new chassis so will start from the pitlane
             

Singapore GP: big mistakes and one surprise

All lit up, Singapore may look good on TV but, like Monaco minus the tradition, it's a horrible place to hold a modern Formula 1 race. On a street circuit where most corners are 2nd gear you have to wonder if the reason nobody bothered to clean the track was in the hope more cars would crash and give the race some excitement. That plan did not work, there were some incidents, but one was caused by brake failure and the other by brain failure...

More after the jump

Hamilton had a relatively easy time from the front, his race having effectively being won on Saturday when Rubens Barrichello made a mistake and tagged the wall in the crucial last minutes of qualifying. This placed the heavier fueled Mclaren ahead of the lighter Vettel and Rosberg, both on fliers when the session was stopped.

All irrelevant though, in the race Hamilton made no mistakes. Vettel and Rosberg made dumb ones and threw away their podium spots. That Rosberg, with one of the fastest cars of the field, was so hopelessly stuck behind the likes of Trulli after serving his penalty was clear indication of how hopeless the Singapore track is.

Barrichello made a mistake on Sunday as well when he stalled during his second pit stop and allowed Button to pass him. Now, rather than closing the gap to Jenson Button, the Brazilian lost ground. With 30 points still in play and a 15 point lead Button can afford to keep coasting, Prost like, to his championship.

I think the Sutil move should be commented by Paul Tracy...

For me the most entertainin part of the week end was the podium press conference. Fernando Alonso literally stunned the whole of the F1 press into silence by dedicating his result to "Flavio watching at home". Dependent on the FIA for their access most new sites did not know how to comment last night. This morning the party line is along the lines of "Oh that means he's going to Ferrari"...you don't say.

Aside from the stunning news the FIA did not manage to cancel Flavio's Formula 1 pay-per-view subscription, that was as big a public razberry to Max Mosley as I've ever seen and good show of Alonso's character. He and Mark Webber proved to be real men, not tempted to feign moral outrage. Don't be afraid Mosley is going to revoke your superlicence, Alonso is saying, just imagine him in the nude sipping tea with the hookers. In a sport where a team is deemed "too big to fail", Alonso just asked the FIA to try him. Let's see your moral outrage now!

Fernando is right of course, he thanked the team and he thanked Briatore who is the reason Renault is and, paradoxically now, will stay in F1. Briatore is also responsible for the deals that brought Alonso to Ferrari and likey, Kubica to Renault, all good things for Formula 1.

On a final aside, maybe our UK readers can clear up the cultural differences but, here in the US referring to Lewis Hamilton as "the boy", as this article in the Times does, would have some unpleasant connotations...

Axis of Singapore

Odd qualifying session and I'm sure that no matter what happens tomorrow people will inevitably feel someone put it in the wall intentionally!

I mean, Rubens was comfortably ahead of Button so, of course he simulated a crash....right? It has to be the case....

I kid, Rubens just locked up, turned in late, ended up in the dust and understeered into the wall. Brawns aside, we saw much more oversteer than understeer on track.

Speaking of oversteer, Alonso made me smile: so much of the talk in the Piquet affair, repeated all over the internet and brought up at the sentencing cabal, was based on his telemetry that showed how Piquet buried the throttle once he started getting wheelspin, supposedly proof definite of his intentions. Alonso was doing just that all day, on every turn, check put the very start of the clip below, enjoy it.

Tomorrow should be interesting.

Speed missed Ruben's crash, check after the jump if you want to see it and read the qualifying results.








Barrichello had to change his gearbox so he will have a 5 place grid penalty and start 10th

Pos  Driver       Team                       Q1        Q2        Q3
1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:46.977  1:46.657  1:47.891
2.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:47.541  1:46.362  1:48.204
3.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:47.390  1:46.197  1:48.348
4.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:47.646  1:46.328  1:48.722
5.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:47.397  1:46.787  1:48.828
6.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:47.757  1:46.767  1:49.054
7.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:47.770  1:46.707  1:49.180
8.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:47.347  1:46.832  1:49.307
9.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:47.615  1:46.813  1:49.514
10.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:47.542  1:46.842  1:49.778
11.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:47.637  1:47.013
12.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:47.180  1:47.141
13.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:47.293  1:47.177
14.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:47.677  1:47.369
15.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:47.690  1:47.413
16.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:48.231
17.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:48.340
18.  Fisichella   Ferrari               (B)  1:48.350
19.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:48.544
20.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:48.792

All Timing Unofficial

Drivers react to the Renault-Piquet affair.

Robert Kubica: "In the end the truly guilty got away with it"

Giancarlo Fisichella: " Immunity for Piquet was not right and the penalty for Briatore excessive"

Jarno Trulli: "Briatore knows little or nothing about strategy, it's weird that he would be the one who paid the highest price"

Mark Webber: "I'm saddened because I cannot imagine another manager I would be as comfortable with"

More supportive of Piquet was Nico Rosberg " In the end Piquet helped the FIA to get rid of people who should not have been in Formula 1."

Kimi Raikkonen, about Piquet: "it's hard to come back after something like that" and about Briatore: "That's the price you pay when you do these things"

Fernando Alonso, not surprising, "It's time to put the scandal behind us"

Oh yeah and Kimi keeps repeating he has a Ferrari contract for 2010 but he also apparently has a Mclaren one in his back pocket.

And more rumors.... USF1 project in trouble, they are looking for Toyota engines which means Kazuki Nakajima....

(mediaset)

RENAULT Banned for two years, Briatore Banned for life

Renault's penalty is suspended. So they can race with the penalty hanging over their heads... Symonds gets a five year ban.
Briatore cannot have anything to do with F1 the FIA including management. This will make the driver's market quite interesting.

Renault got off scot free because the only way the sentence would take effect is if they commit a similar offense which, you would all agree, is extremely unlikely.

Piquet, who was a co-conspirator, gets off scot free though I cannot imagine any team wanting to hire this guy ever again.

As regards Mr. Briatore, the World Motor Sport Council declares that, for an unlimited period, the FIA does not intend to sanction any International Event, Championship, Cup, Trophy, Challenge or Series involving Mr. Briatore in any capacity whatsoever, or grant any license to any Team or other entity engaging Mr. Briatore in any capacity whatsoever. It also hereby instructs all officials present at FIA-sanctioned events not to permit Mr. Briatore access to any areas under the FIA’s jurisdiction. Furthermore, it does not intend to renew any Superlicence granted to any driver who is associated (through a management contract or otherwise) with Mr. Briatore, or any entity or individual associated with Mr. Briatore. In determining that such instructions should be applicable for an unlimited period, the World Motor Sport Council has had regard not only to the severity of the breach in which Mr. Briatore was complicit but also to his actions in continuing to deny his participation in the breach despite all the evidence.

FIA Press release HERE

(Piquet's picture via red-bulldog.com)



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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.

It's Monza Time!

Fisichella is far from last and Renault is suing Piquet Sr. and Piquet Jr. for extortion....
Well Fisi was last in session 2 but, hey less than a 1/10th from Button!





And here is the rest of it.

Kimi speaks!

I never heard Raikkonen so relaxed and, dare I say, articulate? Kudos to the Dutch RTL journalist, great job.

Interesting interview and you gotta love Kimi still being one of the few straight talkers in F1. "... what was the best car you ever drove' and Kimi wearing red in the Ferrari hospitality suite '...the 2005 Mclaren". Priceless!

More Kimi Raikkonen

Rule of Thumb: in Formula 1, NO means YES

When just over twenty four hours ago Vijay Mallya declared that the has been no contact with Ferrari and Fisichella was looking forward to driving for Force India at Monza, what he really meant was, it's a done deal.

Of course when yesterday he declared that there had been no financial quid pro quo with Maranello, what he meant was: yes, we made a deal for that 2008 engine bill I still have not paid.

I don't think for a second that Ferrari paid 4.5 million, the rumored amount outstanding debt from Force India, for Fisichella's services but I'm sure some restructuring and accommodations were made.

It is also interesting to note that Fisichella had a "per point" contract with Force India, apparently at 200000 Euro per. Fisico scored eight points in Belgium and might have scored more at Monza. He may have actually just bought his way out of the Force India contract!

Luca di Montezemolo in an interview to Italy's RAI 1 declared he chose Fisichella because he's "in good form, he's experienced and especially because he's Italian" . Again, one can't help being skeptical, Fisichella has been passed over by Ferrari all these years, despite "being Italian" for quite a while now.

Ferrari needed a driver with no prospects for the future and who would not demand a racing seat in 2010, this is certainly why Kubica, for example, was not chosen. Then again, Di Montezemolo stated Fisichella will be "Ferrari's third driver" in 2010, most likely this just means he will be the reserve driver but, who knows, maybe the three car team option will materialize at which point Fisichella will be set aside until Schumacher decides if his neck looks best with a HANS or a tiger claw necklace around it.

Everyone is happy for Fisichella, he's been a consistent driver who never quite got the right ride at the right time and in this whole affair is the only guy who's words can be taken at face value, when he says driving for Ferrari is a dream come true, he really does mean it.




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It was Ferrari by a KERS

Ferrari did in fact win the race though it might be hard to tell with all the excitement about Giancarlo Fisichella's great second place.

In fact both Fisichella and Raikkonen drove great races at Spa, neither making any mistakes. Fisichella was simply "in the zone" the whole week end, his team mate Sutil was nowhere so it was not simply the case of the team bolting on a trick new aero bit.

Raikkonen used KERS to perfection and made no errors, enough to just stay ahead to the end. You will inevitably read about how "he did not deserve the win because he cheated on the first lap....yada yada". Rational people will agree with David Coulthard's view that going out wide at the La Source hairpin is not really much of an advantage at all as you pick up all sorts of crap on your tires. Going out wide does get you out of traffic but this has been done by drivers on the start of the Belgian GP for as long as I can remember ( In fact Jenson Button did precisely the same thing yet not a word was said) and it surely is something discussed with the stewards before the race.

As most of the race was decided on the first lap, let's look at some on board shots of the start. Note the absolutely demon start Barrichello had after he finally got going, that is an amazing piece of driving!

Hamilton also had a bad start. He was completely without fault in the accident that took him out and from the video it seems quite clear that it was not Jenson Button's fault either, Grojean had his wheel locked and was going straight when he collided with the BrawnGP. The first lap also took out Trulli and, as it turned out, Alonso who came out of the first corner with a front left damaged enough for the team not to be able to properly change the tire later on.

A final word about Webber, not sure where he was at but one could argue he made some dodgy blocking moves during the race, on Vettel during the first lap and later on Nakajima. Maybe he's channeling Black Jack Brabham!

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Belgian Grand Prix
Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium;
44 laps; 308.052km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  1h23:50.995
 2.  Fisichella    Force India-Mercedes  (B)  +     0.939
 3.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +     3.875
 4.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  +     9.966
 5.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +    11.276
 6.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +    32.763
 7.  Barrichello   Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  +    35.461
 8.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)  +    36.208
 9.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +    36.959
10.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  +    41.490
11.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  (B)  +    42.636
12.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +    46.106
13.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  +    54.241
14.  Badoer        Ferrari               (B)  +  1:38.177

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:47.263

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Alonso        Renault               (B)    27
Trulli        Toyota                (B)    22
Button        Brawn-Mercedes        (B)    1
Grosjean      Renault               (B)    1
Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)    1
Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)    1


World Championship standings, round 12:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Button        72        1.  Brawn-Mercedes        128
 2.  Barrichello   56        2.  Red Bull-Renault      104.5
 3.  Vettel        53        3.  Ferrari                56
 4.  Webber        51.5      4.  McLaren-Mercedes       44
 5.  Raikkonen     34        5.  Toyota                 38.5
 6.  Rosberg       30.5      6.  Williams-Toyota        30.5
 7.  Hamilton      27        7.  BMW Sauber             18
 8.  Trulli        22.5      8.  Renault                16
 9.  Massa         22        9.  Force India-Mercedes    8
10.  Kovalainen    17       10.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari      5
11.  Glock         16       
12.  Alonso        16       
13.  Heidfeld      10       
14.  Kubica         8       
15.  Fisichella     8       
16.  Buemi          3       
17.  Bourdais       2       
       
All timing unofficial

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Horse Meat Vindaloo!

...that must be what Fisichella had for breakfast this morning. Dangle the possibility of even a temporary Ferrari drive in front of someone and look what happens!

I'm sure it escaped no one that the top three places on the grid went to three drivers fighting for their place in Formula 1 next season, Trulli and Heidfeld and three teams with uncertain futures.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but I believe the last time two Italians qualified on the front row of a Grand Prix was at the 1953 French Grand Prix when Alberto Ascari was on pole in a Ferrari 500 next to Felice Bonetto in a Maserati. Seems incredible, any historians out there?

Meanwhile, Button seems to have totally crumbled under pressure, despite his protestations to the contrary. Getting shellacked by Barrichello in the same car does not look too good for a potential champion.

The Mclarens are in trouble on a track with long fast corners but the real surprise is Red Bull who must be concerned about engines blowing up.

Raikkonen looks pretty racy, it will be interesting to see the qualifying weights later.

Check out Fisichella and Force India's historic lap.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Q1        Q2        Q3      
1.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:45.102  1:44.667  1:46.308
2.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:45.140  1:44.503  1:46.395
3.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:45.566  1:44.709  1:46.500
4.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:45.237  1:44.834  1:46.513
5.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:45.655  1:44.557  1:46.586
6.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:45.579  1:44.953  1:46.633
7.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:45.450  1:44.877  1:46.677
8.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:45.372  1:44.592  1:46.761
9.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:45.350  1:44.924  1:46.788
10.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:45.486  1:45.047  1:47.362
11.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:45.486  1:45.119
12.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:45.239  1:45.122
13.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:45.767  1:45.136
14.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:45.707  1:45.251
15.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:45.761  1:45.259
16.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:45.705
17.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:45.951
18.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:46.032
19.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:46.307
20.  Badoer       Ferrari               (B)  1:46.359

All Timing Unofficial

Here are the weights, Force India is running light but so are Glock and Kubica, Barrichello is even lighter. Trulli, Raikkonen, Heidfeld and Webber are on the same strategy while Rosberg and Vettel are running heavy.

Pos  Driver                             Weight (kg)
 1.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  648.0           
 2.  Trulli       Toyota                656.5           
 3.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            655.0           
 4.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        644.5           
 5.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            649.0           
 6.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               655.0           
 7.  Glock        Toyota                648.5           
 8.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      662.5           
 9.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      658.0           
10.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       670.0           
11.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  678.5*          
12.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      693.5*          
13.  Alonso       Renault               684.4*          
14.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        694.2*          
15.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      697.0*          
16.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    685.0*          
17.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    704.5*          
18.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       706.1*          
19.  Grosjean     Renault               704.7*          
20.  Badoer       Ferrari               691.5*          
                                                        
* declared weight

And here is the rest of it.