Barrichello back at Ferrari

Ferrari today announced it had re-hired Rubens Barrichello to step in for the underperforming Felipe Massa, starting from the Chinese GP on April 14.

"I have complete faith in Felipe" Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo was quoted as saying last week and to many insiders that spelled doom for one Brazilian but, as it turned out, a surprising reprieve from Indy car purgatory for another.

"At the end of the day, Rubens is the most experienced Formula 1 driver out there" said Stefano Domenicali " and to be honest. when we looked at the available drivers the choice was simple, nobody has more experience in being a Barrichello than Rubens" " Felipe was very good at being Barrichello for many years but given our needs to develop the F2012 and support Fernando, we had to go with the original Barrichello".

Rubens will travel back to Maranello immediately following Sunday's Indy Car race at Barber Motorsport Park where he qualified 14th and complained about not being given rookie status.

Barrichello was named as the most popular choice to replace Massa in a recent Autosprint reader poll.

My, what big probes you have.

(Rubens Barrichello, Williams FW 32, Pirelli test Abu Dhabi by Frederic le Floch/DPPI)

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Necessary Accident?

Vettel was punished for "Causing an unecessary accident" , I imagine the race stewards, which included Nigel Mansell again, must have come to the conclusion that Barrichello slamming into Alonso was a "Necessary accident"?



Indeed, Barrichello was out of the race but certainly the FIA is known to give penalties to be served in future races, witness Schumacher. Perhaps these penalties depend on who is being hit and who is doing the hitting.

No question about it, Vettel made a driving mistake but looking at the long onboard replay, it does not look as close as it does from trackside shots. It was an unforced error but were the stewards correct in inflicting the drive through?






The perennial problem with Formula 1, the inconsistent application of penalties. Let's review a few notable incidents this season, I'm sure I forgot a few, but can we find a pattern?

- Webber hit Hamilton in Melbourne; no penalty
- Hamilton released in the path of Vettel in China: no penalty
- Button went unnecessarily slow behind the SC in China - no sanction.
- Barrichello tosses his steering wheel in the path of other cars in Monaco; no sanction
- Schumacher safety car move in Monaco; 20second penalty
- Schumacher vs Barrichello in Hungary : 10 grid spot penalty
- Vettel let too much space in Hungary behind the SC: Drive through
- Kubica hit Sutil in the pits at Hungary - 10 second penalty.
- Trulli hit Di Grassi under yellow in qualifying Spa; No penalty
- Vettel lost control of hit car and hit someone; DT-penalty
- Barrichello brakes too late and hit Alonso; No Penalty

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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

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.

Home

He'll never live it down, will he?

Obviously Schumacher had a hand in this...

(Thanks to The Hounder for the tip)




And here is the rest of it.

"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.