Vettel snatches pole from Button – 2009 Turkish Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel took pole for Red Bull at the Turkish Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver snatched pole right at the death from Jenson Button, who will start second. His team-mate Rubens Barrichello will start third, after struggling during Q3 until a last-moment lap. The other Red Bull car driven by Mark Webber will start fourth on the grid, showing that Red Bull are really up for this race. Toyota, after a terrible slump at Monaco, recovered somewhat, with Jarno Trulli qualifying fifth. The two Ferrari cars of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa finished sixth and seventh; they will be disappointed with that, as they would have been hoping to push on from an excellent perforamce at Monaco more. Renault’s Fernando Alonso qualified eighth, and Williams’ Nico Rosberg qualified ninth. BMW Sauber, making a huge improvment, saw their drivers, Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld, qualify 10th and 11th, respectively.

Meanwhile, McLaren went backwards, rather than forwards: Kovalainen managed 14th, but Hamilton qualified a miserable 16th. Afterwards, Hamilton started talking about next season: a sign of what McLaren have come to.

An extremely chipper Ross Brawn confidently told the BBC that Vettel had less fuel on board, and he was right: Vettel had six less kilograms of fuel in than Button. Although Barrichello has less fuel than Button, Brawn GP have the advantage in their strategy, being able to control the pit stops to more of an extent than Red Bull.

My prediction is, however, still with Vettel, as I believe that he will be able to manage to stay ahead of Brawn through the pit stops; but if you disagree (or agree, for that matter!) please vote on my pole:

http://andrewswitterings.wordpress.com/2009/06/05/who-will-win-this-weekends-turkish-grand-prix

Who will win this weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix?

To answer the above question – for me, it’s between two teams – Brawn and Red Bull. I don’t think Ferrari have got enough about them to challenge (yet), but Brawn are struggling here. So my guess will lie with Red Bull. Their car wasn’t suited to the Monaco circuit, and should be much better here. So, I reckon that Sebastian Vettel will win the race – perhaps with Webber second, Button third and Barrichello fourth. What do you think? Please vote on my poll.

Rosberg and Kovalainen top practices on Friday – 2009 Turkish Grand Prix

Rosberg and Kovalainen topped Friday’s practices at the Turkish Grand Prix.

After a first session in which all drivers struggled for grip was briefly red flagged – due to the astro turf being ripped up – Rosberg pipped Hamilton to first place in the dying moments of the session. In the second practice, Kovalainen took first place. Many drivers span during both sessions. Hamilton said that the pace of the McLaren car was “better… than we anticipated”, and a second and a first seem to confirm that view. Meanwhile, championship leader Button was far from happy, complaining about oversteer, twitchiness, rear grip, front grip and hopping. Quite a lot to sort out then? Red Bull will be hoping that their car will do well, possibly in readiness to try to beat Brawn. Although they used the new double-decker diffuser at Monaco, it will be more effective here – meaning that, with Brawn struggling, Red Bull may get a chance to win.

This is the fifth race held in Turkey, and all four previous races have been run from pole position, and by Ferrari. The previous three races have been won by Felipe Massa, but I will be shocked if Ferrari win this race. Although they have made improvements, for roar pace they still seem to be behind both Brawn and Red Bull. We’ll have to see how much they have improved here.

Will it be another Brawn win – or can another team beat them? We’ll find out on Sunday.

The 2010 Formula One season – Rumours, tantrums and money, money, money

What would Formula 1 be without all the rumours? Here is a taste of what might happen next season. A lot of this is, of course, unconfirmed, and will change..

Right: my first heading; “rumours”. And, yes, there are loads of them I can write about. Renault’s driver, Fernando Alonso, who won the World Championship twice with Renault, is rumoured to be leaving Renault and heading off the those beautiful red cars of… Ferrari. The obvious question is: which driver would he replace? Felipe Massa is contracted until the end of the 2010 season, but Raikkonen’s contract runs out at the end of the 2009 season. Is there room for Alonso to move? Of course, he may be forced to move, or not have a driver for the 2010 season – Renault are (rumoured!) to be leaving the sport, due to, what else? Lack of money.

The FIA have (definitely!) moved the limit on the amount of cars on the track during a race from the current 24 to 26 for 2010, meaning that 13 teams could, potentially, enter. One team that have been confirmed as submitting an entry to the FIA are Prodrive. The Aston Martin chairman and Prodrive founder David Richards has entered the team for the 2010 season, after a failed attempt to join F1 in 2008. Another possible new team is Lola. The company is a British racing car constructor, and has been involved in F1 in the past. Another team also made an entry; Team Superfund. Funded by Group Superfund owner Christian Baha, the team prinicipal will be a former F1 driver – Alex Wurz. Other teams who have been linked with entering F1 include Campos Meta 1, US Grand Prix Engineering, Litespeed GP, and March Racing. It will be announced on June 12th which teams have been accepted.

Which races will there be? And what will be different to the 2009 season? Well, there are several rumours saying that the Portuguese Grand Prix – last raced in 1996 – may make a return, at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, although this may happen in 2011, rather than 2010. Argentina has also confirmed they are in discussions with Ecclestone over a possible Argentine Grand Prix for 2010. A definite new race will be the Korean Grand Prix (held in South Korea, obviously). This will be a regular on the calendar, as it the contract continues to 2017. The rest of the Grand Prix held in 2009 will be there again, with the possible excpetion of three that are currently unconfirmed – Britain, Turkey and Italy. The British Grand Prix has been the cause for most speculation. The race, which has been held at Silverstone since 1987 will definitely not be held at Silverstone in 2010 – due to lack of the all important money. On July 4, 2008 Donnington Park took the contract for the British Grand Prix, but since then have run into legal problems. If these can’t be sorted out, there will be no British Grand Prix, for the first time in the Formula One World Championship’s history. There have also been murmurs that a North American Grand Prix will, once again, be held, with either a United States Grand Prix, or a Canadian Grand Prix – or even both!

Another highly interesting rumour is that Virgin may buy Brawn team, meaning that it would run under the name of Virgin Racing or Virgin Grand Prix. But do we belive them? Hmm.

One of the most highly publicised rows to hit F1 is the rather scientifically named “budget cap row”. I shall try to summarise simply for you. The FIA passed a rule to introduce a budget cap of £40 million; the teams then threw a tantrum. Not quite as simple as that, of course. The rule does not mean teams have to work within the £40 million cap; teams who do, however, get a reward. Ferrari were the first to come out and object, but not any old objection; they said that they would leave the sport. They were quickly joined by Renalut, BMW, Toyota, Red Bull and Toro Rosso. Later, all teams signed an agreement with FOTA, to say that they would leave F1 if the budget cap rule was not removed; however, just three days later, Williams went back on their agreement, and entered the 2010 season anyway, saying that, as a company with no other source of profit, they could not leave. Makes you wonder why they signed the agreement in the first place. Anyway, FOTA then decided, very decently, to have a tantrum as well, suspending Williams completely from FOTA.  Mind you, Williams had been very stupid to sign the agreement in the first place – obviously they left their brains at home that day. However, all the teams have, now, put in entries for the 2010 season, on condition, of course, that the budget cap rules are taken away. Discussions are still ongoing, but, so far, no agreement has been reached between FOTA and the FIA.

But will (or would) all the teams of left? When they were actually faced with reality, would teams like Ferrari really leave the sport? I don’t think so. Ferrari’s image has been projected through F1 for years; it hardly makes sense for them to leave, does it? Personally, I think teams would only leave if forced for other reasons, as well.

And, of course, you have to consider into all these rumours and tantrums, there is only one thing that really matters: money, money, money.

Button takes dramatic late pole – 2009 Monaco Grand Prix

After a breathless and frenetic qualifying section at the Formula One 2090 Monaco Grand Prix, I feel like I need a holiday! Hardly a pause in the action. This is how it went:

In the first session, the five cars who went were quite surprising. Both Toyotas went – a team who are currently third in the Constructors’ Championship, and locked out the front row of the grid in Bahrain. Where did it all go wrong? Even if the car is bad in low-speed corners, they should be a bit higher than that, surely? Also in the first session, both BMW Saubercars lost out. Not as much of a surprise as Toyota, and their car hasn’t really been working this season, anyway. The last car to go out? Not a Force India. No. Lewis Hamilton. The 2008 World Champion lost control of the car going into a corner, and then the car twisted round, crashing the left rear tyre against the wall. This was Hamilton’s qualifying session over – and all those people who were predicting a good result were left shocked. Hamilton said that it was a driver error. After coming here with such high hopes, he again will go away disappointed. Worth noting, as well, that Felipe Massa of Ferrari seemed to have a similar problem – although he ended up smashing up his nose, rather than a wheel, meaning that the team could replace the nose and carry on. As suggested on BBC coverage, could it be KERS related? Both incidents seemed to be rather strange, so it is possible, although Hamilton’s looked more like a driver error to me.

In the second part of qualifying, both Force Indias went out. Not a surprise, and I think the team will be pleased that both cars managed to get of Q1. Some progress, at least. Also going out were both Toro Rosso cars, who will, also, be pleased at just getting through Q1. The other car was Renault’s Nelson Piquet. He is my tip for getting the sack first this season – he doesn’t look happy, doesn’t driver well, and hasn’t been getting results. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a question of when, not if.

Into the final session of qualifying – and what a session! Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel seemed to have done a good enough lap, but Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari got quicker and quicker in his laps, and then on his final lap, he took first. However, just behind him, the championship leader, Jenson Button, came in to take pole! Button hadn’t been spectacular – in fact, he struggled in Q2 – but once again, showing the true mark of a champion, he brought out a brilliant lap right at the death. The other drivers were ordered: Raikkonen, Barrichello, Vettel, Massa, Rosberg, Kovalainen, Webber, Alonso and Nakajima. Ferrari and McLaren have both made obvious progress, with both teams having good finishes. Red Bull, I think, will be slightly disappointed with fourth and eighth, as they would have hoped for more.

After the car weights were published, Button’s position looks stronger than ever. He is heavier than all the top 10 apart from Barrichello in third, Alonso in ninth and Nakajima in 10th. Vettel, in particular, is light.

So my prediction is Button – all the way.

Also, don’t forget to vote on my poll -

http://andrewswitterings.wordpress.com/2009/05/22/who-will-win-this-weekends-monaco-grand-prix/

Who will win this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix?

Barrichello and Rosberg take practice sessions – 2009 Monaco Grand Prix

So, after today’s practice sessions at the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix, what can we tell from them?

Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello finished top in the first practice, while Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was second. The McLaren duo of Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen finished third and fourth, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen fifth, and Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima and Nico Rosberg sixth and seventh. The championship leader, Brawn GP driver Jenson Button, finished eighth. Of the other teams who are going well, Red Bull only managed 10th and 14th, but the biggest shock was Toyota – managing to take the last two spots. Heavy fuel load, certainly, but 19th and 20th? They’ve got some thinking to do.

In the second practice, Rosberg finished yet another session as top driver, with Hamilton second. The two Brawn cars of Barrichello and Button were third and fourth, and Massa was fifth. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel was sixth, Kovalainen seventh, and Raikkonen eighth. Of the other cars, the other Red Bull – driven by Mark Webber – finished 12th, while Toyota once again struggled, finishing 14th and 18th.

Although always dangerous to assign anything to practice sessions, here’s what I think we can glean from these two. Both McLaren and Ferrari seem to have taken steps forward, with their finishes respectively of: McLaren; third, fourth, second, seventh; and Ferrari; second, fifth, fifth, eighth. Toyota appear to have slipped, unless they were carrying extremely heavy fuel loads. Brawn, of course, have remained right up there.