Formula 1 | seasonal f1 moan

My lifetime passion

Silverstone

Saturday, 20 June 2009 ‡ 14:57

Has Moseley got personal reasons for calling the F1 team principles "Looney"? I could not believe the President of FIA could just openly air his true feelings about the whole situation and get away with it. Bernie did not seem to be so bothered, about the president's remarks!!! This all seems so pathetic and school playground childish. Eddie Jordan cornered Bernie and asked why Bernie has not banged a few heads together and got them to sort things out, "like he used to do". It just seems to have gone from bad to worse and i wish i could do something, it is so frustrating.

Qualifying had a little surprise in the shape of Nakajima managing a career best 5th. No other surprises though, Hamilton out in the first session, though some may have felt he may have made it had the session not have been red flagged due to Sutil's crash due to brakes related failure. Kovalainen faired little better but then only got to 13th. As usual we had Trulli, Webber, Vettal and Button battling all the way, but this time for the first time, Button appeared to not have the superior car. Vettel secured another pole position, ahead of Barrichello in 2nd, Webber 3rd and Trulli 4th, Button starts from 6th but if he maximises from this race it could make the difference if other teams begin to catch up and start taking wins away from Brawn and Button. Ferrari's start 9th and 11th.

Vettel pulled away from Barrichello and Webber by 1 second per lap for every lap until the first set of pitstops. Alonso and Hamilton were having their own battle at the back of the grid, some exciting wheel to wheel moves on each other. Alonso appeared to be driving fairly erratically until a few laps later he did manage to settle down. Hamilton drove well but complained about mechanical grip and thus struggled. Hamilton had a massive slide in Becketts, a close battle with alonso through Maggotts and he also made a mistake, taking a small spin at club, finishing 16th with Alonso 14th.

Button also complaining about his car not allowing him to push, frustrated he made no mistakes and managed to close the gap toward the end of the race, but only managed 6th, surprisingly behind Rubens who finished in 3rd. Vettel managed another win with Webber 2nd. Bourdais collided with the swerving Kovalainen, who where the only DNF's of the race. Nakajima managed 11th and Massa 4th ahead of Kimi in 8th.

Labels: british, button, force india, vettel

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Spain

Saturday, 9 May 2009 ‡ 15:01

An exciting finish to the end of the qualifying session with Button just managing to start his final flying lap 2 seconds before the end - securing another pole position start this season. Vettel just lost out to Button and so did Barrichello. An amazing set of laps with less than 1 second separating the top 8 starters. Again Ferrari have such a relaxed attitude with Kimi (probably) sucking on ice lollies when he decided that his 1m21.2 would easily take him into the next qualifying session and didn't. Absolutely pathetic decision from whoever made it and worse decision from Stefano Domenicali allow it. If Ferrari and Kimi have decided to give up the fact that they have no chance this season of winning the WDC title, they may as well not attend any races this season, save money, work on developing next year's car and come back in March 2010.

The first corner was like a ten pin bowling alley, with Sutil and Trulli coming together on the track after both had left it for different reasons, causing both Toro Rosso's to collide. Debris all over the track we had a 5 lap safety car stint with Barrichello leading from Button, Massa, Vettel and Webber.

As the race began on lap 6 Rubens continued with the formation behind him unchanged until the first set of pit stops. Kimi having hydraulic problems with his Ferrari was out on lap 17. Apart from a close encounter with Alonso coming out of the pits, Hamilton drove a lonely race to finish just out of the points. With Buttons fourth win and finishing comfortably over 13s ahead of team mate Rubens in second and Webber in third, he must feel he has a chance to win the 2009 drivers championship. McLaren having trouble and Ferrari's not really on the ball, Buttons nearest rival, apart from his team mate is Vettel 18 points adrift.

Rubens i feel does not have the aggression to challenge Button, he's too nice. Vettel and Webber will be chasing Button hard but i think the Brawn will have the advantage on most tracks. It has been good to see different cars up front and i think Button is showing that he does have what it takes to be champion.

Labels: brawn, button, ferrari, mclaren, vettel

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Bahrain

Saturday, 25 April 2009 ‡ 13:40

Very interesting qualifying session with many teams at the top with different drivers, not knowing who will make it to pole until the very last car had made it across the line after the end of final session. Trulli looked strong through out the day, i did suspect it would be either a Brawn or Red Bull at the top, but i am glad it isn't, since this will hopefully make way for a very entertaining race, with hopefully plenty of battles, especially at the front.

The first lap was almost like a BTCC race, with cars side by side into corners, showing signs of being an exciting race, with a "normal" state of play; no rain, no safety car. Glock managed to take Trulli from the start and Hamilton managed to get up to third from fifth, Button and Vettel following, the lead pack settling down with everyone else fighting every corner for position behind them for a few laps, impressive Webber up from eighteenth to eleventh by lap 4. The BMW's and Williams not performing too well, McLaren, Ferrari and Renault following along ok, nothing too impressive. The first set of pitstops juggled the leading driver, but by the end of these, Button emerged at the front where he more or less remained for the remainder of the race. Vettel drove well, as did Hamilton and Trulli. I thought we may have been on for a well deserved battle between Hamilton in his McLaren and Trulli in his Toyota, which would have been great to see, but never happened.

Labels: bahrain, button, trulli, vettel

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Malaysia

Sunday, 5 April 2009 ‡ 11:59

If Lewis has put the Australian GP issue to the back of his mind during qualifying, McLaren were definitely off the pace. Surprisingly Ferrari's over confidence leaves Massa at the back with Kimi just managing to secure a 7th spot. Trulli displayed some excellent pace in his Toyota but could not keep Button off his 2nd pole this season.

Button falls back behind Rosberg and Trulli at the start, but inherits the lead during the leaders pitstops. Brilliant battle between Glock and Alonso during the early part of the race, with Glock winning the position after several hard attempts. Amazingly Ferrari's Raikkonen gambled with fitting extreme wets while the track was bone dry several laps before it actually began raining, which i thought was too early, but timing would have been perfect had it been a few laps later. It really never did rain as hard as i expected.

Another brilliant battle between Hamilton and Webber during the earlier slippery rain period. I want to believe the rule changes really have made a difference, allowing more overtaking opportunities.

Glock, Hamilton and Rosberg are first to change on to Inters, with the rest of the grid following suit, probably finding their Extremes not giving them enough traction since it has not rained as heavy as expected. Moments later massive lightening and heavy rain negates the drivers choice for Inters a few laps earlier. Button visited the pits for Inters and then back in a lap later for Extremes. With about 25 laps to the end, the safety car is out due to Vittel spinning off and heavy rain, then a lap later red flagged with Button first, followed by the other points finsihers Heidfeld, Glock, Trulli, Barrichello, Webber, Hamilton and Rosberg.

Labels: brawn, button, malaysian, virgin

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Australia

Sunday, 29 March 2009 ‡ 15:08

I was surprised to hear Honda were leaving F1 this season, but then glad to hear Ross Brawn had bought the team to continue with what he started back in 2007.

I was up 5am Saturday morning to watch the first qualifying session of the season and i was impressed, not only with the pace of the smaller teams, but how close the times were. I hope this is not just a result of the learning curve everyone is on with the new rules.

Rubens on second spot did well to finish 2nd considering he dropped like a lead balloon at the start. Jenson drove a faultless race to finish 1st and due to the fact the Trulli overtook during the safety car, promoted Lewis' impressive 4th place finish to 3rd.

Updated information regarding the Trulli incident has found Hamilton disqualified and Trulli re-instated to 3rd place, due to "withheld information" regarding the overtaking during safety car incident. It appears that during the safety car Trulli slide off the track and Lewis passed, but then Lewis slowed and Trulli regained his 3rd. It seems Lewis (in communication with his team at the time) decided to report Trulli for passing under safety car, omitting to inform the stewards of Trulli's excursion. It now appears all has been settled, McLaren are due a severe beating from the FIA and have also rejected the option to appeal this decision. This is not the kind of behaviour i expect from McLaren, i am very disappointed.

Labels: australia, button, hamilton, safety car

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