Ferrari roar back to business in Malaysia

Ferrari looks set for a repeat of last year's Malaysian Grand Prix rebound, posting the fastest times in Friday's pre-race practice to shrug off last weekend's disappointing results in Australia.

In 2008, Ferrari finished without a point in Australia and then dominated in Malaysia.

After another pointless finish in Melbourne in F1's season opener last weekend, Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa recorded the two best times Friday to hint at another immediate comeback.

Raikonnen's time of 1 minute, 35.707 seconds in Friday's afternoon session was faster than last year's pole-winning time set by teammate Felipe Massa, who was an eighth of a second behind his teammate Friday.

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, Williams' Nico Rosberg and Mark Webber of Red Bull followed the Ferrari pair.

Brawn drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, who finished 1-2 in last weekend's season-opening Australian GP, were sixth and seventh on the time sheets, ahead of Williams' Kazuki Nakajima.

Raikkonen's strong showing shook off doubts about the reliability of the Ferrari after a mishap in morning practice, when a short circuit in the KERS energy-storage device sent smoke began billowing into the cockpit and streaming from the rear of the car.

"We had felt that the situation here could be different to Melbourne, but it is still too early to say where we are up against the opposition," Raikkonen said.
"What we can be sure of is that when the car runs trouble-free, we are competitive."
On Melbourne's street circuit, Ferrari was badly hampered by degradation of its softer tires and an inability to get heat into its harder compounds, but Massa said there was better grip on the specialist racing surface of Sepang.

"Clearly looking at the time sheet today, there's a slight feeling of relief," the Brazilian said.

Rain threatened the Sepang circuit in the afternoon, but both morning and afternoon sessions were dry, preventing teams trying out their wet weather settings. This heightened the chances that they will go into Sunday's race - with rain forecast - without the benefit of acquainting themselves with a wet track.

Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella was the main casualty of the second practice, spearing off the track on the dual right-handers of turns 10 and 11, sideswiping the tire wall. It ended his session, but he walked away unhurt.

Rosberg set the fastest time in the morning practice, making it four straight practice sessions in which the German had topped the time sheets after the three at Melbourne last week.

Rosberg's time of 1 minute, 36.260 seconds was just four hundredths of a second quicker than teammate Nakajima.

Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton's horror week - after being stripped of his third place in Australia for misleading stewards in an inquiry - continued when the McLaren driver was fined euro1,200 ($1,600) for breaching the pit lane speed limit during morning practice.

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Hamilton loses Aussie GP points

Lewis Hamilton has been disqualified from the season-opening Australian Grand Prix after the world champion and his team were judged to have provided 'misleading' evidence during a post-race stewards' hearing.

The British driver had finished fourth on the road, but was moved up a position when original third place finisher Jarno Trulli was handed a 25-second penalty for having overtaking Hamilton behind the safety car.

However, following the discovery of new evidence, believed to be radio transmissions from the Toyota and McLaren teams, the race stewards convened a fresh hearing in Malaysia to discuss the matter.

It is believed the radio transmissions contradicted the original statements presented to the stewards by Hamilton and McLaren.

A statement issued by the stewards said: "The Stewards consider that driver No 1 Lewis Hamilton and the competitor Vodafone McLaren Mercedes acted in a manner prejudicial to the conduct of the event by providing evidence deliberately misleading to the Stewards."

Further to the Hamilton decision, the race stewards have scrapped the penalty against Trulli and he has now been awarded third place for the Australian Grand Prix.

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Australia Grand Prix : Button reborn as Brawn flex muscles

Just before the start of yesterday's Australian Grand Prix, as Sir Richard Branson gazed skyward, a Boeing 747 flew a demonstration run over Melbourne's Albert Park. It was a Qantas plane rather than a Virgin, but that was the last time that afternoon that anything rained on the Brawn team sponsor's parade.

Just over 90 minutes later, after a spectacular season opener, they were celebrating a one-two victory for Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello that confirmed all the fears rivals had harboured about their pace ever since the cars began testing at the beginning of the month.


Button's second grand prix triumph – the 200th for a British driver – came the hard way as he had to fight out front in the lead all the way while withstanding pressure from Germany's Sebastien Vettel in a Red Bull and, late on, the increasing threat of Poland's Robert Kubica in a BMW Sauber.

"It's not just for me but for the whole team, a fairy-tale ending really to the first race of our career together, and I hope we can continue this way," Button said, his words almost distorted by the ear-to-ear grin of a man who, three months ago, appeared to have no future as Honda withdrew their team from Formula One. "We are going to fight every way we can to keep this car competitive and at the front. This has got to continue and this is where we want to be. Bring on Malaysia!"

It was fighting talk to back up a fighting drive in a race of two halves. Button led away from pole as the car of his team-mate, Barrichello, was bogged down when its anti-stall device activated. The Brazilian was quickly engulfed and became embroiled in a first-corner encounter with Nick Heidfeld, Mark Webber, Adrian Sutil and Heikki Kovalainen. As Button streaked away from Vettel, the fast-starting Ferrari driver Felipe Massa, Kubica, Massa's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, and Nico Rosberg's Williams, Barrichello faced a recovery drive in a car he initially thought had been too badly damaged to continue.

The face of the race changed on lap 19 when Rosberg's team-mate, Kazuki Nakajima, crashed his Williams heavily, bringing out the safety car until the end of the 24th lap. Button had to watch a 47.7 second lead slashed to nothing – some felt that the safety car stayed out an unnecessarily long time, perhaps to spice things up – and then began to struggle to generate heat in his tyres. But he got his head down and pulled away from Vettel again.

Meanwhile, the fancied Ferraris were fading as they ate their tyres, and Lewis Hamilton was working his way back up the order after some fantastic opening laps prior to his first pit stop.

Crucially, Kubica had used his softer compound tyres in his first stint; Button and Vettel had opted to use theirs in their last. They were not as durable as the harder tyres that teams must also use at some stage in the race. Now things were coming Kubica's way, as he pushed his BMW Sauber ever closer to Vettel. By lap 55 the German was in all sorts of trouble with grip, and Kubica drew alongside in Turn Three. In what seemed a typical racing accident, for which Vettel later admitted liability, they hooked up and collided.

Each got going again, only to have separate crashes further down the road in their damaged cars. Out came the safety car for the second time. Kubica was out, Vettel tried to carry on before yielding to the inevitable.

Incredibly, that mêlée promoted Barrichello back to second place, despite his first-lap incident and a later touch with Raikkonen which damaged his front wing. It was changed during his first pit stop on the 18th lap, but damage elsewhere had taken away his car's edge. As the race finished under the safety car, he said that he had never expected a one-two after all his dramas.

Jarno Trulli had started from the pit lane after a rear wing infringement the previous day had seen both Toyotas relegated to the back of the grid. He hauled through to take the final podium, until the stewards ruled he had passed Hamilton under that final safety car and dropped him to 12th. Thus, after a very determined run, Hamilton took a hugely valuable third place ahead of Timo Glock, Fernando Alonso and Rosberg.

While Button and Ross Brawn might have expected to win, this was a tremendous fillip for McLaren. "We scored way more points than we could have realistically expected," Hamilton said. "I was looking to try and get one point, so to get six is a great achievement. We've definitely not forgotten how to win: our strategy was perfect and the team did a fantastic job. Considering the package we've got, I wrung every last ounce of pace out of the car, drove one of my best ever races and absolutely raced my heart out – I'm so satisfied. Also, my heartfelt congratulations to Jenson – he's driven brilliantly all weekend and both he and his team really deserve this success." Indeed they did.

"It always looks easier than it is," Button beamed after the fairy tale. "The first few laps were great, and I settled into my pace. Then I struggled massively to heat my tyres after the first safety car, and flat-spotted the left front really badly. So after that I was struggling with vibrations and, towards the end, with bad light.

"Then I made a mistake in my second pit stop. I was in the wrong gear because I was confused with Massa in front of me. I overshot the box and they couldn't get the fuel hose on. It was not my best race I have to say, but I won so I'm chuffed to bits.

"This win is for me and the team, that's what I care about. I don't need to poke anyone in the eye about what they've said about me – there've been many positive comments in the past. I'm just happy to be here. I've worked bloody hard to be here."

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Button, Brawn GP take Pole in Qualifying

The 2009 Formula One season began in Melbourne on Saturday, 28 March with Qualifying throwing up some strange results.

The lack of tyre warmers and the new slicks seemed to put everyone off their marks with almost every team taking almost three laps to get the tyres up to temperature and still going wide in turns and looking shaky in straights.

The KERS technology made its debut but it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. The controversial Diffusers did not play as large a part as it was suggested before the session.

Here is a team-by-team analysis of the Australian GP Qualifying Session.

Brawn GP confirmed all pre-race predictions by taking the Australian GP Qualifying Session by storm with a P1 for Jensen Button (1:26.202) and Rubens Barrichello (1:25.505) in P2.

An exhilarated Barrichello later declared that he felt a thank you was in order for everyone who ever touched or worked on the new car, since it was “fantastic!” The sentiments were echoed by Jensen Button.

The new car, which was actually developed by Honda in 2008, the addition of a Mercedes engine and Ross Brawn's takeover has only increased the ‘muscle’ in Brawn GP.

Wunderkind Sebastian Vettel’s transfer to Red Bull Racing paid dividends as he grabbed P3 with a time of 1:26.830, dispelling the bad memories of Friday testing. But his team-mate Mark Webber finished in P10 with 1:27.246.

BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica (1:26.914) grabbed P4 for the race. He seemed poised to take P3 but lost it to Vettel in the last second. Ironically, Kubica did not use the new KERS technology because he was too tall and too heavy for the unit to be fitted in his car while his team-mate Nick Heidfeld (1:25.504) did use KERS and did not even break into Q3, finishing his session in Q2 and in P11 for the race.

Team Williams’ Nico Rosberg (1:26.973) began the session on a positive note, occasionally being in P1 and P3 but was eventually edged out to P5 for the race. This was the only light for the team, since team-mate Kazuki Nakijima (1:25.607) dropped out in Q1 itself, being placed P13.

Toyota's Timo Glock (1:26.975) came in at P6 and his team-mate Jarno Trulli (1:27.127) is placed at P8. Toyota was perhaps the only car on the track today to perform consistently. They held roughly the same scoring positions as the 2008 season.

P7 saw the first Ferrari on the grid with Felipe Massa (1:27.033) continuing to outperform team-mate Kimi Raikkonen (1:27.127) who ended up in P9. The signs are worrying for Ferrari and much work needs to be done on the F60.

Fernando Alonso (1:25.605) in his Renault got P12 for the race and his team-mate Nelsinho Piquet Jr had been placed at P17. The car can be blamed for Alonso’s flat performance as Red Bulls, who use a Renault engine but have fielded a better car, placed been higher on the grid.

In the dark mirror of Brawn GP, the worst fears and predictions regarding the new McLaren car became starkly evident when both drivers – defending Champion Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen - struggled to even cross Q1. Kovalainen pulled through to Q2 with a margin to be placed P14 but Hamilton barely scraped through at P15.

Hamilton did not appear on the track again. The car was later seen bereft of driver and wheels leading to speculation about if McLaren had simply decided to spare unnecessary wear-and-tear on the engine by attempting a better time. A mechanical problem was later cited as the reason and Hamilton will begin the race in P15 with a time of 1:26.454. Kovalainen, with a time of 1:25.726, had to drop out from Q3.

Toro Rosso’s debutant driver Sebastian Buemi (1:26.503) made an even start to his season with a quiet P16. The team must be rethinking their decision to retain Sebastien Bourdais (1:26.964) who was out in Q1 at P20.

Team Force India has declared that their aim this season is to score points. To do so, they will have to do better than today. Giancarlo Fisichella (1:26.677) led the team with a P18 and was followed by Adrian Sutil (1:26.742) in P19.

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Underdogs to the recue

Success-starved Williams, Toyota and Formula One newcomers Brawn signalled they could be ready for breakthrough wins by dominating practice on Friday ahead of the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

The presence of the three teams atop the time sheets will infuriate their rivals, some of whom are convinced their bodywork is illegal. Williams, Toyota and Brawn showed impressive pace, aided by the additional downforce created by their rear diffusers which rival teams claim are too large and infringe new aerodynamics rules. The three teams are racing under appeal this weekend, with other teams set to challenge the legality of their cars following next weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix.

Williams’ Nico Rosberg was quickest in both the opening and second sessions, posting a best of 1 minute, 26.053 seconds in the second session. Brawn’s Rubens Barrichello was second fastest in the second session with 1:26.157, ahead of Toyota’s Jarno Trulli on 1:26.350.

Trulli was among the drivers complaining of low tyre grip. “I am still not completely happy with the car balance and, even though when you look at the timing sheets things look pretty good for us, the car isn’t completely comfortable to drive,” Trulli said.

Williams, seven-time winners of the drivers’ championship and nine-time constructors’ champions, have not won a race since the final event of the 2004 season at Brazil—a run of 72 races without victory. Toyota are yet to win a race since entering F1 in 2002, while Brawn took over the former Honda team after the Japanese carmaker pulled out following the 2008 season.

Australia’s Mark Webber steered his Red Bull to a fourth quickest time in the second session after a reliability issue in the opening stint. Brawn’s Jenson Button was sixth in session two, ahead of Toyota’s Timo Glock, Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima and Red Bull’s Sebastien Vettel.

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Let the Magik Begin !!!

It’s a new year and a new season….Welcome to Formula 1 Grand Prix 2009.
Ahhh…..the long days of waiting are over. Hardcore is back and what better way to start the season by introducing a host of changes for the 2009 F1 Grand Prix
Below mentioned would be a bit technical to some of you….but what the Heck…go through it…If you don’t get it, gear up for 27th March 2009 when the first race begins in Australia.

A good number of changes to both the Sporting and Technical Regulations have been introduced by the FIA for the 2009 Formula 1 season. In the case of the Sporting Regulations, the primary aims are increased reliability and further cost reductions (you hear this term everywhere….cost cutting, retrenchment, recession…n the list goes on & on & on ).
In the case of the technical changes, there are three main objectives - reducing the role of aerodynamics in the cars’ performance; Making overtaking easier; And keeping lap times in check.

Tyres
After 10 seasons on grooved tyres, Formula 1 racing returns to slicks in 2009, as part of moves to increase the emphasis on mechanical rather than aerodynamic grip. With no grooves, grip will increase by around 20 percent, bringing a significant performance gain. However, that gain will be offset by the vastly reduced down force levels of the revised aerodynamic regulations. The overall effect should be reduced performance through high speed corners.

Drivers will still have the choice of two dry tire compounds and will still have to use both compounds during a race. As before, suppliers Bridgestone will select the two compounds for each race from their four compound range super soft, soft, medium and hard. However, unlike in 2008, they will not select two consecutive compounds, so the difference between ‘harder’ and ‘softer’ at any given race will be far greater. A green band on the sidewall will distinguish the softer compound.

Standard wet weather tyres will now officially be known as 'intermediates', and extreme wet weather tyres will be referred to simply as 'wets'. The latter will feature a green central groove.

Kinetic Energy Recovery Systems (KERS)
From 2009 teams have the option of employing a KERS to boost their car’s performance. As its name implies, a KERS recovers the (normally wasted) kinetic energy generated by the car’s braking process. This energy is stored using a mechanical flywheel or an electrical battery and then made available to the driver, in set amounts per lap, via a ‘boost button’ on the steering wheel. Under the current regulations the power gain equates to around 80 horsepower, available for just less than seven seconds per lap. This could be worth several tenths of a second in terms of lap time, but the weight and packaging of the system and its impact on the car’s weight distribution also have to be taken into account. ( So that means I can see Kimi back on the top of the Grid….Ferrari 1-2 in every qualifying is more of a reality now )

Engines
In a move designed to boost reliability still further, rev limits will be cut from 19,000 to 18,000 rpm. Drivers will be limited to eight engines per season, with each team allowed an additional four engines for testing. Once a driver has used up his eight engine allocation, any engine change will incur a 10 place grid penalty (or a move to the back of the grid if made after qualifying) for the event at which the change is made. Just one team Renault has been allowed to make performance modifications to their engine for 2009 in order to help equalize power outputs.

Aerodynamics
Along with slick tyres, this is the biggest area of change for 2009. Down force will be dramatically reduced and the cars ’ bodywork will appear much cleaner, thanks to new dimensional regulations that effectively outlaw extraneous items such as barge boards, winglets, turning vanes and chimneys on most areas of the car.

As well as reducing overall aero performance, the revisions are also designed to increase overtaking by making the car less susceptible to turbulence when closely following another driver. The most obvious changes are to the front and rear wings.

The front wing becomes lower (75mm from 150mm) and wider (up from 1400 to 1800mm the same width as the car) with driver adjustable flaps. Drivers will be allowed to make two wing adjustments per lap, altering the wing angle over a six degree range.

The rear wing becomes taller (up 150mm to bring it level with the top of the engine cover) and narrower (750mm from 1000mm).

Also at the back of the car, the diffuser has been moved rearwards, its leading edge now level with (rather than ahead of) the rear wheel axle line. In addition, the diffuser has been made longer and higher, all changes that will reduce its ability to generate down force.

Testing
From 2009 onwards testing is not allowed during the race season (from the week prior to the first Grand Prix until December 31) and is limited to 15,000 kilometers.

Safety car
The pit lane will now remain open throughout any safety car period, allowing drivers to refuel without penalty. However, to ensure that drivers are not tempted to speed back to the pit lane, a new software system which employs GPS and the cars’ standard ECU has been introduced. When the safety car is deployed, each driver is given a minimum ‘back to pit’ time based on his position on track. If he arrives in the pit lane before that time he will be penalized.

Prerace weights
After qualifying, the FIA will publish the weight at which all cars are expected to start the race, giving spectators an accurate gauge of what fuel load each driver is carrying.

Timings (IST)
Friday Practice 1: 7-8.30 AM
Practice2: 11– 12.30 PM

Saturday Practice: 8.30-9.30 AM
Qualifying: 11.30 Am

Sunday Race day: 10.30 AM

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Belgium 2008 : Cutting corner proves costly for Hamilton

Lewis Hamilton was sensationally stripped of his Belgian Grand Prix victory on Sunday as the race for the 2008 world championship was thrown wide open.

The British McLaren driver was penalised 25 seconds by the race stewards, which pushed him down to third place, for having cut a chicane in his dramatic, late tussle with world champion Kimi Raikkonen on the rain-soaked Spa track. Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was promoted to race winner with Nick Heidfeld, of BMW Sauber, promoted to second place. Massa had originally finished 14sec behind Hamilton, who thought he had claimed a fifth win of the season, with Heidfeld 23sec off the pace. The decision left 23-year-old Hamilton with just a twopoint lead over Massa in the championship with only five races left.

Raikkonen had taken the lead at the start of the second lap when Hamilton spun at the La Source hairpin, but after controlling the race he lost his lead and his title challenge when he crashed out in heavy rain in the closing laps. “It was an experience and a half,” said Hamilton before the penalty was announced. “I could see Kimi ahead and after the second stop he was so far ahead, I didn’t know he had made a gap. I was pushing, pushing, pushing, I was catching him onetenth a lap. I was praying for rain, I wanted the rain to come, I knew how to deal with it and the heavens opened. I saw Kimi about to back off, brake a lot earlier than he did, into Turn 8 and I knew the fight was on. “When I went into Turn 12 I was going reasonably wide, it looked like Nico Rosberg had done a spin and came back onto the track and I nearly crashed into him. I went over the grass, Kimi spun at the exit and I got it. It was incredibly tough.”

Two-time world champion Fernando Alonso of Spain came home fourth for Renault ahead of German Sebastian Vettel in a Toro Rosso and sixth-placed Pole Robert Kubica in the second BMW. With six laps remaining of the race, the first rain drops began to fall and produced the conditions that created the amazing final few laps when Hamilton regained the lead.

On lap 42, he caught Raikkonen and passed him. As the rain became heavier with three laps remaining the race was turned into a lottery as both drivers spun and soon after Raikkonen crashed off into a wall and out of the race.
In another late development, Timo Glock of Toyota was demoted a place to ninth, with Mark Webber of Red Bull promoted to eighth, following a 25sec penalty for not taking notice of yellow flags.

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