F1 2009

[Incredible Schalk]

I missed a couple of teams out because imo they have no chance of the championship.

Anyway the season starts in the early hours of tomorrow morning in Australia with the two practise sessions. They are both live at 1.25 and 5 on the BBC red button for the UK residents.

The surprising picture from testing is that the defunct Honda team are the pace setters going into Melbourne, followed by Ferrari,Toyota,Renault and BMW. The Mclaren driven by world champion Hamilton is barely expected to score a point the car is so bad. However 3 of the leading teams will race under protest due to using possible illegal diffusers, Brawn,Williams and Toyota have been accused.

Anyway im going for Massa to win the ***le, i hope Alonso but i think this could be Massa's turn, he hammered Raikkonen last year and was unlucky not to take the ***le. This year with more backing and less threat from Mclaren i think he can dominate but who knows.

 

[An Tarbh]

as long as we don't end up with the ridiculous situation we got at the US grand prix over the tyre argument but yet again F1 isn't covering itself in glory, good start to the season on top of the back down over the points system, still should mean a bigger audience come Sunday.

 

[An Tarbh]

just read on Setanta that stewards have cleared the cars to race but that it's likely Ferarri Renault and Red Bull will take it to the FIA's International Court of Appeal.

Interesting to see that BBC have Button as the bookies' favourite to win on Sunday, I know they've done well in testing but it's a whole different matter when it comes to race conditions.

 

[Incredible Schalk]

Yea true but no other team have really dazzled in testing. I remember in 2001 Prost with Alesi driving did a whole load of qualifying laps in winter testing to look good and when it came to Melbourne they qualified on the 8th row. I think theyl do well though, who wins this race is anyones guess.

 

[ma04hew]

Well if Ferrari are to take the diffuser row to the FIA International Court of Appeal, Ferrari will win the appeal because we all know what FIA stands for - Ferrari International Assistance!

Anyway, I'm going for Barrichello to win the championship purely because I cannot choose between the others, and they have looked good in testing. It was a toss-up between Jenson and Rubens, but if you think about it; Rubens has been in contention for a championship before and is used to winning races, whereas Button has only won one race and would probably buckle under the pressure of being world champion under his first real push for it!!

 

[Incredible Schalk]

Rubens has never been in contention for a championship before but he has won 9 races and knows what it takes to win unlike Button who has only won once. So they should have an interesting and close battle as ever.

 

[An Tarbh]

well they've backed up their testing form in the qualifying taking the first 2 places on the grid, let's see how their race strategy holds up, should do fine given Brawn's track record.

Things not quite going to plan though for the defending champ

 

[Incredible Schalk]

Teams getting dsq'd already Toyota relegated to the back of the grid from 6th and 8th on the grid.

 

[Hall]

I'll become interested in this sport when they start budget capping.

 

[An Tarbh]

think Barrichello forgot about the start and caused an accident if the replays are anything to go by, not a bad way to get the 2009 season underway.

 

[An Tarbh]

Button takes the win having avoided all the drama, much more eventful race for Barrichello who takes second with Trulli getting the final podium place after Kubica took out Vettel with 3 laps to go. Not a bad effort from Hamilton to get 4th considering where he started. Rather forgettable affair for Ferrari with neither driver finishing the race.

 

[shazbooger]

Havent watched the race but read through the commentary. After qualifying it was clear that F1 is back. Brawn will be reigned in after a few races but it'll probably be too late. Once they are though you'll have 8-`10 drivers going for the win.

 

[Incredible Schalk]

Raikkonen did finish but only after a spin into the wall, 16th i think it was. Great race, what a shame for Vettel and Kubica who both drove exceptional races, you basically only needed to be trouble free and you would be in the points. More overtaking, more excitement, Brawn are the team to beat.

 

[An Tarbh]

definitely a great start, could have been a great slog for the top spot though had Rubens got off to a decent start, if it's a Brawn 1 2 in qualifying for Malaysia here's hoping he's awake at the start.

 

[An Tarbh]

Hamilton disqualified from Aussie GP
Thursday, 2 April 2009 10:49

Lewis Hamilton and McLaren have been disqualified from the Australian Grand Prix after stewards decided that Hamilton had deliberately misled them when providing evidence about an incident that saw him passed by Jarno Trulli during a safety car period.

The Italian was handed a 25-second penalty following the incident on lap 57 at Melbourne, which relegated him from third to 12th in the final classification and saw Hamilton promoted from fourth to third.

But both drivers were called before the stewards in Sepang today to address new evidence on the incident.

Following the hearing, the stewards decided to reinstate Trulli's third place and to sanction Hamilton and McLaren by excluding them from the race classification.

They explained their decision in a statement, which read: 'The stewards having considered the new elements presented to them from the 2009 Australian Formula One Grand Prix, 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 at the hearing on Sunday 29 March 2009, a breach of Article 151c of the International Sporting Code.

'Under Article 158 of the International Sporting Code the driver No 1 Lewis Hamilton and the competitor Vodafone McLaren Mercedes are excluded from the race classification for the 2009 Australian Grand Prix and the classification is amended accordingly.'

RTÉ Sport

 

[shazbooger]

Lying little so and so. Serves him right.

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>

BBC commentator and former F1 driver Martin Brundle said: "This does not look good for Hamilton or McLaren.

Hamilton passed Trulli as he was off the road. Hamilton clearly wondered then, to give him the benefit of the doubt, if he had passed under the safety car conditions and was trying to let Trulli back through.

"There was a point when he was doing just 15mph in his McLaren and Trulli had no option but to repass him.

"I think Lewis then saw half a chance of a third place instead of a fourth, went up to the stewards and didn't give them the full story.

"Now they've matched up his comments (to them) to radio content between him and the team, and other information they've gathered, and they've decided that effectively he was telling fibs.

"I think it's a big issue and it's not going to go away. If they were asked a direct question they should have given the right answer, and they clearly didn't."[/b]

 

[gingergenius]

How boring. They change the rules every year to make the sport more interesting, and the only way it's ever interesting is the lengths Lewis Hamilton has to go to to overcome all the stupid attempts to make him not win.

Seriously, good racing comes from Touring Cars and Moto GP. At least there's some overtaking here...

 

[An Tarbh]

thought there was plenty of overtaking in Melbourne and hopefully we'll get more of the same at Sepang, especially if the conditions are wet, could make it very exciting indeed

 

[shazbooger]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (gingergenius @ Apr 2 2009, 01:16 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

the lengths Lewis Hamilton has to go to to overcome all the stupid attempts to make him not win.[/b]

Good point. Stupid "attempts" like rules, regulations, stewards.

McLaren have brought the sport into disrepute again. Given the spying scandal of two years ago I find it amazing (as to Mercedez and Vodafone I'm sure) that they would even dream of trying somthing like this. There could be trouble ahead, especially as Bernie is talking up the possibility of another two teams joining next year.

 

[An Tarbh]

another pole position for Button with Trulli lining up alongside him on the grid for tomorrow's grand prix. Still though with the rain forecast for tomorrow it could be a very interesting race, just hope it's not a tropical downpour which would just lead to a procession behind the safety car.