Formula 1 2009

[Adamal]

For anyone who has rFactor

http://www.rfactorcentral.com/detail.cf ... 009%20F1RL

[Adamal]

That was a cool race. Nice and clean, no crashes or saftey cars, just good racing

Button was friggen flying!!!! Or as I like to say, "Doing a Whincup"

[thornz]

Was a shame Vettel got held up by the Trulli train in teh second stint, could have been a much more exciting race if he could have used his Prime tires to maximum effect, and catch up to Button. The live stream I was watching crapped out after the second round of pits so didnt see anything after that, doesnt sound like I missed to much thankfuly.

And now we are off to Spain for a procession

[Jdawg]

If Jarno had been a few tenths a lap quicker on the mediums I reckon he could have won it.
Poor old Vettal got held up by Hamilton and then Jarno.

[JustinSpiderholden]

OMG that was an awsome race

The first lap was the best I have seen in ages so much actual real racing

Button move on Hmaliton was brilliant

[repowered]

i set my alarm for 12pm to get up and watch up i got up a 1.30 and watched the finish 1st lap soudns awsome i liked how they played clips in the press conference, start looked real exciting.

Good to see hamilton in some decent points

Revhead not too far off with your predictions!

Yea catalunia is a follow the leader circuit, hopefully these new fandangle rules can encourge less of a procession.
Results for those who missed it (points scoring positions only)
1 22 Jenson Button 57 1:31:48.182
2 15 Sebastian Vettel 57 +7.1 secs
3 9 Jarno Trulli 57 +9.1 secs
4 1 Lewis Hamilton 57 +22.0 secs
5 23 Rubens Barrichello 57 +37.7 secs
6 4 Kimi Räikkönen 57 +42.0 secs
7 10 Timo Glock 57 +42.8 secs
8 7 Fernando Alonso 57 +52.7 secs

[Mr Revhead]

i took some pretty safe options there i thought!

yeah first 2 laps were intense! loved it
seems to me hamilton is very fast when the cars arnt up to temp and still settling in, its his pure skill that help there i think.
the toyotas just didnt have the race pace
things could have been so much different if some of them hadnt been tripping over each other when using different tyres.....

[Fortyone.co.nz]

I think that's one of the worst tracks of the season but it was chocka with some excellent racing, and I think the wet-train-ticket slappers got it right with the aerodynamic changes at the start of the year to aide this.

Toyota needed about 2 more laps of fuel in them to keep them up the front as Jensen had, just a shame they came out plonked in the middle of the front runners which lumped seconds on their lap times, while the extra few laps Jensen had out the front increased his advantage two-fold per lap. He turned a 7 second deficit into a 5 second lead out of the pits!

The opening laps were just nuts! Still I think it's more or less because the teams are very level rather than the track, but hey for overtaking the track didn't help which kept them bunched together for 10 or so laps.

The Brawn's looking quick!

[thornz]

Woohoo

Hartley gets granted his superlicense.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/motorsport ... perlicence

[Jdawg]

The long start at Bahrain allowed the KERS cars a big advantage at the start. Both the McLaren and Ferraris swarmed the non KERS by the first corner. Less of that will happen at the European tracks.

[Mr Revhead]

Woohoo

Hartley gets granted his superlicense.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/motorsport ... perlicence

awesome!!!

This is a great achievement for Brendon as he is the first New Zealand driver in over three decades to have achieved F1 driver status.

Since the Formula One championship began in 1950 only eight New Zealand drivers have competed and it is nearly 30 years since the most recent, Mike Thackwell in 1984.

hmmmmm

[finx]

saw it on the news tonight! fantastic news for nz motor racing. i cant wait to see him behind the wheel of the red bull car in a race

[Adamal]

Since the Formula One championship began in 1950 only eight New Zealand drivers have competed and it is nearly 30 years since the most recent, Mike Thackwell in 1984.

hmmmmm

Haha thats like saying you're nearly 100 years old when you hit 70!

Hell, I was born 2 years before then and I'm only 26!

[Mr Revhead]

ffs

just when they were getting the rules right......
2010 ban on tyre warmers and refueling!
and option of 40mil pounds budget cap. interestingly engines are not included in that cap and they are allowed unlimited rev limit....

im not against a budget cap, but i think making it optional is a bit weird.....
and its just opening a whole can of worms for protests and penaltys....

Also excluded from the budget cap are marketing and hospitality, driver pay, fines and penalties imposed by the FIA, anything that teams can demonstrate has no influence on its on-track performance and dividends paid from profits relating to participation in the championship

yeah i can see that being simple to keep an eye on.....

[matt dunn]

ffs

yeah i can see that being simple to keep an eye on.....

so you take your 3 top engineers that work on the cars at the factoy,

change their job titles to Hospitality and Marketing engineer,

and their salary doesn't come out of the capped amount?

[thornz]

ffs

yeah i can see that being simple to keep an eye on.....

so you take your 3 top engineers that work on the cars at the factoy,

change their job titles to Hospitality and Marketing engineer,

and their salary doesn't come out of the capped amount?

Or sign them on as test drivers, drivers salarys dont come out of the 40mill either. Like anything in F1, the teams will push the limits of the rules or find loopholes. Its just going to make it even more political which is exactly what the sport doesn't need.

[fivebob]

It's not the policing of the budget cap that's going to cause the major problems, it's the two teir rules system.

If all the major manufacturers decide to go the unlimited budget route then the only engine supplier to the minor teams will be Cosworth.

As the major manufacturers have already said they will supply engines for 10mil Euro a season, and that's below cost, I can't see how they're going to afford to develop them anyway if they went for the capped budget, unless they did something like form another engine development company and supplied their teams. I wonder whether we will see "Illmor Engines" rise from the ashes

[Jdawg]

15 Kg increase in minimum weight is a step in the right direction

[durty starlet]

http://rapidshare.com/files/228968832/redbullmosaic.jpg

[thornz]

Well, qually is done for the Spanish GP. Was gutted when Button snatched pole from Vettel on his last lap, but was a great effort by Button who seemed to be struggling a bit all weekend.

Grid positions and weights:
1. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 646kg
2. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 651.5
3. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 649.5
4. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 655
5. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 651.5
6. Timo Glock, Toyota, 646.5
7. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 655.5
8. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 645
9. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 668
10. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 660
11. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 676.6
12. Nelson Piquet, Renault, 677.4
13. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 676.3
14. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 683
15. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 678
16. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 673
17. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso, 669
18. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 657
19. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 675
20. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 656


So Vettel has a few laps more than Button, so could be a good battle between the two.