2009 F1 Season

[TALBO]

Don't discount how good a car the Redbull RB5 is this year. It is an Adrian Newey design and Vettel is bloody quick too

[benm]

It's the Renault hardware that slows the RBR Team down.

[Roy]

Webber never got any higher than position 3, so yes had the race been red flagged 2 laps earlier he would have finished 3rd but as always luck was not on his side.

I was watching the Kangaroo TV thing and just before Glock got him they had him 2nd for about 1.5 laps

[TALBO]

It's the Renault hardware that slows the RBR Team down.

I'm pretty sure Renault have been allowed recently to 'tweak' their engine for +30Hp to bring it back in line with the Mercedes, Ferrari and Toyota engines because they were previously at an obvious disadvantage.

[Ant97GTR]

A couple of interesting things I picked up while watching the race.....in the rain the brawn and red bull cars look the goods. Last year the mac owned the ferrari in the rain - this year they both looked like dogs to drive esp when ITV cut to the incar view. Finally the KERS vs no KERS cars - ok the mac is a dog of a car at the moment so how much of this is KERS related and how much is down to the overall design of the car remains to be seen but when Hamo was battling with Webber in the wet it was clear the RB was the faster car...MW would overtake, Hamo would hit the KERS and retake only for MW to catch up by the next corner wasting everyones time. It seemed this 'battle' only ended when Hamo's KERS ran out of puff. If you thought it was frustrating to watch imagine how frustrating it would've been for MW!

[hrd-hr30]

isn't that what everyone wants? overtaking??

I'm not so convinced about Webber's performance as some of you. How many times did he almost loose it or run off the track attempting to pass? He was certainly having a go, but not entirely convincing if you ask me. I thought he spent a few laps there doing his best "accident looking for a place to happen" routine. Sure he looked fast in the wet when he jagged the right tyre decision to go to inters despite the black sky that looked to be promisig the downpour that came later. But that was against a crap car (McLaren). And let's not forget he got owned by Glock's Toyota in the wet as well. How would Vettel have gone if it wasn't for that incomprehensible 10 position grid penalty?

Edited April 7, 2009 by hrd-hr30

[TALBO]

he got owned by Glock's Toyota in the wet as well.

Everyone got owned by Glock at that point in the race, he was on inters when everyone else were on full wets. Vettel certainly would have been in the mix had in not been for the bullshit grid penalty!

[Beer Baron]

That race, albeit short, had a few of the best things I've seen in ages in it. Webber and Lewis fighting for position, not mark getting lapped. Kimi eating his ice cream, and that fantastic radio convo with massa and his engineer. LOL i cracked it at that!

I think Webber showed how good he can be and I can't wait for round 3!!

agree on all counts.

i take harrys point too about some of webbers moves not exactly being executed flawlessly but give the guy a break. he hasn't passed anyone in about 6 years or so. he's bound to be a bit rusty. he'll get back into it.

[hrd-hr30]

agree on all counts.

i take harrys point too about some of webbers moves not exactly being executed flawlessly but give the guy a break. he hasn't passed anyone in about 6 years or so. he's bound to be a bit rusty. he'll get back into it.

lol. there is also the possibility he enjoyed overtaking LH so much he kept mucking around afterwards to let him back through just so he could do it all again... you know, just for giggles

[djr81]

Just thought I would offer this up to those bitching about One HD TV.

Where I live we don't get One HD. Or infact any commercial high definition broadcasts. Or for that matter any commercial digital broadcast at all.

So the Win signal goes out in beautiful analog. Wide screen? WTF is that? You will notice how the timing on the left hand side of the screen can't be read. Brilliant.

Qualifying doesn't get shown at all.

Steven Conroy = Fail. You fkn muppet.

[Roy]

Harry, i hear you. BUT, i cant fully agree. Webber tried to do the job cleanly, beautiful move on Alonso first time around, likewise Hamo, and Heidfeld. It was only when they kept coming back at him that he started to rush the job so not to get held up. It wasnt pretty but he wasnt putting his car in a position where he was going to get punted, it meant there was a door open for a repass but Webz was slamming the door shut. Mind you i was there so have only seen it all once and may have it wrong from the excitement of the moment. Sepang is an awesome track to spectate. I could see turn 8 through to the final corner! Almost 1/3 of the track!

[Ant97GTR]

isn't that what everyone wants? overtaking??

I'm not so convinced about Webber's performance as some of you. How many times did he almost loose it or run off the track attempting to pass? He was certainly having a go, but not entirely convincing if you ask me. I thought he spent a few laps there doing his best "accident looking for a place to happen" routine. Sure he looked fast in the wet when he jagged the right tyre decision to go to inters despite the black sky that looked to be promisig the downpour that came later. But that was against a crap car (McLaren). And let's not forget he got owned by Glock's Toyota in the wet as well. How would Vettel have gone if it wasn't for that incomprehensible 10 position grid penalty?

Sure everyone wants overtaking but thats got to be frustrating from the driver's point of view....how many people have been at a track day with a massively powerful car in a straight line but either car or driver can't handle speed around a corner = frustrating! I'm just not sure that having a grid with some cars with KERS and the rest without was the way to go.

[Beer Baron]

Just thought I would offer this up to those bitching about One HD TV.

Where I live we don't get One HD. Or infact any commercial high definition broadcasts. Or for that matter any commercial digital broadcast at all.

So the Win signal goes out in beautiful analog. Wide screen? WTF is that? You will notice how the timing on the left hand side of the screen can't be read. Brilliant.

Qualifying doesn't get shown at all.

Steven Conroy = Fail. You fkn muppet.

actually my timing is getting cut off these days too. doesn't matter if I watch one HD, one SD, regular 10, or ten via foxtel. it's cut off. nothing I can do with the TV settings will fix it either, and this is one a bravia HD 1080p 46" wide screen TV. so I have nfi why it's happening these days. I think it's being broadcast like that. really p1sses me off.

[djr81]

Sure everyone wants overtaking but thats got to be frustrating from the driver's point of view....how many people have been at a track day with a massively powerful car in a straight line but either car or driver can't handle speed around a corner = frustrating! I'm just not sure that having a grid with some cars with KERS and the rest without was the way to go.

The problem with the KERS cars appears to be that they are horrible under brakes. The bias must be all over the shop.

[Ant97GTR]

The problem with the KERS cars appears to be that they are horrible under brakes. The bias must be all over the shop.

It was mentoined that the brake pedal feel changes depending on how 'charged' the KERS system is and despite teams best effort to fix this it has been left up to the driver to compensate for this. I know how a intermittent spongy brake pedal changes my sphincter effort on a track in a slow ass GTR let alone an F1 car

Nothing about the bias though.....

[dezz]

actually my timing is getting cut off these days too. doesn't matter if I watch one HD, one SD, regular 10, or ten via foxtel. it's cut off. nothing I can do with the TV settings will fix it either, and this is one a bravia HD 1080p 46" wide screen TV. so I have nfi why it's happening these days. I think it's being broadcast like that. really p1sses me off.

Mine was fine, Samsung 46" LCD etc...

Not that it mattered too much, whoever it is with the broadcasting rights (BBC?) is f**king useless when it comes to displaying the positions down the side etc....Was pretty frustrating especially in a race with so many people pitting.

Also, did anyone else notice that the commentators seemed to be a few kicks behind the play all the time? Makes me wonder how they can be at the track, so have both the live action and what I'm seeing on my screen, as well as several other simultaneous cameras showing, yet they still have no idea what's going on. It happened last year too.

Maybe they should be paying me to commentate...

[wolverine]

sure he looked fast in the wet when he jagged the right tyre decision to go to inters despite the black sky that looked to be promisig the downpour that came later. But that was against a crap car (McLaren). And let's not forget he got owned by Glock's Toyota in the wet as well.

Webber was on full wets when Glock was on inters and he was only 2-3 secs a lap slower vs the other drivers being around 7-12 secs slower.

Vettel made no significant headway this race even in the wet, although when he got the inters on he was laying down a good time. At this point it is difficult to see much separating these two in terms of outright speed but Webbers car was faster in the wet this race without question.

[djr81]

Mine was fine, Samsung 46" LCD etc...

Not that it mattered too much, whoever it is with the broadcasting rights (BBC?) is f**king useless when it comes to displaying the positions down the side etc....Was pretty frustrating especially in a race with so many people pitting.

Also, did anyone else notice that the commentators seemed to be a few kicks behind the play all the time? Makes me wonder how they can be at the track, so have both the live action and what I'm seeing on my screen, as well as several other simultaneous cameras showing, yet they still have no idea what's going on. It happened last year too.

Maybe they should be paying me to commentate...

Yeah the commentry appeared to be running about 5 seconds behind the vision. So Brundle would be speculating as to whether or not someone would be in for a pit stop - but after they had screamed by the pit entrance. Still having the sound out of sync with the vision is pretty common....

[djr81]

It was mentoined that the brake pedal feel changes depending on how 'charged' the KERS system is and despite teams best effort to fix this it has been left up to the driver to compensate for this. I know how a intermittent spongy brake pedal changes my sphincter effort on a track in a slow ass GTR let alone an F1 car

Nothing about the bias though.....

Well the KERS runs in conjunction with the motor (obviously). So if it igets to be fully charged half way into the braking zone then clearly you lose whatever percentage of retardation the KERS was providing. The KERS only runs off the rear brakes so by my dodgy figuring it must affect the braking performance. Even then it assumes the torque of the KERS is constant as the car decelerates - although presumably the engineers have worked out a way of keeping it relatively linear.

[FloydWestwood]

i reckon webber is alright, and a couple of reasons he kept screwing up could possibly have been:

a: LH using kers on straights and webber was doing everything/anything to defend

b: it was starting to drizzle when they were having that battle

c: inexperiance. (refer to beer barons comment)