2009 F1 Season

[Roy]

What the weather going to be like? Webber from pit lane after 5 cars go of on the first lap

[Gts-t]

Anyone got the starting weights yet?

[sh@un]

will be interesting to see the fuel loads after that mess

i reckon Hamilton could be able to turn P3 into P1 by the first corner with some KERS action

[TALBO]

Vettel looked supreme, be interesting to see car weights in the next half hour or so.

Timo's accident looked somewhat bizarre!

[jase-r34]

Glock's accident was bizarre to say the least! Surely there was some kind of mechanical failure??

[JAS-25T]

i missed it

[ctjet]

good to see the old style tracks keeping them honest

the brawns arent looking especually racey, but Sutil with the effort of the session

Buemi with the save of the weekend, that car should be 1000 pieces

[sh@un]

Glock seems to not have bothered to steer enough for the corner

in the in-car replays you can see he doesn't even try and apply more lock as he's about to run onto the grass. weird

[A31-RB20]

crash-a-rama this quali

doubt we'll be seeing Buemi for Q3 somehow

Crazy session of qualifying, 3 Red flags... Hope the rain holds off for the race!

[Roy]

Louise is looking pretty strong with the same sort of fuel load as Vettel, who on that long run has to be odds on to be leading at the end of the first lap. Lets hope for a wet race to mix it up and give Webz a chance from the back. Hopefully he is nice and agressive and doesnt shy away from the recent penalties he has been copping

[sh@un]

Hamilton's nearly 3 kegs lighter than Vettel.

Use your NOS button to arrive at turn 1 first, then drive the opening stint like you're being chased by a crazed axe-murderer mang

[Ashy Larry]

Better yet, drive like you are about to be eclipsed by a Ferrari Driver Enjoying Holidays at Mc-Loser from next year....

The Ice-Man will show you how to drive Louise!

[Roy]

I am looking forward to testing my theory next year... if Kimi ends up back at McLaren i suspect it will prove my 2007 theory that Lewis had a bigger problem with Alonso as a team mate compared to Alonso caring about Lewis being competitive.

The past two years with Hakki, i mean Heiki as a team mate has meant the only pressure he has had to concern himself with was red cars, not the guy in the other team bay.

I think Fisi jmping into the Ferrari shows that the car is crap and the results Kimi has been able to get from that car is mega impressive...and i have never heard him blame the POS car. Just gets on with business

[sh@un]

And I'm looking forward to confirming my theories that-

a) Lewis has no problem being motivated by some inter-team competetiveness, rather than just against other cars (not like that big skirt Alonso that had a cry the moment the rookie was shown to be faster than him).

and

b) Now that 'McLoser' has pretty much perfected their KERS system after a costly (both money and points wise) development period, and now has arguably the best system on the grid- and will do next year (25kg total system weight and falling), that we can now expect to see the non-KERS teams bitching and moaning about it being an 'unfair advantage' when both McLaren drivers are on the podium at next years races.

*crystal-ball off*

[wolverine]

A shame McLaren won't be using KERS next year. (If i understand the stance of FOTA correctly).

KERS is the answer to the problem with overtaking in F1 as it allows a mistake by a driver to be pounced on by a following car (assuming they haven't used all the stored energy). It is unfortunate it has been implemented in a half-baked way. It seems unfair that larger framed drivers are at a significant disadvantage to the point where it is unusable in its current stage of development.

2012 should be enough time to implement it in all cars but I think they were talking 2013.

[Gts-t]

The race is on HD 1 at 3 should be good apart from that dickheead rusty

[sh@un]

KERS is optional next year, rather than mandatory as originally slated.

[DaGr81]

1000!

Only took me 5 years

The top 6 are on similar levels of fuel at the moment, I think vettel should be right for this one, also don't forget button and Rubens got a 5 spot grid penalty so did Alonso and someone else

[Gts-t]

Vettel will get smoked into turn one by hamilton and his kers, he might be in with a chance if he doest make the same mistakes as last race

[DaGr81]

04 Oct 2009

Provisional grid & pre-race weights - updated

Below is Sunday morning's provisional grid for the Japanese Grand Prix with each car's weight. Note - Brawn GP’s Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, Force India’s Adrian Sutil, Renault’s Fernando Alonso were all handed five-place grid penalties for failing to slow adequately under yellow flags. Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi received an identical penalty for impeding other cars and causing a potential hazard to other drivers.

Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi and McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen both have five-place penalties for gearbox changes. Red Bull’s Mark Webber will start from the pit lane after swapping to new chassis and hence have no fuel restrictions. Toyota's Timo Glock will not start following his heavy crash in qualifying.

The various penalties were applied in the order in which the corresponding offences were committed.

1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 658.5kg

2. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 655.5

3. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 656

4. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 660

5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 661

6. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 660.5

7. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 684.5

8. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 650

9. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 686

10. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 658.5

11. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 675

12. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso, 682.5

13. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 665.4

14. Giancarlo Fisichella, Ferrari, 661.5

15. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 695.7

16. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 689.5

17. Romain Grosjean, Renault, 691.8

18. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India, 682.5

19. Mark Webber, Red Bull, n/a

Trulli may have To take out Hamilton lol... This is gonna be a great race