2009 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix - Yas Marina Circuit

[Brogan]

It looks like everyone's favourite rookie will get another outing at Abu Dhabi.

Glock is still too badly injured to race so Kobayashi will once again fill in for him.

That should spice things up a bit

 

[Brogan]

First practice results:

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time               Laps

 1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:43.939             18

 2.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:44.035  +  0.096   20

 3.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:44.153  +  0.214   28

 4.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:44.207  +  0.268   23

 5.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:44.667  +  0.728   23

 6.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:44.687  +  0.748   32

 7.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:44.688  +  0.749   14

 8.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:44.805  +  0.866   25

09.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:44.955  +  1.016   33

10.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:44.958  +  1.019   25

11.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:44.988  +  1.049   22

12.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:45.123  +  1.184   20

13.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:45.649  +  1.710   27

14.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:45.679  +  1.740   25

15.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:45.704  +  1.765   27

16.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:45.865  +  1.926   23

17.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:46.239  +  2.300   22

18.  Fisichella   Ferrari               (B)  1:46.267  +  2.328   26

19.  Kobayashi    Toyota                (B)  1:46.364  +  2.425   28

20.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:46.411  +  2.472   27

 

[cider_and_toast]

Apparently Glock may not be as injured as claimed and Toyota are using a Japanese driver to drum up a bit of support back home. It would seem that in a chat with the Beeb, Glock said he felt absolutely fine however "the Doctors know more than I do".

 

[FB]

We need a new bit of alliteration to replace to Trulli Train. How about the Kobayashi catastophe or the Kobi queue?

 

[Brogan]

That doesn't surprise me c_a_t.

As Glock's effectively finished at Toyota I guess their future prospects as a team are more important to them than keeping Glock happy with a final drive.

 

[Brogan]

P2 results - McLaren again topping the time sheets.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps

 1.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:41.307            35

 2.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:41.504  + 0.197   34

 3.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:41.541  + 0.234   39

 4.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:41.591  + 0.284   37

 5.  Kobayashi    Toyota                (B)  1:41.636  + 0.329   34

 6.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:41.683  + 0.376   37

 7.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:41.684  + 0.377   34

 8.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:41.831  + 0.524   38

 9.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:41.931  + 0.624   39

10.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:41.987  + 0.680   39

11.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:42.180  + 0.873   28

12.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:42.245  + 0.938   36

13.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:42.278  + 0.971   36

14.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:42.409  + 1.102   30

15.  Liuzzi       Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:42.530  + 1.223   33

16.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:42.782  + 1.475   29

17.  Fisichella   Ferrari               (B)  1:42.932  + 1.625   37

18.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:43.021  + 1.714   37

19.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:43.022  + 1.715   39

20.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:43.708  + 2.401   13

 

[bogaTYR]

anyone any idea what happened to kubica in training 2?

the time differences for the friday sessions are weird, about the biggest one of the season methinks. no idea why though.

 

[Brogan]

His engine went pop!

 

[FB]

bogaTYR said:

the time differences for the friday sessions are weird, about the biggest one of the season methinks. no idea why though.

I would think a combination of rubber being laid on the circuit, sand being cleared off the circuit and the drivers learning how to drive round it, exploring it's limits.

 

[Brogan]

Fuel adjusted grid is here: F1 Fuel Adjusted Grid & Qualifying Times 2009 - Abu Dhabi

Lewis Hamilton smashed everyone and even fuel adjusted is almost half a second faster than Vettel.

 

[Galahad]

Well, I think that lays the lie to the argument that Button has just been driving cautiously for the second half of the season - he gave it everything this time and Rubens was still quicker.

It hasn't been that way in races, but nonetheless Barrichello will be wondering what might have happened if they'd fixed his braking issues a bit earlier in the season.

 

[Brogan]

Indeed GM.

Rubens has outqualified Jenson at the last 7 GPs now: F1 Head To Head 2009 - Qualifying

It's actually 9 of the last 10 and would most likely have been 10 if it wasn't for his suspension failing at Hungary.

 

[teabagyokel]

Lewis Hamilton looks like he's going to win this race á la Vettel in Britain, although knowing Lewis a pit tunnel crash is not unlikely!
Hamilton; 4 poles, McLaren MP4-24. That is very good!

Nice to see Toro Rosso in Q3 again, and it looks odds on that Button will win the title having not led in the last 10 races in a season. Which would be stunning, but would not imply he doesn't deserve the title!

It looks good for BMW-Sauber. Lets hope they'll be there next year. (That is hoping that one of the new teams fails - I wonder which?

Spoiler

USF1 - is this A1GP? No.

)

 

[bogaTYR]

if anyone can explain to me why grosjean is in an F1 car that would be very much appreciated. i was amazed by how often the guy left the track and other minor oopsies. also, i hate to say this, but firing bourdais has been a good thing, cos it seems to have scared the living something out of buemi an dlook at him now!

i just hope for a good and open race. i think the circuit is prety good, although highly confusing at times with all these different track options it has and lack of visual markers to show us, as viewers, what the right track is. however this blue next to the track.... takes a while to get used to.

 

[Brogan]

Fully agree Boga.

Grosjean has looked extremely poor and it's great to see Toro Rosso in the top 10 again.
That's 3 races in a row now.

 

[Galahad]

Grosjean - lack of ability or lack of experience? He's got a lot more experience than Alguersuari, for example, and was far better in GP2 than Kobayashi among others.

It just proves that drivers who perform well in junior series can't always translate that speed into F1. Although having said that, if he was able to go through a proper cycle of pre-season testing with a car I'm sure he'd be a lot better at sticking to the tarmac, if not any faster. It looks as though Timo is going to get that seat though, which is a shame for Romain but makes sense overall.

Sometimes it's better to wait for the right opportunity rather than taking the first one that comes along. It's a brave approach to take though...

 

[Brogan]

Summing up the last race of 2009....

 

[Amdathlonuk]

Man, that was poor.

Have they moved Cananda?

 

[rufus_mcdufus]

Man, that was poor.

Have they moved Cananda?

No - it's still north of North Americanda...

[I'll fetch me coat]

 

[teabagyokel]

I don't think that the quality of the race is any reflection on the quality of the circuit. I feel there've been boring races at many circuits this year, and there were clearly opportunities to overtake. A rare from me!

I noticed Legard said Bernie can "walk tall" after seeing Yas Marina. Discarding the unlikliness of this ever happening, why does that mean that Bernie shouldn't be living in a hole in the ground when the series moves to a Valencian dock?