Who was it that predicted a sandstorm?

[RickD]

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2009/4/9229.html

Will the cars still run if there is a sandstorm? I don't see how they can as surely this will destroy the workings of an F1 car.

 

[Brogan]

I know they use modified filters on all the intakes to cope with the sand but there's no way they'd be able to run in a sandstorm.

Visibility will be down to a few metres and grip would be severely reduced as the tyres would be running on a layer of sand so the race would have to be delayed/abandoned.

If that happens then it will make this season a farce with 1 race being abandoned due to poor light from starting too late, another race starting behind the safety car due to rain and a third race abandoned due to sand...

 

[Boyle]

Don't forget that Oz finished behind a Safety Car too, Brogan

Fat_Bloke's pessimistic view of this season is hard to argue with thus far but hopefully things will pick up as the season progresses.

 

[RickD]

Agreed, I just want to see a race go full distance with a proper finish, you wouldn't think that was too much to ask for, but Bernie & co haven't managed it yet.

 

[teabagyokel]

Lets have a sandstorm, why not? You're all complaining now about the rain/SCs/abandonments, but if Barcelona is anything like last year* you'll all be wishing them back in 3 weeks time!

*and the year before, and the year before that, and the year before that...

 

[Andrea_Moda_Rules]

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2009/4/9229.html

Will the cars still run if there is a sandstorm? I don't see how they can as surely this will destroy the workings of an F1 car.

the awnser is No it happened in preseason testing amnd Ferrari and toytoa lost bout 3 days testing I think.

 

[Brogan]

Thankfully there were no sandstorms during qualifying.

A front row lockout for Toyota, Vettel in 3rd and Hamilton splitting the Brawns.

We'll have to wait and see what the weights are but it's clear Brawn no longer have the clear advantage they enjoyed for the first 2 races.

 

[teabagyokel]

I think they could have put an elephant on the car and still come home fastest in Australia! Or even a KERS! Vettel is doing really well for Red Bull, battered his team-mate in Alonsoesque fashion (well done Adrian) but the car in front is a Toyota*! Hamilton in the McLaren has qualified really well, Button expects to be behind him by Turn 1! BMW still make my prediction of great things for them seem pretty damn laughable. The weights will be interesting but I boldly predict:

1. Trulli - bit light
2. Timo - bit light
3. Vettel - midrange
4. Button - bit heavy
5. Hamilton - bit light
6. Barrichello - elephant
7. Alonso - no fuel
8. Massa - bit light
9. Rosberg - bu**er knows
10. Raikkonen - midrange

Based upon experience. And Congratulations to Nelsinho on successfully navigating the storm they call Q1 ! OK, so he finished 15th but you can't have everything. I mean, Flav is not that trigger happy is he? (Congratulations to Gareth Ainsworth, new manager of QPR, apparently Paulo Sousa arsed up his 6 months in charge, although he lasted longer than Dowie...)

Crown Prince Sheikh [?] someone will be getting some Trulli vintage wine soon, to add to his DC autobiography (bet EJ planted it)!

*I've been waiting 7 years to say that, 7 years!

 

[Brogan]

So Sutil has been handed a 3 place grid drop for blocking Mark Webber.

I wonder if Mark Webber/Red Bull appealed or if the stewards chose to investigate the incident pro-actively?
I only ask because last week McLaren didn't appeal Vettel blocking Kovalainen and the stewards did nothing about it, despite the rules having been broken...

 

[teabagyokel]

So Sutil has been handed a 3 place grid drop for blocking Mark Webber.

I wonder if Mark Webber/Red Bull appealed or if the stewards chose to investigate the incident pro-actively?
I only ask because last week McLaren didn't appeal Vettel blocking Kovalainen and the stewards did nothing about it.

I think Mark Webber's race is

screwed

but he'll still appeal!

As for McLaren, well, we know the score there...

 

[Brogan]

Race weights and predicted first stints based on fuel consumption of 2.88 kg/lap and 2 laps for the drive to grid and formation lap.
The fuel adjusted figures are all based on Timo Glock's time and weight.

Grid 	Q 	Name 			Weight 	Fuel (kg)	First Stint (laps)	Q3 Time

 1 	 1 	Jarno Trulli 		648.5 	43.5		13			1:33.431

 2 	 2 	Timo Glock 		643.0 	38.0		11			1:33.712

 3 	 3  	Sebastian Vettel 	659.0 	54.0		16			1:34.015

 4 	 4 	Jenson Button 		652.5 	47.5		14			1:34.044

 5 	 5 	Lewis Hamilton 		652.5 	47.5		14			1:34.196

 6  	 6 	Rubens Barrichello 	649.0 	44.0		13			1:34.239

 7 	 7 	Fernando Alonso 	650.5 	45.5		13			1:34.578

 8 	 8 	Felipe Massa 		664.5 	59.5		18			1:34.818

 9 	 9 	Nico Rosberg 		670.5 	65.5		20			1:35.134

10 	10 	Kimi Raikkonen 		671.5 	66.5		21			1:35.380

11 	11 	Heikki Kovalainen 	678.5 	73.5		23		

12 	12 	Kazuki Nakajima 	680.9 	75.9		24		

13 	13 	Robert Kubica 		698.6 	93.6		30	

14 	14 	Nick Heidfeld 		696.3 	91.3		29	

15 	15 	Nelson Piquet 		677.6 	72.6		23		

16 	17 	Sebastien Buemi 	678.5 	73.5		23		

17 	18 	Giancarlo Fisichella 	652.0 	47.0		14		

18 	19 	Mark Webber 		656.0 	51.0		15	

19 	16 	Adrian Sutil* 		679.0 	74.0		23	

20 	20 	Sebastien Bourdais 	667.5 	62.5		19

Quite clearly Vettel and Red Bull are the car to beat.
Hamilton has shown that the McLaren is now capable of mixing it up at the top.
Brawn's domination was short-lived and is all but over.

* Sutil penalised with a 3 place grid drop for impeding Mark Webber.

 

[Andrea_Moda_Rules]

I think Brawn's pace/lack ofit/the improvemnt of others is great for F1, with all the rules changes, has much as great the Brawn story is, it would be Bad to see one team run away with the championship. I cant wait for tomorrow!

 

[Brogan]

An interesting result today.

Despite Brawn being off the pace in qualifying, Jenson was still able to leapfrog the front runners at the first pit stop and now has a decent lead in the Drivers' championship.

Rubens again seems to lack the pace of Jenson and is in danger of taking a supporting role.

Seb V I think was just content to sit behind other drivers. He clearly had the pace as he was able to consistenyl maintain the gap first to Hamilton and then to Trulli. He just made no attempt to get past at all. Disappointing.

Jarno and Timo have to be wondering what happened, especially Glock. Trulli had a decent lead going into the first set of stops and then suddenly found himself behind.

Lewis did another solid performance and is either out-performing the car or Heikki is seriously under-performing. I feel he is on borrowed time and we won't see him in a McLaren next year.

Ferrari finally have some points thanks to a steady performance from Kimi. Massa will want to forget about this race in a hurry.

Alonso bagged a point for Renault but the car is quite clearly in a different league to the front runners so without some serious development, that's about all he can expect from the next few races.

 

[Andrea_Moda_Rules]

13 hours of Motosport and im still standing XD

Toyota must be a little.....erm shall we say disspionted bout there mid-race pace, those toytoa's certainly did'nt like the option tyre at all, Button did say himself that the race pace was better then the 1 lap pace so perhaps we shouldn't be too suprised bout Button coming through. I hope Sutil as a few bodyguards with him over the next couple of weeks or he may find webber sneaking up on him with a sledgehammer lol.

*EDIT* im suprised no-ones said anything about Bernie's erm....colourful? dresswear. A subiminal show of support for ferrari maybe if Mad Max was there too?

 

[McZiderRed]

An excellent result for Brawn & Jensen. Rubens seemed to have chosen the wrong strategy today and Lewis (if not Heiki) seems to prove the McLaren is improving. All in all, a good race (petered off late on in terms of overtaking, but that gave me a perfect opportunity to play about with the red button & check out the on-board option. When there's loads of overtaking, I wonder how they chose which car to view from? )

Vettel is doing superbly well at Red Bull and, in football parlance, seems to have Mark Webber 'in his pocket'. I wonder how Mark's coping!?

And BMW. Part of my fantasy F1 team. Where are you...?

 

[Galahad]

Remember when Ferrari were winning every race, and with Schumacher out in front Ross Brawn used to keep himself awake by putting Rubens on increasingly bizarre and illogical strategies?

Those Toyotas are absolutely eating tyres. Expect to see more front row grid slots and more races when they slide out of view...

What was wrong with Kovalainen? Please tell me there was something wrong with the car.

 

[teabagyokel]

Remember when Ferrari were winning every race, and with Schumacher out in front Ross Brawn used to keep himself awake by putting Rubens on increasingly bizarre and illogical strategies?

Those Toyotas are absolutely eating tyres. Expect to see more front row grid slots and more races when they slide out of view...

What was wrong with Kovalainen? Please tell me there was something wrong with the car.

I agree, GM, I'm not quite sure what Rubens' strategy could have hoped to acheive! As for Toyota, they're mixing it with RBR & Brawn but they are clearly 3rd best on the grid and this is the second time (after Sepang) that Button has caned them on first stop strategy/pace!

As for Kovalainen, I think he's where he was last year with relationship to Hamilton, but the McLaren is just further down the grid. Hamilton is just more comfortable in the team, the car and the situation ON TRACK! Heikki has tbf not risked the team's F1 status this year, but Hamilton has finished in the points (on the track) in each race this season in a dog of a car and I applaud him for it!

Erm, BMWS are looking in the brown stuff, and my timing in squaring the Kub(e) was very good in the CtAFL. Renault look good and bad at the same time, depending on who's driving the car! STR don't have as good a driver as the Vet this year - you just can't get the Sebs these days! Force India looked better when not blocking RBRs in Q1!

All in all, I'm not sure Button is faster than Vettel, but he benefited hugely from having a McLaren-shaped buffer in S1 and a Toyota-shaped buffer in S2! Anyway, great win Jense, you've got a big advantage - can the Vet chip away at it, and how rough is Kate's dirty sister?

 

[Boyle]

Vettel and Trulli definitely tripped over each other yesterday to let Jenson scamper off into the distance. I don't think Vettel had the pace to keep up with Button on track during the first stint as he was fueled a good 2 or 3 laps longer than Button. I think he could have have had the pace to keep the gap stable to Button in the middle stint when they were on relatively equal fuel loads as he was only 6 seconds behind the Brawn after the first round of stops.

He lost the race when he was held up by Trulli in the middle stint, losing half a second a lap! After the second round of stops there was a 13 second gap. Then it was Trulli's turn to be held up when he was on the option tyre. It wouldn't have mattered as much anyway as I doubt he could have caught Button.