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Force India in front again

September 12th, 2009 No comments

Lewis Hamilton, Italy, 2009Force India carried their strong pace from Belgium into qualifying at Monza with Adrian Sutil putting his car on the front row for tomorrow’s Italian Grand Prix.

Sutil had looked strong all weekend and the German only narrowly missed out on claiming Force India’s second pole in a row after Lewis Hamilton put a perfect lap together in the closing moments of the third qualifying session.

Kimi Raikkonen managed to get his Ferrari onto the second row ahead of Heikki Kovalainen but Giancarlo Fisichella found the Ferrari F60 a bit of a handful and was knocked out in Q2.  Fisi will start from 14th tomorrow – behind both Force Indias.

The two Brawns will start alongside each other on the third row of the grid and look very strong considering Ross Brawn has said they will be driving a one-stop strategy.  We will have to wait for the published car weights but it is likely all the cars in front of them will have to stop twice.

Despite being surrounded by KERS cars, Adrian Sutil is confident he can still fight for a podium:

We have a great package, this circuit suits us very well as we have an incredible top speed and also a good downforce package so the efficiency of the car is really good. I’m starting on the front row with Lewis for the first time since F3 and I’m really happy he is next to me, he’s a good friend but we will fight hard for it.

Sunday’s race will be split between those stopping once and those stopping twice and we will only really be able to get a clear picture once everyone has made their final pit stop.  It should be interesting…

2009 Formula One Italian Grand Prix Qualifying Results

Pos Driver Team Time
1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:24.066
2 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 01:24.261
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 01:24.523
4 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 01:24.845
5 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 01:25.015
6 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 01:25.030
7 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 01:25.043
8 Fernando Alonso Renault 01:25.072
9 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 01:25.180
10 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 01:25.314
11 Jarno Trulli Toyota 01:23.611
12 Romain Grosjean Renault 01:23.728
13 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 01:23.866
14 Giancarlo Fisichella Ferrari 01:23.901
15 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 01:24.275
16 Timo Glock Toyota 01:24.036
17 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 01:24.074
18 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 01:24.121
19 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 01:24.220
20 Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 01:24.951

Image: McLaren

Categories: 2009 Season Tags: ,

Fisi scores Force India’s first points

August 31st, 2009 No comments

Giancarlo Fisichella, Belgium, 2009Why can’t they all be like that?

The Belgium Grand Prix was a thrilling race on a fantastic circuit.  There was overtaking and excitement throughout the whole race.

Kimi Raikkonen may have taken the chequered flag on Sunday but it was only thanks to a pile up at Les Combes that he was able to pass Giancarlo Fisichella who had been on form all weekend.

The crash (which took out reigning World Champion Lewis Hamilton and current leader Jenson Button) and subsequent safety car allowed Raikkonen to deploy his Ferrari’s KERS to power past the unboosted Force India of Fisichella.

After taking his first win of the season (and his first for 25 races) Raikkonen said:

I knew I needed to get past him. If I hadn’t been able to do that at the restart, they had too much speed and it would have been all over. But I was close enough coming out of the first corner, used KERS and it was pretty easy in that way to get in front. I knew that so long as I didn’t make any mistakes, I should win.

Despite scoring the first pole, points and podium for Force India, Fisichella knew if things had gone differently he could have been standing on the top step:

If you had asked me before coming to Spa, I would have said it would be fantastic to finish in the first eight and score a point for the team but, considering the pace we had all weekend thanks to improvements we’ve been making to the car, it was possible to win this race. My start had been perfect. When the safety car came out, I was over two seconds ahead. Kimi would not have been able to get near me for the rest of the race. But, because we had the restart, he was right behind me and able to use the KERS to overtake. There was nothing I could do. Second place and eight points is a fantastic result. But it could have been so much more.

The fact that Raikkonen was the sixth different driver to win in as many races means Jenson Button has still managed to hang on to a 16 point lead in the Championship.

2009 Belgian Grand Prix Race Results

Pos Driver Team Grid Time Points
1 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 6 23:50.995 10
2 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 1 23:51.934 8
3 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 8 23:54.870 6
4 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 5 24:00.961 5
5 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 3 24:02.271 4
6 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 15 24:23.758 3
7 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 4 24:26.456 2
8 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 10 24:27.203 1
9 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 9 24:27.954 0
10 Timo Glock Toyota 7 24:32.485 0
11 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 11 24:33.631 0
12 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 16 24:37.101 0
13 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 18 24:45.236 0
14 Luca Badoer Ferrari 20 25:33.172 0
RET Fernando Alonso Renault 13 retired, 26 laps 0
RET Jarno Trulli Toyota 2 retired, 21 laps 0
RET Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 14 crash, 0 laps 0
RET Romain Grosjean Renault 19 crash, 0 laps 0
RET Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 12 crash, 0 laps 0
RET Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 17 crash, 0 laps 0

Image: Force India

Belgium: Fuel adjusted qualifying times

August 29th, 2009 No comments

Jarno Trulli, Belgium, 2009The FIA now publishes the weights of each car after qualifying on Saturday. Those cars that make it through to the final qualifying session must use the fuel they qualified with while the rest of the field may refuel before the race.

Below is a graph showing the actual top ten qualifying times as well as those times adjusted for the weight of fuel each car is carrying. The graph assumes a standard lap time cost of 0.3 seconds per 10kg of fuel.

From these weights we can see that the fuel-adjusted grid is a lot more mixed up than ususal.  The quickest driver, fuel-adjusted, was actually Jarno Trulli. He is carrying more fuel than Fisichella but importantly he is also carrying more fuel than Heidfeld and Barrichello behind him.  Unless Barrichello can get in front of him, the ‘Trulli train’ could really spoil his day.

But while Fisichella is lighter than some, his fuel-adjusted time is still good.  He is quicker than Barrichello, Raikkonen and both Red Bulls!

Sebastian Vettel looks really out of place down in 8th; his fuel-adjusted time puts him 4th.  Raikkonen is also faster than Kubica alongside him but Heidfeld’s time shows just how much BMW have improved here.

With such a mixed up grid and the unpredictability of Spa it looks like we are in for an exciting race on Sunday!

2009 Belgian GP Q3 (weight-adjusted)2009 Belgian Grand Prix car weights

Image: Toyota

Categories: 2009 Season Tags: , ,

Fisichella takes shock pole at Spa

August 29th, 2009 No comments

Giancarlo Fisichella, Belgium, 2009Well no-one predicted that!

In a thrilling qualifying for Sunday’s Belgium Grand Prix that saw several big names not make it through to the top ten, Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella set a time of 1:46.308 to take pole position ahead of Toyota’s Jarno Trulli.

BMW showed a marked improvement with Heidfeld and Kubica qualifying 3rd and 5th respectively with Rubens Barrichello between them in 4th.

The Red Bulls of Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber will start from 8th and 9th ahead of Nico Rosberg who rounds out the top ten.  Just over a second separated Rosberg’s time from Fisichella’s.

Just as surprising as a Force India on pole was the failure of Championship leader Jenson Button to make it through to Q3; he will start from 14th tomorrow, a long way behind his team mate and the two Red Bull challengers.

Button has not made it onto the podium in the last four races and if Barrichello wins on Sunday with Button scoring no points he could see his lead reduced to just 8 points:

I’m a little bit worried because something is seriously not right.  It’s strange to be four or five tenths off Rubens – our cars are different but not that different.

Fisichella’s pole is his first since Malaysia 2006 and the first ever for the Force India team.

It’s unbelievable – I didn’t expect to be on pole position. Especially after yesterday. I was sixth and was quite surprised. There was a lot of understeering. The measurement on the downforce was not good.

This morning it was much better straightaway, and it was even better in qualifying than I expected. It’s amazing. I’m so happy about that. I need to thank the team. They did a fantastic job.

We will see how light Fisichella is running when the fuel loads are revealed but he was fourth fastest in Q2 so it looks like the Force India has real pace.

2009 Formula One Belgian Grand Prix Qualifying Results

Pos Driver Team Time
1 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 01:46.308
2 Jarno Trulli Toyota 01:46.395
3 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 01:46.500
4 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 01:46.513
5 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 01:46.586
6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 01:46.633
7 Timo Glock Toyota 01:46.677
8 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 01:46.761
9 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 01:46.788
10 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 01:47.362
11 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 01:45.119
12 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:45.122
13 Fernando Alonso Renault 01:45.136
14 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 01:45.251
15 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 01:45.259
16 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 01:45.951
17 Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 01:46.032
18 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 01:46.307
19 Romain Grosjean Renault 01:46.359
20 Luca Badoer Ferrari 01:46.957

Image: Force India

Rubens wins in Valencia

August 23rd, 2009 No comments

Rubens Barrichello, Europe, 2009Rubens Barrichello claimed his first victory since China 2004 at the European Grand Prix in Valencia on Sunday.

He may have started from the second row of the grid but, fuel-adjusted, he was quickest in qualifying and he kept that pace throughout the race to leap-frog both McLarens.

Barrichello, who was wearing a special helmet with a message to Felipe Massa, dedicated the victory to his fellow countryman who is recovering in Brazil after his accident at the Hungarian Grand Prix:

I want to thank everyone who has supported me and this victory is dedicated to the whole of Brazil but particularly to my great friend Felipe Massa. I hope he is back racing against me soon.

Lewis Hamilton made a good start from pole position and was leading after the first round of pit stops but a late decision (too late as Lewis was already committed to the pit entrance) to keep him out for another lap meant that the pit crew weren’t ready for his final set of tyres. The delay cost Hamilton a couple of seconds although Martin Whitmarsh would later say that McLaren didn’t have the pace to beat Barrichello anyway:

To have a car arrive and not have the tyres there is an operational error. But had the tyres been ready it wouldn’t have made a difference. It only cost us a couple of seconds.

I thought it was interesting to compare Hamilton’s reaction to his team’s error to Barrichello’s outburst at the German Grand Prix.  While Rubens immediately claimed the team had lost the race for him, Lewis called his pit crew “the best” and said they deserved a pat on the back.

The win moves Barrichello into second place in the Drivers’ Championship, 18 points behind his team mate Jenson Button, while Mark Webber drops back to third.

2009 European Grand Prix Race Results

Pos Driver Team Grid Time Points
1 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 3 35:51.289 10
2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1 35:53.647 8
3 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 6 36:07.283 6
4 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 2 36:11.321 5
5 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 7 36:12.159 4
6 Fernando Alonso Renault 8 36:19.033 3
7 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 5 36:26.202 2
8 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 10 36:27.956 1
9 Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 9 36:36.199 0
10 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 12 36:39.224 0
11 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 11 36:40.111 0
12 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 16 36:54.903 0
13 Jarno Trulli Toyota 18 36:55.816 0
14 Timo Glock Toyota 13 37:17.808 0
15 Romain Grosjean Renault 14 37:23.033 0
16 Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 19 lapped 0
17 Luca Badoer Ferrari 20 lapped 0
18 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 17 lapped 0
RET Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 15 retired, 41 laps 0
RET Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 4 retired, 23 laps 0

Image: Brawn GP

Categories: 2009 Season Tags: , ,