Formula 1 Jam

Fernando Alonso kept his cool on a very confusing saturday at Hungary to take the coverted pole for the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix.  The Spaniard survived a scare in Q1 jumping from 18th to 6th and barely survived making it to Q3 when he finished Q2 on 9th(after not electing to do a second run).  Despite all that the true action surrounded the Ferrari of Felipe Massa.

The Brazilian was struck by a piece of rear suspension from Barrichello’s Brawn.  The impact knocked out the Ferrari driver causing the car to go head on onto the tyre barrier.  Felipe was later confirmed to be doing fine at the Medical center.

The Red Bulls of Vettel and Webber will line up behind Alonso making it three Renault engines in the top 3.  Hamilton was the best of the Mc Larens as they search for their lost form.  The Mercedes powered car is expected to be the dark horse thanks to the KERS it is carrying.

Qualification Results:

1. Fernando Alonso, Renault – 1′21.569
2. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault – 1′21.607
3. Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault – 1′21.741
4. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes – 1′21.839
5. Nico Rosberg, Williams-Toyota – 1′21.890
6. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren-Mercedes – 1′22.095
7. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari – 1′22.468
8. Jenson Button, Brawn-Mercedes – 1′22.511
9. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams-Toyota – 1′22.835
10. Felipe Massa, Ferrari – no time
11. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-Ferrari – 1′21.002
12. Jarno Trulli, Toyota – 1′21.082
13. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn-Mercedes – 1′21.222
14. Timo Glock, Toyota – 1′21.242
15. Nelson Piquet Jnr, Renault – 1′21.389
16. Nick Heidfeld, BMW – 1′21.738
17. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India-Mercedes – 1′21.807
18. Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes – 1′21.868
19. Robert Kubica, BMW – 1′21.901
20. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso-Ferrari – 1′22.369

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Vettel is the heaviest drivers in the top 10 and that should bode well for the German as he will look to claw back to the top in the World Drivers Championship.

1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 666.5 kg
2. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 657.5
3. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 659.5
4. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 658
5. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 652.5
6. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 657.5
7. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 661.5
8. Timo Glock, Toyota, 660
9. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 654
10. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 654
11. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 675
12. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 689.5
13. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 695.5
14. Nelson Piquet, Renault, 682.5
15. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 665.5
16. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 668
17. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso, 687.5
18. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 692
19. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 666
20. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 672.5

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 Results from qualification for the 2009 British Grand Prix:

Pos  Driver       Team                       Q1        Q2        Q3
 1.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault        1:18.685  1:18.119  1:19.509
 2.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes          1:19.325  1:18.335  1:19.856
 3.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault        1:18.674  1:18.209  1:19.868
 4.  Trulli       Toyota                  1:18.886  1:18.240  1:20.091
 5.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota         1:18.530  1:18.575  1:20.216
 6.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes          1:18.957  1:18.663  1:20.289
 7.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota         1:19.228  1:18.591  1:20.361
 8.  Glock        Toyota                  1:19.198  1:18.791  1:20.490
 9.  Raikkonen    Ferrari                 1:19.010  1:18.566  1:20.715
10.  Alonso       Renault                 1:19.167  1:18.761  1:20.741
11.  Massa        Ferrari                 1:19.148  1:18.927
12.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber              1:19.730  1:19.308
13.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes        1:19.732  1:19.353
14.  Piquet       Renault                 1:19.555  1:19.392
15.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber              1:19.559  1:19.448
16.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes    1:19.802
17.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:19.898
18.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes    1:19.909
19.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes        1:19.917
20.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:20.236

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Here is the list of the provisional grid and the weight of each respective car (as released by the FIA)

1. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 646kg
2. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 651.5
3. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 649.5
4. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 655
5. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 651.5
6. Timo Glock, Toyota, 646.5
7. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 655.5
8. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 645
9. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 668
10. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 660
11. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 676.6
12. Nelson Piquet, Renault, 677.4
13. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 676.3
14. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 683
15. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 678
16. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 673
17. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso, 669
18. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 657
19. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 675
20. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 656

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Button put together a brilliant lap in the dying seconds of qualification to steal pole from Vettel.  The current championship leader will line up in front of his teammate who qualified third after an awesome show in qualification.  Ferrari had mixed fortunes as Massa qualified forth and Raikkonen ended up sixteenth.

Qualification Results:

Pos  Driver       Team                       Q1        Q2        Q3
 1.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes          1:20.707  1:20.192  1:20.527
 2.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault        1:20.715  1:20.220  1:20.660
 3.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes          1:20.808  1:19.954  1:20.762
 4.  Massa        Ferrari                 1:20.484  1:20.149  1:20.934
 5.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault        1:20.689  1:20.007  1:21.049
 6.  Glock        Toyota                  1:20.877  1:20.107  1:21.247
 7.  Trulli       Toyota                  1:21.189  1:20.420  1:21.254
 8.  Alonso       Renault                 1:21.186  1:20.509  1:21.392
 9.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota         1:20.745  1:20.256  1:22.558
10.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber              1:20.931  1:20.408  1:22.685
11.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota         1:20.818  1:20.531
12.  Piquet       Renault                 1:21.128  1:20.604
13.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber              1:21.095  1:20.676
14.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes        1:20.991  1:20.805
15.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:21.033  1:21.067
16.  Raikkonen    Ferrari                 1:21.291
17.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1:21.300
18.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes        1:21.675
19.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes    1:21.742
20.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes    1:22.204

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Pre Race Weights & Provisional Grid for the 2009 Bahrain Grand Prix:

1. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 648.5 kg
2. Timo Glock, Toyota, 643
3. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 659
4. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 652.5
5. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 652.5
6. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 649
7. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 650.5
8. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 664.5
9. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 670.5
10. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 671.5
11. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 678.5
12. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 680.9
13. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 698.6
14. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 696.3
15. Nelson Piquet, Renault, 677.6
16. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 678.5
17. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 652
18. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 656
19. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 679
20. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso, 667.5

Notes:

• Trulli outqualified his team mate with a much higher fuel load and with a margin of about .3s
• Vettel must be the favourite considering that he is carrying almost 4 laps of fuel more into the race.
• The Ferrari’s are on a much higher fuel load, indicating that they might start on the Harder tyre.
• Kubica and Heidfeld look like they are on single stoppers, it will be worth watching if we have a BMW train in the race.

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Sebastian Vettel took top honors on Saturday qualification by taking pole for the Chinese Grand Prix.  The German who later revealed that he had car problems that limited his running, set the times on single hot laps in Q2 and Q3.

Fernando Alonso produced a magnificent lap to push the Renault to its highest starting position in over a year.  The double world champ showed his class in a car that had been modified to include upgrades just the night before.

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Jenson Button produced another immaculate performance to seize pole position for the 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix. The Briton looked like he would not be able to repeat his Australian pole, with Ferrari, Reb Bull, Toyota and Williams looking very strong in earlier practice sessions. But Brawn GP topped the time sheets when it mattered most and took top honors.

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Brawn GP pulled off the expected by snatching the front row in spectacular fashion at the Australian Grand Prix, ending all speculation about which car is the fastest of the 2009 lot. Button and Barrichello were immaculate in everyone of the three sessions, topping the time sheets consistently. The hour long session also confirmed that Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren team was struggling to find the required pace from the car.

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If anyone had predicted accurately the starting grid for the 2008 Spanish GP, they would have probably been laughed at. On a race track that was well known to every team and driver on the gird, came the most unexpected qualification sessions in a very long time.

Starting in the front row for the first time this season will be two champions. The man on the head of the grid would have been easily predictable but not the man that lines up next to him on row one. Fernando Alonso produced a magical evening of pace impressing in every session of qualification and finally producing something special to take P2.

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