2009 Spanish Grand Prix

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According to the Force India man commentating for the BBC, Sutil's car has an issue with the fuel cell coupling and it's a six hour job to change it - the car is currently upside-down having this fixed, apparently.

Just an FYI, he's Ian Philips, commercial manager and he's been with the team since the early 90s, just letting people know in case they ever wondered lol.
 
Sebastian Vettel
"A pretty normal Friday except that at some stage we had a problem with the radio and I think I had some Spanish taxi drivers to talking to me!"

:lol:
 
Even stranger: Glock and Trulli are 18th and 19th; the only reason they're not 19th and 20th is because Sutil seems to have a problem of some kind and hasn't put in a single lap. For the team that dominated qualifying and were set to take their maiden victory in Bahrain, the Toyotas seem to be pedalling backwards; Glock is 1.77 seconds behind leader Rosberg, and Trulli is 2.03 off the pace.

I've suspected for a while now that Williams suck their tanks down tothe very fumes to produce those times, considering the haven't been able to translate that speed into race pace. And given that Alonso's qualifying results have been a product of the same thing - he started in Shanghai with pretty much half the fuel of anyone else - then the real order at the end of the second session is Barrichello, Webber, Button, Vettel.

There you go, there's your reason why the Toyotas are so far down during FP2. I'm pretty sure Toyota have found out that they need to work on longer stint setups to really threaten the Brawns in the race. They did pretty much the same at Malaysia; keeping themselves low during FP, but really be there in qualifying.
 
Yeah, the Toyota's are undoubtedly working on their race pace rather than qualifying, something which Williams really should do more than anyone else.

Both teams already know they can get into Q3 fairly easily but lack the strategy and pacing in the race to take advantage.

Also, we should keep in mind (as I watch FP2) that Rosberg retired his car right at the end and caused a yellow flag, so some of the teams perhaps didn't get a chance to go for a flier in the final laps like usual.
 
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wow at Ferrari ... absolutely WOW !!!!!!!!

half a second ahead of everyone else ?!?!?!



Ferrari, the Sandbaggers?
 
wow at Ferrari ... absolutely WOW !!!!!!!!

half a second ahead of everyone else ?!?!?!



Ferrari, the Sandbaggers?

WOW, I know, damn Sandbaggers. :lol: I was just watching practice and their cars, Massa's especially, really looked hooked-up. Whatever improvements they have added to the car certainly seem to be working. I wonder if any of the other teams were holding anything back and even if they were, it looks like it's going to be a Ferrari on pole, if not a Ferrari one two. Can anybody beat the Ferrari's?
 
Ferrari have made improvements, yes. But don't expect a team that scored 3 points after 4 races to be on pole in race 5. It'll take them some races to get back on track, especially with teams as Toyota, Red Bull and BrawnGP that have had a huge leap over them from race 1. I'm not denying this weekend looks promising for them though.
 
Practice means nothing, especially in these days of no in-season track testing.
 
Ferrari have made improvements, yes. But don't expect a team that scored 3 points after 4 races to be on pole in race 5. It'll take them some races to get back on track, especially with teams as Toyota, Red Bull and BrawnGP that have had a huge leap over them from race 1. I'm not denying this weekend looks promising for them though.

Well at the end of practice it seemed Ferrari were running light, but they were quicker than both Toyota and Brawn, who seemed to be trying to run quick also. I don't know how much any team has left to give, Qualifying should answer that though, I guess we'll have to wait and see. Lets hope for a good battle.
 
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If, but and maybe. That is the essence of Practice. Wait until Qualifying people. That's the first real indicator of form.
 
Massa's car looks pretty strong so far, I hope he can get the poli. This track isn't so good for overtaking.
 
Trulli takes 15th from Raikkonen at the death. Pretty poor showing from the finn considering Massa is P1.
 
Raikkonen doesn't seem to carry the speed as Massa had, and Trulli barely made it into Q2...


*EDIT* Tree'd
 
Ferrari are complete idiots. They've blown it for Kimi just like they blew it for Massa earlier in the season.
 
You guys are lucky, you get the telecast 10 min before I do.

Wait, Kimi's out:mad:🤬
 
Great lap from Button, and I think Massa has a good chance of winning this one tomorrow.
 
Pole for Button 👍

I'm expecting a battle for the win between, again, BrawnGP and Red Bull, and Massa trying to snatch the last podium spot. Massa had a great day, and deserves a pat on the back for that effort 👍 Toyota dissapointed me, but I hope they're on a heavy fuel load. Kubica did well also, but Williams failed once again.
 
That was a good final session. The race weights will make interesting reading.
 
Button pulled the rabbit out of his hat there, I so didn't seee that coming.👍
 
So, Button snatched pole then. I can only see a Brawn win here.
 
Massa might snatch a win tomorrow, depending on how good he starts. Ferrari is really stepping up now.
 
Massa might snatch a win tomorrow, depending on how good he starts. Ferrari is really stepping up now.
While your dedication to your team is to be applauded, there comes a point where it stops being dedication and starts being blind faith. Brawn have been consistently quicker than Ferrari all weekend, except in the final practice session, and Button has proven he can out-brake a KERS-equipped car with ease. I think Massa is going to have a hard time dealing with the Brawns and the Red Bulls. We'll know more once the FIA releases the fuel loading, but I strongly suspect Massa will be one of the lightest cars in the top ten.
 
Why do you think so? Ferrari has done good heavy this year and imagine how good he would do if he was heavy and in the top 3.
 
Why do you think so? Ferrari has done good heavy this year and imagine how good he would do if he was heavy and in the top 3.

Isn't he fourth?

Yes if he is heavy then a podium looks good, but overtaking is track at the best of times at Catalunya, so it would take more luck than anything to win tomorrow.
 
Why do you think so?
Becaus I did the same thing for the past two years with Honda.

Ferrari has done good heavy this year and imagine how good he would do if he was heavy and in the top 3.
Yes, they've done brilliantly. What do they have, three points to their name? Very impressive, considering that Brawn have fifty. That's right, Brawn have nearly seventeen more times the points of Ferrari. "Good" is the last word I would use to describe them. You say they've done well heavy; they haven't Brawn have run heavier and been faster, as have Red Bull.

I'm sorry, but the cold, hard truth of it is that the Ferrari F60 is a poor car. They're behind the Brawns, the Red Bulls and the Toyotas, and judging by their results this weekend, the BMWs and possibly the Toro Rossos (see Buemi's times in practice) Everyone makes one sooner or later. I don't know the circumstances of Raikkonen's failure to make Q2, and until the weights are released, we don't know how heavy Massa is, but I suspect he's running light as he's got three stronger cars in front of him and another three behind. In Practice I they were 9th and 11th, and in Practice II the best they could manage was 10th and 15th. The sheer difference in their Practice III times compaed to the other two sessions can be attributed to running light.

Don't get me wrong; like I said, I think your loyalty to your team is a quality you hold take pains to keep, even when times are hard. If there's one thing I can't stand in this sport, it's fans who change their alleigances at the first sign of trouble, much like the way a lot of Button's fans defected to Hamilton when Honda were in trouble; I probably feel that way because I stuck it out with Button. But there comes a time when you have to realise that you've taken your devotion to them too far. I'm not trying to deflate your bubble here, but more impress upon you that discretion is the better part of valour.
 
I wouldn't be surprised for Massa to have a mechanical failure tomorrow, actually. And I'm expecting Nakajima out in the first quarter of the race, too. I think he's far to aggressive for this track, personally.

EDIT: Missed three keystrokes :(
 
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In case someone missed it....



1 22 Jenson Button
2 15 Sebastian Vettel -
3 23 Rubens Barrichello
4 3 Felipe Massa
5 14 Mark Webber
6 10 Timo Glock
7 9 Jarno Trulli
8 7 Fernando Alonso
9 16 Nico Rosberg
10 5 Robert Kubica
11 17 Kazuki Nakajima
12 8 Nelsinho Piquet
13 6 Nick Heidfeld
14 1 Lewis Hamilton
15 12 Sebastien Buemi
16 4 Kimi Räikkönen
17 11 Sebastien Bourdais
18 2 Heikki Kovalainen
19 20 Adrian Sutil
20 21 Giancarlo Fisichella
 
After looking at the Q2-Q3 lap times, I suspect Button and Vettel are very light. Both are under 0.5 sec outside thier fastest laps. Rubens 0.7, Massa 0.8, Webber 1.0, Glock1.1, Trulli and Alonso 0.8, Rosebergand Kubica are both well over 2 secs, so they will be doing longer stints.

Pos-No--Driver------------Team----------------Q1-------Q2-------Q3Laps
1....22..Jenson Button.......Brawn-Mercedes....1:20.707..1:20.192..1:20.52721
2....15..Sebastian Vettel....RBR-Renault..........1:20.715..1:20.220..1:20.66015
3....23..Rubens Barrichello..Brawn-Mercedes....1:20.808..1:19.954..1:20.76220
4.....3..Felipe Massa..........Ferrari.................1:20.484.1:20.149..1:20.93418
5....14..Mark Webber.........RBR-Renault..........1:20.689..1:20.007..1:21.04917
6....10..Timo Glock............Toyota................1:20.877..1:20.107..1:21.24725
7......9..Jarno Trulli............Toyota...............1:21.189..1:20.420..1:21.25425
8......7..Fernando Alonso.....Renault...............1:21.186..1:20.509..1:21.39220
9.....16..Nico Rosberg.........Williams-Toyota....1:20.745..1:20.256..1:22.55822
10.....5..Robert Kubica........BMW Sauber........1:20.931..1:20.408..1:22.68515
 
That was a brilliant qualifying session, once again some surprises and you couldn't script that Button lap!
I love this picture of him just starting that flying lap with seconds to spare - shown on the timer on top of the race positions board:

satpic23.jpg


The Brawn's look light comparing Q2 and Q3 times but being in front at Catalunya is almost as important as Monaco, but it will certainly be an interesting first lap, especially the start, as who gets first into the first corner will control the race.
Having Rubens on the clean side as well will make a great tailgunner for Button and if both get a good start they can look at a possible 1-2.

Massa is the driver to watch at the start though I think.
 
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