Abu Dhabi GP 2009: McLaren Dominate FP2

Heikki Kovalainen showed his best sign yet of trying to cling with both hands to his McLaren seat for 2010 with a startling performance in FP2 on the new Abu Dhabi F1 circuit.

The Finn was some 2 tenths faster than team mate Lewis Hamilton as the chrome McLaren’s dominated the second practice session.

Kimi Raikkonen gained some hope for Ferrari with 10th, while Robert Kubica’s day ended with flames as his BMW engine gave up.

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

Japanese GP 2009: Kovalainen Fastest In FP1

Heikki Kovalainen was fastest in FP1 for the Japanese Grand Prix, back at Suzuka where it belongs!

The Finn displaced Japanese driver Kazuki Nakajima who threw everything and the kitchen sink at trying to be fastest at his home race.

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time              Laps
 1.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:40.356           24
 2.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:40.648 + 0.292   18
 3.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes (B)  1:40.806 + 0.450   14
 4.  Fisichella    Ferrari              (B)  1:40.985 + 0.629   27
 5.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:41.421 + 1.065   26
 6.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:41.443 + 1.087   15
 7.  Alonso        Renault              (B)  1:41.532 + 1.176   22
 8.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  1:41.577 + 1.221   25
 9.  Barrichello   Brawn GP-Mercedes    (B)  1:41.821 + 1.465   18
10.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:42.188 + 1.832   20
11.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:42.332 + 1.976   10
12.  Liuzzi        Force India-Mercedes (B)  1:42.475 + 2.119   15
13.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  1:42.657 + 2.301   13
14.  Alguersuari   Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:42.667 + 2.311   27
15.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  1:42.833 + 2.477   16
16.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  1:42.977 + 2.621   14
17.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:43.218 + 2.862   11
18.  Button        Brawn GP-Mercedes    (B)  1:43.318 + 2.962   17
19.  Kobayashi     Toyota               (B)  1:43.407 + 3.051   16
20.  Grosjean      Renault              (B)  1:43.572 + 3.216   22

European GP 2009: Barrichello Takes Emotional Victory

Rubens Barrichello took a highly emotional victory in this afternoon’s European Grand Prix, winning his first race for 5 years – his last victory was at the 2004 Chinese Grand Prix with Ferrari.

It puts Barrichello right back into title contention.  Lewis Hamilton will be aggrieved  not to have won, having led most of the way he was let down by a pit crew failure. Kimi Raikkonen stormed through to finish in 3rd position.

Race Review

Both McLaren’s made a good start off the grid, as did Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button.  Button tried to go down the inside of Vettel who made a slow start, but the German forced the Briton into the pitlane exit area where he let off the throttle.  The resulting masses of space and the KERS system allowed Raikkonen to easily sweep around the outside and into 4th position.

Button lost multiple places further back, and was forced to rescinde a place to Australian Mark Webber after cutting  a corner following Fernando Alonso who at the time was defending against Webber.

Sebastien Buemi was cut up in the first few turns and lost his front wing, having to crawl back to the pit for a new one.  He was joined by Romain Grosjean who lost his wing when Timo Glock made a very late overtaking dive at the inexperienced Frecnhamn turned into the Toyota.

These position changes allowed those at the back, including Luca Badoer to make up a few places.

The top order remained relatively unchanged as the drivers hit their pitstops.  Lewis Hamilton was pulling out a good lead with fastest lap times.

The next action was when Sebastian Vettel’s engine blew for the second time this weekend.  Vettel was angered post race, and indeed we’re pretty sure any continuation of the RBR/Renault deal is now off the cards and the team could be switching to either Ferrari again or perhaps Mercedes Benz.

The Force India’s got themselves in the mix today too, along with the BMW’s but only Robert Kubica would come away with a point.

As the drivers hit their second stops, it was evident that Barrichello was trying to catch Hamilton.  The Brit had a good lead and all was good until he pulled into his pitbox and the tyre men were not ready with new tyres.  This led to pantomime scenes and lost Hamilton many seconds of time, allowing Rubens through and pretty much ended his chance of winning.  Hamilton’s Father was nonchalant smacking his fists together in he back of the garage.

Kimi Raikkonen also made an unseen overtake on Heikki Kovalainen securing the Iceman a quality 3rd position.

The only other DNF of the race was Sebastien Buemi whose brakes gave up late on and led to a huge spin incident.

Kazuki Nakajima suffered a puncture and a delamination of the tyre half way around the lap very late on too.  Luca Badoer and Romain Grosjean had pitlane comedy when Badoer was released, he let Grosjean through, side by side, but then as he put the power down Badoer went over the white line and got himself ANOTHER pitlane penalty.  Throw in a huge spin for the Italian driver and it has left many questioning whether he will ever race a Ferrari again. (I’m free next weekend if you need me Ferrari?!).

And that was that, another pretty lacklustre European Grand Prix in Valencia, made interesting by pitlane comedy and Luca Badoer.  It is good to see Rubens Barrichello win again, and by his tears of joy in the car and parc ferme we know how much it means to him.  Wonderful dedication to Felipe Massa at the end also.  Could Rubens be the World Champion?

Classified Results

Pos	Driver	Team	Time
1	R. Barrichello	Brawn Mercedes	1.35.51.289
2	L. Hamilton	McLaren Mercedes	+2.358
3	K. Raikkonen	Ferrari	+15.994
4	H. Kovalainen	McLaren Mercedes	+20.023
5	N. Rosberg	Williams Toyota	+20.870
6	F. Alonso	Renault	+27.744
7	J. Button	Brawn Mercedes	+34.913
8	R. Kubica	BMW Sauber	+36.667
9	M. Webber	Red Bull Renault	+44.910
10	A. Sutil	Force India Merc	+47.935
11	N. Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	+48.822
12	G. Fisichella	Force India Merc	+1.03.614
13	J. Trulli	Toyota	+1.04.527
14	T. Glock	Toyota	+1.26.519
15	R. Grosjean	Renault	+1.31.774
16	J. Alguersuari	Toro Rosso Ferrari	+ 1 lap
17	L. Badoer	Ferrari	+1 lap
18	K. Nakajima	Williams	+ 3 laps

Fastest Lap: T. Glock (Toyota) 1.38.683

Retirements

Driver	Team	Lap	Reason
S. Buemi	Toro Rosso Ferrari	42	Brake Failure
S. Vettel	Red Bull Renault	24	Engine

European GP 2009: Hamilton Takes Pole In Valencia

Lewis Hamilton slotted his updated McLaren Mp4-24 onto pole position for tomorrow’s European Grand Prix in Valencia.

His team mate Heikki Kovalainen will line up alongside the World Champion, and Rubens Barrichello is just behind in 3rd.

Championship challenger Sebastian Vettel is 4th despite blowing his engine in Free Practice 3.  Jenson Button is back in 5th and should be worried about the KERS powered Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen alongside in 6th.

Kubica and Heidfeld had a better performance in the BMW’s dropping into 10th and 11th.  Amazing how the car improves when you’re jobs are on the line?!

New boy Romain Grosjean will line up 13th after a tidy qualifying.  Not so good for Luca Badoer, he is so far off the pace it is actually beyond laughable.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Q1        Q2        Q3     
 1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:38.649  1:38.182  1:39.498
 2.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:38.816  1:38.230  1:39.532
 3.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:39.019  1:38.076  1:39.563
 4.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:39.295  1:38.273  1:39.789
 5.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:38.531  1:38.601  1:39.821
 6.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:38.843  1:38.782  1:40.144
 7.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:39.039  1:38.346  1:40.185
 8.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:39.155  1:38.717  1:40.236
 9.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:38.983  1:38.625  1:40.239
10.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:38.806  1:38.747  1:40.512
11.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:39.032  1:38.826
12.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:39.145  1:38.846
13.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:39.459  1:38.991
14.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:39.322  1:39.040
15.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:38.912  1:39.514
16.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:39.531
17.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:39.795
18.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:39.807
19.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:39.925
20.  Badoer       Ferrari               (B)  1:41.413

McLaren Waiting To Decide On 2nd Driver

McLaren have annonuced they will bide their time in the driver market as they make their move for a 2nd driver to partner Lewis Hamilton for 2010.

The team have multiple options, but want to wait until Fernando Alonso is confirmed at Ferrari before making a move on any other drivers.

They are also still considering keeping Finn Heikki Kovalainen, based on his race pace improving and becoming more consistent.

“At the moment we have not, and we are not in any conversations with drivers and we will see in the future,” Whitmarsh told the BBC about his team’s driver plans going forward.

“I think in reality there are some changes probably with Fernando at Ferrari. That frees up the driver market and every year there is a number of pivotal points during the season which determine what is going to happen in the driver market.

“This year I think we all know that the Fernando/Ferrari move has a knock-on and that ripples through the other teams.

“Clearly the BMW withdrawal has also had an impact. I think we don’t see a need at the moment to rush into it, we are concentrating on developing the car and making sure we are more competitive, which I hope we will be this weekend.”

There are many drivers who will be free and available, but out of that list we see these potential candidates:

• Kimi Raikkonen – Dislodged by Alonso, drove for the team previously but would he want to return? Word is that he is leaving Formula One altogether

• Jenson Button – Impressive season thus far, could be world champion. Could McLaren deal with 2 Brits together?

• Nico Rosberg – Talented, and McLaren have resources Williams don’t.  His best chance of a title?

• Robert Kubica – No seat now BMW have left, he is being heavily linked with Renault

• Adrian Sutil – Not such a long shot, good friends with Hamilton. He has pace but needs a decent car.

Hungarian GP 2009: McLaren Stun Pack With Top 2 In FP2

McLaren stunned the Formula One field today with a 1-2 finish in Free Practice 2 at the Hungaoring.  With Kovalainen on top in FP1 aswell, fans of the silver arrows would be forgiven for thinking a front row start could be on the cards.

Williams remained strong, and Sebastian Vettel picked up the pace for Red Bull.  Felipe Massa crashed down the timesheets, and Jaime Alguersuari bettered his morning time, but remained in last place after his first day of being an F1 driver.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps
 1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:22.079            36
 2.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:22.126  + 0.047   36
 3.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:22.154  + 0.075   47
 4.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:22.369  + 0.290   29
 5.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:22.426  + 0.347   40
 6.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:22.550  + 0.471   30
 7.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:22.641  + 0.562   38
 8.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:22.663  + 0.584   28
 9.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:22.690  + 0.611   43
10.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:22.751  + 0.672   45
11.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:22.763  + 0.684   38
12.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:22.793  + 0.714   37
13.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:22.806  + 0.727   42
14.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:22.870  + 0.791   36
15.  Piquet       Renault               (B)  1:22.927  + 0.848   36
16.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:22.978  + 0.899   28
17.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:23.029  + 0.950   39
18.  Massa        Ferrari               (B)  1:23.156  + 1.077   32
19.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:23.176  + 1.097   45
20.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:23.942  + 1.863   40

Hungarian GP 2009: Kovalainen Fastest For McLaren In FP1

Last year’s race winner Heikki Kovalainen was fastest in FP1, slipping ahead of Mark Webber who had led until 6 minutes remaining. A valiant effort from McLaren saw Lewis Hamilton in 3rd.

Williams too looked impressive with 2nd and 5th, Ferrari down in 7th and 8th and Jaime Alguersuari was last on his debut run with the Toro Rosso.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps
 1.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:22.278            21
 2.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:22.337  + 0.059   27
 3.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:22.554  + 0.276   20
 4.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:22.615  + 0.337   21
 5.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:22.619  + 0.341   25
 6.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:22.705  + 0.427   17
 7.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:22.796  + 0.518   23
 8.  Massa        Ferrari               (B)  1:22.855  + 0.577   25
 9.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:23.001  + 0.723   28
10.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:23.130  + 0.852   25
11.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:23.146  + 0.868   24
12.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:23.154  + 0.876   23
13.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:23.209  + 0.931   24
14.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:23.234  + 0.956   30
15.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:23.283  + 1.005   25
16.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:23.484  + 1.206   20
17.  Piquet       Renault               (B)  1:23.678  + 1.400   22
18.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:23.845  + 1.567   18
19.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:23.998  + 1.720   37
20.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:24.228  + 1.950   42

Turkish GP 2009: Kovalainen Fastest In FP2

Heikki Kovalainen was fastest in Free Practice 2 at Turkey, silencing some of his critics in recent events.  With Lewis Hamilton also doing well, one would suggest McLaren were getting on top of their problems.

Ferrari slid down the leaderboards, and it was unimpressive from Brawn once again.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps
 1.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:28.841            37
 2.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:28.847  + 0.006   35
 3.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:29.056  + 0.215   35
 4.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:29.091  + 0.250   37
 5.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:29.202  + 0.361   4
 6.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:29.207  + 0.366   40
 7.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:29.257  + 0.416   40
 8.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:29.305  + 0.464   34
 9.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:29.383  + 0.542   39
10.  Piquet       Renault               (B)  1:29.401  + 0.560   38
11.  Massa        Ferrari               (B)  1:29.416  + 0.575   37
12.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:29.430  + 0.589   32
13.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:29.435  + 0.594   31
14.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:29.518  + 0.677   40
15.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:29.520  + 0.679   33
16.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:29.550  + 0.709   40
17.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:30.081  + 1.240   32
18.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:30.091  + 1.250   37
19.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:30.295  + 1.454   39
20.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:30.629  + 1.788   36

Haug Admits Nico Rosberg Is Top Target For 2010

Norbert Haug has admitted that German driver Nico Rosberg is high on the list for McLaren of potential racers for next season in an interview with Spox.com.

Haug, who runs Mercedes Benz motorsport manages the engines, and Mercedes’ share of the McLaren team.

It is likely that Heikki Kovalainen would be the replaced driver, given McLaren’s closeness and indeed lenghty contract with British reigning World Champ Lewis Hamilton.

Rosberg was a target in 2008 for the British constructor, but with him being under contract with Williams they couldn’t lure him to the chrome cars.  Rosberg committed himself to Williams, but surely the bugger budget of an almost works team would be too much pull for the son of former champion Keke Rosberg.

“We had to respect it [the contract],” Haug said

“How things develop, we cannot discuss in public, but we have known Nico long enough and he is a man on the list.”

“It is clear that he is on many teams’ lists,” the German added.

Who those others teams are, we do not know but it could include Renault who are likely to lose Fernando Alonso at the end of the season.

Glock Fastest On Jerez Day 3

Timo Glock was fastest on day 3 of the Jerez test.

He managed to keep ontop of the timesheets as he was yesterday, but got much more running in thanks to the sunnier conditions experienced.

“That was a productive day,” said Glock. “This morning we were again a bit unlucky with the conditions, which made the race simulation quite tough. But it was useful to find out when to change to slick tyres and our pace wasn’t bad.

“Then we got some dry running for the rest of the day. We did a lot of set-up work and late on we did some shorter runs to make it through the programme. We’ve made it through a lot of miles over these two days and we’re making useful progress.”

Felipe Massa was second again for Ferrari, for the 3rd day in a row.  The Brazilian was joined by Michael Schumacher who did not race, but observed the session from the pitwall in his position as an advisor to the team.

Fernando Alonso was 3rd, showing more pace and Piquet had done over the previous 2 days.  he was followed by Kovalainen and  Sutil who showed amazing pace over just 63 laps.

Webber, Kubica and Rosberg completed the line-up.

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time     Laps
 1.  Glock         Toyota               (B)  1:19.814  141
 2.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  1:20.238  134
 3.  Alonso        Renault              (B)  1:20.296  152
 4.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:20.535   85
 5.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes (B)  1:20.621   63
 6.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:21.021   98
 7.  Kubica        BMW-Sauber           (B)  1:21.069   98
 8.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:21.412  125

Timo Glock

Fernando Alonso

Michael Schumacher

Felipe MAssa

Robert Kubica