Sunday, April 23, 2006
San Marino: race report
Michael Schumacher took his first win since the farcical 2005 US GP in what turned out to be a relatively uneventful race. Fernando Alonso came home a close second, and Juan-Pablo Montoya was third.
Before the start, there was a lot of anticipation - Michael had claimed pole, the two Hondas were second and third, and the highestplaced Renault was that of Fernando Alonso in 5th. The buzz was whether Ferrari were back, had Honda finally got it right, and what fuel strategy were Renault using.
As the lights went out, Alonso, as usual, rocketed off the line, but was squeezed out of making up many places, although he did manage to get up to 4th by overtaking Barrichello, who slid down to 5th, around the outside of the Tamburello chicane. Into the Villeneuve chicane the Super Aguri of Ide and the Midland of Albers touched, sending Albers barrell-rolling into the gravel trap. He came to rest upside down after having rolled two-and-a-half times, and thankfully was unharmed. This precipitated a safety car period, which only lasted 1 lap. After the safety car pulled off, Michael started to stroll off into the distance, taking just over a second out of Button, in second placce, in 1 lap. Button looked as though he was able to stay in touch, but it all came apart for both of the Hondas when they pitted early - Barrichello on lap 15 and Button on lap 16. Barrichello, as it turns out, would only make two stops (his first stop took 14 seconds, and looked like a strategy change), but Buton was on a 3-stopper. The only other driver on such a strategy was Ralf, who pitted on lap 16 also. All the other runners were only 2-stopping. This must have been a real kick in the teeth for the Honda drivers, and the rest of the afternoon would be spent going backwards.
After Button's stop, Massa inherited second place, with Alonso following quite closely. It was clear that Massa's job was to hold up Alonso, as he was running about a second a lap slower than Michael. Massa pitted on lap 19, clearing the way for Alonso. However, Michael pitted from the lead on lap 20 - Alonso inherited the lead but wasn't really able to put in any laps that were significantly faster than Michael before his stop on lap 25. After the stops, Michael retook the lead, with Alonso in second place.
The pace of both Ferraris in their secodn stint was mystifying - they were running about 1.5 seconds per lap slower than they were in their first stints. You could chalk that up to tyres, but for boh drivers to be afflicted seems starnge. Either way, Alonso reeled Schumacher in at quite a rate.
On lap 31, disaster struck for Button. In his second stop, the signal man raised the lollipop too soon - the fuel hose was still attached. The signal man rapidly slammed the signal back down again, but Button launched off the line anyway, and kept going. What Button was thinking, I will never know - why he didn't get off the gas as soon as the sign came back down is a mystery. Either way, the hose was ripped from the fuel rig, and the Honda team were very lucky to avoid a big fire. Button had to stop in the pit lane whilst his mechanics removed the remnants of the fuel hose. What was already looking like a miserable race for Button turned into a disaster.
So, the race came down to a fight between Michael and Alonso. With Michael's slow pace, Alonso managed to close right up to the back of Michael by lap 35, and for 6 laps desperately tried to find a way past Michael. Eventually, impatience got the better of Alonso and the Renault team, and they brought him in early - on lap 41 - to try and leapfrog Michael. However, the Ferrari team responded beautifully - they brought Michael in on the very next lap to ensure that Alonso could not capitalise on his pace. The tactic worked - Michael rejoined in the lead, and controlled the pace of the race through to the flag, with Alonso desperately crawling all over the back of Michael, trying to find a way past. Eventually, Alonso ran wide out of the Villeneuve chicane on lap 59, and lost about 2 seconds to Michael, and from there, Michael put the hammer down and stamped his mark on the race to take the victory. It seems retribution was the order of the day - Michael had repaid the favour to Alonso for the 2005 race.
However, Alonso could have easily taken the victory were it not for a rare tactical blunder by Renault - they should have learned from McLaren last year that, when you have a much faster car but can't find a way past, turn the engine mapping all the way down to save fuel, and pit a lap later than the guy ahead of you. Renault were too reactionary, and it cost them the race.
But nothing comapres to the mess Honda made of the race - Button finished 7th, Barrichello 10th. One has to wonder what they have to do to get their pace back - remember they finished 2nd in the 2004 constructor's championship.
So, Michael put a cap on what turned out to be a succesful weekend. But, on a personal note, Michael Schumacher can go to hell. Having broken the pole position record at the track that claimed Ayrton Senna's life, he rubbed salt into the wound by taking the victory. Furthermore, he basically refused to acknowledge the significance of his achievement. This from a man who claimed he feltlike retiring after the death of Senna. Yeah, bullshit.
Besides, let's not forget that if Senna had raced the same number of races that Schuamcher has raced, then Senna would have scored 95 poles. In that light, Schumacher's achievements pale in comparison.
Before the start, there was a lot of anticipation - Michael had claimed pole, the two Hondas were second and third, and the highestplaced Renault was that of Fernando Alonso in 5th. The buzz was whether Ferrari were back, had Honda finally got it right, and what fuel strategy were Renault using.
As the lights went out, Alonso, as usual, rocketed off the line, but was squeezed out of making up many places, although he did manage to get up to 4th by overtaking Barrichello, who slid down to 5th, around the outside of the Tamburello chicane. Into the Villeneuve chicane the Super Aguri of Ide and the Midland of Albers touched, sending Albers barrell-rolling into the gravel trap. He came to rest upside down after having rolled two-and-a-half times, and thankfully was unharmed. This precipitated a safety car period, which only lasted 1 lap. After the safety car pulled off, Michael started to stroll off into the distance, taking just over a second out of Button, in second placce, in 1 lap. Button looked as though he was able to stay in touch, but it all came apart for both of the Hondas when they pitted early - Barrichello on lap 15 and Button on lap 16. Barrichello, as it turns out, would only make two stops (his first stop took 14 seconds, and looked like a strategy change), but Buton was on a 3-stopper. The only other driver on such a strategy was Ralf, who pitted on lap 16 also. All the other runners were only 2-stopping. This must have been a real kick in the teeth for the Honda drivers, and the rest of the afternoon would be spent going backwards.
After Button's stop, Massa inherited second place, with Alonso following quite closely. It was clear that Massa's job was to hold up Alonso, as he was running about a second a lap slower than Michael. Massa pitted on lap 19, clearing the way for Alonso. However, Michael pitted from the lead on lap 20 - Alonso inherited the lead but wasn't really able to put in any laps that were significantly faster than Michael before his stop on lap 25. After the stops, Michael retook the lead, with Alonso in second place.
The pace of both Ferraris in their secodn stint was mystifying - they were running about 1.5 seconds per lap slower than they were in their first stints. You could chalk that up to tyres, but for boh drivers to be afflicted seems starnge. Either way, Alonso reeled Schumacher in at quite a rate.
On lap 31, disaster struck for Button. In his second stop, the signal man raised the lollipop too soon - the fuel hose was still attached. The signal man rapidly slammed the signal back down again, but Button launched off the line anyway, and kept going. What Button was thinking, I will never know - why he didn't get off the gas as soon as the sign came back down is a mystery. Either way, the hose was ripped from the fuel rig, and the Honda team were very lucky to avoid a big fire. Button had to stop in the pit lane whilst his mechanics removed the remnants of the fuel hose. What was already looking like a miserable race for Button turned into a disaster.
So, the race came down to a fight between Michael and Alonso. With Michael's slow pace, Alonso managed to close right up to the back of Michael by lap 35, and for 6 laps desperately tried to find a way past Michael. Eventually, impatience got the better of Alonso and the Renault team, and they brought him in early - on lap 41 - to try and leapfrog Michael. However, the Ferrari team responded beautifully - they brought Michael in on the very next lap to ensure that Alonso could not capitalise on his pace. The tactic worked - Michael rejoined in the lead, and controlled the pace of the race through to the flag, with Alonso desperately crawling all over the back of Michael, trying to find a way past. Eventually, Alonso ran wide out of the Villeneuve chicane on lap 59, and lost about 2 seconds to Michael, and from there, Michael put the hammer down and stamped his mark on the race to take the victory. It seems retribution was the order of the day - Michael had repaid the favour to Alonso for the 2005 race.
However, Alonso could have easily taken the victory were it not for a rare tactical blunder by Renault - they should have learned from McLaren last year that, when you have a much faster car but can't find a way past, turn the engine mapping all the way down to save fuel, and pit a lap later than the guy ahead of you. Renault were too reactionary, and it cost them the race.
But nothing comapres to the mess Honda made of the race - Button finished 7th, Barrichello 10th. One has to wonder what they have to do to get their pace back - remember they finished 2nd in the 2004 constructor's championship.
So, Michael put a cap on what turned out to be a succesful weekend. But, on a personal note, Michael Schumacher can go to hell. Having broken the pole position record at the track that claimed Ayrton Senna's life, he rubbed salt into the wound by taking the victory. Furthermore, he basically refused to acknowledge the significance of his achievement. This from a man who claimed he feltlike retiring after the death of Senna. Yeah, bullshit.
Besides, let's not forget that if Senna had raced the same number of races that Schuamcher has raced, then Senna would have scored 95 poles. In that light, Schumacher's achievements pale in comparison.
Labels: Formula 1, Grand Prix
San Marino: pre-race
With Michael Schumacher starting from Pole position in front of the Tifosi and essentially on Ferrari home soil, you probably wouldn't bet against him for the win. Fernando Alonso, on the other hand might. Alono has been quick all weekend, and has been playing a game of cat and mouse with Michael in the practice sessions to see who could go quickest. Couple that with the fact that Alonso has really been dominant so far this year, and in a straight fight betwen the two in Bahrain, Alonso came out on top.
And let's not forget lst year's race, where Alonso showed his class and his skill, and kept Michael behind him to take a superb victory. Let's not forget the Hondas of Button, 2nd on the grid, and Barrichello, 3rd on the grid. The Hondas, and especially Button, will be hungry for that first victory. We shouldn't rule out the two McLarens of Montoya and Raikkonen, starting 7th and 8th respectively. Last year the McLarens were quick at this track, and Raikkonen could have won were it not for a half-shaft failure.
Fuel strategy will play a large part of the race. As always, it is difficult to tell what the exact strategies are, but I would suspect that mot people will 2-stop. Michael is probably light on fuel for the start, and will stop relatively early, but will do a long second stint. The Hondas could be on a similar fuel strategy to Michael, but probably don't have the pace to fight him. Most of the others should follow a more normal strategy. And then of course there are the McLarens . They are probably starting on heavy fuel and 1-stopping, hence their low grid positions.
The race is 62 laps. Pit stops for a 1-stop strategy should come around laps 29-33; 2-stops around laps 18-22 and laps 29-43; 3-stops around laps 14-16, 30-32, and 45-47.
My predictions for the race? Well if I stick to my previous predictions, I have to say Raikkonen for the win, but I am not sure that is likely (Alonso or Schumacher are more likely). But my top 8 is as follows: Raikkonen, Alonso, Michael, Montoya, Button, Ralf, Fisichella, Rosberg. Massa will probably sling it off the road, possibly at the start (he is starting from 4th, thus has quite a high chance of slamming into someone under braking for the first corner). Alonso will make another blinding start and be up to 3rd by the first corner. Barrichello's engine will expire much like Button's did in Melbourne, Ide will probably have a big crash at some point, and Scott Speed will probably end up having a tussle with David Coulthard, resulting in both of them crashing.
Let's see how much of that comes true!
And let's not forget lst year's race, where Alonso showed his class and his skill, and kept Michael behind him to take a superb victory. Let's not forget the Hondas of Button, 2nd on the grid, and Barrichello, 3rd on the grid. The Hondas, and especially Button, will be hungry for that first victory. We shouldn't rule out the two McLarens of Montoya and Raikkonen, starting 7th and 8th respectively. Last year the McLarens were quick at this track, and Raikkonen could have won were it not for a half-shaft failure.
Fuel strategy will play a large part of the race. As always, it is difficult to tell what the exact strategies are, but I would suspect that mot people will 2-stop. Michael is probably light on fuel for the start, and will stop relatively early, but will do a long second stint. The Hondas could be on a similar fuel strategy to Michael, but probably don't have the pace to fight him. Most of the others should follow a more normal strategy. And then of course there are the McLarens . They are probably starting on heavy fuel and 1-stopping, hence their low grid positions.
The race is 62 laps. Pit stops for a 1-stop strategy should come around laps 29-33; 2-stops around laps 18-22 and laps 29-43; 3-stops around laps 14-16, 30-32, and 45-47.
My predictions for the race? Well if I stick to my previous predictions, I have to say Raikkonen for the win, but I am not sure that is likely (Alonso or Schumacher are more likely). But my top 8 is as follows: Raikkonen, Alonso, Michael, Montoya, Button, Ralf, Fisichella, Rosberg. Massa will probably sling it off the road, possibly at the start (he is starting from 4th, thus has quite a high chance of slamming into someone under braking for the first corner). Alonso will make another blinding start and be up to 3rd by the first corner. Barrichello's engine will expire much like Button's did in Melbourne, Ide will probably have a big crash at some point, and Scott Speed will probably end up having a tussle with David Coulthard, resulting in both of them crashing.
Let's see how much of that comes true!
Labels: Formula 1, Grand Prix
Saturday, April 22, 2006
San Marino qualifying: report
Michael Schumacher, as predicted, took pole position for the 2006 San Marino Grand Prix and in the process broke Ayrton Senna's 12 year old record of 65 career poles. More on that later though. Second fastest was Button, with his Honda teammate Rubens Barrichello a somewhat surprising 3rd. Schumacher's pole time of 1:22.795 was just under two tenths faster than Button, who was in turn just over two tenths faster than Barrichello, who seems a lot more comfortable in the Honda this weekend, having done a lot of work with the team to improve the braking in the car.
The top ten were rounded out by Massa, Alonso, Ralf, Montoya, and Raikkonen, Trulli, and Webber.
A rather incident-free qualifying saw no major dramas. In Q1, the drivers eliminated were Klein, Speed, Monteiro, Albers, Sato, and Ide. Q2 saw the elimination of Fisichella, Villeneuve, Rosberg, Coulthard, Hiedfeld, and Liuzzi. Fisichella and Rosberg were somewhat surprise eliminations, especially given that Fisichella has a new spec Renault engine for this race, which might suggest problems wih the new engine. The only drama of qualifying was Heidfeld chucking his BMW into the tyresat the exit of Rivazza 2 right at the end of Q2.
Q3 saw no real dramas either, but the big question is how much fuel the cars have on board. We know that the Renault of Alonso is fast, and his pace in qualifying seems to indicate he has a lot of fuel on board. The same is true of the McLarens, although I would have thought they would want to be nearer the front to avoid any first lap dramas.
So, we'll see how it all plays out, and how my predictions hold up. My Pole prediction turned out to be correct, but I have to say that I have never been so unhappy to be right...
The top ten were rounded out by Massa, Alonso, Ralf, Montoya, and Raikkonen, Trulli, and Webber.
A rather incident-free qualifying saw no major dramas. In Q1, the drivers eliminated were Klein, Speed, Monteiro, Albers, Sato, and Ide. Q2 saw the elimination of Fisichella, Villeneuve, Rosberg, Coulthard, Hiedfeld, and Liuzzi. Fisichella and Rosberg were somewhat surprise eliminations, especially given that Fisichella has a new spec Renault engine for this race, which might suggest problems wih the new engine. The only drama of qualifying was Heidfeld chucking his BMW into the tyresat the exit of Rivazza 2 right at the end of Q2.
Q3 saw no real dramas either, but the big question is how much fuel the cars have on board. We know that the Renault of Alonso is fast, and his pace in qualifying seems to indicate he has a lot of fuel on board. The same is true of the McLarens, although I would have thought they would want to be nearer the front to avoid any first lap dramas.
So, we'll see how it all plays out, and how my predictions hold up. My Pole prediction turned out to be correct, but I have to say that I have never been so unhappy to be right...
Labels: Formula 1, Grand Prix
San Marino Friday practice 2: report
Friday practice 2 for the San Marino Grand Prix, whilst in itself not unexpected, turned up a couple of surpries. Surprise is probably a bit too strong of a word, but for the first time so far this season, the Friday drivers did not top the timesheets - that honour went to Fernando Alonso, who set a time of 1:25.043. Behind him, three tenths slower, was Michael Schumacher, who will be looking to plant his flag this wekend in front of the Tifosi.
Behind them were themore usual faces of Kubica and Davidson, with the rest of the top ten rounded out by Massa, Fisichella, Trulli, Wurz, Montoya, and Heidfeld; Button was 11th fastest.
Other than that, there were no real surprises as the teams worked through their usual programs. There also seemed to be much less drama on track, despite the fact that several part of the circuit have been resurfaced, and the Variante Alta has been reprofiled to make it much tighter and slower. Indeed, several drivers had minor offs at the aforementioned corner, mostly ending up straightlining it.
I have a theory that there was much less nonsense than we have seen at previous races (especially Australia) because it is very familiar territory for the teams and drivers, and the grip levels are a more known quantity.
It didn't stop Yuje Ide from chucking his car at the scenery though. He had three offs (that I know about) and seemed rather ragged - he is supposedly racing for his seat this weekend and, as predicted, has been rather ragged. Let's hope he can keep it away from the Tamburello wall.
So it appears that the fight is going to be between Alonso and Michael. Last year saw a classic fight between the two, and on that occasion it was Alonso who came out on top and in the process he demonstrated to the world that he wasworld champion material. Will it Michael's turn to return the favour? We'll have to wait and see.
Behind them were themore usual faces of Kubica and Davidson, with the rest of the top ten rounded out by Massa, Fisichella, Trulli, Wurz, Montoya, and Heidfeld; Button was 11th fastest.
Other than that, there were no real surprises as the teams worked through their usual programs. There also seemed to be much less drama on track, despite the fact that several part of the circuit have been resurfaced, and the Variante Alta has been reprofiled to make it much tighter and slower. Indeed, several drivers had minor offs at the aforementioned corner, mostly ending up straightlining it.
I have a theory that there was much less nonsense than we have seen at previous races (especially Australia) because it is very familiar territory for the teams and drivers, and the grip levels are a more known quantity.
It didn't stop Yuje Ide from chucking his car at the scenery though. He had three offs (that I know about) and seemed rather ragged - he is supposedly racing for his seat this weekend and, as predicted, has been rather ragged. Let's hope he can keep it away from the Tamburello wall.
So it appears that the fight is going to be between Alonso and Michael. Last year saw a classic fight between the two, and on that occasion it was Alonso who came out on top and in the process he demonstrated to the world that he wasworld champion material. Will it Michael's turn to return the favour? We'll have to wait and see.
Labels: Formula 1, Grand Prix
Friday, April 21, 2006
San Marino Preview
The San Marino Grand Prix marks the start of the European leg of the world championship, and the first opportunity most of the teams will have to roll out some new aerodynamic packages, having had three fly-away races to open the season with.
Last year's race saw a classic battle between Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher, with Alonso taking a famous victory. Michael seems to be more on form this year, and will be looking for a win on Ferrari home soil. Also hoping for a victory will be McLaren, who were also very quick here last year (and Raikkonen was walking off into the distance before a broken half-shaft robbed him early in the race). Another man looking to impress this weekend will be Jenson Button, the pole sitter back in 2004.
So, I expect the Renaults, Ferraris, McLarens and BARs to be quick, but again watch out for Rosberg. I am sure he will be trying hard and deperate to make up for his bad luck in Malaysia and Melbourne. Someone else to watch is Yuje Ide - he is supposedly racing for his seat this weekend, and thus will probably be pushing extra hard. I expect him to have a lot of offs this weekend, and I wouldn't be surprised if he has a big, bad accident at some point over the weekend. Let's hope not.
So, what are my predictions? Well, I am again going to stick with Raikkonen for the win, but Alonso or M Schumacher could equally take it. Pole - M Schumacher, despite my deep desire that he doesn't.
Let's see what the weekend brings!
Last year's race saw a classic battle between Fernando Alonso and Michael Schumacher, with Alonso taking a famous victory. Michael seems to be more on form this year, and will be looking for a win on Ferrari home soil. Also hoping for a victory will be McLaren, who were also very quick here last year (and Raikkonen was walking off into the distance before a broken half-shaft robbed him early in the race). Another man looking to impress this weekend will be Jenson Button, the pole sitter back in 2004.
So, I expect the Renaults, Ferraris, McLarens and BARs to be quick, but again watch out for Rosberg. I am sure he will be trying hard and deperate to make up for his bad luck in Malaysia and Melbourne. Someone else to watch is Yuje Ide - he is supposedly racing for his seat this weekend, and thus will probably be pushing extra hard. I expect him to have a lot of offs this weekend, and I wouldn't be surprised if he has a big, bad accident at some point over the weekend. Let's hope not.
So, what are my predictions? Well, I am again going to stick with Raikkonen for the win, but Alonso or M Schumacher could equally take it. Pole - M Schumacher, despite my deep desire that he doesn't.
Let's see what the weekend brings!
Labels: Formula 1, Grand Prix
Race day awards
Race day awards for Melbourne:
How do I rate myself - 7/10. I got the winner right, Fisichella in 4th, Raikkonenin the top 3, and I did say that there would be lots of off track excursions... i would have given myself an 8 were it not for the fact that Ralf finished on the podium, thus making a fool out of me. In my defence, I did say that lots of people would have to retire (and they did). Oh, and to quote Steve Matchett: "It's easy to make up places under the safety car".
| Driver of the day | Fernando Alonso | Just outclassed everyone |
| Rookie of the day | Scott Speed | Sense the irony, please |
| Car of the day | Renault R25 | Despite Fisichella's problems |
| Team of the day | Renault | Why not? |
| Disappointing driver of the day | Jenson Button | Utterly lacklustre despite his pole |
| Dissapointing car of the day | Honda RA106 | Do I really need to explain this one? |
| Disappointing team of the day | McLaren | Failed to capitalise on the safety car periods |
| Phillipe Alliot award | Felipe Massa | Trashed 2 Ferraris over the weekend |
| Olivier Grouillard award | Yuje Ide | Balking Barrichello in qualifying |
| Jerk of the day | Scott Speed | Bust up with Coulthard, although Alan Permane was a jerk as well |
How do I rate myself - 7/10. I got the winner right, Fisichella in 4th, Raikkonenin the top 3, and I did say that there would be lots of off track excursions... i would have given myself an 8 were it not for the fact that Ralf finished on the podium, thus making a fool out of me. In my defence, I did say that lots of people would have to retire (and they did). Oh, and to quote Steve Matchett: "It's easy to make up places under the safety car".
Sunday, April 02, 2006
Australia: race report
Fernando Alonso took a dominant victory in the Australian Grand Prix to stamp his mark on the 2006 F1 season. Kimi Raikkonen was second in teh McLaren, and ralf Schumacher took the final podium position to give Toyota its first podium of the year.
The race was incident packed to say the least, and the drama started before the lights even went out - Juan Pablo Montoya spun his McLaren coming out of the last turn whilst trying to warm his tyres, and then couldn't get his car turned around before the rest of the field had passed him (and thus, according to the rules, he would have to start at the back of the grid). Montoya's bacon was saved, however, by the fact that Fisichella, who lined up second on the grid, stalled (as we would later find out because of a clutch problem). This necessitated an aborted start and a further formation lap, during which Montoya was able to reclaim his place on the grid. During the new formation lap, the camera cut to a replay of Ross Brawn laughing heartily, presumably at Montoya's slip up.
So the cars lined up back on the grid, with the second place spot empty, and when the lights went out, the action started! Button and Alonso both got good starts, but Button had to defend his position with vigour into turn 1, as Alonso was clearly the quicker of the two. In the background, we just got the faintest glimpse of some contact in turn 1, but we wouldn't see what would transpire until almost the end of lap 1. More about that later though...
Into turn three, Alonso tried an optimistic pass around the outside, but Button quite forcefully closed the door. It was at this point that a yellow flag came out for the turn 1 incident (but again we wouldn't see why for a little while yet). Further down the road at turn 5, 9th placed Trulli attempted to pass David Coulthard, and the two collided. Coulthard was forced wide into the gravel, but kept going. Trulli spun, and his race was done, his car stalled and jammed in gear (I assume, because the marshalls coudn't get the Toyota moving).
More drama was to come! Coming out of the turn 9/10 chicane, Montoya got the run on Raikkonen, and almost had a pass made into turn 11 - the two McLarens came very close to touching. However, it would have all been for nought - the yellow flags were already waving to indicate that the safety car was out. This didn't stop 5th placed Ralf Schumacher from having a look at Montoya's McLaren (and this behaviour would become controversial later on).
So we finally got to see what all the fuss was about - Massa backwards in the wall in turn 1 with a very second hand looking Ferrari - the second he had stripped bare in two days, having done the same thing in qualifying. As the field streamed by to complete lap 1 (yes LAP 1), Nico Rosberg toured into the pits sans rear wing, clearly having got caught up in the lap 1 melee. Even more nonsense followed, as a replay showed Fisichella, having started from the pit lane, spun in turn 1 whilst under the safety car, almost certainly because of cold tyres.
Back to Rosberg in the pits - the young German leapt out of his Williams and limped away with what Bob Varsha called "hotfoot" - he obviously got burned by something hot in the cockpit, possibly steam from a broken radiator.
The replays finally showed what happened in turn 1 - Klein and Massa got together, and Massa was forced into the back of Rosberg. Massa got a touch airborne, turned it around, and slammed into the wall to become the easiest possible choice for the Phillipe Alliot award...
An interesting, if pointless, piece of trivia was that on lap 2, Yuje Ide set the fastest lap of the race, albeit under the safety car.
Now, here was something strange - at the start of lap 2, under the safety car, Montoya was in 4th place, but at the start of lap 3, still under the safety car, Montoya was now in 6th, with Ralf and Webber ahead of him. How on earth this happened, I am not sure. Perhaps Montoya went off track? Anyway, I am not sure that either Ralf or Webber passed Montoya legitimately.
At the end of lap 3, the safety car came in. Button had dropped back and was desperately trying to warm his tyres. Alonso was tucked right up behind him, got the jump on Button, pulled out to pass and crossed the line just 0.029s behind Button. Alonso was clearly faster, and easily took the lead away into turn 1. Button looked to be struggling for grip on the slippery surface with cold tyres, as he slithered his was around turn 1, and fell into the clutches of Raikkonen, who swarmed all over the Honda.
Further back, Webber made a bold pass around the outside of turn 9 to take 4th away from Ralf, with Montoya just behind him. Montoya dived inside Ralf into turn 11 to take the place away. David Hobbs's comment was telling though "How'd Montoya get back there?", clearly confused as I still am as to how Montoya dropped 2 places under the safey car. Ralf seemed to be going backwards, fast, as Heidfeld closed up dramatically and looked to make a pass, but by the end of the lap, he seemed to pick up the pace.
Meanwhile, upfront Alonso had pulled out a 2.7s lead over Button in just one lap; the top eight as they crossed the line to start lap 4 were Alonso, Button, Raikkonen, Webber, Montoya, Ralf, Heidfeld, Michael.
There was more action on lap 4, this time an accident involving Klein. Under braking for turn 9 (the 9/10 chicane) the rear snapped away from the young Austrian, spearing him into the left-hand retaining wall at high speed, ripping a tyre clean off of its wheel and destroying a distance marker in the process. He slid into a tyre barrier head on with some force, but thankfully walked away unharmed - he would later blame cold tyres for the crash.
On lap 6 or 7 (I am not sure which from the footage!) the safety car again came out to allow the debris from Klein's crash to be cleared. Under this safety car period, the first signs of trouble for Fisichella showed up - the team came on the radio and asked him to "put the sensor switch to lift-off and tell us the fuel figure" - the team would later say that they lost all telemetry from Fisichella's car, and needed him to relay back the fuel consumption figures for them.
At the end of lap 9, the safety car came back in. Alonso disappeared off into the sunset, having been able to get a lot of heat into his tyres. Button struggled with his tyres, and consequently Raikkonen passed him into turn 1, locking up severly in the process. Button fought back at turn 3, and Riakkonen and Button touched, interlocking their wheels momentarily. Raikkonen maintained his position, but Button dropped back into the clutches of Montoya, who had a good look going into turn 11. The next lap, Button locked a tyre and ran wide in turn 3, almost letting Montoya past.
Things started to hot up at the front - Alonso and Raikkonen traded fastest laps, with Raikkonen seemingly the faster of the two. Raikkonen pulled to within 1.9s of Alonso before Raikkonen, on lap 13, mysteriously put in a lap over two seconds slower than Alonso. It was alter revealed, according to itv-f1.com that the vibrations caused by Kimi's tyre lock-up caused pieces of the front wing to fly off.
Fron there on in, Alonso kept the pace up and pulled out a lead of around 8 seconds before his first stop on lap 20. It was Montoya, however, who made the frist stop of the front runners on lap 18 - he appeared to be two-stopping. Soon after, on lap 20, Button, Alonso, Fisichella, and Ralf all pitted. One lap later, Raikkonen pitted, also two-stopping. All of the stops meant that Webber took the lead. The joy wouldn't last - on lap 23 he coasted to a halt with what appeared to be gearbox problems.
Elsewhere, Ralf incurred a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane, which would drop him down to 9th. Fisichella got a verbal lashing from his race engineer Alan "Bat" Permane for being two seconds a lap slower than Alonso, and that "this shouldn't be possible". well, it turns out it was - he had clutch problems that were losing him a lot of time, which the Renault team would later acknowledge (as an interesting aside, Jarno Trulli would later say that nothing has changed at Renault except that they have changed "Trulli" for "Fisichella", commenting on the criticism that Trulli took whilst at Renault).
Michael pitted on lap 25 - a late first stop of two, and rejoined in 6th ahead of Villeneuve, and behind Button. Michael suddenly found some pace that he hadn't had before, and reeled in Jenson Button at an alrming rate, taking as much as 3 seconds out of Button's lead in one lap. He was clearly flying, running wide a couple of times, and putting his wheels on the grass in turn 1. Finally, on lap 34, his luck ran out. Just moments after Montoya had done the same thing, he ran wide out of the last turn, hit the kerb, and got airborne at an oblique angle. The car was unrecoverable from that position, and he slammed into the wall, and slid across to the pit wall, precipitating the third safety car of the day.
Michael appeared to be unharmed, but as he walked back into the pits, he walked past the Ferrari garage, and into the Toyota garage, then got terribly confused and didn't know which way to turn, before he exited through the rear. Perhaps he hit his head in the collision? Either that or he has a brain tumor.
All of the major players took the opportunity to pit, and Raikkonen took the opportunity to have his nosecone changed. The stop was long, and caused Montoya to stack his pitstop - he had to wait for about 5 seconds for Raikkonen to clear the box.
The safety car came back in at the end of lap 38. Alonso's restart was comfortable, partly because he had the two Midlands between himself and Heidfeld, and Heidfeld could not, of course, pass them before the start/finish line.
There was yet more craziness, however. Practically straight after the restard, Luizzi crashed into the wall between turns 2 and 3 (he claims that he was tagged by Villeneuve, although it is hard to see if there was contact on the video replays - in one angle you can just see Liuzzi and Villeneuve side by side coming out of turn 2, but it is impossible to tell if they were touching). This precipitated the fourth (yes fourth) safety car of the day.
Now here is where it gets confusing. Even though the official "safety car deployed" signal was sent, the SC boards were not being displayed, at least not for a few seconds. The real confusion came between turns 6 and 10. Several cars were passing each other, and I wasn't sure who did what and when. So I looked at the tape in slo-mo - Ralf passed Heidfeld just yards before the first SC board. Montoya, Button, and Fisichella, however, all passed under yellow (Montoya passed Heidlfeld, Button and Fisichella passed one of the Super Aguris). However, no-one was penalised for these transgressions.
Before all of that started, Button tagged the back of Montoya, but there was no damage to either car.
At the end of lap 40, the safety car came back in, and it was a straight fight to the end. Alonso walked away into the sunset, whilst the only real battle on the track was between Fisichella and Button. On lap 46, Montoya ran wide at the exit to the last turn in a near carbon copy of Michael's accident. However, Montoya was able to keep it pointing in the right direction with some incredible car control skills, reminiscent of Nigel Mansell! Bob Varsha described the wild sliding as "porpoising". I guess that's a synonym for fishtailing.
Montoya, however, was not able to continue, because his trip over the kerb dislodged something electronic, and the car coasted to a halt right in front of the McLaren pit.
So, the last few laps of the race trickled away, but there was drama right to the end. At the very last corner of the very last lap, Jenson Button's engine expired in spectacular fashion (a Steve Matchett "Ka-blammo") right in the face of Fisichella. Button could have coasted over the line to gain some points, but instead elected to stop before the line, thus ensuring that he could take a penalty-free engine change for the next race.
And so Alonso took a stunning and easy victory (on the penultimate lap he came on the radio and said "I'm completely relaxed". The response was "I'm fairly chilled out myself mate"!), with Raikkonen a somewhat distant second, despite setting the fastest lap of the race on the very last lap. Ralf managed to keep out of trouble and, despite a drive through penalty managed to come home third. Much to my chagrin...
It was another case of "what could have been" for Jenson Button - I agree with David Hobbs: "It will be interesting to read the Jenson Button book of excuses for this weekend".
And the drama didn't stop with the end of the race. Scott Speed came home 8th, but was given a post-race 25s penatly for passing Coulthard under yellow flags. In the stewards meeting after the race, little Scott apparently lost his temper and used some naughty language and "got physical", landing himself a $5000 fine. Now, can you imagine if he had pulled that with Mansell - he would have got his jaw broken! He then accused the Stewards of siding with Coulthard just because he is the more experienced driver. Well, experience and attitude counts for a lot Scott. Your attitude is, I suspect, being noted.
So, on to the San Marino Grand Prix and the first European race of the season. Let's hope that it is a little less crazy than Melbourne was!
The race was incident packed to say the least, and the drama started before the lights even went out - Juan Pablo Montoya spun his McLaren coming out of the last turn whilst trying to warm his tyres, and then couldn't get his car turned around before the rest of the field had passed him (and thus, according to the rules, he would have to start at the back of the grid). Montoya's bacon was saved, however, by the fact that Fisichella, who lined up second on the grid, stalled (as we would later find out because of a clutch problem). This necessitated an aborted start and a further formation lap, during which Montoya was able to reclaim his place on the grid. During the new formation lap, the camera cut to a replay of Ross Brawn laughing heartily, presumably at Montoya's slip up.
So the cars lined up back on the grid, with the second place spot empty, and when the lights went out, the action started! Button and Alonso both got good starts, but Button had to defend his position with vigour into turn 1, as Alonso was clearly the quicker of the two. In the background, we just got the faintest glimpse of some contact in turn 1, but we wouldn't see what would transpire until almost the end of lap 1. More about that later though...
Into turn three, Alonso tried an optimistic pass around the outside, but Button quite forcefully closed the door. It was at this point that a yellow flag came out for the turn 1 incident (but again we wouldn't see why for a little while yet). Further down the road at turn 5, 9th placed Trulli attempted to pass David Coulthard, and the two collided. Coulthard was forced wide into the gravel, but kept going. Trulli spun, and his race was done, his car stalled and jammed in gear (I assume, because the marshalls coudn't get the Toyota moving).
More drama was to come! Coming out of the turn 9/10 chicane, Montoya got the run on Raikkonen, and almost had a pass made into turn 11 - the two McLarens came very close to touching. However, it would have all been for nought - the yellow flags were already waving to indicate that the safety car was out. This didn't stop 5th placed Ralf Schumacher from having a look at Montoya's McLaren (and this behaviour would become controversial later on).
So we finally got to see what all the fuss was about - Massa backwards in the wall in turn 1 with a very second hand looking Ferrari - the second he had stripped bare in two days, having done the same thing in qualifying. As the field streamed by to complete lap 1 (yes LAP 1), Nico Rosberg toured into the pits sans rear wing, clearly having got caught up in the lap 1 melee. Even more nonsense followed, as a replay showed Fisichella, having started from the pit lane, spun in turn 1 whilst under the safety car, almost certainly because of cold tyres.
Back to Rosberg in the pits - the young German leapt out of his Williams and limped away with what Bob Varsha called "hotfoot" - he obviously got burned by something hot in the cockpit, possibly steam from a broken radiator.
The replays finally showed what happened in turn 1 - Klein and Massa got together, and Massa was forced into the back of Rosberg. Massa got a touch airborne, turned it around, and slammed into the wall to become the easiest possible choice for the Phillipe Alliot award...
An interesting, if pointless, piece of trivia was that on lap 2, Yuje Ide set the fastest lap of the race, albeit under the safety car.
Now, here was something strange - at the start of lap 2, under the safety car, Montoya was in 4th place, but at the start of lap 3, still under the safety car, Montoya was now in 6th, with Ralf and Webber ahead of him. How on earth this happened, I am not sure. Perhaps Montoya went off track? Anyway, I am not sure that either Ralf or Webber passed Montoya legitimately.
At the end of lap 3, the safety car came in. Button had dropped back and was desperately trying to warm his tyres. Alonso was tucked right up behind him, got the jump on Button, pulled out to pass and crossed the line just 0.029s behind Button. Alonso was clearly faster, and easily took the lead away into turn 1. Button looked to be struggling for grip on the slippery surface with cold tyres, as he slithered his was around turn 1, and fell into the clutches of Raikkonen, who swarmed all over the Honda.
Further back, Webber made a bold pass around the outside of turn 9 to take 4th away from Ralf, with Montoya just behind him. Montoya dived inside Ralf into turn 11 to take the place away. David Hobbs's comment was telling though "How'd Montoya get back there?", clearly confused as I still am as to how Montoya dropped 2 places under the safey car. Ralf seemed to be going backwards, fast, as Heidfeld closed up dramatically and looked to make a pass, but by the end of the lap, he seemed to pick up the pace.
Meanwhile, upfront Alonso had pulled out a 2.7s lead over Button in just one lap; the top eight as they crossed the line to start lap 4 were Alonso, Button, Raikkonen, Webber, Montoya, Ralf, Heidfeld, Michael.
There was more action on lap 4, this time an accident involving Klein. Under braking for turn 9 (the 9/10 chicane) the rear snapped away from the young Austrian, spearing him into the left-hand retaining wall at high speed, ripping a tyre clean off of its wheel and destroying a distance marker in the process. He slid into a tyre barrier head on with some force, but thankfully walked away unharmed - he would later blame cold tyres for the crash.
On lap 6 or 7 (I am not sure which from the footage!) the safety car again came out to allow the debris from Klein's crash to be cleared. Under this safety car period, the first signs of trouble for Fisichella showed up - the team came on the radio and asked him to "put the sensor switch to lift-off and tell us the fuel figure" - the team would later say that they lost all telemetry from Fisichella's car, and needed him to relay back the fuel consumption figures for them.
At the end of lap 9, the safety car came back in. Alonso disappeared off into the sunset, having been able to get a lot of heat into his tyres. Button struggled with his tyres, and consequently Raikkonen passed him into turn 1, locking up severly in the process. Button fought back at turn 3, and Riakkonen and Button touched, interlocking their wheels momentarily. Raikkonen maintained his position, but Button dropped back into the clutches of Montoya, who had a good look going into turn 11. The next lap, Button locked a tyre and ran wide in turn 3, almost letting Montoya past.
Things started to hot up at the front - Alonso and Raikkonen traded fastest laps, with Raikkonen seemingly the faster of the two. Raikkonen pulled to within 1.9s of Alonso before Raikkonen, on lap 13, mysteriously put in a lap over two seconds slower than Alonso. It was alter revealed, according to itv-f1.com that the vibrations caused by Kimi's tyre lock-up caused pieces of the front wing to fly off.
Fron there on in, Alonso kept the pace up and pulled out a lead of around 8 seconds before his first stop on lap 20. It was Montoya, however, who made the frist stop of the front runners on lap 18 - he appeared to be two-stopping. Soon after, on lap 20, Button, Alonso, Fisichella, and Ralf all pitted. One lap later, Raikkonen pitted, also two-stopping. All of the stops meant that Webber took the lead. The joy wouldn't last - on lap 23 he coasted to a halt with what appeared to be gearbox problems.
Elsewhere, Ralf incurred a drive-through penalty for speeding in the pit lane, which would drop him down to 9th. Fisichella got a verbal lashing from his race engineer Alan "Bat" Permane for being two seconds a lap slower than Alonso, and that "this shouldn't be possible". well, it turns out it was - he had clutch problems that were losing him a lot of time, which the Renault team would later acknowledge (as an interesting aside, Jarno Trulli would later say that nothing has changed at Renault except that they have changed "Trulli" for "Fisichella", commenting on the criticism that Trulli took whilst at Renault).
Michael pitted on lap 25 - a late first stop of two, and rejoined in 6th ahead of Villeneuve, and behind Button. Michael suddenly found some pace that he hadn't had before, and reeled in Jenson Button at an alrming rate, taking as much as 3 seconds out of Button's lead in one lap. He was clearly flying, running wide a couple of times, and putting his wheels on the grass in turn 1. Finally, on lap 34, his luck ran out. Just moments after Montoya had done the same thing, he ran wide out of the last turn, hit the kerb, and got airborne at an oblique angle. The car was unrecoverable from that position, and he slammed into the wall, and slid across to the pit wall, precipitating the third safety car of the day.
Michael appeared to be unharmed, but as he walked back into the pits, he walked past the Ferrari garage, and into the Toyota garage, then got terribly confused and didn't know which way to turn, before he exited through the rear. Perhaps he hit his head in the collision? Either that or he has a brain tumor.
All of the major players took the opportunity to pit, and Raikkonen took the opportunity to have his nosecone changed. The stop was long, and caused Montoya to stack his pitstop - he had to wait for about 5 seconds for Raikkonen to clear the box.
The safety car came back in at the end of lap 38. Alonso's restart was comfortable, partly because he had the two Midlands between himself and Heidfeld, and Heidfeld could not, of course, pass them before the start/finish line.
There was yet more craziness, however. Practically straight after the restard, Luizzi crashed into the wall between turns 2 and 3 (he claims that he was tagged by Villeneuve, although it is hard to see if there was contact on the video replays - in one angle you can just see Liuzzi and Villeneuve side by side coming out of turn 2, but it is impossible to tell if they were touching). This precipitated the fourth (yes fourth) safety car of the day.
Now here is where it gets confusing. Even though the official "safety car deployed" signal was sent, the SC boards were not being displayed, at least not for a few seconds. The real confusion came between turns 6 and 10. Several cars were passing each other, and I wasn't sure who did what and when. So I looked at the tape in slo-mo - Ralf passed Heidfeld just yards before the first SC board. Montoya, Button, and Fisichella, however, all passed under yellow (Montoya passed Heidlfeld, Button and Fisichella passed one of the Super Aguris). However, no-one was penalised for these transgressions.
Before all of that started, Button tagged the back of Montoya, but there was no damage to either car.
At the end of lap 40, the safety car came back in, and it was a straight fight to the end. Alonso walked away into the sunset, whilst the only real battle on the track was between Fisichella and Button. On lap 46, Montoya ran wide at the exit to the last turn in a near carbon copy of Michael's accident. However, Montoya was able to keep it pointing in the right direction with some incredible car control skills, reminiscent of Nigel Mansell! Bob Varsha described the wild sliding as "porpoising". I guess that's a synonym for fishtailing.
Montoya, however, was not able to continue, because his trip over the kerb dislodged something electronic, and the car coasted to a halt right in front of the McLaren pit.
So, the last few laps of the race trickled away, but there was drama right to the end. At the very last corner of the very last lap, Jenson Button's engine expired in spectacular fashion (a Steve Matchett "Ka-blammo") right in the face of Fisichella. Button could have coasted over the line to gain some points, but instead elected to stop before the line, thus ensuring that he could take a penalty-free engine change for the next race.
And so Alonso took a stunning and easy victory (on the penultimate lap he came on the radio and said "I'm completely relaxed". The response was "I'm fairly chilled out myself mate"!), with Raikkonen a somewhat distant second, despite setting the fastest lap of the race on the very last lap. Ralf managed to keep out of trouble and, despite a drive through penalty managed to come home third. Much to my chagrin...
It was another case of "what could have been" for Jenson Button - I agree with David Hobbs: "It will be interesting to read the Jenson Button book of excuses for this weekend".
And the drama didn't stop with the end of the race. Scott Speed came home 8th, but was given a post-race 25s penatly for passing Coulthard under yellow flags. In the stewards meeting after the race, little Scott apparently lost his temper and used some naughty language and "got physical", landing himself a $5000 fine. Now, can you imagine if he had pulled that with Mansell - he would have got his jaw broken! He then accused the Stewards of siding with Coulthard just because he is the more experienced driver. Well, experience and attitude counts for a lot Scott. Your attitude is, I suspect, being noted.
So, on to the San Marino Grand Prix and the first European race of the season. Let's hope that it is a little less crazy than Melbourne was!
Labels: Australia, Formula 1, Grand Prix
Australia: pre-race
Jenson Button will be looking to convert his pole position into race glory today, but he has some stiff competition. Starting just behind him are the two Renaults, who have been the class fo the field so far this year. Just behind them are the two McLarens, who have shown a lot of outright pace, but have yet to capitalise on their speed (partly due to bad luck). However, if they can stay out of first lap trouble, then they stand a good chance of challenging for a victory.
Further down the grid, there are some notables to watch out for, especially Michael Schumacher, who was caught out by the red flags and the rain in qualifying, and Felipe Massa, who has demonstrated an ability to charge from the back. He will need to make use of it again, because he will be starting from 15th place.
Starting just ahead of him in 14th place is really the man to watch in my opinion - Nico Rosberg. Rosberg was very unlucky in qualifying, getting caught out by the red flag in Q2, and then not being able to find any clear track. I expect to see a charge through the field from him - remember, he was free to choose his fuel load because he didn't compete in Q3, and therefore he and Williams have the advantage of being able to choose their tactics.
So, what to watch out for in the race. Well, I am still going to pick Alonso for the win, because he is poised in position and he was damn fast here last year. I expect exactly the same thing to happen at the start as happened in Montreal last year - Button to get swamped by the two Reanults into the first corner, and I think it will be Alonso who will take the lead. I think that Button, Fisichella, Montoya, and Raikkonen will be challengin each other for the podium. I expect to see Schumacher, Massa, and Rosberg making charges through the field, with the possibilty of points from each of them. Webber will be keen to impress on home soil, and I definitely think a top 5 finish is on the cards for him. Oh, and one more driver to watch for - Barrichello. He was fast he last year, but he has had a torrid time of it so far this year, and I don't anticipate him being able to get much higher than 8th place. One final person to look out for is Villeneuve - having had an engine change penalty, he will be starting down in 19th, but has been quick this weekend. However, he did make a big tactical blunder in my opinion, by geting in to Q3, and therefore had his starting fuel locked in. He would have been better off screwing qualifying and then would have been able to choose his starting fuel load. He would have started 3 places lower on the grid (big deal).
One other thing to watch out for - I have a feeling that there are going to be a lot of spins and off-track excursions during the race, if the practice and qualifying sesions are anything to go by. I have a feeling that some fo the top runners might be involved in some of this action, and will result in some lower than normal finishing positions.
Strategy, as always, will play an important partin the race. 1-stoppers, who might include Schumacher, Massa, Rosberg, and the McLarens, should be expected to stop around laps 27-31; 2-stoppers, who should make up most of the field should stop around laps 17-21 and laps 36-40; 3-stopper, who might include Button, will be in laps 13-16, laps 27-30, and laps 42-44.
My predicitions: Alonso, Button, Raikkonen, Fisichella, Webber, Montoya, Rosberg, Ralf Schumacher
Further down the grid, there are some notables to watch out for, especially Michael Schumacher, who was caught out by the red flags and the rain in qualifying, and Felipe Massa, who has demonstrated an ability to charge from the back. He will need to make use of it again, because he will be starting from 15th place.
Starting just ahead of him in 14th place is really the man to watch in my opinion - Nico Rosberg. Rosberg was very unlucky in qualifying, getting caught out by the red flag in Q2, and then not being able to find any clear track. I expect to see a charge through the field from him - remember, he was free to choose his fuel load because he didn't compete in Q3, and therefore he and Williams have the advantage of being able to choose their tactics.
So, what to watch out for in the race. Well, I am still going to pick Alonso for the win, because he is poised in position and he was damn fast here last year. I expect exactly the same thing to happen at the start as happened in Montreal last year - Button to get swamped by the two Reanults into the first corner, and I think it will be Alonso who will take the lead. I think that Button, Fisichella, Montoya, and Raikkonen will be challengin each other for the podium. I expect to see Schumacher, Massa, and Rosberg making charges through the field, with the possibilty of points from each of them. Webber will be keen to impress on home soil, and I definitely think a top 5 finish is on the cards for him. Oh, and one more driver to watch for - Barrichello. He was fast he last year, but he has had a torrid time of it so far this year, and I don't anticipate him being able to get much higher than 8th place. One final person to look out for is Villeneuve - having had an engine change penalty, he will be starting down in 19th, but has been quick this weekend. However, he did make a big tactical blunder in my opinion, by geting in to Q3, and therefore had his starting fuel locked in. He would have been better off screwing qualifying and then would have been able to choose his starting fuel load. He would have started 3 places lower on the grid (big deal).
One other thing to watch out for - I have a feeling that there are going to be a lot of spins and off-track excursions during the race, if the practice and qualifying sesions are anything to go by. I have a feeling that some fo the top runners might be involved in some of this action, and will result in some lower than normal finishing positions.
Strategy, as always, will play an important partin the race. 1-stoppers, who might include Schumacher, Massa, Rosberg, and the McLarens, should be expected to stop around laps 27-31; 2-stoppers, who should make up most of the field should stop around laps 17-21 and laps 36-40; 3-stopper, who might include Button, will be in laps 13-16, laps 27-30, and laps 42-44.
My predicitions: Alonso, Button, Raikkonen, Fisichella, Webber, Montoya, Rosberg, Ralf Schumacher
Labels: Australia, Formula 1, Grand Prix
Saturday, April 01, 2006
Australia quaifying: report
Jenson Button took a pole position for the 2006 Australian Grand Prix, his third career pole position, and his first since Canada last year. His pole time of 1:25.299 bettered Fisichella by over 4 tenths of a secon, who was in turn a tenth faster than his teammate Alonso. The rest of the top eight positions were filled by Raikkonen, Montoya, Ralf Schumacher, Webber, and Heidfeld.
However, there were quite a few surprises in qualifying. Rain in the morning practice session left the track "green", and consequently, because of a number of driver mistakes, Q1 and Q2 turned out to be quite hectic. In Q1, Ide spun his Super Aguri (Steve Matchett persists in calling Super Aguri "Super Best Friends" for whatever reason) and appeared to have trouble getting the car going again. This precipitated the red flag, although as soon as the red flag came out, Ide managed to find a gear and get going again. When the session went green again, there was a scramble on track as drivers tried to avoid getting eliminated. With the traffic and the curtailed session, Barrichello was the biggest loser. With only enough time left for one hot lap, Barrichello was severely baulked by Ide - the man who brought out the red flag - and lost over a second on his hot lap. His time was only good enough for 17th, and he was eliminated, along with Albers, Speed, Monteiro, Sato, and Ide. When Barrichello came back to the pits, he was clearly fuming - he ripped off his gloves and threw them down in anger.
On a side note, I am definitely instituting the Olivier Groiuillard award, and I already have a good idea who is going to be the first recipient.
Q2 turned out to be even more chaotic. Halfway through the 15 minute session, Massa lost control of his Ferrari 248 at the turn 12 "flick" - an area where many drivers have been having problems this weekend. Massa mounted the curb on the inside of the turn, unsettling the car. He tried to get the car back under control, but it broke away from him, and he ended up backing the car into the tyre barrier, breaking off the rear wing, and embedding his tyre so far in the tyre wall that the track workers had difficulty removing it! Needless to say, this caused the second red flag of qualifying. This was a setback for Rosberg, who had been on a hot lap when the red flag came out.
When the session went green again, there was a mad scramble on track for position, with four cars batling for the piece of track coming into turn 12! As if the traffic wasn't enough of a hindrance, it then began to rain heavily towards the end of the session, although the rain didn't last long. It was enough, however, to ruin the chances of not only Rosberg (who suffered a double whammy because of the red flag), but Michael Schumacher as well, who just missed out on the top 10, and was therefore elimintated - neither Ferrari driver will start in the top ten.
Ferrari were also left scarlet faced at the restart of Q2 when somehow, Michael Schumacher managed to leave the pits with a brake cooling fan still attached. As he accelerated away at the pit lane green light, it fell off and he ran the device over, destroying it in the process. As Steve Matchett said, that's a career ending move for the mechanic who did that.
After all of that, Q3 was more tame. The drivers took to the track and began to burn off their fuel loads. During this time, Jenson Button's race engineer came on the radio to inform him to stick to 1:32.000 laps, because at the rate that everyone else was driving, they were all going to come in for tyres at the same time, but he could stay out a lap longer. Indeed, the pit lane was crammed with about 5 minutes of the session to go as drivers, having burned off their fuel, pitted for new tyres to set their flying laps.
So they all went back out, and all pushed hard, but it was Button who set the fastest time. Some, including itv-f1.com, have said that this was surprising, but it is no surprise at all if you consider that Button was the fastest regular driver on Friday. His time was quick - 4 tenths quicker than the Renaults, which suggests a lighter fuel load, possible a 3-stopper. It was Montoya who perhaps came closest to besting Button though. Having spun his car at turn 4 with only about a minute of the session left to run, he was able to cross the line just in time to start one final flying lap. He was faster in sector 1, but lost a lot of time by running wide later on in the lap.
And so Button will start from pole position for tomorrow's race. Can he turn pole into that first, elusive victory? We shall have to wait and see.
However, there were quite a few surprises in qualifying. Rain in the morning practice session left the track "green", and consequently, because of a number of driver mistakes, Q1 and Q2 turned out to be quite hectic. In Q1, Ide spun his Super Aguri (Steve Matchett persists in calling Super Aguri "Super Best Friends" for whatever reason) and appeared to have trouble getting the car going again. This precipitated the red flag, although as soon as the red flag came out, Ide managed to find a gear and get going again. When the session went green again, there was a scramble on track as drivers tried to avoid getting eliminated. With the traffic and the curtailed session, Barrichello was the biggest loser. With only enough time left for one hot lap, Barrichello was severely baulked by Ide - the man who brought out the red flag - and lost over a second on his hot lap. His time was only good enough for 17th, and he was eliminated, along with Albers, Speed, Monteiro, Sato, and Ide. When Barrichello came back to the pits, he was clearly fuming - he ripped off his gloves and threw them down in anger.
On a side note, I am definitely instituting the Olivier Groiuillard award, and I already have a good idea who is going to be the first recipient.
Q2 turned out to be even more chaotic. Halfway through the 15 minute session, Massa lost control of his Ferrari 248 at the turn 12 "flick" - an area where many drivers have been having problems this weekend. Massa mounted the curb on the inside of the turn, unsettling the car. He tried to get the car back under control, but it broke away from him, and he ended up backing the car into the tyre barrier, breaking off the rear wing, and embedding his tyre so far in the tyre wall that the track workers had difficulty removing it! Needless to say, this caused the second red flag of qualifying. This was a setback for Rosberg, who had been on a hot lap when the red flag came out.
When the session went green again, there was a mad scramble on track for position, with four cars batling for the piece of track coming into turn 12! As if the traffic wasn't enough of a hindrance, it then began to rain heavily towards the end of the session, although the rain didn't last long. It was enough, however, to ruin the chances of not only Rosberg (who suffered a double whammy because of the red flag), but Michael Schumacher as well, who just missed out on the top 10, and was therefore elimintated - neither Ferrari driver will start in the top ten.
Ferrari were also left scarlet faced at the restart of Q2 when somehow, Michael Schumacher managed to leave the pits with a brake cooling fan still attached. As he accelerated away at the pit lane green light, it fell off and he ran the device over, destroying it in the process. As Steve Matchett said, that's a career ending move for the mechanic who did that.
After all of that, Q3 was more tame. The drivers took to the track and began to burn off their fuel loads. During this time, Jenson Button's race engineer came on the radio to inform him to stick to 1:32.000 laps, because at the rate that everyone else was driving, they were all going to come in for tyres at the same time, but he could stay out a lap longer. Indeed, the pit lane was crammed with about 5 minutes of the session to go as drivers, having burned off their fuel, pitted for new tyres to set their flying laps.
So they all went back out, and all pushed hard, but it was Button who set the fastest time. Some, including itv-f1.com, have said that this was surprising, but it is no surprise at all if you consider that Button was the fastest regular driver on Friday. His time was quick - 4 tenths quicker than the Renaults, which suggests a lighter fuel load, possible a 3-stopper. It was Montoya who perhaps came closest to besting Button though. Having spun his car at turn 4 with only about a minute of the session left to run, he was able to cross the line just in time to start one final flying lap. He was faster in sector 1, but lost a lot of time by running wide later on in the lap.
And so Button will start from pole position for tomorrow's race. Can he turn pole into that first, elusive victory? We shall have to wait and see.
Labels: Australia, Formula 1, Grand Prix
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