Category: Race Review

Delayed Race Notes: Monaco Grand Prix 2009

2009 Formula 1 Grand Prix de Monaco
Circuit: Monte-Carlo
Location: Monaco
Distance: 78 laps

Coverage: BBC One
Anchor: Jake Humphrey
Analysts in the paddock: David Coulthard (DC) and Eddie Jordan (EJ)
Race commentary: Jonathan Legard and Martin Brundle
Pit and paddock reports: Ted Kravitz and Lee McKenzie

Tyre selection (red): SS / S / M / H

[Apologies for the ridiculous delay due to my accountancy exams! These notes were taken live during the race but only edited now. I almost didn’t post these because they are so out of date, but in some ways they are an interesting historical record!]

BBC coverage is a GO at 12.10pm BST (13.10 Monaco local time) with 50 minutes until race start.

We open with classic clips in black & white.
Humphrey has been inserted into the video as if he was introducing it at the time, and talking to drivers such as Graham Hill and Jackie Stewart in period. Nice work!

Now we’re live and in colour. Great detail on the CGI overview of the circuit!
The guys are on a boat in the harbour – not sure this will work well, ITV tried it a few years back and a pundit was seasick.

EJ: We’re closer to the track here, closer to the action. Everybody wants to be here, this is the jewel in the crown of F1. Adorable place.

DC: Valencia and Singapore coming up later in the year but they have a modern twist to them, they have runoff areas, at Monaco you are rubbing the barriers.

Points coming in:
D: Button 41, Barrichello 27, Vettel 23, Webber 15.5, Trulli 14.5
C: Brawn 68, Red Bull 38.5, Toyota 26.5

Lee McKenzie is on the hill overlooking La Rascasse, packed with people, the ‘cheap seats’ she calls them. One fan says it costs £75 for a ticket. To sit on a muddy hill! I’m sure they are glad it’s not raining. People have tents pitched to get the best spots.

Ted Kravitz is having a chat with Max Mosely.
MM “We’re slowly getting a situation were we can all agree, or at least the majority are going to agree. The budget cap looks like going ahead at 45m euros in 2011 with an intermediate year in 2010. Everyone understands we cannot go on at the present level, the money isn’t there.”

[Later in the week the FOTA teams entered for next year on condition of a big cap in ’10 and a €45m cap in ’11 – and we all know the shenanigans that followed that]

Ted’s Qualifying recap:

– Lewis into the barriers. Apologised to the team.
– Massa spins but survives to Q3.
– Toyota eliminated in Q1, same story for BMWs who in desparation tried several setup changes. Didn’t work.
– Indias and Toros got higher positions as a result but Piquet underperformed again.
– Vettel disapointed not to do better than 4th with the lightest fuel load of all.
– Kimi on front row but may not be able to use KERS on the start, he says the straight is too short.
– Button on pole from Kimi 2nd then a disappointed Barrichello.
– Hamilton starts at the back after a gearbox change.
– Glock starts from pitlane after changing…something..

Onboard lap of Jenson Button’s pole position, while he talks about it with Lee.

Says it is always tense, you’ve got to get the perfect gear shifts.
He’s not thinking about the championship, he’s taking it race by race.
Honestly? Really?! You’ve won 4 races out of 5 and you’re not thinking of the title? Pfft.

We can hear cars heading to the grid now.
Recap of Senna vs Mansell in 1992, close-run thing but Mansell on fresh tyres couldn’t get by Senna on worn tyres, a demonstration of how hard it is to pass here.

Ted is with Nigel Mansell (recorded):
NM “It’s a wonderful place, the principality. Between Barrichello and Jenson we’ll have a fantastic weekend. Adversity builds character, we all know what a terrible year he had last year. Another possible British world champion, one after another? I can’t remember when that was last done.”

Shots of Bernie and then Mika Hakkinen entering the paddock.

We can see the grid now and how much smaller it is than the circuits of the rest of the year.

Jean Todt, Max Mosely, some people I don’t recognise, they are all here.

DC: Hamilton will struggle to score points from there [the back] but at Monaco anything can happen.
EJ: There’s no rain so this will be a long hard hot race.

Martin Brundle is on the start line for his gridwalk.

MB “8 GP2 cars were penalised for cutting the first corner, let’s hope that doesn’t happen today.”
John Button, Jenson’s dad: “He’s even surprising me now.”
Prince Michael of Kent: “With my RAC hat on it’s nice to keep up with Formula 1, we’re going to be in the Brawn pit today.”
MB: “The cars are spaced 8 metres apart which is the length of the average ego in F1.”
Jenson: “I’m on pole so I’ve got the easiest race compared to the rest, but it’s still not going to be easy, Kimi will be fast off the line. We’ll have to see what tyres people are on. Looking after the tyres will be a key part of this race.”
Jacques Villenueve, are you missing this?: “Slick tyres, the cars look fun to drive, I’m missing it a bit now. Monaco is always a good race to watch, with all the chaos in F1 now you never know.”
Michael Johnson, what brings you here?: “I’m just here checking it out, I’m a big fan, I usually come to Monaco and I’m trying to get to a few more this year. Button is doing a great job, he’s got a lot of confidence right now.” He says all of the stuff around the grid isn’t too distracting because the drivers are so focussed, they only see the objective.
Bernie Ecclestone has his arms around Geri Halliwell [!!]:
GH: “I love fast cars, bit of a speed freak. I’m proud of Jenson Button. My father was a car dealer so I’m very excited! [to Bernie] We go way back how excited are you?”
BE: “Super upset with him keeping winning, it should be unpredictable, it’s bloody predictable again.”
GH: “Everyone has their moment though!”
MB: “I’d like to apologise because I said it was Bernie’s daughter. Bernie, is common sense going to break out in Formula 1?”
BE: “No of course not!”
MB: “It should do though shouldn’t it?”
BE: “Don’t worry it will.”
MB: “Thanks for your time. Jake.”

Deluxe gridwalk! Silence as we look at the Royal Box… Jake comes in and says we were waiting for an anthem.

Monagasque National Anthem
Royals stand to attention. F1 people completely ignore it, we don’t bow to such things as protocol, we’re F1, we’re more important than that.

The guys witter on about something, just filling time really. I’m more interested in the official feed’s atmospheric shots of the grid.

Quick chat, Jake and Jonathan Legard:
“Button looking great, I wonder if they’ll be some danger from Raikkonen and Red Bull, and don’t forget Barrichello. The teams bring extra front wings here because there is a greater threat to being dislodged.”

Winner for today?
EJ: Jenson.
DC: Jenson.

Official F1 Intro

Chatter.

Mechanics clear the grid.

Green light for the Formation Lap.

START ORDER

Button, Raikkonen
Rubens, Vettel
Massa, Rosberg
Kovalainen, Webber
Alonso, Nakajima
Buemi, Piquet
Fisichella, Bourdais
Sutil, Heidfeld
Kubica, Trulli
Hamilton

Glock (p/l)

Cars are forming on the grid.

1.2.3.4.5.hold…GO!!

All clear through Ste Devote, amazing.

No incidents at all on lap 1, I am super-impressed!

Replay: Hamilton passes Trulli before Tabac

Start replays..
Hamilton takes Kubica off the line.

Kubica has pitted.

L3 Glock cuts the swimming pool chicane. Rubens sets the fastest lap.

L4 Button now faster! Brundle is saying these two are title rivals now.

L7 Massa tries a pass on Vettel but overshoots, he has to give the position back and does so – but Rosberg follows Vettel through! Massa lost a place.

Hamilton on a light load is stuck behind cars with twice as much fuel as he has, this is a strange strategy from McLaren.

L9 Ted news: Vettel’s tyres have gone, we’re only 9 laps in and his tyres have gone.
Vettel is now 18 seconds behind Button, already!

L10 Rubens radio – look after your tyres, they may be fragile.
They’ve been watching Vettel.
Vettel suddenly drops off, Rosberg and Massa pass him. More cars passing him.
Vettel pits.
Buemi and Piquet off at Ste Devote.
Hamilton also pits.

L12 Piquet pits and retires with accident damage. Buemi is out.

L14 Kimi is catching Barrichello who’s tyres are starting to fall away.
Massa radio: Brawns struggling with soft tyres, you’re 1-2 seconds faster than them so keep it up.

L16 Raikkonen pits and takes more of the harder tyre, as Rosberg sets the fastest lap!

L17 Vettel has pulled over just after Ste Devote, he’s hit the barrier? His car already in the air on the crane!

L18 Barrichello and Button have pitted. Rosberg takes the lead, Button gets out ahead of Massa who is now 3rd.

Rosberg, Button, Massa, Kova, Weeber, Barrichello, Kimi, Alonso

L19 Rosberg pits and comes out behind Alonso for 8th.

L21 Massa pits from 2nd and emerges behind Alonso but ahead of Rosberg for 7th.

L22 Heikki pits and is out 7th. Only Webber and Alonso of the frontrunners have to pit.

L23 Webber pits now, he’s out behind Massa for 6th – both have jumped Rosberg now. Williams went for a long stop?

L24 Piquet with Lee: I don’t know what (Buemi) was thinking about, he probably thought he was quicker but we all thought we were quicker, Vettel was holding everybody up. I was probably going to finish 7th.

Seems like Alonso is going long. I can’t remember the weights..

L29 Barrichello sets FL as Alonso pits, he’s out in 11th I tihnk.

L31 Kubica pits to retire, he is hte 4th DNF of the day.

L32 Rubens sets the first lap under 1m16s, and is beaten immediately by Kimi and Felipe.

L35 Both the Ferraris are setting very quick times. Webber is coming with them only slightly slower.

L37 Button laps Hamilton.

L41 Massa has been putting too much of the car over the swimming pool chicane marking, could be penalised if he’s not careful.
Smedley on the radio tells him he’s had another warning from the FIA!

L43 Webber sets fastest lap!
Heidfeld pits and takes supersofts.

The guys on one-stops have made an error, after what we saw earlier they’ll never get to the end on supersofts from here.

L46 Mark Webber is catching the Ferraris.

Things have been fairly settled for a while now, I think we are waiting for the next stops for the frontrunners. We have two races going on: two-stoppers and one-stoppers (with Hamilton on a stupid 2-stop among the back of the latter).

L50 Trulli finally pits. Bourdais, Fisi and Glock are still going.
L50 Barrichello pits from 2nd and emerges 5th as Massa sets FL.
L51 Button pits now. He’s out behind Kimi! Kimi does need to pit again though.

Alonso cuts the main chicane.
L53 Kovalainen out! He’s crashed at the swimming pool chicane.
Spun coming out of the first section and spun into the wall. Shame because he was running well.

L54 Raikkonen pits. No SC for Heikki.

Hamilton pits for a new nosecone and hard tyres.

L57 Webber and Massa pit at the same time from 2nd and 3rd.
Massa is out and beats Rosberg for 4th, but Webber doesn’t make it and is 6th. Rosberg may need to stop again.

L59 Glock pitted from near the back. Bourdais must have pitted recently too.

Vettel with Lee: I was braking a little too late, locked the rears and hit the wall. We thought those tyres would work for the short stint but they didn’t.

L63 It was a good race earlier on but the Ferrari challenge seems to have been blunted, and Webber is bottled up behind Rosberg.
Nothing much going on at all.

Bourdais’s stop earlier put him 8th somehow! He’s the leader of the one-stopper group some distance behind the two-stoppers, and with Fisichella right behind him.

L65 Heikki: We were going a couple of laps longer and would have worked for us, but I just lost the car.

L66 Rosberg pits and is out in 7th in the big gap between Alonso and Bourdais.

L67 Alonso pits and is out alongside Sutil who is a lap down. Alonso now 7th.

Button, Barrichello, Kimi, Massa, Webber, Rosberg, Alonso, Bourdais, Fisi, Naka

L70 The two Ferraris are running close together,

L72 Glock passes Heidfeld. Hamilton passes Trulli and is behind Heidfeld. All go at the back!
Nakajima pits with 8 laps to go

Just the run for home then, it seems everyone has backed off to make it without crashing. Nothing happening, just enjoy Monaco.

Final Lap

Nakajima in the wall at Mirabeau!

JENSON BUTTON WINS!

Cooldown lap

Jenson parked in Parc Ferme and he should be on the front straight!! Different procedure at Monaco, the top three should park on the main straight!
He’s out of the car and running down the main straight!

Podium, trophies.

British national anthem.

Nice to have a real band on site for this GP, such a different sound to the old recordings.

Champagne!

Commentary ends.

[Usually I add a little bit of the BBC post-race in here but I don’t seem to have taken any notes for it on this occasion]

Race Results
1. Button 78 Laps
2. Barrichello +7.6sec
3. Räikkönen +13.4s to winner
4. Massa +15.1s
5. Webber +15.7s
6. Rosberg +33.5s
7. Alonso +37.8s
8. Bourdais +63.1s
9. Fisichella +65.0s
10. Glock + 1 lap
11. Heidfeld + 1 lap
12. Hamilton + 1 lap
13. Trulli + 1 lap
14. Sutil + 1 lap
15. Nakajima + 2 laps
R. Kovalainen (Accident)
R. Kubica (Brakes)
R. Vettel (Accident)
R. Piquet (Accident damage)
R. Buemi (Accident)

Championships

Drivers
(Prior + Monaco = Total)
1. Button 41 + 10 = 51
2. Barrichello 27 + 8 = 35
3. Vettel 23
4. Webber 15.5 + 4 = 19.5
5. Trulli 14.5
6. Glock 12
7. Hamilton 9
8. Alonso 9 + 2 = 11
9. Räikkönen 3 + 6 = 9
10. Massa 3 + 5 = 8
11. Rosberg 4.5 + 3 = 7.5
12. Heidfeld 6
13. Kovalainen 4
14. Buemi 3
15. Bourdais 1 + 1 = 2

Constructors
(Prior + Monaco = Total)
1. Brawn Mercedes 68 + 18 = 86
2. RBR Renault 32.5 + 4 = 36.5
3. Toyota 32.5
4. Ferrari 3 + 11 = 14
5. Renault 9 + 2 = 11
6. McLaren Mercedes 13
7. BMW Sauber 6
8. Williams Toyota 4.5 + 3 = 7.5
9. STR Ferrari 4 + 1 =5
10. Force India Mercedes 0

The next race was the Turkish Grand Prix, for which I will upload notes later this week.

I am not sure if I will post notes for the IndyCar season as I did last year, I’m leaning towards not doing so because I have only posted St Pete so far. Perhaps I will do a shorter version.

Delayed Race Notes: F1 Spanish Grand Prix 2009

2009 Formula 1 Gran Premio de Espana Telefonica
Circuit: Circuit de Catalunya
Location: Barcelona, Spain
Coverage: BBC One
Distance: 66 laps

Anchor: Jake Humphrey
Analysts in the paddock: David Coulthard (DC) and Eddie Jordan (EJ)
Race commentary: Jonathan Legard and Martin Brundle
Pit and paddock reports: Ted Kravitz and Lee McKenzie

Tyre selection (red): SS / S / M / H

** Disclaimer – These are notes taken during the race. They may or may not make any sense and I have only edited them for brevity, punctuation and grammar. **

** Apologies for the delay in writing up my notes, I have been insanely busy! **

BBC coverage is a GO at 12.10pm UK time. 50 minutes to race start.

We’re straight into a Button pre-recorded package.

Qualifying recap with Ted:
– The last 8 races here have been won by the driver on pole – but KERS may have an effect this year.
– Onboard lap with Button, a very smooth lap. I remember that I didn’t post an onboard lap in the preview because I didn’t write a preview. Oops.

Kimi Raikkonen at the official opening of the Ferrari Store in London. I was in that store a month ago! Not sure why they held the official opening a month after the real opening. He is interviewed while sat in a F430.
– “Not as strong as we should be. You can’t expect anything in Formula 1 it changes so quickly.”
Its quite hard to know what he is saying here.. He says the ice cream thing in Malaysia was a big story out of nothing, he was retired already. Also saying that a budget cap would mean it is not Formula 1 any more.

12:30pm / 1:30pm local time and the pitlane is open for 15 mins to allow cars to run the recon laps and make their way to the grid.

Package: Martin is walking the track with Rubens Barrichello.
There is a big bump on turn in to turn 9 (Campsa), this is where Heikki crashed last year.

Lee is with Alonso: ‘Long race anything can happen.’

Martin is on the grid, a little early perhaps?
He’s noticed the track is more black with rubber on the right-hand side, though the other side is the racing line and supposedly has more grip – says the support race drivers may have laid rubber for their start.

Nicole who is Lewis Hamilton’s girlfriend says lots of words but doesn’t add to the sum knowledge of F1 fans the world over so we’ll gloss over this bit.

Martin is at the back of the grid for some reason.

Bourdais: ‘It’s a tough race here especially to pass, when you start 17th it doesn’t make it easier. Keep plugging away, keep doing what we do, there’s a lot of potential but we didn’t use it this weekend. We’ll try to hang on and do our best.’

Fisichella, how’s it going?: ‘Not great, I had a bad qualifying session with the traffic and the tyres locking. We have some new bits here. I still love this sport, love to drive a Formula 1 car.’

Martin: It’s just as intense down here as it is at the front.

Sutil: ‘Bit difficult here in Barcelona to do anything in the race. Try to push as hard as possible. I’m so happy to race with this team and we’re doing progress.’

Spanish National Anthem
FOM cutting to crowd, drivers on grid, atmosphere. Love it.

Ted’s fuel adjusted qualifying round up.
Predicted stops: Alonso lap 14, Button 15, Barrichello and Webber 16. Massa looking good at lap 18. Hamilton on a 1-stopper.

Ted live with Rubens, you’re faster than Ferrari: ‘Yeah but I don’t have their turbo button and it’s difficult to pass a KERS car.’
Turbo button? Methinks Rubens needs a refresher on what KERS is.

12:50 / ten mins to go: drivers are getting in to their cars

About 5 to go: FOM sweeper logo, BBC hands over to Jonathan and Martin upstairs.

Very low flying by one of the helicopters. The pilot at Spa is a lunatic, wonder if it is the same guy…

START ORDER

Button (pole), Vettel
Barrichello, Massa
Webber, Glock
Trulli, Alonso
Rosberg, Kubica
Nakajima, Piquet
Heidfeld, Hamilton
Buemi, Raikkonen
Bourdais, Kovalainen,
Sutil, Fisichella

It is Nick Heidfeld’s birthday.

Engines are firing and mechanics are clearing the grid, as the Alonso fans go wild at the back of the circuit somewhere.

Formation Lap

All get away cleanly.

Michael Schumacher on pit wall but away from the Ferrari prat perch and by the catch fence instead, sunglasses on, awaiting the cars.

Kimi radio but I really have no idea..

Grid

I still maintain a Formula 1 start is like no other form of racing and that includes the multitudes of other standing starts… Tension…

1.2.3.4.5.hold.GO!GO!GO!

McLaren on grass, Barrichello takes the lead, crash at turn 2!
Toyota spins around and gets hit. STRs involved. Lots of debris.

SAFETY CAR

It was Trulli. Replays. Both Toro Rossos are out and so is Sutil.
Sutil actually avoided another incident at turn one so was in the runoff area, just as he rejoined he had nowhere to go as Trulli speared in front of him. Sutil had no choice but to t-bone him.

Trulli was pushed on to the gravel and it spun him into the pack, which caused the STRs to perform evasise manouvres.. into each other.

4 laps complete (L4) – Safety Car in this lap

L5 RESTART

Alonso vs Webber, Alonso gets ahead briefly but Mark takes it back.

L6 Kovalainen is travelling very slowly. REPLAY of Hamilton passing Piquet for 12th.

L10 BMW is not running KERS at this race. They are running 9th and 11th.

L12 Buemi: ‘I saw a car going over my head, that’s more or less it.’

L14 Button sets fastest lap in 2nd place. Ted predicted Alonso to pit this lap but the Safety Car threw that out of the window.

L15 Ted is reporting now that Kimi’s KERS has broken.

L17 Glock is the first to pit.

L18 Brawn guys are in the pitlane. Button had the lighter car in qualifying and he pits now.
Kimi Raikkonen is slowing! He’s on tickover trying to find somewhere to park.

Only 14 cars remaining, already!

L19 Barrichello and Webber both pit. Where is Button? Miles away!
Rosberg was fuelled a long way from the start and he’s just behind Barrichello in 4th now.

L20 Massa and Vettel both pit.
Order is now: Barrichello, Rosberg, Button, Massa, Vettel, Heidfeld, Kubica, Hamilton, Webber.
Some yet to stop. Webber had a slow out lap.

L22 Radio to Rubens: Jenson has switched to Plan A and you have to make this work.

L23 Kubica pits from 8th, should drop behind quite a few cars though.

L24 Heikki with Lee: Lost 1st-5th gear behind the Safety Car. Coming out of the last turn I lost 6th to 7th as well, I lose the drive of the car but 4th came back so I tried to get back to the pits but it was game over. I’m not going to let this get to me and I’ll fight back even harder in Monaco.

L25 Hamilton radio: If you can keep up with the BMWs we can pass them on the pit stops for a points finish, but you need to keep up.

L26 Kimi with Lee: Something wrong with the throttle control. A the start I couldn’t see the lights because the rear wings are so high.
Rosberg has pitted but I missed it, was it shown? He’s 9th now.

L27 Order: Barrichello, Button, Massa, Vettel, Heidfeld (not stopped), Hamilton (not stopped), Webber, Alonso, Rosberg, Fisi, Nakajima, Glock, Kubica, Piquet
Only 14 runners and Rubens just set the fastest lap.

L30 Bit processional now. We are waiting for strategies to play out.

L31 Barrichello pits from the lead, a very short stint for him. 3 stopper? Button now leads. 6.7sec for Rubens.
Heidfeld and Hamilton have pitted.

L32 Hamilton is out alongside Glock and Kubica and beats them. Kubica trying it on Glock! Martin Brundle says “that’s a very unorthodox place to try a pass”.

L37 Button has a 5 second lead over Massa, who is 1 sec over Vettel, who is 4.1 over Rubens. Webber is right behind Rubens.

L38 Team radio pushing Rubens for fast laps to beat Button.

L40 Ted with Brawn man, is it true you wanted Button to win the race?: ‘ No they have equal chance, their engineers are the ones making the calls this early in the year.

Someone please inform Martin Brundle of the correct way to say Sebastian Vettel’s name. It is not Vett El. He’s nothing to do with Superman.

L42 Hamilton on the radio saying the rear tyres are finished. Massa and Vettel both pit. Massa remains ahead and they rejoin to a clear track.

L44 Radio to Rubens: The two cars ahead stopped earlier than expected. Alonso pits from 4th (was 6th before Massa and Vettel stopped). He is out next to Hamilton – close! And Fernando beats him.
The crowd cheers.

L45 Onboard with Lewis with some dodgy looking front tyres too. He’s faster than Alonso in a straight line but all over the road in the corners.

L46 Kubica and Piquet pit. Brundle says the hard tyres now fitted to Massa and Vettel “are costing them two seconds per lap”, pitting early certainly did not help them. A gift to Brawn! They were close enough to challenge before, not now.

L48 Button pits from a lead of 10 seconds over Barrichello. Rubens leads but has his 3rd stop to make – what is interesting is Button has that lead but needs to spend longer on the hard tyres to Barrichello.
Hamilton pits as well.

L49 Rosberg pits from 6th. Chance of points!

L50 Barrichello pits suprisingly early as he catches traffic. Did he go long enough? Webber follows him in close behind.
Button retakes the lead and Rubens and Mark both take position from Massa and Vettel! That’s the soft tyre for you. Now they are all on the same tyre and all fuelled to the end.

L51 order with 15 to go: Button, Barrichello, Webber, Massa, Vettel, Alonso, Heidfeld, Rosberg, Nakajima, Hamilton, Glock, Kubica, Fisichella, Piquet

L52 Massa is being told to save fuel despite Vettel being all over him.

L56 Radio again, Smedley: “This fuel consumption is too high, we won’t get to the end, we’ll have to pit again.”
Massa: “Well what can I do??”

He might have to give up the place to Vettel to make the end!

L57 Webber slowly catching Barrichello?

L58 McLaren were to beat BMW. Hamilton is now 9th with Heidfeld 7th and Kubica 11th.

L59 Ted is at Ferrari, he says they didn’t get enough fuel into Massa’s car. The computer says they did but they measure the rig after each stop and it was too heavy!

L61 Vettel just can’t get nearer to Massa anywhere. He’s close behind but not close enough. On the plus side it does seem he is able to follow much more closely than the cars could with the old aero rules.

L62 Vettel passes Massa!
Felipe has backed off a lot now, has he given up the place to make the finish? There’s a big gap to Alonso but with 4 laps to go and short-shifting already… hmm.

Jonathan: So they took your advice?
Martin: I hardly think so..

Replay with radio, Smedley: Let him go, let him go, we are a lap short.

Martin: A lap is a lot. I’m gonna get a job as a strategist.

L64 Button laps Hamilton who is 9th.

FINAL LAP
Crowd on their feet because they can see Alonso catching Massa VERY quickly. 6 seconds per lap.

Fernando just drives around Felipe at turn 3. Easy pickings.

BUTTON WINS!

Barrchello 2nd, Webber 3rd
Massa finishes 6th, 1.4s over Heidfeld.

Cool-down lap.

Massa has run out of fuel, he’s parked it on the slow lap!

Parc Ferme
Button climbs on to the car, gets down to hug Rubens.

Four wins for Jenson this year! Slap in the face to all those who wrote him off while he was stuck in crappy Hondas.

Top 3 drivers are in the waiting room before the podium. Rubens says to Jenson “I don’t know how I lost the race.” Button says “I feel for you man.” Just then Mark Webber walks in and says to Rubens “Felipe f***ked up my race”. Ha!

Podium, British anthem.

Dignitaries with trophies.

Champaaaaaagne!!

Race Result

1. Button 66 laps
2. Barrichello +13.0s
3. Webber +13.9s (to Button)
4. Vettel +18.9s
5. Alonso +43.1s
6. Massa +50.8s
7. Heidfeld +52.3s
8. Rosberg +65.2s
9. Hamilton +1 lap
10. Glock +1 lap
11. Kubica +1 lap
12. Piquet +1 lap
13. Nakajima +1 lap
14. Fisichella +1 lap

DNFs
Raikkonen (throttle)
Kovalainen (gearbox)
Trulli (accident)
Buemi (accident)
Bourdais (accident)
Sutil (accident)

Driver Points

1. Button 31 + 10 =41
2. Barrichello 19 + 8 = 27
3. Vettel 18 + 5 = 23
4. Webber 9.5 + 6 = 15.5
5. Trulli 14.5
6. Glock 12
7. Hamilton 9
8. Alonso 5 + 4 = 9
9. Heidfeld 4 + 2 = 6
10. Rosberg 3.5 + 1 = 4.5
11. Kovalainen 4
12. Massa 0 + 3 = 3
13. Raikkonen 3
14. Buemi 3
15. Bourdais 1

Constructor Points

1. Brawn Mercedes 50 + 18 = 68
2. RBR Renault 27.5 + 5 = 32.5
3. Toyota 26.5 + 6 = 32.5
4. McLaren Mercedes 13
5. BMW Sauber 4 + 2 = 6
6. Renault 5 + 4 = 9
7. STR Ferrari 4
8. Williams Toyota 3.5 + 1 = 4.5
9. Ferrari 3
10. Force India Mercedes 0

The next round is the Monaco Grand Prix this weekend, for which I hope to write a preview in 24 hours time. Don’t forg

Race Notes: Bahrain Grand Prix 2009

2009 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix
Circuit: Bahrain International Circuit
Location: Sakhir, Bahrain
Coverage: BBC One
Distance: 57 laps

Anchor: Jake Humphrey
Analysts in the paddock: David Coulthard (DC) and Eddie Jordan (EJ)
Race commentary: Jonathan Legard and Martin Brundle
Pit and paddock reports: Ted Kravitz and Lee McKenzie

We’re using Supersoft and Medium tyres this week.

** Disclaimer – These are notes taken during the race. They may or may not make any sense and I have only edited them for brevity, punctuation and grammar. **

BBC coverage is a GO at 12.10pm UK time. 50 minutes to race start.
EJ: Two clashing pairs of pink shirts, why didn’t you tell me I had to wear pink?

Qualifying report with Ted:
– In Q1 Sutil blocked Webber on the final corner of the lap. Webber was on a hot lap.
– Sutil gets 3-place penalty.
– BMW are 1sec/lap off the pace.
– Kovalainen wasn’t happy with 11th after an electrical problem in practice.
– Raikkonen used all his new tyres in Q1 and Q2 so had none left for Q3, result: 10th.
– RBR has race-winning pace with Vettel.
– Toyota on front row, Trulli says it is time to get the first Toyota win.

START ORDER
Trulli (pole), Glock
Vettel, Button
Hamilton, Rubens
Alonso, Massa
Rosberg, Kimi
Heikki, Nakajima
Kubica, Heidfeld
Piquet, Buemi
Fisichella, Webber
Sutil (pen), Bourdais

Ferrari report, basically saying “Ferrari’s current form isn’t great is it.” Features classic F1 clips!!
Jean Alesi is in Bahrain for Speedcar: One driver is world champion, Kimi, the other nearly won it at the last second. They are missing something technically, they are not quick enough.
Stefano Domenicali, Ferrari: We need to look forward and solve the issues we have. We could have been faster but even with that we should have scored points in the first three races.

LeeMcK: For now the Prancing Horse is injured.

BBC Trio of Jake, David and Eddie are outside the Ferrari garage chatting about them. Nothing interesting to report here..

35 mins to go and a short 10-15 second ‘local culture’ video montage, excellent!

Jake leaves the other guys at Ferrari and walks to McLaren to introduce a recorded interview with Lewis Hamilton.
Summary: He’s here to have fun and race and win. It was hard to have his integrity questioned. He’s committed to McLaren.
Jakes asks if he’s willing to up with “the bad stuff” in order to stay in F1, Lewis says “absolutely!”.

12:30 PITLANE OPEN
Hamilton leaves the pits followed by a BMW.

Martin’s track guide:
3.4 miles, hot, sandy. DC is with him.
DC: The apex for turn 1 determines the line for turn 2. I had an accident at 200mph when a brake disc exploded, no worries about safety here.
Nice comparison between Hamilton and Button’s lines – Jenson was faster and you could see it.
DC: No chance of rain but a reasonable chance of a sandstorm bringing sand on to the track. (not necessarily during the race, it could be deposited there any time)

We’re live again.
EJ: Glock is lighter. Trulli did this before in Monaco, he had pole and he won it.

12:37 Martin’s live gridwalk:
Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin is also on the grid but doesn’t want to be interviewed on TV – Brundle not happy about that and will doorstop him privately later! Eric Clapton is ready and willing, he’s here now:
EC: I love Ferrari, I love Grands Prix and this is a great venue. Ferrari will be alright, couple more races!
As Eric turns away we see Peter Windsor dive straight in to talk to him!!
The left side of the grid is in the shade which will help them.

His Royal Highness The Crown Prince of Bahrain:
HRH: The heat is one of the challenges of the Middle East. I’m careful not to make predictions so I hope we have a successful race.
I like HRH, he’s very relaxed and not ‘up himself’. This is the 6th Bahrain GP!
Martin can’t find any drivers. Maybe keeping cool in the aircon of the garage?
John Button, Jenson’s dad: He’s so totally relaxed it’s unbelievable.
Rubens: It’s gonna be crazy for everyone for water temperatures in the engine. We have to be in free air.
Pat Symonds, Renault: The temp is 6deg higher than predicted and the predicted headwind hasn’t appeared. It’s gonna be hot.
Massa accepts a chat: I wanna finish and I hope with good points. In a hot race like that anything can happen.

Excellent grid walking! Ultra-extended edition.

Bahraini National Anthem. Backing track only, no singing..

Ted’s analysis of qual:
Actual:
Trulli, Glock, Vettel, Button, Hamilton
Fuel-adjusted:
Trulli, Vettel, Button, Glock, Hamilton.
Glock and Trulli should stop first.

EJ picks Trulli to lead from the front.

12:55 FOM INTRO
We join Jonathan and Martin in the comm box.
JL’s first line: At least its not raining!
Live timing has reset.

Engines fired and mechanics clear the grid.

GREEN LIGHT
JL says they are all on the Super Soft.

Rob Smedley on Massa’s radio: The Brawns have cut out the back of their bodywork for cooling.

Trulli is taking his time leading them around. Is this the Ultimate Trulli Train?

Grid forming.

RED LIGHTS 1.2.3.4.5.. GO!

Hamilton up to 3rd straight away. Racing a Toyota now.
Contact at the rear.
Webber is passing cars all over the place! Glock took Trulli on the start.

Lap 1 complete
We’re on L2 – Button takes Hamilton into turn 1.
Webber is still passing, he’s 13th or so. There are cars absolutely everywhere!!

L3 Glock leads.
Glock, Trulli, Button, Hamilton, Vettel, Rubens, Kimi.
Kubica and Nakajima both pit for nosecones.

Start replays.
Replay of Button’s nice move on Hamilton.
L4 Massa pits for new nose and tyres. Ted speculates they may also have a KERS problem.

L5 Cars are spreading out now. Toyotas trading fastest laps.
Webber is up to 11th! Hell of a drive. Helped by 3 cars pitting but that’s impressive from where he started, and for Fisichella one place behind him.

L6 Martin says Vettel needs a faster pace than this, he’s following behind Hamilton at the moment.

L8 Toyotas and Button are really pulling away from the field.
Ted: Button has now been told to ‘turn his engine down’ to keep it cool.
This early??

Nosecam! Camera close to the ground with no bodywork in vision, very cool.

Rubens radio: You will have to use the overtake button to get past him.
He’s behind Vettel.

L10 Martin thinks Glock is going to pit soon (already).
Vettel radio: Target plus 2. Save your tyres.
Martin: Target plus two seconds I’d imagine.

L12 Glock pits from the lead. 9.3? He’s out alongside Rosberg, Nico beats him so he’s 9th.
Hamilton team radio: Prime is slower, Prime is slower recommend Option for next stint.
Hamilton: I agree, I agree.

L13 Trulli pits from the lead. 8.9. He’s out alongside Alonso and beats him! Trulli 6th and has changed to the medium tyres.
Martin says the paddock expected the supersofts to be the things to have and they’ve been taken by surprise.

L14 Heikki pits according to timing, we haven’t seen it on TV yet. Alonso alongside Trulli, he takes him!

L15 Barrichello pits and takes the supersofts. He’s out and beats Fisichella for 10th.

L16 Button and Hamilton pit. Both take supersofts.
Martin wonders if he’s misunderstood the Prime/Option discussion earlier. They don’t call them supersofts and mediums and he assumed prime meant soft, it actually means medium. Are you confused yet?

L17 Alonso pits. Supersofts. Button has passed both Toyotas during the stops and Trulli is ahead of Glock.
We don’t see where Alonso emerges because we’re watching Rubens fight with Nelsinho.
Rubens raises his arm! Does he think Nelson is blocking him? He is being held up but it is for position, can’t expect blue flags. On the straight Piquet has the KERS and Barrichello does not, Barrichello is a lot faster through the corners.
Rubens gets alongside at the tight left but Piquet jumps on KERS and just drives away from him!

L18 Bourdais pits. Replay: Rubens passes Piquet on turn one, nice move.
L19 Vettel pits from the lead. Raikkonen now leads but is yet to stop. Vettel on the medium tyres and he’s out behind Trulli and ahead of Rosberg, so he’s 4th.

L20 Vettel radio: The car in front is Trulli. Rosberg behind will stop in two laps.
Replay: Rubens passes Glock for 7th. Made it look easy, does Glock have a problem? Is it the medium tyres?

Kimi, Button, Trulli, Vettel, Rosberg, Hamilton, Rubens, Glock, Piquet, Alonso, Sutil, Buemi, Fisi, Webber, Massa, Kova, Bourdais, Kubica, Nakajima, Heidfeld.
L22 Kimi pits from the lead. Supersofts. Rosberg is in too. Kimi is out behind Piquet for 9th. Piquet has not stopped.
Buemi pits from 12th.

L24 Massa radio: The KERS is not working very well?
Massa: Yes the KERS.
L25 Hamilton radio: Trulli is on prime, he’s stopping at a similar time to you, we’re trying to out run him.
Button leads Trulli by 9 seconds. Trulli has Vettel and Hamilton close behind with Barrichello catching quickly.
Glock is next and 2 seconds per lap slower.

L27 Barrichello pits from 5th. Comes in just as he catches the slower cars ahead of him, nice timing. Supersofts. Beats Rosberg to the first corner for 8th. Hasn’t he run supersofts all the way? That means he has top stop again to run the mediums.

L30 Pretty stable at the moment. Things should happen in the final stint when the Brawns and Hamilton are on mediums and Toyotas and run the faster supersofts.
Hamilton radio: We believe you are 2 laps longer than Trulli. Vettel is even longer but you are racing Trulli for a podium.
Martin: So McLaren think Button is going to win it!

We’re a couple of laps over halfway and the first car has only just been lapped! Such a hot pace from everybody. No retirements, just delays to some cars for repairs. Another car is lapped as Nakajima exits the pits.

L32 Button is now 13.9 seconds ahead of Trulli. Not sure why Hamilton’s KERS isn’t getting him past Vettel – we saw the difference between Piquet and Barrichello earlier.

Ted has been running between garages for a straw poll: The consensus among the engineers is that Jenson is on a 2-stop, possibly switched from a 3-stop and that option is still available.

L34 Glock pits from 7th. Supersofts. He’s used both compounds and now can choose the preferred tyre. Now 10th.
L35 Trulli radio: Try to open a gap to Vettel, he’s longer than us but he’s on the prime tyre for the lasta steent.

Shot of John Button in a pink shirt.
Martin: Pink shirts, everyone is in pink shirts. Jake, DC, Daddy Button.
Jonathan: Tempted?
Martin: Not yet.

Kubica pits but he’s a lap down. BMW having a nightmare. 18th and 19th. Massa is about to be lapped by Button but Massa has stopped once more than most of the field.

L37 Bourdais pits from 14th.
L38 Button pits and takes mediums. 2-stopper then. Trulli and Hamilton also pit. Lewis has medium and Jarno has supersoft.
Barrichello passes Hamilton in the stops.
Fisichella, Kovalainen and Webber pit – they were running close together. McLaren was wrong about Trulli stopping later.

L39 Barrichello makes a move on Trulli but overshoots.
Ted says Jenson has been complaining of traffic.
We haven’t seen it.
Hamilton radio: Barrichello has to stop in ten laps.

L40 Vettel leads by 11.5 from Button but needs to stop. He pits now. Long train of cars coming down the road and he beats all except Kimi, he beats Trulli!

L43 Nakajima has jumped the two BMWs which now run dead last.
Martin: Trulli is on supersofts, if he can get past Vettel on the mediums he could get a run on Button who is also on mediums.

L44 Ted: Lots of people at BMW looking miserable. Both cars have sustained aero damage and both were converted to one-stops so their tyres are completely destroyed as well.
I never understood why teams switch to one-stoppers.

L45 Raikkonen pits from a long second stint. He’s out alongside Glock and isn’t able to maintain the place, so he’s 8th. Kimi wakes up and hits KERS, he’s past Glock straight away!

L46 Rosberg pits.
Replay: Kubica takes a look at passing Nakijima but hits him and spins!
L47 Massa pits. He’s well down the order, out of the points.
L48 Barrichello is in from 4th on his 3-stopper and takes his mediums. He just beats Raikkonen and Glock, it was a very short stop.

Button is 12.9 up on Vettel, then 1.1 to Trulli, Hamilton, Rubens, Kimi, Glock, Alonso, Rosbeg, Piquet, Webber, Kova, Bourdais, Fisi, Massa, Sutil, Buemi, Naka, Kubica, Heidfeld.

French Seb is kicking Swiss Seb’s ass today – he needed that to save his career.

L50 Nakajima pits for some reason. Late stop? No we cut to him and he’s pulled into the garage to retire. Only one retiree with 7 to go, that’s impressive in the heat here.

L51 Massa and Fisichella touch as Massa takes the position – all of 14th. Button is up behind them to lap them, Fisi seems to be blocking him!
It cost Button 1.5 seconds on that lap. He’s now 11.1 ahead of Vettel, still a big gap for the laps remaining.

L55 All very stable now, nothing much going on. Vettel and Trulli are catching Button rapidly but he’s clearly turned his settings down.

Grandstands don’t look too bad, the main one has a lot of people. Can’t see into the others dotted around.

L56 FINAL LAP
JL: What have we learnt? This is the first dry race. (err, what was Australia then, JL?)
Martin: The Brawn is the best car, the gap isn’t great to Red Bull. Ross Brawn’s sabbatical, he hasn’t lost his strategic ablility.

Jenson Button WINS!
Vettel 2nd
Trulli 3rd

Button radio! Congrats from the team, congrats from Button. He’s happy with the big points lead they’ve built up going into the European season. I think he feels very good to finally take a chequered flag at racing speeds in a Brawn!

Cars heading back to Parc Ferme. I never realised how slowly they did it. Now we’re on the BBC we are watching it happen, ITV always went to commercials here.

Button get on to his car and throws his arm in the air!
Martin says the BBC Forum is going to be at Brawn, that’ll be interesting!

Drivers to the podum, with Ron Meadows the team manager of Brawn. Nice to send him instead of Ross Brawn. Jarno Trulli doesn’t look happy.

British national anthem for Button and Brawn.

Trophies. Legard needs to stop talking about football.

Champaa… no, not champage. Muslim country so we have a local rose water drink instead. We don’t even get Bob Constanduros shouting “rose waaaaateeerrrrrr”.

We’re back with Jake, Eddie and David, seated this time.

Lee with Hamilton: Delighted with 4th, it was so hard to keep up with the guys, they were fast in the corners. It can be hot in this heat.

It is hot in the heat. Yep. Often is.

Press conference with Peter Windsor:
Button: Tough race. We haven’t had the pace we had at the first few races, I guess these guys have caught up. We knew Sebastian was longer but we made it work.
Vettel: The start was okay then all of a sudden Lewis was there, when I looked in my mirror he was not there but I guess he pressed his special button. (he talks about tyre degradation)
Trulli: I am a bit disappointed because I wanted the first win for Toyota. We had a long stint on hard tyres, it was hard fighting a lot of cars. At the end I was quicker (than Sebastian) but could not overtake so that’s how the race was. I want to thank the team.

Drivers of the day?
DC: Jenson and Lewis.
EJ: Vettel, we saw him dominate in the wet and this was his chance to show what he can do in the dry, I’d add him to the two DC gave.

3pm and we’re out of here. BBC closes the show with “I can see clearly now, the rain has gone”. Very good. 🙂

Race Result

1. Button 57 laps [10]
2. Vettel + 7.1 sec [8]
3. Trulli + 9.1 (to Button) [6]
4. Hamilton + 22.0 [5]
5. Barrichello + 37.7 [4]
6. Raikkonen + 42.0 [3]
7. Glock + 42.8 [2]
8. Alonso + 52.7 [1]
9. Rosberg + 65.1
10. Piquet + 67.6
11. Webber 67.6
12. Kovalainen + 77.8
13. Bourdais + 78.8
14. Massa + 1 lap
15. Fisichella + 1 lap
16. Sutil + 1 lap
17. Buemi + 1 lap
18. Kubica + 1 lap
19. Heidfeld + 1 lap
DNF Nakajima + 9 laps

FL Jarno Trulli 1:34.556 on lap 10

Drivers Championship

1. Button 21+10 = 31
2. Barrichello 15+4 = 19
3. Vettel 10+8 = 18
4. Trulli 8.5+6 = 14.5
5. Glock 10+2 = 12
6. Webber 9.5
7. Hamilton 4+5 = 9
8. Alonso 4+1 = 5
9. Heidfeld 4
10. Kovalainen 4
11. Rosberg 3.5
12. Raikkonen 0+3 = 3
13. Buemi 3
14. Bourdais 1

Button extends his lead. Vettel gains on Rubens. Trulli is up two places and Hamilton jumps from 10th to 7th. Raikkonen scores some points!

Constructors Championship

1. Brawn Mercedes 36+14 = 50
2. RBR Renault 19.5+8 = 27.5
3. Toyota 18.5+8 = 26.5
4. McLaren Mercedes 8+5 = 13
5. BMW Sauber 4
6. Renault 4+1 = 5
7. STR Ferrari 4
8. Williams Toyota 3.5
9. Ferrari 3
10. Force India Mercedes 0

Look at that points leads after just four races. Can they be beaten? McLaren have awoken yet are still falling behind the front three. A real shake up in the order this year.

The next race is the Spanish Grand Prix of May 10th, a tighter circuit which is usually one of the more boring races of the year – this will be a good test of the new regulations. Meanwhile the entire F1 paddock will enjoy the break in the knowledge we have no more back-to-back races for the whole year. For the forseeable future we’re back to the fortnightly races around Europe at 1pm, and I for one cannot wait!

* * *
I’m going to be very busy with college work again this week, I hope I’ll get a chance to catch up on the two IndyCar races I’ve not seen yet and post notes about them, otherwise I’ll try to post at least a little something between now and the Previews at the end of the week.

Race Notes: Chinese Grand Prix 2009

Apologies for the delay, I’m in the final phase of studying so there will be frequent delays on the blog until mid-June. Sorry! I watched this race live albeit away from my computer so I did not take notes live – I am watching this again on Friday night with a beer.

2009 Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix
Circuit: Shanghai International Circuit
Location: Shanghai, China
Coverage: BBC One (via iPlayer)
56 laps

Anchor: Jake Humphrey
Analysts in the paddock: David Coulthard and Mike Gascoyne (standing-in for Eddie Jordan)
Race commentary: Jonathan Legard and Martin Brundle
Pit and paddock reports: Ted Kravitz and Lee McKenzie

** Disclaimer – These are notes taken during the race. They may or may not make any sense and I have only edited them for brevity, punctuation and grammar. **

BBC coverage is GO with classic opener, The Chain!

Unexpected rain in China! Rain was forecast to arrive some time after the race and here we are and it is wet.

Jake Humphrey the tallest TV anchor ever is live in the empty-looking Shanghai pitlane with David Coulthard and Mike Gascoyne, famed F1 car designer and possibly the shortest man in F1.

Light rain and fairly heavy gusts of wind as the guys talk and recap the points.

Top Drivers:
Button 15
Rubens 10
Trulli 8.5
Glock 8

Top Teams:
Brawn 25
Toyota 16.5
BMW 4
Renault 4

Crazy half-points awarded last time out in the rain-shortened Malaysian GP. First time we’ve done the half-points thing in 20 years or something. I forget the exact number of years.

Qualifying report with Lee McKenzie. Highlights:
– It wasn’t raining then.
– Kubica out in Q1.
– Hamilton thanks the team for improving the car, “we’re gradually catching up”.
– Vettel on pole, Alonso 2nd.
– Alonso is light.
– Start order:

Vettel, Alonso
Webber, Rubens
Button, Trulli
Rosberg, Kimi
Lewis, Buemi
Heidfeld, Kova
Massa, Nakajima
Bourdais, Piquet
Kubica, Sutil
Glock (penalty), Fisi

Onboard with Vettel on his one and only lap in Q3, his pole lap described by Martin Brundle. Seb is on fire, brilliant lap.
Recorded segment with Coulthard talking to Webber and Vettel – Seb is in David’s old seat!
Seb: “We did not expect we would be that strong in qualifying.”
Mark: “I spoke to an aerodynamicist and he was in tears at the qualifying result, they had such a hard job over the winter.”

Back with Jake and DC says he’s extremely proud of the team, he had four seasons working with them and developing the cars.

The pitlane is getting busier as we go to Ted and a news roundup:
– Ron Dennis out of the McLaren F1 team, moves over to the ‘automotive’ side.
– Martin Whitmarsh saying they are changing the culture of the business.
– Diffuser update: Now they are legal, McLaren and Renault have brought some to test in China.
– Ferrari: 2 races, zero points. Kimi has given up on the WDC but thinks they can win races later in the year. No KERS for Ferrari in China after reliability issues in Malaysia.
– BMW will not have KERS because they don’t think it provides enough benefit in China.

Wow look at all that news, Ted rocks!

Package: Martin Brundle talking tyre terminology. Graining, marbles. Oh only 30 seconds? BBC going for 101 short and sharp packages before the race. Straight into a recorded chat with Jake and Jenson Button. If they are going too quickly to note it down, how are we supposed to listen to it?

This section is quite long actually. JB says they tested the car pre-season – later than everyone else – and it was fastest by six tenths, “which was quite nice”.

David Coulthard and Mike Gascoyne both agree that JB will win the title this year. Mike says Jenson has matured a lot in the years since he drove for Mike at Renault in 2002.

Martin’s Track Guide but you can go back to my China Preview to see an onboard so I’ll save some space here.

Jake, Martin and Mike are walking along pitlane and through the gate on to the grid. Walking and talking at the same time! These guys are talented. There are 30 minutes until the race starts and the cars are now leaving pit lane.

The main grandstand is full. I’m not sure if that’s a good sign or if the organisers bussed them in – it has been known at this venue in the past.

Gascoyne mentions that ‘Alonso is very light, could be Flav going for some attention.’ (paraphrased) I laugh because Mike used to work for Flav!

Martin Brundle is on the grid and joins the trio. He was hiding under an umbrella while the guys are unprotected. They joke.

Martin: These installation laps to the grid are the first laps they’ve done in the wet all weekend. There is no practice or warmup before the race these days.
DC: I’d want to do an extra lap of prep if I had the fuel available to do so.
Mike: Did your engineer ever tell you to ‘stay cool baby’?
DC: I never had that intimate a relationship with my engineer.

I already think Mike should permanently replace EJ in this role.

Lewis on his out-lap to the grid. A LOT of spray and standing water.

Martin collars DC and they BOTH do the Gridwalk!!

MB: There’s a Renault guy here with Red Bull because they supply engines, where do his loyalties lie?
DC: With Red Bull because he works for Red Bull, he supplies the engine. They’re delighted with pole. Renault are very fair with their supply. The guys trying to butt in on Kai Ebel of German TV who is interviewing Vettel! Kai backs out.
SV: We have the fuel on board, everyone knows. We are in quite early compared to others.
(A Premiere mike appears.)
DC: Why do you name your cars? Your cars are female I presume?
SV: Yes they are always female. You should have a good relationship.. I don’t know. You respect her and you try to treat her well, anyway you are the man for when it comes to women, so..
Martin pulls DC away before he can reply and they make a beeline for Alonso’s Renault.

Martin trying to pushing his way through and interrupts some other language broadcaster who is waiting her turn patiently. “We booked months ago, honestly!”
FA: We have a completely different race now in these conditions. We go for some points, we see how many.

Martin doesn’t like the qualifying system. Fuel-corrected Barrichello is on pole because if you adjust it for the weight they carried, he was fastest.

Guys darting from car to car looking for people, asks Steve at McLaren (ex-Autosport man) where Lewis is. He’s in the garage. DC – it means he’s in the toilet doesn’t it.

That was The.Best.Gridwalk.Ever. I hope someone capped it on to YouTube, I will look for it later.

Ted reports on his analysis of when everyone will stop which is fantastically awesome for a dry race but I really don’t think it means anything in a wet race.
Back live and Ted has found that Toyota have elected to start Glock from the pitlane. May as well, they were at the back after a penalty for a gearbox change. Briatore doesn’t look happy.

Ted with Pat Symonds of Renault – we have a Safety Car start due to the wet conditions. He says it’s the worse thing that could have happened to them because they were light.

Ultra-rapid editing turnaround as we get a montage of cars and personnel on the grid. I’ve never seen editing as fast as these little packages before we hit the World Feed. Stunning.

WORLD FEED – we join Jonathan Legard and the FOM-supplied pictures

JL: In the year of the ox, how appropriate is it that there’s a Red Bull in a China shop?

Lots of water streaming off the main buildings.

We have a Safety Car start so there will be NO FORMATION LAP. When the green light is lit we will be on lap one immediately.

MB – Bit underwhelmed to get up to the comm box and see it is a Safety Car start quite honestly, these are the best drivers in the world. The car I want to be in is the Red Bull, it seems the best balanced for the conditions.

We missed the Chinese national anthem, I think we were in the gridwalk at the time. No mention in the coverage. I’m not fussed about anthems per se, I just like to hear it as part of the atmosphere of the event and the build up to the race, as if you were in the stands. I guess being on the grid is just a little bit more interesting so I won’t complain 🙂

START ORDER
Vettel, Alonso, Webber, Barrichello, Button, Trulli, Rosberg, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Buemi, Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Massa, Nakajima, Bourdais, Piquet, Sutil, Fisichella
Electing to start from pitlane: Kubica and Glock

GREEN LIGHT
Bernd Maylander in the Mercedes AMG Safety Car leads the field away from the grid. Under wet start rules we are now GO Go go in a very underwhelming manner.

56 to go (56/56)
(I’m doing laps to go this week, usually I take the current lap from the live timing counter but I’m watching this on Friday!)

Onboard camera inside the SC, all smiles in there. Guys make the point that if you rode with Bernd you’d get out breathless, it only looks pedestrian compared to F1 cars.

One SC lap gone. Martin says they’ll bring it in pretty soon. Legard says conditions aren’t getting better but they are not getting worse.
Martin says the issue here is aquaplaning, skimming over the water not in control of the car.
Button radio – visibility is very very bad, got aquaplaning.
Ted Kravitz – both Williams drivers can’t conceive of the SC coming in yet.

We can only see three cars coming down the straight at any one time, so much spray. Not Fuji 2007 levels but pretty bad. Similar to Malaysia without the darkness!

54/56 – JL congratulates to Kovalainen for completing a lap!
Vettel radio – there is water on the track but it is okay, we’ve had worse in the past.
Martin agrees but also says the F1 aero and downforce doesn’t work until 70mph so the spray isn’t clearing as well and car temperatures are down. Massa went off track.

53/56 – Rosberg radio: aquaplaning on the main straight.
Martin calls up Mike in the BBC area of the paddock, what’s going on at the pitwall?
“The guys light on fuel haven’t got long left so shall I rejig my strategy and pit now? Those front 3 cars I’d think about pitting now.”
52/56 – Force India are in the pitlane as Sutil pits. Gets a pit stop out of the way when it doesn’t cost them anything. Kimi runs off track at the last corner.
Alonso on the radio: If we start running quick the water will disappear.
Martin: That message is not for us, it’s coded well not at all actually, it’s for Charlie Whiting.

51/56 – Rosberg pits. Hamilton’s radio says it will rain for 30 minutes at least.
Ted comes on and tells us Rosberg was on a 3-stopper, they switched him to a 2.

50/56 – Martin: “We should be motor racing now. Sorry if I sound like a stuck record but we should be getting on with this now, surely.”

49/56 – Alonso pits from 2nd. He should join the back of the pack and we get a message saying the Safety Car will come in at the end of this lap. Let’s see if we can see what’s going on in the spray on this start.

GREEN FLAG

This is the first hot lap in wet conditions for the whole weekend.

Hamilton takes Raikkonen! Kimi tries to hang on but Lewis pulls away around turn 13 and may have hit KERS down the following straight.

47/56 Buemi takes a look at Kimi but thinks better of it, and then again on the straight, still no, then Seb runs very wide at the last turn. Lots of runoff so he gets away with it.

46/56 Heidfeld is off wide at turn one.
45/56 A Brawn and Hamilton went wide at the last turn as well, Martin says that must be where there is a lot of standing water.
Buemi takes Raikkonen! Now Hamilton is slow! Buemi and the two Ferraris pass Hamilton but it baulks Kimi allowing Massa by him as well. Now Bourdais is on Hamilton’s tail.
Replay: Hamilton spun, full 360. Actually quite impressive that he managed to end up pointing the right way!
44/56 Buemi now passes Trulli! Swiss Seb is on a charge.
Massa is now lined up behind Trulli.

Replay: Piquet and Fisichella have a little tap. We go live just as Glock’s front wing taps Heidfeld into a spin.

43/56 Massa passes Trulli. Replay: Glock and Heidfeld, Glock didn’t know he was there. Replay: Nice move from Massa on Trulli.
42/56 Webber pits from 2nd. He’s out just in front of Trulli. Legard says he’s in front of the Trulli Train! The train gets a mention on TV!
41/56 Vettel pits from the lead. This is lap 15. Slow away. Nice clear track waiting for him.
Replay: Hamilton passes Raikkonen… again. He passed him, spun, then passed him again. Kimi slow in the wet, Lewis quick but hanging it on the edge..
Kovalainen passes a Toyota and someone follows him. We’re struggling to see who, may be Bourdais.

40/56 Button leads from Barrichello but neither have stopped. Glock starting at the back has caught Trulli who is slow in the wet. Martin says Lewis had a slow lap (on the timing screen) and lost the place to Kimi again.

39/56 Ted: When Vettel’s engineer saw the lap time of the Brawns his head dropped…
As Ted speaks we see a Toyota with no rear wing! Meanwhile a BMW is in with a new nose. Replay: Kubica hits Trulli hard! Completely destroys the rear wing of the Toyota. Trulli slow into the last turn, Kubica at full speed..

SAFETY CAR
It deploys immediately and picks up the first car which is Glock, not the leader Button. I don’t like that. Hold the SC at pit out until Button appears.

Glock slow without a wing on the backstraight. Button pits before he catches the SC. Pits don’t close any more, remember.
Now Buemi’s front wing is damaged.. Barrichello is in. I believe Vettel now leads.
Replay: Glock slow on the backstraight, Vettel slows down because he doesn’t want to pass a car under yellow and Buemi tags Vettel. Vettel proceeds past the damaged car (this is allowed).

36/56 Mike Gascoyne: Vettel is lighter than Button behind him. Ferrari and McLaren have not stopped and they can only be 7-10 laps from their pit window.

Massa has stopped on the circuit. Marshals run to his car. Three races, zero points. Replay: he just loses drive.
Ted says Vettel has no damage.

35/56 Hamilton radio: This is lap 22 we expect you to get to 33.
SC in this lap. Bourdais spins before the restart.

34/56 GREEN FLAG
Barrichello is losing places. Hamilton passed Raikkonen somewhere, we didn’t see it. Alonso passes Nakajima.
Replay: Hamilton just drives around the outside of Raikkonen!
Vettel 4 seconds faster than Button on that lap..

33/56 Top order: Vettel, Button, Webber, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, BuemiBarrichello
Glock’s front wing is at a strangle angle, he pits. Toyota have a nice little trolley carrying the front wing, little time-saving measure..
Vettel is just driving away from everyone else and making it look easy.

30/56 Button radio: Vettel is only quicker due to the fuel effect.
Nakajima and Glock both run off independently of each other. Martin, are you a fan of the big runoff areas?
MB: Yeah, it keeps them in the race doesn’t it and I’ve hit enough catch fences and posts that I’m quite jealous actually.
Nakajima off the road again a lap later. Rejoins.
Piquet has wiped the nose off his car. Eventually rejoins, all the nose debris is in the gravel. Replay: Took out the polystrene braking marker!
Replay: Sutil wide.

28/56 Piquet pits for his new nose but it’s taking a while.
Webber has passed Button somewhere: replay: Button brakes too late at the end of the long straight and Webber just takes the normal line to pass him.

26/56 In these conditions to only have two drivers out (Trulli and Massa) is quite remarkable. A wet race like this is normally a race of attrition. Impressive.

25/56 Button repasses Webber! Replay: Webber ran off track at the last turn.
Webber is coming back at him and retakes the position! Excellent! He did the same thing as Hamilton earlier, same place.
Button weaving and warming his tyres at racing speeds..

23/56 Hamilton pits. He should get fuel for the rest of the race, where does he come out? He’s 8th on a clear track with good visibility.
Everyone has stopped apart from Kovalainen in 4th.

22/56 Kovy is in now. Kubica’s nosecone is at a funny angle. Has he hit something else or did they not fit this one properly?
21/56 Alonso pits from 5th, looks like he’s out in 9th. Kubica pits for another nose.
20/56 Bourdais is doing donuts on the grass. Martin: What do you give that, 5.9? Oop another 180, that’s the full 6.

French Seb isn’t getting on well with F1 cars, is he?

19/56 German Seb pits. Button retakes 2nd and Vettel is now 3rd. Webber leads but needs to stop.
A slow Renault of Alonso. Up to speed again. Did he spin? Replay: it comes around on him at turn 13.
18/56 Vettel is catching Button. Good traction out of 13 on the onboard.
17/56 Webber pits from the lead. Vettel sets fastest lap. Webber is 3rd just ahead of Barrichello.
Glock takes Raikkonen for 11th.

16/56 Vettel takes the lead! He pulls out from behind Button in the spray and dives by at the end of the long straight.
15/56 Rosberg pits for intermediate tyres! That can’t be the right choice.
Replay: Alonso passes Raikkonen for 11th. I think that might be wrong because Glock was 11th a second ago.
14/56 Button pits, Vettel FL. Full wets for Button. Martin says Rosberg is going pretty well on the inters.
13/56 Barrichello pits and takes full wets, drops to 5th.
Vettel, Webber, Button, Buemi, Barrichello, Hamilton, Kovalainen, Sutil(!)
Martin says Rosberg is 2 seconds off the pace on his intermediates now.

12/56 Nakajima parks it in the garage.
11/56 Martin: I’d love to see that Force India get a point.
He’s doing a good job to stay ahead of Heidfeld and Glock.
10/56 Piquet spins at pit entry. May not have intended to go down the pit entry road.
Martin: I don’t want to beat up on the kid but he’s had three 17th slots on the grid, he’s going to have to raise his game.

9/56 Hamilton runs off the road where he went off earlier, doesn’t spin this time but it lets Kovalainen through.

8/56 Despite the McLarens being in close contact they are catching Barrichello. Replay: Rosberg loses it on the wrong tyres. Sutil is 7th now, I thought he was 8th. Martin says Heidfeld and Glock have passed Buemi because Buemi pitted, I’m guessing Sutil did too. Vettel, Webber, Button, Barrichello, Kovalainen, Hamilton, team by team..

7/56 Rosberg pits for full wets. Hamilton 360 in the last corner, Sutil passes him for 6th!! Very nice drive from Adrian, he’s proving himself a good wet weather driver.

6/56 Oh big accident! Wheels go flying. Must be big because it broke the tethers. Ah shit, it’s Adrian Sutil. Of all the guys to go off.. Onboard replay, can’t see a thing but it just twitches on him. He corrects it and it takes him by surprise.

No SC as yet, I hope that wheel got clear. The car is in the gravel, should be okay if nobody else goes off there.. Adrian is okay it seems.

4/56 No SC, I’m guessing if this had been lap 20 we would get one but since we only have four left they aren’t doing so. Martin says we are very close to SC conditions here with that car in that position, it is a judgement call.

3/56 Double-waved yellows while they recover Sutil’s car. Martin says that’s a close call, the drivers should be really backing off under double-yellows. Needless to say.. they aren’t.

2 to go – Everyone is just trying to make the end now.

Final Lap

SEBASTIAN VETTEL WINS!

What a fantastic drive. He really is excellent in the wet. A 1-2 finish as Webber comes in 2nd. I feel bad for Mark because he’s worked hard for several years only to have Seb come in and take the first RBR win from him – but Seb drove the better race and deserved it on the day.

Cool-down lap.
Parc Ferme.
Replays of the win.
The applauding grid girls!
The podium drivers are met by Joe Bauer

Podium!

German national anthem for Vettel.
British national anthem for Red Bull Racing – erm, don’t they race under an Austran licence in deference to the owners? Should be the Austrian anthem!
Trophies.
Champaaaaagne!

We’re all done. BBC are out of here on the main coverage, they continue on the interactive feed with the F1 Forum. I’ll leave that this week as I am on the replay and can’t find it.

Race Result

1. Vettel 56 laps [10pts]
2. Webber + 10.970s [8]
3. Button + 44.975s [6]
4. Barrichello + 1:01.704 [5]
5. Kovalainen + 1:05.102 [4]
6. Hamilton + 1:11.866 [3]
7. Glock + 1:14.476 [2]
8. Buemi + 1:16.439 [1]
9. Alonso + 1:24.309
10. Raikkonen + 1:31.750
11. Bourdais + 1:34.156
12. Heidfeld + 1:35.834
13. Kubica + 1:46.853
14. Fisichella + 1 lap
15. Rosberg + 1 lap
16. Piquet + 2 laps
17. Sutil + 6 laps
Nakajima – Not classified
Massa – Not classified
Trulli – Not classified

I had no idea the Red Bulls were so far ahead of everyone else at the end there. Other than RBR and Button it was actually a fairly tight finish for F1 with 30 seconds separating 4th from 10th. That’s not bad.

Drivers Championship

1. Button 15+6 = 21
2. Barrichello 10+5 = 15
3. Vettel 0+10 = 10
4. Glock 8+2 = 10
5. Webber 1.5+8 = 9.5
6. Trulli 8.5
7. Heidfeld 4
8. Alonso 4
9. Kovalainen 0+4 = 4
10. Hamilton 1+3 = 4
11. Rosberg 3.5
12. Buemi 2+1 = 3
13. Bourdais 1
(no other scorers)

Button and Barrichello strengthen their positions at the top as Vettel jumps straight into 3rd position with his win. Glock and Webber look good for the fight for 3rd, maybe Trulli too.

Constructors Championship

1. Brawn Mercedes 25+11 = 36
2. RBR Renault 1.5+18 = 19.5
3. Toyota 16.5+2 = 18.5
4. McLaren Mercedes 1+7 = 8
5. BMW Sauber 4
6. Renault 4
7. STR Ferrari 3+1 = 4
8. Williams Toyota 3.5

RBR make big gains and take 2nd position. Brawn have a healthy lead already and Toyota are going extremely well for them. McLaren finally get a semi-respectable score while amazingly Ferrari remain as non-scorers – their worst start in points since 1981.

* * *
Bahrain is up next and we’re part way through that weekend already. I will have notes ready on Sunday evening. I plan to post my previews on Saturday morning and the Long Beach notes on Saturday night.