Planet 9

**Bodhii** · #1 05-01-2009, 01:01 PM

F1 Track: Virtual Drive in Barcelona, Spain 2009 Grand Prix

Walter · #2 05-01-2009, 01:49 PM

Is Barcelona the same as Catalunya?
And we're still a week away.
But the MotoGP GRAN PREMIO bwin.com DE ESPAÑA is this weekend.

**Santa Fe** · #3 05-02-2009, 12:27 PM

Fuel weights are key to understanding team race plans this year it seems. So looking around I found that to complete a normalised distance of 5km around the Barcelona circuit requires 2.44kg of fuel so after qualifying weights are released and knowing number of laps is 66, circuit length is 4.655 km and race distance is 307.104 km we can attempt to figure out the pit stop strategies.

**Santa Fe** · #4 05-05-2009, 07:45 AM

Want an F1 fix before this weekend? Check out some very nice photos of the season so far at 2009 Formula One season, wet & dry - The Big Picture - Boston.com

***TX-KmanS*** · #5 05-05-2009, 07:50 AM

Originally Posted by Santa Fe

Want an F1 fix before this weekend? Check out some very nice photos of the season so far at 2009 Formula One season, wet & dry - The Big Picture - Boston.com

FANTASTIC PICS!!!! Thanks for sharing.

**Bodhii** · #6 05-05-2009, 08:11 AM

Spanish GP preview

Great fotos, SantaFe!

Throughout the winter and the early races, there has been talk of a 'new world order' in Formula 1 and of the form book being turned inside out as Brawn, Toyota and Red Bull usurped the formerly dominant McLaren and Ferrari.
But just as everyone was getting used to plain white cars being at the front and silver and scarlet ones being in the midfield, the reset button is being hit again at this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.
The testing ban , the massive winter rules changes and the late clarification of exactly how far the diffuser regulations could be pushed have meant a return to the days when the first European round marked the 'real' start of the season.
In the past, many teams waited until returning to Europe to introduce new cars, having taken the previous year's models to the early flyaways.
In 2009, the situation is slightly different - as Barcelona marks the first chance that many teams will have to introduce their responses to the diffuser verdict, and a big opportunity for those who were already ahead of the game with their diffusers to bring their first big upgrades of the year.
The teams who hope they will gain the most amid the flurry of developments are Ferrari and BMW Sauber.
Amid all the talk of McLaren's dire winter, few expected that the Woking squad's 2008 title rivals would turn out to be in a similar predicament when the racing started - or that it would be McLaren that showed signs of recovery first.
BMW at least has solid points on the board thanks to Nick Heidfeld's slightly lucky strategic podium in Malaysia, while Ferrari got off the zero mark in Bahrain but remains a dismal ninth in the constructors' championship (which it has won for eight of the past 10 years).
Both teams are praying that the swathes of new parts they are bolting on for Spain will transform their fortunes.

Conversely, McLaren has warned that it might take a step back - relatively speaking - at Barcelona.
Unlike Ferrari and BMW, McLaren (and indeed Renault) started its rush of new parts in the middle of the flyaway rounds, which means it has fewer fresh tricks up its sleeve for Spain, plus it expects the MP4-24's fundamental lack of downforce to prove especially costly at this track.
Renault might not be making any great strides either, having produced its leap forward with Fernando Alonso's fuel-assisted but still superb second on the grid in China.
But whatever technical package Renault turns up with, expect some Alonso magic in front of his adoring home crowd to thrust the team into contention.
It will surely be tempting to opt for an ultra-aggressive fuel load to get the former champion near the front of the grid, then let his KERS button and tenacity do the rest...
While last year's big guns hope to regain respectability this weekend, those that have usurped them will try to cling on to their new-found dominance.
If the usual suspects are charging back to the front, it could be particularly bad news for Williams, which has a far quicker car than its desultory tally of 3.5 points in 2009 suggests.
Operational gaffes are mainly to blame for that dearth of points, although the car looked like it was starting to get out-classed by improving rivals at Sakhir, despite several new components being fitted.
Red Bull's Adrian Newey has proved that you don't need a fancy diffuser to go quickly in 2009, and although one such diffuser is on the way, even without one Sebastian Vettel looks like the man most likely to prevent a fairytale Brawn title.
Newey and his colleagues have been flat-out on upgrades for the RB5, but with a substantial redesign required to accommodate the double diffuser, these may arrive in a clump for Monaco or Turkey rather than Barcelona.
The improving Toyota team is confident that it has the resources and the ideas to stay ahead in the development race, while championship leader Jenson Button is starting to lose his wide-eyed surprise at being ahead and is instead showing the healthy paranoia of the unexpected front-runner - constantly worrying that the pack is about to swallow him.
On pure pace, he's probably right, for either Red Bull or Toyota could have (should have?) won in Bahrain had their strategies and starts worked out better.
But Button and Brawn beat them on operational sharpness and opening lap boldness, and those skills are worth just as much as a massive upgrade programme.
So with some determined to vault forward, others warning they will slide backwards, and the remainder utterly baffled as to where they might end up when the music stops at Catalunya, this weekend's race could reveal how the remarkable story of the 2009 title battle will develop in the final three quarters of the season.
However, while the unknown pecking order makes the Spanish GP a mouth-watering prospect, few anticipate that the on-track action will live up to this intrigue.
Even with the new, in theory overtaking-friendly, regulations, Barcelona is expected to remain a very tough venue for overtaking.
Indeed some sceptics suggested that the true test of any rules designed to improve the action would be whether the changes made the Spanish GP worth watching!
At least the shake-up means that while passing might be in short supply, the result remains utterly unpredictable going into the weekend.
And given how astonishingly wet this season has turned out to be so far, don't bet against a repeat of 1996's shock Spanish GP downpour - which would be the last thing the teams need with new parts to evaluate and the anomalous Monte Carlo next on the calendar.

source[www.itv-f1.com]

**Santa Fe** · #7 05-05-2009, 04:30 PM

From what I can figure out for Spain;
BMW - No KERS, no double diffuser, major upgrades
Ferrari - Lighter chassis to accommodate KERS, will have double diffuser
Toyoto - Aero upgrades
Red Bull/Toro Rosso - Aero upgrades but they are saying no diffuser yet
Force India - Will get the adjustable front wing that the others have
McLaren - Running a double diffuser and aero changes.
Brawn - A major upgrade to gain 2/10 to 3/10 second
Renault - Minor changes
Williams - ?

It does cost to go quicker and most look to be quicker.

Walter · #8 05-08-2009, 09:05 AM

Friday practice,
Nico Rosberg fastest once again.
Then his Williams teammate Nakajima.
Then Alonso, Barrichello, Webber, Button, Vettel.

"It was a relatively inconclusive end,
as some other fancied combinations were clearly not running at their fastest.
It was thus difficult to draw any hard and fast inferences from an
important day on which everyone tried out their new aerodynamic packages."

The Official Formula 1 Website

Walter · #9 05-09-2009, 07:42 AM

Qualifying,

Button
Vettel
Barrichello
Massa
Webber
Glock
Trulli
Alonso

Watching from the on board camera, I'm amazed how many drivers are
missing their apex by a foot or so. Michael Schumacher would never do that.

**Santa Fe** · #10 05-09-2009, 11:22 AM

Qualifying weights - Vettle's time was on used tires and heavier, Button on new tires which supposedly are quicker and was lighter. Vettle looks good. But Massa's KERS could let him jump the first three at the start. Rosberg on a long run strategy. Should be interesting.

1. Jenson Button Brawn Mercedes 646.0
2. Sebastian Vettel RBR Renault 651.5
3. Rubens Barrichello Brawn Mercedes 649.5
4. Felipe Massa Ferrari 655.0
5. Mark Webber RBR Renault 651.5
6. Timo Glock Toyota 646.5
7. Jarno Trulli Toyota 655.5
8. Fernando Alonso Renault 645.0
9. Nico Rosberg Williams Toyota 668.0
10. Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 660.0
11. Kazuki Nakajima Williams Toyota 676.6*
12. Nelson Piquet Renault 677.4*
13. Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 676.3*
14. Lewis Hamilton McLaren Mercedes 683.0*
15. Sébastien Buemi STR Ferrari 678.0*
16. Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 673.0*
17. Sébastien Bourdais STR Ferrari 669.0*
18. Heikki Kovalainen McLaren Mercedes 657.0*
19. Adrian Sutil Force India Mercedes 675.0*
20. Giancarlo Fisichella Force India Mercedes 656.0*

* declared weight

F1 · #11 05-09-2009, 12:05 PM

Thanks Santa Fe! Given that they post the weight of the cars, it makes it more interesting from the spectator view. This way I have some hopes in Massa

**Santa Fe** · #12 05-09-2009, 06:26 PM

Massa is starting on the dirty side of the track and he has used up his new tires but he is stopping four laps later than Vettel and Button by my calculations. And rain is a threat again which wouldn't favor Massa as much as the Red Bulls and Brawns. In the dry he is a podium contender it seems.

**fondueski** · #13 05-09-2009, 09:41 PM

Another amateurish performance by Ferrari in quali - for the second time this year. I would love to know who made the call for Kimi to stay in the garage.

Walter · #14 05-10-2009, 07:52 AM

Massa and his KERS really screwed Vettel.

Ferrari is really stinking the place up this year.
First Massa doesn't make it out of Q1.
Then Kimi doesn't meke it out of Q1.
Now they underfill Massa and he almost runs out of fuel.

**Santa Fe** · #15 05-10-2009, 07:18 PM

Originally Posted by Walter

Massa and his KERS really screwed Vettel.

Ferrari is really stinking the place up this year.
First Massa doesn't make it out of Q1.
Then Kimi doesn't meke it out of Q1.
Now they underfill Massa and he almost runs out of fuel.

For long time F1 fans we recognize that the series is as much about thinking and strategy as it is pure quickness. That is what separates GP2/Nascar and others from the pinnacle of the sport. The ability to develop, change and execute strategies make the sport very exciting for the thinking teams and the thinking fans. We saw several examples of winning and losing approaches today and for me those that won with the brain, technical superiority and strategy execution made for a great show. Even the dumbed down tire rules didn't seem to get in the way. Hopefully new fans to the sport will take the time to understand and calculate what is going on rather than be allured by just wheel bumping.

**fondueski** · #16 05-10-2009, 08:24 PM

Originally Posted by Santa Fe

For long time F1 fans we recognize that the series is as much about thinking and strategy as it is pure quickness. That is what separates GP2/Nascar and others from the pinnacle of the sport. The ability to develop, change and execute strategies make the sport very exciting for the thinking teams and the thinking fans. We saw several examples of winning and losing approaches today and for me those that won with the brain, technical superiority and strategy execution made for a great show. Even the dumbed down tire rules didn't seem to get in the way. Hopefully new fans to the sport will take the time to understand and calculate what is going on rather than be allured by just wheel bumping.

This race was a perfect example:
Button switching to a two stop strategy got him the win.
The Red Bull Webber strategy allowed him to leapfrog both his teammate and Massa. A bit surprised Red Bull didn't do better to get Vettel clear of Massa. Ferrari is really floundering in almost all areas - reliability, basic quali/race operations/execution, & strategy.