2009 Spanish Formula 1 Grand Prix

[Dr_Grip]

Were there some dodgy tactics from BrawnGP? Can someone explain the situation in a nutshell? Rubens didn't look that happy.

I'll explain it for a second time, as it is cloddered up in multiple posts:
Both Brawns were on Ruben's three-stop strategy, as Ross Brawn figured their car would be in another universe than the competiton when light enough.
As Ruben's times from the second stint show, he was dead right about this.
Anyways, Jenson got some seconds behind Rubens and Brawn's calculations predicted that on a three-stop strategy, Jenson would get held up in traffic, so they switched him to two-stop (it was on TV: "We had to switched Jenson to Plan A. Now you got to make it work", in other words, they had no hope for Jenson at this point).
Sadly, Ruben's tires in the third stint did not work at all, so instead of being around a second faster than the competition, he suddenly lost .3 to .4 secs per round.
Luckily for Brawn GP, Sutil got held up behind Massa, so Jenson could take the lead after all.

At least, that's Brawn's official version and apart from the "bad tires" bit, which might be a bad excuse from Ruben's side, i have no reason to question it.

 

[Peter3hg]

Were there some dodgy tactics from BrawnGP? Can someone explain the situation in a nutshell? Rubens didn't look that happy.

Both cars started on a 3 stopper. However they swapped Button onto two stops because he would come out and get held up by Rosberg if he stayed on three stops. Rubens came in early for his second stop as he was getting caught up in traffic. Rubens 3rd stint was slow for whatever reason so he came back out behind Button after the final stops. If Rubens third stint was at the expected speed he would have come out a few seconds ahead of Button.

 

[Mercury]

argh! Ferrari just keep up the fiascos this season. Kimi out with a technical problem and Massa running out of fuel(?!?) and having to give up 2 places in the last 4 laps. Come on

Then at the front we got Rubens losing a race he really shouldn't have due to a stupid 3 stop strategy in a track that allows absolutely 0 overtaking options (I think the only ones today were in the first lap and Massa with no fuel... that's far too boring). At least Button was the one to win it and Webber got the best out of Massa holding Vettel back for a whole race.

 

[devil500]

Can't wait to see what happens once everyone gets these diffusers we'll be back to 2008 where there were few if any passes..

 

[Peter3hg]

argh! Ferrari just keep up the fiascos this season. Kimi out with a technical problem and Massa running out of fuel(?!?) and having to give up 2 places in the last 4 laps. Come on

Then at the front we got Rubens losing a race he really shouldn't have due to a stupid 3 stop strategy in a track that allows absolutely 0 overtaking options

Barrichello didn't need to do any overtaking for his 3 stopper to work.

Edit: I think this graph clearly shows where it all went wrong for Rubens. His 3rd stint is shocking for someone of his calibre.

 

[torqueless]

Oh so that was what he said eh? I only heard the word "fucked..." and then I saw him putting his hand to his mouth. :lol:

hilarious.

i lol'd

 

[Cold Fussion]

Saying that Massa ruined vettels race is a bit idiotic because they should of changed his strategy after the first stint in order to give him some clean air, like they did for mark webber. Red bull had the exact same thing happen to them in bahrain so they should be running models to creates plans when this situation arises.

 

[justvisiting]

also the pit stops for vettel werent as smooth as they could have been. really though I agree they should have changed the strategy.

 

[Suspense]

Webber looked like he was trying to get some food out of the corner of his mouth....wtf.

That was mesmerizing. He spent the entire press conference licking the side of his mouth.

Anyone got a video of that press conference saved?

 

[MP4/14]

What a fantastic start from Rubens to get passed Button on the first corner. That would have been quite hard to pull off. I think that LH forget he was at the back of the grid not the front when he pulled out from behind Piquet who was trying to get around a slow starting car.

LH was so lucky to not get taken out of race when he lost all that ground at the start and nearly joing the turn two accident. I think it was Trulli who made slight contact with a Williams and way too wide and I think stupidly tried to keep it on the track. I find it funny Sutil cut the corner and yet still ended up being the first one to hit Trulli.

Kimi (seemingly without KERS for the start) made a fantastic start and only one of the cars in front of him were caught up in the accident and LH was at the back which means Kimi made up 4 spots by himself. Heikki made a good start to climbing up to 11th from 18th place. Heikki's retirement was due to losing 5th 6th and 7th gear.

9 Lewis Hamilton Vodafone McLaren Mercedes +1 lap

IS this the first time Lewis has finished a lap down?

The pass on Alonso by Webber was inspired and is what gave him the chance to get on hte podium. After the first stop I didnt know what the hell happened to him but it turned out to be great strategy having the hard tyres on for the least time while gaining time on those in front whilst still on the option.

Too bad for Vettel being held up behind Massa with da KERS but oh well. I wonder what was wrong with the fuel rig for Massa. Maybe the Ferrari mechanics used the one that was "reserved" for Kimi

Good: Button, Webber, Piquet for finishing.
Bad: Brawn #2, Massa, Raikkonen, STR
Ugly: Brawn el numero uno Mr Brawn himself. Benetton: Rubens #2 Ferrari Rubens #2 Brawn Rubens #2. The person in charge? Well you know who that is.

Why did both drivers belive 3 stopping was the fastest strategy? I think the race was planned before the weekend started. Two 3 stop strategies for Rubens and has finished behind Button twice.

I wonder if Rubens would want to quit or retire being designated #2 again or just wants to stay there because he will get podiums. For those who think not remember he was at Ferrari all those years and almost no wins.

 

[ahpadt]

*sigh* @ Piquet pushing Hamilton into the grass in the start.

 

[MadCow809]

Well, more trouble for Ferrari... The team ruined both Kimi and Massa's race. Kimi drove brilliantly, made up some valuable spots by getting away cleanly off the line. But it is clear to see that the Ferrari is still all over the place, a real handful to drive for the former Champ.

McLaren, reliability problem once again hits Kovalainen. The infamous hamiltrain happened again, slowing everyone down. At one stage, he was clearly the slowest driver on the field with the rear tyres wearing away.

A brilliant drive by Jenson, he put down a great stint with the hard tyres and that really won him the race.

Vettel, argh... I kind of feel sorry for him, blocked by Massa in the first two stint. But Webber's strategy on the hard tyres paid off and that's what scored him a podium. I LOL'ed really hard when Webber said "Felipe fucked er.... (notices the camera) sorry... er.. er.." Still, that pass on Alonso was massively epic. Great bit of driving from the Aussie.

Alonso did well by fighting off hamilton after the pit stop, that certainly gave the Spanish crowd something to cheer about. He pipped hamilton at least twice in the whole race, in addition to that, he was promoted a free place since Massa was running out of race fuel in the last stint. I was thoroughly chuffed when Alonso squeezed him on the grass and made him lose 4 or 5 places, talk about revenge from 2007 : )

 

[Cold Fussion]

Bad: Brawn #2, Massa, Raikkonen, STR

How the hell was Massa bad? He kept Vettel behind him for 62 laps in his peice of shit Ferrari and didn't make one mistake the entire time.

 

[GaryC]

Great race for some. Not so good for STR. Double suicide. Massa held up Vettel, but with KERS, I guess Vettel couldn't do anything about it.

Just wondering, do teams bring their own fuel rigs to races or are they provided by the track?

 

[MP4/14]

How the hell was Massa bad? He kept Vettel behind him for 62 laps in his peice of shit Ferrari and didn't make one mistake the entire time.

And how on earth was Rubens bad?

Im not saying he drove bad the result was

And it wasnt Massa himself that kept Vetel behind it was KERS

McLaren, reliability problem once again hits Kovalainen. The infamous hamiltrain happened again, slowing everyone down. At one stage, he was clearly the slowest driver on the field with the rear tyres wearing away.

I must not have noticed but I didnt see him hold anyone off except for the slower BMW.

I was thoroughly chuffed when Alonso squeezed him on the grass and made him lose 4 or 5 places, talk about revenge from 2007 : )

If you are talking about the start that was actually Piquet.

 

[MadCow809]

I must not have noticed but I didnt see him hold anyone off except for the slower BMW.

Yeah, Martin said that hamiltrain is holding up the guys at the back, right after hamilton finished his second pit stop.

Can you believe it? He was actually holding back Nakajima and Timo Glock.

If you are talking about the start that was actually Piquet.

I stand corrected. Quite a good move from Piquet though.

 

[vikiradTG2007]

Barrichello didn't need to do any overtaking for his 3 stopper to work.

Edit: I think this graph clearly shows where it all went wrong for Rubens. His 3rd stint is shocking for someone of his calibre.

I can probably bet that stint was done on used soft tires. That could explain the slow pace in that stint.

 

[Karoug]

Just wondering, do teams bring their own fuel rigs to races or are they provided by the track?

They are provided by the FIA i believe. it's not the teams fuel rigs...

 

[Sir Stiggington]

That was a good race compared to Spanish GPs of late...Shame about McLaren, they deserved at least a point. Lewis' driving is impressing me more this year than last, if anything...

Ferrari have to stop screwing up. I mean, running out of fuel? Come one, that's so thirty years ago....

Great drive by Jenson, he may be uncatchable now...

 

[lukenwolf]

That was definitely the worst race of the season so far :? Stupid follow-the-leader stuff with no overtaking. Ross should send a huge buquet of flowers to Maranello for Massa blocking off the rest of the field so Jenson and Rubens could walk it home again.
As much as it pleases to see them win, I would rather see them fighting for it and not just winning by default because of some KERS car playing road block.

Monaco will probably be more of the same, but I'm hoping to see some real heroics from some of the more talented drivers