2009 FIA Formula One World Championship

[scothius]

wooo hoo go Weber...first win for an Aussie since Alan jones in the 80's

[LfcFan]

Yeah
Long over due win for Mark
Pretty heroic considering the injuries he's carrying after his mountain bike accident.
Up until yesterday,i thought he was Mr Unlucky.Lets hope he's on his way to even better things.
Congrats to MW

[LfcFan]

[LfcFan]

Felipe Massa hurt in freak qualifying accident.

Rubens Barrichello's Brawn car lost a part from the rear suspension.
Four seconds later it was still bouncing down the track towards the 180 miles per hour Ferrari of Felipe Massa.
The componant, thought to be a spring, struck Felipe on the left side of his helmet.
From the on board footage it appears Massa retained some sort of conciousness and was able the use the brakes but the throttle didnt sound like it was released.
With both front wheels locked up, Massa careered into the tyre barrier at 125 mph, some distance from the circuit.
His car ended up with all the monocoque wedged in the barrier, minus the front wing, wheels and wing mirrors.
Doctors where on the scene extremely quickly but Massa wasnt moving.
The third qualyfying sesson was delayed whilst Felipe was removed from the Ferrari and taken to the on site medical centre before being air lifted to a nearby hospital.
The Ferrari driver is currently in a stable condition after undergoing surgery for skull damage.
Its believed the part from Ruben's car hit Massa just above the eye.

All this follows on from the recent tragic death of 18 year old Henry Surtees, son of world champion John Surtees. That accident involved a loose wheel from a seperate incedent stricking the youngster on the head.

Although motorsport is far safer these days, it is still a dangerous sport.

I hope and pray Felipe makes a fast and full recovery


A link to video footage filmed by the BBC
Massa incident

[stjimmy]

just heard on talk sport radio, his life is in threat after surgery and is on a life support machine...

[LfcFan]

Ferrari driver Felipe Massa is in a "stable" condition following emergency surgery after he suffered skull damage and concussion.

Massa had initially suffered "serious, life-threatening injuries", according to Budapest's AEK military hospital.
But Ferrari later said the operation was "positive" and a "success".
And the Italian team added on Sunday: "After undergoing an operation yesterday afternoon, Felipe Massa's condition remains stable and there were no further complications through the night.
"He will be given another CT scan today which will provide more precise information."

[LfcFan]

A sight amount of news regarding Felipe Massa. He is still in a stable condition and CT scan was fine this morning.Get well soon Felipe.Lets hope we see him back in a months time at Valencia.

Ohhhh how nice to see Eddie Jordan eat his words, "No KERS car will win a race". Very well done McLaren and Lewis.

[LfcFan]

Massa making steady but slow progress.
He still cant talk.However he is able to comunicate,plus move his arms and legs.
There is still concern over the swelling to his brain which should ease over the days ahead.
Damage to his eye isnt a priority concern,although the injury could have ended his F1 driving career.
His Family are with him,including his pregnant wife,flown in from Brazil on Saturday.

[LfcFan]

A bit of an update on Felipe Massa.
Reports suggest that he is still making good progress in his recovery but not yet able to train to regain full fitness.

[LfcFan]

Back after a three week break which felt like forever.
The dusty street circuit of Valencia this weekend.
One of my least favourite tracks on the calendar. Not much of a challenge for the drivers and very unimpressive looking to boot *yawn*
Very slow lap times first thing on friday but steadly improving as the cars lay down the rubber.





Ferrari test driver and replacement for the injured Felipe Massa, Luca Badoer is coming in for a whole load of flack, rightfull so looking at his performance so far. To say the least, this guy is slow. He appears to be way out of his depth. It will be a big suprise if he is the number two Ferrari driver for the remainder of the season. Marc Gene must be feeling sick as dog for not getting the seat ahead of Luca.

[FunkyG]

wow, no F1 for a couple weeks and there is 3 or 4 new names that i have not seen befor, i know luca is in for massa but still a couple i've not seen.

Have some teams had a drive shuffle in the break?

[LfcFan]

Yep, exactly that.
Nelson Piquet Jr. has disappointed the Renault team with poor race results and has been replaced by Romain Grosjean.
I think the other two drivers your talking about are Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi. Both of these guys raced at the last meeting. Driver shuffling is common place at this point of the season, under performing drivers get replaced and we often see new young replacements.

[LfcFan]

Normal service is resumed with a all McLaren-Mercedes front row.
This must be very satisfying for the team after seeing how bad this car was at the start of the year. Proof that you cant keep the best teams down for long. Brilliant turn around.
Fernando Alonso won from pole position last year, can Lewis Hamilton make it back to back victories tomorrow? Lets hope so.
Jenson Button has got some work to do if he is going to keep a healthy cushon over the Red Bulls.
Fingers crossed that Rubens Barrichello doesnt lose his cool and nails a good race result.

[LfcFan]

The best race on the calendar is here.
I've waited all season for this.
I can feel another fantastic race coming up.
The topsy tervy grid and varying fuel loads have left us the expectation of a cracker.
Spa is never a dull one so set yourself up infront of the tv and dont move

They dont design circuits like this anymore
This place has got it all
60% full throttle
Super long straights
Steep accents and decents
Flat out corners
Hairpin bends
Chicains
Some of the most famous turns in the world
Plenty of over taking
And the most unpredictable weather anywhere in the world.










1. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 648kg
2. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 656.5
3. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 655
4. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 644.5
5. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 649
6. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 655
7. Timo Glock, Toyota, 648.5
8. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 662.5
9. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 658
10. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 670
11. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 678.5
12. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 693.5
13. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 684.4
14. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 694.2
15. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 697
16. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 685
17. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso, 704.5
18. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 706.1
19. Romain Grosjean, Renault, 704.7
20. Luca Badoer, Ferrari, 691.5

Some of the big names are well down the grid but with plenty of start fuel, so dont write them off, its anybodies race, even if it stays dry.
Brilliant qualifying session for Force India. Their pace is really good, they have hedged their bets with Giancarlo Fisichella going light and Adrian Sutil carrying alot more laps worth.
Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and Heikki Kovalainen fuelled for a long first stint will come right into play after the first round of pit stops.
Kimi Raikkonen, Mark Webber, Sebastian Vettel and Rubens Barrichello sitting somewhere in between the light and heavy cars.
I would like to add a prediction for this one but its impossible.
I always back Hamilton and Button.
Can Jenson revive his title lead? Can Lewis prove why he is raining world champion? Can Kimi Raikkonen prove his quallity/motivation? ....... oh,to many questions and ive even spoken of the title rivals or the double world champ.
I guess i'll just have to watch from the edge of my seat.

[LfcFan]

Congratulations to Kimi Raikkonen. A perfect start and knocked out a few opponents by causing mayhem at turn five on the first lap. This is proving to Kimi's own circuit.
Brilliant weekend for Force India and Giancarlo Fisichella. I dont think there was much chance of beating Kimi's after the Ferrari's great start but a fantastic drive by Fisi. Over all he had quicker race pace than Kimi and just held up behind the KERS car.
The low grid slots for Button, Hamilton and Alonso being the down fall as they connect with some of the rookies in the middle field first lap melee.
Good recovery and nice result for Vettel, picked up more points to try and close the gap on Button.
Good race all in all but was dissapointed with the crash.

Next stop Monza, perhaps another great result for Force India, their cars have brilliant straight line speed, they could be very strong again.

[LfcFan]

Not my favourite track of the calendar but a chance to see the cars at full chat on the quickest straights.No real challenge in terms of driver skill but balls of steel needed for the big stops and the well named high speed corner called the paraBOLICA lol


After last weekend i was expecting the Force India cars to go well here and i wasnt wrong,great straight line speed.




Fuel adjusted grid looks like this
1. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 653.5kg
2. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 655
3. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 662
4. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 683
5. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 688.5
6. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 687
7. Vitantonio Liuzzi, Force India, 679.5
8. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 677.5
9. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 682
10. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 683
11. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 703
12. Romain Grosjean, Renault, 699.8
13. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 697.5
14. Giancarlo Fisichella, Ferrari, 690
15. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 697.5
16. Timo Glock, Toyota, 709.8
17. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 706.2
18. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 708.6
19. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 706
20. Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso, 706

Hamilton should streak away towards the first corner and i fully expect him to win the race.
Also i can see Kimi and Heikki using their KERS system to get past Sutil into turn one.
Suprised that the Brawns have done so well in qualifying with a good fuel load,looks like the high speed strsights generate enough heat in the tyres to put them in good position.Expect them to extend there lead over the Red Bulls in the title race.

[hondajazz]

great link lots of information and i have voted

[LfcFan]

Cheers Jazzy
Rubens is definately the man with the momentum.Jensons bum must be a little bit twitchy now.

[LfcFan]

What is happening to Formula 1?

The image of the sport is being severely damaged by scandal after scandal.
In 2007 McLaren were thrown out of the construtors championship and heavily fined for illegally possessing confidential Ferrari information.
This year has seen a massive amount of disruption and mud slinging.
The controversial double defuser issues caused more than just a stir. Every car on the grid has now been radically re-engineered to use a design that was thought beyond the regulations.
Lewis Hamilton and McLaren caught lying to the race stewards about what happened during the safety car period of the Australian Grand Prix. This led to Ron Dennis stepping down as team principal.
The break away championship rows between the teams and the sports governing body about how the sport is ran. The cause of the FIA's long serving president, Max Mosley, announcing his departure.
Felipe Massa's aweful crash sent out shockwaves as to the whole safety of Formula 1.
Now we have reports of race fixing during last seasons Singapore Grand prix. Nelson Piquet Jr. has accused the Renault team of ordering him to deliberately crass his car in order to benifit Fernando Alonso's race result. Team boss Flavio Briatore and chief engineer Pat Symonds have both departed company with the Renault team as a result. Renault could be banned from Formula 1. Nelson Piquet Jr racing career could be at an end due to cloud over his head. Who knows what could happen to Briatore or Symonds if the FIA deem this action as dangerous for the drivers, track marshals and spectators.
It leaves me wondering what will come next?
Brawn being disqualified for employing team orders to ensure a particular driver wins the championship?
The flood lights switching off during the night races?
The Shell fuel company being paid by a team to put sand in a rival teams fuel rig?

We need the focus brought back to the actual racing but its now a two horse race for the drivers title and a foregone conclusion in the constructors title.

[cam42]

itz gunna be sick