Category: Formula 1

Jenson Button has claimed a fairy tale victory for BrawnGP in their debut race at the 2009 Australian Grand Prix. Completing the dream start for F1’s newest team was a late race crash between Red Bull Racing’s Sebastien Vettel and BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica, gifting second place to Rubens Barichello. The one-two podium finish for the BrawnGP cars follows their front row qualifying positions and is an astonishing result for a team that is barely three weeks old.

Toyota’s Jarno Trulli claimed third place, another remarkable result after starting the race from pit lane. (See below!)

Barichello, though, could consider himself the luckiest driver on the podium after a poor start shortly before crashing into Australia’s Mark Webber. The local hero was able to continue, but his chances were dashed after suffering damage to his car’s body work courtesy of Barichello’s contact. Rubens wasn’t done yet, as he also made unncessary contact with Ferrari’s Kimi Raikonnen. Lady luck, then, was clearly shining on the BrawnGP team in Melbourne.

However, Button’s second Formula One race win remains under a cloud of controversy due to “diffuser-gate“. The race results will not be ratified until the outcome of an FIA hearing to be held on 14 April is announced. Read more on this story at the BBC website.

UPDATE: Jarno Trulli has been given a 25 second penalty for overtaking under Safety Car conditions. This puts Trulli back to 12th place and moves Lewis Hamilton up to third.
[Source: Formula1.com]

Brawn GP have brought their strong pre-season testing form to Melbourne. The front row for tomorrow’s race will be an all Brawn GP affair. Teammates Jenson Button and Rubens Barichello traded fastest lap times throughout qualifying before the Briton claimed pole position.

In further good news to Formula One’s newest team, a new sponsorship deal has been announced with Virgin.

Team Principal Ross Brawn said, “On behalf of the Brawn GP team, we are delighted to have signed a partnership agreement with Sir Richard and Virgin in Melbourne today. An exciting debut race weekend for our team has become even more important as we have secured our second commercial agreement of the season. We look forward to working closely with the Virgin Group and sharing our on-track successes.”

The cars had minimal Virgin branding during qualifying and rumour has it the cars are getting a lick of paint as we speak and may well take to the grid tomorrow in full Virgin clothing.

The full grid for the 2009 Australian Grand Prix can be viewed at Formula1.com.

UPDATE 29 March: As you can see above from the image of Rubens Barichello lining up on the grid, the Brawn GP cars are still in their predominantly white livery. So, if we don’t see a new look next weekend in Malaysia, then expect a new lick of paint for China (17-19 April).

Last week news emerged that the 2009 Formula One driver’s title would be decided by the driver with the most number of wins, irrespective of points scored. It did seem a bit odd that this decision was announced so close to the start of a new season. It was odd for a few other reasons too, but now it doesn’t matter as the F1 teams have spoken as one and had the idea shelved until the 2010 season, at least.

In a classic case of he-said-she-said it is understood that the FIA was told the teams were in agreement with the ‘winner takes all’ plans only to later find out this was not actually the case. Brilliant management there!

The full statement from the FIA:
“On 17 March, the FIA World Motor Sport Council unanimously rejected FOTA’s proposed amendment to the points system for the Formula One Drivers’ Championship. The ‘winner takes all’ proposal made by the commercial rights holder (who had been told that the teams were in favour) was then approved.

“If, for any reason, the Formula One teams do not now agree with the new system, its implementation will be deferred until 2010.”

[ Source: Formula1.com ]

Under new rules released overnight the 2009 Formula One world driver’s championship will be awarded to the driver with the most wins, irrespective of points scored. Were these same rules in place for last season’s drama filled final race then Felipe Massa would have been the one celebrating in the picture above, having won six races to Lewis Hamilton’s five. Of course, Hamilton sensationally clinched the title in the last lap, securing the fifth position he needed to win the title by a single point.

The familiar 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 points system will be kept however, and will be used to determine the minor placings once the world champion has been decided.

The potential for farce is high with this system, although, such things usually have a way of sorting themselves out. That said, being used to the system that has decided the driver’s title for over 50 years it will be odd if the second placd driver in the 2009 season has a healthy points advantage over the driver with the most wins. Let’s hope natural justice sorts itself out and the right driver wins the title under the right circumstances.

However, if we cast an eye over all previous F1 seasons then this new system would have affected the results of no less than 13 seasons. Crucially, for Australian readers, Alan Jones would be a dual world champion having won the most races in 1979 as well as 1980, his world championship winning year. Thankfully the BBC has done the legwork for us and a full list of affected world titles can be read HERE.

In other F1 news, teams can opt to break free from the strict in-season testing freezes if they agree to limit spending in any one season to £30M. Hmm, can anyone see salary cap style rorting rearing its ugly head in F1?

Source: Formula1.com

This viral ad for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes was just sent in by massive Lewis Hamilton fan Wes Stubbs. It takes us on a fictional journey from remote control car nerds right to the heart of the McLaren garage, and ends up with the current World Champion driving his F1 car via a Bluetooth equipped mobile phone. It’s pretty damn cool.

(Thanks to Wes for sending this in.)

The BBC will be covering Formula One again in 2009 (no more James Allen, thank f***ing god!). For races held outside of Australia local television audiences will also see BBC’s return to F1 via Channel Ten’s coverage.

To get you in the mood the Beeb have revived their old F1 theme, The Chain by Fleetwod Mac. There’s only three weeks to go…