This time the 3 quickest cars were the Brawn, Red Bull and Ferrari. 6 drivers therefore had a good chance of winning. Here's how they went, and went wrong.
Button: Qualified on pole, but lost out on first straight. Despite slightly lighter car, he slipped to 1.5s behind Rubens. Switched to 2 stop strategy at first stop, which proved the right thing to do.
Barrichello: Poor qualifying, but recovered on first lap to lead. Stayed on 3-stop strategy but foolishly left a full length final stint on the slower tyres. Had he put, say, 4 laps more fuel on board, the fuel might have slowed him a second, but he would have recovered about 8 a the end of the stint. Emerged 7 seconds behind Jenson, which became 13 by the end.
Vettel: Qualified 2nd whilst heavier than the Brawn cars. Slipped behind Massa at the start. Stuck to same strategy as Massa, which was pure folly, as he could have been as quick as the Brawns. Ended up 5th, promoted to 4th only by Massa's problems.
Webber: Poor qualifying, left him 5th on grid. Good fight with Alonso as safety car came in. If he'd slipped behind, it would have been curtains. Went longer on 2nd stint, putting twice as much fuel in as Rubens (who stopped on same lap) which meant he was on the soft tyre longer than any other leading 2 stopper. This enabled him to leapfrog Massa and Vettel, but Jenson was long gone. Couldn't pass Rubens, but kept him in sight at the end.
Massa: Qualified really well, but only gained one spot off the grid, using his KERS. Had he managed to get in front, the race would have looked very different, and it would have taken quite some Brawn or Red Bull ingenuity to get passed him. Screwed up final stop, leaving him short fuelled, which cost him 4th and 5th places, he ended up 6th, joining Kimi on 3pts in the standings.
Raikkonen: Had the same car as Massa, but a spectacular Q1 misjudgement left him 16th on the grid. Jumped to 10th on lap 1, but problems first with his KERS and then with his throttle gave him a DNF. Never even ran in the points.
Showing posts with label Ferrari. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ferrari. Show all posts
10 May 2009
09 May 2009
Saturday Practice
A seldom-well-reported session of 1 hour, a few hours before qualifying. Usually the quickest of the three free pratice sessions it usually features pretty much everyone trying their qualifying set-up. It will be interesting to see if performances this afternoon match those this morning.
As yesterday, I include a list of the top driver from each team, to demonstrate the best pace shown by each car so far this weekend.
Ferrari ... ... 0.000 (more than a second quicker than Rosberg yesterday)
Brawn . .. ... 0.497 (3 and 4, behind a Ferrari 1-2)
BMW ... ... .. 0.686 (although Heidfeld had difficulties and ended up last 2.904s behind Massa)
Toyota ... ... 0.703 (ran more laps than anyone else, 23 & 26 compared to 22 for Kimi)
McLaren ... 0.793 (ran only 15 & 16 laps, only Heidfeld (8) ran fewer)
Toro Rosso..0.871 (9th and 14th places will cheer them, probably)
Renault .. ... 0.946 (guess which one was faster, ahem)
Williams .. .. 1.041 (unusual for them not to lead in this session)
Red Bull .. .. 1.076 (holding their fire, presumably)
Force India..1.356 (still last, hopefully they'll find something soon, to get them into the fight)
One point to note, is that the gap from the Ferrari's to the rest of the field is huge, implying they were doing something different. Another is that Button, in third was less than 1s ahead of Nakajima in 18th, and only 0.469s ahead of Kovaleinen.
As yesterday, I include a list of the top driver from each team, to demonstrate the best pace shown by each car so far this weekend.
Ferrari ... ... 0.000 (more than a second quicker than Rosberg yesterday)
Brawn . .. ... 0.497 (3 and 4, behind a Ferrari 1-2)
BMW ... ... .. 0.686 (although Heidfeld had difficulties and ended up last 2.904s behind Massa)
Toyota ... ... 0.703 (ran more laps than anyone else, 23 & 26 compared to 22 for Kimi)
McLaren ... 0.793 (ran only 15 & 16 laps, only Heidfeld (8) ran fewer)
Toro Rosso..0.871 (9th and 14th places will cheer them, probably)
Renault .. ... 0.946 (guess which one was faster, ahem)
Williams .. .. 1.041 (unusual for them not to lead in this session)
Red Bull .. .. 1.076 (holding their fire, presumably)
Force India..1.356 (still last, hopefully they'll find something soon, to get them into the fight)
One point to note, is that the gap from the Ferrari's to the rest of the field is huge, implying they were doing something different. Another is that Button, in third was less than 1s ahead of Nakajima in 18th, and only 0.469s ahead of Kovaleinen.
26 April 2009
Team-by-team
Below you'll see a driver-by-driver analysis for the top 3 teams, here I'll look at the rest.
McLaren: At the circuit where KERS has the greatest advantage (except Monza) they managed to get Lewis into the fight for the podium. Great to see that their Malaysia performance wasn't a one-off, but they'll be disappointed that Heikki didn't manage to match his teammate. Hoping to progress when the upgrades come at Barcelona (but then every team is saying that).
Ferrari: Finally got their first points, even if it was only for 6th place. Kimi's strategy was perfect, and he managed to get ahead of those cars that might have held him up. He even led briefly before his first stop. Massa was compromised by an early stop to repair damage from a first-lap collision, but such are the perils of racing in the midfield. Still have work to do, but should be in the fight for points from now on.
Renault: Alonso completely outdid Piquet again and had a wonderful tussle with Trulli after the Toyota driver's first stop. Nelsinho was underwhelming throughout, so will be surrounded by talk of getting replaced. Grosjean is a good driver, but not a great (at least based on GP2 form, where he matched Buemi, but was beaten by Pantano, Senna and Di Grassi).
Williams: Rosberg didn't manage to take advantage of the teams upgrades (Nakajima didn't get them at all) and they'll be disappointed since they've completely wasted a quick car over the opening few weekends. Now they'll face a massive struggle not to go backwards, as the "bigger" teams improve. Nakajima is another driver in peril (see separate, forthcoming, post).
BMW: Picked the wrong strategy (1 stop) which left the cars too slow over the opening lap, leading both into collisions, which spoilt any chance they had left. Heidfeld did finish his 25 consecutive race, which is a record, but he was last, so not a record he set in any style. Lots of work to do, and the sounds they make imply it won't even be for Barcelona. A tough May ahead for them.
Toro Rosso: Where were they? Looking back at the lap chart (registration required) Bourdais started well-ish, getting to 13th, which, like Webber in 11th, is where he finished. Buemi, on the other hand lost out on his 2nd stop, ending 17th. They'll be looking for more chaotic races, to take any points - perhaps a wet Monaco (their car is superb in the wet, second only to Red Bull).
Force India: Sutil deserved his penalty from qualifying, but they'll be disappointed that their upgrades only brought them into the fight for lower places, rather than into the midfield proper. Fisichella seemed to have a problem late on, slipping from 10th to 15th, but like Toro Rosso, they'll depend on rain to score points.
McLaren: At the circuit where KERS has the greatest advantage (except Monza) they managed to get Lewis into the fight for the podium. Great to see that their Malaysia performance wasn't a one-off, but they'll be disappointed that Heikki didn't manage to match his teammate. Hoping to progress when the upgrades come at Barcelona (but then every team is saying that).
Ferrari: Finally got their first points, even if it was only for 6th place. Kimi's strategy was perfect, and he managed to get ahead of those cars that might have held him up. He even led briefly before his first stop. Massa was compromised by an early stop to repair damage from a first-lap collision, but such are the perils of racing in the midfield. Still have work to do, but should be in the fight for points from now on.
Renault: Alonso completely outdid Piquet again and had a wonderful tussle with Trulli after the Toyota driver's first stop. Nelsinho was underwhelming throughout, so will be surrounded by talk of getting replaced. Grosjean is a good driver, but not a great (at least based on GP2 form, where he matched Buemi, but was beaten by Pantano, Senna and Di Grassi).
Williams: Rosberg didn't manage to take advantage of the teams upgrades (Nakajima didn't get them at all) and they'll be disappointed since they've completely wasted a quick car over the opening few weekends. Now they'll face a massive struggle not to go backwards, as the "bigger" teams improve. Nakajima is another driver in peril (see separate, forthcoming, post).
BMW: Picked the wrong strategy (1 stop) which left the cars too slow over the opening lap, leading both into collisions, which spoilt any chance they had left. Heidfeld did finish his 25 consecutive race, which is a record, but he was last, so not a record he set in any style. Lots of work to do, and the sounds they make imply it won't even be for Barcelona. A tough May ahead for them.
Toro Rosso: Where were they? Looking back at the lap chart (registration required) Bourdais started well-ish, getting to 13th, which, like Webber in 11th, is where he finished. Buemi, on the other hand lost out on his 2nd stop, ending 17th. They'll be looking for more chaotic races, to take any points - perhaps a wet Monaco (their car is superb in the wet, second only to Red Bull).
Force India: Sutil deserved his penalty from qualifying, but they'll be disappointed that their upgrades only brought them into the fight for lower places, rather than into the midfield proper. Fisichella seemed to have a problem late on, slipping from 10th to 15th, but like Toro Rosso, they'll depend on rain to score points.
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