Any Formula 1 fans here?

[vakie]

I think a friend of mine is actually starting a team...let me get back to you on that and i'll let you know what he's doing

Are you talking about the US Grand Prix Engineering team, headed by Ken Anderson and Peter Windsor, who are planning to join next year, or something else?

[SmileOfTheShadow]

I think a friend of mine is actually starting a team...let me get back to you on that and i'll let you know what he's doing

[vakie]

Wow, what a dramatic start to the season.. Barrichello had a bad start and was then involved in a 4 car collision in the first corner.. but his car survived.

A lot of incidents and accidents, bringing the Safety Car on the track twice.. which helped the Toyotas and Hamilton to climb up.

3 laps before the end the order was Button, Vettel and Kubica.. but Kubica had the tyre advantage at the end and looked quick enough for maybe even a win, but while trying to get past Vettel they collided, taking them both out of the race.. giving Brawn GP a historic 1-2, the first of a kind for a new team since 1954. Trulli came in 3rd, but was later given a penalty for overtaking during the last Safety Car session, promoting Hamilton to 3rd.



1 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes
2 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes
3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes
4 Timo Glock Toyota
5 Fernando Alonso Renault
6 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota
7 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari
8 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari
9 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes
10 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber
11 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes
12 Jarno Trulli Toyota
13 Mark Webber RBR-Renault
14 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault
15 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber
16 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari
Ret Felipe Massa Ferrari
Ret Nelsinho Piquet Renault
Ret Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota
Ret Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes

[vakie]

Well, the practices and qualifying are done...

Jenson Button took pole position for Brawn GP.



The grid is very different from the McLaren/Ferrari domination of the last couple of years... it seems to be Brawn GP domination now, atleast for the time being. The rest of the grid are very close to each other.

Pos Driver Team
1. Jenson Button - Brawn GP 1.26,202
2. Rubens Barrichello - Brawn GP + 0,303
3. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull + 0,628
4. Robert Kubica - BMW + 0,712
5. Nico Rosberg - Williams + 0,771
6. Felipe Massa - Ferrari + 0,831
7. Kimi Räikkönen - Ferrari + 0,961
8. Mark Webber - Red Bull + 1,044
9. Nick Heidfeld - BMW
10. Fernando Alonso - Renault
11. Kazuki Nakajima - Williams
12. Heikki Kovalainen - McLaren
13. Sebastien Buemi - Toro Rosso
14. Nelson Piquet - Renault
15. Giancarlo Fisichella - Force India
16. Adrian Sutil - Force India
17. Sebastien Bourdais - Toro Rosso
18. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren
19. Timo Glock - Toyota
20. Jarno Trulli - Toyota

Lewis Hamilton qualified 15th, but then received a 5 place grid penalty for having to change the gear box.. Then the Toyota's were excluded from ahead of him, from 6th and 8th, due to their rear wing not matching regulations, and sent to the back of the grid...

Looks to be a very interesting race tomorrow.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/default.stm

Oh, and I won 590 euros for betting on the top 3...

BBC 2009 Intro

[vakie]

All is set in Australia, only 3 hours to go until the first practice session!!

[vakie]

The teams and cars have arrived in Melbourne, 3 days to go!

A racing car comes to life

[vakie]

Not a huge fan, but sooo much better than NASCAR :|

Indeed.

Only 11 days left until Friday practice in Melbourne!

F1 - Passion & Excitement

[thunderstruck]

Not a huge fan, but sooo much better than NASCAR :|

[vakie]

I've attended two races and really enjoyed them. I can't stand watching them on tv, it gets too monotonous.

So which did you go to? Belgium last year was my first time attending. I agree, being there is much better. But I enjoy it on TV as well. It was a bit boring for a while, around 2000-2004 when no-one seemed to be able to match the Ferrari and Schumacher, but it's been getting better since. 2007 and 2008 have been the closest in years, with the championship decided in the last race, even going to the last corner in '08.

I think there were only a few boring races in 2008, like Valencia and China perhaps.. but there were so many wet races for example, anything can happen in those. And it often did.

And even if there's not much happening in the race, when you're into it enough and know about the cars and drivers, it's still interesting. Especially when a driver you're supporting is leading, you don't really want ANYTHING to happen.

It'll be interesting to see how the new regulations affect the racing this season, with less aerodynamics on the cars, slick tyres and KERS. It's all meant to make it easier to overtake = more eventful races.

I thought it was nicely summed up here by Sebastian Vettel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-IJ-tcz1bME&fmt=18

[glindros]

I prefer Formula 409, myself.

Jeez, don't give up your day job Omaha.


On Topic: I've attended two races and really enjoyed them. I can't stand watching them on tv, it gets too monotonous.

[OmahaStar]

I prefer Formula 409, myself.

[b5finland]

I can't wait too...

When season 2009 is over i hope that Kimi Rõikk÷nen is CHAMP and after him is Heikki Kovalainen

[vakie]

I can't wait for the season to start... Should be epic.

To pass the time I put together this vid of last year's highlights:

http://www.vimeo.com/3168868