Qualifying

Pos No Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1 22 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 1:35.058 1:33.784 1:35.181 18
2 9 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:34.745 1:33.990 1:35.273 20
3 15 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 1:34.935 1:34.276 1:35.518 17
4 23 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 1:34.681 1:34.387 1:35.651 20
5 10 Timo Glock Toyota 1:34.907 1:34.258 1:35.690 24
6 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:35.083 1:34.547 1:35.750 21
7 14 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 1:35.027 1:34.222 1:35.797 19
8 5 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 1:35.166 1:34.562 1:36.106 19
9 4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 1:35.476 1:34.456 1:36.170 17
10 7 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:35.260 1:34.706 1:37.659 15
11 6 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:35.110 1:34.769 14
12 17 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:35.341 1:34.788 13
13 1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.280 1:34.905 13
14 2 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.023 1:34.924 14
15 11 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 1:35.507 1:35.431 16
16 3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:35.642 4
17 8 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 1:35.708 11
18 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 1:35.908 8
19 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:35.951 10
20 12 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 1:36.107 9


Hi Lurcher et al!

Well, what great start to the season…if it carries on like this I’ll be well happy. A good race in Australia & a pretty dramatic qualifying session in Malaysia, with Button, Trulli & Vettel fighting it out for pole…couldn’t have said that last year! Nice to see it all shaken up & a few more teams getting a bite at the F1 cherry.
I was mightily impressed with Buemi in Oz, had a fantastic race, fighting hard with the championship contenders & ending up a fine 8th (7th after Hamiltons disqualification).
The two Brawns coming 1st & 2nd was also a marvellous achievement & I’m pleased for the whole team after a pretty traumatic winter! Closely followed by the two Toyotas who are surely going to win a race this year. Alonso & Rosberg making the top six. Rosberg & Williams were slightly disappointing, with Nakajima stuffing into the wall & Rosberg having a sticky left front in the pitstop. The team that really interests me, though, is Red Bull with Webber & Vettel. Vettel was on for at least 3rd place in Oz (before his accident with Kubica) & was close to pole today. A crying shame he’s been demoted 10 places at Malaysia for what I (&most people I know) thought was a racing accident. Another team I can see winning this year. BMW still seem to be struggling a bit but I think will go better in the race. Ferrari made a woeful cock-up in qualifying that leaves Massa in 16th on the grid…ooops! Raikkonen not fairing to well either in 9th. McLaren? Dear oh dear oh dear…a quote from Martin Whitmarsh in yesterdays paper relating to Hamiltons disqualification “We do not accept the findings, but we will not appeal. Both McLaren & Hamilton are fair & honest” Hmmm, that’s after trying to screw Trulli for 1 point by lying to the stewards..Ha. ( It also cost me my podium bet on Trulli!!! ) Fisichella & Piquet managed to edge themselves closer to their P45s…no surprise there then!
Hopefully we’ll have a bit of rain for this race, always livens things up & can completely upset the grid. Some very good wet weather drivers here, notably Button, Vettel, Kubica & Hamilton. The rain always levels out any performance advantage so let’s hope the Brawns don’t run off into the sunset!
Vettel takes a 10 place penalty & Barrichello takes a 5 place penalty, so factor that into any betting you might be looking at.
Betting? Well, Button is as low as odds on! Not for me thank you. Some decent e/w bets (especially if it rains) would be Vettel (between 12/1 & 20/1), Kubica (between 12/1 & 25/1) & Hamilton (between 20/1 & 40/1)
Good luck if you have a poke

From what I can see, looking at other boards & the FIA website, it looks like rain is already falling & will also fall during the race. An update on the bets I mentioned above Vettel 14/1-25/1, Kubica 16/1-20/1, Hamilton 20/1-33/1. One I didn't mention yesterday is Heidfeld who had a storming race in the rain at Silverstone last year. Starting 10th on the grid (after Vettels 10 place penalty) he's between 40 & 80/1 & well worth an each way bet.
Let battle commence & good luck

Its dry now according to 5 live man on track.

Ahh, ok Mugz, cheers...I've already bet on those 4, so here's hoping lol

Wow, a pretty crazy race...bet they won't run that late next year lol. Managed to get 13/1 for the place on Heidfeld so a good result

Aye that was exciting stuff.Well done on Heidfeld Charlie.
Just looking at the BBC sports site and they've given everybody full points and listed the racing weather conditions as fine!I wonder what they consider to be a thunderstorm then lol.

Ha ha ha...not looking at the Oz results are you? lol

In line with official F1 scoring we will award half points for R2 as only 31 laps were completed.

I don't think the Hamilton family are very happy with McLaren at the moment and I think it's gonna end in tears despite their long relationship.
They've put him in a very invidious position and I'm not sure he's extracated himself yet.
There's no doubt that McLaren have history in the cheating department but then again so do Ferrari.The difference is that Moseley and Dennis have a longstanding antipathy towards each other and I think the FIA would be happy to see McLaren go and let the golden Ferrari boys rule the roost.
The court case about the diffusers is a done deal imo all the other cars are working towards it anyways.
Mind you anything can happen in F1 (and usually does it has to be said)and supposed they ruled against them?
Back to the drawing board and appeal after appeal until the last race!
What a scenario and poor old Mugs trying to score the leaderboard!
It could only happen in F1 lol.

If F1 got their act together they could have a great sport to watch. They could learn something from horseracing about getting results right and fast. The diffuser issue should have been sorted before the first race, once the stewards deem the car fit to race then that it. If teams dont comply with the rules then they dont get to race. They would soon toe the line.

Issues during the race are more complex, but there must be room for stewards watching the action to call a car in if it is felt the driver has broken the rules. They should be doing everything possible to ensure the podium result is the official result.

This is an interesting link.

http://www.grandprix.com/ft/ft00333.html

followed by this link

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/spo...-of-Formula-One.html

Why was my perfectly genuine, inoffensive post deleted?
All I did was ask why the organisers chose to set the start time of the Malaysian GP as the exact same time monsoons start daily in the area (weather forecasters had said beforehand you could set your clock by them). Hardly my fault if someone chose to jump onto thread with a load of *
I would actually really like to know. So was it total incompetence, TV money greed, or something else? Or does no-one actually know?

Hi Ryor
Didn't see the other post you refer to!
I think what they are trying to do is make the times convenient for the European TV market. You're right about the monsoons & it's well known...even 6 months or so ago when they released this seasons calender. Why they couldn't of had the race 2 or even 3 hours earlier, I don't know. We all like a bit of rain during a race, it certainly livens things up, but monsoons? Crazy! It certainly destroyed what was looking like a great race...very disappointing

Thanks Charlie Yes, I couldn't think why they didn't start 2-3 hours earlier as you said.

"The FIA International Court of Appeal (ICA) has rejected protests against the diffusers used by the Brawn, Toyota and Williams teams, after concluding that their ‘double decker’ designs comply with the 2009 regulations.

BMW Sauber, Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault had all questioned the legality of the diffusers, but following Tuesday’s hearing in Paris, the ICA decided that race stewards in Australia and Malaysia had made the right call in declaring them legal.

Full statement from the FIA:
The FIA International Court of Appeal has decided to deny the appeals submitted against decisions numbered 16 to 24 taken by the Panel of the Stewards on 26 March at the 2009 Grand Prix of Australia and counting towards the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Based on the arguments heard and evidence before it, the Court has concluded that the Stewards were correct to find that the cars in question comply with the applicable regulations.

Full reasons for this decision will be provided in due course."


Great news...now let's get on with the season!!!

Might not be around much at the week-end but if I am, I'll try & put something up

Like i said at start of comp, results should stand no matter wot the ruling ova difuser. Result stands anyway + now the uva teams will be working flat out 2 make alterations which they intended 2 make anyway

Hi BBB
Yeah, a lot of time and expense now for the 'non-diffuser 7' lol. Renault reckon they might have theirs ready (plus other changes) for China, so it'll be interesting to see how they go.

Yet another monsoon today. I see Charlie had predicted Red Bull would do well, in his analysis of previous Grand Prix. Wonder if he backed them.

For Sector 2, we might go to 2 Groups of 10, 2 selections from each Group. I think the season is open enough to do that.

Hi Deadly
Yep,did the 2 Red Bulls, Hamilton & Rosberg for pole & win...unfortunately didn't do the double Got about 20/1 for both for Vettel before qualifying on Betfair. I wasn't convinced that Brawn would've won in Malaysia had the race gone the distance...I think it would've been close. Red Bull have seemed to improve with each race (early days yet, I know) & I think are definite contenders for both drivers & constructors championships. Toyota have been a little disappointing, I was hoping for a bit better from them but Malaysia & China were both wet & a bit unpredictable. BMW have been a massive disappointment. I expected them to be right up there this year & they seem to have lost their way a bit. McLaren have certainly improved & I see them getting better as the season goes on, while Ferrari are all over the place lol. Williams do well in practice & qualifying but struggle in the race...Nakajima doesn't help! Things will settle down a bit more when we get to Europe after the next race. Unfortunately Red Bull & Vettel are both too short for a championship bet (best price about 3/1) So we'll just have to watch 'em! I would've posted my bets but was at the girlfriends over the weekend & could only access the site through my phone & couldn't do a write up on my keypad ha ha...it would take me a month lol I will put something up when I can, though...good luck

One driver I forgot to mention is Buemi...doing a fantastic job in his first season, especially with the rain in the last two races. One to keep an eye on, especially as he's driving for the Red Bull sister team albeit with a Ferrari engine.

Mugz...

I used my PDR in the last race, should have scored 240.

Sorry clocker, I'll amend.

Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired Gap Laps
1 1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:33.6 19
2 6 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 01:33.9 0.26 17
3 5 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 01:33.9 0.291 17
4 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 01:34.2 0.58 24
5 22 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 01:34.4 0.787 15
6 2 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 01:34.5 0.855 24
7 23 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 01:34.5 0.884 18
8 3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:34.6 0.942 17
9 14 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 01:34.8 1.18 21
10 4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 01:34.8 1.18 19
11 17 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 01:34.9 1.233 24
12 15 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 01:34.9 1.291 21
13 8 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 01:35.0 1.327 21
14 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 01:35.0 1.374 18
15 9 Jarno Trulli Toyota 01:35.0 1.389 22
16 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 01:35.0 1.395 16
17 10 Timo Glock Toyota 01:35.3 1.686 20
18 7 Fernando Alonso Renault 01:35.3 1.701 24
19 11 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 01:35.4 1.706 22
20 12 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 01:35.4 1.722 15

Pos No Driver Team Time/Retired Gap Laps
1 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 01:33.3 36
2 7 Fernando Alonso Renault 01:33.5 0.191 25
3 9 Jarno Trulli Toyota 01:33.6 0.277 37
4 15 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 01:33.7 0.322 29
5 14 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 01:33.7 0.337 32
6 22 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 01:33.7 0.355 35
7 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 01:33.8 0.424 30
8 10 Timo Glock Toyota 01:33.8 0.425 37
9 23 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 01:33.9 0.546 30
10 17 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 01:33.9 0.56 36
11 1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:34.0 0.655 30
12 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 01:34.0 0.686 23
13 12 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 01:34.1 0.788 37
14 11 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 01:34.4 1.027 26
15 8 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 01:34.4 1.072 29
16 3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:34.6 1.225 34
17 5 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 01:34.6 1.266 31
18 4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 01:34.7 1.331 28
19 2 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 01:34.8 1.425 35
20 6 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 01:34.8 1.451 33


Hi all!
Don't think I'll have time for a write up this weekend but I expect the Toyotas to go well here. Force India are showing improvment too with a new aero package, Sutil doing particularly well in the two practice sessions so far.
Ok, for what it's worth I've had bets for Pole, Winner & doubles on Trulli, Glock, Vettel & Rosberg (Not sure about Rosberg to be honest but I'm hoping Williams can do something before everyone else gets the diffuser!)

Good luck

I think this could be one for the Irish. Come on Tim O'Glock.