.:: 2009 Chinese GP Thread ::.

2009 CHINESE GP

Welcome to the 2009 Chinese GP thread. cjek will update the thread with the latest times as they happen.

RANDOM FACT

Only three races have taken place since the last Chinese GP. The record for least amount of races since a previous event at the same circuit goes to the Malaysian GP, which only had the 2001 Australian GP in between them, the South African GP, which only had the 1984 Brazilian GP in between them and the Portuguese GP, which only had the 1985 Brazilian GP in between them.

POINTS OF DISCUSSION

1. A total washout in Malaysia - was the right call made?
2. 2 Races in, 2 wins for Button - early signs seem good, but could it happen?
3. China moves forward to race three of the season. Do you prefer this race being near the front or would you rather it stay near the end of the season?
4. Rosberg had a storming start in the Malaysian GP - how unlucky do you feel the German has been considering his two races so far?
5. Heidfeld took his 8th second place in Malaysia - How much longer do you feel it will be until he finally takes victory?
6. Lastly, Ferrari still have 0 points after 2 rounds - A book of errors could be written up about Malaysia - have the team learned from their mistakes in 2008 or not?

SCHEDULE FOR WEEKEND

Friday 17
First practice: 1000-1130 ( 0300-0430 BST)
Second practice: 1400-1530 ( 0700-0830 BST)

Saturday 18
Third practice: 1100-1200 ( 0400-0500 BST)
Qualifying: 1400 ( 0700 BST)

Sunday 19
Race: 1500 ( 0800 BST)

WEEKEND WEATHER

FRIDAY: Grey Cloud, Max. 16 deg. cent.
SATURDAY: Sunny Intervals, Max. 21 deg. cent.
SUNDAY: Heavy Rain, Max. 18 deg. cent.

PRESS CONFERENCE SCHEDULE:

THURSDAY:Rubens Barrichello (Brawn GP), Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren), Kazuki Nakajima (Williams), Jarno Trulli (Toyota), Mark Webber (Red Bull). 7AM GMT.

FRIDAY: Norbert Haug (McLaren), Christian Horner (Red Bull), Mario Thiessen (BMW). 8AM GMT.

BBC PRESENTS THE CHINESE GP

PREVIOUS SESSIONS

Friday Practice 1
Friday Practice 2
Qualifying
Race

THE RED LIGHT

How the mighty have fallen.

Raikkonen, the ever-so-dominant driver in 2007, comes into this weekend having gone 51 weeks without a GP win now. He also has now gone 9 races either scoring 6 or 0 points (3 races to 6 respectively). 18 points in his last 9 races is a terrible record for a Ferrari driver and, even with an under-performing car, one has to wonder if the Iceman's heart is even in the sport anymore.

Massa, on the other hand, looked like a victim to the weather in Malaysia. If it wasn't for the rain, Felipe was working his way up into a points position, but instead he was left in 9th place when the race was cancelled. It's clear Massa wants to exact revenge for the loss of last year, but he's not getting the opportunities right now. If Massa keeps this mental attitude, he'll get on the scoreboard in Shanghai, but a win still seems far away.

As for McLaren, they are stuck in a bittersweet moment. Despite a terrible car, Hamilton has worked his way up to two points-scoring positions, but the hearing could ruin this work, even if it has only earnt them 1 point. Lewis is showing the determination of a champion, pulling these results out of a poor car is not easy and yet the Stevenage boy is still achieving them. Kovalainen (yes, he is still there, he isn't invisible just yet) seems to have worked his way up to being a LOT closer to Hamilton - the only problem is when it counts, Kovalainen can't figure his way round a whole lap. Once Heikki can remember to turn left and not right, expect him to do a lot better than 2008.

Poor poor Nico. Two races of excellence by the German and only has 3.5 points to show for it. A fantastic start off the grid in Sepang and leading the most laps of anyone deserved much more than 8th place. Nakajima is finally showing his potential too - he just needs to get it right on a Saturday and he'll be there.

Neither BMW driver is a particular fan of the Chinese GP - Heidfeld was the lead car in the tangle of 2006 and ended up the trailing car come the end of it, and 2008's 5th place is his best finish there to date. Kubica hasn't even scored a point in three visits to China.

Now seems to be when we really ask - why oh why is Piquet STILL a Renault driver? Alonso had a terrible day in Sepang struggling to hold off cars, running wide and even falling off track, and Piquet who didn't put a foot wrong was still behind Alonso come the end of the race. If you can't even beat your teammate when he makes a book-full of errors, regardless of if he's a two-time Champion or not, then you shouldn't really be in F1.

But then you could say the same about Trulli and Monaco last year - Glock span and ran wide way too many times and still beat Trulli - but yet the Italian has been on it with his car so far. It's clear Toyota is the best thing behind the Brawn, and the Japanese team are making the most of it - the only team besides Brawn in double figures, and in fact 12.5 points clear of the nearest challengers BMW and Renault - so if Toyota can push their progress to be able to consistently challenge Brawn GP, they've got a good chance to fight for this title.

Yet again, Glock showed why he's a great talent just growing and growing. Just a simple tyre choice which went against the majority idea paid dividends. Instead of finishing in the middle of nowhere, Timo finished 3rd by being right about tyre choices at the right time.

Which can lead to Brawn GP's advantage: the two Toyota drivers so far are looking to do what Ferrari did last year for a while and the McLaren drivers before that - taking points from each other. Whilst there is no doubt Rubens will at some point make a return to the top step this year, the status quo at the moment is Button has the requirements to keep a dominating fashion in F1. There have been 17 back-to-back season opening winners prior to Button repeating this feat, and 12 of those 17 have gone on to win the World Championship. Early omens look good for Jenson, but this is as it says: Early. The whole diffuser debate that takes place tomorrow will decide what will occur in the season.

A few things to note - If the diffuser teams are DSQ'ed from the opening two races:
* The Australian GP results would be as follows:

1. Fernando Alonso (Renault)
2. Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso)
3. Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso)
4. Adrian Sutil (Force India)
5. Nick Heidfeld (BMW)
6. Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India)
7. Mark Webber (Red Bull)
8. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)

* The Malaysian GP results would be as follows:

1. Nick Heidfeld (BMW)
2. Mark Webber (Red Bull)
3. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)
4. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)
5. Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso)
6. Fernando Alonso (Renault)
7. Nelson Piquet (Renault)
8. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari)

* This would leave both Championships as follows:

DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP

1. Fernando Alonso (Renault, 11.5 pts.)
2. Nick Heidfeld (BMW, 9 pts.)
3. Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso, 8 pts.)
4. Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso, 8 pts.)
5. Mark Webber (Red Bull, 6 pts.)
6. Adrian Sutil (Force India, 5 pts.)
7. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren, 3 pts.)
8. Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India, 3 pts.)
9. Felipe Massa (Ferrari, 2.5 pts.)
10. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull, 1 pt.)
11. Nelson Piquet (Renault, 1 pt.)
12. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari, 0.5 pts.)

CONSTRUCTORS CHAMPIONSHIP

1. Toro Rosso (16 pts.)
2. Renault (12.5 pts.)
3. BMW (9 pts.)
4. Force India (9 pts.)
5. Red Bull (7 pts.)
6. McLaren (3 pts.)
7. Ferrari (3 pts.)

1. They should have started the race an hour before.... I mean, what would it have changed???

2. Wait until we finally get to Europe before making any predictions.

3. Uh..... Doesn't really chamge much to me :P

4. Well, I feel that he should be pretty confident with his drive but, he should also go for more race performance and maybe a little less qualy performance.

5. I believe he his like Button.... Wait for a while and you'll get lucky one way or another.

6. I think that it's not really comparable.... Ans after two races done, this could be the only races where they did not perform like the usual Ferraris.

CIassic Chinese GP's... err, well, there's only been 5 of 'em, so here's highlights of all of them!

2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008

ALONSO SLAMS "RIDICULOUS" TYRE CHOICES

Double world champion Fernando Alonso is 'very worried' about Bridgestone's decision to bring super-soft compounds as the option tyre for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, the Spaniard saying it is entirely unsuited to the abrasive nature of the Shanghai circuit.

The Renault driver claims that the use of the tyre makes the drivers 'look ridiculous' because of the time differential between the option and prime rubber - which was as much as six seconds when the super-soft and hard tyres were used in Australia.

"I think it is the worst decision they made in a long time, because it is a ridiculous tyre for here, for Shanghai," he said.

"I don't know if Bridgestone made the decision or the FIA, but they have to reconsider this type of decision because we look ridiculous on television and we look ridiculous for the spectators, and it is a joke to be in front of TV six seconds slower.

"We will need to change the tyres after five or six laps, is our calculation, because this track is harder than Melbourne and there we only did eight or nine laps.

"And if they want to be funny and mix the results and have overtaking, they can do a better job - a funny solution, maybe they can put us on the wet tyres or something. Like this it looks more spectacular - the difference in the speed. I don't know...

"I'm very worried about this and I'm very sad about this, because we look strange in front of people."

Alonso also revealed that the drivers have not been consulted on which tyres should be used, and added that the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA) expressed their fears over safety on the issue following the Australian Grand Prix, when Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel collided while contesting second place.

"We expressed our concerns after Australia, after the accident of Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel - it was due to the difference of the speed," he said.

"He (Kubica) tried to overtake, Vettel was not in control of the car with that tyre, you cannot brake, you cannot turn-in, you cannot do anything. And then Robert had a big crash after that because he damaged the car.

"Then we expressed our concerns and now in the third race we have the same tyre at a worse circuit. This is something that we need to change immediately."

Alonso added that he considered both the super-soft and the hard tyres to be unsuited to Shanghai.

"I think the super-soft on this type of circuit with long, high-speed corners... in Turn 1 it will be destroyed and in Turn 10 there will be no more left tyre.

"One will be too hard and one will be too soft. The right tyre is at home! The soft tyre is at home, and this happened in Australia as well. And the understanding that this is for a better show, for overtaking...

"As I said, for a better show, maybe we can pick up our number and then whoever picks up number 15 can put on wet tyres, or whatever, and it is a better show and it's funny. Like this it is not funny."

SOURCE: Autosport

ED: Looks like Raikkonen picked number 15.

KUBICA TO RUN KERS ON FRIDAY

Robert Kubica will run a Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) on his BMW for the first since the start of the season in tomorrow's free practice for the Chinese Grand Prix.

While team-mate Nick Heidfeld, who is much lighter than the Pole, has been able to race with KERS in the first two races and scored a podium in Malaysia, Kubica has been unable to use the device because its added weight and the subsequent loss of ballast has a knock-on impact on his car's handling - especially when it comes to tyre degradation issues.

But with China's long straights, BMW is keen to see if the device will be an advantage for Kubica this weekend.

"We will have to test and see," said Kubica in Shanghai on Thursday. "For sure we have seen this from our view, especially in Malaysia but also in Australia, it was an advantage.

"Of course running on my car there are some disadvantages that are bigger than for the other [drivers], but I hope still the advantage will be bigger than the disadvantage, but we will see."

Kubica admitted that using KERS would compromise the balance of his car, but added that was why BMW was experimenting with the device on Friday.

"The balance of the car is the issue," said Kubica. "We will see - a lot will depend on that and the grip level."

SOURCE: Autosport

FERRARI WON'T RUN KERS IN CHINA

Ferrari will not use its kinetic energy recovery system in this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix, team boss Stefano Domenicali has announced.

The reigning constructors' champion was one of only four teams ready to run KERS in time for the Melbourne season-opener, but has had a very poor start to the season and is currently at the foot of the points table having failed to score in the first two rounds.

Domenicali revealed that Ferrari would not be using KERS in a press briefing at the Shanghai circuit this afternoon.

The non-KERS cars have dominated the results so far this season, although Nick Heidfeld used the device on the way to second place for BMW Sauber at Sepang.

While Ferrari is putting its KERS on hold for China, BMW driver Robert Kubica is set to run the system for the first time in practice tomorrow, having previously felt that his height meant the weighty device was a disadvantage for him.

But Fernando Alonso, whose Renault team had KERS from the start of the year, said today that the squad is "open-minded" about whether to continue using the system.

SOURCE: Autosport

Many talking points as F1 gears up in chilly China

There were plenty of talking points as the Formula One world gathered at a chilly Shanghai circuit on Thursday, on the eve of the official action for the Chinese Grand Prix.

It emerged that while BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica will trial KERS for the first time this season in Friday practice, neither Ferrari will feature the energy re-use technology in China following problems in Australia and Malaysia.

It was believed that the Swiss-based team had been working on reducing the weight of the F1.09, so that the tall Kubica could enjoy the same power boost as his smaller team-mate Nick Heidfeld.

Renault, meanwhile, will have an early prototype of a 'double diffuser' fitted to Fernando Alonso's car in Friday practice. A second example is currently not available for his team-mate Nelson Piquet. The French team is counting on a lap-time benefit of between three and five tenths.

"There is no one magic detail that makes a car faster," Alonso warned. "In order for the diffuser to work right, the car has to be changed completely."

"We are at the start of a long development," the Spaniard is quoted as saying by Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.

McLaren also has a new diffuser in China, but it is merely a development of its conventional design. "There has not been enough time for a double-decker diffuser," said Team Principal Martin Whitmarsh. He said he is hoping an early double-diffuser for the MP4-24 will be ready for Bahrain next weekend.

BMW's double-diffuser won't be ready until Barcelona next month. "There we will have a new aero package, and I hope the diffuser," said Nick Heidfeld.

Toro Rosso is hoping to gain a four-tenths lap time advantage in China thanks to a raft of parts that bring the STR4 closer to the specification of parent team Red Bull.

Source: F1-Live.com

Some comments from drivers over the radio not broadcast during the Malaysian GP:

"So where is the rain? We're gonna destroy the tyres"
Kimi Raikkonen, when using extreme wets on a dry track

"This is undriveable... there's puddles... aquaplaning everywhere, unbelievable"
Lewis Hamilton

"******* car's gone off!"
Sebastian Vettel, from a spin not aired prior to the one that caused him to retire

"Race is over"
Sebastian Vettel, from the spin where he did retire

Hmm... I know it's an unusually green circuit right now, but the Ferrari looks horrible compared to everyone else right now...

...not to me.

Although I do have to note Massa weaving the car in the pit lane earlier - with no one in the pit lane it wasn't so bad, but I'm pretty sure that's a fine-worthy move by Massa there.

Brawn staying ahead it would seem, but those Red Bulls are still fast despite the standard diffuser.

Damn, Would of had Rosberg for fastest practice time... but....0.025 seperates me from that XD haahaakipi19

There's still tomorrow boy... and he better get it, 'coz I've got him for that too!

Are the practice sessions not being shown on red button any more? I'm sure the Australian race had the practice sessions repeated on the red button, but I can't seem to find them on the TV now.

I guess there is always iPlayer, so I can watch it there

I'm also hoping Rosberg goes fastest in practice 2moro :)

Whoever originally provided the link for the replay of FP1, if you could provide the link to Qualifying on the iPlayer when it comes up tomorrow it'd be much appreciated as I won't be around.

I'll still be here to provide the link to the live streamer, however. (Saturday Practice & Qualifying use the same link, so I can stick it up when Saturday Practice starts)

BRIDGESTONE RESPONDS TO DRIVER COMPLAINTS

With Renault's Fernando Alonso and Brawn's Rubens Barrichello amongst the drivers questioning Bridgestone's decision to bring their medium and super-soft compounds to the Shanghai circuit, the Japanese tyre company have revealed the reasoning behind their choice of rubber for the Chinese Grand Prix.

The same selection was used at March's Australian race, but many teams struggled with graining on the super-softs around Albert Park. As the surface of China's Shanghai International Circuit is believed to be rougher than the Melbourne track, concerns have been raised that the issues will only worsen this weekend. Bridgestone, however, stand by their decision.

"We decide the allocations for the races based on many factors including past experience, test information and feedback from the teams," explained Bridgestone's director of motorsport tyre development, Hirohide Hamashima. "All teams have a dedicated Bridgestone engineer who works with the drivers and team engineers so we have constant information regarding any tyre issues.

"The teams are made aware of our allocations for races many weeks in advance, so there is plenty of time for feedback. For 2009 we are making a bigger difference between the two compounds and this is in response to requests for this from the FIA and the teams. This gives more of a challenge for the races, and of course any change brings many opinions.

"Here we have the medium tyre, which should be a strong race tyre, and the super soft, which will require good tyre management in terms of car set-up and driving styIe. Of course, we saw different approaches to using the super soft tyre in Australia, with some approaches working much better than others, so it will be interesting to see competitors rise to the challenge here in Shanghai."

Following Friday's two practice sessions, several drivers continued to grumble about the softer option, with BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica describing the tyres as 'fragile' and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel joking that he's glad his helmet 'protects his eyes' as the rubber flies off. Others, however, were pleased with their progress and Hamashima is confident that as the track gets more use and the teams adjust their set-ups, the graining problem will be largely resolved.

"Today the circuit surface delivered very little grip initially in the first practice, but this improved and the track was better in the afternoon," he added. "As we would expect on a Friday, we saw graining, but the amount of graining varied across the teams. Of particular note, the tyre appearance of the Brawn and Toyota cars was very beautiful and even, meaning they appear to be using their tyres well, but some other teams are still finding the best set-ups. In the second session we saw both tyres used and the performance of the super soft in terms of degradation was not as bad as in Australia."

The field will be back in action on Saturday morning as they take to the track for the final practice session, before qualifying for Sunday's Chinese race gets underway in the afternoon.

SOURCE: Official F1 Website

Saturday Practice 3: Good news as Rosberg pulls a Hamilton!

Only Rosberg could drop his car into the Gravel Trap, and then go and top the timesheets.

Unfortunately, he wasn't quick enough to surpass Button's FP2 time.

Controversial diffusers? Who needs them :lol:. Red Bull finally get pole, and who else could it have been through than Vettel. Fantastic session once again, and we now await the fuel loads to see who'll be going where in the race.

Post-qualifying car weights - China

os. Driver         Car weight
 1.  Vettel          644.0kg           
 2.  Alonso          637.0kg           
 3.  Webber          646.5kg           
 4.  Barichello      661.0kg           
 5.  Button          659.0kg           
 6.  Trulli          664.5kg           
 7.  Rosberg         650.5kg           
 8.  Raikkonen       673.5kg           
 9.  Hamilton        679.0kg           
10.  Buemi           673.0kg           
11.  Heidfeld        679.0kg           
12.  Kovalainen      697.0kg           
13.  Massa           690.0kg           
14.  Glock           652.0kg           
15.  Nakajima        682.7kg           
16.  Bourdais        690.0kg           
17.  Piquet          697.9kg           
18.  Kubica          659.0kg           
19.  Sutil           648.0kg           
20.  Fisichella      679.5kg       

AUTOSPORT 

what happened to Glock? He seemed fine in Q1, and looked OK in Q2, but went out for his second lap and was about 2 secs off the pace. Did he make a huge mistake and ran out of time for another flying lap, or a problem with the car? I guess we find out 2moro, but he has a 5 place grid penalty anyway.

I'm surprised at the large difference in weights between some of the cars - Alonso is running 60KG lighter than Kovalainen - that's a massive weight difference in F1. Clearly very different strategies, but still that is more difference than I would have expected.

Race will begin under the safety car. Surely it isn't that bad?

EDIT: Heh, OK, so it does look a bit worse than I thought.

Finally, a Red Bull victory after years of working towards it. I honestly thought last year that Vettel joining the at the time un-impressive Red Bull team from his seemingly better Toro Rosso drive was a step backwards, or would be at least for this season, but this is a damn good car which, if we compare to all other standard diffuser teams, is clearly the fastest. A complete, fast, uncontroversial package from them, and I hope it keeps doing well.

Not really a great race to watch. It's been a while since we had a complete wet race, but the spray really obstructs the view, both for the drivers and the TV cameras. A safety car start seemed sensible to avoid a first corner collision, but seemed to stay out for a long time. Overtaking seemed to happen more from one driver making a mistake, than from the person behind having a better car or tactics.

But well done to Red Bull, they worked the conditions very well and came away with the best possible result. Vettel is looking like quite a talent now, in a car that has yet to see a new diffuser. If they get it ready in time for Europe the Championship could be opening up.

And well done to Piquet on completing his first full lap :P

Though I doubt Flavio is too happy with him needing 3 nose cones to do it!!

And well done to Kovalainen on completing his first full lap :PAvenger1324

Fix'd.

I was gutted i woke up early to watch it then, see the Safety car start then fell asleep.....
Then wake up on 20 laps to go :(,
And i was gutted when i found out Trulli was out as well!

And the race was kinda dissapointing (of what i did see), just spray everywere.
I pray we get a nice dry circuit next, time for some proper race action :lol:

My heart really goes out to Sutil, He puts in some great drives, but something else always gets the better of him to prevent a great result being clinched.

He deserves a better drive than Force India for sure. ;)

My heart really goes out to Sutil, He puts in some great drives, but something else always gets the better of him to prevent a great result being clinched.

He deserves a better drive than Force India for sure. ;)kipi19

Very true - first Monaco, now China - if he can do that in a Force India on their limited budget I'm sure he could do much better given a decent car.

How bout Kubica riding up the back of Trulli! That could have been even bigger than it was. Man Ferrari are really dropping the ball this season. I remember watching it and it showed Massa 3rd before the commercial break and then it showed him retire when the race came back on! I thought they took out KERS to give a reliabilty boost :lol: I was reading that if their updates at Spain don't show enough promise they are gonna stop developing the F60.

Poor Sutil, I feel bad for the guy, he's put in some great drives only to have something happen to him. He can't even finish a race, he's got the Kimi relability luck. I really thought this time he was gonna get a decent points haul but we know what happened :(

There was some good fighting during the race though. Webber and Button were exciting. Congrats to Red Bull even though they messed up on the anthem :lol:

Yeah I almost spit out my drink when I saw Kubica running OVER Trulli. :shock:

And what was messed up on the anthem?

Isn't RBR based in the UK though?mgmeek

Exactly. RBR would be the British nathional anthem, so there was no mess-up.

I did wonder why they played the brit anthem as vettel's german. Have they always played the teams national anthem or is it just because it was a 1-2 win?OGEB1103

They did play the German anthem first then the british one 

[QUOTE="OGEB1103"]I did wonder why they played the brit anthem as vettel's german. Have they always played the teams national anthem or is it just because it was a 1-2 win?mjk1

They did play the German anthem first then the british one 

Man I need to pay attention more!

Indeed. The only reason Button only gets the British national anthem once because he drives for a British team too.