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Archive for March, 2010

Watch Malaysian Grand Prix Live (Times in GMT)

Friday 2nd April 2010, BBC Red Button (02:55-04:35)
Malaysia, F1 Grand Prix Malaysia, 1st practice session

Friday 2nd April 2010, BBC Red Button (06:55-08:35)
Malaysia, F1 Grand Prix Malaysia, 2nd practice session

Saturday 3rd April 2010, BBC Red Button (05:00-07:05)
Malaysia, F1 Grand Prix Malaysia, 3rd practice session

Saturday 3rd April 2010, BBC Red Button (08:00-10:30) | BBC1 (08:00-10:30) | Setanta Ireland (08:50-10:20 Ireland only)
Malaysia, F1 Grand Prix Qualifying Malaysia

Sunday 4th April 2010, BBC1 (08:00-10:00) | BBC Red Button (08:00-11:15) | Setanta Ireland (08:45-11:00 Ireland only)
Malaysia, F1 Grand Prix Malaysia

Time variable may again influence the outcome of Ferrari and McLaren will go head to Malaysia on Easter Sunday in the Grand Prix.

The season is already shaping up to be a battle between Ferrari and McLaren in the Grand Prix circus heads to Sepang and the Malaysian GP on Easter Sunday (April 4, 2010).

After the tedium of Bahrain is the wheel to wheel racing in changing conditions in Melbourne, which saw the reigning world champion Jenson Button to show their tactical skills by requiring a change of tires at the right time and ahead of the competition when the storm their first win of the season. There was also need for a technical error by the Red Bull driven by Sebastien Vettel, who had pole position, lead to spin off and let the button through.

Unfortunately for tactical excellence McLaren same does not apply to other driver Lewis Hamilton, who was called to change a tire other unnecessary cost him his career never recovered items and frustration finally collided with local driver Mark Webber the second Red Bull on the penultimate lap to take them both down on the ground. Hamilton managed sixth and Webbber, who was forced to pit, dropped to ninth. So there are only two points for Red Bull after the holding of the first row.

Michael Schumacher continued his poor start to the season after the derivation of the first corner forced him to pit and struggled for most of the race to get past Jamie Alguersuari in Toro Rossi. Finally he and I just had a championship point as a reward.

Ferrari was strong again with Fernando Alonso Felipe Massa take third and fourth is to ensure both the constructors and drivers championship. The second race was impressive by Renault, Robert Kubica, who held off the Ferrari Challenge and take second place.

Malaysian Grand Prix
Like Melbourne, tire wear will be critical in Malaysia as high temperatures combined with fast corners. The atmosphere will be missed by the audience will be low, interest in motor racing is not as high in Malaysia. The country also has a weather system that is bright warm sunlight one minute and then torrential rain a few minutes and returned to the sun. This has created havoc in the past and probably will do so again.

Jenson Button won the race from pole position last year.

Lotus and 3CX
As the Lotus team funded by the Malaysian currency, the drivers will be extra keen to do well on Sunday. And the contest will be closely watched in the team’s headquarters in Norfolk, England, thanks to telecommunications 3CX, who have installed their phone system at a technical center and mobile operations racetrack. This means that the race team can contact each other wherever they are on the way to Norfolk. Cars can not win the race yet, but at least have a unified communications system that ensures everyone knows what happens.

Table After two Grand Prix
Makes: Ferrari (70) McLaren (54), Mercedes (29), Red Bull (18), Renault (18), Force India (8), Williams (5).

Drivers: Alonso (37), Massa (33), Button (31), Hamilton (23), Rosberg (20), Kubica (18), Vettel (12), Schumacher (9), Liuzzi (8), Webber (6 ), Baric Hello (5).

Approval and Grid Positions
Information on approved and grid positions shown here after Saturday’s final qualifying. If not, try to beat fresh.

Jenson Button won his first victory of the season at the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park today in his McLaren-Mercedes, driving in commanding style over Robert Kubica in the Renault in second, and Felipe Massa in the Ferrari in third place.

After the race began in damp conditions, the reigning world champion switched to dry tyres early on putting him into second place, and when a brake failure ended polesitter Sebastian Vettel’s day in the gravel trap, Button inherited the lead and never looked back.

Kubica held off Massa, Fernando Alonso in the other Ferrari, and Nico Rosberg in fifth in the Mercedes. Lewis Hamilton in the McLaren and Mark Webber in the Red Bull-Renault had stopped for new tyres in the middle of the race, and stormed back to challenge Alonso until a tangle with two laps to go saw Webber touch Hamilton, causing both men to spin off and continue, the Australian having to pit for a new nose. Hamilton finished sixth, Vitantonio Liuzzi taking seventh in his Force India-Mercedes, followed by Rubens Barrichello in his Williams-Cosworth, Webber in ninth, and Michael Schumacher in his Mercedes in tenth, taking the last point.

The win is Button’s first for McLaren, and the eighth of his career.

Australian Grand Prix 2010 Results

Pos	No	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	58	1:33:36.531	4	25
2	11	Robert Kubica	Renault	58	+12.034	9	18
3	7	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	58	+14.488	5	15
4	8	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	58	+16.304	3	12
5	4	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	58	+16.683	6	10
6	2	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	58	+29.989	11	8
7	15	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Force India-Mercedes	58	+59.847	13	6
8	9	Rubens Barrichello	Williams-Cosworth	58	+1:00.536	8	4
9	6	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	58	+1:07.319	2	2
10	3	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	58	+1:09.391	7	1
11	17	Jaime Alguersuari	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	58	+1:11.301	17
12	22	Pedro de la Rosa	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	58	+1:14.084	14
13	19	Heikki Kovalainen	Lotus-Cosworth	56	+2 Laps	19
14	20	Karun Chandhok	HRT-Cosworth	53	+5 Laps	22
Ret	24	Timo Glock	Virgin-Cosworth	41	Suspension	23
Ret	25	Lucas di Grassi	Virgin-Cosworth	27	Hydraulics	24
Ret	5	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull-Renault	26	Brakes	1
Ret	14	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	9	Engine	10
Ret	12	Vitaly Petrov	Renault	9	Spin	18
Ret	21	Bruno Senna	HRT-Cosworth	4	Hydraulics	21
Ret	16	Sébastien Buemi	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	0	Accident	12
Ret	10	Nico Hülkenberg	Williams-Cosworth	0	Accident	15
Ret	23	Kamui Kobayashi	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	0	Accident	16
DNS	18	Jarno Trulli	Lotus-Cosworth	0	Hydraulics	20

Michael Schumacher is banking £30million a year to make the most astonishing comeback in motor racing history.
Mercedes had briefed the press that they were paying Schumacher £6m when they unveiled him as their star driver last December, but Sportsmail has now learned that he is receiving a basic salary of around £21m plus a further £9m in private endorsements.
It makes the 41-year-old German the highest paid driver on the grid, ahead of Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso, whose annual earnings amount to about £26m.
It also places him just in front of football’s World Player of the Year, Barcelona’s Lionel Messi, who earns £29m. However, Schumacher’s current pay is less than he pocketed at his peak — more than £60m a year. He is thought to be worth £500m in all.

The revelation of the true cost of Schumacher’s employment — which amounts to £90m over three years — will come as an embarrassment to Mercedes, who were keen to play down his salary given trade union unrest in Stuttgart, where manufacturing jobs have been laid off as a result of falling road car sales in the world recession.
Schumacher’s extra £9m comes from deals with clothing companies Navy Boots and Jet Set, financial advisers DVAG, mineral water manufacturers Rosbacher and, from next month, energy drink Schneekoppe.
It is a sign of Mercedes’ indulgence of the seven-time world champion that he is being allowed to work for Navy Boots and Jet Set while the team are still being backed by rivals Henri Lloyd, who are said to be unhappy at being usurped. It is understood that Mercedes forbade Schumacher’s team-mate Nico Rosberg from striking his own clothes deal.
Schumacher’s vast remuneration shows how important he is to Mercedes, whose sales slid by 10 per cent last year. He is Germany’s most popular sportsman and a key commercial component for the brand. He is likely to remain a long-term ambassador beyond his racing career, which is projected to last until 2012.
However, it is too early to say whether his signing after three years in retirement is a shrewd move in sporting terms. After all, he finished behind Rosberg in Bahrain a fortnight ago. His next task is to improve on that in Sunday’s second race, the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
‘It’s true (I was beaten by my team-mate),’ he said. ‘But it is rare that I take a three-year break. I am pretty happy with the way the progression is going — understanding
where I have to improve, where the car has to be with me. It was in line with my expectations.
‘I wasn’t dreaming of coming back and kicking everyone else’s ass and neither was my ass kicked.
‘People have a lot of trust in me which is nice but I am not a magician. I have been around long enough to know about the attention to detail it needs. You can’t expect me to be here straight away.’ Schumacher declared himself fit, his neck able to withstand the G-forces of driving a Formula One car, not least because the heavier fuel loads introduced this season reduce car speeds.
However, he is not setting himself targets, dismissing three-time world champion Niki Lauda’s assertion that we will know his true calibre after three races.
‘I will give my own judgment in the time I want,’ said Schumacher. ‘I had a good start in Bahrain, good pace, and I was pleased.’
But Mercedes want world championship success after giving up a 40 per cent stake in McLaren to take a 75.1 per cent stake in what was previously the Brawn team.
German national pride may hinge on their willingness to grant team principal Ross Brawn space to run things as he wishes without undue interference from Mercedes’ motorsport supremo Norbert Haug. And the ability of their £30m-a-year talisman to reproduce the wonders of his past.

Formula 1 arrives in Australia under pressure to entertain following the waves of criticism directed at the season opener in Bahrain. The Sakhir race just under a fortnight ago was far from the most tedious grand prix in F1 history, and it might even have been building up to a thrilling conclusion had Sebastian Vettel’s engine not wilted.

Many teams’ simulations had predicted that the Red Bull’s tyres would fade and Ferrari insisted its drivers were biding their time for a late surge.

Had we seen Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa spectacularly wheel to wheel in the last three laps, no one would have remembered the 46 static tours beforehand.

But being realistic, we’re probably clutching at idealistic straws even suggesting that a frenzied denouement was in prospect – every time Alonso had got close to Vettel earlier in the race the turbulence from the Red Bull’s rear end left the Ferrari struggling for grip and eating its tyres.

And remember that same turbulence prevented Nico Rosberg from getting close enough to pass Vettel even when the Red Bull was struggling for power in the closing laps.

The problem of ‘dirty air’ isn’t a new one, it’s been frustrating drivers’ passing attempts for years, but there are three reasons why it was such a spectacle killer at Sakhir.

In the refuelling era, even if an on-track overtake was unlikely, there were two or three chances to shake up the order in pit stops, and the last of these often came late on.

Fans could cope with everything being settled by the final dozen laps – what was depressing in Bahrain was that all the major stops were completed by lap 17, which meant a strong likelihood of nothing else happening in the remaining 32 laps, a whole hour of tedium given the Sakhir circuit extension.

The need to nurse tyres through such a long stint didn’t help either.

Rather than burning through their rubber and then sliding around and changing positions, the drivers were urged to stay conservative and save tyre grip, especially if they were stuck behind a rival.

And most critically, with all the excitement about the ultra-close top eight battle, the fascinating line-up changes and renewed rivalries, and the return of Michael Schumacher, there were a lot more expectant eyes on F1 than usual.

Exactly the same rules will apply in Melbourne this weekend, so is there any hope of things improving?

Hopefully there is.

Despite the organisers’ best efforts, Bahrain was a very flat venue for an opener, with its massive expanses and lack of local motorsport passion.

Albert Park’s wall-lined confines, ultra-slippery temporary track surface, unique layout and huge crowd of motorsport-mad Aussies instantly raises the excitement level.

Weird things happen in Melbourne – it tends to be a race of high attrition and crazy incident.

The winner is very often the same man who emerges as champion, but behind him, this is one of the venues most likely to see an underdog on the podium.
It doesn’t quite have Montreal’s reputation for entertaining thrills and spills, but it’s not far behind – think of Martin Brundle rolling in 1996, Jacques Villeneuve fighting for victory on his debut that year, David Coulthard giving the McLaren-Mercedes partnership its first win in 1997, Eddie Irvine’s maiden victory, the 2002 startline carnage, Juan Pablo Montoya spinning away a certain win in 2003, 2005’s topsy-turvy grid, or last year’s late clash between Robert Kubica and Sebastian Vettel…

In Bahrain there was a lot of caution and tyre paranoia as no one really knew how the first race of the new era was going to unfold.

Now the teams are more confident that they can keep their Bridgestones alive through a long stint, and that will hopefully encourage a more gung-ho approach.

With the points gap between winning and merely being a frontrunner bigger than ever this year, those not on the podium in Bahrain can’t afford to sit around gathering points – they have to take the fight to Fernando Alonso and Ferrari right now.

And as we’ve seen often enough in recent years – think some of Jenson Button’s charges from poor grid spots late last year, the crazy 2003 British GP or 2005 Japanese GP – when drivers really have to overtake to salvage a title or recover from being put out of their deserved position, they do tend to find a way, turbulence or no turbulence.

The issue of on-track entertainment is set to remain a hot topic all weekend, and countless theories and suggestions are likely to be thrown into the mix.

But perhaps if Melbourne lives up to its reputation for action, the race will hopefully make all the post-Bahrain panic seem unnecessary.

Mark Webber is not expecting Michael Schumacher to get the upper hand on Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg at any point this season.

Webber was Rosberg’s team-mate at Williams in 2006 and thinks he is a tough competitor for a returning driver to face. He also reckons Schumacher will need the best part of the season to even get on an equal footing with Rosberg.

“I have never ever seen a phenomenal comeback,” Webber said. “I think it will be a bloody hard season for him. I wouldn’t expect him to beat Nico – I expect it to be close. Rosberg is competitive and I would say Schumacher is too.”

At the first race in Bahrain Schumacher appeared to be struggling with understeer on the new narrower front tyres while Rosberg looked far more comfortable. But when asked what strengths he had over his illustrious team-mate Rosberg remained coy.

“I cannot answer that,” he said. “But no one is perfect, so there are certainly areas where I am strong. What I want this season is to be at eye-level with Michael. And I think that I can show a strong performance in Australia.”

Rules and Regulations

The consensus is that the 2010 season could be one of the most competitive for a number of years, with several former world champions battling for supremacy and no one team looking to have a massive advantage … and then there are the changes in rules and equipment to take into consideration.

In-race refuelling
This has been banned for the first time since 1993 and as a result the capacities of the cars’ tanks have increased from around 80 litres to nearer 250 litres. The additional weight will really be a factor at the start of a race, meaning increased tyre and brake wear. Handling will change significantly throughout the course of the race as the load decreases. Pit stops remain for running repairs and tyre changes, and some are predicting they could be done and dusted in as little as two seconds.

Wheelbases
To accommodate the massive fuel load, cars will be wider and also have a longer wheelbase.

Weight
The minimum for each car has been increased to 620kg (up 15kg).

Tyres
Front tyres have been narrowed from 270mm to 245mm to improve the balance of the grip, but to cope with the extra weight of the cars, Bridgestone will be supplying a harder-compound tyre. Two dry-weather compounds will be made available and a driver must use both in the race unless wet-weather tyres are called for. Each driver will be allowed 11 sets of dry tyres per race weekend, down from 14 in 2009, and three of these sets are for practice only and must be returned before the start of qualifying, regardless of whether they are used or not. Wheel covers, which have been used by the teams since 2006, are also banned for 2010.

Qualifying
With 24 cars rather than last season’s 20, the seven slowest cars in qualifying will drop out after the first 20-minute period (Q1) and these will form positions 18 to 24 on the grid. After the second 15-minute period (Q2) seven more will be eliminated, forming positions 11 to 17 on the grid. The top ten cars will then have a final ten minutes (Q3) to compete for the front of the grid. To add more spice, those competing in Q3 will have to start the grand prix on the same tyres and set-up, so anyone stealing a march with soft tyres in qualifying will have to work with the same set-up when the race starts, albeit with a lot more fuel on board.

Points
The biggest change to the scoring system, with race winners now getting 25 points, second place earning 18, with the next eight drivers being awarded 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 respectively. The idea behind this is to reward cars and drivers further down the field, while the seven-point gap between first and second is aimed at ensuring drivers go for a win-at-all-costs approach.