Hungarian Grand Prix will run on Sunday July 26, 2009

Lewis Hamilton reinforced McLaren’s fast pace by registering his best lap time of 1m 22.554s, just ahead of German Grand Prix winner Mark Webber’s Red Bull race car, which had a best lap time of 1m 22.615s. Kazuki Nakajima in the second Williams car qualified third in the first session, a fraction of a second behind at 1m 22.619s

Jarno Trulli finished the session with the sixth fastest time in his Toyota, Kimi Raikkonen was seventh, Felipe Massa eighth, Fernando Alonso was ninth in his Renault, and Jenson Button qualified tenth for Brawn.

Lewis Hamilton was able to dial his McLaren in a little better in the second session in the afternoon on the pavement of the Hungaroring circuit near beautiful Budapest, Hungary. The field had been trying to best the 1m 22.126s of his teammate Heikki Kovalainen since he had made his appearance on the track early in the session. Hamilton was one of the last cars to finish and zipped around the track in 1m 22.079s to just beat the time of his teammate and record the fastest time of the session. Nico Rosberg had a strong second session for Williams and finished third, Mark Webber had the fourth fastest time, Kazuki Nakajima was fifth, and Sebastian Vettel had the sixth fastest time of the second session. Rubens Barrichello had the fastest time of the session for Brawn but was still seventh, just ahead of Jarno Trulli in his Toyota and BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld, while Tim Glock in the second Toyota rounded out the top ten in the second session of qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

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Hungarian Grand Prix Tomorrow

Jenson Button and Brawn are getting ready for the German Grand Prix

The Nurburgring circuit will be the home race on the Formula One calendar for several current drivers and teams, including Adrian Sutil, BMW, Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, Toyota, Nick Heidfeld, and Timo Glock. This certainly puts a little added pressure on these teams and drivers to perform well in front of their fans and sponsors, which could be a good thing in some cases, and in others less beneficial, but we’ll find out this weekend. For teams that didn’t have the best British Grand Prix, it’s an opportunity to get things headed in the right direction, while teams that had success will be looking to continue the trend and improve.
Expect Jenson Button and his BGP001 to be fast and possibly challenge for a top spot, he has had some success racing on the Nurburgring circuit, but will need help from Mother Nature to have a good day, in my opinion. Lewis Hamilton has always enjoyed Nurburgring, deep in the forests of Germany, and this type of track should suit his driving style, so I expect him to have a good race. McLaren driver Heikki Kovalainen has been fast been fast, so far this season, and this kind of course should suit his car and driving style well, so I expect him to have a good race.

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German Grand Prix Preview

BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica thinking about his year, so far

Let’s quickly go over BMW Sauber’s year so far and a few of the less than stellar moments of their 2009 campaign.

2009 was going to be BMW Sauber’s year for major improvements in their car and final standing in the race for the world championship. Considering their steady progress since 2006, expectations were of BMW Sauber challenging for the championship and maybe even winning. This was not to be however, as instead of rising to glory, BMW Sauber has lost ground with both their car and their final standings in the races.

Pre-season testing seemed to indicate too many that BMW Sauber’s F1.09 was fast, quick, and reliable, and drivers Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica were talking excitedly about their cars and chances for the 2009 Formula One season. Unfortunately, as the season has progressed, it has become clear they can’t currently compete with the front running Brawns and Toyotas. They have only managed four top ten finishes this season, far behind what they were expecting considering last year they had 74 points after eight races.

BMW Sauber really got left behind when they concentrated on KERS over aerodynamics at the beginning of the year. They are now coming up with their own editions of Brawn/Toyota/Williams double-diffuser, but they’re still way behind this season, and refuse to admit defeat.

In the Turkish Grand Prix they tried out their first editions of the two-tier diffuser, and there were a few signs of improvement, with Kubica grabbing his first points of the 2009 Formula One season. The Silverstone race saw both BMW Sauber drivers finish a lap down, so if the team is going to compete, they need to get their car running faster.

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BMW Sauber’s 2009 Formula One Season

Jenson kept the hammer down through out most of the race and managed to build up a lead of 20 seconds to his closest competitor but eased off in the later part of the race to protect the win and eventually finishing 6.7 seconds ahead of Red Bull racer Mark Webber. The smile on his race as he crossed the finish line could probably light a bulb and who could blame him after beating his competition on an afternoon where he was barely threatened.

Vettel managed to work his way back up to third and was just behind Webber at the end of the race and eventually to finish just 0.7 seconds behind Webber. In the end his three stop strategy didn’t work and was an error that allowed Webber to use his two stop strategy to take second place. Certainly a disappointing race in some ways for Vettel but he still managed to reach and podium and can hold his head high.

Jarno Trulli and Nico Rosberg battled through most of the Turkish Grand Prix for fourth place but in the end Trulli managed to get in front of Rosberg and beat him across the line. Felipe Massa probably came into the race with expectations of achieving his fourth straight victory in Turkey but it quickly became clear these expectations were beyond his cars reach and he had to settle for sixth place.

The Santander British Grand Prix is the next race on the Formula One calendar and we can expect to witness amazing feats of driving skill at this venue. The action begins with practice runs on Friday the 19^th of June, but all the times and days are listed below for you to make a note of the time.

F1 TIMETABLE

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Jenson Button Wins the Turkish Grand Prix

Monaco was more of the same for the Formula One 2009 season

Brawn once again finished with a one-two combination that’s their third dual-win of the year and the third win with the same Mercedes-Benz engine powering Button’s ride. Ferrari had its best result of the year and its best finish since the race in Brazil last season. Raikkonen managed to start on the front row and reach the podium for the first time this season and at one point during the race at Monaco they were flying, before they had to change their rubber. Vettel started fast on super-soft tires and with the lightest fuel load but turned into a moving road block after a few laps. Rosberg sure looked fast and hungry all weekend and was probably disappointed with his sixth place ranking. Nakajima also ran hot and fast all weekend, but then took a chance on the last lap that ran his FW31 into the wall. Fernando Alonso appeared to be improving with each lap and managed to stay consistent and took seventh place. Nelson Piquet retired after an accident on lap 11 with Sebastien Buemi. Sebastien Bourdais gained a point in what he considers his home race; he stayed out of trouble with his STR4 and watched his rubber, and then took advantage of the opportunity that presented itself to finish eighth. Giancarlo Fisichella finished ninth by keeping his car out of trouble through out the race and managed to pull up close to Bourdais at the end and was in contention for eighth. Sutil started with a one-stop strategy in mind, but his tires quickly caused him to loose ground and ruined his chances.

The next stop for the Formula One season is Istanbul, Turkey, a fast track that was first run in 2005. Check the list below for the dates and times for the Turkish Grand Prix (all times are in local times)

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Monaco Post Race Results

Jenson makes it three out of four for 2009 Formula One season

The start was the key as he was able to take advantage of Lewis Hamilton’s sudden arrival between the Toyotas in the run to the first turn to stay high and squeeze around the outside of Sebastian Vettel in Turn One, and into third behind the Toyotas. He just waited for the leaders to pit and then pulled into the front and never really looked back.

Button raced intelligently and fast, waiting his time and only losing the lead for a few laps after his stops on lap 15 and lap 37, before retaking the lead for the last time and never being threatened again by the field.

Button reported the failure of an electrical box in his cockpit that heated him up a bit, but other than that called it one of his best afternoons of racing in his career.

Barrichello decided on a pre-race strategy of three stops that didn’t work out and was disappointed to finish the race in fifth, just ahead of Raikkonen, but was still able to grab Ferrari’s first point of the 2009 Formula One season with his fifth place finish.

Vettel really lost his opportunity in the first run to Turn One, with Hamilton on the right and Button on the left he got squeezed out and stuck behind the leaders, which cost him rubber and speed. He stayed strong through most of the race and was able to race his way past Trulli to take second and continue to show the strength of his resolve and racing skill.

Trulli had a brain freeze and decided to change his tires to primes and lost time, before changing back to super-soft tires and gaining ground to finish third. A disappointing finish considering expectations and qualifying times, so the decision to change tires will certainly be questioned by many.

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Jenson Button Wins Again

Formula One pulls into Bahrain

The last two races at Bahrain have seen Ferrari and Felipe Massa come away with a victory at this fast race course that should allow the racers to spend a little more time jockeying for position and doing some amazing racing. Felipe and Ferrari will be hard pressed to win this time though and if the Brazilian is able to pull another rabbit from his hat and beat the field to the finish line, it would be a real magic trick, considering the way his car has been running.

The odds at Bahrain would indicate that Brawn and Jenson Button would be the expected favorite, but then that’s why we run the race, to see what fate and life has dictated. The competition to Button would certainly have to be Red Bull Racing considering their on-two punch at the finish line of Shanghai, but the rest of the field will be looking to see if they can throw a wrench into the betting line.

Toyota’s TF109 and Willams’s FW31 will probably see their diffuser advantage disappear after Bahrain as the rest of the teams get diffusers installed and working properly in their cars in anticipation of catching up and over taking the lead Brawn has taken over the field in the season standings, probably by Barcelona.

Bahrain has a series of hard turns that are hard on the brakes of Formula One cars, add to this the problem of dust on the track in the corners, and tires and traction will be on the mind of the racers and teams as they pull into Bahrain this weekend. Brawn should have the advantage here also as they are generally less aggressive in their use of rubber, but the set up of the cars will be the key as Bahrain is a tough track.

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Formula One Pulls into Bahrain this Weekend

Shanghai is next on the Formula One schedule

The other teams will certainly be disappointed with the news, but will soon recover and implement diffusers of their own using the disputed designs. This will take time, how much, and will they implement them before Shanghai, only they know, but the likely seems remote that they could install them and test them before Shanghai.

The Shanghai International Circuit is a technical course that the drivers generally enjoy, with a variety of slow and fast sections requiring proper speed management and opportunities to pass at several points. The total length of the track is a moderate 5.451 kilometers, and it has the general shape of the Chinese character “Shang”, which translates as high or above in the English language. The set up of the cars will be critical as they need speed and balance through the high-speed corners and but good mechanical grip for the hairpin corners. The course designers created a beautiful course with seven right and seven left turns, with several opportunities for the drivers to pass slower traffic. One of these passing areas is Turn One and another is the tight corner at the end of the 1.1 km straight stretch that demands the cars brake from speeds in access of 320 km/hr on the area of the track between Turn 13 and Turn 14.

Watch carefully this weekend when your watching for these areas of the track, they will be where all the excitement will probably occur, and enjoy the race.

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Shanghai International Circuit is Next