[SPOILER] 2009 Chinese GP

[blue8]

Round 3: Chinese Grand Prix
Shanghai, China

Practice 1:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:37.334 + 22
2. Button Brawn GP-Mercedes (B) 1:37.450 + 0.116 18
3. Barrichello Brawn GP-Mercedes (B) 1:37.566 + 0.232 19
4. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:37.672 + 0.338 23
5. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:37.752 + 0.418 20
6. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:37.764 + 0.430 19
7. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:37.860 + 0.526 24
8. Glock Toyota (B) 1:37.894 + 0.560 21
9. Alonso Renault (B) 1:38.089 + 0.755 19
10. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:38.195 + 0.861 24
11. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:38.223 + 0.889 23
12. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:38.274 + 0.940 20
13. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:38.307 + 0.973 26
14. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:38.319 + 0.985 18
15. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:38.418 + 1.084 20
16. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:38.456 + 1.122 21
17. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:38.460 + 1.126 19
18. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:38.463 + 1.129 18
19. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:38.730 + 1.396 25
20. Piquet Renault (B) 1:38.825 + 1.491 20

Practice 2:
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Button Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:35.679 35
2. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:35.704 + 0.025 36
3. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes (B) 1:35.881 + 0.202 35
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:36.105 + 0.426 32
5. Vettel Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:36.167 + 0.488 22
6. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:36.217 + 0.538 42
7. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:36.377 + 0.698 32
8. Glock Toyota (B) 1:36.548 + 0.869 40
9. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:36.674 + 0.995 34
10. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:36.800 + 1.121 34
11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:36.829 + 1.150 30
12. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:36.847 + 1.168 34
13. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:36.941 + 1.262 28
14. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:37.054 + 1.375 33
15. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:37.219 + 1.540 34
16. Piquet Renault (B) 1:37.273 + 1.594 36
17. Kubica BMW-Sauber (B) 1:37.491 + 1.812 34
18. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber (B) 1:37.544 + 1.865 28
19. Alonso Renault (B) 1:37.638 + 1.959 28
20. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes (B) 1:37.750 + 2.071 31

McLaren revises diffuser for China:
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74511

Ferrari to run without KERS (and their struggles further to compound)
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/74535

[blue8]

Qualifying Results:

[5vz-fe]

I wonder if Renault is really that quick or are they going light.

[Mattk]

^Well, Nelson Piquet Jr is always slow in qualifying. If Alonso is running light, I won't be surprised. It seems to be a common tactic for Renault and Alonso. Perhaps they will run him light with the soft tyres to try and get a good short fast outing, before settling down with heavier fuel loads and harder compound tyres.

A great result for Red Bull. They have been very quick this year and they've taken it to a new level in qualifying here. Meanwhile, Ferrari and McLaren are still having major problems. If these continue, it could change the complexion of Formula One for some time.

[blue8]

The top three were running very light. Ferrari and McLaren (Hamilton's car anyway with the revised diffuser) showed some good pace throughout the qualifying session. The teams with the double-decker diffuser are clearly ahead but not by much (in Q2, the top 14 drivers were separated by less than a second). As the season progresses, the competition is likely to get very, very tight (which of course is great for F1)

Post-qualifying weights:
Pos. 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

[5vz-fe]

All front runners seems to be quite light on fuel.

[turpija]

Originally Posted by 5vz-fe I wonder if Renault is really that quick or are they going light.

I heard that Flavio Briatore send his private jet to get new difuser and pan(how you say belly under car) to get it "overnight" from France to China and apperently they screw it over night and voila

[LH2point3]

Originally Posted by turpija I heard that Flavio Briatore send his private jet to get new difuser and pan(how you say belly under car) to get it "overnight" from France to China and apperently they screw it over night and voila

Supposed to have stripped the seats out of his jet to fit the parts in.
Alonso must have liked his 1st ever drive in the new aero package. Them Renault mechanics worked hard to get the car upgraded. Alonso thanked the mechs for the work.

[5vz-fe]

Race
Pos Driver Team Time Pts
1 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 117:43.485 10
2 Mark Webber Red Bull +10.90 8
3 Jenson Button Brawn GP +44.90 6
4 Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP +63.70 5
5 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren +65.10 4
6 Lewis Hamilton McLaren +71.80 3
7 Timo Glock Toyota +74.40 2
8 Sebastien Buemi Toro Rosso +76.40 1
9 Fernando Alonso Renault +84.30 0
10 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari +91.70 0
11 Sebastien Bourdais Toro Rosso +94.10 0
12 Nick Heidfeld BMW-Sauber +95.80 0
13 Robert Kubica BMW-Sauber +1 lap 0
14 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India +1 lap 0
15 Nico Rosberg Williams +1 lap 0
16 Nelson Piquet Jr Renault +1 lap 0
Ret Adrian Sutil Force India Retirement (lap 51) - accident 0
Ret Kazuki Nakajima Williams Retirement (lap 45) - technical failure 0
Ret Felipe Massa Ferrari Retirement (lap 21) - mechanical failure 0
Ret Jarno Trulli Toyota Retirement (lap 20) - crash with Robert Kubica 0

[5vz-fe]

Damn...Ferrari is f**ked.

[blue8]

Another disappointing weekend for Ferrari! The race was quite exciting especially tons of overtaking, the wet weather, spinning and tightly bunched cars fighting for positions. I think for the last 3 races, Williams has been the biggest disappointment. They may have the advantageous double diffuser but they've only managed to score 3.5 points

[Mattk]

What happened to Raikonnen? I was reading the lap-by-lap commentary on the internet and he was running in the points until his pit stop and then never recovered...

[blue8]

^ Although I watched highlights of the race, to be honest I didn't know what happened to him either so I checked the Ferrari website and got this:

Kimi then lost a place to Hamilton to drop to fifth on lap 23, five laps before making his only pit stop, after changing from a two stop strategy, taking on enough fuel to get to the end of the 56 lap race. On lap 29 came a significant moment at the front, when Button slid wide letting Vettel back into the lead. Kimi naturally slid down the order after his stop and found the car lacked grip in this final stint, which meant he was always struggling to make up places and in fact had to defend his position from various attacks on a difficult afternoon.

Kimi also had this to say in an interview:

Q. Was is difficult to get the tyres up to the right temperature? KR: I don't know if it's the temperature. The thing is we didn't have grip. It was aqua-planning and sliding and every time I touched a wet patch I just lost the front end grip. Overall it was very difficult. In the beginning was not too bad but then, like I said, when we put a lot of fuel and the new tyres it became more difficult.