Delayed Race Notes: Belgian Grand Prix 2009

[Preface - Due to studies I fell behind with the editing of these posts. They were written live as usual, but needed a lot of work to make readable. Anything in italics in square brackets was written during the edit, just like this paragraph.]

2009 Formula 1 ING Belgian Grand Prix
Date: 30 August 2009
Circuit: Spa-Franchorchamps (PF) (GC)
Location: Francorchamps, Belgium
Distance: 44 laps
Tyre choices (red): SS / S / M / H

Coverage: BBC One / BBC Radio 5 Live[*]
Anchor: Jake Humphrey
Analysts in the paddock: David Coulthard (DC) and Eddie Jordan (EJ)

R5 commentary[*]: David Croft (Crofty) and Anthony Davidson (Ant)
R5 pitlane[*]: Holly Samos

[*for many years the BBC has held the UK radio rights to F1. In '09 they also picked up the TV rights and they now offer an alternate feed on digital television, combining TV pics with radio commentary. I tend to use this feed.]

Coverage begins at 12.10pm.

DVR Notes

Spa. They've been racing here for 80 years. Need balls to be fast here. DC and EJ walk down memory lane recalling classic moments they were involved in during their careers - DC's '98 crashes, Jordan's 1-2 in the same race which he calls the greatest day in his sporting history. Brundle says it rewards you if you attack it and respect it.

This is the longest lap of the year.

Points recap:
Button leads Barrichello by 18.
Brawn ahead of Red Bull by 27.5 but the battle for 3rd is worth watching.

Jake says Spa is what Formula 1 is all about.

Ted's Qual Report:
Spa is more kebab and chips than champagne and canapes. Fans bought tickets expecting to see Schumacher.

Badoer qualifed last for the 2nd race in a row: LB "the last lap was a lot of traffic, everybody was waiting, one Toro Rosso overtake me when I was waiting" (for space).

Button - couldn't get grip on the soft tyre, says he had oversteer.

Ted says Spa isn't as reliant on aero as many circuits, so it favours teams used to making their tyres work to make up for their aero package, like Force India.
Hamilton says he's losing a lot of time in the middle sector.

Barrichello only has fuel for 9 laps but could only get 4th. (If 9 laps doesn't sound like much, just remember how long this place is.) Rubens says he's looking for great overtaking.

Fisichella was by no means the lightest car on the grid, so it was a genuine surprise for pole.

Fisi: "Guys in the factory did a fantastic job, with our limited budget."

Grid:
Fisichella (pole), Trulli
Heidfeld, Barrichello
Kubica, Raikkonen
Glock, Vettel
Webber, Rosberg
Sutil, Hamilton
Alonso, Button
Kovalainen, Buemi
Alguersuari, Nakajima
Grosjean, Badoer

Proper chat with Fisichella now. His last pole was in 2006! Says a pole with a good car is fantastic for sure - to do it with a small team, limited budget, is amazing.
Expected top fifteen, difficult to get to top ten, and got pole!
Says the Ferrari stories are just rumours and they haven't called him, and even if they did he'd have to think about it.

Back to Jake and David who rubbish that - he'd jump at it, they say.

They waffle on for a bit, then we go to a package with EJ and Rubens meeting at a big house in Portugal. Is it his? Rubens brought wine!
Rubens says if he cries on the podium, so what? It's for him. Valencia was like he was reading a book, very consistent that weekend.

EJ is only wearing shorts, my eyes, my eyes!
They go for a round of golf. Seemingly lots of man-love between EJ and Rubens.
Qualifying means a lot, JB has been qualifying well all season. Says he loves JB as a man but hates him as a driver..

OK this feature is way too long.


This is better. Lewis Hamilton walking the circuit with Martin Brundle
Eau Rouge. Compression, can only see the sky! They are breaking a sweat just walking up it.

Pouhon, downhill, just drop a gear, wait for car to settle and power on. No braking at 170mph with the wall outside.


Feature on tyres. Not BBC graphics, maybe supplied by Bridgestone and then voiced by DC? Completely ripping off that Sony ad with things bouncing down hills - tyres bouncing to the same (or similar) song.
This isn't being presented well for TV, very dry. Four different dry tyre types. Graphs of optimum tyre temps and bumpiness of circuits.

Back to the guys. Eddie Jordan very proud of his old team for getting pole position.


Gridwalk
Brundle is talking conspiracies. First 7 drivers on the grid don't have a drive next year. BMW leaving, Toyota threatening, Force India low on money - he says it is rubbish, they all just happen to be working very well.

Trulli (P2): "To win you need a good start, good first lap, avoid trouble." Says he will win the race.

Fisi (P1): "I was saving fuel so I didn't push (going to grid). GOnna be difficult to keep the pace of the other people, good for us to score points and go for podium. We are on pole, that means something very important." He's looking for Rubens, Kimi and Jarno to come up from behind.

Heidfeld (P3), surprised?: "Yeah definitely, thought we'd have a good result but thought P5 would be maximum. The view is a bit unusual for me this season, we usually have better starts than the Toyotas and will try to get by Fisi with a longer strategy."

Rubens (P4): "Crucial for strategy to have a good gap when I comes out of the first pitstop. You gotta go and try to win the race, if you're too cautious it isn't going to work."

Running after Jenson!
Button, (P12): "Difficult qualifying. Tough position around Spa. We got a Force India on pole so I'm sure we could have a good race here. Couldn't get radio working, might need that this race, it's all good now."


National Anthem
Jake introduces the anthem as the Spanish National Anthem. We are in Belgium, Jake. I don't believe I've ever heard it before. They are doing it in the style of a jazz club? Nice.


Fuel weights to the tune of Can't Touch This by MC Hammer!! Ha!! Gotta love Ted Kravitz.
If you equalise the weights it was Jarno Trulli who was fastest, with Vettel 2nd then Heidfeld. Fisi would be 4th. Barrichello the lightest car on the grid, stopping on lap 9. Many front-runners are stopping on lap 12.


Lee with unknown FIFI man: "[Fisi] is in good shape. We've been on the pace all weekend, we took a good aero package to Valencia but it wasn't a circuit where we could show it. We came here expecting top six and that's where we're hoping to end up in the race."

Howett, Toyota: "All year our car is more competitive than our qualifying results have shown."

Mario T! "We are confident of our race performance, anything can happen, we hope we can put one car on the podium today. We need some luck, maybe we have it."

Ted with Christian Horner, RBR: "Glitch with front wing, reset electronics and its looking good. Good opportunity to score points, key is to survive first lap, we're heavier on fuel, Kimi is a factor."

Chris Dyer, Ferrari: "If we get a good first lap we're in with a chance."

Pundit tips?
Eddie Jordan says Kimi is strong but wants an ex-Jordan driver to win, doesn't matter which.
David Coulthard goes for Kimi to win.


Live Notes

GRID

Fisichella, Trulli
Heidfeld, Barrichello
Kubica, Raikkonen
Glock, Vettel
Webber, Rosberg
Sutil, Hamilton
Alonso, Button
Kovalainen, Buemi
Alguersuari, Nakajima
Grosjean, Badoer

FORMATION LAP

Radio 5Live audio with BBC1 pictures.

1.2.3.4.5..GO!

Great start from Fisi, all tangled at the start and one car tagged.. Fisi great lead up the hill!

Les Combes - BIG accident!
3 or 4 cars in the wall. Button spins. Grosjean and Hamilton and an STR are in the wall, suspension damaged.
Toyota wing damage, continues.

Replays: Someone tagged Button from behind and sent him into the pack.

Safety Car - first one since Barcelona! Trulli pits for repairs, it was his front wing.

Button, Grosjean, Hamilton and Alguersuari are out of the race.

Replays: Barrichello slow at the start. Sutil tagged someone and suffered damage at La Source.

Kimi had somehow made it from 6th to 2nd in that.
Order:
Fisi, Kimi, Kubica, Glock, Webber, Heid, Ros, Vet, Alo, Kov, Bue, Nak, Bad, Tru, Bar, Sut

Lap 4 (3 complete, we're on 4) - SC in at the end of this lap.

L5 RESTART

LOVE that onboard with Kimi as we chase Fisi! Kimi makes the pass on the Kemmel straight. KERS in action.

L6 Barrichello took Trulli on the restart, now a replay of taking Badoer at the Bus Stop, 13th now..

Webber is ahead of Heidfeld now. This is a great opportunity for Button's rivals to take points off him in the title race!

L7 Barrichello passes Nakajima with a great run through Eau Rouge and Raidillon to take him with momentum on the straight.

L8 Holly with Lewis: "What can you do? We got off to a bad start, when it goes bad it goes bad. No biggie, not challenging for the championship so not the end of the world."

Sutil passes Badoer around the outside, off the circuit to pass him. Might get a penalty for passing him?

Sutil just clears Nakajima in the same way Barrichello did, really easy pass. Kaz just sits there and lets it happen, doesn't react at all.. Is Naka really heavy or is he not bothered?

L10 Kimi had set some fast laps to get a gap, Fisi is now holding him at 1.8sec. Kubica a similar gap back to Fisi.

L11 Button: "Alongside Kovalainen into the corner and got whacked in the rear wheel. Was an avoidable accident, I think it was braking too late. Made up places at the start, I wasn't too far behind Webber, 5 positions, now I'm out no points. At least it happened here not somewhere where we're competitive."

L12 Kova radio: "Fuel-corrected your pace is as good as the leaders, keep it up you're in contention for 6th place."
He's now 10th.

Kubica and Glock pit.

13 laps gone. Heidfeld sets fastest lap in 1:47.738.
Alonso is being told to push to stop Fisi coming out ahead of them after the stops.

Replay of Glock stop: Slow stop, the original fuel hose did not work, had to use backup.

L15 Raikkonen, Fisi, Webber and Heidfeld all pit!!
Kimi out first, Fisi 2nd, Webber JUST beats Heidfeld who has to brake hard. Red Bull get could penalised for that, you're not supposed to release into the path of another car.

Heidfeld passes Webber at Les Combes!
Rubens takes Mark around the outside at Blannchimont!

L17 Webber has been given a drive-thru penalty. Vettel pits. He's out ahead of Heidfeld cleanly.

L19 Rosberg pits from his temporary lead. Webber is in for his drive-thru.
The accident on lap one will be investigated after the race.

Crofty says Toyota told him they are aware their engine is not as good as some others, they knew they'd be c30 horsepower down on Merc and Ferrari which hurts on the long uphill straight here.

L21 Trulli stops again and is last due to his earlier wing change.
ALonso (3rd) and Kova (5th) still need to stop, so do Naka and Badoer at the back.

L22 Kimi radio: "Fisi could be same lap or one lap longer so we need to open a gap."
Ahh, Jarno Trulli is out of the race. He's parked it in the garage.

L24 Fisi radio: Needs a tenth per lap, Raikkonen has been told to push.
Alonso has been told they will fit the softer option tyre. He pits now.
Problem! Left front wheel fairing is not engaging. STUPID devices. They are banned next year, Crofty calls for them to be banned immediately.

Replay, onboard Alonso: Sutil spinning on the first corner, his nose hit Alonso's left front wheel and damaged the fairing thing.
L26 Alonso's spinner fairing is now flailing around, he's having to drive slowly to the pits to get it fixed.

L27 Kovalainen pits. He's out alongside Vettel and beats up up the hill.

L28 Alonso makes it back. He's out of the race. Barrichello in from 6th. He beats Nakajima out, Kazuki still hasn't stopped - so Rubens made up an entire stop length on him!
Nakajima stops a lap later.

L29 Kimi and Fisi are just a tenth or so different lap to lap. If Fisi wins this, he's earned it.

L30 Kubica pits from 3rd and rejoins 5th, ahead of Glock and Webber.

L31 Kimi and Fisi pit together! Prime tyre for Fisi. Option for Kimi. They rejoin in the same order, Kimi may win this on the better tyre.

L32 Heidfeld pits from 2nd, this'll drop him back behind Kimi/Fisi. Vettel leads with a stop to make, he is projected by 5LIve to beat Kubica.

L34 The harder tyre seems to work for Fisi - he is catching Kimi!! It WAS the quicker tyre in qualifying though...

Fastest lap from Heidfeld: 1:47.541
Webber pits and he's out between Rosberg and Glock.

L36 Vettel pits. Does he beat Kubica?? Yes!

More quick laps from Nick. Quick Nick, gradually catching Kubica. Next lap Vettel goes quickest, 1:47.3361 and 0.7s faster than Kimi and Fisi and only 6sec behind them.

L39 Sutil tries it on Glock - no.

L41 Onboard with Vettel as he catches the leaders... homing in.. not quite within sight but it won't be long. Play the Jaws music!

L42 Cut to Barrichello who is chasing Kovalainen. Rubens' car is a bit smokey yet he's still catching Heikki. More smoke now, he has to lift, he's backing off to make the final two laps. He does not pit, can he make it last and get a point or two?

Penultimate lap. He's still running, has been told to look after the engine.. Vettel seems to have backed off.

L44 Final lap. Rubens is told it is an oil leak, telemetry is fine.


FLAG - KIMI RAIKKONEN WINS!!
Fisichella 2nd!
Vettel 3rd
Kubica, Heidfeld, Kovalainen, Barrichello makes it back, and Rosberg rounds out the points positions.


6 winners in 6 races. And F1 is boring is it?

No cooldown lap at Spa because it would take too long, drive back up pitlane the wrong way into Parc Ferme.

Fire!! Barrichello's car has caught fire. We cut away and don't see it get extinguished..

Fisi doesn't know where to go!

PODIUM

Finnish anthem (has been a while), Italian anthem.
Nice anthem combo.

Trophies.

BIG cheer for Fisichella's 2nd place trophy.

Champaggnee!!!

What a great result for Fisichella and Force India. The rumour is Giancarlo will be in a Ferrari for Monza in a fortnight - is that true, or will he prefer to drive the improved Force India?

The team manager for FIFI is on the BBC, he says they are here to stay now, they are very quick in a straight line so look for them to do well at Monza. Excellent, bring it on!


Conference:

Kimi Raikkonen, winner:

Hasn't been easy year for us, behind straight away at first race, then made a big step in Barcelona. Long time since I last won, it was perfect, my aim was to win at least one race and keep 3rd in the championship. We probably were not the fastest in laptimes but overall we were fast and managed to keep everyone behind. Hopefully we get good results after this race.

Giancarlo Fisichella, 2nd:

Great result for us. A great day, I was quicker than Kimi he could overtake me just because of KERS after the restart, I'm a little bit sad for that, I was quicker than him, keeping his pace. We did exactly the same strategy, its great to have second, actually we could have won the race.

Sebastian Vettel, 3rd

If you look at the championship it was a very good result. Not an easy place to start from in the middel of the pack, first lap was a little conservative when I saw Nick off track, I lost position to Nico which I got back on restart. I was pushing every lap like qualifying, it was a pleasure to drive the car, was very nice. Strong pace, quicker than the guys in front.

Result

	Driver	Gap	Pts
1	Räikkönen	44 laps	10
2	Fisichella	0.9sec	8
3	Vettel	3.8sec	6
4	Kubica	9.9sec	5
5	Heidfeld	11.2sec	4
6	Kovalainen	32.7sec	3
7	Barrichello	35.4sec	2
8	Rosberg	36.2sec	1
9	Webber	36.9sec
10	Glock	41.4sec
11	Sutil	42.6sec
12	Buemi	46.1sec
13	Nakajima	54.2sec
14	Badoer	102.1sec
DNF	Alonso	retired
DNF	Trulli	brakes
DNF	Button	accident
DNF	Grosjean	accident
DNF	Hamilton	accident
DNS	Alguersuari	accident

An interesting podium and a good result for BMW!


Drivers' Championship

	Driver	Prev	BEL	Total
1	Button	72		72
2	Barrichello	54	2	56
3	Vettel	47	6	53
4	Webber	51.5		51.5
5	Räikkönen	24	10	34
6	Rosberg	29.5	1	30.5
7	Hamilton	27		27
8	Trulli	22.5		22.5
9	Massa	22		22
10	Kovalainen	14	3	17
11	Glock	16		16
12	Alonso	16		16
13	Heidfeld	6	4	10
14	Kubica	3	5	8
15	Fisichella	0	8	8
16	Buemi	3		3
17	Bourdais	2		2

Despite Button's non-score he retains a large lead over his team-mate, while the lower positioned Red Bull driver prior to this race was the one to pick up points, Vettel overtaking Webber once again in the standings.
Raikkonen is really making great strides forward now - can he bridge the gap to the leading four?
Fisichella picks up his first points of the year with his 2nd position (I probably should have reversed his position with Kubica's on the 'quality of results' rule).


Constructors' Championship

	Constructor	Prev	BEL	Total
1	Brawn	126	2	128
2	Red Bull	98.5	6	104.5
3	Ferrari	46	10	56
4	McLaren	41	3	44
5	Toyota	38.5		38.5
6	Williams	29.5	1	30.5
7	BMW	9	9	18
8	Renault	16		16
9	Force India	0	8	8
10	Toro Rosso	5		5

Red Bull claw back a small amount of the deficit to Brawn, it isn't enough to make the fight interesting though.
Ferrari are solidifying their 3rd position. Realistically they will not catch those ahead of them, they can only reduce the gap. McLaren are in a similar position, it will be interesting to see which team emerges in 3rd position at the end of the year!
BMW's haul form this race doubles their score for the season to date and jumps them over Renault, while Force India's score means every team has now registered a score.



That's all from the fantastic Spa-Francorchamps, one of the highlights of the year. Next up is the historic circuit of Monza on 13th September for which notes will be up as soon as I can do them.

Flag courtesy of 4 International Flags

Goodbye Flav

Monday saw the FIA World Council meet to hear the case of Renault, Briatore, Symonds and Piquet Jr conspiring to fix the result of the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix by Piquet crashing his car, guaranteeing a Safety Car period and thus giving Fernando Alonso the lead and the race win.

FIA statement:

Renault F1 stated at the meeting that it had conducted a detailed internal investigation, which found that: (i) Flavio Briatore, Pat Symonds and Nelson Piquet Jr. had conspired to cause the crash; and (ii) no other team member was involved in the conspiracy.
The FIA has conducted its own detailed investigation and its findings correspond with those of Renault F1.

Further, the FIA statement reveals Renault made the following points:

- it had accepted, at the earliest practicable opportunity, that it committed the offences with which it was charged and cooperated fully with the FIA’s investigation;
- it had confirmed that Mr. Briatore and Mr. Symonds were involved in the conspiracy and ensured that they left the team;
- it apologised unreservedly to the FIA and to the sport for the harm caused by its actions;
- it committed to paying the costs incurred by the FIA in its investigation; and
- Renault (the parent company, as opposed to Renault F1) committed to making a significant contribution to FIA safety-related projects.

Nelson Piquet Jr. also apologised unreservedly to the World Motor Sport Council for his part in the conspiracy.

The verdict is therefore unequivacal: guilty
What of the sentence?

The World Motor Sport Council considers that offences of this severity merit permanent disqualification from the FIA Formula One World Championship. However, having regard to the points in mitigation mentioned above and in particular the steps taken by Renault F1 to identify and address the failings within its team and condemn the actions of the individuals involved, the WMSC has decided to suspend Renault F1’s disqualification until the end of the 2011 season. The World Motor Sport Council will only activate this disqualification if Renault F1 is found guilty of a comparable breach during that time.

This is an interesting penalty. Renault last week removed Briatore and Symonds from the company and are very much distancing themselves from what happened, saying it was between Briatore, Symonds and Piquet Jr. This is believable. If you read the transcript of the radio calls during the race it seems even the race engineers did not know.

It should be noted that Renault (that is the parent company, not Renault F1) will be paying the FIA's legal costs as well as making an unspecified contribution to the FIA's safety work.

Flavio Briatore has not escaped so lightly. He is still maintaining his innocence despite all evidence to the contrary, of which the FIA takes a very dim view. Therefore he has been issued with a penalty I have never seen before - a total ban for an unlimited period. That's not just from running a team, it extends to his driver management programme and his GP2/GP3 involvement as well!

I have never before seen the FIA make a statement like this:

As regards Mr. Briatore, the World Motor Sport Council declares that, for an unlimited period, the FIA does not intend to sanction any International Event, Championship, Cup, Trophy, Challenge or Series involving Mr. Briatore in any capacity whatsoever, or grant any license to any Team or other entity engaging Mr. Briatore in any capacity whatsoever. It also hereby instructs all officials present at FIA-sanctioned events not to permit Mr. Briatore access to any areas under the FIA’s jurisdiction. Furthermore, it does not intend to renew any Superlicence granted to any driver who is associated (through a management contract or otherwise) with Mr. Briatore, or any entity or individual associated with Mr. Briatore. In determining that such instructions should be applicable for an unlimited period, the World Motor Sport Council has had regard not only to the severity of the breach in which Mr. Briatore was complicit but also to his actions in continuing to deny his participation in the breach despite all the evidence.

Wow!! Flav's a goner! Not only that, but all of the drivers he manages will be refused a licence until they change their representation. That means Webber, Alonso and I think Grosjean as well, and there are probably more. They have until the Singapore Grand Prix sessions begin on Friday..

Symonds gets a near-identical penalty to Briatore, the only difference being his is limited to 5 years and that was because he admitted guilt. He's lucky not to have more, in fact given he'll be in his 60s when this ban ends it could have ended his career so it could effectively be a life ban, too. Both men thoroughly deserve their penalties.

Piquet Jr was granted immunity by the FIA in exchange for his evidence, which is a shame because as far as I can see he should get a suspended ban, if not a full ban, for his part in all of this. Regardless of the pressure he was under he could have refused, or simply not done it when the time came.

Fernando Alonso has been "not in any way involved in Renault F1’s breach of the regulations" and was thanked for his cooperation. He surely must have thought something was up when he was put on a light fuel load, it can't be proven that he knew or didn't know what was going on. I'll cautiously give him the benefit of the doubt but will remain sceptical.

Here is the FIA WMSC decision in full.

Weekend Preview: 19-20 September 2009

Feature Events

Sidepodradio

- Sidepodcast.com
- Live Commenting with embedded player
- Schedule

Christine and Mr.C of Sidepodcast are putting on an extended radio show! How long, you say? 12 hours? Lots of shows from the commenting community, some of which are loosely connected to F1? Live commenting throughout? Sign me up!

Starts at 12pm UK time on Sunday.

IRL IndyCar Series

- Indy Japan 300
- Twin Ring Motegi
- Motegi, Japan
- (16/17)
- www.indycar.com

The annual visit to Japan for the IRL, to satisfy Honda who provide the engines (and possibly also sole tyre supplier Bridgestone-Firestone). Curiously this year it seems to have lost Honda title sponsorship, I'm sure it used to be the Honda Indy 300.

Of course this event is perhaps best remembered for being the first major international motorsport race won by a female, in 2007. The usual commentary was interesting enough but I really do love the enthusiasm of the Japanese commentary! With the echo it sounds like they are also live to the crowd as well as Japanese TV (interestingly, so is Jack Arute..)

(Thanks to Allen Wedge for tweeting this yesterday.)

This is the penultimate round of the series, the finale is at Homestead in Florida in 3 weeks time.

This event was last night, sorry!

Other Events

Open-Wheel:

GP2 Series

- Portimao
- Portimao, Algarve, Portugal
- (10/10)
- www.gp2series.com

The season finale of the GP2 Series. The title has already been won by Nico Hulkenberg so this is the last chance for the others to make an impression, however unlike the rest of the season the F1 team bosses will not be there.

TV Guide (UK)
Race 1: LIVE on Eurosport 2 at 1pm Saturday
Race 2: DELAYED on Eurosport 2 at 3pm Sunday

World Series by Renault

- Nurburgring
- Nurburgring, Germany
- (8/9)

TV Guide (UK)
Race 1: LIVE on Eurosport 1 at 1pm Saturday
Race 2: seemingly not carried live or same-day delayed

World Series by Renault

- Nurburgring
- Nurburgring, Germany
- (8/9)

TV Guide (UK)
Race 1: LIVE on Eurosport 1 at 1pm Saturday
Race 2: seemingly not carried live or same-day delayed

FIA Formula Two

- Imola
- Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola, Italy
- (7/8)
- www.formulatwo.com
- with WTCC & F.Master

TV Guide (UK)
Race 1: LIVE on Eurosport 1 at 10.55am Saturday
Race 2: LIVE on Eurosport 1 at 12.30pm Sunday

Stock Car:

NASCAR Sprint Cup

- Sylvania 400
- New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, New Hampshire, USA
- www.nascar.com
- US TV: ABC, Sunday 1pm ET
- UK TV: Go to Sky Sports 3 Red Button, Sunday 7pm

NASCAR Camping World Trucks

- Heluva Good! 250
- New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Loudon, New Hampshire, USA
- www.nascar.com

Sports Car / Touring Car:

FIA GT

- Algarve
- Portimao, Algarve, Portugal
- www.fiagt.com
- Live on MotorsTV at 2pm

Grand-Am

- Utah 250
- Miller Motorsports Park, Toole, Utah, USA
- www.grand-am.com

DTM

- Barcelona
- Circuit de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain
- www.dtm.com
- with F3 Euroseries

WTCC

- Imola
- Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola, Italy
- www.fiawtcc.com
- Live on Eurosport on Sunday at 11.30am (Race 1) and 13.30 (Race 2)

BTCC

- Rockingham
- Rockingham Motor Speedway, Northants, England
- www.btcc.net
- Live on ITV4 from 11am, including supports


Smaller Stuff:

Euroseries 3000

- Vallelunga, Italy
- with F3 Italy

British F3

- Brands Hatch

F3 Germany

- Sachsenring

International GT Open

- Magny-Cours

* * * *
Sources
FORIX (sub req.)
Live Sport on TV
RadioTimes.com
Series websites as mentioned
Autosport magazine

F1 Badger Meets the BBC F1 TV Team

This is worth a listen. F1 Badger visited Monza and bumped into some of the BBC TV on-air crew, namely the anchor Jake Humphrey, commentator Jonathon Legard and pit reporters Lee McKenzie and the legend that is Ted Kravitz.

Hit the link and play the embedded audio files:
http://www.f1badger.com/2009/09/badger-meets-the-bbc/

It is worth a visit for McKenzie's interview alone, it really is very good.

I also liked Legard's actually, he puts up a solid defence of his commentary saying it takes a long time to change roles. I still not a fan of his style, though has he got better during the season? Perhaps for one of the upcoming races I'll watch both BBC feeds to find out.

With thanks to Dank for pointing this out in the comments at Sidepodcast.

Delayed Race Notes: European Grand Prix 2009

[Preface - Due to studies I fell behind with the editing of these posts. They were written live as usual, but needed a lot of work to make readable. Anything in italics in square brackets was written during the edit, just like this paragraph.]

2009 Formula 1 Telefonica Grand Prix of Europe
Date: 23 August 2009
Circuit: Valencia Street Circuit
Location: Valencia, Spain
Distance: 57 laps

Coverage: BBC One / BBC Radio 5 Live[*]
Anchor: Jake Humphrey
Analysts in the paddock: David Coulthard (DC) and Eddie Jordan (EJ)

R5 commentary[*]: David Croft (Crofty) and Anthony Davidson (Ant)
R5 pitlane[*]: Holly Samos

Tyre selection (red): SS / S / M / H

[*for many years the BBC has held the UK radio rights to F1. In '09 they also picked up the TV rights and they now offer an alternate feed on digital television, combining TV pics with radio commentary. I tend to use this feed.]

Coverage begins at 12.10pm.

We start with a recap of the title race so far. Button leading early, but Vettel and Webber are catching up but the McLaren resurgence is helping Button retain his lead.

JH, DC and EJ are chatting. JH and EJ in pink shirts, which has been the theme for every Button win so far. John Button wears a pink shirt 'for luck' and early in the season Jake followed his lead.

Just over their shoulder the RTL guys are talking with Niki Lauda. M Schumacher is walking around - Eddie tries to grab his arm, misses, gestures to him, then runs off and grabs him and brings him to the camera!
MS is disappointed that he's not in the car, say his fitness was far below the level to withstand the forces in the car. We can hardly hear him because of the engine right behind him.
Just a quick chat. Jake says we are all keen for him to get back in a car sooner rather than later.... errr, no Jake.


Quali recap.
Story of qualifying: Badoer is subbing for Massa, leading to a Ferrari qualifying slowest on merit for the first time - they've been last before due to crashes/penalties, but not lack of speed;
Badoer says he'll be better at the next race;

Webber's car overheated the soft tyres. What's the problem? "laptimes of other people";
Alonso isn't happy with 8th but says they did the maximum they could do;
Button says he's not in a bad position, Vettel just in front, not too bad;
Barrichello thought he could put the car on pole;
Hamilton got pole position - a grinning Lewis says it has been a long time since they've battled for pole, this time they had the pace and were able to do it but the Brawns are still quick;


Grid:
Hamilton, Kovalainen
Barrichello, Vettel
Button, Raikkonen
Rosberg, Alonso
Webber, Kubica
Heidfeld, Sutil
Glock, Grosjean
Buemi, Fisichella
Nakajima, Trulli
Alguersuari, Badoer


Now live with Lewis.
- Great feeling, very relaxed and casual for the team. Still very tough as always, Heikki did an excellent job next to me. Clean side of the grid, drag race with Heikki 'cos he has KERS, same power same everything. He generally gets a good start so I have to make sure I start well.

Now a recorded segment with Lewis. Gushing platitudes for team. He's visibly proud of having his own 'bay' in the factory for his car, says he came here as a kid and saw Mika, David, Juan's bays and wanted his own. He reckons he notices each upgrade, asks when things will be tested, why haven't things been tested yet.. Says he gets really involved with the team, learning about the car, can talk for ages about the car. Ropes Jake into doing pull-ups in the gym!

Martin Whitmarsh, first win a weight off your shoulders?:
"When you've got one win you want more. We've already forgotten what happened in Hungary, we feel we can win here. We hope we can win this afternoon."
Jordan apologises for calling his car a dog earlier in the year. Whitmarsh says he always enjoys Jordan's apologies." From this evening after this race we'll be looking at Spa, we need to win at a high-speed circuit, it is a great circuit and we are looking forward to it."

He talks about drivers as well but we can't hear him because engines are firing.


12.30 UK time. Pitlane is open.

Focus switches to Jenson, pre-record with Lee:
"I've got a 19 and a half point lead still. Its not easy, not a walk in the park as some people might think it is. We did a better job but I don't think we had the best car all the time. Rest of the season will be very competitive. Red Bull are challenging, McLaren are very strong."
He did a triathlon in London during the summer break, then went on holiday. It took his mind off it, and he says if you don't take your mind off it you'll go mad. He's nice and refreshed now.


Jump into a Martin Brundle package on pit stops, a running feature for some races now. This time we're looking at the layout of the pit lane. Fast lane for entry/exit, inner lane where work is carried out. 26 men waiting for the driver when he arrives. Tyre changers, jackmen, fire extinquisher, fuellers. We know all of this Martin, tell us something we don't know.


Gridwalk!
Martin Brundle
- Expected the Safety Car last year, didn't happen, maybe we'll see it today.
We find Eric Clapton - "I don't know what to make of [Badoer]. He's got the experience but its going to be tough for him. If he can stay with the field its a great thing."
MB - "I find it bizarre. Give him an Enzo for a month and put someone quick in."
EC - "With the rules he's just dropped in it so I thought he did really well considering - even if he gets around in one piece its a result."

Martin says it feels like Bahrain temperature and humidity.

Bernie with the president or mayor or something, via translator.
Valencia has re-signed for a further 5 years.
Dignitary: "We'd like to make this one of the best Grands Prix in the world. We are very pleased that Alonso has made it after the penalty was rescinded."

Rubens would love to win the race. He's wearing a 'cool suit' which extracts the warm air away from his body. Ahem.
Barrichello: "Would you rather be less fuel on pole or not? We thought about it, the guys in front have KERS and they'd just overtake me, so it is a bit of a game in a way. I would love to win the race today and I think it's my best chance."

There's a queue for Seb.. haha, Brundle pushes in front of Sky Germany to get to Vettel! She's not impressed...
Vettel: "Not a secret that this track is not the best for us. 4th is not a disaster. Our focus is on Rubens, Jenson, Kimi."
Martin walks away and apologises to German TV as he leaves..

Horner: "Our priority is to beat both Jenson and Rubens. Mark isn't happy with the car, the stop/start nature of the track doesn't suit our car."

Rosberg says he has more fuel than the guys ahead of him, is worried slightly about Kimi and his KERS but may be saved by the short run to turn 1.


Anthem

Err, we stop for the Spanish national anthem but are unable to hear it, it fades up a little but very quiet. Shouldn't it be the European anthem? This is the European GP. We can now hear the Spanish anthem in the background but enough time has passed that maybe they played the European song first.

Jake says Martin is in serious trouble with Tanya from German TV, he'll be lucky to make it out alive..

Fuel-corrected quali report with Ted - to the tune of Push It by Salt'N'Pepa! I am not making this up! Haha.
Rubens would have been quickest on equalised fuel, so he has the best strategy. Kovalainen looks better than Hamilton on strategy. Both McLarens (and Vettel) are stopping ahead of the rest. He tips Barrichello for the win with a slightly later stop.

Ross Brawn: "The start will be what it is, thereafter it'll be making the tyres last. It'll be marginal for us with our fuel load."

Pundits, pick a winner: EJ says Hamilton by a big margin. DC says McLaren.

Grid Recap
Hamilton (pole), Kovalainen
Barrichello, Vettel
Button, Raikkonen
Rosberg, Alonso
Webber, Kubica
Heidfeld, Sutil
Glock, Grosjean
Buemi, Fisichella
Nakajima, Trulli
Alguersuari, Badoer


FORMATION LAP
Switching to 5 Live audio. I love the 5Live coverage of the formation lap. BBC1 is just the two guys filling to almost dead air while they wait for the cars to come around. 5Live has music, rapid-fire scene-setting, a real tension-builder.


GRID


Lights are 1.2.3.4.5...GO!!

Badoer up four places before turn 2!
Someone loses part of the front wing.
5Live says Grosjean,
Button runs off course.

Button tries to repass Alonso, goes too deep.

Grosjean, Glock and Buemi all pit for damage repairs.

L3 (2 laps done, we're on lap 3) Badoer is now 17th, he's fallen back behind the guys he beat at the start.

L5 Badoer spun?
Webber on the radio, he says Button should be behind him because Jenson cut the chicane.

L8 Things settled down really early. Not much going on. I didn't expect it to be this boring so early!

L10 Grosjean has a half-spin.

L14 According to official live timing at f1.com there has been no change of position since lap 5. Literally NOTHING has happened.

L17 Here we go, Hamilton pits. Vettel and Kubica are also in.
L18 Kovalainen and Alonso pit.
Vettel is also in again, looks like the rig may have failed on the last stop!!

Fastest Lap from Rubens Barrichello on lap 18. The BBC guys tipped him for the win earlier, said he had the best fuel load / position.

L20 Raikkonen and Button pit.
L21 Barrichello pits and he's out between the two McLarens!
Webber also pitted, he's out in front of Fisichella and Button but Giancarlo has yet to stop.

L22 Rubens has gone for another stint on the harder of the two tyre choices. Hamilton is on the softer tyre.

L23 Heidfeld and Sutil pit. Confirmation from Holly Samos that Vettel had a fuel rig problem and didn't get any on that first stop. Ant says this has cost him 20-30 seconds.

Hamilton told to 'lift and coast' to keep rear temps low

L25 ANOTHER engine failure for Vettel!
He manages to pull over to the side of the road and into an escape road, track is clear although there may be oil.

L29 The heavier runners are about to make their stops.
Badoer and Grosjean pit. Clean stops, but Badoer pulls to the right and isn't accelerating, Grosjean drives past him!! Badoer then momentarily puts his wheels over the white line where the pitlane joins the racetrack. Big no-no!

Grosjean not at fault there, clearly if a car slows and pulls to the side he's in trouble (even if he wasn't really).

L32 Drive-thru penalty for Badoer for crossing the white line on pit exit.

Rubens told he must cut the deficit to Hamilton from 4.5sec to 2sec in 8 laps.

L33 Glock has pitted and Badoer takes his penalty. Luca is 18th.

L34 New FL from Rubens. Button is also fast, catching Webber.

L37 Badoer spins..again.. Braked too late at turn 17.

L38 Hamilton in. Early stop? Pit stop is slow, tyres were not ready! He's lost a place to Rosberg, and lost a good 4 seconds on a usual stop time.
Rubens needs to PUSH HARD now to take advantage of this.

RB sets another fastest lap of the race.

L39 Kovalainen pits.

L40 Puncture for Nakajima, rubber everywhere. SC?
Rubens should pit now just in case of Safety Car..

So far it is covered with a waved yellow flag, and white flag. Rubens does pit.

RB is back out, wow that's a huge gap to LH.

Nakajima makes it back to the pitlane for a replacement set of tyres. Yellows clear.

Message from Holly in the pits, the pitwall called in Hamilton but the garage was not ready..

L43 Button and Alonso pits. Kimi has passed Heikki, was that through the stops? I missed it.

L44 Rosberg is in. Webber and Heidfeld in, a spinning Toro Rosso! We cut away to see the stop of Webber, who rejoins the track some way behind Button. Jenson's quick laps and shorter stop really gained him some ground.

The spinning STR was Buemi, Ant says it looks like his brakes were too hot...

Barrichello, Hamilton, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Rosberg, Alonso, Button, Kubica! Where'd he come from?

New Fastest Lap from Button. 1:38.874 Catching Alonso.

10 laps to go.

Rosberg is setting personal best times, so is Webber, and Button is still catching Alonso. They are going to run out of laps.

5 laps now. The only action in this race was during the pit stops, the intervening parts have been pretty dull... Not for the drivers who have been pushing like hell, drivers who have been pushing like hell, unforunately that's not very interesting when they are running by themselves.

3 to go.

Drivers are setting the odd personal best sector here and there as the fuel loads come down and the rubber is being laid on the track. The gaps aren't really changing much, we're talking tenths.

Glock sets Fastest Lap! He did pit a 3rd time so maybe down to low fuel and new tyres.. He is 14th and 22sec down on Trulli in 13th.

Final Lap

Rubens Barrichello WINS!

Brawn on the radio: "Fantastic, just like the old days, fantastic."
I can't make out Rubinho's response! He's crying??


Parc Ferme

Applause in the pit lane for Rubens.
Congratulates the mechanics.. up the stairs, kisses the camera, little dance on the way to the podium!

Brazilian national anthem.
British anthem for Brawn.

Another stealthy podium from Kimi. We hardly saw him all race.

Trophies.
Champaaggggne!


Whitmarsh denies the pitstop was the reason for losing the race, and says it was down to race pace. The error only lost 2 seconds, he says, they weren't quick enough on race pace.
I don't agree with that! They lost more than 2 seconds and there would have been a fight, Lewis may not have won it without it, but he may have done....

Brawn says it was one of Barrichello's best races. Could have been more aggressive on strategy, worked for Rubens not for Jenson.


Conference with James Allen:
(ex-ITV commentator Allen now does the conference, Peter Windsor has his USF1 job so can't work for F1/FOM due conflict of interest)

Rubens:

"It's been fantastic, a weekend I will never forget. After 5 years you don't forget how to do it. The car has been perfect, I want to thank the team for that."

Lewis:

"We win and we lose together. We've had a tremendous effort to get us here, we had extraordinary pace in the last 2 or 3 races, it was a tremendous race for everyone. We'll keep pushing, we need to catch these guys."

Kimi:

"We needed to go 100% all the time, we knew on Friday I had a good feeling from the car. We know we are not where we want to be, we're not bringing new parts to the car but usually we can fight for 3rd place and if something weird happens we can fight for the win."

Kimi is happy with a podium.

Okay, that's all from me. Here are the stats:


Race Result

Pos	Driver	Gap	Pts
1	Barrichello	57 laps	10
2	Hamilton	2.3sec	8
3	Räikkönen	15.9sec	6
4	Kovalainen	20.0sec	5
5	Rosberg	20.8sec	4
6	Alonso	27.7sec	3
7	Button	34.9sec	2
8	Kubica	36.6sec	1
9	Webber	44.9sec
10	Sutil	47.9sec
11	Heidfeld	48.8sec
12	Fisichella	63.6sec
13	Trulli	64.5sec
14	Glock	86.5sec
15	Grosjean	91.7sec
16	Alguersuari	1 lap
17	Badoer	1 lap
18	Nakajima	retired
DNF	Buemi	brakes
DNS	Vettel	engine

Drivers

Pos	Driver	Prev	EUR	Total
1	Button	70	2	72
2	Barrichello	44	10	54
3	Webber	51.5		51.5
4	Vettel	47		47
5	Rosberg	25.5	4	29.5
6	Hamilton	19	8	27
7	Räikkönen	18	6	24
8	Trulli	22.5		22.5
9	Massa	22		22
10	Glock	16		16
11	Alonso	13	3	16
12	Kovalainen	9	5	14
13	Heidfeld	6		6
14	Buemi	3		3
15	Kubica	2	1	3
16	Bourdais	2		2

Barrichello makes a big gain on Button, and both Brawns extend their advantage over the Red Bulls.
Hamilton and Raikkonen are well and truly up and running with big scores now expected at every race, they ought to reel in Rosberg fairly soon (even with Nico scoring well) and then set about closing the gap to the Red Bull drivers.
Kovalainen is starting to make his presence felt in the middle order now.


Constructors

Pos	Constructor	Prev	EUR	Total
1	Brawn	114	12	126
2	Red Bull	98.5		98.5
3	Ferrari	40	6	46
4	McLaren	28	13	41
5	Toyota	38.5		38.5
6	Williams	25.5	4	29.5
7	Renault	13	3	16
8	BMW	8	1	9
9	Toro Rosso	5		5
10	Force India	0		0

Brawn now have a 27.5 point lead over Red Bull, not insurmountable but we will quickly run out of races to pull that gap back over the coming stretch.
Ferrari and McLaren have overtaken Toyota, and given Toyota's current form it is unlikely they will mount a challenge. Realistically this table has broken into a series of team vs team battles. Brawn & Red Bull, Ferrari & McLaren, Toyota & Williams (along with maybe Renault), then the tail-enders.


The next race is the Belgian Grand Prix at the fantastic Spa-Francorchamps, the middle of the 3-race close to the European F1 season before the flyaways resume. I hope to have notes up soon.