F1 2009 - the first 3 races

Well here we go in Melbourne for the first race of the 2009 season. The controversy over diffuser's has created rather a disappointing start with teams like Ferrari objecting in particular to Brawn, Toyota and Williams's interpretation of the 2009 regs. Brawn caused a sensation with pole and 2nd on the grid and it is nice to see Jenson back in a competitive car. The start time of the race caused a few problems with the sun very low but all in all a tremendous result for Ross, Jenson and Rubens. One wonders what Honda are thinking!

So, a fairy tale start to the season and one can only admire Jenson's loyalty to Honda and then Ross Brawn for creating the package and putting his name above the door, well done to all concerned at Brawn GP.

After the race all hell let loose after a race incident under safety car conditions between Lewis and Jarno resulting in a stewards enquiry over 3rd and 4th. It all got very complicated after Lewis and his team manager, Dave Ryan were accused of, in effect lying to the stewards and have now been summoned to a FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting 29 April for bringing the sport into disrepute. The result is that Jarno was promoted back to 3rd and Lewis disqualified.

Well, well, well, off we go again with another Mclaren controversy which is not the best way to start the 2009 season. I am personally not sure why the lies were attempted as Lewis overtook Jarno legitimately after he went off the circuit and then Lewis was advised over the radio to let him by again, but this was an error. However, the stewards have access to the team radio so lying was fruitless. In any case Lewis had at the worst 4th but would have been legitimately promoted back to 3rd under appeal.

The result of all this is Lewis later apologised to the worlds media for lying to the stewards enquiry, Mclaren have sacked Dave Ryan and Ron has finally thrown in the towel to concentrate on the development of a new car in a separate division. One wonders where this is going after 29 April.

So off the F1 circus heads to Malaysia for race 2 the following weekend under somewhat of a cloud. Putting the Mclaren incident aside until after the 29th there was much talk about running the Malaysian GP too late in the day and that proved to be the case, hindsight is a wonderful thing!

Brawn showed Melbourne was no fluke with Jenson once again on pole but Rubens had to take a 5 position drop after gearbox problems in quali. With every sign of rain later the grid went with a real ding dong battle at the front but Jenson was still in the lead when the heavens opened and ski's would have been better than tyres. Ferrari changed Kimi's tyres to full wets too early so when it did rain they were shot, bad call Ferrari.

So out came the safety car and the teams formed back on the grid in no semblance of order awaiting information from Charlie Whiting about what was to happen. The track was flooded and the cars and drivers were to put it mildy, soaked. Kimi had in the meanwhile gone back into the garage and was walking around in a pair of shorts eating an ice cream suggesting maybe he didn't want to go out again!

One strange issue, which I have personally never seen before in 50 years of F1, was the race clock stopped when the initial red flagged came out. Martin Brundle in the com box commented this was strange and as far as he was aware not the correct procedure.

This suggests it was always Charlie Whiting's intention to run the race over its course of either time or laps, however the rule is normally x laps or 2 hours. After what seemed an eternity, discussions between the teams, drivers, stewards and Charlie Whiting the race was finally red flagged and only half points issued. Half points was a shame for Jenson but there was no real alternative as you cannot drive F1 cars with so much standing water as was witnesed when showing the plumes of water coming from the Toyota.

So with the first 2 races completed the order was Jenson (1), Rubens (2), Trulli (3) and Glock (4) so Brawn & Toyota locked out the top 2 for the constructors. Lewis had only 1 point for his Malaysia 7th but Ferrari for the first time since the 80's had no points at all and things were not looking good for them.

KERS has been a new initiative for 09 and there have been many differing thoughts about how useful it is. Yes, it gives another 80 hp when needed but the weight penalty can out weigh the benefit. For instance Nick Heidfeld is running it in his BMW but Robert Kubica isn't as he is much heavier, Kimi has had problems with his setting on fire leaving the paddock a little split on which is the optimum.

My feeling is they should all have to run it or not and then it is fair across the board. Whilst it is seen as a Green initiative the costs are also extreme in these times.

The diffuser legality question went before the FIA International Court of Appeal, 15 April with the following statement "The FIA International Court of Appeal has decided to deny the appeals submitted against decisions numbered 16 to 24 taken by the Panel of the Stewards on 26 March at the 2009 Grand Prix of Australia and counting towards the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship.

Based on the arguments heard and evidence before it, the Court has concluded that the Stewards were correct to find that the cars in question comply with the applicable regulations"

Well at least that is over and some of the teams, including Ferrari are now faced with a complete redesign of the car to gain the half second advantage supposedly given by the 2 plane rear diffuser. My feeling is the cars should be submitted to the stewards prior to the race season and any issues relating the the regs settled at that point.

Off the circus went to China for race 3, April 19 and a 2 week break this time with Brawn the most talked about team in the paddock. It was always obvious to me Ross Brawn would do something spectacular for 2009 as his talent personifies.

The 09 grid has been turned upside down with the new regs and the front running teams are Brawn, Red Bull, Williams and Toyota. With the 20 car grid covered by a mere 2 seconds it is for all to fight for.

China saw the emergence of Red Bull and after a 2 week break many of the cars had modified bits on them including Mclaren, Renault and most teams dropped KERS including Ferrari. After a tremendous quali Vettel was on pole with a light fueled Alonso on the front row with him. Following onward it was Webber (3), Rubens (4) and Jenson (5) with Lewis only in 9th.

The race started in the rain under the safety car on full wets and that alone spoiled Alonso's race with his light fuel load. So on lap 4 the cars were released from behind the safety car and it was race on with plumes of water for all to see. The drivers really earn their money under these conditions as visibility was certainly at a premium.

All the drivers stuck to the full wets and that didn't really change apart from Rosberg who tried inters later in the race but to no avail.

Vettel led from pole and never relinquished it leaving it to Webber to fight latterly with Jenson over 2nd and 3rd. There were some interesting battles mid field with Glock, Trulli, Raikkonen, Kovalinen and Lewis.

Massa was more competitive but eventually his car died with water inhalation and he just spluttered to a halt. Another disastrous weekend for Ferrari as Kimi could not get into the points either. Lewis had a spirited drive going off at least three times in the very wet conditions and then climbing back up the field. For once he finished 6th behind his team make Kovalinen.

So after 2 fairy tale races for Brawn GP we now had the second fairy tale of the season as Red Bull won their first GP and a1, 2 as Webber came in 2nd. Christian Horner should also be very proud of the achievement and what must DC be thinking from the com box?

The 3rd Red Bull (Toro Rosso) also added to the joy with Buemi coming in 8th for the last point. Whilst Brawn didn't do as well it is all relative as they did come in 3rd (Jenson) and 4th with both of them still heading the drivers championship.

So we leave China behind with top teams like Ferrari, BMW and Renault with a lot of work to do before the 4th fly away race in Bahrain, April 26, only a week away. After Bahrain it is back into Europe for the first time and we all look forward to Barcelona 10th May.

For those of you who like to keep in touch with F1 please go to my website (www.scorpion-eph.co.uk) and click on the Formula 1 tab at the base of the home page. There you will find race by race points allocation with a compilation of the season to date.

I produce a separate Excel analysis after each race and should you want a copy please email me at peter@scorpion-eph.co.uk and I will email you one with pleasure.

Can't wait for Bahrain and let the season continue with exciting racing and different winners so we armchair viewers can enjoy competitive racing. I personally can't wait for Mclaren, Ferrari and BMW to get back to the front and then we could then be in for a real battle.