They should have just given Hamilton 3rd and Trulli 4th and be done with it.

Seems the most fair thing to me.

Either way, Hamilton's been DSQ'd, so thats the end of it.

Malaysian Grand Prix this weekend, reasonably early in the day (Race at 10am GMT), which means like Australia, its going to be almost dark when they finish... Not a nice way to drive so Kubica says after Australia.

Sepeng has been on the Calender since 1999, and no clear team has an advantage here. The long straights put a premium on power, but good braking and corner speed are also needed.



Turns One and 15 are the principle over taking points, hairpins at the end of long straights. We might see some drivers being helped by team mates in qualifying to slipstream down the straights to get a little more speed. If you're being ambitious, turns 4 and 9 also offer overtaking opportunities, but only the brave need apply.

Expect the Brawn cars to be lightening fast again, but incident filled first laps can shuffle the order, and rain might be a possibility. The later start time will mean temperatures will be down on the 30/40 degree heat of last year, but still quite high. It will also be muggy and humid, and the tyres will be graining badly.

I dont think I've covered graining in much detail.

Technical terms: Graining Tyres

Graining usually occurs when a tyre is new and is going through its first heat cycle. F1 tyres reach temperatures of upto 100 degrees C, so it's vital that they dont simply burst. They also run very low PSI (around 20) because it's the tyre wall that gives a lot of the suspension.

What essentially happens is the factory finish of the tyre starts to wear down and forms tiny little balls of rubber which stay attached to the tyre (because of the heat and stickyness). Now this is obviously a problem on turn in on a corner, as the balls will essentially make the tyre "float" and slide. This can cause severe understeer when not controlled properly, or anticipated well.

Drivers usually complain during this phase of the tyres life, but the tyre tends to give more grip after the graining period has ended. It is usually prone on softer tyres too, because of the softer compounds wearing quicker. The ability of the driver to negotiate this delicate period of time (it usually only lasts a few laps) is critical in becoming a good all round F1 Driver.

Testing Results to come from tomorrows Free Practice Sessions

Well, here we are Rsults from the practice sessions...

Malaysian Grand Prix free practice session two

1. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m35.707s
2. MASSA Ferrari 1m35.832s
3. VETTEL Red Bull 1m35.954s
4. ROSBERG Williams 1m36.015s
5. WEBBER Red Bull 1m36.026s
6. BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m36.161s
7. BUTTON Brawn 1m36.254s
8. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m36.290s
9. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m36.397s
10. PIQUET Renault 1m36.401s
11. HAMILTON McLaren 1m36.515s
12. TRULLI Toyota 1m36.516s
13. BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m36.628s
14. GLOCK Toyota 1m36.639s
15. ALONSO Renault 1m36.640s
16. SUTIL Force India 1m36.875s
17. KUBICA BMW 1m37.267s
18. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m37.278s
19. FISICHELLA Force India 1m37.432s
20. HEIDFELD BMW 1m37.930s

Malaysian Grand Prix free practice session one

1. ROSBERG Williams 1m36.260s
2. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m36.305s
3. BUTTON Brawn 1m36.430s
4. BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m36.487s
5. MASSA Ferrari 1m36.561s
6. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m36.646s
7. HAMILTON McLaren 1m36.699s
8. WEBBER Red Bull 1m36.703s
9. VETTEL Red Bull 1m36.747s
10. GLOCK Toyota 1m36.980s
11. TRULLI Toyota 1m36.982s
12. FISICHELLA Force India 1m37.025s
13. KUBICA BMW 1m37.039s
14. PIQUET Renault 1m37.199s
15. SUTIL Force India 1m37.241s
16. ALONSO Renault 1m37.395s
17. BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m37.634s
18. HEIDFELD BMW 1m37.640s
19. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m38.022s
20. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m38.483s

As you can see, Williams, Ferrari and Brawn are again the cars to beat... But there is maybe some sandbagging going on from the brawn team... Keeping performance in their pocket until its really needed... Quali results SOMETIME tomorrow D: I have to go to a massive party xD

Breaking News as of 2 minutes agao on BBC News!

Louis Hamilton apology! (Lewis)

Mclaren suspended their sporting director. (or something)

he was distracted and the team asked him to do something so he as a team member just did it. He is verry sorry and it's the worst time of his life and he felt awkward and uncomfortable.

EDIT: woot i beat dave to something regarding racing :O (See below post)

Not really

I knew about it but I didn't think it was worth posting about because that whole saga was goijng on far too long anyway And no one here actually cares that McLaren sacked someone xD

It was Dave Ryan anyway... GOd xD

Barrichello is taking a 5 place Grid Penalty for having his gearbox changed. So he can qualify no higher than 6th

The person who got sacked

Eh? What relevance does that have?

Sorry, I misread what you posted, missed the "here".

I wonder if Button can keep up his good start, would be interesting for him to stay at the top.

Well, he's nailed a second pole position in that Brawn Car... Ahead of an excellent lap from Jarno Trulli in the Toyota.

Vettel made it to third, but has a penalty, so will drop to 13th, and Barrichello will drop to 9th after coming in fourth.

I'll have to post the grid up later.... The FIA are still trying to work out all the penalties people have been gievn to give an "official list"

But itll look something like:

Button
Trulli
Glock
Rosberg

for the top 4, and then Raikkonen, Barrichello, Webber and Alonso... xD Basically its all messed up atm

Proper Grid to come tonight

Too much damn politics!

Yeah... I know it's getting a bit ridiculous xD

So, the full grid for tomorrow now stands as:

1. BUTTON Brawn
2. TRULLI Toyota
3. GLOCK Toyota
4. ROSBERG Williams
5. WEBBER Red Bull
6. KUBICA BMW
7. RAIKKONEN Ferrari
8. ALONSO Renault
9. BARRICHELLO Brawn (5 Place grid penalty applied; Changed Gearbox)
10. HEIDFELD BMW
11. NAKAJIMA Williams
12. HAMILTON McLaren
13. VETTEL Red Bull (10 Place Grid Penalty applied; Crash with Kubica)
14. KOVALAINEN McLaren
15. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso
16. MASSA Ferrari
17. PIQUET Renault
18. FISICHELLA Force India
19. SUTIL Force India
20. BUEMI Toro Rosso

The Toyota's are look especially strong in Malaysia, they have always ran well at Sepang in the past. Ferrari made a total cock up on Massa's Q1 times, and believed him to be safely through to Q2. However, in a flurry of end of session times, Massa got bumped down the order severely and ended up 16th as a result. As is with the Status quo, the 2 Force India's, Piquet's Renault and a Torro Rosso went out in the first Session, which Button headed from Barrichello.

Into the second session (which I missed most of because I was in the shower xD) was again a session in brilliance from the Brawn cars. However, Trulli's Toyota and Mark Webbers Red Bull were also lapping very close to their pace. As the session ended, both McLarens and Hiedfelds KERS equipped BMW also got bumped out of the top ten.

Into the final session, with the fuel they will carry into tomorrows race, Raikkonen set the early pace, but soon got pushed back by the far superior Toyota's and Brawn cars. Button produced an incredible lap late in the session to whack his Brawn on pole for the second race in a row, and Trulli nearly pipped him to the post in the dying moments. Glock came from almost nowhere on his final lap to get 5th (3rd after Vettel and Barrichello's penalties). With Vettel having only 11 laps of fuelk in his car, expect to see him vault through the field in the early laps. Raikkonen is fairly heavy, and Alonso (after being ill with an ear infection all weekend) is also very heavy.

Heidfeld is carrying the heaviest car to the grid tomorrow, with a car busting 90kgs of Fuel. Expect people to move past him, but he'll come heavily into play later in the race if he doesnt fall off the road. Vettel at the other extreme is the lightest.

Tomorrow is going to be an interesting race, and with the possibility of rain storms, it should be a cracker. Toyota have reliability and speed on their side, Trulli and Button are almost evenly matched on experience, so it's down to who blinks first.

Race Results tomorrow

Hasn't been 22 since Bahrain last year Schlurbi... When Super Aguri closed its doors and went bankrupt.

Before that, there were 11 teams up until Arrows folded in 2002, so since then there has really only been 20 cars.

Nothing erlse to report as of now For once nothing has been changed since my last post

Results in the morning

No DHR update!?

Apparently the race ended halfway through due to rain and they got half points. Button won.

(Well, that's what I was told )

Wow! Another incredible race! Button managed to keep his head in a torrential downpour which managed to give him the win. The race had a good dry start, but eventually got Red Flagged because the conditions got so bad they couldn't continue.

From the start, rain was being expected sometime during the race, but it was extremely dry when the cars started. Rosberg got an absolute stormer of a start (From 4th on the Grid) and led into the first corner, Button got hung out to dry on the outside, as Trulli managed to slid into second. Alonso and Raikkonen also got good starts, and both swarmed past Glock in their KERS equipped vehicles. Kubica didn't go anywhere off the grid, yet everyone managed to scrape past the stricken BMW. He retired a few laps later after circulating very slowly.

Kovalianen slid off on the first lap on cold tires as he was trying to overtake Massa, who himself was fairly slow at the start. Rosberg, Trulli, Button streaked into the distance as Alonso held up Raikonnen, Webber, Glock and eventualy Vettel. Raikonnen barged past and then Webber set his sights on the Renault. With the KERS system though, Alonso was able to keep with Webber on the straights. Webber eventually managed to push past and stay ahead, and then Glock also made short work of the Renault.

By this point, Rosberg and Trulli had pitted for the first time and Button had really put the hammer down. He set fastest lap after fastest lap, to come out of the pits into the lead of the race. Something that would prove pivotal later on. BUtton moved further into the lead, as rain was really starting to become a threat. The clouds were dark and angry as the cars circled. Raikkonen decided to put Extreme Wet tyres on to try and pre-empt the rain, as in Malaysia when it rains, it pours. However he was a few laps premature, and totally roasted them, meaning he had to do another stop which dropped him right down to 14th place.

But true to typical form, the rain drizzled for around 10 minutes before becoming a torrent. Glock put on intermediates at the perfect time, as other people struggled on melting extreme wets. He flew back up through the field, lapping around 10 seconds faster than the rest of the field at some points. He managed to leap from around 10th upto third behind Button and a one stopping Hiedfeld (Who stopped at the perfect time too). As this happened the heavens really opened and everyone jumped onto the extreme wets. This only lasted for around 3 laps, where the Red Flag was flown and the race was stopped with 23 laps still to run.

By this point, people were falling off at even the slowest of speeds, but there was much confusion as to where people had finished. Hamilton thought he had 5th, Glock thought he had Second until just before the podium celebration. The confusion was caused because the red flag was thrown literally moments before Button started his 33rd lap, and on countback the results came forom the 32nd Lap, which moved several people around a little bit. Mark Webber was trying to get the drivers to protest if the race was to restart because of the very poor visibility because then sun was setting and the clouds were thick.

Button however, won for Brawn for the second weekend in a row. He won siutting in his car, as the 2 hour race limit was rechaed after 50 minutes of hanging around in the wet. Cars were interesting arranged on the grid, and all sorts of peculiar things were going on. At the end of the day after everyone had been re-arranged and finalised in possition, these were the final results:

1. BUTTON Brawn
2. HEIDFELD BMW +22.7s
3. GLOCK Toyota +23.5s
4. TRULLI Toyota +46.1
5. BARRICHELLO Brawn +47.3s
6. WEBBER Red Bull +52.3s
7. HAMILTON McLaren +1m00.7s
8. ROSBERG Williams +1m11.5s
9. MASSA Ferrari +1m42.1s
10. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso +1 lap
11. ALONSO Renault +1 lap
12. NAKAJIMA Williams +1 lap
13. PIQUET Renault +1 lap
14. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +1 lap
15. VETTEL Red Bull +1 lap
16. BUEMI Toro Rosso +1 lap
17. SUTIL Force India +1 lap
18. FISICHELLA Force India +2 laps
R. KUBICA BMW +30 laps (Engine problems)
R. KOVALAINEN McLaren +31 laps (Driver Error)

Fastest lap: Button, 1m36.641s

Driver of the day for me was Timo Glock again for Toyota after a storming drive through the field.

Well, Court hearing on "Diffuser-Gate" on the 16th of April, and then the next race at the end of April in China See you soon for more news

EDIT: @ Skillers, I was waiting for final results to come through before posting the full thing, they were buggering about with people and laps and shit xD

Finally. Clarification

The "Diffuser Gate" has come to end with a resounding YES to the trick diffusers. The Brawn, Toyota and Williams cars have been deemed legal to race. So now it's simply upto the other teams to make sure they have trick diffusers by Spain

Atleast that's one huge mess over with

I'll put up a Shanghai feature post on thursday or Friday evening

what do the diffusers do exactly?

It's something to do with the airflow under a car. Don't know what a "trick diffuser" is though.

Diffusers work the back end of a car similar to the way a front splitter would.

As well as the front and rear wings (the most obvious aerodynamic devices), F1 cars run a flat floor until around 75% of the length of the car, which then scoops upwards to meet the engine and gearbox bay.

This obviously creates a space into which air flowing under the car can expand. Because of this the pressure drops and sucks the back of the car downwards (To try and make the gap smaller so the available air can fill it). The diffuser simply is the entire body work that concerns the underneath of the rear of the car, the larger the volume of the space into which the air flows the more pronounced the effect of suction is.

With the clever interpretation of the rules, Brawn, Toyota and Williams have created a much larger space compared to the other teams (Hence the name "Trick Diffuser"), which is how they seem to be going quicker. The Diffuser is almost "free" downforce, because it comes at very little drag cost for a lot of raw downforce. More Downforce = more Grip = Faster cars

Chinese Grand Prix this weekend

McLaren and Renault are already running new diffusers thanks to the ruling by the FIA to make them legal. The McLarens in particular seem to be on the pace, but the renaults are still lacking somewhat. The other big news of this weekend is that Ferrari are NOT going to run their own KERS system at this Grand Prix. This will lighten the car a considerable amount, giving Ferrari more weight to use as ballast to get the car handling correctly (as F1 Cars have a minimum weight of 600kgs)

The Chinese Grand Prix is held at the relatively new venue of the Shanghai International Circuit.



The circuit is one of the drivers favourites, its flowing high speed back section and the long final straight that leads into a very tight hairpin (Turn 14) aids overtaking. This corner is the main place for overtaking on this circuit, unless people make mistakes into the other slower sections, and the brave might try into the first corner.

The first corner is very unique in F1 as it more than doubles back on itself in a tightening radius before switching back quickely to swoop the other direction. Turns 6 and 11 can also provide overtaking moves, but there must be a lot of momentum behind it. Hamilton has generally ran well ehre in the past, but the might of the Brawn cars was clear for all to see in the second practice sessions, where Button pipped Rosberg and Barrichello to the best time of the weekend so far.

Practice Session (2) Times:

1. BUTTON Brawn 1m35.679s
2. ROSBERG Williams 1m35.704s
3. BARRICHELLO Brawn 1m35.881s
4. WEBBER Red Bull 1m36.105s
5. VETTEL Red Bull 1m36.167s
6. TRULLI Toyota 1m36.217s
7. NAKAJIMA Williams 1m36.377s
8. GLOCK Toyota 1m36.548s
9. KOVALAINEN McLaren 1m36.674s
10. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso 1m36.800s
11. SUTIL Force India 1m36.829s
12. MASSA Ferrari 1m36.847s
13. HAMILTON McLaren 1m36.941s
14. RAIKKONEN Ferrari 1m37.054s
15. BUEMI Toro Rosso 1m37.219s
16. PIQUET Renault 1m37.273s
17. KUBICA BMW 1m37.491s
18. HEIDFELD BMW 1m37.544s
19. ALONSO Renault 1m37.638s
20. FISICHELLA Force India 1m37.750s

It has been known to rain on race day in Shanghai, though not to the monumental amounts seen two weeks ago at Malaysia. The cars should be able to cope with the rain in China should it come. Lets hope for a dry weekend this week

^^

go go go Jenson! ;D

Well, qualifying was exciting as per usual! A stunning lap from Vettel scored his second and Red Bull's first Pole Position.


The first qualifyign session was a master class from Button and Rosberg, they were well ahead of the field as some of the more notable drivers slipped from favour. Kubica couldn't quite hook a lap together and tumbled out in this session. Along with him were the Force Indias, Bourdais (being soundly beaten by much less experienced team mate) and the perennial Piquet who seems to have booked his place in the bottom 5 now. Kubica said he was "stunned" by the BMW's lack of grip and issues with the tyres plagued the team, Heidfeld managed to still hook a lap and get to 11th.

The Ferrari's made it both into Q2, with Raikkonen managing to hurl his into Q3, whereas as Massa struggled without KERS.

Sorry about this rather short post, I'm not really in the mood for a flamboyant one atm... See you tomorrow morning for the race



Chinese GP grid

1. VETTEL Red Bull
2. ALONSO Renault
3. WEBBER Red Bull
4. BARRICHELLO Brawn
5. BUTTON Brawn
6. TRULLI Toyota
7. ROSBERG Williams
8. RAIKKONEN Ferrari
9. HAMILTON McLaren
10. BUEMI Toro Rosso
11. HEIDFELD BMW
12. KOVALAINEN McLaren
13. MASSA Ferrari
14. NAKAJIMA Williams
15. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso
16. PIQUET Renault
17. KUBICA BMW
18. SUTIL Force India
19. GLOCK Toyota*
20. FISICHELLA Force India