Formula One 2010

[Rasputin]

Button seals dream Australia win

Jenson Button secured a dream debut victory for the Brawn GP team after dominating the Australian Grand Prix.

The Englishman led throughout the race for his second Formula 1 win and team-mate Rubens Barrichello completed a Brawn one-two after a dramatic finish.

The Brazilian was promoted after Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel and BMW's Robert Kubica collided while disputing second place with three laps to go.

Lewis Hamilton was an unexpected fourth behind Toyota's Jarno Trulli.

Brawn's success marks a remarkable story for the former Honda team, whose survival was only secured by team boss Ross Brawn in early March.

Button drove coolly throughout, showcasing the Brawn's speed to keep Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel at bay for the vast majority of the race to eventually cruise to a finish behind the safety car.

"This is a fairytale ending for the first race," said Button.

"Some people may say its a pity the race finished under the safety car but I don't care, I won the race and that's all I care about."

Vettel looked set for a brilliant second place but he and Kubica tangled on Turn Three with just three laps remaining.

The Red Bull driver was slow through the first two corners, allowing Kubica to get alongside on the outside into Turn Three.

The Pole gave Vettel room, but the Red Bull's front wheel tagged the rear wheel of the BMW.

That tipped both into a spin, and damaged their front wings.

Both crashed further around the lap, and although Vettel tried to continue on three wheels he was eventually forced to retire.

That crash brought out the safety car for the second time in the race and it stayed at the head of the field until the end.

Brawn's one-two looked unlikely at the start of the race as Barrichello, sat next to Button on the front row, was easily passed by the chasing pack as his anti-stall system kicked in.

The Brazilian also tangled with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen to cause significant damage to his front wing, which had to be replaced during his stop on lap 18.

The frenetic start also saw Red Bull's Mark Webber collide with McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen, causing the Finn to retire and putting the Australian to the back for the duration of his home race.

Button built a lead of nearly 4.5 seconds in the first two laps but Vettel stabilised the gap, which stayed at between four and five seconds until the first pit stops.

Kubica - one of several drivers to start the race on the slower, softer tyres in order to get them out of the way early - stayed in the hunt while Hamilton continued to make up good ground after a brilliant first lap which saw him up to 12th from 18th on the grid.

The first of two safety car periods happened on lap 19, following a crash by Williams driver Kazuki Nakajima.

When it pulled in again, Button again built a five-second lead over a few laps before Vettel held it.

But both - now on the softer, slower tyres - came under pressure late in the race from Kubica, who was now benefiting from the team's decision to use the faster tyres late on.

That pressure on Button was punctured in an instant as the Pole collided with Vettel allowing Trulli and Hamilton, whose McLaren had woefully underperformed in qualifying by his own admission but was now seemingly capable of giving him a drive, to reap the rewards.

Though Trulli - who drove solidly throughout after starting from the pit lane - finished third, McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh claimed that the Italian illegally passed Hamilton as the safety car came out over the last two laps.

The incident is under investigation by the race officials.

Toyota's Timo Glock finished fifth ahead of Renault's Fernando Alonso and Williams's Nico Rosberg, who suffered a sticking front wheel at a pit stop on lap 15 which scuppered his chance of a podium finish.

Red Bull's Sebastien Buemi made an impressive debut to secure one point in his first ever F1 Grand Prix.

And Ferrari finished without a point in the season opener for the second year running, as Felipe Massa - running in third place - sustained a reliability failure on lap 45, three laps after team-mate Raikkonen spun out.

[Rasputin]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/7970508.stm

[Rasputin]

A 1-2 Finish for Brawn in Australian Prix

As the blinding sun set on Melbourne, and the racing cars crawled through the final three laps behind the safety car on a debris-covered track, the first race of the new Formula One season brought a surprising dawn for the Brawn team on Sunday.

Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, the Brawn drivers, finished in first and second places at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix. And to think that their team had barely survived a stormy winter after the sudden announcement in December by its former owner, Honda, that it was quitting Formula One because of the global financial crisis.

Button, 29, started from pole position Sunday and drove a flawless race, taking the second victory of his career. His previous victory was at the Hungarian Grand Prix of 2006. That was Honda’s only first place during its latest stint in the sport, which started in 2000.

“An amazing day,” Button said. “It has been a traumatic few months for all of us. I cannot say how difficult it has been. I have to say thank you to everybody.”

“This is a fairytale ending to the first race for the whole team,” he added, “and we are going to fight to keep this car competitive and at the front.”

After failing to find a new buyer, the team settled for a management buyout, which was completed at the beginning of March. It takes its name from its director, Ross Brawn, the technical director who guided Michael Schumacher to his seven world titles at Benetton and Ferrari.

The team’s cars arrived in Melbourne without sponsors, painted almost entirely in white. And the team had a small budget for the season, provided by Honda, as this cost the company less than firing the team’s staff of hundreds.

But in a dramatic and prescient move, Richard Branson, the British entrepreneur and founder of the Virgin Group, flew into Melbourne on Saturday morning to announce that Virgin was the team’s first sponsor, and temporary Virgin logos were stuck on the cars.

Button said that the normally communicative Brawn did not say a word in the final 15 minutes of the race. Barrichello, who had raced under Brawn at Ferrari, said he had never seen him so emotional.

“This is all a dream, really, to say we finished first and second for a new team,” Barrichello said. “It was funny to see Ross like that — not even at Ferrari — it looked like it was his first win.”

The race ran under a cloud of suspicion over interpretations of new technical regulations. Several teams accused the Brawn, Williams and Toyota teams of using an illegal aerodynamic air diffuser on the rear of the car.

Race stewards in Melbourne declared the diffuser legal, but other teams appealed the decision. The appeal on April 14 could change the result of the race.

The most powerful teams last year, Ferrari and McLaren Mercedes, lagged in Melbourne. Lewis Hamilton, the reigning world champion in a McLaren, qualified only 15th. He was then forced to start from the back of the grid when his gearbox needed to be changed before the race, as the rules require that a gearbox must last four races.

Still, he finished fourth and was then promoted to third after Jarno Trulli in a Toyota was penalized for passing under the safety car. Hamilton could inherit the victory depending on the result of the appeal — if the Brawns are disqualified.

Heikki Kovalainen, in the other McLaren, dropped out, after an accident on the first lap.

Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari both failed to finish.

Until three laps from the end, the other surprise was Sebastian Vettel driving a Red Bull. Vettel, who qualified third, moved to second on the first lap after Barrichello made a bad start. The Brawn driver turned on his anti-stall mechanism by mistake and dropped to seventh.

But Vettel was also the reason the race ended under the safety car. With 10 laps left, Vettel began to lap faster than Button, catching up slowly. But the German was in turn being caught by Robert Kubica in a BMW Sauber. With only three laps left, Kubica tried to pass Vettel and the two cars collided, and crashed.

“I had a chance to win this race because Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel were on soft tires and struggling, while I was on the harder compound and was able to drive much quicker,” Kubica said.

The race stewards gave Vettel a $50,000 fine for trying to continue driving his seriously damaged car around the track. He will be docked 10 grid positions at the next race for causing the accident.

The safety car came out. But the track was still being cleared three laps later. So the race finished with the cars driving in a slow procession behind the safety car.

After its first night race in Singapore last year, Formula One chose to make the race in Melbourne an evening race, starting at 5 p.m. and finishing at 6:40 p.m. After it ended, the drivers complained.

As the bright sun was setting in the clear, blue sky, the drivers had had to cope with dazzle and shadows.

“It was strange,” Button said. “At some of the corners you could not see the exit, and with the glare from the sun and the changing light from the trees, it was so difficult — and always on the most difficult corners.”

[Rasputin]

Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton was disqualified from the Australian Formula One Grand Prix on Thursday for giving misleading evidence to race stewards.

The McLaren driver was awarded third place after the season-opening GP when stewards ruled Toyota's Jarno Trulli breached regulations by passing Hamilton during a safety car period in Melbourne on Sunday.

Trulli was reinstated to his original third-place finish Thursday, while Hamilton and McLaren were excluded from the results and receive no points.

A new hearing into the matter, convened by motor sport world governing body FIA, interviewed both drivers and teams, and heard new evidence which included radio transmissions between teams and drivers in Melbourne, as well as technical data from the race.

After deliberating for several hours, FIA released a statement which said Hamilton and McLaren "acted in a manner prejudicial to the conduct of the event by providing evidence deliberately misleading to the stewards."

"We're disappointed by what's happened, but in the circumstances we aren't going to appeal," McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh said.

"I believe it was a harsh decision. Experience has told us you've got to accept these decisions," he said. "These things come along, and you have to build on your concentration for this weekend and the races to come."

In the safety car period, brought about by a late crash, Trulli was in third place when he briefly ran off the track. While passing is prohibited during safety car periods, a driver can move up if a car ahead goes off the circuit.

McLaren, having not seen Trulli run off, were told over the radio by Hamilton that he had the Toyota driver. The team tried to get clarification from race control about whether Hamilton could remain in third. When that clarification was not forthcoming, McLaren told Hamilton to give back third place, which he did.

Post-race, the stewards — without the benefit of McLaren's radio communication — ruled that Trulli should not have taken back the third spot, and penalized him 25 seconds, dropping him from third to 12th.

McLaren claimed Thursday they thought race authorities already knew the content of the radio transmission, which can be heard during the race.

Whitmarsh denied that the stewards' ruling amounted to an allegation that McLaren and Hamilton lied to the Melbourne hearing, saying only that the team erred by not being more forthcoming about the radio communication between team and driver.

"There's no indication that Lewis lied," Whitmarsh said.

"There was no lie within that hearing. We the team made a mistake, that we didn't supply a full account of a radio conversation we believe was being listened to in any case and we don't believe was material to the decision being made by the stewards."

Trulli's reinstatement to third now gives him six championship points and puts Toyota second in the constructors' championship with 11 points, after teammate Timo Glock finished fourth in Melbourne.

"I didn't break the rules," Trulli said. "It was just a question of making sure they could see it and understand it.

"It's good that they reconsidered it. It shows they really understand there was something they missed and can reconsider with more evidence.

"Immediately after the race it was probably a bit chaotic for them."

[Rasputin]

Motor racing-Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix starting grid


Starting grid for the Malaysian
Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday
1. Jenson Button (Britain) Brawn - Mercedes
2. Jarno Trulli (Italy) Toyota
3. Timo Glock (Germany) Toyota
4. Nico Rosberg (Germany) Williams - Toyota
5. Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull - Renault
6. Robert Kubica (Poland) BMW Sauber
7. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland) Ferrari
8. Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Brawn - Mercedes
9. Fernando Alonso (Spain) Renault
10. Nick Heidfeld (Germany) BMW Sauber
11. Kazuki Nakajima (Japan) Williams - Toyota
12. Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren - Mercedes
13. Sebastian Vettel (Germany) RedBull - Renault
14. Heikki Kovalainen (Finland) McLaren - Mercedes
15. Sebastien Bourdais (France) Toro Rosso - Ferrari
16. Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari
17. Nelson Piquet (Brazil) Renault
18. Giancarlo Fisichella (Italy) Force India - Mercedes
19. Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India - Mercedes
20. Sebastien Buemi (Switzerland) Toro Rosso - Ferrari

[Rasputin]

http://www.examiner.com/x-6666-Formu...ese-Grand-Prix

[Rasputin]

Jenson Button got back to winning ways with an x-rated performance in Bahrain that left him with a scorched backside.

The 29-year-old doubled his lead in the world championship as he triumphed in temperatures that were so severe double-champ Fernando Alonso fainted during a post-race interview.

And the Brawn racer even surprised himself as he notched his hat-trick in sweltering 38- degree heat.

Shanghai winner Sebastian Vettel grabbed second and Jarno Trulli clambered out of his car, exhausted, in third.

Both started ahead of Button, but neither could deal with the searing pace of the Brawn racer or his team's superior strategy.

Before the start, the man from Frome had been convinced the aerodynamic improvements made by his rivals meant his hat-trick was as tangible as a floating mirage in the desert sands outside Manama.

Just two laps later, he had dodged past world champion Lewis Hamilton into Turn One to grab third and set the foundations for victory.

In the clear air after the Toyota stops, he found the pace to emerge in front. "That move really made the race for us," said Button.

"I knew I had to make it stick and I did. This win is probably the best of the lot as we don't have that competitive edge." With the four flyaway rounds over, the development war will begin in earnest as the championship returns to Europe.

"We have got a lot of bits that need to be changed and it is all getting a bit aged now, so to come away from this win at this point of the season I am chuffed to bits," added Button.

But he was more than a little tender as he shuffled in his seat in the postrace press conference.

"I burnt the top of my left buttock on an electrical box," he admitted.

When Vettel, sitting alongside him sympathised, Button joked: "I'll get you stroking it later, don't worry." And he made a quick apology to fans watching on television as the tension of carving out the crucial slivers of time in the midst of dithering backmarkers tested his patience and the speed of the bleep machine.

"I'm sorry if my radio was played live as I might have said a few words that weren't good for TV, but the traffic was terrible," he added.

Toyota pair Trulli and Timo Glock started across the front row and went home ruing a lost opportunity for 10 points with a bad tyre strategy.

And Vettel's chances of a second successive victory went when he failed to match Button's talent for finding a way past Hamilton's slower McLaren early in the race.

After the drama of Australia, the torrential rain and a race halted by failing light in Malaysia and then racing on a lake in Shanghai, fans faced their biggest test of the season so far - total boredom.

Only one car broke down and there was precious little overtaking after the first few laps. Changes of position came courtesy of the pit stops.

Hamilton notched a season-best fourth, while Rubens Barrichello showed again he is no match for team-mate Button to finish fifth. Kimi Raikkonen saved Ferrari's blushes in sixth.

A fourth successive race without points would have marked the worst start to a season in their history, but the Finn grabbed just two - albeit a distant 42 seconds behind Button.

Alonso was eighth, but fainted after he had climbed out of the cockpit.

"My water pump stopped working and I had no water for the whole race," he said.

"I felt strange and the next thing I knew, I was coming around in the garage with a fan on my face."

[Rasputin]

جنسون بوتون، راننده بريتانيايي تيم فرمول يك براون جي پي موفقيت هايش در اين فصل پايان ندارد. او روز يكشنبه 10 مه در گراندپري اسپانيا پنجمين مسابقه فصل 2009 رقابت هاي قهرماني اتومبيلراني فرمول يك جهان كه در پيست كاتالونيا شهر بارسلونا برگزار شد با پشت سر گذاشتن رقيبانش به چهارمين پيروزي خود در فصل جاري دست يافت. جنسون بوتون پديده فصل جاري فرمول يك و تيم تازه وارد براون جي پي با پيروزي در گراند پري اسپانيا كه همراه با حوادث بسياري بود با 41 امتياز در صدر جدول رانندگان قراردارد. روبنس باريكه*لو، راننده برزيلي ديگر راننده تيم براون جي پي در گراندپري اسپانيا دوم شد و با 27 امتياز در مكان دوم اين جدول است.مارك وبر استراليايي و كريستيان وتل آلماني رانندگان تيم ردبول در اين رقابت به ترتيب سوم و چهارم شدند. فرناندو آلونسو، راننده اسپانيايي تيم رنو كه به شدت از سوي تماشاگران هموطنش تشويق مي شد به مكان پنجم دست يافت. فيليپه مسا، راننده برزيلي تيم فراري در جايگاه ششم قرار گرفت.گزارش تصويري گراندپري فرمول يك اسپانيا

[Rasputin]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8065053.stm

[Rasputin]

Jenson Button extended his championship lead with a fifth victory in six races as he led Rubens Barrichello to a Brawn one-two in the Monaco Grand Prix.

Button sealed his victory in the early stages of the race, when he managed the deteriorating tyres on his car far better than his Brazilian team-mate.

Barrichello was left to hold off the Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa, who finished third and fourth.

Red Bull's Mark Webber was fifth with world champion Lewis Hamilton 12th.

Williams's Nico Rosberg, Renault's Fernando Alonso and the Toro Rosso of Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais filled the remaining points places down to eighth.

McLaren driver Hamilton was never in contention after making a disastrous mistake to crash out in qualifying and then starting at the back of the grid after a penalty for changing his gearbox.

I'm lost for words about him [Button] because he's exceeding everything I thought possible. Stunning

Brawn GP team boss Ross Brawn
In contrast, the man who looks increasingly likely to succeed him to the crown had a flawless afternoon.

His only mistake came after the chequered flag when he parked his car in the wrong place and had to run back along the pit straight for the podium ceremony.

Button's victory extends his world championship lead over Barrichello to 16 points - and to 28 over the third-placed man, Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, who scored no points after crashing out of the race.

It was Button's first win at Formula 1's most glamorous venue, and the drive of a champion in the making, taking advantage of circumstances as they unfolded to carve an unassailable winning margin.

"Before the weekend I said this race doesn't mean anything different for any other, that was more to stop the pressure building up on me," he told BBC Sport. "It's a bit of a lie really.

"We all know the truth - this circuit is fantastic.


Button exhilarated by 'exceptional' win
"I said on the radio: 'we've got Monaco, baby'. We've got the victory and that means a lot, a one-two here is exceptional. It's going to go down in history [what this team has achieved] this year, for sure."

His team boss, Ross Brawn, added: "I'm lost for words with him because he's exceeding everything I thought possible. Stunning."

Unlike all the other front-runners, the Brawns started on the super-soft tyres, which give better initial grip, but are subject to graining, when the surface of the tyre rips and reduces grip.

Button and Barrichello both suffered the problem from about eight laps into the race but Button coped much better and was able to extend his lead by as much as two seconds a lap.

That meant that Barrichello, who was less than two seconds behind his team-mate on lap six, was 18.2secs adrift by the time he made his first pit stop on 16.


I lost the race in qualifying - Barrichello (UK only)
From that moment on, the race was effectively over, and Barrichello was left to concern himself far more with the Ferraris behind him rather than with beating Button to the victory.

"The tyres gave us a start, but we didn't expect them to give us so much trouble in the first stint," added Brawn. "But the drivers managed it well.

"It is a special race and it's a challenging weekend. In such circumstances, to come first and second is stunning."

Constructors champions Ferrari achieved their first podium of 2009 as they bid to recover from the worst start to a season in their long history.

Though Raikkonen and Massa were evenly matched, the Finn was able to convert his second place on the grid into third place, while Massa was caught up in some frenetic action in the opening laps.

606: DEBATE
Three straight wins for the same engine - Mercedes. It just goes to show how reliability and performance has moved forward in leaps and bounds in the world of motorsport...

Philinux
"I am very happy about the result because it shows we are working in the right direction," said Ferrari team boss Stefano Domencali.

"We are catching up and getting closer. I am very positive we will push on and this is just a start."

Brazil's Massa trailed Vettel from the start and soon began to climb all over the back of the German's car as the Red Bull driver suffered similar tyre problems to the Brawns.

There was soon a huge queue behind him, right down to 12th place and by lap 10, Vettel's tyres were in such poor shape that he was no longer able to resist his pursuers.

First Rosberg - who had passed Massa after the Ferrari driver tried an overtaking manoeuvre at the chicane that did not come off - powered past the Red Bull, and then the others poured past, too, before Vettel pitted for new tyres at the end of the lap.

His race ended six laps later when he slammed into the barrier at Sainte Devote after making a mistake.


Hamilton satisfied after 'tough' race
His team-mate Webber was much more impressive, jumping ahead of Rosberg at the first stops thanks to some consistently fast laps and consolidating that position through the middle of the race.

Hamilton, Monaco GP winner in 2008, said he felt "quite satisfied" with his performance and vowed to return to Monte Carlo stronger.

"I was thinking of the 'Rocky' films. In the first one, he said 'I just want to see the end of the fight'. I pushed as hard as I could.

"Of course, I will be back next year to try and win."

[Rasputin]

Full race timings
Sunday, 24 May 2009
Conditions: Sunny
Position Country Driver Car number Team Grid position Race time Points
1 great britain Jenson Button 22 Brawn-Mercedes 1 1:40:44.282 10
2 brazil Rubens Barrichello 23 Brawn-Mercedes 3 1:40:51.948 8
3 finland Kimi Raikkonen 4 Ferrari 2 1:40:57.724 6
4 brazil Felipe Massa 3 Ferrari 5 1:40:59.392 5
5 australia Mark Webber 14 Red Bull-Renault 8 1:41:00.012 4
6 germany Nico Rosberg 16 Williams-Toyota 6 1:41:17.868 3
7 spain Fernando Alonso 7 Renault 9 1:41:22.121 2
8 france Sebastien Bourdais 11 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 14 1:41:47.424 1
9 italy Giancarlo Fisichella 21 Force India-Mercedes 13 1:41:49.322 0
10 germany Timo Glock 10 Toyota 19 lapped 0
11 germany Nick Heidfeld 6 BMW Sauber 16 lapped 0
12 great britain Lewis Hamilton 1 McLaren-Mercedes 20 lapped 0
13 italy Jarno Trulli 9 Toyota 18 lapped 0
14 germany Adrian Sutil 20 Force India-Mercedes 15 lapped 0
RET japan Kazuki Nakajima 17 Williams-Toyota 10 crash, 76 laps 0
RET finland Heikki Kovalainen 2 McLaren-Mercedes 7 crash, 51 laps 0
RET poland Robert Kubica 5 BMW Sauber 17 retired, 28 laps 0
RET germany Sebastian Vettel 15 Red Bull-Renault 4 crash, 15 laps 0
RET brazil Nelson Piquet Jr 8 Renault 12 retired, 10 laps 0
RET switzerland Sebastien Buemi 12 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 11 crash, 10 laps 0

[Rasputin]

Formula One will feature three new teams in the 2010 season, including one from the United States.

The sport's governing body announced a lineup of 13 teams Friday, including all 10 current entrants — although five of those were granted entry on a "conditional basis."

The new entrants will be Spain-based Campos Grand Prix, Manor of Britain and American team US F1.

The FIA and the Formula One Teams Association have not agreed on a proposed budget cap that would become mandatory next season, causing some leading teams, including Ferrari, to threaten withdrawal from Formula One.

McLaren, Renault, Brawn GP, BMW Sauber and Toyota have been given a week to submit unconditional entries for next season or risk losing their places.

[Rasputin]

A U.S. team will join the Formula One championship next season as the most-watched motor racing series added three new entries. Ferrari was among 10 existing teams on the entry list.

North Carolina-based Team US F1 got a berth along with Spain’s Campos Grand Prix and the U.K.’s Manor Grand Prix, series ruling body Federation Internationale de l’Automobile said in a statement today.

They were lured by a voluntary budget cap of 40 million pounds ($65.8 million) that has caused a rift between the FIA and Ferrari SpA, which owns the sport’s most successful team, and other entries. The cap will give smaller teams more engine and design freedom.

Ferrari on May 12 said it will quit the series for the first time since 1950 unless the rule is changed, although it submitted a conditional entry on May 29. Its entry “definitely” remains conditional, Ferrari team spokesman Luca Colajanni said by telephone today.

Championship leader Brawn, McLaren, BMW, Renault and Toyota also submitted conditional entries, the FIA said. The ruling body set a June 19 deadline for resolving differences with the five teams, the statement added.

Team US F1 is led by former Nascar team technical director Ken Anderson and the U.K.’s Peter Windsor, a former Formula One team manager and journalist.

Formula One lags Nascar in the U.S. and its race at Indianapolis dropped off the calendar the last two years. The last American driver in the Europe-based series was Californian Scott Speed, who didn’t finish higher than ninth in 30 races through July 2007.

Adrian Campos, a former manager of two-time Formula One champion Fernando Alonso, leads the new Spanish entry that currently competes in the GP2 series. U.K. newcomer Manor Grand Prix competed in smaller series since 1990 with drivers including Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Raikkonen.

[Rasputin]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/motorsport/2009/10/20/flav-ban-appeal-115875-21759967/

[Rasputin]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8566770.stm