Mar 14 2010

Bahrain GP

Well, the start of the Formula One season is here.

I’m no expert, but I have to watch the races so I have something to talk about with Richard, my Dad, who even watches Turn Left Racing (NASCAR) if nothing else is available.

Me?  I like Figure Eight in School Buses or with Trailers.

Flaming Chunks of Twisted Metal!

I watch it on Speed Channel.  If you don’t get that, there’s a possibility that they may stream it, but frankly I’m not sure so if that’s a bad link please forgive me, I’ll try and do better next time.

They broadcast live from all over the world so start time is variable but almost always too early.  Today’s race starts at 7:30 for the pre-race including the in car camera hot lap, which will happen just before the 8 am rolloff.

All Daylight Time, I hope you set your clocks forward.

The major rule change this season is that they will not be refueling.  Pit Stops will only be for Tire Changes and mechanical fixes and adjustments.

They are still required to use 2 different Bridgestone compounds.  Aero rules have been adjusted so that last year’s double diffusers are no longer legal.  Wheels no longer have spats to fall off, but the rims have been aeroed.  There is no more KERS.

Last year’s manufacturing champion, Brawn, has been sold to Mercedes.  Felipe Massa is back with Ferrari after getting hit in the head with a suspension spring last year.  Michael Schumacher is back after a 3 year retirement for Mercedes.  Last year’s driving Champion, Jenson Button, has moved to McLaren.  Team Lotus returns after having been absent since 1993.  Rubens Barrichello all by himself has the 3rd most experience of any Team in Formula One this season with 284 starts under his belt.

There was supposed to be a Team USA this year also, but they are notably absent and I must have missed the explanation for that.

The biggest strategic changes are that there is every incentive to stay out as long as your tires last and that the cars are going to be as much as 135Kg heavier because of the fuel weight which is going to put additional stress on the suspension and brakes as well as change ride height (and aerodynamics) over the course of the race.

This is particularly problematic in this race, Bahrain, where they have added .9Km of new asphalt and 8 new turns where the drivers have already complained about the bumpiness.  At 6.3Km it is now the second longest circuit in Formula One after Spa.

I’ll try and liveblog, but it was a very late night last night as I went to visit my SciFi friend and watch the latest Caprica (as well as some Star Wars Episodes 1 – 3 which I haven’t bothered with up until now) with her dog before he goes in the kennel and she disappears on a business trip for a week.

And then there is that pesky time change.

Being Formula One there will not be a lot of things to report anyway after the dominant cars establish themselves (usually in the first corner) other than unexpected retirements (Flaming Chunks Of Twisted Metal!), Pit/Tire Strategy, and gossip.

But as I said I have to watch it, either live or during the 12:30 pm repeat otherwise the only thing I’ll have to talk with my Father about will be Michigan State’s draw in the NCAA Basketball Tournament and I’m a big Syracuse fan.

Your starting grid-

Start Number Driver Team Time
1 5 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 01:55.0
2 7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:55.3
3 8 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:54.6
4 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:55.3
5 4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes Benz GP Ltd 01:55.5
6 6 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 01:55.3
7 3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes Benz GP Ltd 01:55.6
8 1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 01:55.7
9 11 Robert Kubica Renault 01:55.5
10 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 01:55.2
11 9 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 01:56.0
12 15 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 01:55.6
13 10 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 01:56.4
14 22 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 01:56.4
15 16 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 01:56.2
16 23 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 01:56.5
17 12 Vitaly Petrov Renault 01:56.2
18 17 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 01:57.1
19 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 01:59.7
20 18 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 01:59.9
21 19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 02:00.3
22 25 Lucas Di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 02:00.6
23 21 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 02:03.2
24 20 Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 02:04.9

Time is Qualifying Lap Time (low fuel).

41 comments

Skip to comment form

  1. I may be taking a nap, but this is not worth recommending, so I’m doing this the rude and crude way.

    It should auto promote at 7:20, just before mishima’s Docudharma Times.

    And Weekend Edition might be a trifle late.

  2. Touting the driver’s championship.  Teasing the USA Team disappearance.

  3. 4 teams, 8 drivers.

    Next race Australia March 27th, 1:30 am (which will be far easier than this stint mind you).

  5. HRT, Virgin, Lotus.

  6. US F1 couldn’t find the financing.

    Lotus is backed by Malaysia.

    HRT and Virgin are based on F2 teams and bought their chassis.  Lotus and US F1 are starting from a blank sheet.

  7. That’s stupid.

    Sutil has a huge advantage actually as he’ll be able to put in up to 20 or more laps than anyone else before he has to pit, and despite what they say about “lightning fast” pit stops, it’s the speed restrictions entering and leaving pit lane that kill you.

    That’s why the use it for a penalty dopes!

  8. Look at a whole lap from the driver’s standpoint.

    New asphalt!

  9. That’s not what the official site said.

    And bumpy!

  10. 49 laps.

  11. 23 and 24 Starting from Pit Lane.

  13. Probably screws his race.

  14. I though smoke screens were illegal.

  16. They changed the point system too, but it flashed by too fast for me to blog.

  22. Hamilton beats out Rossberg and Schumaker.

  23. 2:00

  24. 1:59.5

    Creeping up on Vettle.

    The driver who wins the first one has won 16 out of the last 20 seasons.

    The rest of it is just too complicatec for me to keep up at this point.

    19 laps to go.

  25. They’ve all used both compounds.

  26. 17 laps to go.

    8 engine rule still in effect, but you don’t know which engines they’re using.

    Vettle may have broken something in his engine.

  27. Alonso, Massa (Ferarri) 1, 2.

    Hamilton seems possible.

    The other thing is that the exhaust on the Red Bull bleeds out right on the rear suspension, so the whole car could go away.

  28. Broken exhaust header.

    Hamilton in 3rd.

  30. After leading most of the race Vettle may end up 9th.

  31. None of the top teams seems to be saving their engines.

    5 laps to go.

    • TMC on March 14, 2010 at 14:34
    • #

  33. About 29 laps on a Prime tire.

    Though that doesn’t really tell you much since Bridgestone changes compuonds with every race (and frequently suck with both compounds).

  34. Ferrari 1, 2; Hamilton 3.

    Looking a lot like 3 years ago with Ferrari dominance, only no Schumaker.

    Nap time now.  I’ll update with final point results later.

  35. Actually I stared into space and drank coffee my spouse watched it.

  36. Make that 2 pm.

    It’s not like I didn’t look at a schedule.

    I did.

    It just lied.

Comments have been disabled.