China Shanghai GP 2009 - Race 3/17

[Glaucus]

TV Times:
Friday 17 April

First practice: 0255-0435, BBC Red Button/BBC Radio 5 Live sports extra/online
Second practice: 0655-0835, BBC Red Button/BBC Radio 5 Live sports extra/online

Saturday 18 April

Third practice: 0355-0505, BBC Red Button/BBC Radio 5 Live sports extra/online

Qualifying: 0600-0815, BBC One/BBC Red Button/Radio 5 Live sports extra/online

Re-run: 1300-1415, BBC One

Qualifying loop: 1800-0200, BBC Red Button (Not available on Freeview)

Sunday 19 April

Race: 0700-1000, BBC One/BBC Red Button/Radio 5 Live/online

Interactive Forum: 1000-1100, BBC Red Button/online

Race re-run: 1305-1505, BBC One/BBC Red Button/online
Race re-run looped: 1300-2100, BBC Red Button (Not available on Freeview)

Highlights: 1900-2000 and 0110-0210, BBC Three/BBC Red Button/online
Highlights looped: 1000-2100 Monday, BBC Red Button (Not available on Freeview)

Standings
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Track
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Circuit information
Circuit data

Circuit length: 5.451km
Race distance: 56 laps / 305.066km

Full-throttle: 55%
Top speed: 310kph
Longest flat-out section: 19s / 1.37km

Right/left-hand turns: 9/7
Tyre wear: medium
Brake wear: low
Downforce level: medium/high
Gearshifts per lap: 52

Source: BMW, 2007

2009 tyres: medium (no stripes), super-soft (green stripes)
2008 tyres: hard (prime, no stripe), medium (option, with stripe)

Circuit construction

* Longest straight: 1.175km
* Maximum uphill slope: 3%.
* Maximum downhill slope: 8%.
* Total asphalt used (base, binder and wearing courses): 173,000 m2.
* Total length of tyre barriers: 6,500m, using a total of 174,000 units.
* Total guard rail: 11,700m.
* Total FIA safety fencing: 9,350m.
* Total number of concrete piles: 40,000, totalling 800,000m.
* Total spectator capacity: 200,000
* Main grandstand spectator capacity: 29,000


Your favourite Grand Prix
The 2007 Chinese Grand Prix is the event chosen to be highlighted in our classic races series this week.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/andrewbenson/2009/04/the_2007_chinese_grand_prix.html

The diffuser Appeal
Court of Appeal declares disputed diffusers legal
The FIA International Court of Appeal (ICA) has rejected protests against the diffusers used by the Brawn, Toyota and Williams teams, after concluding that their ‘double decker’ designs comply with the 2009 regulations.

BMW Sauber, Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault had all questioned the legality of the diffusers, but following Tuesday’s hearing in Paris, the ICA decided that race stewards in Australia and Malaysia had made the right call in declaring them legal.

Full statement from the FIA:
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.

Full reasons for this decision will be provided in due course.

Toyota and Brawn welcome FIA diffuser decision
Toyota and Brawn GP have responded with pleasure to news that the FIA’s International Court of Appeal has declared their rear diffusers legal. Along with Williams, the two teams had been racing under appeal after rivals questioned the legality of their ‘double decker’ designs, despite stewards at March’s Australian Grand Prix authorising their use.

In a statement released after the FIA’s announcement on Wednesday, Brawn GP team principal Ross Brawn said: "We are pleased with the decision reached by the International Court of Appeal today. We respect the right of our competitors to query any design or concept used on our cars through the channels available to them.

"The FIA Technical Department, the Stewards at the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix and now five judges at the International Court of Appeal have confirmed our belief that our cars have always strictly complied with the 2009 Technical Regulations. The decision of the International Court of Appeal brings this matter to its conclusion and we look forward to continuing on the track the challenge of what has been a very exciting start to the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship."

Toyota commented: “Toyota Motorsport is pleased to hear the FIA International Court of Appeal has upheld the decision of the Australian Grand Prix stewards concerning the rear diffuser on our car. As we have maintained throughout, our team studied the wording of the new 2009 regulations in precise detail to ensure we interpreted them correctly.

“We also made full use of the consultation procedure with the FIA which was a helpful process to ensure our interpretation of the technical regulations was correct. Therefore we had every confidence that the design of our car would be confirmed as legal, firstly by race stewards in Australia and Malaysia and subsequently by the Court of Appeal.”

Toyota’s chairman and team principal Tadashi Yamashina was equally satisfied with the Court’s decision: "I was confident the Court of Appeal would reach this verdict and I am satisfied with it. It is important to stress we studied the technical regulations in precise detail, consulting the FIA in our process, and never doubted our car complied with them. This has been a challenging period for Formula One and I am pleased this issue is now in the past and we can focus on an exciting season on the track."

Brawn GP, who are currently leading the constructors’ standings on 25 points, and second placed Toyota (16.5), will be back in action on Friday when first practice for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix gets underway in Shanghai.

The Diffuser
Brawn BGP001 - rear diffuser design
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/dac55b619b.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)
Brawn have a quite different central channel to their diffuser, with the shape of the deformable structure being used to create a sort of double-decker (black arrows) design. However, the most important and controversial aspect is that to work properly this section of the diffuser needs to be fed by air. Highlighted in yellow, you can easily see the hole in the reference plane (red arrow), which actually starts far further forward than is apparent from the drawing, thanks to the small dimensions of the gearbox. The hole increases the speed of airflow as it heads towards the higher rear venturi section, where it expands and creates more downforce. Other teams are arguing that the presence of the hole is against the regulations.

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[Glaucus]

Button looking good again
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/9bc359e2d3.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

[Knipples]

Am genuinely excited about this season, and seeing what develops.
Roll on the weekend!

[Justsomebloke]

Button looking good again


HAXS !!! ;D

[Pickers]

ohhh I'm gonna be in plymuff in a hotel room when this is on... may try and catch some of it ;)

[Muban]

...and the weather forecast for Sunday is........ Heavy Rain!!!! oh my

[Briggykins]

Isn't China usually later in the year?

I usually like rain but I'm actually hoping for a normal race this weekend! Be good to actually get a proper finish. Also looks like Williams are properly in the hunt, on quali performance anyway, so we may get a bit of a race.

[Feek]

I'm really looking forward to this race.

[Glaucus]

ROFL awesome stuff
Two rubbish drivers respond to Briatore
Friday 17th April 2009

The 'almost-retired' driver of Brawn GP and his 'slow' team-mate have hit back at the incredible outburst of Renault's Flavio Briatore by denouncing the Italian as 'bitter' and a 'bad loser'.

Briatore stunned the paddock on Friday by launching a withering attack on Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button, telling the Gazzetta dello Sport newspaper: "The drivers in our teams have been and are World Champions, while the Championship is now fought between a driver who was almost retired and another one who is a good guy but a paracarro [the Italian saying for being as slow as a milepost at the side of a road]."

After the 'slow' Button put finishing Practice Two in China as the quickest driver, the Englishman hit back at the Renault boss - and revealed that Briatore had sought to hire him in the winter, presumably as a replacement for the hapless Nelson Piquet jir.

"He needs to remember that he tried to employ me for this year," Button told reporters.

"He is obviously a very angry man after the diffuser issues and he is obviously very disappointed that they haven't produced a car that is as competitive as ours. We have worked very, very hard in very difficult circumstances and it is very, very unfair for Flavio to comment as he has just because he is a little bit bitter."

The response of Barrichello was equally scathing, with the Brazilian observing: "There are plenty of good people in the paddock and plenty of bad losers."

The row also prompted a response from Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone, who suggested Briatore should concentrate solely on race matters.

"Its a pity they don't talk more about racing than politics," he said. "We seem to have got a lot of team managers who've become politicians."

[LeperousDust]

Haha, amazing ;D Looking forward myself!

[Glaucus]

p3
http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/33be851b38.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

looks like a genuine and large improvement for McLaren.

[Matblack]

Interesting grid for tomorrow

MB

[Glaucus]

yep.. the race looks like it will be a good one.

[Glaucus]

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/d3d2b22717.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

[Knipples]

Looking forward to it.
Still want Fred to die in the face though.
:D
(especially now he just said "For sure")

[Glaucus]

He has to be light
And I think vettel is as well.

We need weights and we need them now..

[Knipples]

He has to be light
And I think vettel is as well.

We need weights and we need them now..

Wont be until this evening will it?
I think the Brawns will have stuck with the same strategy they have done so far because they know it works.
Bless DC for being so excited for his former team though.

[Glaucus]

Wont be until this evening will it?
.

Think it was early afternoon last time.

[Knipples]

Think it was early afternoon last time.

Yay! Will keep an eye out when im dodging bricks at the footy this afternoon

[Glaucus]

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/7602196666.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

[Glaucus]

http://www.freeimagehosting.net/uploads/0fe874ce1c.jpg (http://www.freeimagehosting.net/)

Looking good for brawn.

[Feek]

Enjoyed that race, shame it started behind the safety car but apart from that it was OK.

[Glaucus]

Enjoyed that race, shame it started behind the safety car but apart from that it was OK.

Yeah pretty good race apart from the start. Those red bulls are unstoppable in the wet. I still think Brawn have it in the dry but not by a huge amount. We will ahve to see if Redbul can fit a new diffuser without messing their entire car up.

[divine]

Yeah pretty good race apart from the start. Those red bulls are unstoppable in the wet. I still think Brawn have it in the dry but not by a huge amount. We will ahve to see if Redbul can fit a new diffuser without messing their entire car up.

You say that but then look at Q2 times in the dry:

Vettel - 1:35.130
Webber - 1:35.173
Barrichello - 1:35.503
Button - 1:35.556

Now whilst they obviously aren't necessarily at full whack, my experience is they are all out with a point to prove and are trying to be as fast as possible regardless of the fact the ultimate order won't matter. Not exactly conclusive but I think the RBR car was just more suited to this track in general, rather than it being just a dry/wet thing.

Although I suspect the wet does have an effect, BGP clearly get a good portion of grip from the diffuser, which won't work as well with water as it relies on air flow, the RBR seems to have it more mechanically, perhaps from their different suspension set up.

[Briggykins]

Fuel-adjusted, tho, the Q3 times were exactly the same (in fact Brawn was quicker than the RBRs by 3/10ths of a second). Apparently the Brawn car works better with some fuel in it (which of course they don't carry in Q2), whereas the RBR has better one-lap pace.
Good race, good to see Red Bull win (altho I would have preferred Brawn to win, and I would have liked to have seen Webber win rather than Vettel as well).

[Flibster]

...and so I win my £200 :D

[Feek]

What was the bet, Flibbles?

[Flibster]

What was the bet, Flibbles?

20:1 on a Red Bull Racing 1-2 this season

[Feek]

Nice work :)

[Knipples]

Wonder what the odds are for Ferrari not scoring any points this season? :D

[Flibster]

Nice work :)

Ta. :D That was one of my outside bets this year.
Made it on March 1st as well.

Wonder what the odds are for Ferrari not scoring any points this season? :D

Not even I'm stupid enough to bet on that. :D

[vix]

Wonder what the odds are for Ferrari not scoring any points this season? :D

Kimi should know as he appears to have put that bet on :/

[lostkat]

Oh woe is Ferrari. It really riles me to have a massive F1 name throwing its toys out of the pram just because it didn't come up with something as good as the rest at the start of the season. They didn't get it right this year. Tough luck. Accept it, stop bloody moaning and try harder next time. Do they know what happened to Massa's car yet?

Enjoyed yesterday's race, apart from the crappy start of course. Lots of overtaking and little offs made it interesting. Excellent result for the RBR team too :) I did feel sorry for Sutil though. So close yet so far. Poor guy!

[divine]

Have Ferrari actually been moaning all that much? I was getting the impression it was Renault / Flavio doing most of the bitching.

[Glaucus]

Have Ferrari actually been moaning all that much? I was getting the impression it was Renault / Flavio doing most of the bitching.

yes, it was Ferrari who said Brawn was extremely arrogant. I bet they weren't saying that when he worked for Ferrari, as well as other stuff.

[Knipples]

I know its from Malaysia but someones put the Grid walk and the Toyota Mechanics "Hide the diffuser" dance onto You Tube ;D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeymFYiE8ME
Watch from 2mins 30 seconds.