Who will win in Spain

Brawn (Terminator) dominate once again, this time in Spain, Jenson Button clocked the fastest time 1:20.527 beating Sebastian Vettel by 0.133 seconds, that’s faster than a blink on your eye :D

FIA making the car weight public:

1. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 646kg
2. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 651.5
3. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn GP, 649.5
4. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 655
5. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 651.5
6. Timo Glock, Toyota, 646.5
7. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 655.5
8. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 645
9. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 668
10. Robert Kubica, BMW Sauber, 660
11. Kazuki Nakajima, Williams, 676.6
12. Nelson Piquet, Renault, 677.4
13. Nick Heidfeld, BMW Sauber, 676.3
14. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 683
15. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 678
16. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 673
17. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso, 669
18. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 657
19. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 675
20. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 656

Jenson Button was the lightest among the top 5.  Watch out Felipe Massa and his KERS, the KERS is able to produce 80bhp more on during the start, very likely Barrchello will be overtaken in the first corner.

Ferrari shows that their cars have improved but on the other hand, the strategy still did not quite work out.  Can you imagine they make the same mistake twice. 

They thought Kimi’s time was able to bring him to the Q2, they were wrong.  While Jarno Trulli pushing him out of Q2, Kimi Raikonnen was sitting in the garage.  Boooo to Ferrari!!

Renault promise a lot, but they did not make a good progress, look at the Fernando Alonso’s car weight, he is the lightest among the 20 cars, but only managed 8th place, a disappointing one for him.

My prediction for this race, Button will be first, as out of 14 races in the past, 13 of the race winner was on pole (for this circuit), as Button having the best grid, I think he will be able to take his 4th win.

Second Felipe Massa, third Ruben Barrichello. :p

F1 2009 Prediction - China GP

Renault powered engine sweep the top 3 position in Shanghai circuit. Sebastian Vettel scoring his first ever pole position, with Fernando Alonso second and Mark Webber on the 3 spot.

Ruben Barichello will start at the third row as well, whereas Jenson Button will start on the forth alongside with Jarno Trulli sixth on the grid.

I believe that both Brawn and Toyota are in the similar strategy, they will have slightly longer first stint the other top 3 car will have short ones.

The result very much depend on the first pit stop, despite Ruben Barichello and Jenson Button start forth and fifth on the grid, my money will still be with Brawn. Renault powered machine will be a strong contender especially Fernando Alonso, he is famous for his swift start up, he might be leading the field for awhile, we will see.

2009 Malaysia F1 GP - Prediction

Malaysia, my home.  The race will be held on this Sunday 5th of April 2009.  For me, it will be different from last year, I will be stuck in front of the television monitoring all corners on Sepang F1 Circuit.  Sadly, I will not joining the crowd on the track this year, its ok at least I will not suffering from sun-burned (sour-grape)

Malaysia GP expecting to be a hot and humid race, apart from the speed, engine reliability is the key to success in the race. 

 

Everyone is expecting Brawn GP to dominate again, I will think so too, but definitely will be a closer, tougher fight compare to Melbourne last weekend.

Renault will be competitive, watch out for Alonso.

 

I don’t think the big boys (McLaren Mercedes and Ferrari) can do wonders in one week time, but Ferrari should perform better than McLaren team.  We will see.

Williams-Toyota and Toyota themselves should continue the great performance last weekend, too bad that crashed at the closing stage of last race.

Red Bull Sebastian Vettel should perform will, but due to the 10-place grid penalty as the incident with Robert Kubica,  it will be a tough race for him.

Last but not least, BMW Sauber.  This will be home of major sponsor Petronas, and do not forget, last year they collected 11 points in total in this same circuit

 

The teams running KERS - Ferrari, McLaren, BMW Sauber and Renault - may enjoy more of an advantage here thanks to those long straights, but now that air extraction chimneys have been banned, the heat may prove too challenging for those teams that have marginalised their cooling systems in the interest of aerodynamic efficiency.

 

Brawn will still be running without KERS, if the car is fast enough to win the race, they can take their time.

Little bit on KERS…