Bahrain GP - Race: Sakhir - 26.04.2009

Button dominates as Toyota fade

Toyota aced the front row with Jarno Trulli claiming their first pole position since the Japanese Grand Prix four years ago ahead of team-mate Timo Glock. As expected however, both TF109’s were lightly fuelled and it was Jenson Button who made best of the situation to take control of the Bahrain Grand Prix following the first round of pitstops.

It was a fairly routine race, the first of the season not to feature at least one safety car period, but the battle for the race victory was fairly straight forward for Button as Glock got the jump on Trulli and led the field in the early stages but then Toyota opted to run the harder prime tyres during the second stint and both Glock and Trulli quickly fell away from the leading Brawn Mercedes.

Toyota’s strategy not only cost them any chance of a race victory but also allowed Sebastian Vettel to get the jump on Trulli in the second and final stop and the Red Bull Renault racer would go on to finish in second position, withstanding the late race pressure from Trulli back on the softer (faster) option tyre.

The opening lap of the 57-lap race was key to Button’s success as he initially lost position to Lewis Hamilton who made best of his KERS-equipped McLaren Mercedes off the line, but a brave move from the Brawn driver later in the lap saw him regain the position and therefore allow him to tail the Toyota duo to the first round of stops.

Trulli finished in third position for Toyota after a strong race only compromised by strategy, while Lewis Hamilton kept the battle for second and third in his view until the closing stages when the McLaren Mercedes driver dropped away on the harder prime tyre.

Rubens Barrichello and Brawn Mercedes opted to switch to a three stop strategy on his way to fifth position and the extra stop did not seem to cost – or gain – the Brazilian veteran in anyway.

Kimi Raikkonen started from tenth position in his Ferrari and took the chequered flag in sixth making good use of his long first stint to vault a number of his rivals. Sixth position may not be a great result in the long history of Ferrari, but it was a good run from Raikkonen as he secured the team their first points of the so-far difficult season.

Timo Glock will be disappointed to finish seventh after leading the early laps of 57-lap event but it was the decision to switch to the harder prime tyre for the second stint that really cost him, combined with his very light fuel load heading into the race.

Fernando Alonso started from seventh position in the leading Renault and took the chequered flag in eighth position after a pretty lonely race. The double world champion lost out to Raikkonen who made up ground with his long first stint.

Williams Toyota leave Bahrain disappointed as Nico Rosberg started ninth and finished in the same position.
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Team-mate Kazuki Nakajima was forced to pit for a new front wing at the end of the first lap and his race was effectively over at that point as he dropped towards the rear of the field to battle with the struggling BMW Sauber team. He later retired the FW31, the only driver not to complete the distance.

Nelson Piquet had an error free and fairly strong race in the second Renault to finish in tenth position ahead of Mark Webber who was very aggressive in the opening laps following his qualifying disappointment on Saturday. However, as Webber suggested on Saturday, starting 18th was always going to make it all but impossible to challenge for points.

Heikki Kovalainen started 11th and finished 12th in his McLaren Mercedes after plummeting down the field early on having opted to start the race on the harder prime tyre, while Sebastien Bourdais finished in 13th after a strong race in the leading Toro Rosso Ferrari, chasing Kovalainen across the line.

Felipe Massa’s rotten season continued at Sakhir as he pitted early in the race for a new front wing following the slightest of contact with team-mate Raikkonen at the start. With reported problems with KERS on his F60, it was then just a case of finishing the race for the unhappy Massa.

Giancarlo Fisichella led home Force India Mercedes team-mate Adrian Sutil in 15th with Sebastien Buemi next up in the second Toro Rosso Ferrari. BMW Sauber’s season hit an all time low today with Kubica and Nick Heidfeld both pitting with minor accent damage at the start of the race and then circulating at the back of the field for the remainder of the race. The team effectively opted to end Kubica’s championship challenge last year to focus on this F1.09 package, and it is pretty clear the car is a turkey.

Button remains at the head of the drivers’ standings with 31 points ahead of Barrichello on 19 and Vettel on 18. Brawn Mercedes extend their lead in the constructors’ championship as they now have 50 points to the 27.5 of Red Bull Renault and the 26.5 of Toyota.

The teams now pack up and head back to their European bases with many working hard to add new aerodynamic packages to the cars ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix in two weeks time. McLaren Mercedes meanwhile head to Paris to face charges of bringing the sport into disrepute. As ever, it never stops in Formula One...

Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International

Chinese GP - Race: Shanghai - 19.04.2009

Victorious Vettel leads home Red Bull one-two!

The predicted rain arrived ahead of the start of the Chinese Grand Prix resulting in the race starting behind the safety car, very reminiscent to the Japanese Grand Prix of 2007. After claiming pole position yesterday in style, Sebastian Vettel took advantage of his position at the head of the field and went on to dominate the 56-lap race.

It was however a far from easy victory for Vettel, who led home team-mate Mark Webber to record Red Bull Renault’s first win, as the persistent rain ensured that the result was far from certain until the very second he took the chequered flag almost two hours after the race first began.

After eight laps behind the safety car the race got underway properly on lap nine with Fernando Alonso having already relinquished his second position with a very early pit stop. The Red Bull duo of Vettel and Webber were quickly able to establish a gap over Jenson Button who passed his Brawn Mercedes team-mate Rubens Barrichello early in the race.

With an 11 second advantage at the head of the field Vettel pitted on lap 15 and Webber shortly repeated the procedure leaving Button at the head of the field. Further back down the order Jarno Trulli was really struggling in the conditions and heading to the final turn on lap 18 was hit hard from behind by Robert Kubica’s BMW Sauber. Trulli’s Toyota was extensively damaged and he was out of the race and the safety car was deployed.

Jenson Button’s 14 second lead at the head of the pack was immediately negated to nothing as he headed to the pits for this first stop. From that point onwards, Vettel and Webber dominated at the front as they traded fastest laps and eased away to a comfortable victory from Button.

Webber finished 11 seconds behind Vettel and kept the pressure on his young team-mate and while he will be happy with the result for the team, having your team-mate record the team’s first victory will be tough to take.

Jenson Button took the chequered flag in third position, 34 seconds behind Vettel, while Rubens Barrichello had a low-key race in the second Brawn Mercedes and was never really on the pace of the front runners. The decision not to change his wet tyres in the second and final pit stop put him under pressure from those close behind, but the Brazilian veteran held on to retain the position.

Button remains at the head of the drivers’ championship with 21 points with Barrichello on 15 and Vettel vaulting up to third with his ten point haul from today. Brawn Mercedes lead Red Bull Renault in the constructors’ championship by 16.5 points.

Behind the Red Bull/Brawn drivers the battle for fifth was completely open. In the end it was Heikki Kovalainen who drove an error free race to take the position in his McLaren Mercedes ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton who suffered several spins on his way to sixth.


Timo Glock started the race from the pit lane and despite a brush with Nick Heidfeld early in the race and then a later pitstop for a new front wing, the Toyota driver managed to battle on to finish in seventh position.

Sebastien Buemi is proving he really does deserve his place in the series as he capitalised on his fine qualifying form to finish eighth in the leading Toro Rosso Ferrari.

It was another dismal day for the Renault team following the qualifying boost of yesterday. Light on fuel, Alonso pitted whilst still under safety car conditions early in the race and dropped down the order. The double world champion would battle back to fifth position before a high-speed spin exiting turn 13 sent him back down the order once again. Alonso finished ninth and out of the points.

Kimi Raikkonen and Ferrari leave the third round of the championship without any points again. The Finn ran as high as fifth before pitting on lap 28 but the team opted to move to a one stop strategy. From here Raikkonen never had the pace to recover and he struggled around to finish tenth. Felipe Massa meanwhile ran in the points before his F60 coasted to a halt on the back straight with an electrical problem. Strategy and reliability issues again for the Italian team.

Sebastien Bourdais finished in 11th position in the second Toro Rosso Ferrari after an eventful day. The Frenchman got the better of Nick Heidfeld right at the end of the race to claim the position from the struggling BMW Sauber driver.

Following his high-speed incident with Trulli early in the race and then another pit stop for a new front wing, Robert Kubica rounded off BMW Sauber’s dismal Chinese performance with a 13th place finish.

While Giancarlo Fisichella was classified 14th and Adrian Sutil 17th, it was a disappointing day for Force India Mercedes. Sutil ran in sixth position but with the rain coming down hard in the closing stages, lost control of his VJM02 and nosed the car heavily into the barriers at turn five. It was a real shame for Sutil and the hard-working Force India team.

Williams Toyota had a poor Grand Prix with Nico Rosberg slithering to 15th position following a gamble to switch to intermediate tyres failed, while Kazuki Nakajima spent much of his race running off track before parking the FW31 with a gearbox problem.

Nelson Piquet had a predictably troubled race in the second Renault as he suffered numerous spins resulting in two stops for replacement wings. Piquet was classified two laps down in 16th ahead of the unfortunate Sutil.

The Formula One circus now packs up and head off to Sakhir for next Sunday’s Bahrain Grand Prix.

Earl ALEXANDER
© CAPSIS International

A1 GP Algarve, Portugal - 12/04/09

Jani wins dramatic Portuguese Feature Raceani wins dramatic Portuguese Feature Race

Switzerland's Neel Jani emerged victorious from an action-packed Feature Race at A1GP Algarve, Portugal this afternoon. The result means Jani now has ten A1GP victories to his name – more than any other driver in the history of the sport.

Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque drove a fantastic race to come through to second, while Fairuz Fauzy was third for Malaysia. Ireland's Adam Carroll finished second on the road, but a subsequent penalty dropped him to fifth.

The drama started before the race had even begun as pole-man Robert Doornbos stopped his A1 Team Netherlands car out on track while the field were coming to line up on the grid. The wiring loom chafing ended the Dutchman's hopes of leaving the team on a high on his last A1GP race of the season.

Effectively on pole now, Carroll also had drama as his crew were last off the grid after trouble getting his car started. Brazil was absent from fifth on the grid after being unable to repair the car after crashing out of the Sprint race earlier in the day.

As the race finally got underway, Ireland led the pack into turn one while USA's Marco Andretti made a fantastic start to move ahead of Malaysia and Portugal into fourth. Albuquerque responded immediately with a great move to re-take fourth from the American driver.

As the cars came around to complete the first racing lap the order was Ireland from Switzerland, South Africa, Portugal, USA, New Zealand, Italy, Malaysia, Mexico and Lebanon.

Lebanon and Mexico made contact resulting in a puncture for Lebanon's Daniel Morad, whose race then ended in the gravel at Turn Six. Australia's John Martin had a problem at the first turn which dropped him down the order.

By lap three, Ireland had a 1.8-second advantage over Switzerland with the pair beginning to pull away from the rest of the field.

A great battle was continuing further down the field for the final points-paying positions between Malaysia, Monaco, Mexico, Great Britain and India, with Monaco's Clivio Piccione pushing hard to pass the Malaysian car.

On lap seven there was bad news for the Irish squad as Adam Carroll was given a drive-through penalty for a jump start. With the order now Ireland from Switzerland, South Africa, Portugal, USA, New Zealand, Italy, Monaco, Malaysia and Mexico, the window opened for the first round of pit stops.

Portugal, Italy and South Africa were among the first to pit while Ireland came through for its penalty. A lap later the Celtic Tiger was back in for its mandatory pit stop but with time lost had dropped right down the field. Switzerland made a clean stop to remain out in front while New Zealand had a fantastic stop boosting Earl Bamber up to an effective third ahead of both Portugal and the USA.

Monaco rejoined ahead of USA but came out on cold tyres, Clivio Piccione made an error and lets Marco Andretti through into what was sixth after everyone pitted.

Black Beauty was now flying in the hands of Bamber who was right on the back of South Africa. Zaugg was under immense pressure but defended well coming down the main straight. However, going into turn three Bamber appeared to lock up and crashed into the rear of South Africa. Portugal narrowly avoided the collision up ahead thanks to Albuquerque's lightening reactions as the incident brought the Safety Car out on lap 15.

As Switzerland's 15-second lead disappeared, the field closed up with the order behind Jani now Portugal, Italy, USA, Mexico, Monaco, Malaysia, India, Germany and Ireland. The incident brought Ireland right back into contention.

The race re-started on lap 19 and Filipe Albuquerque made a brilliant manoeuvre around the outside of Jani at Turn One to take the lead in front of the roaring crowds. USA made a move on Italy and as Tonio Liuzzi tried to come back on the inside at Turn Nine, the pair touched, with the Italian car spinning into the innocent car of Monaco leaving all three out of the race.

The Safety Car was straight back out with the order now Portugal leading from Switzerland, Mexico, Malaysia, India, Australia, Ireland, Germany, France and Indonesia.

On lap 23 the race was back underway with Portugal under immense pressure from Switzerland. The second pit stop window opened on lap 27 with Portugal, Malaysia, India and Ireland coming straight in. Ireland jumped both India and Malaysia after a stunning stop from the Irish team getting Adam Carroll out just behind Portugal.

A lap later Switzerland pitted and a quick stop from the Swiss team got their man out comfortably in the lead. Mexico's Salvador Duran was running an impressive third after great pit stop strategy from the Mexican squad.

With 12 laps to go Albuquerque's mirrors were full of the emerald green car as Jani continued to pull away in the lead. On lap 32 the timing screens flashed with more bad news as Ireland was awarded another drive-through penalty for overtaking behind the Safety Car.

The stewards then made the decision to investigate the incident after the race, allowing Ireland to continue racing. Germany also had bad news as Andre Lotterer was given a drive-through penalty also for overtaking under Safety Car conditions.

As Mexico came in for its final stop of the day, Ireland finally made a move on Portugal to take second. In the closing stages of the race, India's Narain Karthikeyan spun into retirement while Australia retired in the pits.


Ireland now had the gap to Switzerland down to 0.6-seconds as Carroll chased the win in the dying stages of the race. Switzerland held on to victory, making Jani the driver who has won the most races in A1GP history with ten victories to his name.

Portugal's Filipe Albuquerque drove a fantastic race to come through from seventh on the grid to take the final podium position in front of his home fans.The 23-year-old bowed down and thanked the crowd for their support this weekend to an almost deafening cheer.

The final race order at the flag was Switzerland from Ireland, Portugal, Malaysia, Mexico, France, Great Britain, China, Germany and Indonesia. However, following a stewards' enquiry, Ireland's penalty was upheld. The team had a 25-second time penalty applied for overtaking Australia under the Safety Car just before a re-start which dropped it down to fifth in the order.

Switzerland therefore regained its championship lead with 88 points from Ireland (86) and Portugal (82), however if dropped scores were taken into account at this stage, Ireland would still remain at the top of the championship by two points.

Race winner Neel Jani said: "There was everything in it (the race). Coming from third, having second, then to the pit stop and getting the lead, losing the lead and having Adam really put me under pressure at the end. We were a bit lucky today and we were very unlucky yesterday so it's a balance."

"On the restart he (Albuquerque) caught me down the straight and I just thought I can't hold it, so don't fight him too much and just try to get him on the second pit stop, which worked well."

"I saw cars going off and I thought 'oh that's another position for Adam coming from the back.' I think it was a great race for us. We can be really happy with what we have achieved today. I had to fight quite hard because Adam (Carroll) was really quick and Portugal too, so I think it will be between the three of us in the end," mentioned Jani.

"It was very hard at the beginning," said local hero Filipe Albuquerque. "We then had a really poor pit stop – another car was coming and didn't let me out. I still pushed with the new tyres, but I was really disappointed with the third stint – I think the pressures were too high on the tyres."

"I am very proud and coming from P7 I was very lucky and had to fight a lot," he added. "I was in the middle of all the battles. I lost my left mirror so I couldn't see the crash between New Zealand and South Africa. I am pleased to get a podium. It's good for the standings in the championship. Getting two podiums on home soil is just perfect."

Malaysia's Fairuz Fauzy commented: "Taking our third podium finish of the season today is a good result for us. It has moved us into sixth place of the overall standings, but we're only three points behind France, so we can fight for this as well. We had a good car and this, combined with our teamwork and a strong race strategy – and a little bit of good fortune - ensured we took a top three spot."

Portugal - Feature Race results:

Pos A1 Team Driver Laps Time/Gap
1. SWITZERLAND Neel JANI 42 10:45.011
2. PORTUGAL Filipe ALBUQUERQUE 42 6.786
3. MALAYSIA Fairuz FAUZY 42 9.705
4. MEXICO Salvador DURAN 42 16.332
5. IRELAND Adam CARROLL 42 25.411
6. FRANCE Nicolas PROST 42 27.322
7. GREAT BRITAIN Daniel CLARKE 42 29.88
8. CHINA Ho Pin TUNG 42 34.586
9. GERMANY Andre LOTTERER 42 43.97
10. INDONESIA Zahir ALI 42 +1:13.993
11. INDIA Narain KARTHIKEYAN 39 3 Laps
12. AUSTRALIA John MARTIN 38 4 Laps
13. ITALY Tonio LIUZZI 18 24 Laps
14. USA Marco ANDRETTI 18 24 Laps
15. MONACO Clivio PICCIONE 18 24 Laps
16. SOUTH AFRICA Adrian ZAUGG 15 27 Laps
17. NEW ZEALAND Earl BAMBER 15 27 Laps
18. LEBANON Daniel MORAD 1 41 Laps
- BRAZIL Felipe GUIMARAES 0
- NETHERLANDS Robert DOORNBOS 0

Fastest lap: A1 Team Ireland set the fastest lap (1m31.453s) of the Feature Race with a speed of 184.5kph on lap 35.

2008/09 A1GP World Cup of Motorsport points standings:

1. Switzerland 88
2. Ireland 86
3. Portugal 82
4. Netherlands 66
5. France 46
6. Malaysia 43
7. New Zealand 36
8. Australia 30
9. Monaco 27
10. Great Britain 24
11. USA 19
12. South Africa 19
13. Brazil 18
14. Italy 15
15. India 11
16. Mexico 8
17. Lebanon 8
18. China 7
19. Korea 4
20. Indonesia 3
21. Germany 2

D.B. © CAPSIS International

Malaysian GP - Race: Sepang - 06.04.2009

Jenson Button wins in soggy Sepang

Jenson Button won a shortened 31 lap Malaysian Grand Prix from Nick Heidfeld and Timo Glock on a day when heavy rain forced the race to be halted well ahead of the scheduled 56 laps.

Monsoon rains are common-place late in the afternoon and it was therefore of little surprise that the weather created problems and much confusion for the Formula One circus.

Until the very heavy rain began to fall, the second round of the championship proved to be a thriller with Nico Rosberg storming into the lead from fourth position on the grid at the start and controlling the race in his Williams Toyota from Jarno Trulli�s Toyota until the first round of pitstops.

Button meanwhile bided his time during the first stint well aware he had more fuel on board than his rivals and as the others pitted, picked up the pace to ensure he exited the puts following his first stop in the lead.

Light rain began to fall on lap 22 with Kimi Raikkonen already having gambled and switched to full wet tyres some three laps earlier. The gamble did not pay off for Raikkonen as he burned through the tyres on the dry circuit, but all of the front runners soon began to pit as light rain started to fall.

Timo Glock had not made the best start to the race and had dropped towards the bottom of the top ten but he and the Toyota team opted to switch to intermediate tyres and not the full wets.
This decision paid off as he carved his way through the field to run third when the really heavy rain fell.

While Glock made progress through the field the other drivers opted to change from full wet tyres to intermediate tyres but the switch was only suitable for a few laps as by lap 28 the heavy rain forced them all back onto the full wet tyres, shuffling the race order behind Button yet again.

Conditions then deteriorated significantly forcing first the safety car out and then the red flags bringing a halt to proceedings for over 50 minutes before the result was declared.

As the FIA fumbled around before making a decision to declare the race, it became clear that Nick Heidfeld had worked his way up to second position in his BMW Sauber having made just the one pitstop compared to the three or four made by the rest of the field. A gamble from the team certainly paid dividends after a difficult weekend to date.

Jarno Trulli finished fourth in the second Toyota losing time in the wet conditions, while Rubens Barrichello was fifth when the race came to its premature conclusion.

Mark Webber and Lewis Hamilton had a fantastic battle ahead of the red flag with Webber much faster in the twisty mid-field and Hamilton leaning on KERS heavily to retake the position on the long Sepang straights on at least three occasions. Webber finished in sixth position ahead of the defending champion.

After his fast start Nico Rosberg lost ground in the pit stop shuffle and finished eighth for Williams while Ferrari leave the second round of the championship still without any points with Massa ninth and Raikkonen parking his F60 when the red flags came out with an unidentified KERS issue.

Sebastien Bourdais like Raikkonen was early to switch to wet tyres and he finished tenth in his Toro Rosso ahead of Fernando Alonso who had a spin in the wet and dropped out of the points. Kazuki Nakajima finished 12th in the second Williams ahead of Nelson Piquet in the second R29.

Kimi Raikkonen was classified 14th ahead of Sebastian Vettel who spun out of the points in his Red Bull Renault. Sebastien Buemi was 16th in the second Toro Rosso ahead of the Force India Mercedes duo of Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella.

Robert Kubica retired his BMW Sauber almost as soon as the race began with an engine problem while Heikki Kovalainen�s rotten start to the season continued as he lost control of his McLaren Mercedes and spun out of the race on the first lap.

And so after a thrilling 30 laps of action, the Malaysian Grand Prix ended in confusion with even the drivers unsure of where they had finished.

Formula One lacked any real sense of communication leaving fans world-wide unsure of if the race would start again or not and even after 50 minutes of waiting, the results were uncertain until the top three took to the podium.

Heading to Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix, Button�s perfect start to the season remains intact as he leads the championship with 15 points, courtesy of half points awarded from this race, from Barrichello on 10, Trulli on 8.5, Glock on 8 and Alonso on 4.

Earl ALEXANDER
� CAPSIS International

Hamilton stripped of Australian points - 02/04/09

Trulli reinstated following further investigation

As the chequered flag flew Sunday evening in Melbourne, Jarno Trulli celebrated a fine third position after starting the 58-lap Australian Grand Prix from the pit lane.

The Italian veteran was later handed a 25 second penalty for allegedly overtaking Lewis Hamilton whilst behind the safety car, dropping the Toyota racer to 12th in the results.

Today stewards looked at ‘new evidence’ and concluded that Hamilton had deliberately misled the FIA delegates in Australia. Trulli is therefore reinstated to third position while defending champion Hamilton has been excluded from the results.

A statement issued by the stewards on Thursday evening confirmed that Hamilton and McLaren Mercedes "acted in a manner prejudicial to the conduct of the event by providing evidence deliberately misleading to the stewards."

The stewards said the conduct was in breach of the International Sporting Code.

The final finishing positions for the opening round of the season are; Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello, Jarno Trulli, Timo Glock, Fernando Alonso, Nico Rosberg, Sebastien Buemi and Sebastien Bourdais.


FIA statement in full

At the first hearing following the Australian Grand Prix the Stewards did not have the benefit of the radio exchanges between driver No 1 Lewis Hamilton and his Team Vodafone McLaren Mercedes nor did they have access to the comments to the Media given by Lewis Hamilton immediately after the end of the race.

From the video recordings available to the Stewards during the hearing it appeared that Jarno Trulli’s car left the track and car No 1 moved into third place. It then appeared that Trulli overtook Hamilton to regain third place, which at the time was prohibited as it was during the Safety Car period.

During the hearing, held approximately one hour after the end of the race, the Stewards and the Race Director questioned Lewis Hamilton and his Team Manager David Ryan specifically about whether there had been an instruction given to Hamilton to allow Trulli to overtake. Both the driver and the Team Manager stated that no such instruction had been given. The Race Director specifically asked Hamilton whether he had consciously allowed Trulli to overtake. Hamilton insisted that he had not done so.

The new elements presented to the Stewards several days after the 2009 Australian Grand Prix which led to the reconvened Stewards Meeting clearly show that:

a. Immediately after the race and before Lewis Hamilton attended the Stewards Meeting he gave an interview to the Media where he clearly stated that the Team had told him to let Trulli pass.

b. Furthermore, the radio exchanges between the driver and the Team contain two explicit orders from the Team to let the Toyota pass.

The Stewards, having learned about the radio exchanges and the Media interview, felt strongly that they had been misled by the driver and his Team Manager which led to Jarno Trulli being unfairly penalised and Lewis Hamilton gaining third place.

Earl ALEXANDER / GMM
© CAPSIS International