The 2009 Season

Diffusers, lies and damn lies.

So the FIA have ruled - the diffusers of the Brawn, Williams and Toyota F1 cars are legal. As if the hearing was going to give any other result! Anything other than a legal verdit would have made a mockery of the FIA, F1 and the Grand Prix stewards and may have done the sport more harm than good

at least now we can go racing...or can we? We have an extaordinary meeting f the World Motor Sport Council (WMSC) to punish McLaren for the Australian Grand Prix 'ligate' fisco - a move that could see the team fined, banned from a few races, disqualified from 2009 or expelled from F1

to be honest i think the whole WMSC meeting is a waste of time and something F1 doesnt really need right now, McLaren and Hamilton lost their points from Australia, Dave Ryan was sacked as Team Manager,the team's name has been dragged through the mud once again and there's talk of Mercedes and some of the sponsors walking out (Apparently Hilton Hotel Group have pledged their support of the team....i know which hotel i'm checking into next!)

Today was also a very sad day for myself, McLaren fans around the world and F1 fans - Ron Dennis officially stepped down from his position of CEO of McLaren and bringing to an end a 40 year career that has seen him win races and titles with names such as: Lauda, Prost, Senna, Hakkinen and of course Lewis Hamilton.

Ron Dennis sarted out as a mechanic and worked his way to become a shareholder in McLaren. Th McLaren story started in 1980 when his Project 4 team merged with the struggling McLaren to form McLaren International. Dennis built the team up to become the dominant force in the 80's and early 90's winning drivers and constructors titles in 1988, 1989, 1990 and 1991.

The team suffered for several seaons after Honda pulled out in 1992 however with backing from Mercedes, sponsorship from tobacco giants West, the technical genius of Adrian Newey and 2 great drivers in Mika Hakkinen and David Coulthard the team walked away with the 1998 Drivers and Constructors Championships and the 1999 drivers title also followed.

The team then had a barren period and missed out on further titles in: 2000, 2003, 2005 (where they won 10 races) and 2007 before winning the drivers title with Lewis Hamilton in dramatic fashion in 2008

At the helm through all of this was Ron Dennis, a man who took an ailing team and turned it into the dominant force in F1 and the only team to consistantly challenge Ferrari

No matter what you think of Ron Dennis as a person, his achievements in F1 can not go unnoticed...so as a McLaren fan for 13 years i'd like to say to Ron Dennis...thank you! Thank you for the rollercoaster of the last 13 years and thank you for all the history

If there is anyone else in the world more deserving of a knighthood i'd like to meet them!

wasnt going to make a blog today - didnt think there was going to be much going on. However the FIA today put out a press release inviting Vodafone McLaren Mercedes to an extraordinary meeting of the World Motorsport Council in Paris on Wednesday 29th April in relation to the Australian GP affair.

The worrying thing is the FIA have held the team in breach of article 151c of the international sporting code - the same article the team were charged under in 2007 when they were disqualified.

I cant imagine the FIA giving them a slap on the wrist - at best we're looking at a 2 or 3 race suspension - at worst we're looking at exclusion from the 2009 championship. The FIA have already stated Hamilton is not guilty of anything...i doubt therefore he will be thrown out.

This would be the second major sanction against McLaren in 2 years - as a fan i am deepely concerned not only by the management but also the fture of the team...should Mercedes Benz and Vodafone choose to depart over these incidents the team may well go under.

There is also news that Hamilton may well be considering his fture with the team - if he falls into the hands of arch rivals Ferrari i'd be devistated!

Another greatF1 race! OKso we werent anywherenear the front, but the Malaysian GP had plentyof excitement an overtaking -despite it being red-flagged after 31 laps. The rainwas ulike anything i have ever seen in a race - even worse than Germany 2007 and te first time i've seen lighning at a Grand Prix!

McLaren managed to score 1 poit courtey of Hamilton's 7th place (only half points were awarded) - Kovalainen managed to spin out on lap 1... 2 races and he hasnt managed to complete a lap yet

and te team seem to be self destructing!

Slow car...and now the cheating word is being spoken again! It appears that McLaren 'mislead' the stewards in Australia - my opinion is they did lie...but why didnt they just admit they let Trulli past as they werent sure of the correct procedure should a car go off under safety car conditions??! It begs belief they would lie just to score 1 extra point...in the end they ended up with 0 points and the possibility of further sanctions from the FIA (as if they need an excuse to penalise McLaren)..

...totally crazy!

speaking of crazy, Ferrari's perormance in Malaysia was comical - not sending Massa out for asecond run in Qualifying 2 wasa huge error..his time wasnt quick enough, Frrari thought it wasand he ended up qualifying 16th - oops!

Not as bad s the race itself, Ferrari opte to gamble, putting Kimi on wet weather tyres(although it wasn raining...and didnt rin for several laps) result? He lapped 20seconds a lap slower than anyone else...when the rain did come his tyres were ruined...14th place..no points.

The hilarity from the scuderia didnt stop there..oh no, we were treated to a radio transmission of Felipe Massa getting very frustrated on the radio his engineer's response :"felipe baby, calm down"...priceless!

Wethen cut to a shot of Kimi eating an ice cream and helping himself to a can of coke during the 50 minutes the race was suspended - while we were watching those pictures the press officer Luca Colgiani was talking to TV about how they were considering whether to send Kimi back out...i think though Kimi had made the decision for them!

....

rallying

not even the return of 2 time World Drivers Champion Marcus Gronholm could stop Sebastien Loeb making it 4 from 4 at Rally Portugal. Loeb made an error on the opening dy, losing 20 seconds but drove brilliantly on Saturday - winning all 6 stages and moved into a 26 secnd lead.

Of course Loeb lost time on Sunday due to being 1st car on the loose gravel (he still won the opening 2 stages) but had enough in hand to win from Hirvonen with Sordo helping Citroen in the manufacturers - Ford seem to be making it easy for us - Jari Matti Latvala crashed out for the 3rd time in 4 rallies and surely it's only a matter of time before he loses his seat in the team.

Current Champinoship stanings:

F1: http://www.planetf1.com/

WRC: www.wrc.com

i thought i'd missed the best April fool joke ever! Lewis Hamilton and McLaren have been excluded from the 2009 Australian Grand Prix - 4 DAYS after the race!

I coldnt believe it - it appears that the stewards of the meeting got access to further information which suggests that Hamilton and (team manager) Dave Ryan had lied to the stewards. They allege that both Hamilton and Ryan had confirmed that there was no instruction to let Trulli past Hamilton (and into 3rd) while behind the safety car.

I've listened to the radio transmission published on the FIA website and there is an instruction to let Trulli past - this seems to be to be confusion rather than a deliberate act - however the Stewards ruled that Hamilton & McLaren had breached article 151c of the International Sporting Code and excluded both from the result - Trulli gets to keep his 3rd place.

OK...so the team might be guilty of not being completely honest and i'm the first to admit that if you breach regulations you get punished...however to change the race result 4 DAYS after the race is completely stupid...and for the Stewards to make an initial decision (to give Trulli a 25 sec penalty) without having all the information is compleely amateur and not how a sport should be governed...you wouldnt see a football team getting a additional goal 4 days after a match, you wouldnt see a Tennis player getting extra points after a match

so why Formul One?! n the last few seasons qwe have seen some great racing, we're in for a fantastic 2009 season..we're back on the BBC and reaching out to a new audience who want to know that when they go to bed on Sunday night, get up on Monday morning and go to sleep on Wednesday night that the guy who crossed the line first on Sunday is the winner...

..so to the powers that be in the sport: PLEASE sort this out...get rid of retrospective penalties, don't make decisions without all the information - otherwise this is going to kill the sport, people will switch off the TV, people wont spend money coming to races, sponsors will pull out and the sport we all know and love will be destroyed. Lets not have seasons like 2007 and 2008 full of penalties, controversy and confusion. Lets have a good, fair, close and exciting 2009 season and get more people involved in this wonderful sport

Having said that we still have the stupid situation of the result of Austraia and Malysia being provisional due to the ongoing diffuser row.The hearing in Paris is on April 14 (my birthday!)and will confirm if they are legal.

If deemed illegal the teams from those races may be disqualifed from the races affected the winner in Australia will therefore be Alonso.........who finished 5th! (confusing, huh?!)

What a crazy F1 race! Brawn GP won it (as everyone expected) Button winning from Barrichello. Hamilton finished the race in 4th (which became 3rd when Trulli received a 25 second penalty for overtaking under the safety car) - totally unexpected!

OK so some cars in front fell off but it was a great job from Hamilton who drove consistantly and didnt get involved in other trouble - Heikki was unfortunate to get mixed up in an accident..his race lasted 1 corner!

Both Ferrari's retired - Kimi hit the barriers and Massa retired with what looked lke gearbox problems - Kubica and Vettel took each other out 2 laps from home fighting over 2nd place and Buemi scored a point on his debut!

Oh - and the debate about the diffusrs still rages so everythin is provisional pending an extrodanary meeting of the WMSC on 14th April to determine once and for all if duffers are legal (although the protesting teams dont seem to be too confident as they have all announced they are looking at re-designing the rears of their cars to accomodate a new diffuser)

Nexr round is Malaysia this weekend which i'm looking forward to..

...although...

..i think Johnathan Legard as a commentator is pretty rubbish. He garbed his way through the race and hardly let Martin Brundle speak...but as F1 race without ad breaks for the first time in over 10 years is fantastic!

The top 10 (and current points standings)
01 J. Button (Brawn Mercedes) 10 points
02 R. Barrichello (Brawn Mercedes) 8 points
03 L. Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes) 6 points
04 T. Glock (Toyota) 5 points
05 F. Alonso (Renault) 4 points
06 N. Rosberg (Williams Toyota) 3 points
07 S. Buemi (Scuderia Toro Rosso) 2 points
08 S. Bourdais (Scuderia Toro Rosso)1 point
09 A. Sutil (Force India Mercedes)
10 N. Heidfeld (BMW)

Consructors
1. Brawn Mercedes 18 points
2. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 6 points
3. Panasonic Toyota 5 points
4. ING Renault 4 points
5. Williams Toyot 3 points
6. Scuderia Torro Rosso 3 points

V8 Supercars

Ford have won the manufacturers challenge with a clean sweep of 3 wins at Albert Park. 2 of whiccame from Team Vodafone's Caig Lowndes. Although Team Vodafone ae not seeing eye to eye with Ford at the moment Lowndes put in great drivers to help secure the title for Ford (booo!) although several\drivers are reqesting that drivers score points towards thechampionship as som teams were very cautious about damaging their cars ahead of the next championship race.

The final results:

Ford 1856 points
Holden 1574 points

Next racing action:

3rd - 5th April 2009 - Formula One - Round 2 - Malaysia
2nd - 5th April 2009 - World Rally Championshp - Round 4 - Portugal

So the 1st round of the F1 season is fully underway. We've had all 3 practice sessions and qualiying. The pace of the Brawn GP car was no fluke...the car was quick all weekend and qualified 1st and 2nd on the grid (Button on pole) AND they did this with the most fuel on board!

I know who i have my Ladbrokes bet on!!

So how did McLaren get on?

14th and 15th!! The car simply doesnt have enough downforce and reiability has now reared it's ugly head again! Hamilton will start 20th after needing a gearbox change - Hamilton didnt take part in 2nd qualifying after a drive train failure...so it was wasn't exactly getting up at 5AM for!!!

The McLaren 2009 doom-o-meter: totally f***ed!

Politics has reared its head again, with the diffuser protest - the teams who lodged the protest have officially confirmed they will appeal the stewards decision to let the Williams, Toyota and Bawn cars race - meaning results from tomorrow's race + Malaysia next week will be provisional

Toyota were also excluded from qualifying after it was deemed the upper rear wing element was flexing - a contravention of the technical regulations - both will start at the back.

V8 Supercars

While all eyes are on F1 - The Australian V8 Supercar championship is also staging its V8 Supercars Manufactuers Challenge - the title currently held by Holden Racing Team.

The defence of this title isnt going well - Garth Tander rtired from the 1st race on Friday with a bent steering arm while Will Davison grabbed 3rd in race one

Race 1 results:
Craig Lowndes, FG Falcon
Mark Winterbottom, FG Falcon
Will Davison, VE Commodore
Steven Johnson, FG Falcon
Jason Richards, VE Commodore
Fabian Coulthard, FG Falcon
Jamie Whincup, FG Falcon
Shane Van Gisbergen, FG Falcon
Todd Kelly, VE Commodore

Race 2 (Saturday)
Ford still lead the challenge after Mark Winterbottom won for the blue oval in race two - it seems the title will go to Ford with 2 wins from 3 so far - can Holden get a race win in round 3? Will Davison was again best placed HRT driver finihing 2nd. Tander started 22nd and managed to charge his way up to 13th so we hope for a strong race tomorrow.

Race 2 results:
Mark Winterbottom, FG Falcon
Will Davison, VE Commodore
Craig Lowndes, FG Falcon
Steven Johnson, FG Falcon
Jason Richards, VE Commodore
Jamie Whincup, FG Falcon
Shane Van Gisbergen, FG Falcon
Paul Dumbrell, VE Commodore
Fabian Coulthard, FG Falcon
Jason Bright, BF Falcon
Paul Dumbrell, VE Commodore

..the countdown is on! And alrady the 2009 F1 season has got itself involved in controvesy! The Red Bull, Renault, Ferrari and BMW teams have all protested the legality of the Williams, Toyoty and Brawn GP cars.

The latest news is that the FIA have approved the cars, however it seems the teams will appeal this decision - therefore the outcomes of the first 2 races may not be known until the week after Malaysia (In April)!!

This is totally crazy and is already detracting from what could be a great race and a great start to the season...

...which may not be great for McLaren! The team are expecting to come away from Australia with no points...and with the champinoship decided on points rather than race wins we could find ourselves a long way behind by the time we get to Europe!

So the McLaren 2009 Doom-o-Meter has been changed back to: WTF!

After the weekends action- the championship standings look like this:

World Touring Car Chamipnship - After Round 2 (Races3 and 4)- Curitiba

Drivers
1. Yvan Muller (SEAT) 30 points
=. Rickard Rydell (SEAT) 30 points
3.Augusto Farfus (BMW) 20 points
4. Gabrielle Tarquini (SEAT) 19 points
5. Jordi Gene (SEAT) 18 points
6. Andy Priaulx (BMW) 16 points
7. Jorg Muller (BMW) 8 ponits
8. Sergio Hernndez (BMW) 7 points
9. Felix Portiero (BMW) 3 points
=. Alessandro Zanardi (BMW) 3 oints
11. Tom Coronel (SEAT) 1 point
=. Nicola Larini (Chevrolet) 1 point

Manufacturers
1. SEAT Sport 67 points
2. BMW 49 points
3. Chevrolet 20 points
4. LADA 18 points

V8 Supercars after Round 1 - Clipsal 500

Drivers
1 Jamie Whincup 300 points
2. Will Davidson 267 points
3. Lee Holdsworth 249 points
4. Steven Johnson 222 points
5. Jason Richard 207 points
6. Craig lowndes 168 points
7. Shane Van Gisbergn 168 points
8. Rick Kelly 156 points
9. Russell Ingall 150 points
10. Jason Bright 141 points
11.Fabian Coulthard 141 points
12. Garth Tander 129 points
13. Cameron McConville 126 points
14. Paul Dumbrell 108 points
15. Dean Fiore 108 points
16. Todd Kelly 96 points
17. Greg Murphy 90 points
18. Mark Winterbottom 90 points
19. Alex Davison 90 points
20. Steven Richard 84 points
21. James Courtney 78 points
22. David Reynolds 66 points
23 Marcus Marshall 63 points
24. Dale Wood 63 points
25. Michael Caruso 57 points
26. Michael Pitrizi 48 points
27. Jason Bargwanna 45 points
28. Tony D'Alberto 36 oints

Team Standings

1. Team Vodafone 468 points
2. Toll Holden Racing Team 396 points
3. Brad Jones Racing 333 points
4 Garry Rodgers Motorsport 306 points
5. Jim Beam Racing 30 points
6. Stone Brothers Racing 258 points
7. Jack Daniels Racing 252 points
8. Wilson Security Racing 189 points
9. Ford Performance Racing 174 points
10. Walkinshaw performance 174 points
11. Supercheap Auto Raing 150 points
12. Fujitsu Racing 141 points
13. Sprint Gas Racing 135 points
14. Team Kiwi Racing 108 points
15. Team Intraracing 63 points
16. Kelly Racing 63 ponts
17. Rod Nash Racing 36 ponts

Next racing action:

27th - 29th March 2009 Formula 1 - Round 1 - Australia

27th - 29th March 2009 V8 Supercars - Round 2 - Australian Grand prix (Non championship race)

Not been onine for the last few days - been a bit busy. In the last two days we've had the conclusion of an epic Sebring 12 hours with Audi emerging victorious against their rivals Peugeot. The outcome of the race wasnt decided until the last 15 minutes - i cant wait for the dual to be revived at the 24hours of Le Mans!

World Touring Car Campionship -Round 2 (Races 3 and 4)

Round 2 of the World Touring Car Championship took place at the weekend in Curitiba (which is in Mexico and not Brazil as i worte last week!) Great weekend for me with SEAT winning both races, altough the BMW's were very close!

The weekend saw two SEAT drivers tied for the championship while SEAT extended their lead in the manufactuers title race over BMW.

V8 Supercars - Round 1- Clipsal 500

Reigning champion Jamie Whhincup won both races which made up the Clipsl 500 - the weekend though turned into a fantastic duel between Team Vodafone and Holden Racing Team. It wasnt all perfect for HRT as 2007 champion Garth Tander reired from race 1 with gearbox falure, however new signing Will Davidson finished 3rd and 2nd in the two races to be placed 2nd in the championship...the next round is the non championship race at the Australian Grand Prix.

(OK so i'm wriing this in the early hours of sunday!) But i'm watching an absolutely fascinating race, which is the 2009 Sebring 12 hours. The race is turning into a titanic battle between Peugeot and Audi and the race is all set up for fantastic duel at the end of the race is just over 2 hours time.

I'm a huge fan of sportscar racing (In amongst everything else, andi particularly enjoy endurance races (a race over 12 or 24 hours can still be exciting!)so i've been watching the excellent coverage on Motors TV for the last 10 hours or so, i'm not covering Sportscars in this blog but as i've spent allday watching this race it warrants a mention! I plan to watch the full 24 hours of Le Mans in June...i may well create a special Le Mans blog to follow mine (and Audi's - whom i support) progres through the race.

FIA World Turing Cars - Round 2 - Brazil
Qualifying:

Bit of a surprise for me (and i think everyone watching!) - It's a BMW 1-2 on the grid for tomorrows race 1. Agusto Farfus heads the grid ahead of Andy Priaulx. The SEAT's line up 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 9th and the rolling start should favour the SEAT's tommorrow. The high altitude of the track was expected to play in to SEAT's hands as their diesel engine suffers less at altitude than the petrol BMW...however the German time unleashed a surprise today meaning the race tomorrow between 2 BMW's and 4 SEATs shoud be interesting!

The top 10:
1. Agusto Farfus - BMW (1:37.682)
2. Andy Priaulx - BMW (1:37.727)
3. Gabriele Tarquini - SEAT (1:37.793)
4. Rickard Rydell - SEAT (1:37.874)
5. Yvan Muller - SEAT (1:37.924)
6. Tiago Montiero - SEAT (1:38.213)
7. Jorg Muller -BMW (1:38.287)
8. Felix Porteiro - BMW(1:38.525)
9. Jordi Gene - SEAT (1:38.749)
10. Sergio Hernanzed - BMW (1:38.952)