Five teams try to copying Brawn GP diffuser design

At least five teams have already turned their attention to copying the Brawn-esque diffuser design, according to gossip as the Albert Park paddock packed up ahead of this week's dash to Malaysia.

The appeal against the stewards' decision to allow the controversial diffusers to race in Australia will only be heard in Paris next month, but it is rumoured that BMW, Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari and Renault are resigned to going down the path of readying for a negative outcome.

"For us it is not really possible to copy it," BMW's Nick Heidfeld told the German news agency SID, "because not everything on our car can be changed at short notice."

Red Bull's Christian Horner added : "The ramifications could be the whole rear half of the car which obviously has a huge amount of cost implications in a not fantastic economic time."

Whispers indicate McLaren is quite advanced with a 'double decker' diffuser design, and the Spanish newspaper Marca said Renault - despite boss Flavio Briatore's anger - is also working on the issue.

The sports newspaper said the same is true for Ferrari, while Fernando Alonso could be racing a new diffuser by the time of next month's Chinese grand prix.

"What is happening with the diffusers is stupid, forcing teams to spend money in a time of crisis," Briatore fumed.

"It is also about safety: we have already put similar pieces in our wind tunnel and it gives 14 per cent more downforce. That is not in the spirit of the regulations. And once they are developed we could be talking 30 or 40 per cent additional," Briatore added.

Red Bull boss Christian Horner said the team's design department began investigating the 'double diffuser' weeks ago during winter testing.

"There is lap time to be gained," he told the BBC.

"The diffuser issues opens up a development path that was not previously open. That is potentially big performance gain because the floor is the most powerful aerodynamic tool on the car," Horner added.

Montreal Mayor respond Ecclestone statement

Talks with Bernie Ecclestone about reviving the Canadian Grand Prix have taken place, Montreal Mayor Gerald Tremblay said on Sunday.

He was responding to reports that the race could return to the calendar this year, as a substitute for the inaugural Abu Dhabi round, whose organisers have reportedly fallen behind schedule amid the global financial crisis.

"We have been talking with Bernie Ecclestone about it coming back in 2011 and 2010," Tremblay confirmed to the Montreal Gazette.

However, he stated that he would be reluctant simply to offer Montreal as a one-off substitute for Abu Dhabi.

"We don't want to have it just in 2009. We want a long term agreement that respects our ability to pay," said Tremblay.

He insists, however, that Montreal organisers would be able to arrange an event this year, with the Melbourne rumours hinting at an October date.

"We have a lot of good people who have organised the races for many years," he said.

Promoters of the traditional Canadian round at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve fell out with F1 Chief Executive Ecclestone last year over a dispute about race fees.

An earlier dispute also saw the other North American round, the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis, stage its last race in 2007.

F1's first 'twilight' successed

F1's first 'twilight' race was a success for Melbourne, Victorian state premier John Brumby said on Monday.

Despite some drivers complaining of poorer visibility, he said the television images beamed around the world as the sun set low in the sky "couldn't be better."

Sunday's official crowd figure at Albert Park was 105,000, three thousand less than for the 2008 afternoon race.

But major events minister Tim Holding said : "We're in very difficult economic times, so it's not unreasonable that people are cautious as to how they spend their money."

Premier Brumby backed organisers' agreement with Bernie Ecclestone to stage the race later in the day, to better serve the European TV audience.

"Melbourne is an absolute picture, Albert Park is a picture, and the vision, the images that are going overseas now at a better viewing time just couldn't be better," he said.

Drivers and Constructors Standings (Click to enlarge)

2009 FIA Formula 1 Drivers Championship Standings




2009 FIA Formula 1 Constructors Championship Standings

Australian GP - Race Press Conference - Button, Barrichello and Trulli

The following is a transcript of the official FIA press conference taken just after the chequered flag today in Melbourne. Jenson Button dominated the Australian event to record a historic win for the new Brawn Mercedes team while Rubens Barrichello recovered to finish second in his BGP 001. Jarno Trulli took the chequered flag in third position and talks of his day ahead of if exclusion from a points-paying position.

Q: Jenson, mayhem in front of you perhaps and certainly the mayhem behind you showed how much things could have gone wrong for you today. But from where we sat it looked like a beautiful day at the races.
Jenson BUTTON: I think it always looks easier than it is. The first few laps of the race were great for me and I could settle into a pace, but then when the safety car came out I struggled massively to get heat into the tyres. The car was hitting the ground and just before the safety car pulled in I flat-spotted the tyre pretty severely. I was struggling quite a bit with vibration and with the poor light as well. Being in the front it should be easy, but it was not easy at all. I tell you that. But an amazing day. Some people might say it is a pity it finished under the safety car, but I don’t care. I won the race today and that is all I care about. I have got to say a massive thank you to everyone for this.
It has been a traumatic few months for all of us, as I have said already, but I can’t put it out there how tough it has been, so I have got to say thank you to the whole team. But also to my family for being so strong as it has been difficult.

Q: Rubens, backing up the team performance with a brilliant second place proving the car is not only quick but also incredibly strong.
Rubens BARRICHELLO: It is strong, very strong. I was hit from behind and I hit someone in front. It was a tough race and as Jenson just said, it wasn’t an easy race, but for me I never thought I could finish on the podium after the start. I hit anti-stall, so the car went into neutral. I recovered quite quickly but then I lost a lot of pace compared to people and I was hit from behind from a McLaren and that put me sideways and I hit someone really hard. I thought the car was done from that crash but I survived quite well, but on my first stint my nose was falling apart and I lost the braking stability when I hit Kimi as well. He closed the door and I couldn’t avoid him. I had a lot of mixed emotions during the race, but it was fantastic. I started second but could only hope for one better but after the start I am delighted to be here with the second place.

Q: Jarno, in some respects starting from the pit lane was the best place to start, given what happened at the first corner.
Jarno TRULLI: Well, after yesterday’s disappointment this was a great day, especially for my team. I started from the pit and I was lucky enough to get away from the first corner accident. From that time on I was just pushing, pushing, pushing really hard because the car was good. This is a great result and especially I would like to thank my Panasonic Toyota team because they have made a lot of effort and this result is entirely down to them as they have done a god job over the winter time to give me a fantastic car, so after yesterday we bounced back today to show that we are doing things the right way.

Q: Jenson, you said the light was getting bad and the temperature was dropping and after your second pit stop you are emerging on the softer of the two Bridgestone tyres and the pressure is on with Robert Kubica on the hard tyre.
JB: You know, I really made a mistake in my pit stop and it was frustrating. I was in second gear when I came into the box and the neutral didn’t work. It only works in first gear but I was just confused with Massa in front and that lost us a hell of a lot of time, so they just about got the nozzle on after they had done the tyres. That cost me five or six seconds which was a mistake but the good thing was we came out on top anyway with that. There is something to come from me and something to come from the team as well. I made it difficult for us today but we got there.

Q: What were the conditions like right at the end with the shade and the drop in temperatures?
JB: It was really difficult. It is strange for such an open circuit, you could not see the exit of the corners at all. I used a visor that was slightly tinted and that was the correct thing to do. But with the glare from the sun and the change in light from the trees it was so difficult. It was so easy to put a wheel wrong and the problem was the bad light was always on the most difficult corners, so it made it tough and on the prime tyre also we were struggling for heat. I just couldn’t get any heat in the tyres in the second stint.

Q: Rubens, you said that you started second. Explain what happened at the start.
RB: Well, revs are on and my car moved and stopped and that’s when I hit anti-stall. Anti-stall is a protection from the engine that you have. You jump into neutral if you don’t have the right revs. I went on the inside but the McLaren, I don’t know who, I hit it really fast on my back and then I hit the other car which was a Red Bull or Toro Rosso. It was a fairly big hit and I thought my race was over, but one thing we can say is that with the crash if people think that our car is only good because of the diffuser, well, that big hit from behind broke the diffuser completely. The car was very strong after that. It didn’t have a fantastic pace as the temperature dropped but it had a pace, so still a good car after all.

Q: Jarno, a brilliant race from the pit lane but your race really came alive in those closing stages when on lap 56 Robert Kubica attacked Sebastian Vettel with Vettel on the soft tyre and Robert on the harder tyre and I think you going through the debris after this.
JT: Well, there have been a lot of things going on during this race. Mainly I was trying to push as hard as possible in order to catch up. I made a lot of overtaking during the whole race, at the beginning of the session as well as in the middle and in the end. I didn’t know what was going on as my only target was to push as hard as possible to finish as high as possible and somehow I was lucky but once again I have to thank the team as we had a fantastic car, so I could do it.

Q: Jenson, at the 1954 French Grand Prix Juan Manuel Fangio led a one-two for Mercedes. That was the last time a team making its debut had a one-two finish. You did that today with a Mercedes engine behind you. Your emotions and your thoughts at the end of this momentous occasion?
JB: It is not just for me, but for the whole team. This is a fairy tale ending really to the first race of our career together and I hope that we can continue this way and I know we are going to fight to keep this car competitive and with the limited resources we have to keep it at the front. The whole team has done a good job and this has got to continue as this is where I think we deserve to be and we have worked very hard for this. So thank you very much to the team and bring on Malaysia.

Q: Jenson, someone is going to pinch you in a moment and you are going to wake up.
JB: I said on the radio to my engineer ‘can you please pinch me next time round.’ It was at the start of the race after five laps when I had a five second lead or something, but yes, a special moment.

Q: Can you believe being on pole in a brand new car and now winning as well?
JB: Yeah, I mean Rubens made it sort of easy for me on the first timed lap when I was able to pull out four or five seconds in the first couple of laps. That was nice and I just settled into a nice rhythm. I was keeping Vettel’s times in check, just knowing what he was doing and just trying to pace myself. It was all looking reasonably good and then we got the first safety car and I massively struggled to get heat into the tyres. That is something we have not had an issue with before, but I was really struggling with the car bottoming and when I braked to start again when the safety car came in I locked the front left up and had a massive flat spot. It made the next stint very difficult, especially with the poor light, as I couldn’t see any of the corner exits and we were able to plough on and still put reasonably good lap times in. On my last stop I overshot the box a little bit and they couldn’t get the hose on for about four or five seconds, so that lost us more time. It wasn’t my best race I must say but I still won, so I am chuffed to bits. I know there is more room for improvement from myself and from team which is the exciting thing. I think it is just being out of practice for so long and not doing that much testing over the winter.

Q: What about that final stint and especially with Robert Kubica on the harder tyres?
JB: I actually wasn’t worried. I knew when I came out in front of Vettel that I would be fine as I knew that we could look after the tyre. The thing with the last stint was not to push and try and see what was the best time I could do. I was purposely driving very slowly for what pace I think we could do to look after the tyres. I wasn’t turning in aggressively to any corners. I think I could have been in the mid 1.28‘s but we were taking an easy route to stop the graining because as soon as that graining starts you see what happens as Vettel lost a massive amount of time behind me and I was able to just plough on doing my mid 1.29’s when he was in the 1.30’s, so I wasn’t worried once I was out in front of Vettel and I knew we could bring it home from there.

Q: And your thoughts about Ross Brawn and everything he has done?
JB: You don’t find Ross speechless very often but the last 15 minutes I would be surprised if he said a word. When we saw him when we went up to the podium he had nothing to say. The big bear was just there speechless. It was good to see as it was a very emotional day for him as it is for us as well.

Q: And in one week’s time Malaysia?
JB: I’m all for it. I cannot wait. It is a circuit I really enjoy and hopefully we can iron out some of the problems we had here. It is going to be a good race I think. It is never as easy as you think it is going to be and today was reasonably tough and the pace of Vettel was pretty strong. And with the safety cars it does mix up everything. Fair play to Rubens and Jarno, they did a great job to finish second and third. Some of it I am sure was the safety car and it makes it tough. Even though I am on pole, in first position, it is still not an easy place to be.

Q: Rubens, well done to you too. Again, I’m sure you couldn’t have imagined this result.
RB: Well, after putting the car into second place yesterday I was hoping that we could finish first and second but right after the start, like a millisecond after the start, I never really thought we could have imagined to finish first and second. It was a tough afternoon but I had a lot of adventure there. There was a lot of overtaking. I think I kept some of the guys awake in Brazil. It was three o’ clock in the morning, so I think they had reasons to keep awake. I’m pleased. My afternoon was great in a difficult car, let’s put it that way, because some of the bits were broken. We could see a drop in performance in terms of aerodynamics, when I was hit from behind by the McLaren, and then I hit someone on the side because of that. I had to change the nose, I had a difficult pit stop as well. There was no one to blame. We had 1500 kilometres (testing) each, one day for the mechanics to get used to things. They didn’t have a lot of sleep before they came here, so it’s all a dream really, to say that we finished first and second for a new team. It was funny to see Ross that way, not even at Ferrari did I see him like that. It looked like it was his first win, so it was really amazing.

Q: What about that very late second stop? It really was right at the end.
RB: Yeah, I think the team was trying to capitalise on the problems that we went through and made it as long as possible. We knew that the softer of the two tyres could have some graining issues, so with the small problems that I had driving the car, I was very happy to keep the pace with the guys in front on three stops. And then I had a fantastic car when I put on the softer tyres, even though there were some bits missing it was a good car to drive. But I was looking after it and all of a sudden I heard on the radio ‘crash, crash, crash. Be careful.’ And then I saw the two cars going off the track and it gave me second position which was great.

Q: Jarno, I get the feeling that you’re just a little frustrated. Maybe there’s the thought of what could have been if you hadn’t started from the pit lane?
JT: Well, many things happened this weekend, plenty of emotion, some highs, some lows, so it’s difficult to say if you’re happy or not. At the moment, I’m not completely happy with myself because I could have done well, but on the other hand if you look at the result we have all done a great job after the big disappointment of yesterday, we proved that our car has nothing to do in terms of competitiveness regarding the little details which we have been disqualified for. On the other hand, qualifying yesterday went pretty badly. It was the only time when the car felt pretty bad and I don’t know why. On top of that I’ve been struggling all weekend with brakes, so all I had to do today was completely change the brakes to a different material, different things, something I never ran with this weekend. With all the experience I have, I didn’t think about it, I just went flat out, out of the pit lane. It was lacking at some stages of the race, at the beginning, because I gained a couple of positions because of crashes.”

“On the other hand, I don’t know if the TV showed them but I did some great moves and overtaking at the beginning of the race, in the middle of the race as well as at the end of the race. So I was a little bit unlucky because at one stage I fell behind Fisichella who was massively slower than me, something like one and a half seconds and I spent a lot of time, a lot of laps behind him which cost me so much track time. So I don’t know if I could have finished higher but anyway, all I want to say is thanks to the team, because the Panasonic Toyota team has done a great job over the winter and especially after yesterday’s disappointment, it’s a great way to hit back.

Red Bull and Vettel penalised

Contrary to earlier news, it has emerged that Sebastian Vettel was indeed penalised for his Australian Grand Prix crash with Robert Kubica.

We reported that the German was actually handed his ten-grid penalty for the forthcoming Malaysian round, and a $50,000 fine, for failing to promptly pull his heavily damaged Red Bull to the side of the track.

In fact, the Sepang grid penalty was for his crash with BMW's Kubica with three laps to go, when stewards ruled that Vettel caused the incident, a somewhat harsh decision.

"Should I have let him go? You always want to fight.
Maybe I should have said let him go and bring third back home, but that's life," said Vettel, who had been fighting with Pole Kubica for second place.

The $50,000 fine, meanwhile, was levied because Red Bull officials instructed the 21-year-old by radio to continue to race his three-wheeled car rather than pull it to the side of the Melbourne layout.

Trulli loses his 3rd podium finished

Following a stewards' inquiry, Jarno Trulli has been stripped of his podium finish in the Australian Grand Prix.

The FIA officials ruled that the Toyota driver overtook Lewis Hamilton under the safety car, after losing third position to the world champion by running off the track.

Italian Trulli received a 25 second time penalty, dropping him out of the points and into 12th position. McLaren's Hamilton was promoted to third, with Sebastien Bourdais joining the points-paying positions.

In another stewards' decision, Sebastian Vettel will be demoted ten places down the Malaysian Grand Prix grid in one week, and pay a $50,000 fine to the FIA.

The German was penalised not for his late collision with Robert Kubica, but for failing to pull his damaged Red Bull to the side of the track when requested.

Brawn GP - Australian GP - Race

Jenson Button led the Brawn GP team to victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix today, achieving his second Grand Prix win and capping a stunning debut race weekend for the British-based team. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello brought his BGP 001 car home in second position to achieve the first one-two finish for a new team since Mercedes Benz in 1954.

The two Brawn Mercedes cars started from the front row of the grid after dominating Saturday’s qualifying session. Button had a good start, maintaining his advantage into the first corner and establishing a strong lead over the field. From there he controlled the race, responding well to the first safety car period and recovering from a slow second stop which reduced his lead over Vettel to 1.5 seconds, before taking the chequered flag for a well-deserved victory at the end of the 58-lap race.

Rubens Barrichello had a somewhat more dramatic race with a difficult start off the line dropping him a few places and he subsequently sustained damage to his front wing and nose in a first corner collision with Mark Webber.

He battled with the damage for the first stint, survived a further collision with Kimi Raikkonen, and passed Nico Rosberg on track to be up to fourth by lap 53.

Barrichello took his podium finish when an incident between Vettel and Kubica put both cars out of the race with three laps to go promoting the Brazilian to second and bringing out the safety car which brought the field home.

Jenson Button
“What an amazing day! This is just a fairytale ending to the first race of our career together at Brawn GP.
It may have looked like an easy victory but it really wasn’t easy at all out there today but we brought the car home and that’s all that matters. This win is for me, my family and my team. It’s been a traumatic few months and I want to say a massive thank you to them all for being so strong and never losing belief. This weekend we have achieved everything that we deserve for all of our hard work over the past few months. And what’s so exciting is that there is so much more to come from myself and from this team. I can’t wait to get to Malaysia!”

Rubens Barrichello
“Well you could say that I had an eventful afternoon! I had a lot of mixed emotions during the race and honestly I am so delighted to have achieved second. It was really tough for me at the start as the anti-stall kicked in which cost me a few places off the line and then I was hit heavily from behind going into the first corner and thought my race was over. Thankfully the car survived and I was able to battle my way up to fourth and be in the position to take advantage of the accident between Vettel and Kubica. It just goes to show that you should never give up! Congratulations to Jenson for a fantastic win today and my heartfelt thanks to the team for providing us with such a good car. This is the start of a very exciting journey for us.”

Ross Brawn
“We have worked incredibly hard for this victory today and to see the dedication, commitment and sheer hard work come to fruition with Jenson and Rubens bringing home a one-two finish for Brawn GP at the first race of the season is immensely rewarding. After everything that our team has been through over the past four months, this is quite simply a sensational result. It is just the beginning for us and it wasn’t a perfect race by any means so we will learn from today and continue to improve. We have to keep developing the car throughout the season if we want to challenge for further wins and the championship."

"I would like to express our sincere thanks to Norbert Haug and Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines who have been so supportive over the past few months and have worked closely with the team to ensure we were in a position to go racing this year. Thanks also to Virgin, Henri Lloyd and all our team partners for having the vision to see what the team could do before today and wanting to be a part of it. It’s difficult to put into words what this win means to our team but I’m sure that I speak for every single one of them, here at the track and back at the factory in Brackley, when I say it has been a wonderful weekend.”

Toyota - Australian GP - Race

Toyota started the 2009 Formula One season with a trip to the podium and a double points finish in an exciting Australian Grand Prix.

Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock started from the pit lane but battling opening laps saw both fight their way up the order. Trulli started on the super soft Bridgestone Potenza tyres and made an early pit stop for mediums while Timo was initially on the mediums, preferring a longer first stint.

With plenty of incident elsewhere on the track, the two Toyotas made their way into the top ten, passing several cars on the way before a breath-taking final few laps.

Trulli's long final stint saw him move into the points when other cars made their final pit stops and he showed great pace to come within sight of the podium, which became a reality after a late accident for two rivals lifted him to third.

Glock chose to finish the race on the super soft tyres and passed several cars in a short final stint to take fifth as the race finished behind the safety car. Race stewards subsequently handed Jarno a 25s penalty for overtaking under safety car conditions, but the team has filed an appeal within the proscribed time period.

Jarno Trulli
"I can't say how disappointed I am to finish third but have the result questioned.
When the safety car came out towards the end of the race Lewis Hamilton passed me but soon after he suddenly slowed down and pulled over to the side of the road. I thought he had a problem so I overtook him as there was nothing else I could do. I would still like to say thank you to the team who have made a huge effort. The fact we were able to fight for the podium despite starting from the pit lane is down to them."

Timo Glock
"I am happy to finish fourth but obviously it is really disappointing for Jarno. For us to be fighting at the front like that after we started from the pit lane really shows the strong performance we have. This is proof that our car has real pace. It was a good race for me and I have to say thanks to the team for their hard work in achieving this. The race was pretty exciting but I was stuck behind the Renault of Alonso for quite a while and it was difficult to overtake. My car felt good but I couldn't find a way past, however when I was in clear air I was able to go about a second faster so the performance is definitely there. I said before the weekend that we looked strong judging by our winter performance and it's great to show that in race conditions."

Tadashi Yamashina, Team Principal
"This is an extremely frustrating way to finish a challenging weekend. Already we were disappointed to be starting from the pit lane after we were informed yesterday about the problem with our rear wing. We responded to that in a fantastic way and we showed that our car has genuine performance. I would like to thank everyone who is part of our team, not just the guys at the track but also everyone at the factory, our partners and our fans. It's sad that this result has been questioned but we have filed an appeal to give us more time to study the data and the situation."

Ferrari - Australian GP - Race

No points for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro at the end of the Australian Grand Prix, the opening round of the 2009 season. Kimi Raikkonen was classified sixteenth, after retiring on lap 55 with a differential problem, while Felipe Massa stopped in the pits on lap 45, with a broken left upright.

The opening race of the new season in Australia saw Ferrari leave empty handed. Starting sixth and seventh Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen opted to start the 58-lap race on the super soft option tyre but this aggressive strategy did not pay off.

It would prove academic anyway as mechanical problems sidelines Massa and following an off track excursion Kimi Raikkonen also pulled into the pits to retire.

Stefano Domenicali
“This was definitely not a start worthy of Ferrari, from any point of view. We were lacking on the reliability front, with two cars forced to retire. Our performance was not up to the potential we had expected after our winter testing: we struggled to manage the tyres. Furthermore, our strategy choices did not work out, especially in the case of Felipe. To sum up, it was a day to forget from the result point of view, but to remember well so as to try and analyse everything we failed in, in order to improve immediately."

"From that point of view, it’s good we have a race coming up immediately next week in Malaysia. It will give us the opportunity to react as long as we draw the right conclusions, calmly but also decisively.
Australia does not seem to have been a happy hunting ground for us these last few years: the circuit is a bit untypical where it could be that the pecking order is not so clear. It will be more evident in Sepang, but we are well aware that, apart from one team that was untouchable today, there are numerous other strong competitors.”

Felipe Massa
“We knew the Brawn GP cars would be unbeatable today, but all the same, we thought we could have a good race. The start was great, but after five or six laps, we ran into trouble with the soft tyres, to such an extent that we had to pit early. We then switched to a very aggressive strategy, which with hindsight turned out to be the wrong one, as shortly after the pit stop, the safety car came out on track. I found myself third, but after the restart, I had less than ten laps to try and make up ground on those who were behind me, but with more fuel."

"At the second stop, we filled it for the finish, but then I was very slow and finally, I had the problem which forced me to retire. In my opinion, apart from the Brawns, we are competitive, but we have to work perfectly to get to the front. Here, it is very difficult to get the tyres to work, partly because the track surface does not provide much grip. The solution for Malaysia? Work and work hard.”

Kimi Raikkonen
“When I ended up in the wall it was my mistake. A shame as, given what happened later, I could have finished second. We lost valuable points but we will try and make up for it starting right away in Malaysia. There, we will get a clearer picture of the situation because this circuit is not very indicative of performance. The KERS worked well at the start, but there was not much room to go anywhere. If we did not think it gave an advantage, we would not use it. Definitely the main problem was in managing the tyres, but we also need to improve our overall performance.”

Luca Baldisserri
“We opted to start on the softer tyres, a gamble that did not pay off today, because, given the huge degradation suffered by both drivers, we had to bring the first stops forward. We then went on two different strategies: with Felipe, in hindsight, we went the wrong way, especially as the safety car period did not help. Apart from this, we must admit that today, our performance was not up to that of many of our rivals. We must work out why and react quickly, starting in Malaysia.”