Many of the Formula One teams have confirmed they will be testing an array of rookie talent from the world of lower formula’s at the forthcoming Jerez tests.

The tests take place over the dates 1st-3rd December.

Red Bull Racing will be testing British F3 champion Daniel Ricciardo, while sister team Toro Rosso will test Brendon Hartley and highly acclaimed Italian Mirko Bortolotti – the man responsible for beatingthe Fiorano lap record in the Ferrari F2008 last winter.

Ferrari themselves will be testing the cream of the talent from Italian F3, Williams take onboard a test for Andy Soucek his prize for winning the Formula 2 series.

Meanwhile BMW Sabuer will give two rookie’s their chance despite their depart from Formula One, with Alexander Rossi and Esteban Gutierrez taking the wheel.

Sebastien Buemi and Scuderia Toro Rosso have confirmed the Swiss driver will be continuing to drive for the Toro’s into 2010.

He was widely regarded as likely to return with the Red Bull junior team, who will be designing and building their own car for the first time next season.

“We have re-signed Buemi for next season, but we have not yet signed Jaime [Alguersuari],” a spokesman told BBC Sport.

Buemi, who is seen by many as a potential future front running driver, said he had discussions over a contract with the Toyota F1 Team before they pulled out of the sport.

“I had some contact with other teams because of my good results at the end of the season,” he told the Television Suisse Romande programme Sport Dimanche.

“Toyota could have been a possibility because they had not yet hired any drivers. That was not the only one, and anyway I was always talking with Red Bull. Finally I signed with Toro Rosso for 2010.”

* Team not officially confirmed for 2010, as discussions are ongoing to expand the grid to 14 teams. ‘BMW Sauber’ team name likely to change due to the team selling up.

The Results of the race driven on Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

The results of the different sessions (FORMULA1.COM)
1st Friday Practice, 2nd Friday Practice
Saturday Practice, Saturday Qualification
Sunday Race Results

Various Links
- Race Report at GrandPrix.com
- Standings after this GP at MOTORSPORT.COM

Pictures of the different days (GPUPDATE.NET)
Preparations/Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday

Pictures of the different days (MOTORSPORT.COM)
Postcard/Wednesday/Thursday
Friday : Practice 1/Practice 2
Saturday : Practice/Qualifying
Sunday : Pre-Race/Race/Post-Race

A few selected pictures of the race

Reference: F1.com

Reference: f1.com

Reference: F1.com

Provisional Results blog live in a min – http://wp.me/pF7qv-dA

19 weeks until the F1 2010 session starts – 133 days that is

That concludes the 2009 season – Check back during the next few weeks for Analysis and reviews

WOW Jenson Swearing alert

If red bull had a Double diffuser at the start of the year where would we be now?????

Get in there webber Red Bull 1 – 2

Brawn 3 and 4

What a fight ohh

Webber purple S1

webber’s lead down to 0.7 to button

webber’s lead down to 1.3 to button

webber’s lead down to 2.2 to button

L47 Vett now 17secs ahead of Webb

Jenson closing on webber by half a sec a lap – gap down to 3 sec

webber’s lead down to 3.6 to button

fight possible between 4th, 5th, 6th

Vettel, Webber, Button is what the podium looks like atm

Vettel and Button pitted

Rosberg overtakes Kubica who spins fighting with Buemi

Rubens and Nick in and out, that was quick

Webber in and out of the pits – option tyres

Kubica in and out of the pits with option tyres

Rosberg in – First 2 stopper to switch to option tyres studying lap times now I think

brb before 2nd stops

Kob News: Understeer, using the front flap max 6th place is possible

Force India fighting

Speed Trap data:

Kov – 322

Rubens, Liu and Sut – 320

Fisi and Button – 317

Alonso pits – 8.2 sec puts option tyres on

Top 3 look set now to finish in them positions – Webber and button may pit on the same lap with Vettel has 1 more lap of fuel

3 wins in a row for Red Bull Japan Vet, Brazil Webber, That is looking likely

Kov, Fisi, Gro and Liuzzi in the pits

Sutil killing the bollard

Fisi to get drive though pen for speeding in the pit lane

Kob lovely stop now on the option tyres

Kimi just pitted lets see how he will take the option tyres

Fisi just pitted the only driver to have used the option tyres

All 2 stoppers now pitted 1 stoppers should pit soon

Jamie went to pit stop at the wrong pit (stopped at Red Bull not STR, easy mistake) then ran out of fuel in the next lap very slow on that lap

Lewis: Couldn’t stop the car, right rear breaks, failure maybe???

Red Bull 1 -2 now both of them in my FR team with Sutil and Buemi go go go !! lol

Button nearly lost it again

1 stoppers now mixing with the front runners – Kob for points???

Silly Jamie trying to stop in the Red Bull pit with problem stopped on the circuit now

Yellow flag S3 STR stopped – Turn 11

Lewis in the pit again – He is out NOOOOOOOOOOO first retirement  and he is in my Fantasy Racers team

McLaren clearing space in the pit lane

STR running slow

Lewis: Could have a right rear break problem

Webber in pits, also Truill, Buemi, Rosberg in

Hamilton and Button in the pits, all safe out of the tunnel into clear air

Ferrari not use tyres all the time because of a heat issue

Kubica and Rubens in and out of the pits staying on the prime (Medium) tyres

Button is lewis’ threat now

Red Bull 1 -2 is looking likely

Back Kob looking good for a chance of points

i will brb pit stops start in 2 laps time

2 stoppers need to be at least 1.5 sec every lap quicker than all the one stoppers otherwise they could lose position and get in traffic

Lewis lost .8 of a sec oops Now lewis has to run and overtake Vettel in the 2nd part of the race

Lewis is smashing everyone in S2 half a sec quicker

1 stoppers on good pace

Top 5 pace within 2 tenth of a sec

Lewis Radio: Vettel quicker, losing most time in S3 and a bit in S1

Lewis not doing enough, grip not there atm, also it’s tyre heat low atm

Lewis half a sec quicker than anyone thought S2

Jenson 6 sec back from the leader Lewis

Lewis needs to get the gap to Vettel to over 5 secs or he will lose the place after the pit stops

Soz about that had to set dad sat nav

Rubens has a damaged car – Confirmed

Remember the fastest lap from this race will be the lap record

Jenson jumped rubens

Kubica jumped Truill

Button Quick with lots of grip

Rubens may have lost downforce from the front wing

GRO in front of Alonso

Lewis not sprinting atm

Kubica to stop about lap 15/16

Truill and Kubica fighting

Webber and Rubens have touched

The lights are out

Fisi on the option tyres for the start

Parade Lap is go go go

I am listening to BBC during the race today not 5live, what is everyone else listening to?

The grid is clearing

Ready?

Track Temp 33 c
Air Temp: 31 c
Air speed: 3.9 mps

Is everybody set, I have blog, Live commenting and blog post Comments

If u have a question, comment, idea or if i miss something please put a comment on any of my posts

Not good for Brawn and Kubica on pit stops

YAY Ron Dennis back on the grid thats very nice to see

9 Minutes to go

Martin and DC in a 2 seater love it

Loving the tunnel

Luca on the grid lol if he was quicker maybe he would be in the car for this race

End of grid walk today loved it like normal under 15 minutes to do to lights out

JC – Look at him lol – He is quick at the Top Gear track tho

I like Mark Webber, Webber Lewis and Jenson for podium

Lewis Interview WOOP WOOP Best car on the grid today

Grid walk time with Martin and Eddie YAY

WOW I wish i was a racing driver now, I have missed my chance of f1 as u have to start karting at about 7/8

I think jake will do well

Jake racing yay

half a hour to lights out can’t wait

Ferrari – a very ruff year for them, big crash, few podiums not what they looking for

I am wearing my F1 t-shirt today, lets hope it gives jenson and lewis some luck for 2 brits on the podium

McLaren: I thought they would be mega this year, lots of charactor building i think this year for lewis

BMW – I was quoted saying last winter they were my tip for success this year race wins and a challenge for the championship

Fernando to Ferrari 2010

What a year for them

Renault Renault Renault

Here is the grid:

Lewis, Seb, Mark, Rubens, Jenson,

Alonso out in Q1 – love Quail features

Buemi is in one of my  Fantasy Racers teams so Go Go Buemi

maybe I would love for STR to get points today with Buemi

I am loving the BBC intro love that song, look at that pretty car (BGP 001)

Jenson Button – 2009 World Drivers Champion don’t forget

BBC Intro is go go go, Remember after the race the bbc do a race forum today it will not be on freeview just Sky red button, Online and Virgin media (i think). I will add live comments on the forum into this live blog

Who will crash into the tunnel on the pit lane exit first, if any?

Will Lewis run away in the first stint

From the fuel weights we see the top 10 2 stopping and the last 10 1 stopping with Renault stacking the car with fuel

Afternoon All, under 10 minutes until the BBC coverage starts!

Comments on the Qualification

I really enjoyed this qualification. What an action and what a great circuit Yas Marina Circuit is!

Giancarlo Fisichello is very disappointing in his Ferrari, while Kimi Raikkonen did the best he could and got 11th. It’s a pitty for Force India with both cars on 17th and 18th. McLaren Mercedes shows they are still the best with Lewis Hamilton on pole, only a shame they didn’t do that in the first nine races. Red Bull Racing is going steady for 2nd in the championship with Sebastian Vettel on 2nd and Mark Webber on 3rd. BMW Sauber has both cars in the top ten. If this is the last race they contend, it’s a good result.

I look forward to the race this afternoon.

Results of the third qualification

Results of the second qualification

Results of the first qualification

Pictures of the Saturday Qualification

Pictures of the Saturday Practice

The first day/night qualifying session proved a complete success on the dramatic new Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi, where Lewis Hamilton’s pace in the McLaren surprised Red Bull duo Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber. This trio seems to have a small but crucial advantage over the Brawn duo of Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button.

For the record, the fuel weights were: Hamilton, 658.5 kg; Vettel 663, Webber 660, Barrichello 655, Button 657, Toyota’s Jarno Trulli 661, BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica 654.5, BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld 664, Williams’ Nico Rosberg 665 and Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi 661.5.

McLaren
Lewis Hamilton, 1m 40.948s, P1
Heikki Kovalainen, 1m 40.983, P13, will start P18
Hamilton was delighted with the MP4-24, saying it felt the best it had all season. He used KERS for all it was worth, and said things just got better and better as he regained the advantage from the speedy Red Bull duo. Kovalainen’s chances were damned straight away in Q2; he had just set the first fast time when he suffered a gearbox failure. The unit required replacement, leaving him with a grid-place penalty that dropped him from 13th to 18th.

Red Bull
Sebastian Vettel, 1m 41.615s, P2
Mark Webber, 1m 41.726s, P3
Vettel admitted that he and Webber were surprised by Hamilton’s pace, especially when it transpired that he wasn’t that much lighter on fuel. Both felt they got the best from their RB5s and said the cars were working well. They also thought that McLaren’s KERS was particularly advantageous here.

Brawn GP
Rubens Barrichello, 1m 41.786s, P4
Jenson Button, 1m 41.892s, P5
Barrichello said he was happy with the way his car improved as the temperatures dropped for qualifying. Button was very quick all through practice and Q1 and Q2, but with a fuel load in Q3 he started to get serious vibrations which led to debilitating understeer.

Toyota
Jarno Trulli, 1m 41.897s, P6
Kamui Kobayashi, 40.777s, P12
Trulli felt he got things right in all of the sessions and was happy with sixth, especially as Button only marginally improved on his time. Kobayashi had hoped to make Q3 in his first fully dry Formula One qualifying. In the end he was philosophical to miss out by just a couple of tenths.

BMW Sauber
Robert Kubica, 1m 41.992s, P7
Nick Heidfeld, 1m 42.343s, P8
Kubica rued Friday’s loss of time after his second session engine failure and said that the lower track temperature in qualifying had a deleterious affect on his F1.09’s handling. Heidfeld was quite happy on the greater fuel load and said that his marginal chance of a final improvement might have been frustrated when he came across Webber late in the lap.

Williams
Nico Rosberg, 1m 42.583s, P9
Kazuki Nakajima, 1m 41.148s, P14, will start P13
Rosberg made the top 10 again in his final race for Williams, and felt that ninth was the best he could have expected as his FW31 struggled on the open sections of the circuit. Nakajima didn’t manage to get his last lap together in Q2.

Toro Rosso
Sebastien Buemi, 1m 42.583s, P10
Jaime Alguersuari, 1m 41.689s, P15, will start P14
Buemi admitted that he had hoped for better than 10th after shining all through practice, but said he was happy overall given his fuel load. Alguersuari lost valuable track time when he didn’t run at all in the morning, for reasons the team didn’t divulge, and never managed to catch up.

Ferrari
Kimi Raikkonen, 1m 40.726s, P11
Giancarlo Fisichella, 1m 42.184s, P20
Once again Raikkoinen got the most out of the ageing F60, and Fisichella didn’t, and prospects for regaining third place in the constructors’ championship from McLaren appear weak.

Renault
Fernando Alonso, 1m 41.667, P16, will start P15
Romain Grosjean, 1m 41.950s, P19
Renault struggled throughout practice and qualifying here, and 16th and 19th indicated the depth of the problem.

Force India
Vitantonio Liuzzi 1m 41.701s, P17, will start P16
Adrian Sutil, 1m 41.863s, P18, will start P17
Liuzzi was really happy with his VJM02 on his first run in Q1 and believed he had the pace to get through to Q2. But the second set of soft tyres changed its behaviour for the worst as it lost grip. Sutil also complained of oversteer.

Reference: F1.com

Lewis Hamilton looks in superb shape to take a third victory of the season at the Formula 1 finale in Abu Dhabi on Sunday.

The McLaren driver was on pole by a margin of nearly 0.7 seconds and he was still half a second clear when the amount of fuel in the cars was taken into account – an astonishing margin in a season that has been so close.

The cars in the top 10 qualifying shoot-out are not allowed to refuel between qualifying and the race, so the amount of fuel they carry dictates their pace on Saturday as well as when they will make their first pit stops on Sunday.

So grid positions can be misleading until the fuel weights are published and the ramifications of that calculated. Assessing those figures underlines just how strong Hamilton is looking.

This is BBC Sport’s fuel-adjusted Abu Dhabi Grand Prix grid, with projected first pit stops:

1 Lewis Hamilton (lap 17)
2 Sebastian Vettel +0.496secs (lap 19)
3 Mark Webber +0.721 (lap 18)
4 Jarno Trulli +0.854 (lap 18)
5 Rubens Barrichello +0.971 (lap 16)
6 Jenson Button +1.001 (lap 17)
7 Nick Heidfeld +1.186 (lap 19)
8 Robert Kubica +1.196 (lap 15)
9 Nico Rosberg +1.388 (lap 19)
10 Sebastien Buemi +1.651 (lap 18)

Because he has two laps’ less fuel on board, Hamilton’s fuel-adjusted margin over the Red Bulls is not as large as it was on the track but at nearly half a second it is still more than big enough for the race to look like it is his for the taking.

It seems as if the Abu Dhabi track could have been made for the McLaren.

There are two long straights for them to get the most out of their Kers power-boost system, which gives them an extra 80bhp for 6.7 seconds a lap.

And the track abounds in the slow- and medium-speed corners in which the car is so strong, while lacking the high-speed bends in which it struggles – and in which the Red Bull is the class of the field.

Not only that, but it should ensure he is unpassable on the first lap, so he should be able to lap at his own pace for the first stint.

If Hamilton has any rivals for victory, it looks like being the Red Bull drivers.

They are making their first pit stops a little later than Hamilton – Vettel on lap 19, compared to Hamilton’s 17, and Webber on 18 – but, as long as the Englishman maintain his superior speed into the first stint of the race, it is hard to see Vettel or Webber being able to make up enough time to leapfrog him.

More likely is that the Red Bull drivers will be engaged in a tight battle with the Brawn drivers and Jarno Trulli’s Toyota behind Hamilton.

With regards to Vettel and Brawn’s Rubens Barrichello, that means a fight for second place in the championship as well as in the race – the German has a two-point advantage heading into the grand prix.

But just as they are fighting for the crumbs left by Jenson Button in the championship, they look certain to be doing the same behind Hamilton in the final race of the season.

Reference: BBC Sport F1

Lewis Hamilton will stop just one lap earlier than main rival Sebastian Vettel in tomorrow’s race, making the Briton’s excellent pole position lap in qualifying this evening even more impressive. The 2008 champion went two thirds of a second quicker than second-placed Vettel, but the publication of the post-qualifying fuel weights revealed that the pair would stop just one lap apart on laps 18 and 19 respectively, hitting Red Bull’s victory hopes in the process.

With Vettel going just one lap longer than Hamilton, the German’s chances of leapfrogging the McLaren driver during the pitstops are now very slim, especially with Hamilton having KERS at his disposal to easily re-pass Vettel should he be behind. Webber is equally disadvantaged, stopping on lap 18, the same lap as Hamilton.

Behind the leading trio, Brawn’s Barrichello and Button will stop on laps 17 and 18, or possible earlier, with Jarno Trulli set to pit for the first time on lap 19. BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica has the lightest car on the grid with just 16 laps of fuel on-board, with Heidfeld, Rosberg and Buemi all stopping in or around lap 20.

While all the top-ten runners are geared up for two-stop strategies, the entire latter half of the grid have the option of stopping just once, depending on tyre wear. Both Ferraris are the lightest cars in the bottom 10 with 30 laps of fuel, while the heaviest are the Renaults, with Alonso and Grosjean set to go 36 and 37 laps respectively before stopping.

Reference: Manipe F1

Pictures of the Friday

Pictures of the Thursday

Pictures of the Wednesday

Nationality – German
Debut – United States GP, 2007
Teams – BMW Sauber F1, Scuderia Toro Rosso, Red Bull Racing
Races – 14
Point(s) – 100
Win(s) – 3
Podium(s) – 7
Pole(s) – 4
Championship(s) – 0
Best Race Finish – 1st (X 4)
Best Championship Finish – 8th (2007)
Updated – Singapore GP, 2009

Team Principal(s) - Franz Tost
Team Base – Faenza, Italy
Engine Provider - Ferrari
Race Drivers – Sebastien Buemi, Sebastien Bourdais (till German GP), Jamie Alguersuari (Hungarian GP onwards)
Test Driver(s) – N.A.

Point(s) – 5 – 3 (Sebastian Buemi), 2 (Sebastian Bourdais)
Pole(s) – 0
Race Win(s) – 0

Updated – Singapore GP 2009

The Results of the race driven on Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, Spa, Belgium.

The results of the different sessions (FORMULA1.COM)
1st Friday Practice, 2nd Friday Practice
Saturday Practice, Saturday Qualification
Sunday Race Results

Various Links
- Race Report at GrandPrix.com
- Standings after this GP at MOTORSPORT.COM

Pictures of the different days (GPUPDATE.NET)
Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday

Pictures of the different days (MOTORSPORT.COM)
Postcard/Thursday
Friday : Practice 1/Practice 2
Saturday : Practice/Qualifying
Sunday : Pre-Race/Race/Post-Race

A few selected pictures of the race

Comments on the Qualification

What a surprise !!! Force India F1 Team with Giancarlo Fisichella on pole position. Is the car low on fuel or not? Only time will tell! BMW Sauber F1 Team is fighting back with Nick Heidfeld on third and Robert Kubica on fifth. Jenson Button on fourteenth (Brawn GP F1 Team), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren Mercedes) on twelfth, Fernando Alonso (Renault F1 Team) on thirteenth and Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren Mercedes) on fifteenth are very disappointing! I can’t wait to see what the race will bring.

Results of the third qualification

Results of the second qualification

Results of the first qualification

Pictures of the Saturday Qualification

Pictures of the Saturday Practice

Kimi Raikkonen delivered an emphatic first win of the season for Ferrari this afternoon after a highly exciting Belgian Grand Prix.

Suprise pole sitter Giancarlo Fisichella came in 2nd place, Force India’s first ever points and thus podium, while Sebastian Vettel kept his championship hopes alive while others around him faltered with 3rd place.

Race Review

The getaway from the line was mostly noted for Rubens Barrichello’s anti-stall kick in, forcing Kimi Raikkonen around his outside and bunching everyone up into La Source hairpin.

Raikkonen dived onto the astroturf around the outside of the turn and raced down to Eau Rouge with Fisichella in the lead and the BMW’s far up the pack.  Further back in the field various cars including Fernando Alonso, Jaime Alguersuari, Adrian Sutil, Timo Glock, Jarno Trulli and Lewis Hamilton were all tangling with bits of bodywork flying everywhere.

The cars were bunched as they headed down the straight to Les Combes, where Romain Grosjean tagged Jenson Button forcing him into a spin.  Jaime Alguersuari tried to miss Button and ended up ramming Lewis Hamilton forcing them both out as well as Button and Grosjean.  This left us with a Safety Car situation with all these cars hanging off the track.

Some drivers including Rubens Barrichello decided to pit in.

When the safety car finally returned to the pits, Kimi Raikkonen using his KERS system to full effect managed to get ahead of Fisichella and that is where he would stay for the rest of the race.  The gap between the two was not very large, and the pitstops [all on the same laps for the pair] didn’t yield a position change.  Had Raikkonen not being using the KERS system then he would almost certainly have lost the place to Fisichella, whose Force India car looked frighteningly quick.

Sebastian Vettel had a very quiet drive to 3rd place, managingto make use of accidents and retirements.

Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld managed to get a great result for their BMW team, with 4th and 5th places.  They stayed out of trouble throughout the race, but were almost certianly helped along by faster rivals being knocked out in the first corner accident.

7th place finisher Rubens Barrichello never looked like troubling those at the front after his poor start.  He did well to end up in the points, but in all honesty was lucky to finish with his Brawn GP car pluming smoke for the final 3 laps.  The Brazilian’s car then set on fire as he returned to the pitlane after the race!

Just finishing ahead of Rubens was Heikki Kovalainen, the sole finishing McLaren using good strategy to make the position from a poor qualifying start.  8th was Rosberg picking up vital points, but Mark Webber really should have been there but he had a pitlane incident where he was released into the path of Heidfeld, focing the German to nearly crash and got given a drive-through penalty for it.

Timo Glock should also have finished higher than 10th, but a fuel rig failure ruined his chances of points from early good running.

Sutil, Buemi and Nakajima came next in the classifications with fairly average races, and Luca Badoer brings up the rear of the field [again] in what is likely to be his last Ferrari race.

Fernando Alonso retired with a broken front left wheel and suspension, while we do not know Jarno Trulli’s problem possibly a fuel pressure issue.

Classified Results

Fastest Lap: S. Vettel (Red Bull) 1.47.263

Retirements

Force India’s Giancarlo Fisichella has delivered the small team it’s first ever pole position after a stunning qualifying session in Belgium, where the form book really was turned on it’s head.

Fisichella the flambouyant Italian was amazingly fast throughout the session in the heavily revised Force India car, and the investment has paid dividends to its owner Vijay Mallya.

Although likely to be light on fuel, this must signal the first points of the season for the team based in Silverstone.  If not that, it signals to Ferrari that Giancarlo Fisichella could deliver something for them, unlike Luca Badoer who did not help his cause by qualifying last and ending Q1 in the wall.

Jarno Trulli made second place in the significantly faster Toyota, and Nick Heidfeld made a shock return to the top with 3rd position.

Rubens Barrichello will start 4th, the highest qualifying Brawn after Jenson Button faltered and did not get out of Q2. He will start in 14th tomorrow, a big harm to his world championship chances.

Kimi Raikkonen did much better than Badoer and will start 6th, those around him must be concerned about his KERS system.

Vettel and Webber made 8th and 9th for Red Bull, so should make valuable ground tomorrow.

The improving McLaren’s have struggled in Spa this afternoon, with Hamilton making just 12th place and Kovalainen 15th.  Another big name between them is Fernando Alonso in 13th.

We thought the Toro Rosso’s looked good, but neither managed to get out of Q1 with Buemi starting 16th and Alguersuari 17th.

Romain Grosjean lines up alongside Badoer at the back, after the young French/Swiss made progress.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Q1        Q2        Q3      
 1.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:45.102  1:44.667  1:46.308
 2.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:45.140  1:44.503  1:46.395
 3.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:45.566  1:44.709  1:46.500
 4.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:45.237  1:44.834  1:46.513
 5.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:45.655  1:44.557  1:46.586
 6.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:45.579  1:44.953  1:46.633
 7.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:45.450  1:44.877  1:46.677
 8.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:45.372  1:44.592  1:46.761
 9.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:45.350  1:44.924  1:46.788
10.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:45.486  1:45.047  1:47.362
11.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:45.486  1:45.119
12.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:45.239  1:45.122
13.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:45.767  1:45.136
14.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:45.707  1:45.251
15.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:45.761  1:45.259
16.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:45.705
17.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:45.951
18.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:46.032
19.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:46.307
20.  Badoer       Ferrari               (B)  1:46.359

Weather conditions changed for the better in Fp2 at Spa this afternoon.  This led to frantic activity as teams and drivers tried to make up for time lost in the rainy morning session.

Hamilton was fastest, just hundredths of a second ahead of Timo Glock and Kimi Raikkonen.

Raikkonen’s team mate Luca Badoer stuck in last place, and Ferrari seem incredibly disappointed with his performance.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps
 1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:47.201           29
 2.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:47.217  + 0.016  29
 3.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:47.285  + 0.084  26
 4.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:47.329  + 0.128  31
 5.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:47.333  + 0.132  34
 6.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:47.506  + 0.305  27
 7.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:47.559  + 0.358  33
 8.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:47.578  + 0.377  33
 9.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:47.579  + 0.378  36
10.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:47.602  + 0.401  25
11.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:47.702  + 0.501  38
12.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:47.743  + 0.542  33
13.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:47.790  + 0.589  29
14.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:47.862  + 0.661  30
15.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:47.961  + 0.760  32
16.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:48.017  + 0.816  30
17.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:48.125  + 0.924  34
18.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:48.130  + 0.929  37
19.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:48.360  + 1.159  29
20.  Badoer       Ferrari               (B)  1:49.211  + 2.010  30

Pictures of the Friday

Pictures of the Thursday

Jarno Trulli set the fastest time in what was a mostly rain affected first session at Spa Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix.

A lot of cars did slow wet runs, and Lewis Hamilton + Sebastian Vettel failed to set times.  That means Luca Badoer isn’t last!

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps
 1.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:49.675            13
 2.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:50.283  + 0.608   18
 3.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:50.368  + 0.693   13
 4.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:51.045  + 1.370   20
 5.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:51.529  + 1.854   24
 6.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:52.321  + 2.646   18
 7.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:52.930  + 3.255   16
 8.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:53.383  + 3.708   11
 9.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:53.650  + 3.975   12
10.  Badoer       Ferrari               (B)  1:55.068  + 5.393   20
11.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  2:03.972  + 14.297  11
12.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  2:04.505  + 14.830  13
13.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  2:05.513  + 15.838  13
14.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  2:05.614  + 15.939  14
15.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  2:05.705  + 16.030  15
16.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  2:05.839  + 16.164  10
17.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  2:06.181  + 16.506   6
18.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  2:06.331  + 16.656  15
19.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)                       1
20.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)                       4

The Results of the race driven on Valencia Street Circuit, Valencia, Spain.

The results of the different sessions (FORMULA1.COM)
1st Friday Practice, 2nd Friday Practice
Saturday Practice, Saturday Qualification
Sunday Race Results

Various Links
- Race Report at GrandPrix.com
- Standings after this GP at MOTORSPORT.COM

Pictures of the different days (GPUPDATE.NET)
Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday

Pictures of the different days (MOTORSPORT.COM)
Postcard/Thursday
Friday : Practice 1/Practice 2
Saturday : Practice/Qualifying
Sunday : Pre-Race/Race/Post-Race

A few selected pictures of the race

Rubens Barrichello took a highly emotional victory in this afternoon’s European Grand Prix, winning his first race for 5 years – his last victory was at the 2004 Chinese Grand Prix with Ferrari.

It puts Barrichello right back into title contention.  Lewis Hamilton will be aggrieved  not to have won, having led most of the way he was let down by a pit crew failure. Kimi Raikkonen stormed through to finish in 3rd position.

Race Review

Both McLaren’s made a good start off the grid, as did Kimi Raikkonen and Jenson Button.  Button tried to go down the inside of Vettel who made a slow start, but the German forced the Briton into the pitlane exit area where he let off the throttle.  The resulting masses of space and the KERS system allowed Raikkonen to easily sweep around the outside and into 4th position.

Button lost multiple places further back, and was forced to rescinde a place to Australian Mark Webber after cutting  a corner following Fernando Alonso who at the time was defending against Webber.

Sebastien Buemi was cut up in the first few turns and lost his front wing, having to crawl back to the pit for a new one.  He was joined by Romain Grosjean who lost his wing when Timo Glock made a very late overtaking dive at the inexperienced Frecnhamn turned into the Toyota.

These position changes allowed those at the back, including Luca Badoer to make up a few places.

The top order remained relatively unchanged as the drivers hit their pitstops.  Lewis Hamilton was pulling out a good lead with fastest lap times.

The next action was when Sebastian Vettel’s engine blew for the second time this weekend.  Vettel was angered post race, and indeed we’re pretty sure any continuation of the RBR/Renault deal is now off the cards and the team could be switching to either Ferrari again or perhaps Mercedes Benz.

The Force India’s got themselves in the mix today too, along with the BMW’s but only Robert Kubica would come away with a point.

As the drivers hit their second stops, it was evident that Barrichello was trying to catch Hamilton.  The Brit had a good lead and all was good until he pulled into his pitbox and the tyre men were not ready with new tyres.  This led to pantomime scenes and lost Hamilton many seconds of time, allowing Rubens through and pretty much ended his chance of winning.  Hamilton’s Father was nonchalant smacking his fists together in he back of the garage.

Kimi Raikkonen also made an unseen overtake on Heikki Kovalainen securing the Iceman a quality 3rd position.

The only other DNF of the race was Sebastien Buemi whose brakes gave up late on and led to a huge spin incident.

Kazuki Nakajima suffered a puncture and a delamination of the tyre half way around the lap very late on too.  Luca Badoer and Romain Grosjean had pitlane comedy when Badoer was released, he let Grosjean through, side by side, but then as he put the power down Badoer went over the white line and got himself ANOTHER pitlane penalty.  Throw in a huge spin for the Italian driver and it has left many questioning whether he will ever race a Ferrari again. (I’m free next weekend if you need me Ferrari?!).

And that was that, another pretty lacklustre European Grand Prix in Valencia, made interesting by pitlane comedy and Luca Badoer.  It is good to see Rubens Barrichello win again, and by his tears of joy in the car and parc ferme we know how much it means to him.  Wonderful dedication to Felipe Massa at the end also.  Could Rubens be the World Champion?

Classified Results

Fastest Lap: T. Glock (Toyota) 1.38.683

Retirements

Lewis Hamilton slotted his updated McLaren Mp4-24 onto pole position for tomorrow’s European Grand Prix in Valencia.

His team mate Heikki Kovalainen will line up alongside the World Champion, and Rubens Barrichello is just behind in 3rd.

Championship challenger Sebastian Vettel is 4th despite blowing his engine in Free Practice 3.  Jenson Button is back in 5th and should be worried about the KERS powered Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen alongside in 6th.

Kubica and Heidfeld had a better performance in the BMW’s dropping into 10th and 11th.  Amazing how the car improves when you’re jobs are on the line?!

New boy Romain Grosjean will line up 13th after a tidy qualifying.  Not so good for Luca Badoer, he is so far off the pace it is actually beyond laughable.

Pos  Driver       Team                       Q1        Q2        Q3     
 1.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:38.649  1:38.182  1:39.498
 2.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:38.816  1:38.230  1:39.532
 3.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:39.019  1:38.076  1:39.563
 4.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:39.295  1:38.273  1:39.789
 5.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:38.531  1:38.601  1:39.821
 6.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:38.843  1:38.782  1:40.144
 7.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:39.039  1:38.346  1:40.185
 8.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:39.155  1:38.717  1:40.236
 9.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:38.983  1:38.625  1:40.239
10.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:38.806  1:38.747  1:40.512
11.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:39.032  1:38.826
12.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:39.145  1:38.846
13.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:39.459  1:38.991
14.  Grosjean     Renault               (B)  1:39.322  1:39.040
15.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:38.912  1:39.514
16.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:39.531
17.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:39.795
18.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:39.807
19.  Alguersuari  Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:39.925
20.  Badoer       Ferrari               (B)  1:41.413