Close, But No Cigar!
By Ian Lockwood
March 29 2009
Red Bull Racings Sebastian Vettel came close to scoring a podium on his RBR Grand Prix debut, but a racing incident with BMW's Robert Kubica in the dying moments of the race saw the pair both failing to finish. Webbers race was effectively over after first corner chaos left the Aussie with a damaged car at his home race.
Whilst Red Bull leave Melbourne with no points, the upside is that the RB5 is clearly a competitive car.
Car 14, MARK WEBBER, (Finish Position 13th Start Position: 8th)
"That was frustrating at my home race. I was so disappointed to drive round with a damaged car. I wanted a good result for the fans today, but we'll do our best to recover from the next race on - it would have been nice to have got a good result here. My start wasn't too bad. I got to Turn one and was making sure I got through there clean, but then Rubens (Barrichello) came in to the side of me pretty hard and that was it really. I lost a huge amount of down force; we had a lot of damage and I wasn't going to be a threat to anyone after that. It was a tough day for the team but we'll be back, I'm happy that Malaysia is in only a weeks' time."
Car 15, SEBASTIAN VETTEL, (Finish Position DNF, Start Position: 3rd)
"We were in second and a strong position, but then, a couple of laps from the end, I had a stupid racing accident with Robert (Kubica). At the time I turned in I was ahead, but I couldn't keep up speed in the corner and Robert was on a harder tyre, so was much quicker. At the time we collided he was in front, but I had no where to go, I couldn't stop the car, or turn to the right and my tyres were gone. It's a shame as it meant the end of the race for both of us. 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. I tried to defend and, up to the mid-corner, I had reason, but then I had no grip to avoid a collision. I'm sorry to the team and also to Robert, as it didn't just mean the end of my race, but also his. The team did a good job, we were working very hard over the winter and the car seems to be very good. We had good pace today, so overall we have a reason to smile."
CHRISTIAN HORNER:
"A totally gutting finish to what had been a superb race for Sebastian. He had good pace throughout and was trying to take the fight to (Jenson) Button. He drove an immaculate race, but I guess a racing accident with Kubica at the end on the soft tyre was always going to be marginal and we came within two laps of a great finish. Looking on the positive side, the pace of the car was very good. It backed up our qualifying performance and we can take confidence into the next race in Malaysia in only a week's time. Mark was unfortunately involved in an incident on the first lap which effectively destroyed his home race. We elected to keep him running in order to put more mileage on the car. It was a great shame after such strong team work here and in Milton Keynes, the team didn't deserve the finish we had today, but we'll fight back next weekend."
FABRICE LOM, Renault, Principal Engineer, Track Support:
"What a disappointment - we had been so quick! Mark had a shunt at the first corner and lost his race there. Sebastian did a fantastic race and was nearly as quick as the winner, but we had to take the soft tyre on the last stint and a shunt ended his race. So, a shame, but I have such hope for the season with this pace. We are down, but ready to bounce back."
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...on Earth, as it is in Queensland
http://www.patronisef1.com - My solution to F1's 'bore' problem.
...on Earth, as it is in Queensland
http://www.patronisef1.com - My solution to F1's 'bore' problem.
Basicaly all car on the softs at that stage didn't feel as much pain as they were on the worse tyre when it didn't matter.
You could argue that their is more likley to be a safety car at the start so get the softs out of the way then, but the downside of this is that track is in its worst condition, and you are likley to be leapfrogged by cars on the better compound & lose track position.
Most teams went for the softs at the end....
Team Race Driver Tyre Choice by Stint*: Medium or Super Soft Compound
Felipe Massa Super Scuderia Ferrari Soft Medium Medium DNF
Marlboro Kimi Raikkonen Super Soft Medium Medium Super Soft DNF
Vodafone McLaren Lewis Hamilton Super Soft Medium Medium
Mercedes Heikki Kovalainen Medium DNF
BMW Sauber F1 Team Robert Kubica Super Soft Medium Medium DNF
Nick Heidfeld Medium Medium Medium Super Soft
ING Renault F1 Team Fernando Alonso Medium Medium Super Soft
Nelson Piquet Medium Medium DNF
Panasonic Toyota Jarno Trulli Super Soft Medium Medium
Racing Timo Glock Medium Medium Super Soft
Scuderia Toro Rosso Sebastien Bourdais Super Sof Medium Medium
Sebastien Buemi Medium Medium Super Soft
Red Bull Racing Mark Webber Medium Medium Super Soft
Sebastian Vettel Medium Medium Super Soft DNF
AT&T Williams Nico Rosberg Medium Medium Super Soft
Kazuki Nakajima Medium DNF
Force India F1 Team Adrian Sutil Medium Medium Super Soft Medium
Giancarlo Fisichella Medium Medium Super Soft
Brawn GP F1 Team Jenson Button Medium Medium Super Soft
Rubens Barrichello Medium Medium Super Soft
www.racingbulls.net
What rubber was that driver on before he got punted by another car on super soft who had no grip?
If Seb had been on Medium's .......?
If I'm being too cryptic the answers are:
1. Rubiks
2. Medium
3. He would have won the race.
...on Earth, as it is in Queensland
He might not have been in any position to attack!
Hindsight strategy always works perfectly...
Those softs are crap, and we need the qual position to get a lead out over the KERS cars. They will be too hard to pass.
The kid races hard and some times you pay the price when it goes wrong, but I would rather see that fight than for him to give up a position like a wimp.
Too bad for Mark and the collision, but he has this knack for putting his car in harms way.
Really? Since mid-2007, Vettels had 6 race ending collisions, 4 of them on the first lap. Since mid-2006 Webbers had 2 race ending accidents, both of which Vettel has either caused or been involved with funnily enough.
Mark has a knack of keeping his car out of trouble, which you blast him for more often than not, then you make a snide comment like that lol!
http://www.patronisef1.com - My solution to F1's 'bore' problem.
He started on the inside of the track and was punted from behind. How was he supposed to avoid that Jezabel? Clown