The FIA International Court of Appeal (ICA) has rejected protests against the diffusers used by the Brawn, Toyota and Williams teams, after concluding that their ‘double decker’ designs comply with the 2009 regulations.

BMW Sauber, Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault had all questioned the legality of the diffusers, but following Tuesday’s hearing in Paris, the ICA decided that race stewards in Australia and Malaysia had made the right call in declaring them legal.

Full statement from the FIA: 
The FIA International Court of Appeal has decided to deny the appeals submitted against decisions numbered 16 to 24 taken by the Panel of the Stewards on 26 March at the 2009 Grand Prix of Australia and counting towards the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship. 

Based on the arguments heard and evidence before it, the Court has concluded that the Stewards were correct to find that the cars in question comply with the applicable regulations.

Full reasons for this decision will be provided in due course.

Source - The Official Formula 1 Website

Join the forum discussion on this post - (2) Posts

It has been hard to write a report for this weekends GP. Not just because Kimi had another disastrous result but I’m still feeling cheated out of a proper race. I totally agree they couldn’t have raced in those conditions but can’t help but think there were another 23 laps out there which could have provided much excitement with a drying track. 

Its Bernie’s fault - he should never had agreed to a late start time in Malaysia. He put pressure on the organisers to agree to a night race and this was the compromise. He knew however (from the other 9 years F1 has been at Sepang) that it always rains at that time of day at that time of year. The fact that it was dry just after the race was called off (due to the 2 hour rule) compounds this - if it wasn’t for the fading light it would have been fine to race. Another reason why a normal start time would have meant the race could have been restarted - although it would have meant an hours wait while the rain fell. 

Congratulations to Button for holding it together to take another win. He dropped down to 4th at the start but kept his head when it mattered, ran longer in the first stint and set some stunning laps before his first stop which helped him move back into the lead. 

Another great win for the Brit but I can’t help but think he’s a little disappointed that he didn’t get to over 75% race distance and secure the full 10 points. After all if the ‘diffuser’ ruling goes against Brawn (along with Toyota and Williams), or even if it doesn’t in fact,  these first two races may have been his real chance to get ahead before the usual front runners resume normal service.

He was very lucky though as on lap 30 Glock was leading the race before he pitted for full wets. A decision which cost the luckless German his first win and in fact two places in the end. It was a real pleasure to see Timo get a solid result and his second podium ever. He seems such a nice guy and his gamble on inters really deserved a reward.

Kimi and Ferrari sadly had another race to forget. Things started well and the Finn was in a solid 5th (doesn’t that sound awful - he should be fighting for wins!). Sadly the team jumped the gun with the decision to switch to full wets at his first stop, when the rain hadn’t even started to fall properly yet. This wrecked his race before it had even started but if a restart had happened he wouldn’t have been part of it as the KERS system on his car was playing up again - I’m guessing the river of water on the circuit he had to drive through might have had something to do with it. 

So with the race red flagged and aborted Kimi was placed 14th. Totally gutting to see the Kimster finish in such a low, ‘pointless’ position and it seemed the only highlight to race day was seeing him chillaxing with an ice cream and can of coke, while the rest of the field were stressing out over the possible restart!

I really feel most of all for the fans at the circuit though (especially those who travelled a long way), who waited for almost an hour in the rain not knowing if they’d see anymore racing or not . I’d have been frustrated, gutted and angry (like I was at Indy 2005) but maybe thats just me.

All in all a very bad start to the season for Raikkonen and his fans. Two races and no points. However all of the other teams/drivers you would have expected to be fighting for the title are on minimal or no points as well. So thats a bonus I guess. 

Jemela Coventry

Race Results

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Button        Brawn GP              (B)  55:30.622
 2.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  + 22.722
 3.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  + 23.513
 4.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  + 46.173
 5.  Barrichello   Brawn GP              (B)  + 47.360
 6.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  + 52.333
 7.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  + 60.733
 8.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)  + 71.576
 9.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  + 76.932
10.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  + 102.164
11.  Alonso        Renault               (B)  + 109.422
12.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  + 116.130
13.  Piquet        Renault               (B)  + 116.731
14.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  + 142.841
15.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +  1 lap
16.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +  1 lap
17.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  (B)  +  1 lap
18.  Fisichella    Force India-Mercedes  (B)  +  2 lap
Fastest lap: Button, 1:36.641

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)     1
Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)     0

Join the forum discussion on this post - (4) Posts

Bridgestone’s soft tyre allowed Jenson Button to set an exciting pole lap of 1min 35.181secs at Sepang for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Button took pole by just over nine hundredths from Panasonic Toyota Racing’s Jarno Trulli. Track conditions were improved from Friday, with more rubber down, but teams and drivers still struggled to find the best compromises with the exciting new cars and Bridgestone’s slick tyres.

Q&A with Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development

What was significant about today’s running?
“Today showed us that the cars are very close to each other on lap times. For example, in FP3 the top thirteen cars were covered by a second. In terms of tyre performance, the soft tyre has an advantage of about around 1.0-1.3 seconds over its best lap. The soft is able to deliver its best lap time generally on its first flying lap and the performance drop-off does not appear to be as extreme as we saw with the super soft tyre in Australia. The hard gives its best lap time after around 3-4 laps and we have seen very durable performance from it, so it should be the better race tyre.”

How have track conditions evolved since Friday, and what are your predictions for the race?
“Sepang is an interesting circuit as the track surface improves a lot over the course of the race weekend. This is because the high temperatures mean that the rubber laid melts into the track surface allowing very good surface from a grip point of view. Race strategy should be interesting here, as the difference between the tyres in terms of performance drop-off is not as great as in Australia, so there could be more strategy options.”

Sunday saw the start of the 2009 Formula 1 season – and what a start it was! Whichever team or driver you support, there’s no doubt that the Melbourne GP was packed full of excitement and intrigue – from qualifying disqualifications to outstanding shows of speed.

The talk of the weekend was Brawn GP – resurrected from the ashes of Honda, the Brackley based team dominated the pack in both qualifying and the race, scoring an impressive 1-2 despite Barrichello’s many collisions and Button’s battle with the safety car. The pair seem unbeatable – but can they carry their successful form through the rest of the season?

One team who will be hoping their form doesn’t continue is Ferrari – who experienced a disappointing start to the season with a double DNF. The Ferrari duo were outpaced during qualifying and yet again struggled with their tyres – despite showing promising speed during the race. It could have been a podium finish for Kimi and Felipe, but reliability issues and an unfortunate meeting with a wall cut their races short. Many Raikkonen fans are now worrying that the Iceman is melting – last year we saw Kimi crash out of races with little explanation. However, Kimi doesn’t seem convinced it was his mistake – and with no comment on Massa’s retirement, do Ferrari know more than they are letting on?

Melbourne saw a bittersweet start to the season for McLaren and reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton. After a problematic qualifying session, Heikki’s race was cut short after a collision with Barrichello, while Hamilton was gifted 3rd place after a barrage of retirements and Toyota’s double penalty.

It seems that, yet again, the F1 standings are being decided by appeals and punishments – in just one week we have seen an appeal over a controversial diffuser, a 25 second penalty for a dubious incident under the safety car and a 10 place penalty for Vettel’s unfortunate overtaking manoeuvre.

How was Trulli penalised for passing under the safety car, when Hamilton did the same thing? Why is it that Vettel has been so harshly punished, while Rubens escaped unscathed from his first lap clash with Kovalainen? The new regulations are intended to encourage overtaking – and yet we’re seeing true racers penalised for doing their job. It’s time to accept that there will be accidents in the high paced world of motor racing – here’s hoping that this inconsistency doesn’t tarnish what’s set to be the most exciting season in years.

Nakajima and Piquet continued to add to the excitement of this race – with both of them providing spectacular but not so surprising crashes. Sebastian Buemi was more of a surprise – scoring points in his F1 debut. Bourdais carried on the success of the Sebastians with another top 8 finish, however Vettel’s luck ran out in the closing stages as his Red Bull fought with Kubica’s BMW, leaving them both down and out.

There’s not long to wait before round two at Sepang, Malaysia – and with weather forecasts of thunderstorms we could be in for another nail-biting race! It’s a track that Kimi knows and loves and I’m optimistic that we’ll see the return of our Iceman. Australia may have been a disappointment for us Kimi fans, but he’s keeping an open mind and so must we. Melbourne was just one race – there’s a long way to go yet!

Sarah Peacock

GoKimi forum member ‘kimi_the_icesnail”

Australian GP - Sunday Bridgestone Press Release - 29th March

Bridgestone Potenza slick tyres made their grand prix return in the Australian Grand Prix where Jenson Button made the perfect debut for the Brawn GP team by using a medium-medium-super soft tyre strategy to win the first race of the season run to Formula One’s exciting new regulations.

Button took his race win leading team-mate Rubens Barrichello and Panasonic Toyota Racing driver Jarno Trulli across the line, however Trulli was later penalised for passing whilst behind the safety car, and fourth across the line Lewis Hamilton (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes) was awarded third. Barrichello used the same strategy as Button, whilst Hamilton started on the super soft tyre and twice changed to the medium. The latest specification cars and Bridgestone’s slick tyres meant an exciting and challenging 58 laps in Albert Park with the different performance of Bridgestone’s two compounds one of the talking points of the event.

Q&A with Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development
How was the first race of 2009 from Bridgestone’s perspective?
“Firstly, congratulations to Jenson Button and the Brawn GP team for winning and Rubens Barrichello for coming second in an exceptionally exciting race. Congratulations too, to the FIA for the new regulations and the teams for developing such exciting and quick new cars. This was a significant race as it shows that the changes for 2009 have made a big difference for Formula One. Bridgestone’s slick tyres and our new allocation philosophy gave competitors a lot to think about and some managed better than others. Tyre strategy was crucial to making up places, and the key to getting a good result here was having a good setup with the super soft tyre as the performance of this tyre dropped off very quickly. The medium tyre was very robust and allowed good strategy and setup options for teams.”

What did you think of the different tyre strategies used?
“This was the first race for teams with our new tyres so there were many different approaches over the weekend. From Saturday’s data we knew that the super soft tyre was around 1.2 seconds faster than the medium over its first flying lap so those who started on the super soft had a good advantage at the beginning. However, those who used the super soft for their last stint benefitted from the improved track surface due to rubber laid during the race. We predicted that the super soft tyre would be around 5-6 seconds slower if it was used from the start of the race until half distance, which is why we did not see many long stints on this tyre.”

Australian GP - Saturday Bridgestone Press Release

Bridgestone’s super soft tyre provided Jenson Button with the grip he needed to get pole position for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne as the Brawn GP team made its grand prix qualifying debut in perfect fashion.

Button took pole with a lap of 1min 26.202secs in hot weather at Albert Park, edging out team-mate Rubens Barrichello by just over three hundredths of a second. Track conditions were improved from Friday, with more rubber down, but teams and drivers still struggled to find the best compromises with the exciting new cars and Bridgestone’s slick tyres.

Q&A with Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development

What was significant about today’s running?
“Today was very significant for Formula One as Brawn GP have achieved pole position with Jenson Button in their first grand prix, so congratulations to them. The past two days have been very difficult for teams and drivers as they are learning about their new cars and our new tyres on the variable track surface of Albert Park. We have seen many different tyre wear characteristics, even from the same cars, which highlights the many different setups being tried. The performance life of the super soft was improved today, however it was mainly used with low fuel so we would expect better performance in any case. The medium continues to look like a strong race tyre.”

How difficult will strategy be with the new allocation philosophy?
“Tyre strategy should be very difficult and this is the desired outcome. We have heard drivers say that the super soft is too soft for here and the medium is too hard, and that is by design. In conjunction with the desires of the FIA to enhance overtaking opportunities, we are not bringing optimum tyres here in terms of their performance, instead we are bringing tyres which make the teams and drivers think hard before they use them. When to use the medium or the super soft tyres in the race is not the only consideration, as the setup of the car has to be a compromise in the race to allow it to work with both tyres. It will be a lot of work for the engineers and drivers, but should provide a lot of entertainment for the spectators and viewers.”

1. Jenson Button Britain Brawn-Mercedes 1m 26.202s
2. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Brawn-Mercedes 1m 26.505s
3. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 26.830s
4. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 1m 26.914s
5. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Toyota 1m 26.973s
6. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 27.033s
7. Kimi Raikkonen Finland Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 27.163s
8. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 27.246s
9. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber 1m 25.504s
10. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault 1m 25.605s
11. Kazuki Nakajima Japan Williams-Toyota 1m 25.607s
12. Heikki Kovalainen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 1m 25.726s
13. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 26.503s
14. Nelson Piquet Jr Brazil Renault-Renault 1m 26.598s
15. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Force India-Mercedes 1m 26.677s
16. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 26.742s
17. Sebastien Bourdais France Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 26.964s
18. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes no time Q2*
19. Timo Glock Germany Toyota-Toyota 1m 26.975s**
20. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota 1m 27.127s**

all times unofficial

* denotes driver penalised five places for gearbox change; ** denotes driver with times deleted for technical infringement

Weightings:
1. Jenson Button 664.5kg
2. Rubens Barrichello 666.5kg
3. Sebastien Vettel 657kg
4. Robert Kubica 650kg
5. Nico Rosberg 657kg
6. Felipe Massa 654kg
7. Kimi Raikkonen 655.5kg
8. Mark Webber 662kg
9. Nick Heidfeld 691.5kg
10. Fernando Alonso 680.7kg
11. Kazuki Nakajima 680.5kg 
12. Heikki Kovalainen 690.6kg
13. Sebastien Buemi 675.5kg
14. Nelson Piquet 694.1kg
15. Giancarlo Fisichella 689kg
16. Adrian Sutil 684.5kg
17. Sebastien Bourdais 662.5kg
18. Lewis Hamilton 655kg
19. Jarno Trulli 660kg
20. Timo Glock 670kg

Full results, sector times, speed trap  here

Protest lodged over Brawn, Toyota and Williams diffusers

The much-talked-about diffuser designs on the Brawn GP, Toyota and Williams cars have become the subject of an offical protest from rivals in Melbourne, after they cleared Thursday scrutineering with the Albert Park stewards.

All three teams are believed to have found a loophole in the regulations which allows them to run a taller diffuser. However, four fellow teams - BMW Sauber, Ferrari, Red Bull and Renault - have objected, questioning the legality of the designs.

The stewards must now decide whether to allow the cars in question to race in their current form. However, should there be any appeal over that decision, it would come down to the FIA to determine the diffusers’ legality, possibly at a later date.

Source - F1.com