Results
01 M. Webber Red Bull 1:32:23.081
02 R. Kubica BMW + 7.626
03 L. Hamilton McLaren + 18.944
04 S. Vettel Red Bull + 19.652
05 J. Button Brawn GP + 29.005
06 K. Räikkönen Ferrari + 33.340
07 S. Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 35.991
08 R. Barrichello Brawn GP + 45.454
09 H. Kovalainen McLaren + 48.499
10 K. Kobayashi Toyota + 1:03.321
11 G. Fisichella Ferrari + 1:10.600
12 V. Liuzzi Force India F1 + 1:11.300
13 R. Grosjean Renault + 1 lap(s)
14 J. Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1 lap(s)
Did not finish
15 K. Nakajima Williams + 41 lap(s)
16 N. Rosberg Williams + 44 lap(s)
17 N. Heidfeld BMW + 50 lap(s)
18 A. Sutil Force India F1 + 71 lap(s)
19 J. Trulli Toyota + 71 lap(s)
20 F. Alonso Renault + 71 lap(s)

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Mark Webber (Red Bull Racing) took his second race win of the season in a thrilling and exciting Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos where Jenson Button clinched this year’s FIA Formula One drivers’ championship.

Webber used a medium-medium-super soft tyre strategy in a dry race to finish ahead of Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber F1 Team) and Lewis Hamilton (Vodafone McLaren Mercedes). Pole-sitter Rubens Barrichello finished eighth.

Button’s fifth position gives him an unassailable lead in the drivers’ championship while the Brawn GP Formula 1 Team sealed the 2009 constructors’ championship.

Hiroshi Yasukawa – Director of Bridgestone Motorsport, says
“Well done to Mark Webber and Red Bull Racing for Mark’s second win today and many congratulations to Jenson and Ross and all of the team for winning both the drivers’ and constructors’ championships in such fantastic fashion. The story of Brawn GP is an amazing one and many millions of people around the world have seen such an exciting race that definitely added something fascinating to the sport. These were tremendous achievements. We always see exciting races here and enjoy the fabulous atmosphere created by the Brazilian fans. It’s been a long and hard fought season and we are proud to be the Official Tyre Supplier to this great sport.”

Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development, says
“Once again Interlagos gave us some surprises, and a thrilling race. Most people expected more rain today, but the race was dry. Many people thought that the super soft Bridgestone would not be durable, but it worked better than predicted. Heidfeld used it at the start and Raikkonen used it twice without major issue. After so much rain yesterday the track was very green so we saw a lot of surface improvement through the race. Lap times were quite slow as the surface was still not at its best, especially in sector two. Well done to Webber, who drove a very controlled race for Red Bull, Kubica and BMW Sauber who used a good strategy for second, and Hamilton and McLaren who showed good patience for third. We are investigating Barrichello’s tyre, as it appears that a puncture caused air loss. It was sad to see Barrichello and Vettel’s championship hopes dashed but well done to winners Jenson Button and Brawn Grand Prix for such well deserved wins.”

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

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So after months of talking the talk, Lewis wins a race in the MP4-24. Its the first ever KERS win, in fact this weekend was the first time KERS cars came out on top! I don’t want get to excited about it all though as I’m sure the circuit’s characteristics helped both Mclaren & Ferrari move further up the standing.

Brawn do however seem to be struggling, not only with pace and tyre issues but safety as it was a spring from Rubens’ car that sadly hit Felipe Massa on the head during the end of Saturday’s Q2. This accident seemed to unsettle Barrichello and with his focus for that weekend clearly with his friend Felipe he had a disappointing race finishing 10th.

A mixed race for Red Bull with Vettel retiring due to suspension damage caused by his tussle with Raikkonen and Webber managing to hang onto the back of the KERS cars and bring his home in 3rd. The Australian confirming his place as a title rival for his team mate & the Brawn GP team.

Raikkonen put in a brilliant effort in Hungary. With another amazing start, he looked like the fearless Kimi of old. He went from 7th to 4th at the first corner, fighting wheel to wheel with Vettel, Hamilton & Webber! He managed to hold on to 2nd place in the final stages of the GP, even though Webber was closing in. 

He looked after his tyres and pushed as hard as he could but couldn’t quite match the McLaren of Hamilton. Kimi’s result also put Ferrari into 3rd position in the constructors, although the teams thoughts were clearly with Massa as they all dedicated this result to him. Lets hope the fire has returned and we’ll see Kimi fighting in F1 again for the next year or so at least, before he thinks of moving over to WRC. After all no matter how impressive his debut is at Rally Finland, he’s won’t get a top seat in a top team for 2010 and thats what he’ll be after. He’ll only be in it to win!

Nico Rosberg put in another impressive performance in his williams, finishing 4th again. He’s having a very consistent year and Williams will be desperate to keep hold of him.

Shockingly hours after the race we learn that Renault are to be excluded from the forthcoming European GP, for releasing Alonso without warning him his wheel wasn’t fitted correctly.  Something that will outrage not only the team & its drivers (although Piquet doesn’t look like he’ll be around!) but more importantly the thousands of Alonso fans who’ll have bought tickets for this 2nd Spanish race. It seems a little harsh as its a knee jerk reaction to Massa’s Q2 incident and the unfortunate accident in F2 which sadly took the life of young Henry Surtees. 

So after an unusually exciting and eventful race weekend in Hungary (without the need for any rain) and great return to form, here’s hoping Kimi can: hold on to this positive momentum, ignore the Schumi returning to Ferrari hype and get a good result in Valencia. 

Most of all though we wish Massa a speedy recovery. Forza Felipe & Go Kimi!

Jemela Coventry

GoKimi Team

Results
01 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:38:23.876
02 K. Räikkönen Ferrari + 11.529
03 M. Webber Red Bull + 16.886
04 N. Rosberg Williams + 26.967
05 H. Kovalainen McLaren + 34.392
06 T. Glock Toyota + 35.237
07 J. Button Brawn GP + 55.088
08 J. Trulli Toyota + 1:08.172
09 K. Nakajima Williams + 1:08.774
10 R. Barrichello Brawn GP + 1:09.256
11 N. Heidfeld BMW + 1:10.600
12 N.Piquet Renault + 1:11.500
13 R. Kubica BMW + 1:14.000
14 G. Fisichella Force India F1 + 1 laps
15 J. Alguersuari Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1 laps
16 S. Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1 laps
Did not finish
17 S. Vettel Red Bull + 41 laps
18 F. Alonso Renault + 55 laps
19 A. Sutil Force India F1 + 69 laps

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

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We never did get that dramatic wet race we were promised. It seems yet again that was reserved for the GP2 Sprint Race! We did get however a new addition to the Grand Prix winners list as Mark Webber one the race in dominant form.

After 8 years of trying it wasn’t a surprise to hear his radio transmission after his crossed the line! It was refreshing to hear him so passionate and elated, although a lot of it was probably relief I’m sure.

The biggest surprise wasn’t that he won it but that he managed to cross the line P1 even after being handed a ridiculous driver through penalty by the stewards and without the help of rain. His team were ’stoked’ off course, especially as this was the second 1-2 in a row for Red Bull.

Vettel missed out on that home win his fans wanted so much but he did an awesome job to finish second and still take more points of championship leader Button. Brawn must be pretty worried now as Red Bull can beat them in the wet & dry. The only thing against Red Bull’s title hopes is that they have two very competitive drivers and are doing things fairly by not backing one horse this early on.

Massa and Rosberg had a great race and managed to beat the Brawns to third and fourth place, thanks to a pitstop refuelling error for Rubens and both cars struggling with their tyres towards the later stages of the race. Alonso too was on a charge in the late stages

Another bad day for Hamilton with his race effectively over by lap 1. He kept asking to retire and save the engine & gearbox but McLaren kept him out running last just in case the rain came but it didn’t.

It feels like deja vu writing this review as sadly it was yet another disappointing race result for our Kimster. And yet again another retirement. Kimi had another great start and with the heavier full loads the Ferrari’s were carrying it was looking promising for some solid points. 

Unfortunately things went wrong as early as lap 14, when Kimi’s car was damaged by some debris effecting his pace and then this finally ended his race after a lose of  power.

Sadly that wasn’t all of Kimi’s bad luck for this race. It seems that the BBC F1 team are just as keen on bring up the Kimi/Sutil Monaco 08 accident up at every race possible as ITV-F1 were. Now even more so after Raikkonen and Sutil had a coming together as Sutil exited the pits. It was clearly a racing incident, with Adrian blaming himself more than Kimi, yet BBC commentary decided to bash Kimi and had him a ‘penalty’ for Hungary. Luckily the stewards decided not to after reviewing the incident after the GP.

We now look to the Hungarian GP. Its a circuit that should suit the Ferrari’s and Massa has shown they can beat the Brawns. So Kimi will be aiming for a podium. Lets hope lady luck is on his side this time.

Jemela Coventry

Gokimi.com

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The German Grand Prix

Nurburgring, Germamy;

60 laps; 306.458km;

Weather: Cloudy, dry.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time

 1.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1h36:43.310

 2.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +     9.252

 3.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  +    15.906

 4.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)  +    21.099

 5.  Button        Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  +    23.609

 6.  Barrichello   Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  +    24.468

 7.  Alonso        Renault               (B)  +    24.888

 8.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +    58.692

 9.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  +  1:01.457

10.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  +  1:01.925

11.  Fisichella    Force India-Mercedes  (B)  +  1:02.327

12.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  +  1:02.876

13.  Piquet        Renault               (B)  +  1:08.328

14.  Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)  +  1:09.555

15.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  (B)  +  1:11.941

16.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +  1:30.225

17.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  +  1:30.970

18.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  +     1 lap

Fastest lap: Alonso, 1:33.365

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap

Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)    35

Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)    19

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

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Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber scored his first ever F1 race win after he used a two stop, super soft – medium – medium tyre strategy to win a fast-paced German Grand Prix in difficult conditions at Nurburgring. 



Despite being given a drive-through penalty for causing an avoidable collision at the start, Webber finished 9.2 seconds ahead of team-mate Sebastian Vettel with Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro driver Felipe Massa taking third. Vettel used a super soft – medium – super soft strategy and Massa used a super soft – super soft - medium strategy for his first podium finish of the season. 



Hirohide Hamashima - Bridgestone Director of Motorsport Tyre Development, says 
“Congratulations to Mark Webber for taking his first ever Grand Prix win at the 130th attempt. This illustrates the Japanese proverb ‘continuing is the force’ and we are very happy that this win occurred using Bridgestone tyres. From a tyre analysis perspective this was a thrilling race. The conditions, such as temperature and track condition, meant that for most of the race it was very difficult to determine which was the better race tyre. This meant that drivers and strategists had to use a lot of brain power today and we saw a good variety of strategies through the field, even from drivers in the same team. 



“The track conditions started very green and this caused some competitors who started on the super soft tyre problems with graining and degradation. Some competitors used the medium compound very well, and Fernando Alonso was notable with his fastest lap on this tyre, however others struggled for grip and temperature with this tyre. This all added to the interest.” 


Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

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01 M. Webber Red Bull 1:32.230
02 R. Barrichello Brawn GP 1:32.357
03 J. Button Brawn GP 1:32.473
04 S. Vettel Red Bull 1:32.480
05 L. Hamilton McLaren 1:32.616
06 H. Kovalainen McLaren 1:33.859
07 A. Sutil Force India F1 1:34.316
08 F. Massa Ferrari 1:34.574
09 K. Räikkönen Ferrari 1:34.710
10 N. Piquet jr. Renault 1:34.803
11 N. Heidfeld BMW 1:42.310
12 F. Alonso Renault 1:42.318
13 K. Nakajima Williams 1:42.500
14 J. Trulli Toyota 1:42.771
15 N. Rosberg Williams 1:42.859
16 R. Kubica BMW 1:32.190
17 S. Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:32.251
18 G. Fisichella Force India F1 1:32.402
19 T. Glock Toyota 1:32.423
20 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:33.559

Post Qualifying car weights, sorted by qualifying position:

Pos  Driver                             Weight (kg)

 1.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault       661.0

 2.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes         647.0

 3.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes         644.0

 4.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault       661.0

 5.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes       654.5

 6.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes       664.0

 7.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes   678.5

 8.  Massa        Ferrari                673.5

 9.  Raikkonen    Ferrari                674.0

10.  Piquet       Renault                676.0

11.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber             681.0*

12.  Alonso       Renault                668.2*

13.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota        683.6*

14.  Trulli       Toyota                 683.7*

15.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota        689.6*

16.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber             673.5*

17.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari     674.5*

18.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes   662.5*

19.  Glock        Toyota                 662.3*

20.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari     689.5*

* declared weight

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

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Bridgestone’s super soft tyre provided the grip for Red Bull Racing driver Mark Webber to qualify on his first ever Formula One pole position for tomorrow’s German Grand Prix at Nurburgring.

Webber set a time of 1min 32.230secs, just over a tenth faster than Brawn GP Formula 1 Team driver Rubens Barrichello. Jenson Button (Brawn GP Formula 1 Team) went third fastest. Notably, Adrian Sutil and Force India achieved their highest ever qualifying with seventh.

Bridgestone’s new intermediate tyre was used by a number of competitors during the qualifying session in Q2, when rainfall visited the circuit a number of times. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton used the super soft Bridgestone to go fastest in the morning session with a time of 1min 31.121secs.

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

What was significant about today’s running?
“Today was very interesting and what an exciting way for Mark Webber to achieve his first ever pole position. The weather was cold, and then we had the additional difficulty for making tyre choice of the rain falling during parts of qualifying too. This was a difficult day for the drivers behind the wheel and the team strategists on the pit wall, but both Red Bull and Brawn achieved good results.”

What are the tyre strategy considerations for tomorrow’s race?
“Anyone who is at Nurburgring will tell you that the weather is going to be the primary consideration and a lot of time tomorrow will be spent looking at the sky and wondering what will happen next. Two years ago we had a very exciting race here with very variable weather, and tomorrow we might have something similar. If it is dry and cold, then the Bridgestone super soft could be the preferred race tyre. If it is wet, then competitors will have to match their tyre choices from the Bridgestone wet, intermediate and dry tyres to the track conditions at that time. This is a very difficult task if the weather is variable, but very exciting too.” 

Image (c) Bridgestone Corporation

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