Turkish Grand Prix – 2009
There was much excitement for the start of this race. Sebastian Vettel managed to take pole position from Jensen Button after qualifying on Saturday. Vettel managed to get a good start off the line, however, a bit of a bungle on turn nine into ten sent him off the road. Button managed to sail past and kept the lead for another victory. The Red Bull cars still managed to show how well they are performing by taking the second and third podium positions. The next race is in England; home track for the race leader, Jensen Button. Wouldn’t it be fun for a man from Australia to win at Silverstone? I’ve got my fingers crossed for you, Mark.
Race Results:
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Grid | Points |
| 1 | Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes | 2 | 10 |
| 2 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 2 | 8 |
| 3 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1 | 6 |
| 4 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 5 | 5 |
| 5 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | 9 | 4 |
| 6 | Filipe Massa | Ferrari | 7 | 3 |
| 7 | Robert Kubica | BMW-Sauber | 10 | 2 |
| 8 | Timo Glock | Toyota | 13 | 1 |
| 9 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | 6 | |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 8 | |
| 11 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW-Sauber | 11 | |
| 12 | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams-Toyota | 12 | |
| 13 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 16 | |
| 14 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren-Mercedes | 14 | |
| 15 | Sebastian Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 18 | |
| 16 | Nelsinho Piquet | Renault | 17 | |
| 17 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 15 | |
| 18 | Sebastian Bourdais | STR-Ferrari | 20 | |
| Ret | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn-Mercedes | 3 | |
| Ret | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India-Mercedes | 19 |
Bahrain Grand Prix – 2009
Race 4 was held at the Sakhir Circuit in the desert of Bahrain which pretty much guaranteed a dry race. The Toyotas surprised everyone by taking the top two slots in qualifying. Sebastian Vettel started in 3rd position while Mark Weber ended up at the back of the grid in 18th position after getting caught up in traffic on his last qualifying lap. Jenson Button drove his Brawn car to another first place podium finish with Vettel taking second and Jarno Trulli of Toyota finishing in third.
There’s a two week break until the next race in Spain. It will be interesting to see how many teams arrive with new rear diffusers.
Race Results:
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Grid | Points |
| 1 | Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes | 4 | 10 |
| 2 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 3 | 8 |
| 3 | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 5 | 1 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 5 | 5 |
| 5 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn-Mercedes | 6 | 4 |
| 6 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 10 | 3 |
| 7 | Timo Glock | Toyota | 2 | 2 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 7 | 1 |
| 9 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | 9 | |
| 10 | Nelsinho Piquet | Renault | 15 | |
| 11 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 18 | |
| 12 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren-Mercedes | 11 | |
| 13 | Sebastien Bourdais | STR-Ferrari | 20 | |
| 14 | Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 8 | |
| 15 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India-Mercedes | 17 | |
| 16 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 19 | |
| 17 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 16 | |
| 18 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 13 | |
| 19 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 14 | |
| Ret | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams-Toyota | 12 |
Chinese Grand Prix – 2009
Race three was held under rainy skies in Shanghai, China. The race was started under a yellow flag and a safety car to continue this season’s trend of not having a clean start to finish race. More yellow flags and another safety car appearance after a couple of crashes by Sutil and Trulli caused more delays during the race.
All of the careful race planning and strategy that went into the amazing finish at qualifying was pretty much destroyed. This race could have been won by anyone. However, this was finally Red Bull’s moment with Vettel and Webber taking the team to a one – two finish.
Race Results:
| Pos. | Driver | Team | Grid | Points |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | RBR-Renault | 1 | 10 |
| 2 | Mark Webber | RBR-Renault | 3 | 8 |
| 3 | Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes | 5 | 6 |
| 4 | Rubens Barrichello | Brawn-Mercedes | 4 | 5 |
| 5 | Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren-Mercedes | 12 | 4 |
| 6 | Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 9 | 3 |
| 7 | Timo Glock | Toyota | 19 | 2 |
| 8 | Sebastien Buemi | STR-Ferrari | 10 | 1 |
| 9 | Fernando Alonso | Renault | 2 | |
| 10 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 8 | |
| 11 | Sebastien Bourdais | STR-Ferrari | 15 | |
| 12 | Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 11 | |
| 13 | Robert Kubica | BMW Sauber | 17 | |
| 14 | Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India-Mercedes | 20 | |
| 15 | Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | 7 | |
| 16 | Nelsinho Piquet | Renault | 16 | |
| 17 | Adrian Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 18 | |
| Ret | Kazuki Nakajima | Williams-Toyota | 14 | |
| Ret | Felipe Massa | BMW Sauber | 13 | |
| Ret | Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 6 |
The only controversy that is left swirling around is whatever the outcome may be for the McLaren team after next Wednesday’s meeting with the World Motor Sport Council in Paris. Although, McLaren has apologized and fired the main people involved in the lying scandal, they may still face some serious penalties. They could be facing a hefty fine, suspension from Spain and Monaco, exclusion from the Championship or any combination of the three. Depending on what decision is made by the WMSC, McLaren could also face the possibility of having some of its major sponsors pullout. Personally, I think a fine with a one race suspension for Hamilton may be adequate punishment. I don’t feel that the entire team should suffer for a mistake made by a few players. It would be especially unfair for Heikki Kovalainen. That’s my two cents on the topic, anyway.
We are off to Bahrain for the next race. I’m fairly sure that we should be able to avoid the rain.
Vettel ~ Alonso ~ Webber
Formula 1 racing is in China this weekend and judging by qualifying results this is going to be one hell of a race! The performance of the Red Bull cars and drivers was simply amazing. I think the diffuser broo-ha-ha can finally be laid to rest. Not only does Red Bull not have the fancy diffusers, they are also driving without KERS. Red Bull has put together a fabulous team – the cars look not only look fast, but are fast and the drivers appear comfortable behind the wheel.
Webber flew around this track during qualifying – an absolute joy to watch. Vettel sat in the garage during most of quali 2 to come out with only a minute to spare, do one lap, and post the fastest time. If that wasn’t enough to get me jumping around, he did it again in quali 3 to take pole position. I’m not even sure where in the hell Alonso came from. His car was completely redone before the start of qualifying; new diffuser and some other bits, basically making it a whole new car for him to drive for the first time. Whatever Renault did it appears to have worked.
We are going to be seeing some serious strategy come into play for the race. Both Vettel and Alonso are presumably going to be quite light on fuel. Hopefully, Vettel and Webber will have a fast starts to break away from the pack before hitting those ridiculous first couple of turns on this Shanghai track. I foresee a few front wing replacements in the first few seconds of the race.
Sebastian Vettel Explains 2009 F1 Rules
I just found this animated video showing Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber of Red Bull describing the changes the cars have undergone for the 2009 season.
2010 F1 Schedule
Date Location Mar. 14 
Sakhir - Bahrain Mar. 28 
Melbourne - Australia Apr. 04 
Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia Apr. 18 
Shanghai - China May 09 
Barcelona - Spain May 16 
Monaco May 30 
Istanbul - Turkey Jun. 13 
Montreal - Canada Jun. 27 Valencia - Spain Jul. 11 
Silverstone - Great Britain Jul. 25 
Hockenheim - Germany Aug. 01 
Budapest - Hungary Aug. 29 
Spa-Francorchamps - Belgium Sep. 12 
Monza - Italy Sep. 26 
Singapore Oct. 10 
Suzuka - Japan Oct. 24 
South Korea Nov. 07 
Sao Paulo - Brazil Nov. 14 
Abu Dhabi - United Arab Emirates -
