Formula 1 2006 by G

[G.Irish]

The Empire Strikes Back!

So, without further ado, Bahrain qualifying:

1. Michael Schumacher Ferrari-Ferrari 01:31.431
2. Felipe Massa Ferrari-Ferrari 01:31.478
3. Jenson Button Honda-Honda 01:31.549
4. Fernando Alonso Renault-Renault 01:31.702
5. Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 01:32.164
6. Rubens Barrichello Honda-Honda 01:32.579
7. Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 01:33.006
8. Christian Klien Red Bull-Ferrari 01:33.112
9. Giancarlo Fisichella Renault-Renault 01:33.495
10. Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 01:33.926
11. Jacques Villeneuve BMW Sauber 01:32.456
12. Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 01:32.620
13. David Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari 01:32.650
14. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota 01:33.066
15. Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Cosworth 01:33.416*
16. Scott Speed Toro Rosso-Cosworth 01:34.606*
17. Ralf Schumacher Toyota-Toyota 01:34.702
18. Christijan Albers Midland-Toyota 01:35.724
19. Tiago Monteiro Midland-Toyota 01:35.900
20. Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 01:37.411
21. Yuji Ide Super Aguri-Honda 01:40.270
22. Kimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes no time

This year's qualifying has changed format again and I must say it was kinda cool. There are three sessions, and in each session the slowest cars get eliminated. The final session has some sort of complicated 110% fuel rule that I'll have to look up, but it was pretty entertaining.

Good
Ferrari is back with a vengeance. True to form, the extra testing they did at Bahrain paid off. Schumacher secured his 65th career pole position which ties him with all time leader, the late great Ayrton Senna.

Schumie's teammate Felipe Massa was less than a tenth of a second off and actually got held up by a little bit of traffic. In the press conference he seemed kind of pissed about it and I get the feeling he might be the type to do something overaggressive just to prove he's not afraid of MS.

Honda's impressive pre-season pace translated into a 3rd place start for Jenson Button. He too got held up on his last qualifying lap where he might have been able to pip Schumacher.

Bad
Not that qualifying 4th is bad but everyone expected Renault to be the class of the field this weekend so I have to say 4th is a bit of dissapointment for the defending champ. However the Renault typically excels at the start so its not all bad for Fernando. However his teammate qualified in 9th which is the kind of performance that will see Fisichella unemployed if he keeps it up.

Ugly
If you're wondering what happened to Kimi` his rear wing broke sending him flying off track in the first session. In for a rough season: McLaren.

Also in for a rough season is Toyota. To have two of the racecars formerly known as Minardis (Scuderia Toro Rosso) qualify ahead of even one of your cars is quite embarassing. Especially considering that Toyota is the number one spender in F1.

The Super Aguri Hondas are about as far off pace as I had expected but damn, Yuji Ide is 3 seconds off Sato. Maybe Super Aguri is gonna have to rethink this whole "All Japanese Team" thing if they don't wanna look stupid. I'll explain their situation later but they're basically running a modified 2002 Arrows chassis but will be running an updated BAR-Honda chassis when the European rounds start.

G, you should be a race commentator

I'd have to come up with some trademark sayings to exclaim at random intervals during the broadcast

[Maengelito]

Ugly
If you're wondering what happened to Kimi` his rear wing broke sending him flying off track in the first session. In for a rough season: McLaren.

G, you should be a race commentator

I'd have to come up with some trademark sayings to exclaim at random intervals during the broadcast

"OH SNAP!"

[G.Irish]

"OH SNAP!"

[Andy]

Why does Michael Schumacher blip the throttle several times during braking?

[CaptainHenreh]

Why does Michael Schumacher blip the throttle several times during braking?

He's shifting gears.

[G.Irish]

Yeah, don't know why he has to do it where Alonso (and probably several others) didn't. Perhaps it has to do with Renault's engine braking system. I know some of the Moto GP bikes have it, didn't know some of the F1 cars have it too until today.

[Evan]

dotn forget Christian Klien, qualifying 8th and ahead of a renault, 2 bmws and 2 toyotas is damn impressive.
Scott Speed did pretty good too in his first F1 qualifying, although he is going to have to step it up and at least beat his team mate

im really digging the 2 team rule. its nice to have 20+ cars on grid

[G.Irish]

Results

1. Fernando Alonso Renault-Renault 57 laps 01:29:46.205
2. Michael Schumacher Ferrari-Ferrari +1.2
3. Kimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes +19.3
4. Jenson Button Honda-Honda +19.9
5. Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes +37.0
6. Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth +41.9
7. Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth +63.0
8. Christian Klien Red Bull-Ferrari +66.7

9. Felipe Massa Ferrari-Ferrari +69.9
10. David Coulthard Red Bull-Ferrari +75.5
11. Vitantonio Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Cosworth +85.9*
12. Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber +1 lap
13. Scott Speed Toro Rosso-Cosworth +1 lap*
14. Ralf Schumacher Toyota-Toyota +1 lap
15. Rubens Barrichello Honda-Honda +1 lap
16. Jarno Trulli Toyota-Toyota +1 lap
17. Tiago Monteiro Midland-Toyota +2 laps
18. Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda +4 laps

Rtd Yuji Ide Super Aguri-Honda 35 laps completed
Rtd Jacques Villeneuve BMW Sauber 29 laps completed
Rtd Giancarlo Fisichella Renault-Renault 21 laps completed
Rtd Christijan Albers Midland-Toyota 0 laps completed

[G.Irish]

^^^^ Teams on the up ^^^^
Williams
Looks like the Cosworth V8 truly is the most powerful engine (or one of the) on the grid. What's even more satisfying about their performance is that they utterly outclassed the BMW Sauber team.

The BMW Williams relationship degraded into public acrimony last season with each side blaming the other for the poor results on track. BMW packed up and got with the Sauber outfit while Williams opted for Cosworth power. The result? 6-7 finish for Williams, a 12th and a blown engine for BMW Sauber.

Ferrari
Ferrari's 2005 season was a disaster by their previously dominating standards but 2006 is off to a great start. Had it not been for a spin and some boneheaded buffoonery by the pit crew Felipe Massa surely would have finished in the points as well.

Great start for Michael Schumacher, who may have the hardest title fight of his career on his hands.

<<<< Eh >>>>
Honda
After racking up the most test miles of any team during the preseason the Honda F1 squad looked poised to get two cars in the points and at least one podium. But clutch problems slowed Button's start from P3, dropping him back a few spots where he was slowed up for the first few laps (in a scrap with teammate Barrichello).

Barrichello didn't qualify well and ended up suffering a failure of his 3rd gear which destroyed any chances of finshing well. Somewhat unexpected for a team that ran so reliably in the preseason to have two serious problems in the first race. Still, the car is fairly quick and will be in the fight at the front for the first part of the season.

Mclaren Mercedes
Mclaren came out of the race with a 3-5 finish which ties them for the lead in the constructor's championship. But how many times this season are Kimi and Juan going to have to start from the back of the grid with reliability problems. A good weekend for them considering Kimi's wreck but not good that their reliability is still a question mark.

VVVV Bleh VVVV
Toyota
To have the team with the biggest budget in Formula finish behind the former Minardis is what could be called a disaster. At this point no one can blame either Ralf Schumacher or Jarno Trulli, the TF106B is obviously a dog.

This not bode well for the Toyota F1 program because the head honchos were ready to pull the plug last season if they didn't get a podium. They got the podium last season but now they are waaayyy out in the wilderness. Hopefully they'll be able to gather it up before the end of the year.

Super-Aguri Honda
It seems a little unfair to give them a thumbs down since the expectations were so low but they did look somewhat comical out there. This is what happens when you try to throw together a Formula 1 team at the last minute. Still, I think they'll look massively better when their new chassis debuts.


Best Drives
Although Alonso drove a great race to beat 7 time champ Michael Schumacher, his was not the most impressive drive of the day...

Kimi Raikkonen
Kimi had to start from dead last yet again because of a suspension failure (that tored off rear bodywork and wing) during qualifying. His team switched him to a 1 stop fuel strategy and he was able to storm all the way through the pack to finish in 3rd place. This routine is starting to get old with Mclaren though...

Nico Rosberg
Nico Rosberg (son of 1982 F1 world champion Keke Rosberg) won the GP2 championship last season and in his first ever F1 Grand Prix, recorded the fastest lap of the race!

He actually spun early on and lost about 45 seconds of time, had he not lost that, he probably would've finished fourth. Late in the race he made some masterful passes on the two Red Bull cars, very impressive for a rookie. This guy is the real deal.

[G.Irish]

Friday Practice 1 at Sepang (Malaysian GP) is on at 1 am on Speed!

[G.Irish]

Again, let it be noted that a lot of the heavy hitter teams don't run very hard on Friday practice because their engine has to last two race weekends.

Sepang Friday Practice times:

Practice 1
1. Alexander Wurz Austria Williams-Cosworth
01:34.946
2. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 01:35.733
3. Anthony Davidson Britain Honda-Honda 01:35.997
4. Juan Pablo Montoya Colombia McLaren-Mercedes 01:36.709
5. David Coulthard Britain Red Bull-Ferrari 01:37.042
6. Michael Schumacher Germany Ferrari-Ferrari 01:37.043
7. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 01:37.557
8. Robert Doornbos Holland Red Bull-Ferrari 01:37.604
9. Ralf Schumacher Germany Toyota-Toyota 01:37.826
10. Christian Klien Austria Red Bull-Ferrari 01:38.448
11. Neel Jani Switzerland Toro Rosso-Cosworth 01:38.668*
12. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota 01:38.837
13. Scott Speed American Toro Rosso-Cosworth 01:39.599*
14. Tiago Monteiro Portugal Midland-Toyota 01:39.899
15. Giorgio Mondini Switzerland Midland-Toyota 01:40.092
16. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Toro Rosso-Cosworth 01:40.123*
17. Christijan Albers Holland Midland-Toyota 01:40.608
18. Takuma Sato Japan Super Aguri-Honda 01:41.072
19. Yuji Ide Japan Super Aguri-Honda 01:43.449
20. Kimi Raikkonen Finland McLaren-Mercedes no time
21. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault no time
22. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Renault-Renault no time
23. Jacques Villeneuve Canada BMW Sauber no time
24. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber no time
25. Mark Webber Australia Williams-Cosworth no time
26. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Cosworth no time
27. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Honda-Honda no time
28. Jenson Button Britain Honda-Honda no time

Practice 2
1. Anthony Davidson Britain Honda-Honda 01:35.041
2. Alexander Wurz Austria Williams-Cosworth 01:35.388
3. Fernando Alonso Spain Renault-Renault 01:35.806
4. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 01:35.924
5. Kimi Raikkonen Finland McLaren-Mercedes 01:36.132
6. Giancarlo Fisichella Italy Renault-Renault 01:36.182
7. Michael Schumacher Germany Ferrari-Ferrari 01:36.617
8. Jenson Button Britain Honda-Honda 01:36.661
9. Jacques Villeneuve Canada BMW Sauber 01:37.045
10. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Honda-Honda 01:37.270
11. Jarno Trulli Italy Toyota-Toyota 01:37.317
12. Nick Heidfeld Germany BMW Sauber 01:37.418
13. Robert Kubica Poland BMW Sauber 01:37.457
14. Juan Pablo Montoya Colombia McLaren-Mercedes 01:37.463
15. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Toro Rosso-Cosworth 01:37.590*
16. David Coulthard Britain Red Bull-Ferrari 01:37.603
17. Ralf Schumacher Germany Toyota-Toyota 01:37.695
18. Neel Jani Switzerland Toro Rosso-Cosworth 01:37.831*
19. Scott Speed American Toro Rosso-Cosworth 01:37.926*
20. Mark Webber Australia Williams-Cosworth 01:38.081
21. Nico Rosberg Germany Williams-Cosworth 01:38.205
22. Giorgio Mondini Switzerland Midland-Toyota 01:38.256
23. Christian Klien Austria Red Bull-Ferrari 01:38.644
24. Christijan Albers Holland Midland-Toyota 01:38.918
25. Robert Doornbos Holland Red Bull-Ferrari 01:39.105
26. Tiago Monteiro Portugal Midland-Toyota 01:39.416
27. Takuma Sato Japan Super Aguri-Honda 01:41.549
28. Yuji Ide Japan Super Aguri-Honda 01:43.164

[G.Irish]

Sepang Qualifying

1 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault 1:33.840
2 Jenson Button Honda 1:33.986
3 Nico Rosberg Williams-Cosworth 1:34.626
4 Michael Schumacher Ferrari 1:34.668
5 Mark Webber Williams-Cosworth 1:34.672
6 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes 1:34.916
7 Kimi R├ñikk├Ânen McLaren-Mercedes 1:34.983
8 Fernando Alonso Renault 1:35.747
9 Christian Klien RBR-Ferrari 1:38.715
10 Ralf Schumacher Toyota 1:34.586*
11 David Coulthard RBR-Ferrari 1:34.614*
12 Rubens Barrichello Honda 1:34.683*
13 Jarno Trulli Toyota 1:34.702*
14 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-BMW 1:34.752*
15 Nick Heidfeld Sauber-BMW 1:34.783*
16 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:35.091*
17 Scott Speed STR-Cosworth 1:36.297**
18 Vitantonio Liuzzi STR-Cosworth 1:36.581**
19 Christijan Albers MF1-Toyota 1:37.426**
20 Tiago Monteiro MF1-Toyota 1:37.819**
21 Takuma Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:39.011**
22 Yuji Ide Super Aguri-Honda 1:40.720**