The final entry list has been released.

USF1 have been omitted with their race numbers being given to Sauber, also the FIA will re-open the bidding process for the 13th team slot for the 2011 season

McLAREN: 1. Jenson Button (GBR), 2. Lewis Hamilton (GBR)
MERCEDES: 3. Michael Schumacher (GER), 4. Nico Rosberg (GER)
RED BULL: 5. Sebastian Vettel (GER), 6. Mark Webber (AUS)
FERRARI: 7. Felipe Massa (BRA), 8. Fernando Alonso (SPA)
WILLIAMS: 9. Rubens Barrichello (BRA), 10. Niko Hulkenberg (GER)
RENAULT: 11. Robert Kubica (POL), 12. Vitaly Petrov (RUS)
FORCE INDIA: 14. Adrian Sutil (GER), 15. Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA)
TORO ROSSO: 16. Sebastien Buemi (SUI), 17. Jaime Alguersuari (SPA)
LOTUS: 18. Jarno Trulli (ITA), 19. Heikki Kovalainen (FIN)
HISPANIA: 20. Karun Chandhok (IND) *, 21. Bruno Senna (BRA)
SAUBER: 22. Pedro de la Rosa (SPA), 23. Kamui Kobayashi (JPN)
VIRGIN: 24. Timo Glock (GER), 25. Lucas di Grassi (BRA)

* Expected to be confirmed tomorrow

Hispania sign Chandhok

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/81842

And unveil their car, at the moment with no sponsors

LAP TIMES FROM TODAYS 1st PRACTICE SESSION

1. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes ................ 1m 55.409
2. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren ................ + 0.445
3. Michael Schumacher - Mercedes ................ + 0.494
4. Jenson Button - McLaren ................ + 0.667
5. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull ................ + 1.050
6. Nico Hulkenberg - Williams ................ + 1.092
7. Felipe Massa - Ferrari ................ + 1.146
8. Adrian Sutil - Force India ................ + 1.174
9. Vitaly Petrov - Renault ................ + 1.341
10. Robert Kubica - Renault ................ + 1.632
11. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari ................ + 1.731
12. Vitantonio Liuzzi - Force India ................ + 1.785
=13. Mark Webber - Red Bull ................ + 1.846
=13. Pedro de la Rosa - Sauber .............. + 1.846
15. Kamui Kobayashi - Sauber ................ + 1.943
16. Rubens Barrichello - Williams ................ + 2.043
17. Jaime Alguersuari - Toro Rosso ............... + 2.313
18. Sebastien Buemi - Toro Rosso ................ + 2.990
19. Heikki Kovalainen - Lotus ................ + 5.464
20. Jarno Truli - Lotus ................ + 5.581
21. Timo Glock - Virgin ................ + 6.628
22. Lucas di Grassi - Virgin ................ + 6.779
23. Bruno Senna - Hispania ................ + 11.559
24. Karun Chandhok - Hispania ................ No time set

Doing the predictor thing this year, Yella?

Nope not this year unfortunately

Good fook the Hispanian car is well off the pace.

To be fair to them, they only launched the car last week and have had precidely zero testing, they're basically treating the weekend as a car shakedown

At least they've done better than USF1 who had FIFTEEN MONTHS to build a car and failed miserably

BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX FINAL GRID

POLE ROW: 1st Vettel, 2nd Massa
ROW 2: 3rd Alonso, 4th Hamilton
ROW 3: 5th Rosberg, 6th Webber
ROW 4: 7th Schumacher, 8th Button
ROW 5: 9th Kubica, 10th Sutil
ROW 6: 11th Barrichello, 12th Liuzzi
ROW 7: 13th Hulkenberg, 14th de la Rosa
ROW 8: 15th Buemi, 16th Kobayashi
ROW 9: 17th Petrov, 18th Alguersuari
ROW 10: 19th Glock, 20th Trulli
ROW 11: 21st Kovalainen, 22nd di Grassi
ROW 12: 23rd Senna, 24th Chandhok

I know it's only the 1st qualifying of the season but the Red Bull & Ferarri look like they are going to piss on the rest of the field.

I see Chandhok eventually got some time on track although if he lasts the race tomorrow he is going to be seeing the leaders passing him every 5-10 laps!!

Well it is the 2nd longest circuit on the calendar so I dont think Chandhok or Senna should get lapped as often as many people think, plus seeing as they've had no testing and they're still close to what would have been the old 107% cut-off rule (Senna is only half a second slower than that) is a fantastic achievement

I think they and the other new teams to be on the pace of the others by mid-season which would be a great achievement

As for the front, it'll be the big 4 teams but dont be suprised to see Williams and Force India crash the party, they both have excellent cars this year

Well that was boring as shite...

Yep, as I suspected with the new refuelling ban that it would impact on the races. The cars are going off too heavy and because everybody is on the same fuel loads there is less action and overtaking on the track.

All the drivers after were basically saying they were trying to save their tyres at times - so they won't be pushing themselves leading to mistakes. Going to be be a poor season.

Got to agree ,seen more action in funeral procession , boring is an understatement

The problem definitely is the tyres, they are simply too good which enabled the drivers to manage them till the end.

On the F1 Forum afterwards, Martin Whitmarsh (McLaren team boss) got it spot on when he said that they should look into 2 mandatory pitstops and to get Bridgestone to develop tyres that would force drivers to make at least 2 stops, maybe forcing them to run 2 types of super soft compound would help. And that would be very welcome as with the 1 tyre stop I admit it was a drab affair. Only problem is that it would need unanimous approval of the teams to bring it into force and Ferrari would likely object to it seeing as they won at a canter.

Its also worth taking into account that Bahrain never has and likely never will provide an exciting race, its arguably the blandest and most dull track on the calendar.

Won't that be more expensive though, in a time when the F1 lot were trying to cut costs? That race, however, was awful.

Yup it certainly was, yet another shining example why I fell out of love with F1 years ago, it has been nothing but a money making circus since the 80's

I rarely watch it, but it was on in the background yesterday so gave it some attention. April 11th - MotoGP - overtaking competitors - excitement

What is this overtaking of which you speak

You a MotoGP fan, betamax?

I was forced to go to Donington last year by mates who are huge fans, so I agreed to go just for the craic, went and loved it and got then pretty hooked for the rest of ther season. Going to Silverstone this year for it.

Yep. Didn't manage to catch a huge amount of it last year though, which was a shame, but i do enjoy it. I'm hoping that Rossi can't go on winning forever and so it becomes a really competitive one this year.

From what im hearing from testing, I cant see anything other than another year of Rossi domination Also only 18 bikes this year which is very disappointing.


If you want good bike racing, stick to World Superbikes

Yeah so it seems, but the bike has always been a bit better it's just the likes of Ducati have pace in the straights which matters on a lot of the tracks.

COMBINED FREE PRACTICE TIMES FOR AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX

1. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren ................ 1m 25.801
2. Jenson Button - McLaren ................ + 0.275
3. Mark Webber - Red Bull ................ + 0.447
4. Michael Schumacher - Mercedes ................ + 0.710
5. Vitaly Petrov - Renault ................ + 0.931
6. Sebastien Buemi - Toro Rosso ................ + 1.031
7. Adrian Sutil - Force India ................. + 1.033
8. Vitantonio Liuzzi - Force India ................ + 1.034
9. Rubens Barrichello - Williams ................ + 1.103
10. Robert Kubica - Renault ................ + 1.126
11. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes ................ + 1.155
12. Pedro de la Rosa - Sauber ................ + 1.307
13. Kamui Kobayashi - Sauber ................ + 1.654
14. Felipe Massa - Ferrari ................ + 1.710
15. Nico Hulkenberg - Williams ................ + 1.744
16. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull ................ + 1.885
17. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari ................ + 1.946
18. Jaime Alguersuari - Toro Rosso ................ + 2.771
19. Heikki Kovalainen - Lotus ................ + 4.059
20. Jarno Trulli - Lotus ................ + 4.894
21. Timo Glock - Virgin ................ + 6.316
22. Lucas di Grassi - Virgin ................ + 7.030
23. Bruno Senna - Hispania ................ + 7.600
24. Karun Chandhok - Hispania ................ + 8.450

FINAL GRID FOR AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX

TOP 10 SHOOTOUT

1. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull ................ 1m 23.919
2. Mark Webber - Red Bull .............. + 0.116
3. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari ................ + 0.192
4. Jenson Button - McLaren ............... + 0.756
5. Felipe Massa - Ferrari ................ + 0.918
6. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes ................ + 0.965
7. Michael Schumacher - Mercedes ................ + 1.008
8. Rubens Barrichello - Williams ................ + 1.298
9. Robert Kubica - Renualt ................ + 1.453
10. Adrian Sutil - Force India ................ + 2.117

ELIMINATED IN Q2 - Fastest time, Sebastian Vettel, 1m 24.096

11. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren ................ + 1.088
12. Sebastien Buemi - Toro Rosso ................ + 1.542
13. Vitantonio liuzzi - Force India ................ + 1.647
14. Pedro de la Rosa - Sauber ................ + 1.651
15. Nico Hulkenberg - Williams ................ + 1.652
16. Kamui Kobayashi - Sauber ................ + 1.681
17. Jaime Alguersuari - Toro Rosso ................ + 1.993

ELIMINATED IN Q1 - Fastest time, Sebastian Vettel, 1m 24.774

18. Vitaly Petrov - Renault ................ + 1.697
19. Heikki Kovalainen - Lotus ................ + 4.023
20. Jarno Trulli - Lotus ................ + 4.337
21. Timo Glock - Virgin ................ + 4.818
22. Lucas di Grassi - Virgin ................ + 5.411
23. Bruno Senna - Hispania ................ + 5.752
24. Karun Chandhok - Hispania ................ + 5.839

Much better race, although that was due to rain. Still going to be boring on dry tracks.

Just watched the re-run, very entertaining race. Unlucky on Lewis, Webber making a arse of it, and that pit stop being made which it would appear was not needed.

I agree, much better although I think it would ahve been good without the rain. Melbourne has a habit of producing good races and is notorious for faster than usual tyre wear.

Best moment ahs to be Schumacher beign overtaken by di Grassi in the Virgin and then later on by Kovalainen's Lotus

Cracking drives by Button & Hamilton, a shame the team screwed up Lewis' race as after that drive he deserved more, although I have to say Hamilton needs to conduct himself a bit better and take up his grievences with the team and not broadcasting them to the world.

I'm not sure about all this fuss Lewis was making about not needing the pit. He pushes his car a lot more than Jenson so surely his tyres would of gone. And did he not radio in complaining that his tyres were going/gone about 5 mins before he whinged about the pit on the radio. So had he had the same tyres for 45/50 laps whatever it was, he would of surely fucked up???

Exactly.

Button is by far the best driver on the grid when it comes to tyre management, he has a smooth driving style where he is not fighting the steering wheel as much and this in turn increases the lifespan of the rubber. Yes he was losing a second a lap compared to Hamilton who was on fresher rubber but the time lost on the pitstop negates the time lost on the track if you can run within a certain pace.

Whereas Hamilton for example is very twitchy behind the wheel, a bit like a karter, he has a tendancy to over-correct his turn multiple times in the middle of the corner, this in turn puts more strain on the tyres increasing their wear rate.

Have a look at the on board footage of both drivers during races and you'll see that difference.

The best example of how it can work well is in the Mexico GP of 1986, an Austrian driver called Gerhard Berger (arguably the best driver in history for conserving his tyres) in an underpowered Benetton gambled on going the whole race without a pitstop so chose the hardest compound available while everyone else went for the softer option for shorter term gains. His conservative approach coupled with some great consistent lap times helped him to win the race by nearly half a minute and lap every car up to 4th place.

Woah. So even twenty odd years ago it was dull?

I thought it was just a recent thing.

Nah, 20 years ago you got stuff like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siY994lShWE&feature=fvw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q1p25JO9Q4w

The race i was on about was one of the rare occurances where tactics and smart driving won the day.

I was just joking, tbh. I used to enjoy F1, but now that i don't it's fallen into my categroy of 'things to mock at any given opportunity'.

It's a big category

MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX PRACTICE TIMES (both sessions combined)

1. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren ................ 1m 34.175
2. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull ................ + 0.266
3. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes ................ + 0.268
4. Jenson Button - McLaren ................ + 0.363
5. Michael Schumacher - Mercedes ................ + 0.499
6. Robert Kubica - Renault ................ + 0.973
7. Mark Webber - Red Bull ................ + 1.304
8. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari ................. + 1.406
9. Sebastien Buemi - Toro Rosso ................ + 1.485
10. Vitaly Petrov - Renault ................ + 1.697
11. Adrian Sutil - Force India ................ + 1.780
12. Kamui Kobayashi - Sauber ................ + 1.843
13. Vitantonio Liuzzi - Force India ................ + 2.036
=14. Pedro de la Rosa - Sauber ................ + 2.150
=14. Jaime Alguersuari - Toro Rosso ................ + 2.150
16. Felipe Massa - Ferrari ................ + 2.276
17. Rubens Barrichello - Williams ................ + 2.638
18. Nico Hulkenberg - Williams ................ + 3.240
19. Jarno Trulli - Lotus ................ + 4.279
20. Heikki Kovalainen - Lotus ................ + 4.355
21. Timo Glock - Virgin ................ + 4.886
22. Lucas di Grassi - Virgin ................ + 4.983
23. Karun Chandhok - Hispania ................ + 6.909
24. Bruno Senna - Hispania ................ + 7.306

What a crazy qualifying session that was, BOTH Ferrari's and BOTH McLarens eliminated in Q1 after they misjudged the rain, thanks to that, both Lotus and Virgin managed to get cars through to Q2 for the first time. Overall, Webber got pole by a huge 1.3 second margin

FULL GRID

ROW 1: 1st Webber, 2nd Rosberg
ROW 2: 3rd Vettel, 4th Sutil
ROW 3: 5th Hulkenberg, 6th Kubica
ROW 4: 7th Barrichello, 8th Schumacher
ROW 5: 9th Kobayashi, 10th, Liuzzi
ROW 6: 11th Petrov, 12th de la Rosa
ROW 7: 13th Buemi, 14th Alguersuari
ROW 8: 15th Kovalainen, 16th Glock
ROW 9: 17th Button, 18th Trulli
ROW 10: 19th Alonso, 20th, Hamilton
ROW 11: 21st Massa, 22nd Chandhok
ROW 12: 23rd Senna, 24th di Grassi

Sebastien Buemi's frightenining looking crash during todays free practice session in China

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport...one/8624276.stm

And if you were wondering about the commentary, it s the BBC's radio/interactive commentary team of David Corft and Anthony Davidson (raced for Super Aguri in 2007)

How to make GP more interesting, make all the best drivers/cars start from the back a la stock car racing

Hamilton Vettel et al getting the tyre stop wrong yesterday effectively did that and made for a fecking superb race

And add rain

You're right though, was a reet cracker yesterday

Tomorrow's race is expected to be a borefest unfortunately

Both the red bulls locked out the front row and are up to 8 tenths quicker than everyone else, expect them to stroll away with it

TODAYS FREE PRACTICE TIMES FOR MONACO GRAND PRIX

1. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari ........ 1m 14.904
2. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes ........ + 0.109
3. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull ........ + 0.195
4. Felipe Massa - Ferrari ........ + 0.216
5. Michael Schumacher - Ferrari ........ + 0.239
6. Robert Kubica - Renault ........ + 0.288
7. Lewis Hamilton - McLaren ........ + 0.345
8. Adrian Sutil - Force India ........ + 0.556
9. Jenson Button - McLaren ........ + 0.715
10. Mark Webber - Red Bull ........ + 0.716
11. Vitaly Petrov - Renault ........ + 0.842
12. Sebastien Buemi - Toro Rosso ........ + 1.372
13. Nico Hulkenberg - Williams ........ + 1.444
14. Rubens Barrichello - Williams ........ + 1.618
15. Vitantonio Liuzzi - Force India ........ + 1.624
16. Pedro de la Rosa - Sauber ........ + 1.695
17. Kamui Kobayashi - Sauber ........ + 1.914
18. Jaime Alguersuari - Toro Rosso ....... + 2.119
19. Heikki Kovalainen - Lotus ........ + 3.280
20. Lucas di Grassi - Virgin ........ + 3.574
21. Jarno Trulli - Lotus ........ + 3.763
22. Timo Glock - Virgin ........ + 3.817
23. Karun Chandhok - Hispania ........ + 5.409
24. Bruno Senna - Hispania ........ + 6.784

Schumi doesn't drive for Ferrari anymore.

Daft me

then again that cheating bastard was associated with Ferrari for so long so its easy to make that error

Well qualifying's about to start but we already know who'll start at the back of the grid, Fernando Alonso after this...

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/83617

Button out on lap 3, engine problems

Just heard Hamilton being his petulant little self on the radio to the mechanics. Things not going your way Lewis?

Apparently some nitwit left a blanket in one of Button's sidepods which caused the engine to overheat. So thanks to that error, not only did Jenson retire, but now 1 engine of his alloted 8 is now in the bin.

Overall though, plenty of incident but it jsut seemed like a non event upfront, Red Bull rinning away with it again, something we'd better get used to

Usually watch a bit of paint drying during this race (procession ) more exciting , must be a front runner for boring event of the year

I see that Schumi has been stripped of his 6th place finish. For what? For showing a bit of balls and getting in a sneaky overtake on Alonso at the last? What a load of shit.

What sort of message is that supposed to send out? Oh right, it's a procession these days, not a race.


F1 is a farce this season. It is definately a sport in decline. this season has been a borefest for the most part.