2009 Chinese Grand Prix – Can anyone stop Brawn?

[CAMikaze]

Fast lap for Vettel with a 1'54.681.

Webber pits.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Vettel pits

 

[AdamW]

hamilton's driving like he's planning on going ten seconds a lap faster than everyone else and only spinning once every two...heh.

 

[JohnBM01]

Beautiful weather at the Shanghai International Circuit, eh? What a mess out on the track! The rain at the track was almost like the abysmal weather experienced here in Southeast Texas back on Saturday. They say that rain is the great equalizer. Well, what exactly's getting equalized in monsoon-type rain?

Whomever wins this race will be the victor. Whomever finishes the race will survive. Good luck to all teams and drivers.

 

[CAMikaze]

Replay just shown of Hamilton passing Kimi by going into the hairpin.

Another boo-boo by Ferrari with the wrong driver in P6.

Now Hekki nudges by Trulli.

 

[AdamW]

wish they'd show a bit more of the (effective) top four so we could see how they're driving.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Trulli is missing a rear wing!

Kubica ran right up the back end of Trulli.

Edit. Safety car is coming out again.

 

[CAMikaze]

Now Trulli loses the rear wing! And witgh good reason, Kubica rear-ended him going over the back.

Now the Saftey Car is deployed again.

 

[AdamW]

kubica ploughed straight through him. that's a bit out of character.

 

[[FPV]Rusty]

HUGE SHUNT Kubica jsut tryed to drive over th etop of Trulli

edit - Vettel has already cuaght Barrichello who has dropped 14 seconds behind Button.

 

[AdamW]

safety car's back - this'll make things interesting. and the brawns must be short on fuel.

 

[CAMikaze]

Anyone betting on the 2 hour time limit coming before we complete the race distance?

 

[AdamW]

I think about 10 more safety car laps (at any point) would make that happen. sounds like a good chance.

 

[Bram Turismo]

They just could've red flagged it at the beginning, visibility is very bad as driver are all over the place.

Also, I can't see a threat for Vettel winning the race, those fancy diffusers seem not to pay off in the rain at all, and Vettel's rain driving is just amazing 👍

 

[AdamW]

massa's parked it. can't see why, canadian tv's on a commercial break so i've got no audio.

bram: weather's nowhere near bad enough to stop the race. these are eminently raceable conditions for elite drivers.


editted by moderator: Please edit your posts rather than double posting

 

[[FPV]Rusty]

engine just died on him.

 

[CAMikaze]

Judging from the replay, maybe it may have something to do with the transmission?

Safety Car in this lap and Bourdais loops the car around.

 

[Touring Mars]

I thought they might have red flagged the race early doors too... of course, if it starts raining again, it will be game over I think.

It's a tough call, though... even a poor spectacle like this is preferable to no race at all, but then again, it is turning into a bit of a shambles/lottery.

 

[Tired Tyres]

Safety car in this lap There will be 34 to go at that point.

 

[AdamW]

this is going to be one of those races where it's pretty hard to know who the heck's where until five laps before the end, i've entirely lost track of who's got what fuel. safety car's in.

vettel's off like a rocket on the restart, looks like a 2 sec cushion already.

hamilton's 4th, and he has 10 laps of fuel left according to radio - could do a one stopper. does anyone know if the cars who stopped earlier will be on one or two stops?

 

[Touring Mars]

Adam, please stop double posting - use the Edit function to add to your existing post - we are watching the race too, so we don't need a minute-by-minute commentary!

 

[AdamW]

sorry, i was asking a question, though, it wasn't commentary. lost that now. :\

 

[[FPV]Rusty]

Vettel really is quite amazing in the wet. Its one thing to say oh he's good in the wet, but there is a gulf between what he can do in the wet and what everyone else can do. Fastest man on track by quite a bit and the car looks to be driving so smooth.

 

[AdamW]

rusty: he does have a bit of an advantage being in front, though, and brawn are claiming it's fuel weight (bit hard to have fuel weight account for a couple of seconds a lap, though).

question: does anyone have a clue who the heck's got what fuel left?

 

[CAMikaze]

Piquet loses control and smashes the 50 meter sign going into Turn 5.

 

[senamic]

Webber passes Button for 2nd

 

[[FPV]Rusty]

would have to be a hell of a big difference in fuel. Only thing I know is Vettel is was fueled to about the 20 laps to go mark, but with the safety car period it would be closer to the end. The only way I can see the difference in pace being solely on fuel is if Button is on a 1 stopper.

 

[senamic]

..And Button re passes webber

 

[[FPV]Rusty]

bah, Webber made a mistake, the team had been telling him to push hard to catch Vettel. Stupid idea, no one is catching Vettel.

 

[senamic]

And webber passes Button