Barrichello’s win and Badoer’s struggle examined (European Grand Prix analysis)

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Barrichello ran third at the start before moving in on the McLarens

All the signs before the race were that Rubens Barrichello had the strategy to take on the McLarens.

And so it proved – but would he have won without Hamilton’s problem? Let’s take a look at how the European Grand Prix unfolded.

The start

Lap 1 positions change (click top enlarge)

What was crucial at the start for Rubens Barrichello was not his slim chance of getting past the McLarens off the line – but the bigger concern of Kimi Raikkonen coming past him. Fortunately for the Brawn driver, that didn’t happen.

Timo Glock, and Sebastien Buemi collided, and Romain Grosjean also lost his front wing, which explains why they lost positions. But apart from the crashes and KERS cars, it was a very uniform start.

Barrichello’s fight to the front

Rubens Barrichello vs the McLarens (click to enlarge)

Hamilton’s slow pit stop plus Barrichello’s performance advantage turned a four second advantage before his final pit stop into a six second deficit.

Had Brawn kept Barrichello out as long as they could, it probably would have been greater – but there was no need to, and with Kazuki Nakajima having shed a tyre bringing Barrichello in was the prudent thing to do.

It seems likely that, even without his pit stop problem, Hamilton wouldn’t have kept the lead of the race. But it would have been close – and that could have been enough to force a mistake out of Brawn.

Brawn haven’t always got Barrichello’s strategy right this year, but his starting fuel weight and long-ish middle stint were exactly the right choices for Valencia. But why did his team mate fare so poorly on a substantially similar strategy?

Luca Badoer

Kimi Raikkonen vs Luca Badoer (click to enlarge)

OK, his first race back wasn’t good. But just how bad was Luca Badoer’s European Grand Prix?

By the end of lap one the spread of the field meant Badoer was 17.16 seconds behind team mate Kimi Raikkonen. Come the end of the race, he was 167 seconds behind – yes, two minutes and 47 seconds. Although part of that was his drive-through penalty, which likely cost him around 15 seconds.

Looking at his lap times offers little comfort. He set his best lap towards the end of the race, signifying some improvement, but his 1’40.590 was the third-slowest of the race, only beating the Toro Rossos.

With the best will in the world, the scale of improvement needed from Badoer at Spa is massive if he is to keep his place in the car.

Race progress charts

European Grand Prix race chart (click to enlarge)

The race and lap charts tell the story of a race that largely took place in the pits instead of on the track.

With refuelling being banned for next year we will see a radically different pattern to the races, with drivers adopting differing strategies of tyre use but everyone having to cope with full fuel loads from the start.

Hopefully that will provide more unpredictability and genuine on-track action. For the second year in a row, the European Grand Prix was no advertisement for F1 at its best.

European Grand Prix lap chart (click to enlarge)

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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68 comments on “Barrichello’s win and Badoer’s struggle examined (European Grand Prix analysis)”

  1. Love your analysis, Keith!

    1. i second that motion…

      And can’t wait for next year….

  2. I’m surprised just how slow and inconsistent Badoer’s laps were in his second third of the race.

    1. Bear in mind that he was being lapped during that time.

      I think everyone is being a little harsh on Badoer. His stated intention was to finish the race and he did just that. I’d like to see any of you do the same…

      1. +
        Finished the race


        4 pitlane speeding penalties.
        Last in qualy by 1.5 seconds to a teenager.
        Spun so many times in the race.
        Got a penalty for going on the white line.
        Crashed in parc ferme.

        Yeah he did awesome.

        1. Couldn’t agree more TommyB. He’s been driving a F1 car for 16 years, probably done more mileage than anyone on the grid. With modern day simulators, there’s no reason for him not to know the track with the time he had to prepare.

          And one last thing, he is driving a much improved Ferrari, not the Life L190. No excuse whatsoever. Epic fail from Ferrari as well as Badoer.

          1. Let’s be fair to Luca, he was not selected by Ferrari on talent – it was on grounds of loyalty. He was never good enough to race in F1 when he was an active driver so why he would have become faster in his 10 years out is beyond me.

            I think this indicates that taking a risk on a younger driver that is more active in his recent racing activities is better than dragging an ex driver out of retirement. (Except if you Michael Schumacher)

            Luca did what he could – Ferrari put him there and it’s them that should be blamed for the situation they find themselves in.

          2. If they choose drivers on loyalty then you should give an F1 drive to anyone who’s bought a Ferrari cap

  3. Nice analysis as usual.

    But why did his team mate fare so poorly on a substantially similar strategy?

    I think most of this was caused by troubles he had just after the start. Button had a good start, but Vettel seemed hell bent on keeping Button behind. Vettel almost rammed him. Button had to brake and from there it went from bad to worse.

    He got overtaken by Alonso who then proceded to also push Button into the wall. Again Button needed to slow down and Webber got close to him. Button failed to slow down for the chicane and then ultimately gave the spot to Webber and then lost out to Alonso (who had also dropped back).

    I don’t share your (repeated) hopes for more action on track due to a ban on refuelling. What I remember of the non-refuelling days was the large rows of cars behind a few heavily fuelled cars engineered/set up for good qualifying pace. I guess it will render more overtaking, but those races were effectively devoid of any real tension.

    1. Or as Button says it himself:

      Starting fifth I thought we could have a good race, but Vettel came across at the start and if I had stayed flat I would have ripped my front wing off.

      “The most important thing for Vettel is to beat me, and he came across and I had to lift,” he explained. “It is always a difficult one, because if I didn’t lift then I would have probably broken my front wing and damaged my tyre probably, or his sidepod, but I had to lift.

      “The problem is as soon as you lift there, everyone is just building speed and you are not, and there is a massive difference in speed. That is why I dropped so much ground there.

      “I thought I had picked up a couple of places at Turn 2, but Alonso went wide and came back across on me, and I had to lift.

      Then Webber at Turn 4, I thought it was a bit harsh that I had to let Webber past because I went across the chicane as I couldn’t get around the corner as he went all the way to the edge of the circuit sideways and I could not get around, so I had to go straight.

      Button thinks that race control should have consulted him about the chicane-cutting incident before telling him to relinquish position: “The thing is they didn’t speak to me about it, and that is the thing.

      http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77951

      I agree with Button that it was ridiculous to make him give that position to Webber. Button was in front and got pushed off. According to the rules, webber should have been penalized for pushing Button.

      1. Webber didn’t push Button off. Webber was just in front of Button just before the braking zone for corner four, he was also on the inside of the corner. Button trying to not yield a place went into turn four too fast and tried to drive around Webber, and it didn’t stick, and because he came unglued on corner four he ran off the track and consequently cut corner five and regained the place that he had lost to Webber before the braking zone of corner four.

        About the only thing correct is that Webber was sideways out of corner four, but that’s not illegal. Button was already running off the circuit following Alonso before Webber even hit the gas and started to get sideways.

        So it’s a bit rough to try and blame Webber. Button had a terrible start and was trying to stop any further loss of position by braking too late into corner four, and it didn’t work, but yet he benefited, so the penalty seems reasonable to me.

        1. Button had a great start. You must have not been looking closely enough or have only read the line about Webber or something.

          He was trying to catch Alonso back when he missed the chicane.

          1. I don’t understand your response. PinbalLes is right.

          2. Webber was overtaking Button. The car that was in front can cut a chicane and keep position.

            Always been that way.

    2. What I remember of the non-refuelling days was the large rows of cars behind a few heavily fuelled cars engineered/set up for good qualifying pace.

      If all the cars are on the same fuel load throughout the race, surely there isn’t any relatively heavy cars?

      1. Ah lol, indeed that fuel reference is silly.

        Still the point is, there were always cars/drivers that were really fast in qualifying and then during the race were dog slow.

        1. One thing popped into mind there when i read that comment…trulli train for next year! If he is still in f1 that is.

  4. I think badoer’s inconsistent second stint was due to being lapped all the time (Schumacher said that he lost a lot of time because of that).
    But it’s good to see that by the end of the race his lap times were a lot closer to Raikönnen than in the beginning, so he was in fact improving. He just has to become more consistent now. At Spa, he must not be more than one second per lap behind Raikönnen, better would be if he gets it down to half a second. But he should be able to drive in the midfield then.

    (And driving a faster lap than Alguersuari isn’t bad either, considering he was more than a second behind him in Qualifying)

  5. Wicked Analysis as always Keith, what is with Badoers jaggy lap times after halfway… is that when he was being lapped??

    But why did his team mate fare so poorly on a substantially similar strategy?

    For me, going into the first corner Button was looking at definitely a podium, possibly even a win, definitely in contention. However that squeeze from Vettel, which I fear Brundle was right in that Button should have kept his foot in a used the pit exit, causing him to back out of it down to 8th really screwed his race from there on… As always on the first lap Button was agressive and getting in there overtaking, but both he and Webber got out of shape at the chicane, Button having to take the shortcut and ultimately losing the place to Webber… I think all considered Button did well to grab a couple of points.

    1. what is with Badoers jaggy lap times after halfway… is that when he was being lapped?

      I think so, yeah.

  6. After reading Jenson’s own (obviously accurate) take on things I think he showed foresight that will probably win him the WDC. If he had lost his front wing to Vettel or possibly worse. Then he would have no points and Webber would probably have scored.
    Playing the points game is never exciting. But winning the WDC is.

    Shame (according to Whitmarsh spin) the MCL error cost us potentially one of the best battles of the season. That was clearly a management fkup not getting the one more lap message thru to Lewis in time…
    However, Barrichello blew me away with his consistent hard charging performance. I honestly did not think he still had it in him. Brilliant and deserved victory.

    1. If he had lost his front wing to Vettel or possibly worse. Then he would have no points and Webber would probably have scored.
      Playing the points game is never exciting. But winning the WDC is.

      Particularly so given that any contact runs the gauntlet of the stewards and their Headless Chicken Random Punishment Generator (TM).

  7. I think Jenson’s biggest problems is qualifying in fifth and getting mullered off the start. But pSynrg is right, his sensible backing-off will make winning the title more likely.

    Does anyone else think Badoer has a more fighting chance in Spa? Hopefully he can get on the pace quicker now that he has a recent GP behind him, and he can only be more familiar with Spa than Valencia.

  8. I think Badoer will give a more respectable showing in Spa. He has learned a lot from this race, both regarding outright performance as well as race-craft. It is good to see him much closer to Kimis lap times come the end of the race when, by all accounts, Luca should have been feeling the pain of driving the full distance. On top of that he knows Spa as well.

    Whether it will be enough though is another thing. We’ll have to wait and see.

  9. I knew it. Put a little faith in my favorite driver and he’ll pull thru for you. I was sounding like a douche on my drive to work today, chanting like a fool. Almost like the ferrari days, but the schumacher let thru on the last turn wasn’t there!

  10. Great stuff, I don’t think there’s any other website that even comes close to offering something like this.

    Badoer didn’t have any competitive goals this race, so it’s a little harsh that everyone’s judging him as though he was racing for positions. But that’s the way it goes, and there’s no way to stop that. I just hope he’s at least enjoying himself driving that red car, which was sort of the point of the gesture by Ferrari.

  11. Max should resign now!!!
    24th August 2009, 15:45

    Hopefully next year we will only talk about heroic on-track overtaking manoeuvres and not about fuel strategy and so on. Anyway, great article Keith!

    1. No we will be talking about very different things.

      Like who was held up all race by who.

      Or how driving an F1 car with 10kg of fuel is so completely different to one with 180kg of fuel and how it was impossible to find the right setup for one of those situations.

      There is always some reason to analyse things.

  12. Excellent analysis of the race Keith, wd!

  13. I thought Badoer was shocking and quite simply doesn’t deserve to be driving in F1 let alone for Ferrari. there are much better drivers out there. I hear Davidson has volunteered to take over. But only 1 week to Spa so cant see anyone else having time to be drafted in.

    Button did OK but in traffic down in 8th is not a great place to get the most out of your car. The first corner did him (well Vettel did him) at least fate paid vettel back. with other drivers now threatening to win GPs, I think that gives Button a better chance of the title. what he doesn’t need is Red Bull winning every race that he doesn’t. Maclaren’s rise could win the title for Button.

    On the pit stop error, I happen to think Hamilton would have come out behind Barrichello anyway but its a shame we were deprived of those last laps of what would have been really close racing, even if Rubens had ended up winning.

  14. Badoer is simply suffering the effects of information overload. The work load of the average driver is pretty high, Badoer who is used to doing development work, where he isn’t often required to beat or maintain a very high pace. When you then add the fact he hasn’t actually driven the car till recently and his lack of active competitiveness, I expected nothing from him last race.

    I think he actually needs about 3 races to brush of the test driver reflex ingrained in his system.

  15. I think Badoer was so far off the pace, even if you gave him 15 races, he would still not get close to Raikonnen.

    I think it did prove (again!) just how hard racing in an F1 GP really is.

  16. Great analysis as always Keith.

    As far as the start went, I feel that Vettel was over aggressive in his move on Button, to me it looked wild, but could have Button used the pit exit for more space, perhaps as already commented here he done the sensible thing and lived to fight another day.

    For the incident with Webber, Jenson rightly surrendered the position back, he might have had his nose in front but he was off line and out of space so he might not of gained a position but he gained an advantage, so fairs fair, and his team advised him correctly in my opinion.

    Bodoer was simply awful, an F1 race is not the place to reward loyalty, or even run a test. Sponsors, fans and circuit management pay enormous sums of money to watch and put on the best motor races in the world. Bodoer is not even a has been, he is a never has been. He is now out of shape and out of touch with modern F1, for him to be allowed to race at the fast Spa circuit will be negligent on Ferraris part, a driver with that level of performance is simply dangerous.

    Hamilton v’s Rubens? The Mclaren never had the pace, and the pit mistake only gave Brawn the option to bring Rubens in early, he still had a potential 4 laps to run so I think Ross had it in the bag, although had Lewis been able to push from the off without the rear brakes overheating it may have developed differently.

    The WDC now looks destined for Brawn but for me it could still be either of the cars, Rubens has tremendous experience and this may see him close the gap, but for me now its all over for the Red Bulls, too much competition for points now from Williams, Mclaren and Ferrari, combined with Vettels lack of engines and their inconsistancy for me gives it to the Brawns………”For Sure”

    1. Sponsors, fans and circuit management pay enormous sums of money to watch and put on the best motor races in the world.

      Badoer’s various remarks about it being just a test for him really grated with me. Yes, I appreciate it’s tough for him because he wasn’t able to do any serious testing before his return, but telling the fans you’re not even trying really is rubbing their noses in it.

      Given that Ferrari could just as easily have put Marc Gene in the car, who’s got much more recent experience and would surely have struck a chord with the crowd, I think this was a mistake by Ferrari.

  17. Polishing yer boots again – great analysis as usual Keith – an off day every now and then would be nice, give us something to moan about ;o)

    Quite like this new Ferrari Loves Old People initiative, giving the elderly a free weekend away. Be nice if they could FLOP someone else in their spare shiney red machine in Spa. Maybe Margaret Thatcher or Nelson Mandela would like to FLOP in Belgium? Couldn’t be any worse than LB managed at Valencia surely.

    Seriously, with the best will in the world, Luca just isn’t going to cut the mustard, he never did ten years ago, he definitely isn’t going to now. Ferrari, as the biggest brand in motorsport, really need to find a new ‘guest’ driver for Spa.

    If I was Tifosi, I would be very unhappy about a second weekend of Luca ‘just trying to finish the race’. They should be bold and throw Nelson Piquet Jr in the car. Obviously not the best driver out there, but has current F1 experience and is AVAILABLE.

    Would love to see Alonso’s face if they did…

  18. Salty… You are right, even piquet would be better and yes, I would love to see Alonso’s face if nelsinho ended up driving a Ferrari before he did…

    I thought the race was a Tad dull but had some interesting performances. Kimi seems to have his head down and while he doesn’t seem uber motivated, he doesn’t seem unmotivated now. Maybe it’s the realisation he can be top-3 in F1 but maybe only top-15 in karting. Then again, doubt he cares.

    Alonso also did a reasonable job at bringing in more points as did Rosberg.

    “for sure” the potential driver line up for 2010 gets more exciting as various drivers pull out good performances

    Great stuff Keith, love the site!!!

    1. I bet Piquet is is really unhappy now.If he could have lasted another couple of races he would have had the chance to beat a Ferrari.

  19. Ferrari doesn’t intend that Badoer be their long term driver. He is simply just a seat warmer. Lets face it, Ferrari isn’t really interested fighting for 3rd and 4th places in the constructors championship. If they were, you would see a decent driver in that car.

    1. I agree Ferrari arn’t looking for a long term future in 39 year old Luca Badoer. But Ferrari are the ultimate racing brand. Their sponsers are paying millions of dollars a year to see their name on the fastest, coolest billboard in the world.

      Except, we really like this guy who has done the dog-days, driving the car thousands of miles for us. We know he was slow in his F1 days, but we like him, so if you don’t mind…

      Doesn’t work. Millions of dollars for HALF the TV coverage. They have become extremely complacent if they think they can insult their investors in that way.

      Ferrari is still a business. Their product is racing. Their drivers must be the best available. And, sorry Kimi, but I suspect the current main driver is not a customer facing specialist.

      SALT

    2. I think Kimi’s “no care” attitude has rubbed off on the whole team! I mean there is NO WAY they would let this happen in the old days! Its like all of Ferrari have just backed off…..?

  20. Thanks for all your compliments everyone. If there’s any other analysis you’d particularly like to see, do let me know.

    1. Don’t suppose you’d consider a run at the lottery numbers for next week?

      Nah? Well just asking…

  21. Could the front wings be any bigger…F1 has turned into a real joke

  22. Keith I’d like to see a projection of a three-stop race for both McLarens. My drawing numbers in the air with my finger calculations tell me that the combined benefits of a third of tank less fuel (.3s/lap?) and the marginal gain from the ability to wring the neck of the soft tires (.3s/lap?), less time on the hard tires, plus shorter stops versus the two-stop fueling time (6s total?) would have netted Hamilton more than 18 seconds over the last, say, 42 laps.

    I also think that when it became clear that Barichello was just riding Kovalainen’s gearbox waiting to jump him, Marty should have put him on a three stopper to at least allow him to re jump Barichello and hold him up in his second stint to give Lewis some breathing space. It would have necessitated another lame, prolix defense of driver neutrality from Marty but he has practice in that now.

    1. Doing a realistic projection of that would be very difficult.

      We’d need to get an estimate of what lap times they could do over shorter stints. That wouldn’t just involve taking, say, the last 15 laps of each stint, because those laps would have been faster because they would have been run on less-worn tyres. Muddying the picture further, it’s very hard for drivers to save enough of the softest tyres in good enough condition to use for the race as they have to use them in qualifying.

      I have an opinion (or perhaps it’s a prejudice) that three-stop strategies tend to look better on paper than they work out in the race. Lose a little time here or there getting caught behind a driver on a different strategy or (worst-case scenario) a safety car, and your race is ruined.

      1. Bigbadderboom
        26th August 2009, 9:58

        Agreed Keith, the problem with a 3 stopper is that you are stopping before the rest of the field and then running out of sync, in this case Lewis would have lost any potential time saved stuck behind Kimi.

  23. Badoer’s got a big hill to climb at Spa (pun intended)

    1. Make that a big slippery hill if it rains.

  24. I can´t understand how Ferrari keeps Badoer for SPA. I still can´t understand how Badoer agrees to drive for Ferrari at Spa.
    It will be better for him to drive the pace car or the ambulance at SPA
    He is an experienced driver, and he should get the grips of the car immediately. He is not a rookie with future where you need to give him time to adjust. This is a top team and needs the best driver available. What Ferrari needs is an established driver to substitute Massa and minimize the point losses

    This is not a charity.

    For loyalty reasons he has been given a chance, and has proven to be a disaster, making mistakes, out of pace, with inconsistent lap times and now its time to leave and let someone more updated and capable to do the job.

    Place either Bourdais, Fisichella or Piquet in order of preference as experienced drivers because they have been driving this year´s spec car and are point catchers.

    And if gamble is the issue, place Hulkenberger, Senna or Bortolotti.

    But don´t replace Badoer with GENE

    It will be more of the same, a little better.

    Ferrari is known for being fast cars. With Badoer driving it looks like a taxi cab.

  25. Badoer was just damn bad… too bad they are keeping him for one race, so he wouldn’t be scared for life :)

    Gene would be better, but still I would go for a better option like Davidson!

  26. Luca Badriver sleeps with the fishes. Please put someone else in. Anyone. J.Villeneuve in at Spa would be a nice tribute to Gilles. Gilles career ended at the Belgium GP many years ago. This would probably be the only time to “repay” the legendary driver. Having his son drive for Ferrari. Marketing wise it would bring up the history of…everything. The driver and the brand. Merchandising would be off the shelves. As time and contracts come into effect, never will the opportunity present itself. If JV does well, then Monza as too. Wasting this on any other driver is blasphemous.

    1. I agree with you, however there’s a ruling that says only 4 drivers are allowed during the championship over a year, per team. That makes things easy in understanding why Ferrari doesn’t change Luca, because Michael might come into play later on.

      1. Right now F1 is dead in N/A…putting JV in would change that,but JV is racing a NASCAR race this weekend in Montreal with over 100k fans there at 1/20th the cost of putting on a F1 race…doesn’t look like f1 is coming to Montreal anytime soon, unless cvc is willing to “pay about 10m” to race there…boy did Bernie mes this up

  27. Anyone think Badoer will be in the points at Spa?
    How about the top 10?
    How about making it to Q2?
    OMG I love this stuff.
    Anyone wanna bet Gene is in the car at Monza?
    :-)

  28. The tyre mix-up cost Lewis Hamilton at least 5 seconds. It was this pit-stop that cost him the race.

    1. He was scheduled for an 8sec stop which ran to 10.5, so it cost him 2.5, Rubens had about 4 laps in tank when he stopped, if the Brawns had pushed it, Mclaren couldn’t get close.As Martin Whitmarsh said, they simply didnt have the pace! If anything cost Lewis the race it was the overheating rear brakes that he was suffering in the first stint, he was pushing very hard then because Mclaren knew even then that they could not match the Brawns pace. Lewis was clearly told to drive to preserve them.

  29. a much better race than last year. Fifth different winner this season which is a good statistic. Incredible to compare Barrichello’s performance to the Red Bulls. He had the total upper hand on Button. The championship is not over yet but this race has brought some useful breathing space for Brawn. Hamilton or Massa would have been delighted to have had an 18 point lead with 6 races to go last year. Button needs it. He should be the favourite but he is not looking convincing at the moment.
    A couple of question.
    Firstly, does a Toyota departure look imminent? The stories this weekend do not sound good. Again like BMW this would be dishonourable. A number of new teams wanted to enter next year’s championship. Should Toyota just pull out now thus maximising chances of a 26 car grid? Why don’t FIA accept 28 entries to cover this likelihood? Remember during the great conflict the statement that read “you just cannot trust manufacturers”?
    Secondly, I thought there might have been mention of next year’s calendar at this race. Any news? Certainly a lot of talk about Donington, Suzuka, Montreal and Valencia just recently.

  30. Mclaren are adamant that it wasn’t their day to win, but the figures seem to suggest that the mistake cost something in the order of 8 seconds, with a normal stop being around 10 secs. I guess if the mistake hadn’t happened and Barichello had carried on for the full 5 laps then he might have got past, but 8 seconds is a lot!

  31. 0.7 kg/litre is a typically quoted density for hydrocarbons used in fuel for road cars which would give a volume of about 1.4 litres for a kilogram of fuel.However, racing fuel will probably be blended to give the maximum weight of fuel for a given volume, subject to FIA regulations. This will bring the volume per kilogram down a bit.Isn’t science interesting?Remember the chilled fuel row at Interlagos in 2007.
    Hamilton did have the pace, but the team made a poor decision to run the first two stint on options for both Hamilton and Kovalainen. While Hamilton sprinted away in the first five laps of the first stint, the worn options compromised his pace in the middle-long portion in long runs. Furthermore, Hamilton had to back off some laps during the second stint to manage the options. Hamilton’s run on primes was quick and consistently improving lap-to-lap, which is what you want. If he had run options in the first and second stints, he would have had consistent enough pace to build enough of a margin to hold off Barrichello the overlaps. Primes were the way to go today. McLaren and a few other teams really messed up their tire choices.
    Martin is quite right here, I’m sure Lewis would have been close but overtaking in Valencia would be too risquee.Why is it that every time Lewis is at the front Button is not and Vice versa? I’d luv to see both of them at the front together before the end of the season, possibly racing each other…I don’t think it would have made a difference to the result if the pit stop had gone perfectly. Rubens was exceptionally quick over those laps and would have probably had a couple of seconds in the bag.It was a great race although I am disappointed at the negative tactics for and by Jenson Button. He needs to really go and attack the field to make sure he wins the world title.Rubens wasn’t exceptionally quick. That’s simply the lap times going down with the fuel going out.It’s like watching a fuel correction table in real timeYes I watched Martin’s explanation both times he gave it on tv after the race and in the F1 forum afterwards. It explained clearly why the delay happened, BUT he also claimed it didn’t affect the result, he even had me believing him for a while, although it was pretty obvious that no one else did.Lewis was biting his tongue in the after race interviews and supporting Martin’s story. For a while I though that an upright fellow like Martin would be telling the truth, that is until I looked at the winning times and the gap from Rubens to Lewis. There is little doubt that the 2.3 second margin by which Rubens beat Lewis was lost in the cock-up.I am afraid my opinion of Martin Whitmasrsh just went down today. Had the winning gap been 6 or more seconds then yes he would be right, but the world can see he was being economical with the truth.If he is half the man we expect him to be, he will apologise and say “Sorry I was protecting the guys in the crew, but it was our cock-up, we lost it for Lewis.”The gap would have been more than 2.3 seconds. Barichello had enough fuel for another 3 or so laps but came in early to avoid a potential safety car when it was clear he was going to get ahead. On top of that, he eased off for a while in his 3rd stint.I fully believe Barichello had enough in his pocket to leapfrog Lewis, it’s just a shame that it’s the McLaren pitcrew who are “taking the credit” for what, in my opinion, was most probably a Barrichello win anyway You need to look the time Lewis lost in pitstop and the time how much Barrichello was behind him when Lewis stopped. Winning margin has nothing to do with any of this. Barrichello had no intention to hurry once he was infront of Lewis with quite a big margin, so he could save his engine and brakes and let Lewis get close to him but not as close that he could have been threat to him.
    To be fair, Hamilton got within 2.3 seconds at the end because Barrichello backed off on the last lap. Hamilton was quicker than Barrichello the last few laps, but it was a matter of 2-3 tenths of a second.Apart from the 2.3 seconds being the wrong margin to look at, I completely agree that Whitmarsch should have apologised to Lewis.I guess Whitmarsh was trying to sound like a good loser, but who wants to see a good loser anyway? People should be upset when they lose.There is little doubt that the 2.3 second margin by which Rubens beat Lewis was lost in the cock-up.That is the wrong margin to be looking at.The margin to look at is the time difference between the end of hamilton’s pitsop and barichello going past the pit lane exit.Margins at the end of the race are meaningless, one person can have slowed down or turned down their engine etc, once they know they are in the clear.

    1. J b is just saving his engines,for the fight at the end.

  32. gazzap: That was a good conclusion. Seeing Badoer drive really does show the fans how competitive the sport is. Luca has over 150,000 km behind the wheel of a Ferrari. He is by no means a worthless or new driver, yet he looked pathetic with the rest of the grid. Talent is a must.

    Ferrari should give its fans a refund for tickets. I’m sure the Tifosi have seen plenty of Ferrari tests for free that they don’t need to come to Valencia to see them. How can a driver announce that he will essentially test during a GP. This should make Ecclestone furious.

    And all of this at the same time that Ferrari decided to ease or stop development for the 09 season. I commend McLaren for saving face and doing a superb job of improving their race cars. The championship has been over for them for a long time, but they have stuck to it, won a race followed by a one two quali.

  33. When that Ferrari…

  34. Will they forget…

  35. its an article about McLaren International and Ron Dennis, with the word replaced by , by , by and by

    lame

    1. its an article about McLaren International and Ron Dennis, with the word “McLaren”replaced by “Ferrari”, “West McLaren” by “marlboro ferrari”, “Ron Dennis” by “jean todt” and “Dennis” by “todt”

      lame

  36. DMW at 4:53 is not me (9:46). Something is off with the logins.

  37. Replace Luca B. with another driver, but I don’t think our JV is the guy. Better someone with current experience. I think Bourdais would be a good lab experiment. He is familiar with this year’s tires, the Ferrari engine, and he had push to pass I believe while he was in Champcar, so he has some KERS strategy.

    Re the comments on no fuel stops for next year…it was sometimes pretty boring back in the turbo 80’s under similar rules…the drivers could not run flat out, causing some of the charger-types like K. Rosberg to hang it up.

    Hoping for better this time around…

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