2009 F1 driver rankings part 1: 25-16

Working out who was the best F1 driver is never easy – a driver typically only has one rival who has the same equipment, and even within teams two cars are not necessarily always the same.
And it’s been even harder this year with the sudden emergence of Brawn and Red Bull as front runners, and [...]

Video: Williams F1 cars at Silverstone

Here’s a video from a Williams activity day for their sponsors which was held last month at Silverstone.
Among the machinery on display was Keke Rosberg’s 1982 championship-winning Williams-Cosworth FW08B. Appropriately, Williams will be using Cosworth power once again next year, though Keke’s son Nico will not be driving for the team any more.
Nico Rosberg was [...]

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix fastest lap analysis

Drivers’ fastest laps

Rank
Driver
Fastest lap
Deficit to fastest lap
Laps within 1% of personal best

1
Sebastian Vettel
100.279
0
21

2
Sebastien Buemi
100.326
0.047
14

3
Lewis Hamilton
100.367
0.088
10

4
Rubens Barrichello
100.449
0.17
21

5
Mark Webber
100.571
0.292
26

6
Jenson Button
100.642
0.363
29

7
Nick Heidfeld
100.672
0.393
29

8
Jarno Trulli
100.723
0.444
21

9
Kazuki Nakajima
100.754
0.475
8

10
Fernando Alonso
100.757
0.478
6

11
Kamui Kobayashi
100.779
0.5
21

12
Kimi Raikkonen
100.843
0.564
6

13
Adrian Sutil
100.904
0.625
11

14
Robert Kubica
100.924
0.645
27

15
Nico Rosberg
100.997
0.718
24

16
Giancarlo Fisichella
101.132
0.853
2

17
Vitantonio Liuzzi
101.277
0.998
5

18
Heikki Kovalainen
101.316
1.037
20

19
Romain Grosjean
102.274
1.995
23

20
Jaime Alguersuari
103.318
3.039
10

Top 50 fastest laps

Rank
Driver
Lap time
Lap

1
Sebastian Vettel
100.279
54

2
Sebastien Buemi
100.326
55

3
Sebastian Vettel
100.328
18

4
Lewis Hamilton
100.367
16

5
Rubens Barrichello
100.449
54

6
Sebastien Buemi
100.513
54

7
Rubens Barrichello
100.514
55

8
Sebastian Vettel
100.53
16

9
Mark Webber
100.571
14

10
Sebastian Vettel
100.594
53

11
Lewis Hamilton
100.599
15

12
Sebastian Vettel
100.642
39

13
Jenson Button
100.642
49

14
Jenson Button
100.659
15

15
Rubens Barrichello
100.666
15

16
Sebastian Vettel
100.668
38

17
Nick Heidfeld
100.672
54

18
Mark Webber
100.713
16

19
Jarno Trulli
100.723
49

20
Jarno [...]

Vettel leads a Red Bull one-two in finale (Abu Dhabi Grand Prix race report)

Sebastian Vettel took advantage of problems for Lewis Hamilton to win his fourth Grand Prix of 2009.
It was a one-two for Red Bull as Mark Webber kept Jenson Button at bay to take second place in an exciting end to an otherwise predictable race.

Final 2009 F1 championship standings

Drivers’ championship

Driver
Points

1
Jenson Button
95

2
Sebastian Vettel
84

3
Rubens Barrichello
77

4
Mark Webber
69.5

5
Lewis Hamilton
49

6
Kimi Raikkonen
48

7
Nico Rosberg
34.5

8
Jarno Trulli
32.5

9
Fernando Alonso
26

10
Timo Glock
24

11
Felipe Massa
22

12
Heikki Kovalainen
22

13
Nick Heidfeld
19

14
Robert Kubica
17

15
Giancarlo Fisichella
8

16
Sebastien Buemi
6

17
Adrian Sutil
5

18
Kamui Kobayashi
3

19
Sebastien Bourdais
2

20
Romain Grosjean
0

20
Vitantonio Liuzzi
0

20
Jaime Alguersuari
0

20
Kazuki Nakajima
0

20
Luca Badoer
0

20
Nelson Piquet Jnr
0

Constructors’ championship

Driver
Points

1
Brawn
172

2
Red Bull
153.5

3
McLaren
71

4
Ferrari
70

5
Toyota
59.5

6
BMW
36

7
Williams
34.5

8
Renault
26

9
Force India
13

10
Toro Rosso
8

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix result

Position
Driver
Laps
Delay
Gap

1
Sebastian Vettel
55

2
Mark Webber
55
17.857
17.857

3
Jenson Button
55
18.467
0.61

4
Rubens Barrichello
55
22.735
4.268

5
Nick Heidfeld
55
26.253
3.518

6
Kamui Kobayashi
55
28.343
2.09

7
Jarno Trulli
55
34.366
6.023

8
Sebastien Buemi
55
41.294
6.928

9
Nico Rosberg
55
45.941
4.647

10
Robert Kubica
55
48.18
2.239

11
Heikki Kovalainen
55
52.798
4.618

12
Kimi Raikkonen
55
54.317
1.519

13
Kazuki Nakajima
55
59.839
5.522

14
Fernando Alonso
55
69.687
9.848

15
Vitantonio Liuzzi
55
94.45
24.763

16
Giancarlo Fisichella
54
-1 laps
-1 laps

17
Adrian Sutil
54
-1 laps
3.53

18
Romain Grosjean
54
-1 laps
0.969

Not classified

Lewis Hamilton
20
-35 laps
-34 laps

Jaime Alguersuari
18
-37 laps
-2 laps

Abu Dhabi GP qualifying in pictures

With a spanking new multi-million pound venue and a golden sunset, F1’s photographers have outstripped themselves capturing some truly gorgeous pictures from today’s qualifying session. Here’s the pick of the bunch.

Untouchable Hamilton claims Abu Dhabi pole (Abu Dhabi Grand Prix qualifying)

Lewis Hamilton dominated qualifying for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to take pole position by two-thirds of a second.
The two Red Bulls will line up behind him but team mate Heikki Kovalainen was left 13th after his McLaren broke down during Q2.

Abu Dhabi Grand Prix grid

1. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes – 1′40.948
2. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault – 1′41.615
3. Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault – 1′41.726
4. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn-Mercedes – 1′41.786
5. Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes – 1′41.892
6. Jarno Trulli, Toyota – 1′41.897
7. Robert Kubica, BMW – 1′41.992
8. Nick Heidfeld, BMW – 1′42.343
9. Nico Rosberg, Williams-Toyota – 1′42.583
10. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso-Ferrari – 1′42.713
11. Kimi [...]

2010 F1 driver rumours: Raikkonen spurns Toyota, Renault eyes rookies

Remarkably, with just one race left to run the entry list for next year is far from complete. Just six drivers have their contracts officially in place for 2010 and there could be as many as 22 places left to fill.
Among those yet to sign deals are newly-crowned champion Jenson Button, team mate Rubens Barrichello [...]