Renault to use special jack for pit stops

Renault have designed a special quick-release jack to speed up their tyre changes this year.
They will also use specially-designed wheel nuts to get tyres on and off more quickly.
Sporting director Steve Nielsen said:
Although we always aimed to complete pit stops as quickly as possible, the main emphasis was on attaching and detaching the fuel hose. [...]

2010 F1 season preview: Renault

It’s a new era for Renault with a new owner, new team principal and the Alonso-Briatore-Symonds partnership consigned to the history books.
The team began the last two seasons poorly. Can they get off to a better start in 2010?

Robert Kubica reveals new helmet design

Robert Kubica will use a new helmet design having switch teams from BMW to Renault in 2010.
The Pole’s helmet is now painted in yellow and black colours to match Renault’s livery.
New team mate Vitaly Petrov also showed off his helmet design at Renault’s launch today. He will use a design much the same as the [...]

Renault R30 launched (Pictures)

The Renault R30 has been unveiled by the team at Valencia. See the first pictures of the new car below.
Renault R30 launch

2010 Renault R30 and 2009 Renault R29 compared (Pictures)
Vitaly Petrov to become Russia’s first F1 driver with Renault in 2010
Robert Kubica reveals new helmet design

Renault to confirm Petrov tomorrow?

Renault is expected to announce Vitaly Petrov as the team’s second driver for 2010 when the team reveals its new F1 car.
Will Buxton claims Petrov’s deal with the team will bring them sponsorship worth €10m. It would make him the first Russian driver to compete in Formula 1.
Petrov finished as runner-up in the GP2 championship [...]

Kubica visits Renault team (Updated)

Another first glimpse of an F1 driver with his new team – Robert Kubica has been to visit the Renault factory in Enstone.
Kubica met new team principal Eric Boullier during his visit. The Renault R30 will be launched on January 31st but Kubica’s team mate has not been announced yet.
Here’s the first pictures of Kubica [...]

2009 F1 driver rankings part 2: 15-6

We began the countdown of the top drivers of 2009 yesterday looking at the least impressive racers of the year.
Today we cover the other drivers who failed to make it into the top five – with more of your comments and ratings of the class of 2009.

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