Canadian IT Pro Data Base : Formula 1

Fists Waving and Lots of Fun at European Grand Prix Quaifying

damirb — Sun, 07 May 2006 07:15:00 GMT

Giancarlo Fisichella was quite the sight berating Jacques Villeneuve. Fisichela stormed into the BMW Sauber pit lane between the last two sessions of qualifying and looked like he wanted Jacques to step out of his car and go at it mano-a-mano. He was still fuming quite a while afterwards, and it appears that the stewards heard him as Villeneuve lost his fast time and got demoted one spot on the grid. All this because Fissi felt that Jacques blocked him on his fast lap (Jacques was on his warm up lap) and cost him the chance to fight for pole. Now, if Fissi had just kept going and tried to put in another fast lap, he would have had more than likely made it into the top ten, like Jacques did.

I know Fisichella is worred about his seat at Renault, and rightly so. However, I think what he did was very un-sportsmanlike and he should have been penalized as well. From my vantagepoint, Fissi was not close enough to Jacques to accuse him of blocking so he should just pick up his game and stop feeling so threatened by Jacques when Alonso is the one who's making him look like a second tier driver. 'Nuff said about that.

The other exciting news is that the Ferrari turnaround is real after all. Michael Schumacher quaified second and Massa third, while Fernando Alonso took his first pole of the season for Renault. This should prove for an interesting start since all of these men like to be in front after the first corner.

Honda had a bit of a surprise with Rubens Barrichello qualifying in fourth place ahead of Jenson Button who only managed to take sixth. Both Honda drivers sandwiched the McLaren Mercedes of Kimi Raikkonen, still indicating that Ron Dennis and Norbert Haug have some work to do if they want Kimi to be word champion. Juan Pablo Montoya qualified in seventh and is openly looking for a ride next year. The silly season should start officially in a month, but speculation has been swirling around who will be at McLaren in 2007 since the start of the this season when it was announced that Alonso is moving to the Grove-based outfit.

Williams had mixed results with Mark Webber qualifying in tenth and Nico Rosberg in 12th. However, both Cosworth power plants were replaced this weekend, making the change out of sequence, so that means a 10 point grid position penalty putting both drivers at the back in 20th and 22nd place respectively.

The qualifying session results are as follows, but they are not the exact starting grid positions:

P. No Driver       Team - Engine   Tyres    Times      Ave/Gaps
1. 1 ALONSO       Renault           M   1'29"819 206.335 Km/h
2. 5 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1'30"028    + 0'00"209
3. 6 MASSA        Ferrari           B   1'30"407    + 0'00"588
4. 11 BARRICHELLO Honda             M   1'30"754    + 0'00"935
5. 3 RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes M   1'30"933    + 0'01"114
6. 12 BUTTON       Honda             M   1'30"940    + 0'01"121
7. 8 TRULLI       Toyota            B   1'31"419    + 0'01"600
8. 17 VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber        M   1'31"542    + 0'01"723
9. 4 MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes M   1'31"880    + 0'02"061
10. 9 WEBBER       Williams Cosworth B   1'33"405    + 0'03"586

11. 7 R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   1'30"944
12. 10 ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth B   1'31"194
13. 2 FISICHELLA   Renault           M   1'31"197
14. 14 COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari   M   1'31"227
15. 16 HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M   1'31"422
16. 20 LIUZZI       Toro Rosso Cosw. M   1'31"728

17. 15 KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari   M   1'32"901
18. 19 ALBERS       Midland Toyota    B   1'32"936
19. 21 SPEED        Toro Rosso Cosw. M   1'32"992
20. 18 MONTEIRO     Midland Toyota    B   1'33"658
21. 22 SATO         S. Aguri F1 Honda B   1'35"239
22. 23 MONTAGNY     S. Aguri F1 Honda B   1'46"505

The starting grid for the race (as at 12:01am EST) looks like this:

P. No Driver       Team - Engine   Tyres
1. 1 ALONSO       Renault           M
2. 5 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B
3. 6 MASSA        Ferrari           B
4. 11 BARRICHELLO Honda             M
5. 3 RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes M
6. 12 BUTTON       Honda             M
7. 8 TRULLI       Toyota            B
8. 17 VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber        M
9. 4 MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes M

10. 7 R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B
11. 2 FISICHELLA   Renault           M
12. 14 COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari   M
13. 16 HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M
14. 20 LIUZZI       Toro Rosso Cosw. M

15. 15 KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari   M
16. 19 ALBERS       Midland Toyota    B
17. 21 SPEED        Toro Rosso Cosw. M
18. 18 MONTEIRO     Midland Toyota    B
19. 22 SATO         S. Aguri F1 Honda B
20. 9 WEBBER       Williams Cosworth B

21. 23 MONTAGNY S. Aguri F1 Honda B

22. 10 ROSBERG Williams Cosworth B

San Marino Grand Prix Win Signals a Return for Ferrarii?

damirb — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 20:00:00 GMT

I bet Pat Symonds is kicking himself right now. Fernando Alonso was being held up by Michael Schumacher, who was struggling in his Ferrari, so Renault tries to get some faster laps for Alonso by calling him in early. The problem was that Ross Brawn simply called Schumacher in on the next lap and he exits just ahead of Alonso making the whole exercise fruitless. Speculation is that Alonso had another 5 laps of fuel in the car and may have been able to jump ahead of the Ferrari if he stayed out. Oh well, hindsight is always 20/20 in these cases.

The truth is that Michael Schumacher's Ferrari won the race not because it was the fastest car out there but because it is impossible to pass at Imola. He was a good 2-4 seconds a lap slower after his first pit stop and never really recovered from the loss of grid his used tires suffered. If he made any mistake at all, Alonso would have passed him for the win. As we all know, Schumacher rarely makes mistakes and that was the case today. So, the result shows that Ferrari still has some work to do to catch Renault, but, given the right track and position on it, they can win races. Having Ferrari in a position to challenge for a win is a good thing for the sport whether or not you are a fan of the Scuderia.

The race was largely a procession with the only bits of excitement being the constant attempt by Alonso to gain the lead from Schumacher, the first corner punt of Christian Albers' Torro Rosso by the Super Aguri of Ide, and the Jenson Button lollipop incident during his second pit stop. I can tell you that the Honda team will be holding lollipop exercises over the next couple of weeks to make sure it is not raised until after the fuel rig is removed from the car. Thankfully no-one was seriously injured by Jenson taking off with the fuel rig attached and collecting a half-dozed pit crew members in the process.

I have to admit that I was surprised that Jacques Villeneuve did not finish any better than 12th. He was up to sixth in the race with only a single pit stop to go and looked like he would finish in the points. Unfortunately for him, he suffered from pit lane slowness and dropped back significantly. Just goes to show, is it did for Button, that no matter what you do on the race track, it can all become unravelled when you stop for tires and fuel.

McLaren was never really in the race but both Montoya and Raikkonen finished in the points with Juan Pablo salvaging a podium largely thanks to Honda's misfortune. Kimi never really had much of a chance to do anything but did finish fifth, just behind the other Ferrari of Felippe Massa. I'm sure Ron Dennis is happy for the points helping with the quest for the Constructor's Championship.

Red Bull had an early exit for both Christian Klien and David Coulthard, while Williams had mixed results with Webber finishing sixth and Rosberg tenth. The rest of the field was pretty much as expected with the Super Aguri and Midland drivers at the back of the pack. Full results are as follows:

P. No Driver       Team - Engine   Tyres   Gaps/Laps     Average
1. 5 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1h31'06"486 201.261 Km/h
2. 1 ALONSO       Renault           M   + 0'02"096 201.184 Km/h
3. 4 MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes M   + 0'15"868 200.679 Km/h
4. 6 MASSA        Ferrari           B   + 0'17"096 200.634 Km/h
5. 3 RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes M   + 0'17"524 200.618 Km/h
6. 9 WEBBER       Williams Cosworth B   + 0'37"739 199.881 Km/h
7. 12 BUTTON       Honda             M   + 0'39"635 199.813 Km/h
8. 2 FISICHELLA   Renault           M   + 0'40"200 199.792 Km/h
9. 7 R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   + 0'45"511 199.600 Km/h
10. 11 BARRICHELLO Honda             M   + 1'17"851 198.435 Km/h
11. 10 ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth B   + 1'19"675 198.370 Km/h
12. 17 VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber        M   + 1'22"370 198.274 Km/h
13. 16 HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M      1 lap(s)
14. 20 LIUZZI       Toro Rosso Cosw. M      1 lap(s)
15. 21 SPEED        Toro Rosso Cosw. M      1 lap(s)
16. 18 MONTEIRO     Midland Toyota    B      2 lap(s)
17. 14 COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari   M     15 lap(s)
18. 22 SATO         S. Aguri F1 Honda B     18 lap(s)
19. 15 KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari   M     22 lap(s)
20. 23 IDE          S. Aguri F1 Honda B     39 lap(s)
21. 8 TRULLI       Toyota            B     57 lap(s)
22. 19 ALBERS       Midland Toyota    B     62 lap(s)

The current points standings for the drivers championship are:

Points Driver       Team - Engine
    36 ALONSO       Renault
    21 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari
    18 RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes
    15 FISICHELLA   Renault
    15 MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes
    13 BUTTON       Honda
     9 MASSA        Ferrari
     7 R.SCHUMACHER Toyota
     6 WEBBER       Williams Cosworth
     5 HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber
     5 VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber
     2 BARRICHELLO  Honda
     2 ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth
     1 COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari
     1 KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari

The current points standing for the constructors championship are:

Points Team - Engine
    51  Renault
    33  McLaren Mercedes
    30  Ferrari
    15  Honda
    10  BMW Sauber
     8  Williams Cosworth
     7  Toyota
     2  RedBull Ferrari

Imola Qualifying - Tifosi Cheer as Michael Schumacher Captures Pole and Breaks Another Record

damirb — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 06:30:00 GMT

It was the only record that I can think of that Michael Schumacher did not hold - the most poles in an F1 career. Ayrton Senna held it for the longest time with a total of 65 poles in his career and today Michael Schumacher broke it securing his 66th pole position at the San Marino Grand Prix in Imola. This event is significant for a number of reasons.

The obvious thing here is that if there was any doubt that Michael Schumacher is the greatest Grand Prix driver of all time, securing this one last significant record should lay that to rest. Now, I'm not saying he is the most exciting F1 racer to watch - for me that title still belongs in a two-way tie between Ayrton Senna and Gilles Villeneuve - but he is the one that has smashed all the records. I think Alain Prost was a more tactical racer on the track and Nigel Mansell had more passion, but Michael has surpassed them all. I still remember the Belgian Grand Prix where he made his debut subbing for an injured Thierry Boutsen and raised plenty of eyebrows by his exciting performance in an under-powered car. Mind you back then all the races were closer than those for most of Michael's F1 career.

The second reason that Michael taking the pole is significant is that it may indicate that Ferrari is back on the upswing. Felippe Massa qualified fourth, which modes well for the team, assuming he makes it through the race. The pole time was almost 2/10ths ahead of the BAR of Jenson Button so it may indicate that Ferrari could be back to the performance we have grown used to expecting from them, unless they are running a low fuel load, which, knowing the way Ross Brawn works, is possible though unlikely.

The other reason that a Ferrari on the pole is significant is that the Tifosi needed something to smile about after the disasters of Australia and Malaysia. The Italian press was riding Ferrari quite hard over the last few weeks and the fans were getting worried after such a long dry spell. They needed something to cheer about and a pole goes part of the way - a win completes it.

The surprises of the session were the second and third place results for Honda, and a fifth and eleventh for Renault. Jenson Button has been doing well in qualifying so far this year but Rubens Barrichello could not get a handle on his car. Today, it appears that he and the mechanics and Honda have finally come to an understanding and he is able to get the most out of his car. Alonso, on the other hand, could not carry the promise show in practice to a result in qualifying. That notwithstanding, he is one to watch during the race since he could make it to second or even take the lead by the first corner since those Renaults have magic in their starts.

I was a bit disappointed with the seventh and eight place showing of the McLaren runners, so let's hope they are just carrying a lot of fuel. The rest of the grid and the results from qualifying are as follows:

P. No Driver       Team - Engine   Tyres    Times
1. 5 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1'22"795
2. 12 BUTTON       Honda             M   1'22"988
3. 11 BARRICHELLO Honda             M   1'23"242
4. 6 MASSA        Ferrari           B   1'23"702
5. 1 ALONSO       Renault           M   1'23"709
6. 7 R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   1'23"772
7. 4 MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes M   1'24"021
8. 3 RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes M   1'24"324
9. 8 TRULLI       Toyota            B   1'24"172
10. 9 WEBBER       Williams Cosworth B   1'24"795

11. 2 FISICHELLA   Renault           M   1'23"771
12. 17 VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber        M   1'23"887
13. 10 ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth B   1'23"966
14. 14 COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari   M   1'24"101
15. 16 HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M   1'24"129
16. 20 LIUZZI       Toro Rosso Cosw. M   1'24"520

17. 15 KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari   M   1'25"410
18. 21 SPEED        Toro Rosso Cosw. M   1'25"437
19. 18 MONTEIRO     Midland Toyota    B   1'26"820
20. 19 ALBERS       Midland Toyota    B   1'27"088
21. 22 SATO         S. Aguri F1 Honda B   1'27"609
22. 23 IDE          S. Aguri F1 Honda B   1'29"282

Excitement Down Under at the Australian Grand Prix

damirb — Sun, 02 Apr 2006 21:00:00 GMT

Wasn't that an exciting finish to the Australian Grand Prix?? I'm not talking about Fernando Alonso winning the race - that was a forgone conclusion as soon as he took the lead. No, I mean the way Jenson Button's Honda engine exlpoded on the main straight within pushing distance of the finish line. Martin Brundle and James Allen of ITV were urging him to get out and push. If he did, he may have actually gotten a point instead of finishing 10th. Who know's? Maybe he's picking up some of that bad luck from Kimi Raikkonen, who managed to finish second?

I have to admit that I was quite proud of Canada's own Jacques Villeneuve. Starting 19th and finishing 6th is quite an accomplishment, especially when you only took on one set of tires (most others had two tire changes) and had a heavier fuel load than most other drivers. I believe that if we did not have so many Safety Car periods he may have finished even further up the grid. Even better, both BMW Saubers finished in the points with Nick Heidfeld picking up 4th place. Heidfeld lost 3rd to Ralf Schumacher on a re-start otherwise we could have seen the first podium for the newly BMW-owned team.

The story of the race has to be the sheer number of accidents. It was exciting to watch until the Safety Car came out then the cars parade around the track, waving and bobbing to keep their tires warm on a relativelty cool day in Melbourne. The restarts were priceless with Fernando Alonso having a distinct future in Champ Cars if he ever gets bored with F1. He controlled the pace of the restarts and took off 6 seconds ahead of everyone else by the time they crossed the finish line. Mind you, having a couple of Midland F1s between you and Kimi Rakonnen always helps.

On the Ferrari saga, Ross Brawn had nothing up his sleeve. Both Ferraris crashed out of the race with Massa not even getting a single lap in. I think he managed to at least take the first corner and that was that. Nico Rosberg of Williams was also out as a result of that first corner incident. Michael Schumacher, who was as inconsistent as he has almost never been, hit a bad bump in the grass on the final corner and crashed his Ferrari into the wall and then walked into the Toyota pits. Looking for his brother maybe??

Another notable crash, or failure to finish, included Juan Montoya, who also hit the same patch of grass as Schumacher but managed to save it only to have the car shut off by itself. Could this be one of those new McLaren features to save costs by not allowing a car to crash? In any case, he was rather animanted talking to his mechanics after he got to the pits clearly trying to convince them that it was not his fault. Other than that, he had a great race and the first lap action of Montoya and Raikkonen battling for position reminded me of that other battling McLaren duo from days gone by - Alain Prost and the late great Ayrton Senna. The only difference between then and now is that McLaren's were winning most of the races back then.

Neither of the Williams cars managed to cross the finish line, with Mark Webber going out of his home Grand Prix leading the race. He wasn't going to keep the lead but he could have gotten a podium had his car not expired. This makes two races in a row where neither Williams finished, which I'm sure is not making Sir Frank all that happy.

Finally, other quick snippets of excitement included Liuzzi in the Toro Rosso passing Michael Schumacher's Ferrari, which led Louise Goodman of ITV ask if the Cosworth V10-powered Torro Rosso cars have an unfair advantage, to which Schumacher replied No, it just shows how slow we are. Another similar example of a B team trumping a top team is Takuma Sato of the Super Aguri keeping his Honda-powered 2002 Arrows chassis (modified to 2006 specs) convincingly ahead of Rubens Barrichello's works Honda. The only consistent thing about driver performance was Fernando Alonso was consistently fast (Fisichella got publicly chastised on the team radio by his engineer for being 2 seconds a lap slower with the same fuel load), and the Midland F1 team was consistently slow - a set of moving chicanes if you will.

The official results of the Australian Grand Prix are:

P. No Driver       Team - Engine   Tyres   Gaps/Laps     Average
1. 1 ALONSO       Renault           M   1h34'27"870 191.990 Km/h
2. 3 RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes M   + 0'01"829 191.928 Km/h
3. 7 R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   + 0'24"824 191.153 Km/h
4. 16 HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M   + 0'31"032 190.945 Km/h
5. 2 FISICHELLA   Renault           M   + 0'38"421 190.698 Km/h
6. 17 VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber        M   + 0'49"554 190.326 Km/h
7. 11 BARRICHELLO Honda             M   + 0'51"904 190.248 Km/h
8. 14 COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari   M   + 0'53"983 190.179 Km/h
9. 21 SPEED        Toro Rosso Cosw. M   + 1'18"817 189.357 Km/h
10. 12 BUTTON       Honda             M      1 lap(s)
11. 19 ALBERS       Midland Toyota    B      1 lap(s)
12. 22 SATO         S. Aguri F1 Honda B      2 lap(s)
13. 23 IDE          S. Aguri F1 Honda B      3 lap(s)
14. 4 MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes M     11 lap(s)
15. 18 MONTEIRO     Midland Toyota    B     18 lap(s)
16. 20 LIUZZI       Toro Rosso Cosw. M     20 lap(s)
17. 5 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B     25 lap(s)
18. 9 WEBBER       Williams Cosworth B     35 lap(s)
19. 15 KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari   M     53 lap(s)
20. 8 TRULLI       Toyota            B     57 lap(s)
21. 10 ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth B     57 lap(s)
22. 6 MASSA        Ferrari           B     57 lap(s)

The current points standings for the drivers championship are:

Points Driver       Team - Engine
    28 ALONSO       Renault
    14 FISICHELLA   Renault
    14 RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes
    11 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari
    11 BUTTON       Honda
     9 MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes
     7 R.SCHUMACHER Toyota
     5 HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber
     5 VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber
     4 MASSA        Ferrari
     3 WEBBER       Williams Cosworth
     2 BARRICHELLO  Honda
     2 ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth
     1 COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari
     1 KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari

The current points standing for the constructors championship are:

Points Team - Engine
    42  Renault
    23  McLaren Mercedes
    15  Ferrari
    13  Honda
    10  BMW Sauber
     7  Toyota
     5  Williams Cosworth
     2  RedBull Ferrari

The F1 Circus Lands in Melbourne with a Qualifying Hodge-Podge

damirb — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 19:00:00 GMT

The land down under hosts the third Grand Prix of the season in the lovely city of Melbourne. I can say that from experience having had the pleasure of visiting the city some years ago. The Albert Park Circuit is also a fun one to watch, thought I've actually not been there myself during the F1 weekend.

Australia is usually where the season kicks off but this year the Commonwealth Games forced the organizers to move the race to a point slightly later in the year. No matter, Merlbourne is always a fun one to watch.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of Jacques Villeneuve's dramatic F1 debut where he took pole position in his very first race at the then season-opening Australian Grand Prix at this same race track. He would have won the race too had it not been for an oil leak that forced him to let his then team-mate Damon Hill pass forcing Jacques to finish second. This year Jacques also qualified well for BMW Sauber by making it to the third session and setting the 9th best time. The only downside is that he had an engine change earlier in the weekend which means he starts 19th.

Qualifying was exciting and challenging, or so it appears. There was a red flag in each of the two first sessions effectively making qualifying a 5 session event instead of 3. A lot of drivers seemed to get caught by the tighter quarters of a street circuit after the wide open spaces of Bahrain and Sepang, with Felipe Massa destroying his Ferrari after a spin across the gravel trap. In fact, neither of the Ferraris made it to the final session prompting many to wonder if this is a ploy by Ross Brawn, the master strategist, or simply Ferrari's lack of speed. Only tomorow will tell.

The surprise of qualifying was Jenson Button who managed to place his Honda on pole position displacing the Renault team for the first time this year. Honda was boasting before qualifying started that this will be the weekend they get pole position and their first race win. Jenson got the pole position and we'll see if he can finally manage to win a race. Rubens, on the other hand, did not fare as well and is starting 16th (as of now - things could change).

The results of qualifying are:

P. No Driver       Team - Engine   Tyres    Times
1. 12 BUTTON       Honda             M   1'25"229
2. 2 FISICHELLA   Renault           M   1'25"635
3. 1 ALONSO       Renault           M   1'25"778
4. 3 RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes M   1'25"822
5. 4 MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes M   1'25"946
6. 7 R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   1'26"612
7. 9 WEBBER       Williams Cosworth B   1'26"937
8. 16 HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M   1'27"579
9. 17 VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber        M   1'29"239
10. 8 TRULLI       Toyota            B   1'26"327

11. 5 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1'26"718
12. 14 COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari   M   1'27"023
13. 20 LIUZZI       Toro Rosso Cosw. M   1'27"219
14. 15 KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari   M   1'27"591
15. 10 ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth B   1'29"442
16. 6 MASSA        Ferrari           B

17. 11 BARRICHELLO Honda             M   1'29"943
18. 19 ALBERS       Midland Toyota    B   1'30"226
19. 21 SPEED        Toro Rosso Cosw. M   1'30"426
20. 18 MONTEIRO     Midland Toyota    B   1'30"709
21. 22 SATO         S. Aguri F1 Honda B   1'32"279
22. 23 IDE          S. Aguri F1 Honda B   1'36"164

The actual starting grid for the race currently stands at:

P. No Driver       Team - Engine
1. 12 BUTTON       Honda
2. 2 FISICHELLA   Renault
3. 1 ALONSO       Renault
4. 3 RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes
5. 4 MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes
6. 7 R.SCHUMACHER Toyota
7. 9 WEBBER       Williams Cosworth
8. 16 HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber
9. 8 TRULLI       Toyota
10. 5 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari
11. 14 COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari
12. 20 LIUZZI       Toro Rosso Cosw.
13. 15 KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari
14. 10 ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth
15. 6 MASSA        Ferrari
16. 11 BARRICHELLO Honda
17. 19 ALBERS       Midland Toyota
18. 21 SPEED        Toro Rosso Cosw.
19. 17 VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber
20. 18 MONTEIRO     Midland Toyota
21. 22 SATO         S. Aguri F1 Honda
22. 23 IDE          S. Aguri F1 Honda

Malaysian Grand Prix Proves Exciting but Bad Luck and a Red Bull Strike Kimi Raikkonen

damirb — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 19:00:00 GMT

Sorry for being so late to post about this, but it has been quite a week. After all, the Malaysin Grand Prix was on at 2am Sunday morning here in Toronto. After going to bed a 5am posting to the blog was replaced by family obligations, which took up the rest of my day. Monday arrives and the week leaves me away from this blog and doing other things. I'll try not to repeat this in the future.

So, Kimi Raikkonen?? I'm telling you that if Kimi did not have bad luck he would have no luck at all. In a position to win the race and he gets punted out of the Malaysian Grand Prix by Christian Klien and on the FIRST lap no less!! He has got to be the unluckiest F1 driver that I can recall.

My team fared no better with both Williams cars retiring before the race ended. Both Rosberg, who started 3rd, and Webber looked good for points and they both came away with none. On the bright side Canada's favourite F1 son (who resides in Monaco), Jacques Villeneuve, got BMW Sauber's first points of the season by finishing seventh. Good on you Jacques!!

Oh, the race was won by Giancarlo Fisichella of Renault, who started from the pole. His team mate and reigning world champion, Fernando Alsonso, was second while Jenson Button of Honda was third. The Ferraris were respectable with Massa in fifth edging out Michael Schumacher in sixth.

Full official race results are as follows:

Pos No Driver               Team            Laps Time/Retired
1   2   Giancarlo Fisichella Renault           56 1:30:40.529
2   1   Fernando Alonso     Renault           56 +4.5 secs
3   12 Jenson Button        Honda             56 +9.6 secs
4   4   Juan Pablo Montoya   McLaren-Mercedes 56 +39.3 secs
5   6   Felipe Massa         Ferrari           56 +43.2 secs
6   5   Michael Schumacher   Ferrari           56 +43.8 secs
7   17 Jacques Villeneuve   Sauber-BMW        56 +80.4 secs
8   7   Ralf Schumacher      Toyota            56 +81.2 secs
9   8   Jarno Trulli         Toyota            55 +1 Lap
10   11 Rubens Barrichello   Honda             55 +1 Lap
11   20 Vitantonio Liuzzi    STR-Cosworth      54 +2 Laps
12   19 Christijan Albers    MF1-Toyota        54 +2 Laps
13   18 Tiago Monteiro       MF1-Toyota        54 +2 Laps
14   22 Takuma Sato          Super Aguri-Honda 53 +3 Laps
Ret 16 Nick Heidfeld        Sauber-BMW        48 Engine
Ret 21 Scott Speed          STR-Cosworth      41 Clutch
Ret 23 Yuji Ide             Super Aguri-Honda 33 Mechanical
Ret 15 Christian Klien      RBR-Ferrari       26 Hydraulics
Ret 9   Mark Webber          Williams-Cosworth 15 Hydraulics
Ret 14 David Coulthard      RBR-Ferrari       10 Hydraulics
Ret 10 Nico Rosberg         Williams-Cosworth 6 Engine
Ret 3   Kimi Räikkönen       McLaren-Mercedes   0 Accident
Fastest Lap: Fernando Alonso 1:34.803

The current points standings for the drivers championship are:

Points Driver       Team - Engine
    18 ALONSO       Renault
    11 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari
    11 BUTTON       Honda
    10 FISICHELLA   Renault
     9 MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes
     6 RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes
     4 MASSA        Ferrari
     3 WEBBER       Williams Cosworth
     2 ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth
     2 VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber
     1 R.SCHUMACHER Toyota
     1 KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari

The current points standing for the constructors championship are:

Points Team - Engine
    28  Renault
    15  Ferrari
    15  McLaren Mercedes
    11  Honda
     5  Williams Cosworth
     2  BMW Sauber
     1  Toyota
     1  RedBull Ferrari

F1 Season Starts with Some Excitement in Bahrain

damirb — Sun, 12 Mar 2006 23:14:00 GMT

I personnally think that Kimi Raikkonen should start from the back of the grid at every race!! It was really exciting to watch him come through the field from 22nd on the grid to finish third. A podium finish from last place is an accomplishment, so much so that Fernando Alonso, who won the race for Renault, said "I was surprised to see him on the podium...I thought Jenson (Button, from Honda) was third". This could be an interesting season if Kimi can keep that pace up.

The race itself was largely uneventful. More passing than in previous years but the cars at the front did not change all that much, with Michael Schumacher leading for most of the race and only losing the lead permanently to Alonso after the second pit stop. Bringing tire changes back made the pit stops more exciting to watch, especially when Massa came in after flat-spotting his tires and the rear left tire gun was not working properly. That problem probably cost him a podium, and definitiely some points.

I was happy to see my favourite team, Williams, get both cars in the points. Quite an accomplishement considering they have Cosworth customer (i.e. they have to pay for them) engines. BMW, which is also on my favourites list, did not do as well as I hoped, though watching Jacques Villeneuve exit the race when his BMW powerplant blew up brilliantly was exciting and sad at the same time. I honestly thought he could have brought home some points and was on pace to finish seventh or eighth.

The rinal results from the race are:

P. No Driver       Team - Engine   Tyres   Gaps/Laps     Average
1. 1 ALONSO       Renault           M   1h29'46"205 206.018 Km/h
2. 5 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   + 0'01"246 205.971 Km/h
3. 3 RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes M   + 0'19"360 205.280 Km/h
4. 12 BUTTON       Honda             M   + 0'19"992 205.256 Km/h
5. 4 MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes M   + 0'37"048 204.611 Km/h
6. 9 WEBBER       Williams Cosworth B   + 0'41"932 204.427 Km/h
7. 10 ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth B   + 1'03"043 203.635 Km/h
8. 15 KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari   M   + 1'06"771 203.496 Km/h
9. 6 MASSA        Ferrari           B   + 1'09"907 203.379 Km/h
10. 14 COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari   M   + 1'15"541 203.169 Km/h
11. 20 LIUZZI       Toro Rosso Cosw. M   + 1'25"997 202.781 Km/h
12. 16 HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M      1 lap(s)
13. 21 SPEED        Toro Rosso Cosw. M      1 lap(s)
14. 7 R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B      1 lap(s)
15. 11 BARRICHELLO Honda             M      1 lap(s)
16. 8 TRULLI       Toyota            B      1 lap(s)
17. 18 MONTEIRO     Midland Toyota    B      2 lap(s)
18. 22 SATO         S. Aguri F1 Honda B      4 lap(s)
19. 23 IDE          S. Aguri F1 Honda B     22 lap(s)
20. 17 VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber        M     22 lap(s)
21. 2 FISICHELLA   Renault           M     36 lap(s)
22. 19 ALBERS       Midland Toyota    B     57 lap(s)

The current points standings for the drivers championship are:

Points Driver       Team - Engine
    10 ALONSO       Renault
     8 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari
     6 RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes
     5 BUTTON       Honda
     4 MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes
     3 WEBBER       Williams Cosworth
     2 ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth
     1 KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari

The current points standing for the constructors championship are:

Points Team - Engine
    10  Renault
    10  McLaren Mercedes
     8  Ferrari
     5  Honda
     5  Williams Cosworth
     1  RedBull Ferrari

Bahrain F1 Grand Prix Qualifying

damirb — Sun, 12 Mar 2006 00:22:00 GMT

If Kimi Raikkonen did not have bad luck, he would have no luck at all. Last year he won more races than Fernando Alonso but still managed to lose the championship due to not finishing as many of them. This year looks like it might be starting the same way after the rear wing of his McLaren Mercedes flew off and caused him to spin during the first 15 minutes of qualifying. What's worse, he was the only driver to suffer a mechanical failure during qualifying and he now starts at the back of the grid.

The other surprise was the Ferrari 1-2 at the front of the grid for the inaugural race of 2006. Michael Scumacher has been saying that they don't expect to be fast as some of the other teams since the car still needs work, then he brings home pole position with teammate Felipe Massa right behind. Goes back to my statement from yesterday - "full of sound and furry, signifying nothing". You just can't believe any of the banter before the real show starts during qualifying!!

Although I did not predict Ferrari would do as well as they did - probably because I'm not a huge Ferrari fan - I did not do too bad on the rest of my predictions. Super Aguri (and the unlucky Kimi Raikkonen) make up the rear of the grid. At the front we have the two Ferrarris, with the Honda of Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso's Renault only a couple of tenths behind. Montoya is sitting a respectable fifth in his McLaren Mercedes, which should make it exciting to watch Kimi slice up the field on his way to the front as it shows that the McLaren package has some speed.

Weber and Williams are a comfortable seventh just behind the second Honda of Barrichello. Interesting is that Christian Klien of Red Bull is ahead of both his teammate, David Coulthard, and the second Renault of Fisichella. BMW Sauber also are not it too bad a position with Heidfeld in 10th and Villeneuve in 11th. Villenevue has to score points this year if he wants to continue racign and in 11th he may be able to climb three spots to the last points-paying position.

I guess the real disappointment is that Toyota, with a budget reputed to be around $500 million US for the year, only start 14th and 17th.

The way that grid lines up for tomorrow's race (6am EST on TSN) is as follows:

P. No Driver       Team - Engine   Tyres    Times      Ave/Gaps
1. 5 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1'31"431
2. 6 MASSA        Ferrari           B   1'31"478
3. 12 BUTTON       Honda             M   1'31"549
4. 1 ALONSO       Renault           M   1'31"702
5. 4 MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes M   1'32"164
6. 11 BARRICHELLO Honda             M   1'32"579
7. 9 WEBBER       Williams Cosworth B   1'33"006
8. 15 KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari   M   1'33"112
9. 2 FISICHELLA   Renault           M   1'33"496
10. 16 HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M   1'33"926

11. 17 VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber        M   1'32"456
12. 10 ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth B   1'32"620
13. 14 COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari   M   1'32"850
14. 8 TRULLI       Toyota            B   1'33"066
15. 20 LIUZZI       Toro Rosso Cosw. M   1'33"416
16. 21 SPEED        Toro Rosso Cosw. M   1'34"606

17. 7 R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   1'34"702
18. 19 ALBERS       Midland Toyota    B   1'35"724
19. 18 MONTEIRO     Midland Toyota    B   1'35"900
20. 22 SATO         S. Aguri F1 Honda B   1'37"411
21. 23 IDE          S. Aguri F1 Honda B   1'40"270
22. 3 RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes M   0'00"000

Friday Free Practive at the Bahrain Grand Prix

damirb — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 01:21:00 GMT

I love the first practice day of the first grand prix of the season. All the drivers are making bold statements as to why they did well or not, but the lap times mean almost nothing. Looking at the lap times for the day you have Anthony Davidson, a test driver from the Honda team on top followed by Michael Schumacher of Ferrari. Then the real mixup of teams and drivers follows with Liuzzi from Scuderia Torro Rosso (the renamed perrenial tail-ender Minardi team) in sixth place, one behind the reigning world champion Fernando Alonso of Renault. The thing that makes sense is both McLaren drivers are close to each other in lap times but somewhat off the pace. Reminds me of that line from MacBeth - "full of sound and fury, signifying nothing".

Saturday qualifying is the real deal. With the new format where after each of 2 15 minute sessions the six slowest drivers get kicked out leaving the top 10 drivers to battle for the top grid positions, we're sure to see excitement and probably a little confusion. I'll be up at 6am tomorrow morning to watch it. At that time we'll know who to watch in the race.

My prediction for the top spots on the grid: Honda and Renault, followed by McLaren and Williams. I'm 100% confident that Super Aguri will be the slowest team on the grid and occupy the last two spots.

The Friday Free Practice Results:

P. No Driver       Team - Engine   Tyres    Times      Ave/Gaps
01. 36 DAVIDSON     Honda             M   1'31"353 213.274 Km/h
02. 5 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari           B   1'31"751    + 0'00"398
03. 35 WURZ         Williams Cosworth B   1'31"764    + 0'00"411
04. 6 MASSA        Ferrari           B   1'32"175    + 0'00"822
05. 1 ALONSO       Renault           M   1'32"538    + 0'01"185
06. 20 LIUZZI       Toro Rosso Cosw. M   1'32"703    + 0'01"350
07. 37 DOORNBOS     RedBull Cosworth M   1'32"926    + 0'01"573
08. 2 FISICHELLA   Renault           M   1'33"215    + 0'01"862
09. 12 BUTTON       Honda             M   1'33"226    + 0'01"873
10. 38 KUBICA       BMW Sauber        M   1'33"244    + 0'01"891
11. 15 KLIEN        RedBull Ferrari   M   1'33"557    + 0'02"204
12. 3 RAIKKONEN    McLaren Mercedes M   1'33"577    + 0'02"224
13. 4 MONTOYA      McLaren Mercedes M   1'33"726    + 0'02"373
14. 16 HEIDFELD     BMW Sauber        M   1'33"848    + 0'02"495
15. 40 JANI         Toro Rosso Cosw. M   1'33"900    + 0'02"547
16. 21 SPEED        Toro Rosso Cosw. M   1'34"284    + 0'02"931
17. 9 WEBBER       Williams Cosworth B   1'34"333    + 0'02"980
18. 11 BARRICHELLO Honda             M   1'34"384    + 0'03"031
19. 14 COULTHARD    RedBull Ferrari   M   1'34"432    + 0'03"079
20. 18 MONTEIRO     Midland Toyota    B   1'34"459    + 0'03"106
21. 10 ROSBERG      Williams Cosworth B   1'34"953    + 0'03"600
22. 7 R.SCHUMACHER Toyota            B   1'35"170    + 0'03"817
23. 39 WINKELHOCK   Midland Toyota    B   1'35"686    + 0'04"333
24. 8 TRULLI       Toyota            B   1'35"898    + 0'04"545
25. 17 VILLENEUVE   BMW Sauber        M   1'36"264    + 0'04"911
26. 19 ALBERS       Midland Toyota    B   1'36"314    + 0'04"961
27. 22 SATO         S. Aguri F1 Honda B   1'37"588    + 0'06"235
28. 23 IDE          S. Aguri F1 Honda B   1'39"021    + 0'07"668

Upcoming Tour Info and News About This Blog

damirb — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 06:47:00 GMT

First, I just posted on the Canadian IT Pro blog about the upcoming Future of the Desktop Tour whose content I am responsible for. Check out the post at http://blogs.technet.com/canitpro/archive/2006/03/09/421680.aspx.

This leads me to my second point, this blog will be changing focus somewhat. As many of you are aware, the Canadian IT Pro team at Microsoft has created two centralized blogs that now house the majority of the technical content we are delivering via the blogs. The Canadian IT Pro Blog is focused on IT Pro issues and the events we are putting on to support you, the Canadian IT Pro community. The idea was that instead of you going to four invidual blogs - this one, Bruce Cowper's, Rick Claus's and Barnaby Jeans' - to get all the content you need, why not just have a single place - the Canadian IT Pro Blog.

At the same time, a manager-focused blog was also launched to which our manager, John Oxley, as well as several outside parties, and Barnaby and Bruce contribute. Check it out at the Canadian IT Managers Blog.

The whole point of two key blogs instead of 4 or 5, is to make it easier for you to connect with us. Now, that does not mean that I will abandon this blog entirely. I actually plan on continuing to post here, but the focus will change somewhat from strictly technology issues to some of the other things I am passionate about. I'm going to start this off with a couple of posts this weekend on Formula 1 racing and The Sopranos.

The first race of the 2006 Formula 1 season takes place this weekend in Bahrain. It promises to be an interesting one and I'll give you my thoughts on qualifying, the race, the teams, drivers and anything else that I think might be worthwhile discussing. If you share my passion for F1 or are just curious, stay tuned.

As well Sunday, March 12 marks the start of the sixth (and final?) season of The Sopranos. I have been hooked on this series since season 1 and, despite the ebb and flow of the quality of each season and eposide, find the series totally entertaining. Like The Sopranos? Let's get into a discussion.