Resultados de Campeonato de Formula 1

Reseña del Campeonato

SEVERAL CHANGES, SCANDALS AND AN UNEXPECTED CHAMPION.

The 2009 Formula 1 season had 17 rounds scheduled, which included the fabulous new track in Abu Dhabi, and it featured the implementation of a new wave of interesting regulations. FIA’s strong hand Max Mosley, introduced new rules covering several aspects, highlighting the ban on testing sessions during the season, and the use of no more than 8 engines per car per season.

On the technical side, there was an effort to reduce dependence on aerodynamics on favor of mechanics. To this end slicks tires were reinstated (eliminating the grooved ones), the car’s width reduced and now the rear wing stood higher and narrower. Additionally, the front wing was wider and lower with the capacity to be adjusted by few degrees (6) during races to reduce the grip and encourage overtaking. Very important was the elimination of all extra pieces that adorned all the bodywork of cars. The lines should now be clean, which significantly changed the appearance of the cars (we think positively).

The most interesting change came with the presence of the innovative Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS). The device could generate –out of braking energy- about 80hp of extra power for around 6 seconds, giving the car a "boost" which could be used as attack or defensive maneuver.

There were many changes among teams and drivers, but one in particular stands out. Honda announced in December that it was withdrawing from the competition, but after much effort and just shortly before winter testing, Ross Brawn, its Principal, managed to get the support needed to acquire the team, and thus BrawnGP was born. The team could be seen with a visibly reduced staff, but the truth is that it was working on the car since the year before, and there was a lot of confidence of its prospects. Their drivers would be the same as they were at Honda: Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button.

The retirement of David Coulthard led the promotion of Sebastian Vettel from Toro Rosso to his older brother, Red Bull. The young German would partner with Mark Webber, and his seat would be filled by Sebastien Buemi, who in turn would race alongside with Bourdais. Ferrari presented the not very competitive F60 which would be driven by Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa. McLaren, with Hamilton and Kovalainen, brought the poor MP-24. Both teams, always members of the top, brought weak machines that seemed to show their misinterpretations of the new rules.

Fernando Alonso was paired again with Nelson Piquet Jr, to lead the struggling Renault of Flavio Briatore. On the other hand, Williams, in a year where improvement was evident, had Nico Rosberg, who always scored better than his teammate Kazuki Nakajima. Toyota, with its very reliable engine, but aerodynamically uncompetitive car, continued with Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock.

JENSON DID GOOD PROTECTING HIS ADVANTAGE.

Basically, you could say that the season had two parts. The first was a surprise given the domain exhibited by BrawnGP, and its star driver, Jenson Button. The second showed improvement by all teams including the fast ascending Red Bull. However, they all divided the wins, podium visits, and so on.

The early results have most of their reason in the famous "double diffuser" excellently incorporated in the BGP001 of BrawnGP, which made the car the one to beat. Do not forget that Honda had already spent almost a year developing this car, just that now they raced under another name. In the end, Jenson Button was victorious and without much of a fight in six (6) of the first seven rounds, with teammate Barrichello escorted him in three. Moreover, the rest of the top grid distributed inconsistently the rest of the points, giving the English a comfortable lead.

At the time of the British Grand Prix, Button lead Vettel and Webber by 32 and 33 points respectively, and surprisingly, the ever favorites Hamilton and Raikkonen did not pass the 10 points mark until the tenth round in Hungary.

In Hungaroring, we witnessed the odd and frightening accident suffered by Felipe Massa, when spring coil out of Barrichello's car, hit in the Brazilian in the head at over 230kph. The impact knocked him unconscious immediately, and nearly suffered brain damage, luckily Massa recovered, but had to miss the rest of the season.

Another distraction came with the ugly scandal of the "crash-gate" that involved Nelson Piquet Jr, who announced that deliberately and under the orders of the management of Renault, (meaning Flavio Briatore) crashed his car into a barrier at the Singapore GP in 2008 (which Alonso won). The accusation turned out to be true and Renault's senior management had to resign, and Briatore was banned for life from all car competitions at the hands of the FIA. Note that Piquet Jr made his announcement after having been terminated for poor performance.

Nevertheless, the action continued, and Barrichello finally saw the checkered flag second to no one, first in Valencia and then at Monza. Raikkonen triumphed in great form at Spa, but aided by the KERS, that allowed him to overtake a surprising Fisichella behind the wheels of a Force India. Such a display of talent did the Italian creditor of the seat left by the recovering Massa at Ferrari. Hamilton won in Singapore, and then Vettel, who was getting dangerously close in the points in Japan.

For the Brazilian Grand Prix, Jenson still lead the pack, but luck can be tricky: a good result was needed to keep the faster Vettel at bay. However, the young German was not ready to snatch titles and have not developed the coolness needed to accumulate points when needed instead of victories.
It occurred that in spite of starting from 14th, Button rallied, and put on excellent display driving mastery to finish in 5th, which was enough to be crowned world champion.
 

Últimas Noticias

Martes, Mayo 3, 2011
FIA concede más tiempo a Bahréin

Sábado, Abril 23, 2011
Para Alonso hay mucha temporada por delante

Jueves, Abril 21, 2011
Entevista oficial a Robert Kubica!

Viernes, Abril 8, 2011
Maldonado: "Tengo...confianza, es un circuito que conozco"

Jueves, Abril 7, 2011
Sepang mostrará si Ferrari está tan lejos de los Red Bull.

Miércoles, Abril 6, 2011
Para Massa, Ferrari tiene "muchas interrogantes"

Martes, Abril 5, 2011
Sigue creciendo el interés por competencia más "ecológica".