Formula One

[desertpilot]

http://www.barhondaf1.com/images/gallery/1550_800.jpg


Welcome to the new Formula 1 thread. The purpose of this thread is mainly to track the BAR-Honda F1 team and also the other teams performance and results.


2005 Formula 1 Race # 1 - Australian Grand Prix Melbourne - Albert Park Race Track

Here's the first qualification results. There's a new rule this season, there will be two qualification runs, one on Saturday and one on Sunday race day. The starting grid will be the average of the two qualification results.


Saturday Qualification 1 of 2 Results:

Pos.
1 Giancarlo Fisichella (11) - Renault
2 Jarno Trulli (6) - Toyota
3 Mark Webber (13) - Williams-BMW
4 Jacques Villeneuve - Sauber-Petronas
5 Christian Klein (16) - Red Bull Racing
6 David Coulthard (10) - Red Bull Racing
7 Nick Heidfeld (18) - Williams-BMW
8 Jenson Button (3) - BAR-Honda
9 Narain Karthikeyan* - Jordan-Toyota
10 Kimi Raikkonen (7) - McLaren-Mercedes
11 Juan Pablo Montoya (5) - McLaren-Mercedes
12 Rubens Barrichello (2) - Ferrari
13 Tiago Monteiro* - Jordan-Toyota
14 Fernando Alonso (4) - Renault
15 Christijan Albers* - Minardi-Cosworth
16 Patrick Friesacher* - Minardi-Cosworth
17 Ralf Schumacher (9) - Toyota
18 Michael Schumacher (1) - Ferrari
19 Felipe Massa (12) - Sauber-Petronas (did not qualify due to heavy rain)
20 Takuma Sato (8) - BAR-Honda (did not qualify due to crash)


* Rookie driver
(X) Last year's drivers rank


Notes:

Most of the qualifying drivers at the bottom of the list were affected by heavy rainfall. Takuma Sato's BAR-Honda crashed, OMG.

Ferrari and Minardi are the only teams running their last year's car with the new 2005 regulation changes. Ferrari will race their 2005 car in the 5th race at Barcelona, Spain.


I hope the Honda team does better in the final qualification on Sunday.

Cheers.


Stay tuned race fans for the Sunday final qualification and the first race of the new season after that.

[desertpilot]

Sunday Qualification 2 of 2 Results:

Pos.
1 Giancarlo Fisichella (11) - Renault
2 Jarno Trulli (6) - Toyota
3 Mark Webber (13) - Williams-BMW
4 Jacques Villeneuve - Sauber-Petronas
5 David Coulthard (10) - Red Bull Racing
6 Christian Klein (16) - Red Bull Racing
7 Nick Heidfeld (18) - Williams-BMW
8 Jenson Button (3) - BAR-Honda
9 Juan Pablo Montoya (5) - McLaren-Mercedes
10 Kimi Raikkonen (7) - McLaren-Mercedes
11 Rubens Barrichello (2) - Ferrari
12 Narain Karthikeyan* - Jordan-Toyota
13 Fernando Alonso (4) - Renault
14 Tiago Monteiro* - Jordan-Toyota
15 Ralf Schumacher (9) - Toyota
16 Patrick Friesacher* - Minardi-Cosworth
17 Christijan Albers* - Minardi-Cosworth
18 Michael Schumacher (1) - Ferrari
19 Takuma Sato (8) - BAR-Honda (did not qualify due to crash in Q1 Saturday)
20 Felipe Massa (12) - Sauber-Petronas (did not qualify due to heavy rain in Q1 Saturday)


The first race of the 2005 Formula One season in Australia is going on as of now! I wish all the teams good luck.


The Official Formula 1 website

[desertpilot]

Sunday Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix Race Provisional Results:

Pos.

1 Giancarlo Fisichella (11) - Renault Winner

2 Rubens Barrichello (2) - Ferrari +5.5 secs

3 Fernando Alonso (4) - Renault +6.7 secs

4 David Coulthard (10) - Red Bull Racing +16.1 secs

5 Mark Webber (13) - Williams-BMW +16.9 secs

6 Juan Pablo Montoya (5) - McLaren-Mercedes +35.0 secs

7 Christian Klein (16) - Red Bull Racing +38.9 secs

8 Kimi Raikkonen (7) - McLaren-Mercedes +39.6 secs

Points are awarded for the teams in the first 8 places only.

9 Jarno Trulli (6) - Toyota +63.1 secs
10 Felipe Massa (12) - Sauber-Petronas +64.3 secs
11 Jenson Button (3) - BAR-Honda (PITTED BEFORE FINISH) +1 Lap
12 Ralf Schumacher (9) - Toyota +1 Lap
13 Jacques Villeneuve - Sauber-Petronas +1 Lap
14 Takuma Sato (8) - BAR-Honda (PITTED BEFORE FINISH) +2 Laps
15 Narain Karthikeyan* - Jordan-Toyota +2 Laps
16 Tiago Monteiro* - Jordan-Toyota +2 Laps
17 Patrick Friesacher* - Minardi-Cosworth +4 Laps

Ret Michael Schumacher (1) - Ferrari (crashed with Heidfeld) +15 Laps
Ret Nick Heidfeld (18) - Williams-BMW (crashed with Schumacher) +15 Laps

Ret Christijan Albers* - Minardi-Cosworth (retired Lap 26) +41 Laps


Comments: Since the BAR-Honda team didn't officially finished the race they are allowed to change to new engines without penalty for the next race.

Join us again for the Sepang Malaysian race in two week's time on March 20th.

I will update the race results as soon as the race positions are finalized.

[borg]

A disappointing start to the season for BAR Honda, hopefully they do better in the next few races. With JB starting in 8th place I thought he might move up to top five, maybe next time.

Surprise of the race was the 2 Red Bull cars finishing in point positions, what a turnaround from last years Jag team.

What was not a surprise to me was Team Renault, they always had fast cars......with Ferrari running last years cars, I thought Renault might have a slight advantage at start of the season & it showed in the first race.

It's also great to see Villeneuve back in the game, I'd like to see him get some points but hopefully not at the expense of either JB or Sato.

[desertpilot]

It's kind of sad to see the BAR-Honda team failed to compete with the auto manufacturers backed teams. Toyota aren't so hot either, they even manage to beat Honda a little. With the rules loophole that a team could pit before the race is over would allow BAR-Honda to install a new engines for the next Malaysian Grand Prix. This would be an advantage for Honda because of the hotter weather in Malaysia and the rest of the teams had to use their engines for the mandatory second time in a race. I hope they fix their problems and they need to greatly improve big time.

Renault's good performance didn't really surprise me because I was monitoring all the teams winter testing. Renault had the fastest times during the winter testing, next were McLaren-Mercedes, Williams-BMW and even Red Bull Racing were fast also. Toyota were fast but it could not last long in the race and even in winter testing. Ferrari was only average during the winter testing but they surprised me with a second place win for a modified 2004 car. I thought McLaren-Mercedes would be strong this first race but they were slightly off pace. Kimi went off road a little and damaged something in the bottom of his car.

Red Bull Team did a great job for their first race. The other independent teams didn't do so well. As for the other independent teams, Sauber were fast during winter testing but it surprised me during the race that both drivers didn't show good performance specially near the end of the race. They were even beaten by their actual rival team Toyota.

Jacques Villeneuve big trouble started at the beggining of the race, he was forced to lose position by another driver Nick Heidfeld of Williams-BMW. After that he kept getting slower and finished 12th. Team member Filipe Massa only got 10th place. Sauber is dealing with BMW to be their next engine supplier but the team needs support from a major car manufacturer to be competitive.

In the tire wars, Bridgestone is not out yet. They showed that they could still compete with Michelin, they got 2nd place with Barrichello's Ferrari.

The next race would be interesting in two weeks from now in Malaysia on March 20th.

[dgoldbe2]

I was surprised as well, based on last seasons performance of BAR that they were so far out of the running.

The odd thing about Sauber is that they are using the 2005 spec Ferrari engines, where Ferrari were using the 2004 spec modified.

Red Bull was the biggest surprise. They are using an updated Jaguar R5 chassis, which was a very poor performer last year, and an updated Cosworth engine that Jordan used last year, which was basically a poor performer last year as well. And despite the rules changes, they were able to increase the RPMs and gain HP while trying to build in the 2 race weekend reliability.

With all the money that Toyota and Honda are spending, I would have expected them to be higher in the final results.

The nice thing is that there was only one mechanical retirement, Albers with a failed gearbox. The other 2 retirements, Heidfeld and Schumacher, IMHO was Schumacher's fault. To top it off, eventhough Heidfeld was out from damage, Schumacher's car could have finished the race. Ferrari exploited that loophole, so they could put a new engine in his car.


All in all, it was a refreshing change from the all Ferrari, all the time spectacle of last season.


As far as the tires go, Bridgestone will probably not be able to keep up with Michelin, throughout the season, due to their exclusive testing agreement with Ferrari. Michelin gets nearly 5 times the performance data that Bridgestone gets, despite Ferrari breaking the gentlemen's agreement not to conduct testing during race weekends, or previously agreed upon non-testing periods.

[desertpilot]

Don't count out Ferrari and Bridgestone, I'm surprised Barrichello ended up 2nd place. They are still a strong team maybe slightly weaker than last year, the big unknown is when they get their new 2005 race car, will it be slower, same or faster than their '04 car.



2005 Formula 1 Grand Prix Drivers Championship Points

Pos Driver Nationality Team Points

1 Giancarlo Fisichella Italian Renault 10

2 Rubens Barrichello Brazilian Ferrari 8

3 Fernando Alonso Spanish Renault 6

4 David Coulthard British Red Bull Racing 5

5 Mark Webber Australian Williams-BMW 4

6 Juan Pablo Montoya Colombian McLaren-Mercedes 3

7 Christian Klein Austrian Red Bull Racing 2

8 Kimi Raikkonen Finnish McLaren-Mercedes 1



2005 Formula 1 Grand Prix Constructors Championship Points

Pos Manufacturer Points

1 Renault 16

2 Ferrari 8

3 Red Bull Racing 7

4 Williams-BMW 4

5 McLaren-Mercedes 4

[indy-rich]

Just read this morning that Red Bull is negotiating to have Honda supply their engines to the team for the 2006 season. Word from the Honda guys working with BAR is that they'd prefer not to have to split their efforts with other teams with a potential loss of focus.

Comments from the Honda home office is that 'in the interest of the sport' they're always happy to spread the Honda cheer around to others.

[desertpilot]

Here's Autocar's article about Red Bull to run Honda engines in 2006.


Autocar article link

[FASTER345]

When was the last time Schumi/Ferrari were NOT in the points lead? What alternate universe is this?!?!?

[FASTER345]

Originally posted by indy-rich
Comments from the Honda home office is that 'in the interest of the sport' they're always happy to spread the Honda cheer around to others.

That must be why they left ChampCar, to prepare the oval-racing NASCAR folks for the Nextel Cup Accord via the IRL.

[FASTER345]

Originally posted by desertpilot
Here's Autocar's article about Red Bull to run Honda engines in 2006.

Wow, we're only one race in and the Silly Season has begun! Wouldn't it be fun if ChampCar went to 2.4l n/a engines too and could share engines with F1?

[desertpilot]

Maybe F1 should run go-carts if they don't want to go too fast.


2005 Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix Sunday Final Qualifying

Pos
1 Fernando Alonso Renault
2 Jarno Trulli Toyota
3 Giancarlo Fisichella Renault
4 Mark Webber Williams-BMW
5 Ralf Schumacher Toyota
6 Kimi Raikkonen McLaren-Mercedes
7 Christian Klein Red Bull Racing
8 David Coulthard Red Bull Racing
9 Jenson Button BAR-Honda
10 Nick Heidfeld Williams-BMW
11 Juan Pablo Montoya McLaren-Mercedes
12 Rubens Barrichello Ferrari
13 Michael Schumacher Ferrari
14 Felipe Massa Sauber-Petronas
15 Anthony Davidson BAR-Honda
16 Jacques Villeneuve Sauber-Petronas
17 Narain Karthikeyan Jordan-Toyota
18 Tiago Monteiro Jordan-Toyota
19 Patrick Friesacher Minardi-Cosworth
20 Christijan Albers Minardi-Cosworth


It looks like the Honda team didn't do so good even with their newly installed engines.

Note: Davidson substituted for T. Sato because he is ill with the flu.

The race will officially start about 11 p.m. tonight Pacific time zone. Good luck to the BAR-Honda team!


The Official Formula 1 website link

[iglesias]

Both BAR Honda engines blew 2 1/2 laps into the race, almost at the same time.

[desertpilot]

Too bad for the Honda team but there were a lot of retirements, a total of seven cars.

Early on about the same time the Hondas failed, P. Friesacher of Minardi spun and went out also. Then halfway during the race J. Villeneuve of Sauber spun and went out of the race. M. Webber's Williams crahed with G. Fisichella's Renault, both were out of it. Near the end of the race the Ferrari of R. Barrichello went in the pits due to lack of grip because of very badly worn tires.


Here are the unofficial Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix race results:


1 F. Alonso - Renault

2 J. Trulli - Toyota

3 N. Heidfeld - Williams-BMW

4 J. P. Montoya - McLaren-Mercedes

5 R. Schumacher - Toyota

6 D. Coulthard - Red Bull Racing

7 M. Schumacher - Ferrari

8 C. Klein - Red Bull Racing


The rest of the cars finished without points:

9 K. Raikkonen - McLaren-Mercedes
10 F. Massa - Sauber-Petronas
11 N. Karthikeyan - Jordan-Toyota
12 T. Monteiro - Jordan-Toyota
13 C. Albers - Minardi-Cosworth


It's the first podium for Toyota and a very strong race from the winner Fernando Alonso and Renault. Another disappointing race for the Ferrari team, maybe they will rush the new F2005 car now and use it ahead of schedule. The race stewards will investigate the crash of Webber and Fisichella.


2005 Formula 1 Grand Prix Drivers Championship Points

1 F. Alonso - Renault 16 pts

2 G. Fisichella's Renault 10 pts

3 J. Trulli - Toyota 8 pts

3= R. Barrichello - Ferrari 8 pts

3= D. Coulthard - Red Bull Racing 8 pts

3= J. P. Montoya - McLaren-Mercedes 8 pts

7 N. Heidfeld - Williams-BMW 6 pts

8 R. Schumacher - Toyota 4 pts

8= M. Webber - Williams-BMW 4 pts

10 C. Klein - Red Bull Racing 3 pts

11 M. Schumacher - Ferrari 2 pts

12 K. Raikkonen - McLaren-Mercedes 1 pts


2005 Formula 1 Grand Prix Constructors Championship Points

Pos Manufacturer Points

1 Renault 26 pts

2 Toyota 12 pts

3 Red Bull Racing 11 pts

4 Ferrari 10 pts

4= Williams-BMW 10 pts

5 McLaren-Mercedes 9 pts


The next race will be in two weeks time on April 1 - 3 at the Bahrain GP.