F1 2009 Race 1 Albert Park Melbourne

New season , new cars , new teams post all your predictions and chit chat here

Guess what? Kimi's gonna win! end of all discussions

Guess What Hamilton will win and end all discussion.
Although Ferrari is the team to beat this season

yeah right....hamilton in a bullock cart will still win..
he's that good :p

look out for button in brawn gp and alonso in renault.

Can you guys tell me where i can watch the race live online ?

yup...go to the official site...formula1.com
register there and watch the living timing screen when the race is on. lol
thats the only legal way i know if ur in India ;)

Guys, everyone is expecting Brawn GP to win. Sir Frank Williams has said that since ross Brawn took over that team, they will be the one to beat. Looks like Ross Brawn actually has an amazing chance here to show that Ross is Boss!

Massa himself has said that everyone will be fighting for 3rd place as first two places are for Brawn GP. Suddenly Button is being hailed as a World Championship contender.

Button 'open-minded' about Oz chances



Jenson Button is remaining cautious about Brawn GP's chances in the season-opener in Melbourne, but is confident that the team will be among the front-runners.

After a winter of turbulence and uncertainty, the former Honda squad's future was secured just weeks before the season – and the Mercedes-powered BGP 001 chassis then stunned the paddock by dominating winter testing once it hit the track.

That pace has made Button many people's favourite for Australian Grand Prix victory, but while pleased to have a competitive package after two years of misery, he isn't taking anything for granted yet.

“It’s not a pressure, definitely not, it’s a nice feeling," he said.

“We’ve done seven days of testing and I’ve driven the car for three days, which normally wouldn’t be enough.



Jenson Button is remaining cautious about Brawn GP's chances in the season-opener in Melbourne, but is confident that the team will be among the front-runners.

After a winter of turbulence and uncertainty, the former Honda squad's future was secured just weeks before the season – and the Mercedes-powered BGP 001 chassis then stunned the paddock by dominating winter testing once it hit the track.

That pace has made Button many people's favourite for Australian Grand Prix victory, but while pleased to have a competitive package after two years of misery, he isn't taking anything for granted yet.

“It’s not a pressure, definitely not, it’s a nice feeling," he said.

“We’ve done seven days of testing and I’ve driven the car for three days, which normally wouldn’t be enough.

“We’ve been reliable-ish, so we’ve been able to get quite a bit done in that time.

“I feel comfortable in the car; I feel that I’ve made it quite personal to myself, which is good.

"But we’re coming here with an open mind, for sure.

“Testing is one thing and for sure we’ve been reasonably reliable and we’ve done some good lap times.

“But in 2006 we had a quick car in testing and we got to the first race and we got blown away by the Ferraris, so you never know until you turn a wheel here.

“I have a feeling we’re not going to be slow.

“But how quick, we have to wait and see.”

Brawn's prospects have been clouded today with the confirmation that several rival teams have lodged official protests against its diffuser design.

Toyota and Williams have also had their cars challenged for the same reason.

Source: itv-f1 (as always!)

Massa reckons Brawn the team to beat

Felipe Massa believes Brawn GP possesses the fastest car heading in the season-opening Melbourne race this weekend – but nevertheless says he starts the season with “great confidence” in Ferrari’s prospects.

Last year’s championship runner-up picked out the revitalised Brawn team as the outfit most likely to be Ferrari’s biggest worry in the season-opener earlier this month after the squad demonstrated stunning speed at the final group test at Barcelona.

Now on the eve of the big Melbourne race, Massa says that while pre-season has showed several teams to be closely matched despite F1’s technical overhaul, Brawn definitely has an early edge.

“I'm going to Australia with great confidence and optimism, but also with some caution: the test results are not always repeated during the race weekends,” he told Ferrari’s website.

“We've seen during the tests that there are also some other very strong teams, especially in the last sessions the Brawns.

“It seems that they've got the fastest car at the moment and I think that their pace is real; maybe they found something that makes the difference.

“We'll see in Melbourne; but I think they've got a good car and they did their tests with the right weight.”

Massa himself begins the 2009 campaign looking to go one better in the title race than last year having lost out to McLaren rival Lewis Hamilton by a single point following the remarkable final lap to the season at Interlagos last November.

However, he has a wretched record at the season-opening venue – having not finished higher than sixth in six Albert Park starts – and last year endured a particularly nightmare race in which he spun at the first corner and later collided with Red Bull’s David Coulthard before eventually dropping out with an engine failure.

But the Brazilian says he is raring to go this weekend and is confident Ferrari has done everything it can over the winter to ensure the mistakes that cost him the drivers’ crown last year aren’t repeated.

“I'm 100% ready, perfectly in shape and I think that this also applies to the team,” he said.

“We made some mistakes last year and we've been working hard all winter long to improve where we weren't perfect.

“Everybody worked hard, analysing the mistakes, trying to find solutions. I think we're very well prepared and that we've done some great work.

“My goal is very simple: I want a season like in 2008 and to reach that goal I have to stay concentrated and work very hard.”

This weekend’s event marks the first race for the sport’s new technical era, with changes to front and rear wings, the reintroduction of slick tyres, cuts in downforce, adjustable front wings and energy-saving KERS all designed to help overtaking.

Massa is withholding judgement on whether the driver-adjustable front wings will help passing moves, but is sure that KERS – which will provide a power boost for just under seven seconds – will prove key.

“There are many new elements this year we've got to work with from a technical point of view,” he said.

“We've worked very hard during the winter tests and now we can say that their use is normal.

“For example the possibility to adjust the front wing's flap via a button and the manettino on the steering wheel: I don't know yet if it will help to facilitate overtaking due to the lower downforce on the front when driving in a slipstream; during the tests we couldn't really try that out.

“As far as the KERS is concerned I have to say that it's a very important device for us and it will be also very helpful.

“I'm enjoying working with all these new solutions: they make driving much more interesting.”

Source: itv-f1

Williams: Brawn may dominate first GP

Frank Williams fears Brawn GP will “disappear” from the rest of the grid in the Australian Grand Prix if the team reproduces its remarkable speed from the final pre-season tests.

The former Honda Racing squad belied its hugely uncertain winter by dominating the last two group tests of the winter, lapping over a second faster than most of the field at Barcelona.

So stunning has Brawn's form been that Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello have been installed among the favourites to win the season-opening event, while some of the sport’s top drivers, including Felipe Massa and Robert Kubica, have pinpointed the rescued squad as their respective team’s biggest threat.

And Williams, who hired a young Ross Brawn as a machinist at his team in the late 1970s, says he has not been surprised that the first car built at Brackley under Brawn’s leadership has made such an impact – conceding the BGP 001’s speed has shown everyone else's designs up.

“Ross started to work for us as a junior in the little wind tunnel,” Williams told the Daily Express newspaper.

“He just made his own career and pulled himself up by his bootstraps. He has great knowledge from his time at Ferrari.

“It is no accident that the car is absurdly superior.

“They are making the rest of us look like amateurs.

“In Australia they will disappear on the basis of what we have seen. I just hope we can be up there, too.”

Williams has previously admitted that his own former multiple world championship-winning outfit faces arguably its biggest season for a decade this year in light of the radically revised technical regulations and widespread cost cuts, having spent several years firmly stuck in the midfield.

The team’s star driver Nico Rosberg – who last week predicted a “strong midfield” position for Williams in Melbourne – has already said he will look elsewhere in 2010 if he is not in a top car by then.

His team boss believes Rosberg will once again attract the interest of McLaren’s engine partner Mercedes but, having already resisted one attempt from the Woking squad to lure the German at the end of 2007, Williams is keen to hang on to his squad's star asset.

“We like Nico’s style,” he told the newspaper.

“He has great skill, great at starts, courageous when it comes to overtaking when he shouldn’t.

“I understand that Mercedes would like a German driver and Nico is at the end of his contract this year.

“We will be sitting down to talk to him sooner rather than later. We would most certainly like to keep him.”

Source: itv-f1