Felipe Massa’s freak accident during the qualifying of Hungary Grand Prix has left Ferrari with no choice but to enlist Michael Schumacher, a former Formula 1 racing genius to race for Ferrari for the rest of the season. What possibly could happen?

This is of course not something everybody wanted, especially for Massa, who is now still planning to win the Hungarian Grand Prix. However, yearnings for the return of the legendary Michael Schumacher are more favourable. Everybody, even the haters of Michael, wants him back! I am positive that spectators are turning on their TVs and rushing to the F1 ticket booths now more than ever!

Ferrari has yet to score their first race win this season and they are more hopeful of achieving that with Michael’s return. A huge burden I would say has been laid on Michael’s shoulder.

But to ease the pressure, Michael Schumacher might race in Valencia without the presence of Fernando Alonso, who crushed Michael’s 5 times winning streak on 2005. Nonetheless, he still has to face the wrath of his previous racing compatriots and new young drivers who all fighting for the world title.

This leads to the question, what sort of outcome would Michael produce?
You tell me what would possibly happen. I have pondered this question for hours now and I would come only to this conclusion.

Formula one is so unpredictable that nobody can see what’s coming. This is no rookie, this car is not underrated and this is Michael Schumacher, revived and ready to bully, or be bullied.

Update 11/8/2009: Michael Schumacher will not be racing in F1 due to his severe neck injury from his previous bike racing. All we can hope now is a better rookie to replace Felipe Massa.

The Formula 1 race started in Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia 2009 with the KERS drivers doing all the actions.
The Ferraris started the race with super soft, coupled with KERS system, quickly got up to 3rd and 5th place for Massa and Raikkonen.

Button got the perfect start of the race, securing his line to the first corner. At the end of lap 3, button is already 4 seconds faster than second runner Sebastian Vettel. In the mean time, Hamilton in the super soft used his KERS effectively at the back end of the race.

In lap 10, Kimi Raikkonen lost 2 places to Rosberg and Rubens in lap 10 due to the super soft tyres graining very badly. Apparently, the super soft tyres were bad choice made by the teams, so the Ferraris and Mclaren had to come in a few laps earlier just to change their grained tyres.

Nico Rosberg’s plan to pass the Ferrari was compromised as he was delayed in the pits in lap 16. Both Massa and Kimi passed him as he comes out of the pits.

Nakajima spun in between turn 3 and 4 on lap 17. Jenson Button from Brawn GP went into the pits as soon as he gets the news and surprisingly the safety car comes out only after Button leaves the pit.

As the race restarted, everybody tackled first corner cautiously except for young Piquet who spun off the racetrack due to the cold tyres. Massa were unable to overtake Sebastian Vettel for P2 as Lewis Hamilton went up to P11 pushing Timo Glock back with his KERS. Jenson Button lose all his built-up lead to Vettel.

At lap 34 Kubica is chasing down Vettel but unfortunately was unable to overtake the charging Red Bull and went into pits at lap 39. Raikkonen also went into the pits at lap 39.

At the closing stages of the race, Hamilton went into pits at Lap 44 and came out right in front of Massa. Massa was unable to follow him while Kimi Raikkonen spun at lap 45 and recovered without any damage. On lap 47, Massa Slowed down and retired.

Button’s pitstop at lap 47 was awful as the main fuel hose failed. Ross Brawn commented that the Brawn GP guys were just taking it easy. He did not lose his position but Vettel was just right behind him.

At lap 52, Rubens Barrichello entered the pits from P3 place dropping to P5, this allowed kubica to chase up with Button and Vettel.

Nico Rosberg is struggling for pace and lost his place to Barrichello who has a less bumpy road on his side of the track. Trulli also passed Nico Rosberg at Lap 54. After awhile Hamilton overtook him again, Nico Rosberg was struggling with his graining soft tyre.

With just 2 lap remaining, Sebastian vettel went too deep and was aligned by Robert Kubica. They bumped and both of them crashed into separate walls after a few meters of driving.

Safety car was deployed and comes into the pits at the end of last lap as Jenson Button wins the Grand Prix in Albert Park, Melbourne, Australia without any mistakes.

Rubens Barrichello finished a lucky second, along with three drivers who started at the back of the grid, Trulli (P3) from Toyota, Hamilton (P4) of Mclaren and Timo Glock (P5) from Toyota.

Race Results

As a conclusion to the race, like most of the drivers expected, KERS is extremely useful during overtaking. We’ll definitely be looking at more cars with KERS in Malaysia.

Formula 1 Qualifying session 2009 started out in Melbourne, Australia with a blast! Every qualifying sessions was breathtaking. In the end of the day, Brawn GP savoured their first and second with only 1 second separating them from 10th place, Mark Webber.

Albert Park Qualifying 1

Never once in formula 1 where every teams were restless in qualifying 1. Even Mclarens and Ferraris were restless, in fact, they were struggling. The only team that is not struggling this weekend is Brawn GP.

Both STR Ferrari and Force India along with rookie Sebastian Buemi failed to advance to Q2. Lewis Hamilton struggled pass Q1 but had reported to have a gear problem in Q2.

Albert Park Qualifying 2

As Lewis had retired from the qualifying, the other 14 runners fight for the first position. Until a point where the first 9 runners were only 0.2 seconds apart! This is how competitive every team is.

Both the Mclaren Mercedes did not pass through Q2. Surprisingly Fernando Alonso did not advance to Q1 despite the confident talks last week. Kazuki Nakajima failed to advance as well.

The weird thing is Nick Heldfeld, the only BMW Sauber that is mounted with KERS, did not pass through as well. Does that mean that KERS fitted engines were outperformed by cars without KERS?

Albert Park Qualifying 3

The pole shootout was superb. Both the Brawn GPs were on their league of their own. Jenson Button will be starting from pole position with his 1.26.202 qualifying time alongside with his teammate Rubens Barrichello, just 0.3 away.

Racing genius Sebastian Vettel will be starting at 3rd position followed by Kubica, Rosberg, Glock.

The Ferraris will start at 7th and 9th position with Jarno Trulli in the middle. Australian favourite Mark Webber will be starting at 10th position.

Qualifying Standing

The chart has been overturned. Midfielders in 2008 are now up front and front runners 2008 will stuck in midfield in Melbourn GP. Tomorrow’s race at 5PM local time will be extremely interesting.

Update #1: Unfortunately for the reigning champion Lewis Hamilton, he has been dropped back 5 places. His gear box failed this evening and he will be starting at 20th place at the end of the grid.

Update #2: After the post-qualifying inspection, both the Toyota F1 cars were found to have some sort of “degree of freedom” with their aerofoils on the spoiler. Thus both Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli will be at 19th and 20th position. Hamilton has been pushed up to 18th from the grid. I guess this is what Martin Whitmarsh calls it “Damage limitation”.

KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System), a system implemented this year (2009) that enables a Formula 1 cars to store energy whilst underbraking and can produce up to 80 horsepower for 6.6 seconds every lap in a press of a button.

The teams spend the 2008 winter building and testing their KERS system in their Formula 1 cars but how many teams will show up with KERS?

Here are the lists of Grand Prix Calenders and updates of who’s using KERS and who isn’t.

1. Australia, Melbourne
2. Malaysia, Sepang
3. China, Shang Hai
4. Bahrain, Sakhir
5. Spain, Barcelona
6. Monaco, Monte Carlo

Australia, Melbourne

Teams Starting with KERS

1. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
2. Scuderia Ferrari
3. ING Renault F1
4. BMW Sauber F1 (Nick Heidfeld)

Teams Starting without KERS

1. BMW Sauber F1 (Robert Kubica)
2. Brawn GP
3. Panasonic Toyota Racing
4. Red Bull Racing
   
5. Scuderia Toro Rosso
6. AT&T Williams F1 Team
7. Force India F1

BMW Sauber will have Nick Heidfeld drive with KERS in Melbourne because he’s an extremely light person (58kg) and is able to balance in the car even with the extra KERS weight. Robert Kubica will not benefit from the extra 80 horsepower (for 6.6 seconds) in Australia because of his gigantic size compared to Heidfeld.

Other teams think their not-enough-research KERS would only make very little difference to the time due to the extra weight of the system. They also claimed that KERS is expensive and unsafe and still need more testing to finalize it.

Malaysia, Sepang

Teams Starting with KERS

1. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
2. Scuderia Ferrari
3. ING Renault F1
4. BMW Sauber F1 (Nick Heidfeld)

Teams Starting without KERS

1. BMW Sauber F1 (Robert Kubica)
2. Brawn GP
3. Panasonic Toyota Racing
4. Red Bull Racing
   
5. Scuderia Toro Rosso
6. AT&T Williams F1 Team
7. Force India F1

China, Shang Hai

Teams Starting with KERS

1. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
2. BMW Sauber F1 (Nick Heidfeld)

Teams Starting without KERS

1. Scuderia Ferrari
2. ING Renault F1
3. BMW Sauber F1 (Robert Kubica)
4. Brawn GP
5. Panasonic Toyota Racing
6. Red Bull Racing
   
7. Scuderia Toro Rosso
8. AT&T Williams F1 Team
9. Force India F1

As you can see Ferrari dropped their KERS in China mainly because they wanted to play safe. In Malaysia, the team discovered problems regarding the KERS from Kimi Raikkonen’s car where the system melted.

Robert Kubica from BMW tested KERS on Friday practice. He wasn’t happy with KERS so he did not use it in qualifying.

Will update when there are any changes.

Bahrain, Sakhir

Teams Starting with KERS

1. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
2. BMW Sauber F1
3. Scuderia Ferrari
4. ING Renault F1

Teams Starting without KERS

1. Brawn GP
2. Panasonic Toyota Racing
3. Red Bull Racing
   
4. Scuderia Toro Rosso
5. AT&T Williams F1 Team
6. Force India F1

In Bahrain, the teams with KERS will reuse their KERS again because of the long straights available in Bahrain. The KERS users all have improved in qualifying as you can see, except for BMW.

Spain, Barcelona

Teams Starting with KERS

1. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
2. Scuderia Ferrari
3. ING Renault F1

Teams Starting without KERS

1. BMW Sauber F1
2. Brawn GP
3. Panasonic Toyota Racing
4. Red Bull Racing
   
5. Scuderia Toro Rosso
6. AT&T Williams F1 Team
7. Force India F1

Monaco, Monte Carlo

Teams Starting with KERS

1. Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
2. Scuderia Ferrari
3. ING Renault F1
4. BMW Sauber F1

Teams Starting without KERS

1. Brawn GP
2. Panasonic Toyota Racing
3. Red Bull Racing
   
4. Scuderia Toro Rosso
5. AT&T Williams F1 Team
6. Force India F1

Jeremy Clarkson - Acts like a 6 year old and doesn’t seems to give a damn about anything.
Richard Hammond - Much matured compared to Jeremy but funny in a very unique way.
James May - Very “physicist” and is afraid of speed AKA “Captain Slow”.
The Stig - Some say he now wears white racing suit because he was forced by BBC to be baptized.

Top Gear also introduces crazy stunts including blowing up vehicles, optimistically shooting up vehicles hoping it would pass the atmosphere and Richard Hammond’s near crash death.

Top Gear has been extremely popular around the globe has led to the formation of Top Gear Australia, debuted on Monday 29 September, presented by Charlie Cox (an ex-racer), Steve Pizzati (a driving instructor) and Warren Brown (a cartoonist and motoring journalist). The Stig however, is not credited as a presenter in the Australian series and was nearly named “Stiggo” or “Stiggy the Bush Kangaroo” in the first episode … How Australian can they be?

What’s the Difference?

1. There is a slight change in the sequence of the show. Instead of having a cool wall, Top Gear Australia had a “What were they thinking” wall which they go criticizing away about vehicle manufacturer’s mistakes. It’s something new, I like it but it’s going to fail if the hosts continue to act like somebody else.

2. Like I said earlier Top Gear is presented in a funny way. In Top Gear Australia however, there’s the lack of connection between all three hosts. As they talk, the crowd would be quiet. Most of the time their joke doesn’t seems to work. I guess most of you who watches both Top Gear and Top Gear Australia would realize that this has something to do with the hosts.

3. The hosts. From what I have observed so far, Steve Pizzati is the best, he seems to know what he’s talking and crack jokes … sometimes. His challenge – escaping in a Subaru WRX STI in a search and destroy mission by a military helicopter amazes me.

Warren Brown who acts like James and Richard by being slow and nearly got killed most of the time, but he’s quite entertaining as he nearly got killed by a shark and his little comics seems to tell a thousand words.

The worst would be Charlie Cox. I have no idea what’s wrong with him, he seems to be on a tight schedule or something. In his review of the Porsche Carerra 911S PDK, it was boring and it looks like he was just reading the specifications out from the brochure. His views about the car – none, his passion – none, he’s … a waste of time.

4. Reasonably priced car, a Proton Satria Neo. I don’t feel like commenting on this one, God please help me.

5. Then we have the Top Gear Australia track at Camden Airport that’s relatively short and … sometimes I can’t see where The Stig’s Australian Cousin is driving. Most of the camera aims at The Stig while he’s in the car and I guess there’s only about a total of 10 seconds of Proton Satria Neo airtime. Maybe it’s the car … but if it’s the car then they should not have chosen a Proton as their reasonably priced car!

For now Top Gear Australia can be summed up with just a word … BORING. As a viewer, sometimes I can sense this feeling that all three of them are in a conversation talking different things. It’s not very obvious but my mind certainly tells me there’s something wrong.

Look, I’m not criticizing the Australians, but Top Gear Australia wouldn’t last long with its current state. Even the statistics had explained that.

In a nutshell, I’ll tell you what most of us are thinking about Top Gear Australia. Most of us would be thinking “If Top Gear Australia would be so much alike to Top Gear (UK) minus the funny jokes, why bother spending an hour watching Top Gear Australia?”

That would give some heads up to SBS.
I appreciate any comments, advices, and complaints that you might have.

There’s no ending that was as dramatic as Lewis Hamilton’s pursuit to become the Formula 1 Driver’s World Champion. Lewis Hamilton, 23 clenched the Formula 1 World Championship Title as the youngest F1 world champion in Interlagos, Brazil despite his starting position and all the unexpected challenges.

As the track started to dry, Vettel and Alonso was the first to come into pits for dry tyres. A lap later Massa came in. Then Lewis came into pits 2 laps after the Vettel and Alonso pair and missed the “dry moment” thus losing place to Vettel, Alonso and Fisichella.

Fisichella was passed by Lewis after a few laps and Lewis was securing fifth place for the championship, turning the engine down and pacing for the win. However, Sebastian Vettel was short fueled in the first pitstop and he went into pits. As he was released from the pitstop, he continues giving immense pressure to Hamitlon.

The second phase of pit stop ended with Massa leading, followed by Vettel, Alonso, Raikkonen then Hamilton, along with the rest of the pack. On lap 51, Vettel went into his third pit stop and came out fifth behind Hamilton. Once again he did not give Lewis any chance of cruising around the track to the finish.

As Hamilton were defending Vettel by responding to his lap times. Rain started to wet the track at lap 63. All the front runners went into pits for wet tyres except for both the Toyota drivers, Timo Glock and Jarno Trulli. After the pit stop the arrangement up front were Massa, Alonso, Raikkonen, Timo Glock, Hamilton and Vettel.

With 3 laps remaining, Hamilton ran wide and Vettel cut in for fifth position. Any hope of Lewis Hamilton for the world title seems to have been crushed until the the last lap, where the rain really starts to fall. Timo Glock on fourth position was unable to put his car into position thus losing more than 18 seconds in the last lap, losing places to Sebastian Vettel and Hamilton with just 2 more corners to go.

Hamilton finished the face claiming fifth position, beating Felipe Massa with just a point higher in the Driver’s World Championship. This is a record breaking history made by Lewis Hamilton as the youngest champion in Formula 1. And the race in Interlagos 2008 was one of the best race in many many years.

Here’s a clip how Timo Glock was overtaken yesterday.

Image Courtesy of f1racing.net