Welcome

This site is built by a fan for fans! I intend to keep as much information here about Brawn GP as I can find.

Keep popping back for more info, and post on any of the blogs.

If you would like to see anything different or leave feedback drop me an email via the KontactR Form.

Tuesday 28 July 2009

Brawn GP - Season Progress Report

With the summer break now on us we have no F1 to look forward to for 4 weeks. There will be plenty of speculation flying around to keep us amused as usual and like me I'm sure many of F1's fans will take this time to reflect on Felipe's condition, the circumstances leading to it and the future for him.

I thought I would take this opportunity to look back at the season so far and try to understand why Brawn's performance now seems to have dropped in comparison to it's rivals.

It would appear to me as an outsider that a number of things have contributed to Brawn's performance deficit and not simply a 1 component fix. Red Bull and McLaren more than anyone have reaped the rewards of constant development whilst Brawn GP already had the package to beat and the one to learn most from. Red Bull's successful introduction of the double decker diffuser has been fruitful and i'm sure highlighted other area's to Newey and his team of designers that will have given them the huge leap forward. McLaren on the other hand seem to chuck parts at the car to start with and really gain no net result. They learnt from this mistake and bought a massive update to the Nurburgring updating Lewis's car giving theirselves a good shout at a podium finish. It would appear that McLaren have struggled to measure the overall aerodynamic disadvantage that carrying around the KERS system made. They have seemingly removed this obstacle now and understand how this both affects their car and can still be used to create an advantage.

The BGP001 was famed for being kind on it's tyres which has been the reasoning why at Silverstone and Nurburgring the car struggled in colder temperatures with the drivers struggling to put heat through the tyres. At Hungary we were supposed to see a return to warmer weather and less degradation on the BGP001 to it's competitors. This however didn't occur and begs the question have the new suspension geometry upgrades that were bought to the car inherently removed it's advantage of being kind to the tyres.
What we all have to remember is that the combination of both the BGP001 and the Mercedes powerplant although a good fit is still a compromise that other teams are not having to work around.

Upgrade delays could also have hindered progress somewhat, with limited testing this year adding components to cars during Friday test and running numbers of laps has really been the only way to get solid answers back from upgrades. I've already alluded to the problem this caused McLaren above. Silverstone has caused a domino effect in this area when the scheduled upgrades were run on the Friday but no accurate data could be found due to the weather conditions and the upgrades dropped until Nurburgring.
The astute amongst us will also notice some upgrades that seem to get run in testing and never making it to the car due to their impact not being sufficient.
Case in point see the pictures below for a section of raised bodywork that has made its way to friday practice at both Silverstone & Nurburgring but not made it onto the car for Qually or the Race:

Furthermore there may be some upgrades that have been added to the car that have made the car inherently faster but maybe not as balanced and thus are creating the tyre issues we have seen. The one piece rear movable element on the front wing springs to mind when before we saw only the triangular component could be moved.

OLD


NEW



I remain unmoved in my assumption that Brawn GP can win the constructors championship but until some of the above issues are addressed it may be McLarens meteoric rise that hinders Red Bull and helps BGP.

Read more...

Saturday 25 July 2009

Brawn GP- Hungary - Car Weights


Pos Driver Weight (kg)

1. Alonso Renault 637.5
2. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 655.0
3. Webber Red Bull-Renault 652.0
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 650.5
5. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 654.0
6. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 655.5
7. Raikkonen Ferrari 651.5
8. Button Brawn-Mercedes 664.5
9. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 658.0
10. Massa Ferrari
11. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 671.5
12. Trulli Toyota 671.3
13. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 689.0
14. Glock Toyota 679.2
15. Piquet Renault 667.7
16. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber 658.0
17. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 680.5
18. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 683.5
19. Kubica BMW-Sauber 666.0
20. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 675.5



Expect Jenson to stop 3-4 laps afterthe surrounding cars with Rubens looking like the only driver that could make a 1 stop providing he can nurse the tyres that distance. Perhaps even a long first stint on softs followed by 2 much shorter super soft stints could give him clear air and good track position throughout. Meanwhile Jenson is heavier than all that surround him which could play outboth ways for him strategically.

Read more...

Brawn GP - Hungary - Qualifying

A very confusing end to qualifying caused by a loss of timings left me somewhat bewildered. The net result of Rubens damaged rear suspension appears to be what caused the Filipe incident and I'm sure as I am you will all be wishing him well. Jenson came out in 8th whilst Rubens finished the session down in 12th. I await the fuel loads.....


Pos Driver Q1 Q2 Q3

1. Alonso 1:21.313 1:20.826 1:21.569
2. Vettel 1:21.178 1:20.604 1:21.607
3. Webber 1:20.964 1:20.358 1:21.741
4. Hamilton 1:20.842 1:20.465 1:21.839
5. Rosberg 1:20.793 1:20.862 1:21.890
6. Kovalainen 1:21.659 1:20.807 1:22.095
7. Raikkonen 1:21.500 1:20.647 1:22.468
8. Button 1:21.471 1:20.707 1:22.511
9. Nakajima 1:21.407 1:20.570 1:22.835
10. Massa 1:21.420 1:20.823
11. Buemi 1:21.571 1:21.002
12. Trulli 1:21.416 1:21.082
13. Barrichello 1:21.558 1:21.222
14. Glock 1:21.584 1:21.242
15. Piquet 1:21.278 1:21.389
16. Heidfeld 1:21.738
17. Fisichella 1:21.807
18. Sutil 1:21.868
19. Kubica 1:21.901
20. Alguersuari 1:22.359

All Timing Unofficial

Read more...

Brawn GP - Hungary - Free Practice 3

.


Pos Driver Time Laps

1. Hamilton 1:21.009 19
2. Heidfeld 1:21.408 + 0.399 23
3. Rosberg 1:21.509 + 0.500 21
4. Kovalainen 1:21.655 + 0.646 20
5. Buemi 1:21.800 + 0.791 23
6. Glock 1:21.849 + 0.840 12
7. Massa 1:21.911 + 0.902 19
8. Nakajima 1:21.935 + 0.926 19
9. Webber 1:21.936 + 0.927 16
10. Vettel 1:21.971 + 0.962 21
11. Kubica 1:22.076 + 1.067 20
12. Trulli 1:22.097 + 1.088 25
13. Barrichello 1:22.101 + 1.092 22
14. Piquet 1:22.210 + 1.201 17
15. Raikkonen 1:22.270 + 1.261 20
16. Alonso 1:22.274 + 1.265 19
17. Button 1:22.312 + 1.303 22
18. Alguersuari 1:22.391 + 1.382 20
19. Fisichella 1:22.684 + 1.675 23
20. Sutil 1:23.231 + 2.222 16

All timing unofficial

Read more...

Brawn GP - Hungary - Free Practice 2


Pos Driver Time Laps

1. Hamilton 1:22.079 36
2. Kovalainen 1:22.126 + 0.047 36
3. Rosberg 1:22.154 + 0.075 47
4. Webber 1:22.369 + 0.290 29
5. Nakajima 1:22.426 + 0.347 40
6. Vettel 1:22.550 + 0.471 30
7. Barrichello 1:22.641 + 0.562 38
8. Trulli 1:22.663 + 0.584 28
9. Heidfeld 1:22.690 + 0.611 43
10. Glock 1:22.751 + 0.672 45
11. Raikkonen 1:22.763 + 0.684 38
12. Alonso 1:22.793 + 0.714 37
13. Button 1:22.806 + 0.727 42
14. Kubica 1:22.870 + 0.791 36
15. Piquet 1:22.927 + 0.848 36
16. Sutil 1:22.978 + 0.899 28
17. Fisichella 1:23.029 + 0.950 39
18. Massa 1:23.156 + 1.077 32
19. Buemi 1:23.176 + 1.097 45
20. Alguersuari 1:23.942 + 1.863 40

All Timing Unofficial

Read more...

Brawn GP - Hungary - Free Practice 1


Pos Driver Time Laps

1. Kovalainen 1:22.278 21
2. Rosberg 1:22.337 + 0.059 27
3. Hamilton 1:22.554 + 0.276 20
4. Webber 1:22.615 + 0.337 21
5. Nakajima 1:22.619 + 0.341 25
6. Trulli 1:22.705 + 0.427 17
7. Raikkonen 1:22.796 + 0.518 23
8. Massa 1:22.855 + 0.577 25
9. Alonso 1:23.001 + 0.723 28
10. Button 1:23.130 + 0.852 25
11. Kubica 1:23.146 + 0.868 24
12. Heidfeld 1:23.154 + 0.876 23
13. Barrichello 1:23.209 + 0.931 24
14. Glock 1:23.234 + 0.956 30
15. Vettel 1:23.283 + 1.005 25
16. Fisichella 1:23.484 + 1.206 20
17. Piquet 1:23.678 + 1.400 22
18. Sutil 1:23.845 + 1.567 18
19. Buemi 1:23.998 + 1.720 37
20. Alguersuari 1:24.228 + 1.950 42

All Timing Unofficial

Read more...

Saturday 11 July 2009

Brawn GP - Nurburgring - Post Qualifying Weights

Well it turns out I was wrong in my last post and the Red Bulls are actually heavier than Rubens & Jenson. Not to worry we are still in a great position to interupt the Red Bull's.


Pos Driver Weight (kg)

1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 661.0
2. Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 647.0
3. Button Brawn-Mercedes 644.0
4. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 661.0
5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 654.5
6. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 664.0
7. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 678.5
8. Massa Ferrari 673.5
9. Raikkonen Ferrari 674.0
10. Piquet Renault 676.0
11. Heidfeld BMW-Sauber 681.0*
12. Alonso Renault 668.2*
13. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 683.6*
14. Trulli Toyota 683.7*
15. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 689.6*
16. Kubica BMW-Sauber 673.5*
17. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 674.5*
18. Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 662.5*
19. Glock Toyota 662.3*
20. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 689.5*

* declared weight

Read more...

Brawn GP - Nurburgring - Qualifying

Firstly lets just say what a great job Rubens & Jenson did out there today and especially Rubens stellar laps in Q2 (GOOD CALL RUBE'S)


Pos Driver Q1 Q2 Q3

1. Webber 1:31.257 1:38.038 1:32.230
2. Barrichello 1:31.482 1:34.455 1:32.357
3. Button 1:31.568 1:39.032 1:32.473
4. Vettel 1:31.430 1:39.504 1:32.480
5. Hamilton 1:31.473 1:39.149 1:32.616
6. Kovalainen 1:31.881 1:40.826 1:33.859
7. Sutil 1:32.015 1:36.740 1:34.316
8. Massa 1:31.600 1:41.708 1:34.574
9. Raikkonen 1:31.869 1:41.730 1:34.710
10. Piquet 1:32.128 1:35.737 1:34.803
11. Heidfeld 1:31.771 1:42.310
12. Alonso 1:31.302 1:42.318
13. Nakajima 1:31.884 1:42.500
14. Trulli 1:31.760 1:42.771
15. Rosberg 1:31.598 1:42.859
16. Kubica 1:32.190
17. Buemi 1:32.251
18. Fisichella 1:32.402
19. Glock 1:32.423
20. Bourdais 1:33.559

All Timing Unofficial


Now we await the fuel loads, I expect it to be pretty close fuel corrected but I have a feel that the RBR's are slightly lighter.

Read more...

Brawn GP - Nurburgring - Free Practice 3


Pos Driver Time Laps

1. Hamilton 1:31.121 16
2. Alonso 1:31.340 + 0.219 18
3. Massa 1:31.351 + 0.230 20
4. Vettel 1:31.542 + 0.421 17
5. Webber 1:31.610 + 0.489 16
6. Raikkonen 1:31.615 + 0.494 19
7. Trulli 1:31.620 + 0.499 23
8. Rosberg 1:31.690 + 0.569 20
9. Nakajima 1:31.731 + 0.610 20
10. Heidfeld 1:31.928 + 0.807 21
11. Button 1:32.009 + 0.888 22
12. Glock 1:32.022 + 0.901 20
13. Sutil 1:32.104 + 0.983 20
14. Barrichello 1:32.124 + 1.003 13
15. Fisichella 1:32.135 + 1.014 21
16. Piquet 1:32.223 + 1.102 15
17. Buemi 1:32.239 + 1.118 23
18. Kubica 1:32.269 + 1.148 20
19. Kovalainen 1:32.742 + 1.621 18
20. Bourdais 1:32.883 + 1.762 21

All timing unofficial

Read more...

Friday 10 July 2009

Brawn GP - Nurburgring - Free Practice 2


Pos Driver Time Laps

1. Hamilton 1:32.149 23
2. Vettel 1:32.331 + 0.182 31
3. Button 1:32.369 + 0.220 32
4. Webber 1:32.480 + 0.331 28
5. Trulli 1:32.511 + 0.362 32
6. Sutil 1:32.585 + 0.436 32
7. Barrichello 1:32.664 + 0.515 26
8. Alonso 1:32.774 + 0.625 24
9. Nakajima 1:32.872 + 0.723 32
10. Piquet 1:32.992 + 0.843 29
11. Heidfeld 1:33.012 + 0.863 36
12. Massa 1:33.052 + 0.903 34
13. Rosberg 1:33.128 + 0.979 34
14. Kubica 1:33.161 + 1.012 28
15. Glock 1:33.172 + 1.023 34
16. Raikkonen 1:33.182 + 1.033 29
17. Kovalainen 1:33.724 + 1.575 27
18. Buemi 1:33.903 + 1.754 30
19. Bourdais 1:34.025 + 1.876 30
20. Fisichella 1:38.877 + 6.728 3

All Timing Unofficial

Read more...

Brawn GP - Nuburgring - Free Practice 1


Pos Driver Time Laps

1. Webber 1:33.082 19
2. Button 1:33.463 + 0.381 18
3. Massa 1:33.745 + 0.663 21
4. Trulli 1:33.795 + 0.713 23
5. Fisichella 1:33.839 + 0.757 26
6. Raikkonen 1:33.840 + 0.758 23
7. Rosberg 1:33.902 + 0.820 26
8. Vettel 1:33.909 + 0.827 13
9. Nakajima 1:33.952 + 0.870 25
10. Alonso 1:34.148 + 1.066 16
11. Heidfeld 1:34.221 + 1.139 25
12. Barrichello 1:34.227 + 1.145 17
13. Hamilton 1:34.483 + 1.401 14
14. Kubica 1:34.694 + 1.612 23
15. Piquet 1:34.738 + 1.656 24
16. Bourdais 1:34.827 + 1.745 27
17. Buemi 1:34.878 + 1.796 28
18. Kovalainen 1:34.893 + 1.811 26
19. Glock 1:34.911 + 1.829 23
20. Sutil 1:35.092 + 2.010 6

All Timing Unofficial

Read more...

Saturday 4 July 2009

Brawn GP - Nurburgring - Ross & Drivers Quotes

Jenson Button: "The Nürburgring is a tricky circuit but there are two key characteristics which should be good for our car. It is a relatively slow circuit with a lot of medium-speed corners which are one of the strengths of the BGP 001. The Nürburgring is also one of the heaviest braking circuits on the calendar so you need a car which will be good through the four heavy braking zones. With the extra week's break, everyone at the factory and at Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines has been working extremely hard in preparation for the German Grand Prix to get the best package for the race and we're looking forward to showing what the car can do at the Nürburgring after a disappointing weekend by our standards at the British Grand Prix. My last stint at Silverstone showed that the pace of the car is really competitive so we're confident that we can turn it around at this race. I'm sure we will see a really intense fight with our closest competitors and hopefully a great race for the fans."


Rubens Barrichello: "I have always enjoyed racing at the Nürburgring and it provides a good challenge for the drivers. The layout and flow is nice which allows you to get into a rhythm and there are some interesting undulations and bumps to look out for. I won the race here back in 2002 so the circuit always holds some good memories for me. The weather can be a little unpredictable due to its location right in the Eifel Mountains but we'll be hoping for some warmer temperatures than we saw at Silverstone for the last race. The first corner here is really important to set yourself up for a good lap and it's a bumpy run down from the start line. You have to get your approach absolutely right and position yourself well for a good exit. However, it is also one of the best overtaking opportunities if the cars around you slide straight on so you need to be alert to take advantage of any opportunities. Many of the corners at the Nürburgring are off-camber so getting the correct line for your corner entry is important all round the lap. We haven't raced here for a couple of years so it will be interesting to see how the circuit feels in a good car."


Ross Brawn:
"The team is looking forward to returning to the race track at the German Grand Prix next weekend and the Nürburgring should be a good circuit for our car and play to its strengths. We have several new aerodynamic parts from Silverstone which were not used in qualifying and the race due to the issues that we faced there, along with additional improvements scheduled for the Nürburgring, which should position us well going into the weekend. Whilst coming away with third and sixth placed finishes from Silverstone was still a good outcome from our home Grand Prix, we would be the first to admit that the result did not meet our expectations. However we have always said that we would have a fight on our hands to maintain our excellent run of results at the start of the season and everyone at the factory and at Mercedes-Benz High Performance Engines in Brixworth is looking forward to that challenge. As a team, we have a good history of going away from a race, thinking about the outcome, identifying where we need to make improvements and then coming back stronger. As the home Grand Prix for Mercedes-Benz, we will be hoping to come away from the race in Germany next weekend with a successful result."

Read more...

Thursday 2 July 2009

Brawn GP - Rubens Giveaway

If you don't already follow Rubens on twitter you should, he last night told his twitter fans that he will give away goodies based on the number of followers he gets on his twitter page:

To my fans...

30 Thousand followers I will give away 5caps and a signed visor
40 Thousand it will be 5 Brawn Tshirts and my racing gloves
50 Thousand it will my racing suit
100 Thousand it will be my helmet and if we get there before the Brazilian GP I will give away a pass to watch the race from the Brawn pits.

So come on guys add yourself http://twitter.com/rubarrichello

Read more...

Wednesday 1 July 2009

Brawn GP - Trophy Haul

Thanks to Brawn GP's Official Tweeter for allowing us to display these shots on the blog:



As always please visit http://www.brawngp.com/ for all official news.

Read more...

Brawn GP - Nurburgring Beckons

With just over another week to go until we have more F1 action these 3 week stints make me impatient. Silverstone saw Red Bull come to the fore but was this down to a giant leap forward by RBR or simply down to the cold weather conditions at the Northampton Circuit. Brawn GP ran some upgrades for the Friday practice sessions but decided not to implement them for the race due to the cold weather conditions the components must have shown no conclusive effect. The wind on friday was also playing havoc with setup. Below is a picture showing the bulbous mounds on the bulkhead (similar to the RB5 varients) and the different front wing endplates.



Updates have always been on the agenda for Nurburgring according to Ross so these combined with the late Silverstone updates could provide a giant leap forward. The problem with bringing so many updates however could be quantifying each parts net gain/deficiency.

"With the confusion over the tyres, we didn't run some new pieces we had because Friday [at Silverstone] was very difficult with the tyre temperature. We couldn't determine how the new bits were working, so we decided to avoid confusion and went back to what we had in Turkey."
"So we've got those bits and we have some new improvements for the Nurburgring."

Red Bulls large leap forward could be seen as a master stroke by RBR and Adrian Newey or simply that their car responds better to colder temperatures. I firmly believe the latter to be more the case as their car seems to be more stup to provide downforce from the top of the car rather than beneath like the BGP001.

"It has always been a strong car aerodynamically and at Silverstone in the slow medium speed stuff, we didn't take the return we normally could because the tyres were cold," he said. "So when we got to the complex there wasn't enough temperature in the tyres for our normal advantages to come through in that area."
"But we probably need to see a bit more in normal conditions to really judge it - a race where we are comfortable we are performing how we should be."



I expect to see a much closer battle between BGP and RBR come Germany as equalisation of weather permitations and updates come to fruition.



Further from that news has just come through that Bridgstone are to use consecutive Tyre compounds in the next 4 races, this should further play into BGP's hands as the tyres will operate more effectively.

For the main picture please see source: http://premium.f1-live.com/f1/photos-hires/2009/gpsilverstone/diapo_105.jpg

Read more...

Live Traffic Feed

I would just like to thanks Adam Guppy for the new banner we have been using for the past few days.

Should anyone else have any contributions towards the site please contact me via the KontactR form.

About Me

I have been an F1 fan from a very early age, however in my very early years I didn't really support a team just loved the racing. Since the BAR years I have been supporting this team through it's highs and lows. I'm confident under Ross Brawn's control the team will go from strength to strength and hopefully Jenson and Rubens can find themselves in a competitive car once more.

Stats

  © Blogger templates ProBlogger Template by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP