Australia 2009: The Grid
2009 Season

Australia 2009: The Grid

Oliver White
28th March, 2009
11 comments
2 min read

There have been a few penalties flying around since the end of qualifying earlier today, but currently this is how the grid stands. Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello of Brawn lock out the front row, with Sebastian Vettel and Robert Kubica close behind in the Red Bull and BMW respectively. Lewis Hamilton was given a five grid slot penalty after changing his gear box – the issue put him out of qualifying. Also receiving penalties were the Toyota team, the TF109 having a rear wing that was flexing too much. Trulli and Glock were sent to the back of the grid.

Ferrari and Red Bull Racing were also under investigation after Williams lodged a protest. However, after discussion the Oxfordshire team have withdrawn their protest. Should the grid change though before the start of tomorrow’s race, this post will be updated.

Australia 2009: The Grid
Inclusive of penalties given.
1 British Flag Jenson Button Brawn
1m26.202s
Rubens Barrichello Brawn
1m26.505s		 Brazilian Flag 2
3 German Flag Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing
1m26.830s
Robert Kubica BMW
1m26.914s		 Polish Flag 4
5 German Flag Nico Rosberg Williams
1m26.973s
Felipe Massa Ferrari
1m27.033s		 Brazilian Flag 6
7 Finnish Flag Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari
1m27.163s
Mark Webber Red Bull Racing
1m27.246s		 Australian Flag 8
9 German Flag Nick Heidfeld BMW
1m25.504s
Fernando Alonso Renault
1m25.605s		 Spanish Flag 10
11 Japanese Flag Kazuki Nakajima Williams
1m25.607s
Heikki Kovalainen McLaren
1m25.726s		 Finnish Flag 12
13 Swiss Flag Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso
1m26.503s
Nelson Piquet Jr. Renault
1m26.598s		 Brazilian Flag 14
15 Italian Flag Giancarlo Fisichella Force India
1m26.677s
Adrian Sutil Force India
1m26.742s		 German Flag 16
17 French Flag Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso
1m26.964s
Lewis Hamilton McLaren
No Time*		 British Flag 18
19 Italian Flag Jarno Trulli Toyota
1m27.127s**
Timo Glock Toyota
1m26.975s**		 German Flag 20

*Lewis Hamilton received a 5 grid slot penalty for changing gear box.

**Toyota had their qualifying times taken away after it was discovered their rear wing was flexing. Trulli gets the leading position because he holds the lower entrant number.

11 comments

  • This is gonna be an awesome start. I m not gonna miss it, I really dont want to say anything about my predictions, i might ruin it.

    I read this blog often and besides the info, I like the layout and clean design.

  • Williams, Red Bull and “Honda” at the top of the grid? It’s like watching Bizzaro F1! Should be a fun season.

    I’m in Lille, so I’ll be watching the race tomorrow morning in French.

  • Hey, does anyone knows if that justintv is going to broadcast the race live?

    I’m not sure Haplo (I have the luxury of BBC iPlayer). But I will keep my ear to the ground between now and lights out and post here if anyone mentions an online feed away from the region specific ones.

  • I’m in Lille, so I’ll be watching the race tomorrow morning in French.

    If you get time tomorrow, do drop by and leave your thoughts on the coverage. I’m interested in how other nations broadcast the sport, pre and post shows etc…

    Good luck, and have fun in Lille. 🙂

  • f you get time tomorrow, do drop by and leave your thoughts on the coverage

    Well, I will admit that I found it pretty hard to follow, as I don’t really speak much French at all. I did get the phrase “quelle dommage!” said over and over after Kubica and Vettel collided. Felt awful for Vettel, especially seeing as I had picked him to win in the poll, but I am sure he’ll get another chance.

    Back to the coverage – There isn’t much built up or break down before or after. The coverage started 15 minutes before the race with a recap of the qualifying and a run down of the grid. They showed a couple of interviewer clips, dubbed into French, except for Alsonso, who speaks pretty decent French. They showed lots of pictures of Richard Branson and then it was off to the racing.

    My French isn’t great, so I could only follow some of the commentary. They did seem to be talking alot about people that weren’t being shown, especially Kubica. I would have expected more chatter about the Renault team, but there didn’t seem to be too much.

    They show the F1 on TF1, so it is a commercial channel, which means commercials. It’s like being back in the past and watching on ITV again.

    The feed was the normal feed, with all it’s normal problems. I was very frustrated that they switched away from the 1st corner on the 1st lap just as you could see some contact developing, and we didn’t get a reply of it until 5 laps in or so.

    The race ended, they showed the champagne spraying, and they coverage ended. A show is on now with is a motoring show (Automoto), so they are showing some stuff on the F1 (including a live report from Australia right now, talking mostly about diffusers, it would seem), but the show is also showing other motoring stuff (Fast and Furious 4 in theatres soon).

    So, that is it. Less pre and post race stuff, the regular feed, and French guys commentating.

  • They showed a couple of interviewer clips, dubbed into French, except for Alsonso, who speaks pretty decent French.

    I never knew.

    I would have expected more chatter about the Renault team, but there didn’t seem to be too much.

    That is also interesting. Last year’s UK coverage was all about Hamilton. I’m expecting this year’s be all about Button. Although Legard and Brundle did very well today – I was impressed.

    I was very frustrated that they switched away from the 1st corner on the 1st lap just as you could see some contact developing, and we didn’t get a reply of it until 5 laps in or so.

    The same, the feed is the same everywhere. That was annoying, I was desperate to see a replay of the start.

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts and insights into the French coverage. 🙂

You may also like

Follow BlogF1