Racing Eagles

F1 Power Rankings (April 20th, 2009)

The Contenders

1: Brawn GP (1): It wasn't their weekend as Red Bull was clearly the best team on the track in Shanghai. I still think however they are still the class of the field. Actually, Red Bull winning really does shows how amazing that Brawn car is. Even in the pouring rain (which lessens the effectiveness of any diffuser) the car was only slightly less pacey than the Red Bull. That Brawn chassis must be pretty dang good. However, as we saw this weekend, its' not the Brawns' diffuser, but it is how good it is on the tires wear, how robust it is, how stable it is. True, they were slower than Red Bull this weekend but this is only one race.

I get the feeling once we get to Bahrain, we might see them on top once again.

2: Red Bull (3): Everyone will talk about the race from Vettel... deserving so. However, Mr. Mark Webber deserves a lot of love for his performance this weekend. Vettel might been able to cruise up front for a lot of the race, but Webber did the grunt work of fighting off Button and the rest of the field throughout the race. This is just the latest example of the new, feistier Webber this year. For example in Sepang, he fought Hamilton and Alonso tooth and nail throughout the race. This race, he fought off the Brawns. All in all, great stuff to watch. I know Vettel is now getting all the credit but Mark is also doing something great this year. The podium finish in Shanghai was well deserved.

The Contenders

1: Brawn GP (1): It wasn't their weekend as Red Bull was clearly the best team on the track in Shanghai. I still think however they are still the class of the field. Actually, Red Bull winning really does shows how amazing that Brawn car is. Even in the pouring rain (which lessens the effectiveness of any diffuser) the car was only slightly less pacey than the Red Bull. That Brawn chassis must be pretty dang good. However, as we saw this weekend, its' not the Brawns' diffuser, but it is how good it is on the tires wear, how robust it is, how stable it is. True, they were slower than Red Bull this weekend but this is only one race.

I get the feeling once we get to Bahrain, we might see them on top once again.

2: Red Bull (3): Everyone will talk about the race from Vettel... deserving so. However, Mr. Mark Webber deserves a lot of love for his performance this weekend. Vettel might been able to cruise up front for a lot of the race, but Webber did the grunt work of fighting off Button and the rest of the field throughout the race. This is just the latest example of the new, feistier Webber this year. For example in Sepang, he fought Hamilton and Alonso tooth and nail throughout the race. This race, he fought off the Brawns. All in all, great stuff to watch. I know Vettel is now getting all the credit but Mark is also doing something great this year. The podium finish in Shanghai was well deserved.

Cosworth and USGPE: A Bluff?

Jonathan Noble of AUTOPSORT reports that USGPE is considering using Cosworth engines for their inaugural 2010 season. This would make them the first team to use the new FIA standardize, low-cost engine offer.

As much as I would like to see Cosworth back on the grid, I don't see USGPE using them. The last Cosworth engine that was in Formula One was the Cosworth CA2006 2.4 V8 4 Series, which was the power plant of Williams FW28 in 2006. For those of you with short memories, that was the worst season in Williams’ history scoring only 11 points.

Should Peter Windsor still be working for SpeedTV?

Please don't be misled by the headline. The reason why I ask this question is not because of Peter Windsor' performance.

For years, Peter Windsor has been the paddock voice for Speed over here in the states and has been leading the post-race and post-qualifying interviewer for the media at Grand Prix races for several years now. Outside of making the occasional weird boisterous claim and asking the occasional awkward question here and there, I think he does an OK job. He isn’t Murray Walker or Denis Jenkinson but then again, who is? The thing that bothers me is not Windsor' abilities but the policies of Speed and what role the network will play when USGPE comes to the grid next year? Also, it makes me nervous that Speed and Windsor have both put themselves in this potentially awkward position.

Here is a hypothetical situation illustrating the problem which I have with the current arrangement. Say USGPE signs an engine deal with manufacturer X. What affect will this relationship have in his reporting? If that manufacturer is being investigated by the FIA, how will Windsor report this situation? I am sure Windsor would handle this with class but it does make me a little worried.

A Character with Character

Sebastian Vettel may have been in the paddock for a couple of years, but the man is coming of age this year. I don't know if it is move to the Red Bull parent team, cutting off the hair that made him look like Jon Heder, or the fact that he is doing more interviews and getting more coverage; but the boy of the last few years seems to have come of age.

The last few months, Red Bull has put the lad out in front of the public and the media more. He was featured in a video which Red Bull explained the 2009 regulations... which every single media outlet has used at least twice. He seems to be in every Formula One magazine I pick up now-a-days. If this was a normal run of the mill F1 driver, this would be nauseating. With Vettel it is different.

F1 Power Rankings (April 7th, 2009)

A shorten F1 power poll for a shorten F1 race.

The Contenders

1: Brawn GP (1): Even with the rain coming and the race being stopped, I think Button would of won a race of full distance with those two amazing laps he put in during the first pit cycle.

Even though they won the race today, there are several chinks that can be seen in the Brawn armor. I think the rest of the field isn’t that far behind the Brawn as we first thought. Also, Rubens has me a bit concerned with some of his comments and body language after the race. With all that said, they have to be the clear favorite going into China in a fortnight.

2: Toyota (2): What a qualifying session by Trulli and what a race by Glock. The team made the right call at the right time for Glock and it really came up trumps. I really starting to think that Glock is this year’ Kubica where he will finally start putting it all together, win a race, and might be a outside contender for the drivers’ championship. The guy is just looking better on the track. To this, Trulli must feel a little desa vue as another young teammate looks posed to overtake him like what happen with Button and Alonso.

The FIA needs to do their job better.

This week, we should be celebrating the splendor which was Jenson Button’ victory in Melbourne. We should be celebrating what is the most wide open field in at least twenty years. We should be debating the emergence of the new generation of championship contenders. We should be taking about if McLaren, Ferrari, and Renault could regain their previous form. We should be debating the re-emergence of Williams. We should be debating on how strong Red Bull and BMW are. We should be discussing everything that is right with the sport at the moment.

Instead we are discussing the same thing we always do: the FIA and the incompetence of which they adjudicate Formula One. The actions of the last five days of the FIA and their Stewards shouldn’t come to a surprise to anyone who watches the sport with any regularity. Throw out the Hamilton-Trulli debate for a second here. At Melbourne look at what they’ve done:

April fools and rumors are one in the same sometimes

The website PaddockTalk.com has put in an April fool’s day article about Danica Patrick and USGPE. It's humorous enough to make me laugh but the idea of it is serious enough to make me nervous.

On this note a few days ago, a story came out on autoracingsport.com about who is on the shortlist for USGPE. In the story they said that AJ Allmendinger (Yeah!!!) and Scott Speed (NO!) are on the short list to drive for the new American entry while Danica Patrick and Kyle Busch are not being considered (if that is true... good.)

I've linked it but I don't believe it.I get the feeling Peter and Ken are not even close to that stage yet. I figure that annoucement will come sometime in the fall.