[PoisonDonna]

Okay how do we not have one of these yet?!

So, Valencia. Quite possibly the dullest race of the year, for most anyway. Gonna be a huge let down for many who were expecting the return of lord Michael Schumacher this weekend.

Romain Grosjean's first race for Renault after he replaced Nelson Piquet, Alguersuari's second race. Renault got their way back into this race after the FIA hearing on Monday, rightly so.

Only the second F1 race to be held at the track. Last years winner was Felipe Massa from pole position, Lewis Hamilton was second and Robert Kubica third. Felipe also set the fastest lap, pity he can't be here this year.

Weather looks to be sun sun sun and hot (low thirties).

FRI Practice 1 09:00 (On BBC Red Button/Website/5Live, 08:55)
FRI Practice 2 13:00 (On BBC Red Button/Website/5Live, 12:55)
SAT Practice 10:00 (On BBC Red Button/Website/5Live, 09:55)
SAT Qualifying 13:00 (On BBC1/Website/5Live, 12:10)
SUN Race 13:00 (On BBC1/Website/5Live, 12:10)

Current Drivers Standings:
01 Jenson Button 70
02 Mark Webber 51.5
03 Sebastian Vettel 47
04 Rubens Barrichello 44
05 Nico Rosberg 25.5
06 Jarno Trulli 22.5
07 Felipe Massa 22
08 Lewis Hamilton 19
09 Kimi Räikkönen 18
10 Timo Glock 16

Current Constructors Standings:
01 Brawn-Mercedes 114
02 RBR-Renault 98.5
03 Ferrari 40
04 Toyota 38.5
05 McLaren-Mercedes 28
06 Williams-Toyota 25.5
07 Renault 13
08 BMW Sauber 8
09 STR-Ferrari 5

(And btw congrats to anyone in the Motorsport forum who got A Level results today )

[Mitothy]

Ah its been a long wait, I need to get my fix, although after the drama and tradgedies of last race it may well be methodone after heroin.

Hopefully though a decent McLaren with functioning kers will make things exciting and I predict Grosjean not really doing any better than Piquet (they are inevitably being compared to Alonso, that's never gonna make you look good).

It may even provide the incentive I need to get out of bed at a weekend!

[ahmadjan3]

that was long.

[PoisonDonna]

Christian Horner was being a bit odd.

"McLaren have an upgrade and I'm not sure how they managed that with the summer shut down. But we've got one too." Eh?!

Edit: Whitmarsh says they're effectively waiting for the Alonso -> Ferrari rumours, so that says to me before they set driver line up, they want Kimi back??!?!

Final times for FP1: http://www.f1complete.com/content/view/13939/1/

1 Barrichello 1.42.460
2 Kovalainen 1.42.636
3 Hamilton 1.42.654
4 Button 1.43.074
5 Vettel 1.43.088
6 Sutil 1.43.209
7 Nakajima 1.43.225
8 Webber 1.43.243
9 Alonso 1.43.345
10 Raikkonen 1.43.384
11 Buemi 1.43.389
12 Kubica 1.43.419
13 Alguersuari 1.43.637
14 Rosberg 1.43.746
15 Heidfeld 1.44.040
16 Fischella 1.44.126
17 Grosjean 1.44.356
18 Trulli 1.44.638
19 Glock 1.44.732
20 Badoer 1.45.840

[EpsilonZero]

Badoer is seemingly drastically off pace.

[Mitothy]

(Original post by PoisonDonna)

Edit: Whitmarsh says they're effectively waiting for the Alonso -> Ferrari rumours, so that says to me before they set driver line up, they want Kimi back??!?!

Oh good god please no. Whenever he speaks it nearly sends me into a boredom induced coma! Send him off to Rallying already and lets get someone who at least seems pleased when they win.

I'd choose Vettel but I don't see him leaving Red Bull anytime soon. Realistically my guess would be Kubica as with BMW withdrawing their support he might be up for grabs, or possibly Glock is under-rated...

Sorry went slightly off topic

[thomasp]

Ouch. Badoer didn't do very well... Even Alguersuari was closer to the back of the pack when he had his first ever outing.

[Mitothy]

(Original post by thomasp)
Ouch. Badoer didn't do very well... Even Alguersuari was closer to the back of the pack when he had his first ever outing.

True but Alguesuari started on a track where there weren't any walls to park it in. My guess is Ferrari just told Badoer that for first practice, drive it around abit and try not to crash into anything.

[hannahhi]

Been a good couple of days so far for me, so bring on a good weekend of F1

If McLaren are going to replace Heikki, I have no complaints with them doing it with Kimi And oh dear, not looking great for Badoer.

[dhr90]

Hopefully Badoer will improve. Shame Schumi isn't racing. Looks like I'm worknig all weekend so missing the GP. No great shame there though, it wasn't exciting last year, I will watch it later on having recorded it though.

And thank you for the congrats! From now on its spend spend spend for me!

[PoisonDonna]

(Original post by Mitothy)
Oh good god please no. Whenever he speaks it nearly sends me into a boredom induced coma! Send him off to Rallying already and lets get someone who at least seems pleased when they win.

I'd choose Vettel but I don't see him leaving Red Bull anytime soon. Realistically my guess would be Kubica as with BMW withdrawing their support he might be up for grabs, or possibly Glock is under-rated...

Sorry went slightly off topic

Vettel is at Red Bull for at least the next two years, and if they carry on with their development I think he'll stay longer unless Ferrari or McLaren or whichever is the top team in two years lure him away with a very expensive deal.

IMO McLaren want to keep Heikki, Mercedes don't. If he can demonstrate his reliability a bit better the next couple of races McLaren have reason to give to keep him, but if he doesn't Mercedes will win out and get in some German kid.

[Playboy King]

Can't believe Vettel extended his contract with RB
They're good now but their form, like Brawn's, is short-lived...already the McLaren-Ferrari dominance is showing and seeing as next year's cars are evolutions they'll most likely be the top cars in 2010. Nico Rosberg at McLaren will most definately give Lewis a run for his money if anything I wouldn't be surprised if Nico does better, stunning driver.

[EpsilonZero]

(Original post by Playboy King)
Can't believe Vettel extended his contract with RB
They're good now but their form, like Brawn's, is short-lived...already the McLaren-Ferrari dominance is showing.

Dominance?

[Mitothy]

(Original post by Playboy King)
Can't believe Vettel extended his contract with RB
They're good now but their form, like Brawn's, is short-lived...already the McLaren-Ferrari dominance is showing and seeing as next year's cars are evolutions they'll most likely be the top cars in 2010. Nico Rosberg at McLaren will most definitely give Lewis a run for his money if anything I wouldn't be surprised if Nico does better, stunning driver.

I dunno, I reckon that with Adrian Newey there, RB actually have a chance of at least staying within throwing distance of McLaren-Ferrari even if they never really get past them and Vettel is young so he has pleanty of time left to transfer to a bigger team at some point.

As for Rosberg, I personally think he's a bit over-rated, certainly in F1 he cant get near Lewis.

[PoisonDonna]

Yeah I don't quite get the Rosberg thing. He's def not the best to come out of GP2. He can be quick but it's nearly never translated to race or even sometimes quali pace. Like to see him in a decent car and the Williams is improving, but I wouldn't say he's even in the top quarter of drivers the grid.

[PoisonDonna]

(Original post by Playboy King)
They're good now but their form, like Brawn's, is short-lived...already the McLaren-Ferrari dominance is showing and seeing as next year's cars are evolutions they'll most likely be the top cars in 2010.

I don't agree. The Brawn's have had issues where they had a dodgy upgrade or two and have gone backwards. That can be sorted as they're trying now. It's just hard without testing to find exactly what it is. The brilliance of Ross Brawn is years old and definitely not short-lived.
Also RBR have been steadily improving for seasons now. They just needed a bit of injection of life that they weren't getting from the DC/Webber pairing. The prospect was there but reliability or driver error let them down. They've excelled in the rule changes this year. If you remember they were competing with the fast teams at the start of the season even without the double diffuser.

And you call one team winning a race dominance already? If they win the next two maybe, but no.

[Mike B]

(Original post by Playboy King)
Can't believe Vettel extended his contract with RB
They're good now but their form, like Brawn's, is short-lived...already the McLaren-Ferrari dominance is showing and seeing as next year's cars are evolutions they'll most likely be the top cars in 2010. Nico Rosberg at McLaren will most definitely give Lewis a run for his money if anything I wouldn't be surprised if Nico does better, stunning driver.

Nope. I agree that Brawn isn't very financially stable, in fact they don't have any sponsors. Virgin won't support them.

But Red Bull is great, they will race in the next seasons and have no plans for quiting. They have a great car and great staff, especially Adrian Newey.

[Playboy King]

(Original post by PoisonDonna)
I don't agree. The Brawn's have had issues where they had a dodgy upgrade or two and have gone backwards. That can be sorted as they're trying now. It's just hard without testing to find exactly what it is. The brilliance of Ross Brawn is years old and definitely not short-lived.
Also RBR have been steadily improving for seasons now. They just needed a bit of injection of life that they weren't getting from the DC/Webber pairing. The prospect was there but reliability or driver error let them down. They've excelled in the rule changes this year. If you remember they were competing with the fast teams at the start of the season even without the double diffuser.

And you call one team winning a race dominance already? If they win the next two maybe, but no.

I just don't think the way this season has turned out is anything to go by, certainly not for the following seasons. I'm unsure about BrawnGP because well this season's success has Honda written all over it, how they'll fare without the huge budget and facilities Honda provided is anybody's guess. They have Ross Brawn, who is fantastic but he's only as good as the budget and facilities will allow him to be, as with everybody in F1.

I would really like to see Red Bull do well, they're my favourite team (in all the sports they are involved with) but I'm not sure whether their form right now is due to them being genuinely fast or the rest of the usual top guns just being behind (namely Ferrari, McLaren). Okay so maybe dominance is the wrong word but Ferrari have been scoring a few podiums and McLaren are looking really strong, and they're now turning the disadvantage of the kers into being an advantage. If I had to put my money on any team for 2010 it would be one of those two, they just always have and will excel...although I fear it'll be back to the boring F1 again
All I want to see and really care about is Vettel winning the championship

[PoisonDonna]

FP2 Results:

http://www.f1complete.com/content/view/13943/1/

1 Alonso 1.39.404
2 Button 1.40.178
3 Barrichello 1.40.209
4 Rosberg 1.40.385
5 Nakajima 1.40.503
6 Sutil 1.40.596
7 Kubica 1.40.643
8 Fischella 1.40.681
9 Kovalainen 1.40.738
10 Raikkonen 1.40.739
11 Trulli 1.40.770
12 Grosjean 1.40.787
13 Webber 1.40.956
14 Glock 1.40.985
15 Buemi 1.41.156
16 Vettel 1.41.205
17 Heidfeld 1.41.350
18 Badoer 1.42.017
19 Alguersuari 1.42.089
20 Hamilton 1.43.214

Typical ego Alonso showboating for home crowd

[Playboy King]

Valencia is just so incredibly boring, I slept through half of it
Renault's crash with BMW was funny though