Heavy rain left both Button & Vettel soaked as Rubenio vaporized the race track to take Pole position in his home Grand Prix at Sao Paolo. Brazilian fans would be praying overnight for Barrichello as he has never won at Sao Paolo despite taking P1 on multiple occasions.
In a naming convention that is uncommon in our side of the world – both his dad and grand dad are also named Rubens!
Rubinho – Portugese for “little Rubens”, has hence become his nickname. Thankfully Rubenio’s sons are names Fernando and Eduardo. (You didn’t expect Alonso to hug Barrichello’s dad – did you?. Fernando on the other hand, can surely do that! )
Moving on to my favorite part of the post….
Race Prediction :
Let us take a quick look at the published fuel weights below-
Fuel weights
| Grid | Name | Weight | Fuel (kg) | First stint (laps) |
| 1 | Rubens Barrichello | 650.5 | 45.5 | 22 |
| 2 | Mark Webber | 656 | 51 | 24 |
| 3 | Adrian Sutil | 656.5 | 51.5 | 25 |
| 4 | Jarno Trulli | 658.5 | 53.5 | 26 |
| 5 | Kimi Raikkonen | 651.5 | 46.5 | 22 |
| 6 | Sebastien Buemi | 659 | 54 | 26 |
| 7 | Nico Rosberg | 657 | 52 | 25 |
| 8 | Robert Kubica | 656 | 51 | 24 |
| 9 | Kazuki Nakajima | 664 | 59 | 28 |
| 10 | Fernando Alonso | 652 | 47 | 22 |
| 11 | Kamui Kobayashi | 671.6 | 66.6 | 32 |
| 12 | Jaime Alguerusari | 671.5 | 66.5 | 32 |
| 13 | Romain Grosjean | 677.2 | 72.2 | 35 |
| 14 | Jenson Button | 672 | 67 | 32 |
| 15 | Vitantonio Liuzzi | 680 | 75 | 37 |
| 16 | Sebastian Vettel | 683.5 | 78.5 | 38 |
| 17 | Heikki Kovalainen | 656.5 | 51.5 | 25 |
| 18 | Lewis Hamilton | 661 | 56 | 27 |
| 19 | Nick Heidfeld | 650.5 | 45.5 | 22 |
| 20 | Giancarlo Fisichella | 683.5 | 78.5 | 38 |
1st Lap:
“Don’t stall on the grid” says Rubens to his Engine & Gearbox.
Apart from that worry, Barrichello will only have to keep Webber away at the start. The closest KERS loaded car is of Raikkonen at P5 and is really not a cause of worry.
The pressure on Jenson Button at the start will be immense.Championship leader is starting from P14 .He will be having nightmares about the Senna ‘S’ ,a devillish funnel that’s just made for first-lap accidents –capable of eliminating anyone too aggressive through the crowd.
To add to his worries, he has KERS boosted McLaren duo just two rows back. And his other title rival Vettel would be keen to take the inside line too.
Jenson Button has raised many doubts whether he is a deserving champion. So far, he is doing a good job of blowing it.With Liuzzi’s 5 place gear box penalty, Vettel is right on Button’s tail.And with P14 & P15 into a Senna S , 99% chance of a first corner accident for Button /Vettel.
The McLarens are fuelled relatively light & their only chance of redemption is KERS to make any progress. Actually, I suspect they are on a dry race set up and that would be another booster if it weren’t damp tomorrow.
Vettel may gamble on a long first stint in the hopes of moving up the running order as the race approaches half time.Trulli is the heaviest of the top four and can claim podium if the Toyota pit crew hold on to their equipment well in the ever changing weather at Sao Paolo.
Top 5 cars are on a wet race set up and many Q1/Q2 guys are most probably gambling on a dry race set up. If it rains,Rubens has the clear advantage of ‘No tire spray’ on his helmet and should floor it constantly.If it is dry,expect all the top cars to drop out even out of the points – a dry race set up in a dry race would be worth ¼ second in each lap!
Good Luck Rubenio & please give the Vengaboys a reason to sing tonight.
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Author: Mayank Grover – Hardcore Keeda
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Rubens on pole at Brazilian GP – what a surprize? Somehow, nowadays, one really cant tell if it is performance or all stage managed in F1… Nevertheless, Rubens deserves atleast one win at Interlagos – Nice guys like him should get their share of the good pie.
P.S. After the potshots taken by Alex Yoong & Steve Slater during qualifying at everything Brazilian, I won’t be surprized if a Non Resident Brazililian in Asia sues them for defamation
Certainly expect a gag on them by the producers at ESPNStar
@ Stage managed ?
In that case Jenson should have qualified better than Rubens at Silverstone . But that didn’t happen .. did it ?
Actually forget qualifying .Lets look at race results ,Rubens finished 3rd and Jenson could even get a single point on the home GP.
Btw,I loved answering that gossip allegation at poor Rubenio
@Potshots:
Totally agree wid that one bro.Leave aside ESPN for the moment. I think the Brasilian street mafia will take their revenge on this. Don’t be surprsied if Alex /Steve Slater returned to the parking lot and exclaimed last night – “Dude,wheres my car “?
Jenson at P1 at Silverstone would not excite the cold UK audience as much as the passionate Sao Paolo public would crave to see home hero Rubenio at the top at Interlagos.. Its all about the money honey.. Anyways its just a conspiratory theory given the way how muddy things are in F1 these days…
It all depends if it’s wet or dry.
If it’s dry, Hamilton, Vettel, and Kovalainen will storm through the field. The guys with wet setups will have too much downforce to hold them back on the long flat-out sections and will thus be significantly slower. The battle for the victory will be among them; the McLarens would have to get ahead on the start and get the hell away from him very quickly, which they can do.
If it’s wet, then I’d say it’s game, set, match for Webber. The Red Bull has been by far the quickest car in cool and wet conditions this year. Barrichello will be in for the fight of his life to get on the podium; Sutil, Trulli, and Buemi are all probably equal to him on pace and have significantly longer strategies.
Button better hope it’s wet tomorrow. If it’s dry, he’s bait for the Maccas and Vettel and a few others around him who are on dry setups.
Well .. It didn’t rain ! And people just crashed all over the place to hand it over to Jenson,as usual.
Rubens’ home race continued to bring bad luck to him . 10/16 retirements and now a 8th place finish from a P1 position with a gifted puncture in the closing stages.
Adios 2009 season……….