Sebastian Vettel may be starting from pole position but Jenson Button is carrying more fuel than the Red Bull driver.
Button’s Brawn is fuelled around two laps longer than Vettel and Mark Webber, fourth on the grid, is fuelled even further. Fuel weights in full below.
| Qualifying | Name | Weight | Fuel (kg) | First stint (laps) |
| 1 | Sebastian Vettel | 649.5 | 44.5 | 15 |
| 2 | Jenson Button | 655.5 | 50.5 | 17 |
| 3 | Rubens Barrichello | 652.5 | 47.5 | 16 |
| 4 | Mark Webber | 656 | 51 | 18 |
| 5 | Jarno Trulli | 652 | 47 | 16 |
| 6 | Kimi Raikkonen | 658 | 53 | 18 |
| 7 | Felipe Massa | 654 | 49 | 17 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | 644.5 | 39.5 | 13 |
| 9 | Nico Rosberg | 660 | 55 | 19 |
| 10 | Robert Kubica | 664 | 59 | 21 |
| 11 | Nick Heidfeld | 681.5 | 76.5 | 27 |
| 12 | Kazuki Nakajima | 680.4 | 75.4 | 27 |
| 13 | Timo Glock | 689 | 84 | 30 |
| 14 | Heikki Kovalainen | 665 | 60 | 21 |
| 15 | Adrian Sutil | 668.5 | 63.5 | 22 |
| 16 | Lewis Hamilton | 696.5 | 91.5 | 33 |
| 17 | Nelson Piquet Jnr | 689.6 | 84.6 | 30 |
| 18 | Sebastien Buemi | 686.5 | 81.5 | 29 |
| 19 | Giancarlo Fisichella | 688.5 | 83.5 | 30 |
| 20 | Sebastien Bourdais | 701 | 96 | 35 |
Also worth noting:
- Alonso running light again, though it didn’t help him in qualifying. Is he planning to start on the soft tyre?
- Button and Raikkonen out-qualified their team mates despite carrying more fuel
- Getting into the top ten hasn’t paid off for Kubica – he starts next to his team mate with much less fuel on board
Read more: Sebatian Vettel holds back Brawns for pole (Turkish Grand Prix qualifying)
persempre
6th June 2009, 16:23
It just shows how close several of the cars are at Turkey. I’m surprised Alonso was so light.
Icarus
6th June 2009, 16:28
I’d say the starting tyre is fairly important too, doesn’t matter how much fuel you have if you need to pit earlier because of the tyres.
Richard
6th June 2009, 16:30
Button out-qualifies rubens again, senna next year anyone??
Rahzam
6th June 2009, 17:26
Why Senna? Barichello is number 2 driver despite his full efforts. This is what Brawn needs. Brawn can’t afford any challenger to their number 1 driver nor a person who can’t make 1,2 finish. So Brawn’s both problems are solved.
Sush Meerkat
6th June 2009, 17:28
I hope not, Rubens is great at developing a car, Bruno Senna is a rookie in terms of tech knowledge, I hope Brawn keep Rubens… without Wurz how will they develope a car properly.
Richard
6th June 2009, 18:27
Sush but by your idea, rookie drivers will never get tech knowledge at f1 level.
Sush Meerkat
6th June 2009, 20:17
True Richard, i’m all up for giving new racers a chance, but I just love Rubens too much for him to make way for Senna.
I doubt he will anyway, Brawn dont need to think about a driver like Senna that is good in a market. Chances are Brawn told him he’s never race for them, hence why he’s in DTM as opposed to persuing Brawn for a seat.
carldec
6th June 2009, 18:37
i would love to see rubens make his 300th start… especially if he does it in a competitive car. I see no reason for him to retire any time soon.
Kovy
7th June 2009, 6:53
I’d love to see Rubens make 300 starts too. Having said that, I don’t understand why people say that it’s best for the driver’s championship to only have 1 top driver so they don’t take points off each other. They’re going to be taking points off other drivers, too.
Nirupam
6th June 2009, 16:32
Does not Renault engine last 2/3 laps longer than what is expected? Taken that into consideration, Alonso would stop at lap 15/16, rather than 13.
And for the same reason, I dont think Vettel is in much disadvantegious position compared to Brawns. The fact whether he would be able to hold Button at turn 1 should decide his position.
GR
6th June 2009, 16:41
Hi Keith
Love the stats – do you think you could possibly put the lap times in this table? Would help me to put it all in context.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
6th June 2009, 17:44
Hi GR – the width of the table makes it a little tricky, but I’ll see if we can get something worked out.
matt
6th June 2009, 18:20
I have noticed that this site is oddly thin. Nothing wrong just saying.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
7th June 2009, 9:29
Wanted to keep line length down in articles for easier read-ability.
Mark
6th June 2009, 16:51
Button has the edge again as long as Button remains in 2nd place behind Vettel by the end of the first lap he has a very good chance of leapfrogging Vettel at the end of the first stint.
But to throw the spanner in the works Rubens is on the clean side and we know how good Rubens has been at race starts either way Vettel isn’t looking too good here. Both Rubens and Button are heavier I think the race outcome may depend on the start more than anything else.
Vettels best hope is for Rubens to get infront of Button for his best chance of victory however if Rubens is unable to pass Button Vettel can probably kiss another possible race victory goodbye.
GeorgeK
6th June 2009, 16:55
It’s only logical that short stints would be driven on the soft tires.
There is a lot of potential mayhem between Rubens, Webber, Trulli, Kimi and Massa at the start.
With Rubens’ penchant for tire graining and holding up others, these guys will be very anxious to jump him at the start.
NDINYO
6th June 2009, 16:58
*** is going on @ mclaren?
Chaz
6th June 2009, 17:09
Alonso’s fuel really low, wow. We all assumed Vettel was low so that’s no surprise. Lets hope Vettel gets the tyre strategy right. Be inteteresting to see how tomorrow pans out in general, and I’m keen to see if Webber can pull something out the bag…
Swish
6th June 2009, 17:19
If you adjust the times to the fuel loads. The top 4 would be as follows.
Button
Webber
Vettel
Barrichello
Vettel ia a little like Alonso, show boats in qualiy only to diaappoint in the race.
Rahzam
6th June 2009, 17:32
Vettel and Alonso both are very talented. Alonso disappoint because of his car. Vettel has good car and he won races when he is on pole. I hope He will not disappoint.
Otherwise he crash the car with the driver who dares to pass him (like he did with Kubica). LOL
Patrickl
6th June 2009, 17:47
No Alonso really put in a poor performance in Q3. He lost 1.6 seconds between Q2 and Q3. Based on his fuel load he should only have lost a second or so. Which means he’s 6 tenths slower than he should have been.
Rahzam
6th June 2009, 20:19
I was unable to see Qualifying today as my TV is packed to shift my home tomorrow. So can’t say anything about his today’s performance.
Patrickl
6th June 2009, 21:27
Just look at the time sheets and weight list. Or find some fuel corrected list.
Nirupam
6th June 2009, 21:11
Yes, He did loose some time, but IMO thats more because of the car
Brian
6th June 2009, 17:42
Both times in the past that VET had pole he won. How is that show boating?
Mahir C
6th June 2009, 17:19
How do people in latter half of the grid think they can make the soft tyre last for 25 laps and run a 1 stop race ?
De
6th June 2009, 17:20
Tyre failure for Lewis?
Sush Meerkat
6th June 2009, 17:35
Highly likely, Istanbul is his boogie track in F1 when it comes to tyre use.
Istanbul favours “closed loop” style driving not “open loop” where the rear tyres are used somewhat for direction and foward momentum. Which is hamiltons driving style, much like ShoeMaker.
if orbital steering was allowed he would smash the record.
VXR
6th June 2009, 17:29
It’s all going to go down to who gets the best out of their tyres.Simple as.
Daffid
6th June 2009, 17:50
Surely running less fuel DID help Alonso or he’d have qualified 10th, as he was 10th in Q2 wasn’t he? (And only just) Getting ahead of the BMW & Williams seems sensible to me.
Zahir
6th June 2009, 17:55
Lewis keeping his tyres for 33 laps and a one stop which means a long time on the softs? Doesnt make any sense to me.
Is it me or are Mclarens stratergies all wrong these days, this is the strategy he should have done at monaco and what he did at monaco is what he should have done here.
Should be interesting to see if Rubens jumps Jenson at the start being on the cleaner side and if he does…do u reckon he will have to give the place back to jenson if it looks like Vettel will win. Something tells me Rubens wouldnt stand for it
Jason
6th June 2009, 22:50
why is there a preconception that teams HAVE to start on the softer tyre?
Zahir
7th June 2009, 1:10
I didnt say that… what i meant was no matter what tyre he starts with he will have to spend a long time on the soft tyre.
33 laps if he starts with them or 25 if he doesnt
Alex Bkk
7th June 2009, 9:12
I’d start on softs…with light fuel. The “Bridgestone” softs in Turkey are worthless as far as I could tell in qualifying.
Oliver
6th June 2009, 18:30
Mclaren have totally lost the plot, if they have a computer making those predictions, its time to buy a new one. How can they load the car like this on a fast circuit with high tyre attrition yet in monaco they put him on a light load and started him from the back. A safety car might not even help them.
Oliver
6th June 2009, 18:34
@Zahir, I had not seen your post, but it seems i’ve said exactly the same thing.
graham228221
6th June 2009, 18:51
Isn’t this the first race that Brawn GP have put Button on the heavier fuel load? I wonder why they decided to do that now…
harisim
6th June 2009, 19:30
Just to notice that Rubens was on the hard comp. tyre while Button was on soft when they set fastest lap. Am I wrong? And what that means?
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
7th June 2009, 9:39
No, Button had more fuel than Barrichello at Bahrain as well.
harisim
6th June 2009, 19:45
I was expected more from Toyota and I was sure Trulli is heavy but I was wrong. Still think they get very fast car but they missing something. Perhaps driver? With all due respect for Jarno and Glock.
Paul
6th June 2009, 22:40
Guys, Alonso isn’t running that right. I believe Keith entered a typo with his weight figure. It is 664.5 kg, not 644.5.
http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/news/2009/06/06/vettel-the-lightest-car-on-grid/
I believe some comments regarding Alonso underperforming in Q3 need to be redacted.
persempre
6th June 2009, 23:08
The FIA have it wrong on their Tech Report then, Paul.
Patrickl
6th June 2009, 23:32
Lets hope for Alonso that the FIA got it wrong.
I’d say every other time he tried the really short first stint strategy, it ended in tears.
Paul
6th June 2009, 23:44
My mistake.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
7th June 2009, 9:41
The FIA sheet still says 644.5kg, I’ll keep an eye out though.
Brian
7th June 2009, 1:43
i have an idea. instead of worrying about fuel loads and tyres, since the moment the race starts, all strategies go out the window and have to be changed, I say that we just watch the race tomarrow, cheer for Vettle since another brawn win would just be depressing, and hope that all turns out well. I’m hoping for one and two Red Bull and 3 and 4 Ferrari with both Brawns retiring due to complete engine failure.
Ricardo
7th June 2009, 4:09
I put my money on a superb star of Rubens … getting P1 at the first corner! If it takes place, then a good first sting. Dreaming?? Who knows!!
Superbus
7th June 2009, 6:30
Vettel’s strategy doesn’t convince me, I think he should be more conservative, seeing as Red Bull’s is second fastest car and Vettel is a good driver. Also, what are the people at McLaren thinking, do they want Lewis to go back to the UK in the car? No set of tyres would last that enormous amount of laps.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
7th June 2009, 9:44
Problem is, you do that and you spend the race behind Toyotas (Bahrain) or Ferraris (Spain).
Jay Menon
7th June 2009, 7:29
If Alonso is running that light, I presume he’s going to be on the soft tyres first, on Friday he showed some good Pace in FP2 on the softies. Plus, somehow, they always managed to get a few extra laps out of that Renault engine, so hopefully he can get a good start, jump ahead of the heavier Ferraris if he want to get a couple more points.
He had a very Q3 yesterday, almost lost the plot for bit, came back well, managed to wrestle the car round. But yeah, realistically, 8th is very good for Alonso, all the cars ahead of him, and quite a few below him are much faster than his.
Alonso for the podium!!
Patrickl
7th June 2009, 8:11
The way I see it happening is that he stay behind the KERS equipped Ferrari’s. He’ll need to stop quickly and then he’ll end up stuck in the midfield. Rosberg and the BMW’s will then have a lot more laps to pass Alonso.
If Alonso’s really that light he should (and could) have been around P3. That way he would have gained 10 to 15 seconds and wouldn’t have been that far down the order after his first stop.
John H
7th June 2009, 10:03
You might see a Brawn Collision into turn 1… Rubens light, clean side and starting to get annoyed at his perceived (and perhaps justified may I add) number 2 tag.
Just putting it out there.
TommyB
7th June 2009, 10:18
I think I’d cry of happiness if that happened. One can only dream
martinb
7th June 2009, 15:45
Turkish GP: Comparing Predicted and Actual pit stops.
Grid . . kg . .Pred. Actual . . . . Fin
.. . . . . . . LL. T LL T LL T LL T 58L
01 VET 44.5 15 h 16 h 30 h 48 - 03
02 BUT 50.5 17 h -- - 18 h 44 - 01
03 BAR 47.5 16 h 14 h 39 s 48r RET
04 WEB 51.0 18 h -- - 19 h 44 - 02
05 TRU 47.0 16 h -- - 17 h 44 - 04
06k RAI 53.0 18 h -- - 19 - 45 - 09
07k MAS 49.0 17 h -- - 18 - 43 s 06
08 ALO 39.5 13 s -- - 15 - 40 - 10
09 ROS 55.0 19 h -- - 19 h 41 s 05
10 KUB 59.0 21 h -- - 21 h 45 - 07
11 HEI 76.5 27 h -- - 29 - 46 - 11
12 NAK 75.4 27 h -- - 27 - 44 - 12
13 GLO 84.0 30 h -- - 31 - 48 - 08
14k KOV 60.0 21 s -- - 20 h 44 - 14
15 SUT 63.5 22 h -- - 21 - 37 - 17
16k HAM 91.5 33 h -- - 33 s -- - 13
17 PIQ 84.6 30 h -- - 32 - 48 - 16
18 BUE 81.5 29 h -- - 26 - 44 - 15
19 FIS 83.5 30 h 05r -- - -- - RET
20 BOU 96.0 35 h -- - 34 - -- - 18
k = KERS h = hard tyres s = soft tyres
Good weather, no safety car
Order at end of first lap:
BUT(+1), VET(-1), WEB(+1), TRU(+1), ROS(+4), MAS(+1), ALO(+1), KUB(+2), RAI(-3), NAK(+2), KOV(+3), BAR(-9), HEI(-2), GLO(-1), PIQ(+2), HAM, SUT(-2), FIS(+1), BUE(-1), BOU
KERS on first lap: RAI(-3), MAS(+1), KOV(+3), HAM(+-0). RAI, MAS and KOV were gifted one place by BAR, so KERS cost 1/2 place on average.
Incidents: (1)BAR bad start (engaged anti-stall?), (1)VET wide BUT passes, (9)BAR spins P12-P17, loses 7th gear, (13)BAR hits SUT, (44)NAK long pit (wheel cover)
Unscheduled pits: (5)FIS brakes, (14)BAR nose, (48)BAR gearbox?