Bahrain: Fuel adjusted qualifying times
The FIA now publish the declared weights of the cars at the start of the Grand Prix. Those cars that made it through to the third qualifying session are weighed directly after qualifying while others have their weights declared by the team shortly after the session.
The top ten cars must use the fuel they qualified with while the rest of the field may refuel before the race.
As every Formula One car weighs the same without fuel (605kg), knowing the weights of the cars allows us to predict when drivers will have to stop and also whether the time set in qualifying is indicative of race pace.
Below is a graph showing the actual top ten qualifying times as well as their times adjusted for the weight of fuel they are carrying. The graph assumes a standard cost of 0.3 seconds per 10kg of fuel.
The graph shows just how fast the Toyotas are. Even allowing for the fact that they are carrying less fuel than the Brawn GP cars, Jarno Trulli’s fuel-adjusted time was about half a second faster than Jenson Button. Will Toyota score their first Formula One victory on Sunday?
