Turkey: Fuel adjusted qualifying times
The FIA now publishes the weights of each car after qualifying on Saturday. Those cars that make it through to the final qualifying session must use the fuel they qualified with while the rest of the field may refuel before the race.
Below is a graph showing the actual top ten qualifying times as well as those times adjusted for the weight of fuel each car is carrying. The graph assumes a standard lap time cost of 0.3 seconds per 10kg of fuel.
From these weights we can see that pole sitter Vettel is fueled lighter than Button alongside him while on the second row Barrichello is fueled lighter than the Red Bull of Mark Webber. This could be good news for both Button and Webber tomorrow as their adjusted times are quicker than the cars alongside them.
Massa’s hopes for another victory look even more remote when we see that his team mate Kimi Raikkonen outqualified him despite carrying more fuel.
The one man that looks very out of place is Fernando Alonso. His eighth place grid position was only possible because he was fueled lighter than anyone else on the grid. He can expect a challenge from Rosberg and Kubica during the race.
2009 Turkish Grand Prix car weights
Image: Renault
Thanks for this.
Just curious – where did you get the formula for 10kg’s costing an extra 0.3 seconds per lap? Martin Brundle seemed to think 10kg’s is more like a full second.
Hmm, I guess Brundle may have just made a slip up. He usually says 10kg is worth about a third of a second per lap but it’s not an exact number and it would vary due to a number of factors.
Here’s a tweet from James Allen saying 10kg is worth 0.35 seconds per lap.
My friend is no longer watching F1, I asked him why, and he showed me this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl2tIFxSEGA
Why F1 can’t be like this anymore?