The race began with a bit of caution, as the group tailed the AMG-supplied SL63 pace car for eight laps before being let loose to the elements. Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel took the pole during Saturday's qualifying session, holding onto the position until today's rain soaked finish. Not only did Red Bull pull a 1st place podium finish, but team mate, Mark Webber also pulled it in, giving Red Bull Racing a one-two finish over the rest of the pack. It was a rather uneventful grand prix, with no real racing taking place except for a few fun laps with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Felipe Massa. Series leader, Jenson Button and his Brawn Honda/Mercedes, played hard, but was unable to hold onto his winning streak, eventually finishing 3rd.

Make sure you check out my coverage of Day 1 and Day 2 for more on track and lifestyle images from the event.

2009 FORMULA 1 CHINESE GRAND PRIX FINAL STANDINGS:

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts
1 15 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 56 1:57:43.485 1 10
2 14 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 56 +10.9 secs 3 8
3 22 Jenson Button Brawn-Mercedes 56 +44.9 secs 5 6
4 23 Rubens Barrichello Brawn-Mercedes 56 +63.7 secs 4 5
5 2 Heikki Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 56 +65.1 secs 12 4
6 1 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 56 +71.8 secs 9 3
7 10 Timo Glock Toyota 56 +74.4 secs 19 2
8 12 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 56 +76.4 secs 10 1
9 7 Fernando Alonso Renault 56 +84.3 secs 2
10 4 Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari 56 +91.7 secs 8
11 11 Sebastien Bourdais STR-Ferrari 56 +94.1 secs 15
12 6 Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 56 +95.8 secs 11
13 5 Robert Kubica BMW Sauber 56 + 106.8 secs 17
14 21 Giancarlo Fisichella Force India-Mercedes 55 +1 Lap 20
15 16 Nico Rosberg Williams-Toyota 55 +1 Lap 7
16 8 Nelsinho Piquet Renault 53 +2 Laps 16
17 20 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 50 +6 Laps 18
Ret 17 Kazuki Nakajima Williams-Toyota 43 +13 Laps 14
Ret 3 Felipe Massa Ferrari 20 +36 Laps 13
Ret 9 Jarno Trulli Toyota 18 +38 Laps 6

[images via TAI, results via formula1]

Today was a busy day at the track with almost twice the attendance as yesterday's practice sessions and with some hot laps being set by the team with wings. Red Bull racing's Sebastian Vettel fought hard to take the pole for the first time since Monza last year. Vettel set his fast lap during the 3rd qualifying session, managing a 1m 36.184s lap, besting his teammate, Mark Webber's 1m 36.466s lap. Yesterday's practice sessions had Jenson Button setting the fast lap in the Brawn, but he fell back to 5th during today's qualifying. Fernando Alonso was able to settle his Renault in between the two Red Bull entries with a 1m 36.381s lap, netting him 2nd on the pole. [images via TAI, times via formula1]

It was a fairly uneventful day with no real incidents, which allowed Jensen Button to continue his hot lap trend. He was able to set the fastest time during the afternoon's second practice session, circling the 3.4 mile track with a time of 1m 35.679s in his Brawn Whatchamacallit. Nico Rosberg set a 1m 35.704s lap in his Williams F1, just ahead of Button's teammate, Rubens Barrichello, who managed a 1m 35.881s lap. I'll be back again tomorrow to see the action during the third round of practice as well as the afternoon's qualifying session, which should prove to be extremely competitive considering today's lap times.

[images via TAI, timing via Formula1]

[via Gizmodo]

The short was created primarily to show off Red Bull Racing's 2009 RB5 F1 car, but it also demonstrates and compares many of the new changes imposed on the F1 series as a whole. We especially like the transformation that occurs from the 2008 car to the 2009 RB5. Thanks to Spencer for the tip!

[Top Gear via YouTube]

Red Bull Racing took advantage of the 2009 F1 rule changes and created the all new Renault-powered 2009 RB5. They've incorporated the new wing and aerodynamic changes as well as the new KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System) regenerative energy system, which allows for a slight boost during the race.

Chief Technical Officer and RB5 designer, Adrian Newey, had this to say about the car:

"2009 arguably sees the biggest rule change for around twenty years. We have taken a clean sheet, blue sky approach, looking at the implications of these rules and how to interpret them, while not changing things simply for the sake of change. Apart from the gearbox internals, there is hardly any carry over from RB4."

We'll let Red Bull's PR take it away from here:

Press Release:

RB5 – You Beauty!
09 | 02 | 09

Red Bull Racing's 2009 car, the RB5, made its track debut this morning at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit in southern Spain. If they start giving out championship points for beauty, then the season seems to have got off to a good start as the RB5 is definitely a pretty little beast.

This morning, Sebastian Vettel nosed the new car out of the garage into the pit lane and suddenly the countdown to Melbourne seems to have picked up speed. "It's good that we got the car running without any major problems, but it's much too early to say anything about performance," commented Seb after completing a handful laps before lunch. "Now we are concentrating on checking all the systems, which are very different to those on last year's car. It's good to be back in a racing car again and I feel as though we are on the way to Australia now. It was a strange feeling when I looked in my mirrors, as you don't see anything behind you, no wings or other bits: all you see is the rear tyres and it looks very naked. The view from the front is different too, because of the shape of the nose, but I'll get used to it very quickly".

On hand to watch RB5's maiden outing were Chief Technical Officer, Adrian Newey and Team Principal, Christian Horner. "Today's run here in Jerez is the culmination of months of work for all the Red Bull Technology and Red Bull Racing staff, back at base in Milton Keynes," said Horner. "And like any new car launch it's a moment of excitement and speculation. This year will see us benefit from greater stability in terms of how we run the operation, with all our key players in the technical group having been with us for at least two years and we should not forget they designed a car that won a Grand Prix in 2008, in the hands of Sebastian Vettel. There is no reason to believe we cannot do that again with these new rules. We're excited about our driving pairing: Mark's making a great recovery from his broken leg in a very short space of time and the injury has had minimal impact on his preparation for the season. In Sebastian we've got one of the sport's most exciting young talents and he will be looking to build on his very impressive rookie season."

"2009 arguably sees the biggest rule change for around twenty years," said Newey. "We have taken a clean sheet, blue sky approach, looking at the implications of these rules and how to interpret them, while not changing things simply for the sake of change. Apart from the gearbox internals, there is hardly any carry over from RB4."

Testing continues for the rest of today, Vettel will drive tomorrow then, on Wednesday, it will be Mark Webber's turn to get his hands on RB5. "I thought I'd let Seb do the boring installation laps and the running-in," joked the Australian. "Wednesday's run will be as much a test for me as for the car, as it will be my first go in an F1 car since I broke my leg. My fitness programme is bang-on course for Melbourne and this test is a stepping stone on the way to being fighting-fit for my home race. The car looks fantastic and I'm looking forward to driving it."

[via Red Bull Racing]

The Automobile Club de l’Ouest (ACO) has announced a new European race series called Formula Le Mans. The star of the series is a new Corvette LS3 V8-sourced racecar. Built by Oreca, of Viper motorsport heritage, the new racer is a carbon-kevlar open-cockpit LMP2 that looks (and sounds) to be a promising entry.

Oreca released a promo video that makes the hairs on our arms stand on end. The LS3 mill sounds absolutely devilish is this configuration.

Listen To The Roar Of That LS3

[Formula LeMans via YouTube]

Reports are coming in stating a flurry of applications from Honda F1 employee-hopefuls have been going unanswered for some period of time. This is a bad sign; not responding to apps could mean management doesn't see a future for the team. We hope either this report is false or some big Daddy Warbucks steps in to buy himself a plaything. Thanks to Mark and everyone for the tips [GrandPrix]

According to F1-Live, the 37-year old de la Rosa said:

"There are less and less obstacles because there are now many women in kart racing ... The base of the pyramid is expanding ... I would be delighted to see it happen sooner or later, but it is more difficult for women because of the important physical elements of racing in Formula One,"

Well, the car is allegedly made of carbon-fiber. Though we're not too sure how much time (if any) has been spent refining the aerodynamics in a wind tunnel. Power comes from a 3.5-liter engine, which is pretty impressive, considering that F1 cars only have 2.4-liters. Thing is, while the 2.4 in Ferrari or McLaren racer is a V8 estimated as making around 800 HP, the Geely's 3.5 is a V6 that we estimate as making around 80 HP— ok, maybe a little more than that. We're not saying we'd turn down a chance to take it around a track and play with its 6-speed semi-automatic gearbox, but until it gets a fancy nose piercing like Ferrari's race car, we're not so excited by the GF.
[thetycho]

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New rules here

Related:
New V8 Ferrari F1 Car Hits the Track in Fiorino [internal]