Spanish GP Live

This weekend is the Spanish Grand Prix 2009 and Montmelo is gearing up for the Formula One race of the year. Brawn, Red Bull and Toyota are the top three teams in the formula one world so far, with Jenson Button, Rubens Barrichello and Sebastian Vettel are the favorites to watch as the GP 2009 kicks off on Sunday, May 10^th.

The race started in 1913 and took place on a 300 kilometer road circuit Guadarrama, near Madrid. Around this time interest in racing was just surfacing in Spain, and a 2 kilometer oval track was finally built, called the Sitges Terramar, hosting the 1923 Spanish Grand Prix.

The race has been in several venues since then, including Jarama and Montuic. In 1995 the race was held at the Circuito Permanente de Jerez. The race was moved to its current circuit in 1991 and has been there ever since.

The race is held at the Circuit de Catalunya, a 4.655 km track. The 2008 race saw Kimi Raikkonen from team Ferrari qualify first with a time of 1:20.701 on part one, 1:20.784 on part two and adding a little more than a second on part three for a time of 1:21.813. Fernando Alonso, team Renault, took the second place spot, with 1:21.347 in the first part, 1:20.347 in part two, and barely losing the number one qualifying spot in part three with a time of 1:21.904. Others that placed in the top ten for the qualifying were Robert Kubica, from team BMW Sauber, Felipe Massa, Lewis Hamilton, Mark Webber, Heikki Kovalainen Jarno Trulli, Nick Heidfeld, Nelson Piquet, Ruens Barrichello and Kazuki Nakajuma.

When time came for the actual race it was Kimi Raikkonen once again with the number one spot, with a time of 1:38:19.051. Kimi is, or course, representing team Ferrari. Second place was scooped up by Felipe Massa, also of Team Ferrari, lost by a margin of only 3. 228. Third place was taken by Lewis Hamilton and Robert Kunica was fourth place. Fifth was taken by Mark Webber of team Red Bull, and Jenson Button, who is a favorite for the 2009 race took the number six place.  The last four spots were taken by Kazuki Nakajami, Jarno Truli, Nick Heidfeld and Giancarlo Fisichella.  

The race is a total of 66 laps, which is a final tally of more than 307 kilometers. Team Braun leads the race currently with 22 ½ points with star driver Jenson Button responsible for more than half of those. Red Bull is the team in second leading Toyota by 1 point. Toyota, of course is the third place team. Fernando Alonso won the 2006 race and is expected to fill the stands with adoring fans, as Spain is his home. He is the only spanish driver to have won the race before.

The previous race in the FIA Formula One championship was the Bahrain Grand Prix that was held on April 26^th. The race was won by Jenson Button, who took the trophy with a time of 1:31:48.182.    Sebastian Vettel was number two from Team Red Bull-Renault and third place was taken by Jarno Truli. The race following the Spanish Grand Prix is the Monaco Grand Prix.

You can get your membership by clicking on either of the links above or below, and you'll be able to catch all of the FIA Formula One Grand Prix races. The Spanish GP is held in the city of Montmelo, which is in Catalonia, Spain on the far east corner of the country.

The race starts on Friday, the 8^th of May, with a two free practice sessions and the practicing continues on Saturday followed closely by the qualifying round. The offical race starts on Sunday, May 10^th.