F1: Massa injured in freak accident

Felipe Massa has undergone surgery for injuries sustained in the qualification session for the Hungarian Grand Prix, according to Autosport.com. A spring from Rubens Barrichello's car struck him in the head giving him a concussion and he is currently under observation in intensive care.

Our View Two stories here: Massa is unlikely to compete in the race and Barrichello's owner Ross Brawn is perplexed as to why a component came off his car, which could signal troubles for both teams.

Update: Massa will certainly not race; he is currently listed in serious condition with life-threatening injuries. Our prayers go out to him and his family.

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F1: German GP lineup, with avg. finish

Mark Webber earned his first Formula 1 pole and will sit at the head of the field to start the German Grand Prix.

The dominant racers of the year aren't far behind, however. Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button start second and third.

One other qualification of note was Lewis Hamilton. After a couple of weeks of poor time trials, he finally advanced into the final session of knockout qualification and will start fifth. This week, he said the team was fixing their problems. It appears he may just have been right.

Results, with average finish

Start	Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg. Start	Attempts
1	Mark Webber	11.83	12.17	6
2	Rubens Barrichello	5.38	7.77	13
3	Jenson Button	10.50	11.50	8
4	Sebastian Vettel
5	Lewis Hamilton	9.00	10.00	1
6	Heikki Kovalainen	8.00	7.00	1
7	Adrian Sutil	19.00	21.00	1
8	Felipe Massa	6.80	8.80	5
9	Kimi Raikkonen	11.43	4.00	7
10	Nelson Piquet Jr
11	Nick Heidfeld	10.25	10.38	8
12	Fernando Alonso	4.50	7.33	6
13	Kazuki Nakajima
14	Jarno Trulli	12.30	7.20	10
15	Nico Rosberg	13.50	16.50	2
16	Robert Kubica	7.00	5.00	1
17	Sebastian Buemi
18	Giancarlo Fisichella	11.00	11.42	12
19	Timo Glock
20	Sebastian Bourdais

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F1: British GP Results

Finally someone other than Jenson Button won a Formula 1 race. Prior to the British Grand Prix, he had won six of seven events with Sebastian Vettel taking the Chinese Grand Prix. It's only fitting that Vettel took this race as well after winning the pole and dominating at Silverstone.

For his part, Button finish only sixth. Is the competition finally catching up to him? Don't assume that just yet because teammate Rubens Barrichello was in third.

In several races this year the Brawn teammates Button and Barrichello finished one-two. Red Bull Racing kept that tradition alive by placing Mark Webber in second. That was his fourth consecutive top-five finish this season, which has made him a good driver to keep on your roster.
One other item of note: with the exception of Sebastian Bourdais and Heikki Kovalainen who retired at the start, everyone finished either one the lead lap or only one circuit off the pace and an impressive 11 drivers completed the distance.

Results, with average finish

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Status	Avg Fin
1	1	Sebastian Vettel	60	Running	10.00
2	3	Mark Webber	60	Running	12.43
3	2	Rubens Barrichello	60	Running	7.65
4	11	Felipe Massa	60	Running	7.86
5	7	Nico Rosberg	60	Running	8.75
6	6	Jenson Button	60	Running	9.90
7	4	Jarno Trulli	60	Running	11.46
8	9	Kimi Raikkonen	60	Running	4.78
9	8	Timo Glock	60	Running	10.50
10	16	Giancarlo Fisichella	60	Running	8.93
11	5	Kazuki Nakajima	60	Running	9.50
12	14	Nelson Piquet Jr	59	Running	14.00
13	12	Robert Kubica	59	Running	10.33
14	10	Fernando Alonso	59	Running	8.63
15	15	Nick Heidfeld	59	Running	10.40
16	19	Lewis Hamilton	59	Running	6.67
17	18	Adrian Sutil	59	Running	18.67
18	20	Sebastian Buemi	59	Running	18.00
19	17	Sebastian Bourdais	0	Retired	15.00
20	13	Heikki Kovalainen	0	Retired	10.67

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F1: Vettel, Weber tops both practices

Sebastian Vettel and Mark Weber were the fastest and second fastest drivers respectively in the two practice sessions for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

In the first practice, the two Brawn Racing teammates Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello were not far behind, placing third and fourth on the grid.

Our View: These two teams have been the class of the field all season and those four drivers are likely to dominate in the top-five again.

Practice 1 Times
Practice 2 Times

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Week 24 Unified Power Rankings

Yawn. Jenson Button won again in the Turkish Grand Prix, which is his sixth victory in seven races and picking a winner in that series is now officially a no brainer. Until Button stumbles—and at this point, it seems unlikely he's going to do so all season—place him on your roster and hold him there.

For the first time this year, however, his wingman Rubens Barrichello had a bad finish. A pair of spins in the Turkish GP caused him to finish outside the points for the first time this season and he plummeted seven spots in the Unified Power Rankings from second to ninth.

That allowed a pair of winners to climb the grid. Tony Stewart had to overcome rolling out a backup car and his shotgun to the field start, but after practice, he was confident he had the ponies under the hood to get the job done. Stewart used a little strategy and a lot of power to hold off Carl Edwards and earn his first victory as an owner driver. He's now second on this chart.

One of the keys to Stewart's success in the Pocono 500 was a strong pit stop, and that is also how Helio Castroneves got in front of Ryan Briscoe late in the going at Texas Motor Speedway. Once in the lead of the Bombardier Learjet 550k, he was untouched and scored his second victory in the last three races. Castroneves sits third.

Jason Leffler continues to be the strongest Nationwide Regular in NASCAR's second series. With most of the top spots typically going to Cup drivers, last week's Federated Auto Parts 300 in Nashville was an opportunity race. Only two Claim Jumpers made the long commute, so even though Kyle Busch won the race and Edwards finished third, Leffler was able to pick off a fifth-place finish and climb two spots on the Unified Power Rankings grid from eighth to sixth.

Success in any fantasy racing league is reliant on finding dark horses. In the Camping World Truck Series, check out Jason White, who has been 14th or better in his last four races. And on the strength of his eighth-place finish at Texas last week and a fourth at Dover the previous week, he jumped an amazing 28 spots last week and 10 spots the prior week to land in the top 50—50th to be exact. Matt Crafton is the highest ranked Truck driver. He sits 19th on the grid.

Unified Power Rankings
Top 50

Rank	Driver	Points	Last week	+/-
1	Jenson Button	110.57	1	0
2	Tony Stewart	97.33	3	1
3	Helio Castroneves	95.80	4	1
4	Jimmie Johnson	90.82	6	2
5	Ryan Briscoe	90.67	7	2
6	Jason Leffler	87.90	8	2
7	Dario Franchitti	87.67	9	2
8	Ryan Newman	87.20	11	3
9	Rubens Barrichello	87.14	2	-7
10	Mark Martin	87.00	10	0
11	Mark Webber	85.29	15	4
12	Scott Dixon	84.50	16	4
13	Kurt Busch	83.55	5	-8
14	Danica Patrick	83.33	13	-1
15	Brad Keselowski	83.20	14	-1
16	Jeff Gordon	80.55	17	1
17	Kyle Busch	79.46	18	1
18	Carl Edwards	79.24	21	3
19	Matt Crafton	79.00	27	8
20	Matt Kenseth	78.69	20	0
21	Jeff Burton	78.63	22	1
22	Timo Glock	78.43	19	-3
23	Denny Hamlin	78.18	12	-11
24	Dan Wheldon	78.17	23	-1
25	Joey Logano	77.15	24	-1
26	Greg Biffle	76.93	28	2
27	Juan Montoya	75.64	31	4
28	Fernando Alonso	74.00	25	-3
29	Kasey Kahne	73.27	26	-3
30	Nico Rosberg	72.57	33	3
31	Sebastian Vettel	72.00	36	5
32	David Reutimann	70.85	43	11
33	Marco Andretti	70.00	44	11
34	Tony Kanaan	69.83	35	1
35	Jason Keller	69.30	30	-5
36	Steve Wallace	69.10	38	2
37	Marcos Ambrose	68.36	54	17
38	Justin Allgaier	67.60	39	1
39	Dale Earnhardt Jr	67.07	32	-7
40	Jarno Trulli	66.29	53	13
41	Johnny Benson Jr	66.00	47	6
42	Ron Hornaday Jr	65.80	29	-13
43	Brian Vickers	65.40	34	-9
44	Clint Bowyer	65.36	40	-4
45	Rick Crawford	65.20	62	17
46	Jamie McMurray	64.91	45	-1
47	Sam Hornish Jr	64.73	63	16
48	Martin Truex Jr	63.82	42	-6
49	Kevin Harvick	63.00	37	-12
50	Jason White	62.80	78	28

Previous Unified Power Rankings:

Week 23
Week 22
Week 21
Week 20

F1: Turkish GP Results

O.k., this is getting ridiculous—unless you happen to be a Jenson Button fan. He's won six of the seven Formula 1 races this year and the championship is nearly a foregone conclusion. And this is coming from a driver who couldn't buy a top-five last year with a best of sixth in Spain and only a handful of top-10s. That just goes to show you how much difference strong equipment makes.

The biggest story was the failure to finish by Rubens Barrichello. He has been the wingman of Button all year and has also swept the top five with three runner-up finishes to this credit. He spun after making contact with Heikki Kovalainen and damaged his nose with contact from Adrian Sutil.

Red Bull teammates Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel finished second and third, which puts tem in a position to pounce in the unlikely event that Button stumbles.

Results, with average finish

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Status	Avg Fin
1	2	Jenson Button	58	Running	6.80
2	4	Mark Webber	58	Running	12.20
3	1	Sebastian Vettel	58	Running	13.00
4	5	Jarno Trulli	58	Running	9.00
5	9	Nico Rosberg	58	Running	9.50
6	7	Felipe Massa	58	Running	5.60
7	10	Robert Kubica	58	Running	7.75
8	13	Timo Glock	58	Running	10.50
9	6	Kimi Raikkonen	58	Running	7.20
10	8	Fernando Alonso	58	Running	4.60
11	11	Nick Heidfeld	58	Running	10.40
12	12	Kazuki Nakajima	58	Running	15.50
13	16	Lewis Hamilton	58	Running	6.67
14	14	Heikki Kovalainen	57	Running	10.67
15	18	Sebastian Buemi	57	Running	15.00
16	17	Nelson Piquet Jr	57	Running	15.50
17	15	Adrian Sutil	57	Running	18.00
18	20	Sebastian Bourdais	57	Running	18.00
19	3	Rubens Barrichello	47	Retired	13.60
20	19	Giancarlo Fisichella	4	Retired	11.80

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F1: Turkish GP Lineup, with avg. start/fin

For the second time in 2009, Sebastian Vettel wrestled the pole from Jenson Button, and just like the site of his previous pole the Chinese Grand Prix, he took the top spot after Button won the honor in back-to-back weeks. This is Vettel's first time to start near the lead in Turkey, however. His two previous attempts there have started 18th and 14th and ended 19th and 17th respectively.

Button and teammate Rubens Barrichello continue to make a mockery of the sport by starting second and third. There is absolutely no reason to think they are going to finish anywhere but at the front.

Lineup, with average start/finish

Start	Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg. Start	Attempts
1	Sebastian Vettel	18.00	16.00	2
2	Jenson Button	8.25	13.25	4
3	Rubens Barrichello	12.25	14.50	4
4	Mark Webber	14.75	8.50	4
5	Jarno Trulli	10.25	8.50	4
6	Kimi Raikkonen	6.75	3.75	4
7	Felipe Massa	5.50	2.75	4
8	Fernando Alonso	3.25	4.25	4
9	Nico Rosberg	11.00	11.00	3
10	Robert Kubica	8.00	6.00	3
11	Nick Heidfeld	10.25	6.50	4
12	Kazuki Nakajima	19.00	16.00	1
13	Timo Glock	13.00	15.00	1
14	Heikki Kovalainen	9.00	4.50	2
15	Adrian Sutil	18.50	19.00	2
16	Lewis Hamilton	3.50	2.50	2
17	Nelson Piquet Jr	15.00	17.00	1
18	Sebastian Buemi
19	Giancarlo Fisichella	9.75	9.00	4
20	Sebastian Bourdais	18.00	18.00	1

Week 23 Unified Power Rankings

With Formula 1 taking last week off, the two strongest drivers in auto sports remain at the top of our grid. Jenson Button and teammate Rubens Barrichello continue to be nearly unassailable with their strong showings on the international stage.

NASCAR driver Tony Stewart keeps hovering around the front of the field and last week's second-place finish in the Autism Speaks 400 kept him solidly in third on this grid. If Button and Barrichello stumble in this week's Turkish Grand Prix, "Smoke" could take the lead in the Unified Power Rankings just as he's done in the NASCAR point system. He hasn't been perfect, but then again with seven top-five finishes in his last nine attempts in Cup and Nationwide competition combined, he's about as close as you're going to get.

Dario Franchitti was last week's top Indy Racing League driver on our grid and he actually improved two positions from 11th overall to ninth on the strength of his third-place finish in the ABC Supply Co. / A.J. Foyt 225 at the Milwaukee Mile—and yet, he's no longer the king of his crowd.

The IRL honor goes to Helio Castroneves, who settles into fourth on the overall grid despite an 11th in that same race. He didn't actually leap frog Franchitti, however; Castroneves was not included in last week's grid because he had not yet run four races in 2009. His victory in the Indy 500 and a second in the Road Runner Turbo Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway was enough to place Castroneves fourth on the overall grid.

Mark Martin was the biggest mover in the top 10—or at least, he's in the top 10 now, after jumping eight spots from 18th with a 10th-place finish at Dover International Speedway. The biggest loser was Camping World Truck Series Ron Hornaday Jr., who dropped 19 positions from 10th to 29th after crashing early last week. He has a chance to snap back this week, however, since he starts from the outside pole for Friday night's companion race at Texas Motor Speedway with the IRL.

Hornaday's hardship can't compare to Tony Kanaan. His early-race crash at Milwaukee caused him to drop 21 positions from 14th to 35th.

Unified Power Rankings

Rank	Driver	Points	Last week	+/-
1	Jenson Button	110.67	1	0
2	Rubens Barrichello	99.83	2	0
3	Tony Stewart	96.00	3	0
4	Helio Castroneves	92.25	NR
5	Kurt Busch	91.91	5	0
6	Jimmie Johnson	90.45	7	1
7	Ryan Briscoe	87.80	12	5
8	Jason Leffler	87.56	4	-4
9	Dario Franchitti	86.80	11	2
10	Mark Martin	85.00	18	8
11	Ryan Newman	84.60	6	-5
12	Denny Hamlin	84.27	9	-3
13	Danica Patrick	82.60	15	2
14	Brad Keselowski	82.14	21	7
15	Mark Webber	82.00	13	-2
16	Scott Dixon	81.20	28	12
17	Jeff Gordon	81.09	8	-9
18	Kyle Busch	79.63	19	1
19	Timo Glock	79.50	20	1
20	Matt Kenseth	79.44	27	7
21	Carl Edwards	78.30	22	1
22	Jeff Burton	78.00	17	-5
23	Dan Wheldon	77.20	16	-7
24	Joey Logano	76.55	25	1
25	Fernando Alonso	76.17	24	-1
26	Kasey Kahne	75.27	26	0
27	Matt Crafton	74.60	29	2
28	Greg Biffle	73.29	23	-5
29	Ron Hornaday Jr	72.60	10	-19
30	Jason Keller	72.11	36	6
31	Juan Montoya	71.73	30	-1
32	Dale Earnhardt Jr	70.21	31	-1
33	Nico Rosberg	70.00	32	-1
34	Brian Vickers	68.20	33	-1
35	Tony Kanaan	68.20	14	-21
36	Sebastian Vettel	67.50	39	3
37	Kevin Harvick	67.28	41	4
38	Steve Wallace	67.11	40	2
39	Justin Allgaier	67.00	42	3
40	Clint Bowyer	66.50	43	3
41	Graham Rahal	66.40	59	18
42	Martin Truex Jr	65.82	45	3
43	David Reutimann	65.62	38	-5
44	Marco Andretti	64.80	52	8
45	Jamie McMurray	64.73	44	-1
46	Lewis Hamilton	63.67	47	1
47	Johnny Benson Jr	63.60	35	-12
48	David Ragan	63.17	55	7
49	Brian Scott	63.00	57	8
50	Paul Menard	62.63	54	4

Previous Unified Power Rankings:

Week 22
Week 21
Week 20

Week 22 Unified Power Rankings

The three major auto racing series ran one of the biggest races of their season last week when Formula 1 took to the streets of Monaco, the NASCAR Cup series ran the "Coke 341," and the IRL ran the granddaddy of them all: the Indy 500.

Each of those races carry bonus points. Instead of 110 points for a first-place finish, drivers receive 125, but we had to make some adjustments for the Cup race. Since several drivers remained on track and received better results than they earned through the strength of their cars, we based the Power Point system on average running position for this week.

No matter how count them, Jenson Button continues to be the hottest driver in auto racing having won his fifth Grand Prix in six starts. The twisty streets of Monaco make passing a near impossibility, so no one was surprised that he took the checkers after sitting on the pole. Rubens Barrichello continues to be his wing man and finished second in Formula 1 competition for the third time this season. He's going to be hard to dislodge from that spot, in fact, because he's swept the top-five alongside Button.

Tony Stewart had flashes of brilliance last week in the rain-shortened "Coke 341," but when the field was shuffled by the final rain storm he found his No. 14 Chevy stranded in 19th. Five top-fives in the previous six races, however, gave him enough momentum to stay third on the grid and first among Cup regulars.

Nationwide regular Jason Leffler ran a smart race in the Carquest Auto Parts 300 to finish sixth. That helped elevate him into the top 10 on the Unified Power Rankings scale since it was his sixth consecutive top-10 in recent races.

The Indy Racing League finally ran enough races to include them in this formula and despite winning the Indy 500, Helio Castroneves does not top their chart. There a reason for that; even though the series has run enough times, the driver has not since he was forced to sit out the Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg while being his trial for tax evasion was going on.

Dario Franchitti gets that honor. After winning the Grand Prix of Long Beach and finishing in the top 10 in three of the first four IRL races this year, he's the best of class. He shouldn't get too used to the position, however; unless Castroneves crashes early next week at Milwaukee, he is virtually guaranteed to dislodge the Scotsman.

Unified Power Rankings

Rank	Driver	Points	Last week	+/-
1	Jenson Button	110.67	1	0
2	Rubens Barrichello	99.83	2	0
3	Tony Stewart	91.67	3	0
4	Jason Leffler	88.50	7	3
5	Kurt Busch	88.45	5	0
6	Ryan Newman	85.93	10	4
7	Jimmie Johnson	85.91	8	1
8	Jeff Gordon	85.45	4	-4
9	Denny Hamlin	85.08	6	-3
10	Ron Hornaday Jr	83.75	11	1
11	Dario Franchitti	83.50	NR
12	Ryan Briscoe	83.50	NR
13	Mark Webber	82.00	14	1
14	Tony Kanaan	81.25	NR
15	Danica Patrick	81.00	NR
16	Dan Wheldon	80.75	NR
17	Jeff Burton	79.75	12	-5
18	Mark Martin	79.75	20	2
19	Kyle Busch	79.59	13	-6
20	Timo Glock	79.50	9	-11
21	Brad Keselowski	79.23	23	2
22	Carl Edwards	77.37	15	-7
23	Greg Biffle	76.54	16	-7
24	Fernando Alonso	76.17	21	-3
25	Joey Logano	74.89	31	6
26	Kasey Kahne	74.36	29	3
27	Matt Kenseth	74.19	18	-9
28	Scott Dixon	74.00	NR
29	Matt Crafton	73.75	27	-2
30	Juan Montoya	72.00	19	-11
31	Dale Earnhardt Jr	71.79	26	-5
32	Nico Rosberg	70.00	37	5
33	Brian Vickers	69.50	24	-9
34	Mike Skinner	69.50	32	-2
35	Johnny Benson Jr	68.75	34	-1
36	Jason Keller	68.25	30	-6
37	Scott Lagasse Jr	68.25	42	5
38	David Reutimann	68.23	28	-10
39	Sebastian Vettel	67.50	17	-22
40	Steve Wallace	67.38	43	3
41	Kevin Harvick	66.76	25	-16
42	Justin Allgaier	66.75	45	3
43	Clint Bowyer	65.92	22	-21
44	Jamie McMurray	65.91	46	2
45	Martin Truex Jr	64.00	38	-7
46	Rick Crawford	63.75	56	10
47	Lewis Hamilton	63.67	36	-11
48	Stacy Compton	63.00	53	5
49	James Buescher	62.00	62	13
50	Marcos Ambrose	61.91	35	-15

F1: Monaco GP Results

Is there any stopping Brawn Racing? Already the dominant force in not only Formula 1, but also the Unified Power Rankings (which is our attempt to compare all of the major series), Jenson Button has now won five of the first six races and he's going to pad his lead in those standings because the Monaco Grand Prix has a bonus attached to it as one of racing's marquee events.

Of course teammate Rubens Barrichello came in second, but that didn't catch anyone by surprise either.

Pretty much everyone held serve and finished close to where they started, with the exception of drivers like Heikki Kovalainen who crashed on lap 51 and slipped from seventh to 16th and Sebastian Vettel, whose stellar fourth-place qualification effort went for nothing when he wrecked on lap 15.

Monaco Grand Prix Results

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Status	Avg Fin
1	1	Jenson Button	78	Running	9.88
2	3	Rubens Barrichello	78	Running	8.41
3	2	Kimi Raikkonen	78	Running	9.44
4	5	Felipe Massa	78	Running	6.71
5	8	Mark Webber	78	Running	9.33
6	6	Nico Rosberg	78	Running	13.25
7	9	Fernando Alonso	78	Running	6.63
8	14	Sebastian Bourdais	78	Running	14.00
9	13	Giancarlo Fisichella	78	Running	9.64
10	19	Timo Glock	77	Running	11.00
11	16	Nick Heidfeld	77	Running	9.60
12	20	Lewis Hamilton	77	Running	5.00
13	18	Jarno Trulli	77	Running	11.38
14	15	Adrian Sutil	77	Running	16.33
15	10	Kazuki Nakajima	76	Running	11.00
16	7	Heikki Kovalainen	51	Accident	12.33
17	17	Robert Kubica	28	Brakes	8.00
18	4	Sebastian Vettel	15	Accident	11.50
19	12	Nelson Piquet Jr	10	Crash Damage	18.00
20	11	Sebastian Buemi	10	Accident	20.00

F1: Vettel has lightest car

Sebastian Vettel qualified fourth for the Monaco Grand Prix with the lightest car on the grid. With the driver weight and fuel load, his car is nearly 10.5ks lighter than anyone else. The complete list can be found at Crash.net.

Our View: If not for the fact that Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello were in front of him, Vettel might be able to scoot to the lead, but they are going to be hard to pass. Once in the lead, they have more fuel on board to give them a chance to employ alternate strategy.

F1: Monaco GP Lineup

Jenson button continues to be the hottest driver on the Formula 1 circuit. Despite an average starting position of nearly 12th in seven attempts, he put down a blistering fast lap of one minute, 14.902 seconds and will roll off from the pole. That is critical to success on the tight, twisty Monaco road course.

Kimi Raikkonen is in the second position in a Ferrari.

Button is not the only Brawn driver at the front of the field. This new organization has topped the Unified Power Rankings in recent weeks, and teammate Rubens Barrichello starts third.

Lewis Hamilton's struggles continue. He crashed barely four laps into qualification and will have to roll off the grid deep in the field in 16th. He will be lucky to earn a single championship point and should not be considered a good bet to win.

Lineup

Start	Driver	Avg. Fin	Avg. Start	Attempts
1	Jenson Button	11.14	11.71	7
2	Kimi Raikkonen	10.25	6.25	8
3	Rubens Barrichello	8.81	8.94	16
4	Sebastian Vettel	5.00	19.00	1
5	Felipe Massa	7.17	10.83	6
6	Nico Rosberg	15.67	6.33	3
7	Heikki Kovalainen	10.50	9.50	2
8	Mark Webber	10.20	10.20	5
9	Fernando Alonso	6.57	5.71	7
10	Kazuki Nakajima	7.00	13.00	1
11	Sebastian Buemi
12	Nelson Piquet Jr	17.00	17.00	1
13	Giancarlo Fisichella	9.69	9.38	13
14	Sebastian Bourdais	20.00	16.00	1
15	Adrian Sutil	17.50	18.50	2
16	Lewis Hamilton	1.50	2.50	2
17	Nick Heidfeld	9.44	13.56	9
18	Robert Kubica	3.50	6.50	2
19	Jarno Trulli	11.25	7.50	12
20	Timo Glock	12.00	10.00	1

F1: Rosberg tops P2

On Thursday, Nico Rosberg posted the fastest time in the second practice session for the Monaco Grand Prix, according to PlanetF1.com.

Our View: Rosberg led Lewis Hamilton, Rubens Barichello, Jenson Button and Felipe Massa as the top five drivers. This is a good indication of who will finish up front in the race.

Practice Two Speeds

Rank	Driver	Best Time	Laps
1	Nico Rosberg	1:15.243	45
2	Lewis Hamilton	1:15.445	35
3	Rubens Barrichello	1:15.590	41
4	Jenson Button	1:15.774	36
5	Felipe Massa	1:15.832	42
6	Sebastian Vettel	1:15.847	33
7	Heikki Kovalainen	1:15.984	45
8	Kimi Räikkönen	1:15.985	43
9	Kazuki Nakajima	1:16.260	43
10	Nelson Piquet Jr.	1:16.286	43
11	Fernando Alonso	1:16.552	39
12	Mark Webber	1:16.579	27
13	Adrian Sutil	1:16.675	38
14	Jarno Trulli	1:16.915	43
15	Sebastian Buemi	1:16.983	48
16	Sebastian Bourdais	1:17.052	48
17	Nick Heidfeld	1:17.109	40
18	Timo Glock	1:17.207	45
19	Giancarlo Fisichella	1:17.504	45
20	Robert Kubica	No time	2

Practice One Speeds

F1: Kovalainen downplays speed

Heikki Kovalainen is downplaying his and teammate Lewis Hamilton's speed in the first practice session that placed them third and fourth on that grid, according to PlanetF1.com.

Our View: He says that while this is a step in the right direction, their speed was nearly a half second slower than leader Rubens Barrichello.

Practice One Speeds

F1: Barrichello draws first blood

Rubens Barrichello drew first blood in practice for the 2009 Monaco Grand Prix according to PlanetF1.com, posting a time of one minute, 17.189 seconds and narrowly beating Felipe Massa.

Our View: Third-best Lewis Hamilton is still hoping to turn his season around, while Heikki Kovalainen and Kimi Raikkonen rounded out the top five.

Practice One Speeds

Rank	Driver	Best Time	Laps
1	Rubens Barrichello	1:17.189	25
2	Felipe Massa	1:17.499	30
3	Lewis Hamilton	1:17.578	25
4	Heikki Kovalainen	1:17.686	29
5	Kimi Räikkönen	1:17.839	29
6	Kazuki Nakajima	1:18.000	29
7	Nico Rosberg	1:18.024	27
8	Jenson Button	1:18.080	27
9	Fernando Alonso	1:18.283	30
10	Mark Webber	1:18.348	22
11	Sebastian Buemi	1:18.695	36
12	Nelson Piquet Jr.	1:19.204	36
13	Sebastian Vettel	1:19.233	16
14	Sebastian Bourdais	1:19.255	31
15	Giancarlo Fisichella	1:19.534	28
16	Robert Kubica	1:19.555	31
17	Nick Heidfeld	1:19.579	23
18	Adrian Sutil	1:19.600	24
19	Timo Glock	1:19.698	24
20	Jarno Trulli	1:19.831	28

Week 22 Unified Power Rankings

With all the major series taking last week off from points' paying races, this week's Unified Power Rankings were reorganized by two factors. First, the Camping World Truck Series raced under the lights at Lowe's, which allowed their top contenders to make up a little ground in the standings, and the All-Star race was run the following night.

Secondly, since the Unified Power Rankings looks at only the last three months, the Daytona Speedweek races are aging off this list. Drivers who peaked in the first race of the season are falling by the wayside.

Tony Stewart earned his first victory as an owner/driver and that allowed him to make up some ground on the Formula 1 giants at the top of the standings. However, their advantage is too great, so Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello continue to dominate the first two spots. Each of these drivers should be anchoring your fantasy roster in their respective games.

Kurt Busch's solid third-place—combined with Jeff Gordon's accident in the All-Star race—caused those two drivers to swap positions four and five. Since Busch is a lesser value in most fantasy games, however, his worth on fantasy owners' rosters takes an even greater leap.

Truck driver James Buescher earned his fifth consecutive top-15 in that series to make him a solid mid-range pick while he climbs onto this list for the first time in 2009. Meanwhile, Cup regular Martin Truex Jr. failed to advance from the Sprint Showdown and now hovers on the cusp of falling outside the top 50.

Unified Power Rankings

Rank	Driver	Points	Last week	+/-
1	Jenson Button	107.80	1	0
2	Rubens Barrichello	96.00	2	0
3	Tony Stewart	91.50	3	0
4	Kurt Busch	88.73	5	1
5	Jeff Gordon	87.82	4	-1
6	Jason Leffler	87.44	7	1
7	Denny Hamlin	84.50	6	-1
8	Jimmie Johnson	83.36	8	0
9	Ryan Newman	82.93	10	1
10	Ron Hornaday Jr	82.60	11	1
11	Timo Glock	81.60	9	-2
12	Kyle Busch	80.04	13	1
13	Jeff Burton	78.82	12	-1
14	Mark Webber	78.40	14	0
15	Carl Edwards	77.55	15	0
16	Sebastian Vettel	77.20	17	1
17	Brad Keselowski	76.79	23	6
18	Greg Biffle	74.86	16	-2
19	Matt Kenseth	74.75	18	-1
20	Matt Crafton	74.00	27	7
21	Fernando Alonso	73.80	21	0
22	Mark Martin	73.75	20	-2
23	Joey Logano	72.79	31	8
24	Dale Earnhardt Jr	71.71	26	2
25	Kasey Kahne	71.00	29	4
26	Juan Montoya	69.73	19	-7
27	Scott Lagasse Jr	69.22	42	15
28	Steve Wallace	68.89	43	15
29	Kevin Harvick	68.83	25	-4
30	Mike Skinner	68.80	32	2
31	Brian Vickers	68.67	24	-7
32	Clint Bowyer	68.38	22	-10
33	Jason Keller	68.00	30	-3
34	David Reutimann	67.86	28	-6
35	Johnny Benson Jr	67.60	34	-1
36	Justin Allgaier	67.33	45	9
37	Lewis Hamilton	65.20	36	-1
38	Nico Rosberg	65.20	37	-1
39	Jamie McMurray	65.09	46	7
40	Jarno Trulli	64.00	39	-1
41	Chad McCumbee	62.60	47	6
42	Rick Crawford	62.60	56	14
43	David Ragan	62.56	33	-10
44	Marcos Ambrose	62.45	35	-9
45	James Buescher	61.80	62	17
46	Stacy Compton	61.60	53	7
47	Nick Heidfeld	60.80	50	3
48	Martin Truex Jr	60.55	38	-10
49	David Stremme	59.82	54	5
50	Brendan Gaughan	59.78	48	-2

The Unified Power Rankings are based on "percentage points." Starting with a 100 score for the winner of a Nationwide race, each subsequent position is decremented by a percentage that relates to the number of drivers in the field. In a 50-car field of potential qualifiers, the second-place driver receives 98 points, third-place gets 96 points, the 43rd-place driver gets 16 points (because he beat eight other driver to even get into the field) and so on until the last non-qualifier in 50th-place gets two points.

Only races run in the last three months count in this formula.

The Cup, IRL and Formula 1 series start at 110 points for a victory (since its so difficult to win one of these races) and then decrements 1/50th of 110 points for each subsequent position. It’s an unscientific way to determine who is the best in their series, while simultaneously trying to compare apples to oranges.

Previous Unified Power Rankings:

Week 21
Week 20

F1: Last five Monaco races

The Monaco Grand Prix could very well be the biggest test of the new found strength of Jenson Button and the Brawn Racing team, because he's been miserable at Monaco during the last three years, posting consecutive 11th-place results. Rubens Barrichello also needs to bring his "A" game to earn his first top-five since 2006. And these two drivers highlight how unpredictable the start of this season has been.

Conversely, we will see if Lewis Hamilton can reverse his fortunes after winning in 2008 and finishing second in his first attempt in 2007.

Monaco Grand Prix, last five years

Driver	Avg Finish	2008	2007	2006	2005	2004
Lewis Hamilton	1.50	1	2
Robert Kubica	3.50	2	5
Juan Montoya	3.67			2	5	4
Sebastian Vettel	5.00	5
Fernando Alonso	5.60	10	1	1	4	12
Felipe Massa	5.80	3	3	9	9	5
Cristiano da Matta	6.00					6
Rubens Barrichello	6.20	6	10	4	8	3
Alexander Wurz	7.00		7
Kazuki Nakajima	7.00	7
Nick Heidfeld	7.20	14	6	7	2	7
Michael Schumacher	7.67			5	7	11
Mark Webber	7.67	4			3	16
Olivier Panis	8.00					8
Jenson Button	8.75	11	11	11		2
Zsolt Baumgartner	9.00					9
Ralf Schumacher	10.00		16	8	6	10
Kimi Raikkonen	10.20	9	8	20	1	13
Heikki Kovalainen	10.50	8	13
Scott Speed	11.00		9	13
Jarno Trulli	11.20	13	15	17	10	1
Giancarlo Fisichella	11.80	18	4	6	12	19
Timo Glock	12.00	12
Jacques Villeneuve	12.50			14	11
Jacques Villeneuve Jr	12.50			14	11
Tiago Monteiro	14.00			15	13
Gianmaria Bruni	14.00					14
David Coulthard	14.20	19	14	3	17	18
Christijan Albers	15.00		19	12	14
Giorgio Pantano	15.00					15
Vitantonio Liuzzi	15.67		22	10	15
Nico Rosberg	15.67	16	12	19
Franck Montagny	16.00			16
Patrick Friesacher	16.00				16
Nelson Piquet Jr	17.00	17
Adrian Sutil	17.50	15	20
Narain Karthikeyan	18.00				18
Anthony Davidson	18.00		18
Takuma Sato	18.67		17	22		17
Christian Klien	19.00			18		20
Sebastian Bourdais	20.00	20
Mark Weber	21.00		21	21

Week 21 Unified Power Rankings

Jenson Button won the Spanish Grand Prix, which was his fourth Formula 1 victory in five starts, and by virtue of dominating that series, he remains firmly in control of the "highly-scientific" Unified Power Rankings.* What makes this more impressive still, is that he's doing so with a team that was not favored to run well at the start of the season because they are new to the series.

Teammate Rubens Barrichello finished second in last week's battle in Spain, which allowed him to pad his advantage over the remainder of the field. Barrichello was mildly upset that he was not allowed the opportunity to win after team strategy was altered mid-race that favored Button.

Meanwhile, the NASCAR boys continue to run strong and take up most of the remaining top-10 spots. Tony Stewart's third-place finish at Darlington was enough to keep him third on the Unified Power Rankings grid, while Jeff Gordon's fifth-place finish allowed him to leapfrog Kurt Busch into fourth.

The Indy Racing League has not yet run five races this season, which is the minimum required for inclusion to this list, so none of their drivers will be included until after the Indy 500.

Three drivers, Mark Webber, Mark Martin and Fernando Alonso jumped nine positions between last week and this week to become the biggest gainers.

Justin Allgaier's impressive fifth-place finish in the Nationwide Darlington race allowed him to leap onto the grid in 45th, which Nick Heidfeld scored a seventh in the Spanish Grand Prix to sneak into 50th.

Unified Power Rankings

Rank	Driver	Competition Points	Last week	+/-
1	Jenson Button	107.80	1	0
2	Rubens Barrichello	96.00	2	0
3	Tony Stewart	92.92	3	0
4	Jeff Gordon	90.82	5	1
5	Kurt Busch	89.55	4	-1
6	Denny Hamlin	82.50	7	1
7	Jason Leffler	82.20	10	3
8	Jimmie Johnson	81.73	12	4
9	Timo Glock	81.60	6	-3
10	Ryan Newman	81.38	13	3
11	Ron Hornaday Jr	80.80	9	-2
12	Jeff Burton	78.94	14	2
13	Kyle Busch	78.52	8	-5
14	Mark Webber	78.40	23	9
15	Carl Edwards	78.33	11	-4
16	Greg Biffle	77.40	16	0
17	Sebastian Vettel	77.20	24	7
18	Matt Kenseth	76.76	19	1
19	Juan Montoya	74.36	17	-2
20	Mark Martin	73.83	29	9
21	Fernando Alonso	73.80	30	9
22	Clint Bowyer	73.14	15	-7
23	Brad Keselowski	72.73	28	5
24	Brian Vickers	72.38	20	-4
25	Kevin Harvick	72.00	27	2
26	Dale Earnhardt Jr	71.80	21	-5
27	Matt Crafton	71.80	25	-2
28	David Reutimann	71.40	22	-6
29	Kasey Kahne	70.00	26	-3
30	Jason Keller	69.60	31	1
31	Joey Logano	69.50	34	3
32	Mike Skinner	67.33	36	4
33	David Ragan	67.00	32	-1
34	Johnny Benson Jr	67.00	37	3
35	Marcos Ambrose	66.18	33	-2
36	Lewis Hamilton	65.20	39	3
37	Nico Rosberg	65.20	40	3
38	Martin Truex Jr	64.73	45	7
39	Jarno Trulli	64.00	18	-21
40	Casey Mears	63.91	35	-5
41	Reed Sorenson	63.73	41	0
42	Scott Lagasse Jr	63.70	38	-4
43	Steve Wallace	63.60	43	0
44	Regan Smith	63.00	42	-2
45	Justin Allgaier	62.60	NR
46	Jamie McMurray	61.55	44	-2
47	Chad McCumbee	61.20	47	0
48	Brendan Gaughan	60.90	46	-2
49	A J Allmendinger	60.82	50	1
50	Nick Heidfeld	60.80	NR

The Unified Power Rankings are based on "percentage points." Starting with a 100 score for the winner of a Nationwide race, each subsequent position is decremented by a percentage that relates to the number of drivers in the field. In a 50-car field of potential qualifiers, the second-place driver receives 98 points, third-place gets 96 points, the 43rd-place driver gets 16 points (because he beat eight other driver to even get into the field) and so on until the last non-qualifier in 50th-place gets two points.

Only races run in the last three months count in this formula.

The Cup, IRL and Formula 1 series start at 110 points for a victory (since its so difficult to win one of these races) and then decrements 1/50th of 110 points for each subsequent position. It’s an unscientific way to determine who is the best in their series, while simultaneously trying to compare apples to oranges.

Previous Unified Power Rankings:

Week 20

F1: Spanish GP Recap

Formula1.com has published a snapshot analysis of the Spanish Grand Prix, and no one will be surprised to see Brawn Racing highlighted after Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello swept the race.

Our View: Two traditional powerhouses, McLaren and Williams struggled, which makes this an interesting season to handicap.

Results

F1: Spanish Grand Prix Results

Jenson Button has gotten off to an amazing start in 2009 by winning four of the first five events on the Formula 1 calendar, but the Spanish Grand Prix was a study in domination for the entire team. This week, Button led teammate Rubens Barrichello to the line. Team orders may have come into play, but either way, both drivers earned maximum points.

Finish	Start	Driver	Laps	Status
1	1	Jenson Button	66	Running
2	3	Rubens Barrichello	66	Running
3	5	Mark Webber	66	Running
4	2	Sebastian Vettel	66	Running
5	8	Fernando Alonso	66	Running
6	4	Felipe Massa	66	Running
7	13	Nick Heidfeld	66	Running
8	9	Nico Rosberg	66	Running
9	14	Lewis Hamilton	65	Running
10	6	Timo Glock	65	Running
11	10	Robert Kubica	65	Running
12	12	Nelson Piquet Jr	65	Running
13	11	Kazuki Nakajima	65	Running
14	20	Giancarlo Fisichella	65	Running
15	16	Kimi Raikkonen	17	Hydraulics
16	18	Heikki Kovalainen	7	Gear Box
17	7	Jarno Trulli	0	Accident
18	15	Sebastian Buemi	0	Accident
19	17	Sebastian Bourdais	0	Accident
20	19	Adrian Sutil	0	Accident