Grand Prix 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Well round 3 is now upon us as the second part of a double header with Australia. Rain in Sepang will be a mixed blessing as we will all be hoping for less than last year but enough to perhaps once again shake up the order.

For the first practice session Force India will once again be running Paul Di Resta and it will be Liuzzi's turn to give up his car for the session. The British driver impressed a lot of people with his initial runs in Australia finishing 11th on the time sheets at the end of his session and will be getting further valuable experience behind the wheel of an F1 car. Di Resta has been associated with Mercedes through Mclaren so it will be inresting to see how this relationship will develop. Lotus will be running their Malaysian test driver, Fairuz Fauzy, in first practice which makes a lot of sense for the Malay backed team. Fauzy was quite impressive in winter testing and despite problems with the car posted times that were not far off those of his more experienced team mates.

For the front runners, Red Bull be hoping to turn pace into finishes, Button has claimed this track will not suit Mclaren, Ferrari will look to build on a strong start and Mercedes will be desperate not to let those three teams start to build up a points lead.

In the midfield there is a real battle developing between Force India and Williams for lead of the chasing pack. Both teams have looked strong so far this season and will be hoping they can get both of their cars to cross the finish line.

Towards the back of the field Kobyashi will be praying his car stays in one piece and that he can get the chance to show some of the speed that impressed so many people just a few months ago, as the Saubers and the Torro Rosso cars battle not to be the first team caught and passed by one of the newbies.

And right back in the cheep seats, Lotus will be hoping that the troubles that plagued Jarno Trulli in Australia have now been fixed and that both cars will make the start this time. Virgins problems have been well documented and after HRT managed to get one of their cars home and safe they will once again be looking to build on that.

If the weather is poor and the race is one of high attrition it's not out of the question that one of the new teams could score a point this weekend.

Let's just hope we get to see the whole race this year.

 

[Speshal]

Re: 2010 Malaysian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

I enjoyed that

A shower would have spiced things up towards the end and (gritted teeth) Fernando did well without a clutch for the whole race.

Snowy - if you ever type "gotten" again I'll be round with my pinking shears.

 

[Brogan]

Re: 2010 Malaysian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

It looks like Vettel was lucky to escape a penalty for overtaking under yellow flags.

Having received a report from the Race Director that Car 5 Sebastian Vettel overtook Car 18 Jarno Trulli whilst yellow flags were displayed at the approach to Turn 4, the Stewards, having viewed video and telemetry evidence and heard evidence from the Driver and Team Representative, find that the Driver did breach Article 2.4.5.1 b) of Appendix H of the International Sporting Code.

However, the Stewards, having noted that the Driver made a very large reduction in speed through the yellow flag area and that he understood that Car 18 was slowing with an obvious problem, DECIDE in accordance with Article 16.2 a) of the Formula One Sporting Regulations to impose no penalty.

http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/f1_media/Documents/mal-document-40.pdf

 

[snowy]

Re: 2010 Malaysian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Snowy - if you ever type "gotten" again I'll be round with my pinking shears.

Since I am dyslexic I do a pretty good job. Of course you meant to type "gotton instead of gotten" and indeed I wish I had written gotten...

PS: Your next typo will be your last!

 

[Matthew Little]

Re: 2010 Malaysian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

This was a pretty good race, all things considered............
~~~Red Bull finally proved they can make it to the end of the race; congrats to Sebby V. on winning at Sepang!
~~~Both McLaren and Ferrari did well considering the performance of both teams in qualfying(although it was sad seeing Ferrari's Mosquito Abatement Squadron rear its' ugly head at the end of the race........ )
~~~For once the rain didn't enter into the equation in Sepang(not that it wouldn't have added any more intrigue to the weekend...........there was plenty of that from qualifying!.....) and we got to see what the effects of a mixed-up race grid can do to the overall complexion of the race itself.


Anyway, it was a pretty good race and onward to Shanghai!

 

[Brogan]

Re: 2010 Malaysian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Martin Whitmarsh finally gets it:

"McLaren and Ferrari were guilty of looking at each other as the rain started to fall, instead of concentrating on beating the weaker cars. Whitmarsh said: "Do I feel frustrated by the outcome? Of course. We have learned lessons. The primary one is that in Q1 [the first qualifying session] we are not racing Ferrari, the other big boys. We just need to get through to Q2 and cover the slow cars in those changeable conditions."

With three poor teams among the 12, Hamilton and Button merely have to beat six cars, plus one another, to avoid being among the seven cars that are eliminated before the third qualifying round."

I made the exact same point.
Q1 is largely irrelevant to Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull as it's almost inevitable that the 7 cars going out will be HRT, Lotus, Virgin + 1 other.

 

[Muddytalker]

Re: 2010 Malaysian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

To be honest, I was left slightly underwhelmed after that race.
I watched the first 10 laps or so, then had to go out for the day so recorded and watched later.

Maybe it was
a) Expectations raised after Melbourne
b) Disappointment that the rain didn't appear
c) Having already seen most of the action earlier in the day, the anticipation wasn't matched for the remaining 48 laps.

Or all of the above - I still felt the top order was static, and the race win was settled at the first corner, and the overtaking thread shows that most overtakes were due to cars being unnaturally out of position, but I will concede that it might just be my own expectations, and if others thought it was a good race then so be it. There were elements such as Jenson's early stop v Alonso holding out for rain that added intrigue, and Lewis as ever raced well, and I enjoyed Petrov putting up a fight. When you have Ferraris and McLarens not just battling but overtaking each other, then I can't really complain, so I'll give this one the benefit of the doubt.

In terms of 'improved action from years gone by', I'd say the season so far is -1 (Bahrain), +1 (Australia) and neutral (Malaysia).

 

[cider_and_toast]

Re: 2010 Malaysian GP Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

That's the rub with Sepang this year. The fact is that the race was made more interesting by so many cars being out of position at the start. The chances are that it would have been more Bahrain and less Australia if it hadn't have been for Mclaren and Ferrari get their just deserts for the ultimate F1 "hare and the tortoise fable".

If China stays dry for the whole weekend then expect to see the status quo well and truly return. Once that happens the calls for change from all quarters will once again be heard from all corners of the sport.