Grand Prix 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Typical F1.
You wait months for a race and then 2 come along in the space of a few weeks.

This weekend will see the 13th race at the Sepang circuit; will it be unlucky for some?
For a most excellent circuit write-up, see Galahad's musings here, along with enough stat's and data to satisfy the most ardent of nerds: Sepang International Circuit

2009 is remembered for the later start and torrential rain which resulted in the race being red flagged after 33 laps; making it only the fifth race in F1 history to be stopped before 75% of the distance had been completed.

Ferrari and McLaren will no doubt be aiming to make it into Q2 after their amateurish mistakes last year.
With rain forecast for the weekend though, the chances of one or more of the top drivers making a mistake is fairly high.

This race is probably make or break for HRT.
If they don't manage to qualify within 107% of the fastest time in Q1 and are once again stopped from participating in the Grand Prix, then you have to assume it's all over for them.

So, lots to look forward to. Let's hope it's not a Red Bull walkover and qualifying is a lot closer than Australia.

 

[Galahad]

Terrible decision, and a clear example, just when it was needed, of why the stewards cannot simply apply the letter of the law in all circumstances.

Fate had conspired to punish them both anyway, simply remind them of their responsibilities and get on with it.

 

[johnnoble1990]

Not sure I understood that comment. What worked fine? If you are saying that there was little weaving and chopping then you are right, but it wasn't through any great self-control on the part of the drivers. It was just the culture; a hang on from the Corinthian ideals of the early days. Senna started to change that, and when Schumi started to try and actively drive his competitors off the road at every opportunity then the rest had to follow. This widespread lack of sportsmanship forced the FIA to legislate against it.

Chopping across your opponent isn't great driving, it is a cheap move made by poor drivers to force your opponent to back off. That Lewis and Seb still feel that they need to employ it says a lot more about their characters than is flattering for either of them. A skillful driver should only need one move to keep an equally-paced opponent back. Nick H. showed how it should be done when he was challenged by Webber. Personally, I'm glad Lewis was penalised. I love his car control, but I hate his judgement. It just isn't on.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b010gd75/Formula_1_2011_The_Malaysian_Grand_Prix/ The incident is 2 hours 20 minutes and 30 seconds in.

I don't think the things you are talking about apply here. He wasn't being dangerous, He was just trying to avoid Alonso getting a good slipstream on him. He committed to a line way before the braking zone. Lewis is probably the best defender in formula 1.

 

[teabagyokel]

Emanuele Pirro was driver steward a top + really sensible man. They have much more data and footage than we do, they obviously saw something

In the interests of maintaining context...

 

[Hamberg]

Seriously though, with DRS and KERS how are they meant to race now if slight direction changes are penalised?

Looks like Brundle is on the same page here

"Tyre degradation + KERS + DRS meets 'one move allowed to defend' rule Inevitable controversy and anger to follow season long."

 

[Pyrope]

I don't think the things you are talking about apply here. He wasn't being dangerous, He was just trying to avoid Alonso getting a good slipstream on him. He committed to a line way before the braking zone. Lewis is probably the best defender in formula 1.

I watched that a few times before I made my mind up. He was definitely jinking back and forth, and actually only committed to a braking line at the instant before he hit the pedal.

 

[KekeTheKing]

The reason Hamilton was punished was that he served his warning for his ridiculous weaving in front of Petrov at last year's Malaysian Grand Prix. In other words, he had been warned and he reoffended..

This is as good an explanation as any. And there is one man that served as "Steward" last year and this. Garry Connelly is his name, an Australian former Rally Driver.

The other stewards today were Enzo Spano, Allen Oh, and of course Emanuele Pirro. Well done gentlemen!

 

[Incubus]

It does make you concerned doesn't it?
The stewards have clearly received directives to come down heavily on the one-move-to-defent rule/
Problem is, when you tighten the appication of a rule to such ridiculous extent you increase the probability decisions will turn out inconsistantly applied.
It doesn't bode well for the rest of the season. Will drivers be made to feel as though they should be afraid of engaging in exciting racing? Is that the result they (at the FIA) were looking for?

Laughable decisions all-round.

 

[Hamberg]

I know we've said Alonso was effectively punished with losing his front wing therefore shouldn't have had another. Then we have "I think he got a bit too close, and, when he pulled out, he just clipped me with his wing and broke my car's rear floor. I don't how much downforce that lost me."

So actually Hamilton was suffering more than we first thought - could this be a reason he was unable to last to the end of the race on his tyres given he couldn't get the optimum grip from the tyres? I think he was dropping off a bit before that mind.

 

[Hamberg]

In the interests of maintaining context...

I think it was wise given that he had to say something like that rather than being seen to question the Stewards don't you think?

 

[Galahad]

Will drivers be made to feel as though they should be afraid of engaging in exciting racing? Is that the result they (at the FIA) were looking for?

Precisely. Argh!!!

 

[teabagyokel]

I think it was wise given that he had to say something like that rather than being seen to question the Stewards don't you think?

I think it is wise for cliptheapex.com to avoid allegations that we've misquoted Martin Brundle as well! Someone took issue with former England Rugby #2 Brian Moore once...

That article was from my Comic Sans days, which I apologise unreservedly for!

 

[johnnoble1990]

I watched that a few times before I made my mind up. He was definitely jinking back and forth, and actually only committed to a braking line at the instant before he hit the pedal.

Hmm...okay. We shall agree to disagree.

 

[Incubus]

Maybe we go back to the actual wording of the rules. They are so vague and saelf-contradicting sometimes, and will always leave room for interpretation, and that means stewards' decisions are always likely to be inconsistant.

How exactly do you define moving across" or weaving anyway? Do you have to move across the entire width of the track? Halfway through? Is moving the car across by just a few inches to defend (while leaving the other car enough room) now considered "weaving"? It's always been part of the game hasn't it?

And what exactly constitutes an "avoidable collision"? Technically they all are anyway aren't they?

 

[Hamberg]

Talking of over the top penalties and inconsistencies in them.

What is the standard penalty for speeding in the pit lane during a race?

Buemi was given a stop/go penalty. I've not seen one of those for ages! To put it into context he was clocked at 120.6km/h

 

[Speshal]

What a load of hairy ballsweat - That's all I have to add on the matter.

 

[MCLS]

Rather eloquent term, but highly accurate.

 

[teabagyokel]

From Martin Brundle on Twitter:

Ferrari + Alonso raised the Hamilton blocking issue and subsequent penalty post race which is why we didn't hear about it before the flag.

Of course they did!

 

[tranquility2k9]

Typical Alonso and Ferrari - they have shown before that they don't care about what is good for the fans and for racing. If they had any sense, they'd of not bothered going to the stewards about that incident and it might come back to haunt them, when Alonso is a sitting duck at later races.

 

[Brogan]

From Martin Brundle on Twitter:
Of course they did!

I said as much yesterday.
The stewards only investigate if asked to, unless there is a message from Race Control stating that they are already looking at it.

Which begs the question, why didn't McLaren ask them to investigate Vettel?

 

[snowy]

Lewis's lack lustre third stint is still a bit of a mystery but some light has been shed on the matter. Whereas Jenson had two sets of soft tyres to use for the race, Lewis had only one. Having damaged his other set in qualifying.

Having pushed hard in an attempt to overtake Nick Heidfeld in his first stint he had to pit early. his attempt to close the gap to Sebastian in his second stint this time on prime tyres resulted in an another early pit stop. Lewis was unable to protect his second set of prime tyres in the early phase of the stint because Mark Webber was right behind him, then Fernando. The tyres went off too quickly necessitating another pit stop, which Lewis requested and the team eventually conceded.

I would love a transcript of the McLaren radio just to find out exactly how many laps Lewis took to convince his team that he needed another pit stop.