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.

 

[FB]

D'Ambrosio had a strange reason for retirement

Jérôme was running in 18th position until he hit a kerb hard, which produced a large vertical G force that toggled the power switch and turned the car off, bringing him to a halt in turn 9 with 12 laps to go

as did Perez

Something came off Sébastien Buemi’s car, which was just in front of me, and hit the floor of my car. The fire extinguisher went off and the electrics cut out. It was a shame I couldn’t finish the race as the car felt good.

Whilst at HRT Karthekiyan turned the engine off as it was running hot and Liuzzi retired with a damaged rear wing. How he got it the HRT website doesn't say.

 

[MCLS]

Didnt Montoya do something similar at Melbourne in 2006?

 

[teabagyokel]

Apparently he did. JPM had a crazy start to 2006 then buggered off to NASCAR!

 

[Incubus]

I don't know if it's been discussed already, apologies if so, but the starts of the two Renault cars were pretty stunning. Harks back to their championship years when they had the best traction control...not that I'm accusing them of anything, but they seem to have the best grasp on getting traction away from the grid.

Could be a really important factor this season if the black and gold cars are consistently up amongst the frontrunners in the early stages of races. Overall I think qualifying is much less important this season than previously, due to the tyres, but you certainly want to be out of reach of the Renaults, don't you?

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Another contributory factor might be the Renault engine's notoriously lower fuel consumption compared to that of its rivals. It may well allow the teams with Renault power to get away with putting less fuel in the car, and therefore less weight. Something that would definitely help with the starts, if true.

 

[sportsman]

http://www.racecar-engineering.com/news/renault-blown-floor-uses-10-more-fuel/ Renault Sport F1 has revealed that during the Australian Grand Prix Red Bull and Renault used 10% more fuel than normal. The blown floors prevalent in the field this year mean that engine and exhaust management is even more crucial than in previous seasons. To power a blown floor effectively and generate additional downforce, an engine must produce significant amounts of exhaust gas. Simply put, the more fuel burned, the more exhaust is produced and potentially more downforce. “Since the RS27’s fuel consumption rate is extremely good, the Renault-equipped teams were able to burn 10% more fuel than normal during the Australian Grand Prix without running out of fuel, therefore giving more exhaust flow to its partners using the blown diffuser” a Renault release revealed.
The Ferrari 056 is thought to have the highest fuel consumption in Formula 1.

 

[Incubus]

Well, there you go...

 

[Brogan]

Get this...

...and criticised FIA officials' decision last Sunday to penalise Alonso and Lewis Hamilton after a duel at Sepang.
"Let's not overreact, it was a great fight between them," said Montezemolo.

Correct me if if I'm wrong, but wasn't it Ferrari who complained to the stewards with the intention of getting Hamilton penalised?

http://www.f1sa.com/index.php?optio...er-but-no-job-for-massa&catid=1:f1&Itemid=157

 

[Incubus]

If they did complain (and we have no evidence of that other than Coulthard and Brundle thinking they did) about Hamilton or held Massa in the pits (stuck wheels in the pits aren't exactly a rarity are they?) then they were perfectly entitled to do both.
every teams has in the past complained about on-track incident at one point or the other so I don't see why Ferrari should be looked upon any differently.
Joe Sawards in his blog went against the wind in his blog and seemed to imply both penalties were deserved. accordig to him charlie Whiting when first looking at the incidents thought neither deserved punishment. But we know he had another look again after "second evidence (i.e brought about by third parties outside of the stewards' committee) and both penalties were upheld.
In other words Ferrari are likely to have complained... and so did McLaren. (Alonso was penalised too in case anybody had forgotten).
Personally I thought both were just racing incidents but we have to remember we didn't see everything and there is only one screen at a time.
Team orders are perfectly legal these days so we are ghonna see a lot more of it whenever a driver has a faster team-mate behind him with a better chance of scoring his points/ All teamds want as many points as possible, that's the aim of the game. And anyway I didn't see any evidence of team orders at Ferrari for this race because FA finished in the toe of Massa, and there would have been plenty of scope to switch positions there and then.
Finally we should remember that Hamilton did accept his penalty because he himself said he had switched sides on the track more than once.

 

[Brogan]

Ferrari and Alonso raised it when they were called to the stewards for Alonso colliding with Hamilton.
Call it petty vindictiveness if you like...

There is no evidence to suggest McLaren reported Vettel for weaving or for the Alonso incident.

 

[Incubus]

Well McLaren should have complained about the Vettel weaving incident shouldn't they? It's nothing to do with sportsmanship or the lack of it. Every team can complain when they are consider themselves unfairly hampered, same for everyone.
Whether they have a point or not that's for the stewards to decide, not the teams.
Maybe McLaren didn't complain about Vettel's weaving because they were mindful that Hamilton at last year's trace got away with what was as clear a case of weaving as you're likely to see?
Or maybe they were too busy complaining about Red Bull's front win for the better part of the year?

 

[Brogan]

Well McLaren should have complained about the Vettel weaving incident shouldn't they?

Someone else on here already said it better than I could - just because you can do something, doesn't make it the right thing to do.

Maybe McLaren didn't complain about Vettel's weaving because they were mindful that Hamilton at last year's trace got away with what was as clear a case of weaving as you're likely to see?

Which wasn't against the rules at the time, otherwise he would have been penalised for it.

 

[FB]

Danger here is F1 becomes like Scalextric rather than TCR (who remembers that?). Although with the racing line being so clearly defined between the piles of rubber at the edge of the circuit is there any need to weave about? Personally I don't think Alonso or Hamilton deserved any form of penalty, Fernando got his as he had to pit for a new nose cone and Lewis as the floor was damaged in his car. What advantage did either driver gain from their actions?

 

[Incubus]

Someone else on here already said it better then I could - just because you can do something, doesn't make it the right thing to do.

Which wasn't against the rules at the time, otherwise he would have been penalised for it.

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It was, otherwise he wouldn't have received a warning...

 

[Brogan]

It's obvious we're not going to agree on this so I'll leave you to it
All this incident has done, along with some of their disgusting press releases, is firmly cement my opinion of Ferrari.

 

[Incubus]

A-ha, but that's the thing though. Even though one can be tempted not to (and I'd be the first to admit succumbing to the temptation), each and every incident has to be viewed completely separately, on its own merits, and totally devoid of any prejudice related to past instances.
Otherwise that's the end of any debate. Anybody can always say yeah, but what the time so-and-so did whatever etc,and there's never any end to it.

 

[Brogan]

each and every incident has to be viewed completely separately, on its own merits, and totally devoid of any prejudice related to past instances.

Yet it was you who raised the incident relating to Hamilton and Petrov at last year's Malaysian GP?

 

[Incubus]

i know, that's why I said I'm as guilty of it as anybody else! Of course we do that all the time, me as much as the next guy..
Doesn't make it right though.

 

[teabagyokel]

A-ha, but that's the thing though. Even though one can be tempted not to (and I'd be the first to admit succumbing to the temptation), each and every incident has to be viewed completely separately, on its own merits, and totally devoid of any prejudice related to past instances.

I'm afraid any legal system is precedent-based. Until the law changes, all enforcements of the same law have to be consistent.

 

[Incubus]

but this isn't a legal issue, it's a Grand Prix issue, and the two aren't related..

 

[Brogan]

True.

But rules are rules.
Aren't they?

I've said it many times before, and it's one of my biggest complaints with F1, the stewards only investigating blatant rule breaches after teams complain is a travesty.

They should be enforcing the rules at all times, not just when one team lodges a complaint.