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.

 

[teabagyokel]

Its a sporting regulation; which acts as a law in these discussions.

Essentially, sporting regulations are a subset of laws applicable to the event.

 

[Incubus]

Quite, but what's the alternative, more stewards? Not that there would be anything with that but in my opinion all these incidents go back to and the same problem: the actual wording of rules. i don't think they're doing a very good job on that all. Some of them just leave so much room for interpretation to begin with... how exactly do you define "an avoidable collision"? Technically they all are aren't they? So are "racing incidents"...
And how do you consider what "weaving" consist of, going across the width of the track? Halfway through? A few inches? Is defending your position (while leaving the other car just enough room) by going a couple of inches left and right now considered "weaving"?

Far too much room for interpretation here, and we will carry on having there debates until the wording ofrules is clarified/ Shouldn't be such a difficult thing but they just never seem to get it right do they?

 

[Galahad]

OK, here's a table looking at the average number of laps completed in a stint by each car, split by tyre compound. The data refers to Sepang only - thanks to snowy for the numbers.

I've tried to exclude stints where there has been an unscheduled stop to change tyres, and where cars have failed to complete stints due to retirement.

Obviously the intention is to give an indication of relative tyre usage, but this is very much confounded by strategy, hence the three teams who employed four-stop strategies for their drivers (Red Bull, McLaren, Ferrari) show the shortest stint averages overall. Since we can't be sure why those strategies were selected, it is a valid position to say that this doesn't tell us very much. I'm not sure how helpful it is myself...

The number in brackets gives the number of valid race stints that the average is based on.

Red Bull	12.2 (6)	13.0 (3)
McLaren	12.4 (5)	15.3 (3)
Ferrari	13.2 (6)	16.5 (2)
Renault	13.2 (5)	15.3 (3)
Williams	14.0 (1)	No data
Force India	14.6 (5)	17.5 (2)
Mercedes	14.7 (6)	14.5 (2)
Sauber	16.0 (3)	23.0 (1)
Lotus	16.3 (6)	21.0 (1)
Toro Rosso	16.5 (4)	23.0 (2)
Virgin	17.3 (4)	20.0 (1)
HRT	18.0 (2)	No data

[td]Team[/td][td]Soft stint length (sample)[/td][td]Hard stint length (sample)[/td]

 

[teabagyokel]

I think it'd be better to look at the longest stints and see where everyone hit the cliff!

 

[Brogan]

Shouldn't be such a difficult thing but they just never seem to get it right do they?

I expect that's intentional

After all, what else would we have to moan about otherwise http://cliptheapex.com/threads/interpreting-fia-rules-and-the-consistent-application-of-them.2344/

 

[Incubus]

I think it'd be better to look at the longest stints and see where everyone hit the cliff!

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Yes. Please Galahad, can we have a full telemetric data of each car's tyre temperature on all four wheels for every lap of the Grand Prix please?

 

[Galahad]

I think it'd be better to look at the longest stints and see where everyone hit the cliff!

I think you're right!

Red Bull	16 (VET - 3rd/4)	15 (VET - 4th/4)
McLaren	15 (BUT - 3rd/4)	18 (BUT - 4th/4)
Ferrari	15 (ALO - 3rd/5)	18 (MAS - 4th/4)
Renault	15 (PET - 1st/4)	17 (HEI/PET - 4th/4 / 3rd/4)
Williams	14 (BAR - 2nd/3)	No data
Force India	23 (SUT - 4th/4)	19 (DIR - 4th/4)
Mercedes	15 (ROS - 1st/4)	15 (ROS - 4th/4)
Sauber	19 (KOB - 2nd/3)	20 (KOB - 3rd/3)
Lotus	19 (KOV - 2nd/3)	21 (KOV - 3rd/3)
Toro Rosso	17 (BUE - 2nd/3)	23 (BUE/ALG - 3rd/3)
Virgin	18 (DAM - 2nd/3)	20 (GLO - 3rd/3)
HRT	19 (LIU - 2nd/4)	No data

[td]Team[/td][td]Soft[/td][td]Hard[/td]

 

[Incubus]

I expect that's intentional

After all, what else would we have to moan about otherwise http://cliptheapex.com/threads/interpreting-fia-rules-and-the-consistent-application-of-them.2344/

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Oh right. That's the thing about a site so exhaustive as this though innit? I only rejoined a few weeks ago but whenever I mention something it's likely to have been addressed before. Takes a while to get to grips with all the different stuff on here.

 

[Brogan]

No worries, there are only 40,000 posts to catch up on

 

[Incubus]

No worries, there are only 40,000 posts to catch up on

----------------

Oh OK. Phew...I thought it was going to take me a long time.

 

[Hamberg]

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.

Was it this? The difference between having a right to do something and doing the right thing? It's not often something still makes me mad this many days on but I cannot fathom why this made it to the stewards post race other than Ferrari complaining because they were called to the stewards. If McLaren complained then fair enough - I wouldn't agree with that either, but there is no evidence to suggest they did.

I agree that this is a gross mis application of the rules. It was down to what I can only conclude to be vindictiveness from Ferrari and that is no way to apply the rules. As soon as a team abuses it's position (which I think until shown otherwise Ferrari have done) the FIA need to review their method for triggering investigations.

 

[sobriety]

Possibly, the teams should be banned from complaining to the stewards about driving infringements after the race. The stewards can investigate if they deem it fit, but not if a team complains. It'd be a simple rule to write.

 

[teabagyokel]

As soon as a team abuses it's position (which I think until shown otherwise Ferrari have done) the FIA need to review their method for triggering investigations.

I think Ferrari have written the book on abusing position!

 

[Jen]

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.

I knew I had seen some mention of when Ferrari raised the matter of Hamilton's weaving.

I suspect that most here will shoot me down in flames - but have you ever considered the possibility that Alonso was merely explaining and/or defending his shunt - Lewis was weaving and in those circumstances it is not always easy to gauge exactly where he will go next - hence the possibility that the weaving created the impact.

Alonso knew before the end of the broadcast that he had been asked to see the Stewards and, I would like to believe that there was no ill-intent, just explanation.

 

[Brogan]

I would like to believe that there was no ill-intent

Sorry, but his actions at McLaren when he attempted to blackmail the team lead me to believe otherwise.

Anyway, this is off topic for the thread - let's look forward to China