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]

What a pleasant surprise in qualifying.

 

[MCLS]

What is suprising is how Ferrari and McLaren have swapped places in terms of pace from pre season testing and Australia/Malaysia pace.

 

[Hamberg]

Galahad I can't tell if that's sarcasm or not?

 

[teabagyokel]

Hamberg, I doubt it. We feared a bluewash. All of us!

 

[Hamberg]

Oh good I was hoping that was the case.

 

[Galahad]

Oh no, quite genuine I can assure you. I'm not too bothered whether Vettel or Hamilton ends up as champion (or Alonso for that matter) but I want them to have to fight for it!

 

[Enja]

Two tidbits from Adam Cooper (who has, regrettably, blocked me from actively following his twitter account)

http://formula-one.speedtv.com/article/cooper-malaysia-will-be-fascinating

“When you activate the rear wing and the flap goes up effectively the air flow stalls, it separates off the wing,” he said. “When the flap comes back, then the flow reattaches. We’re having some situations where the flap comes back and he flow doesn’t attach immediately – it takes a bit of time before the flow reattaches. We’ve made some modifications since Melbourne, and it looked OK in practice, and it seemed to come back again during qualifying.

“In Michael’s case in his qualifying lap there were several corners where the flow was unstable, and it happened in Nico’s case as well. Obviously in the qualifying mode you’re operating the RFA at many points on the track, and in the race you’re only operating it in one place on the straight. It’s aggravated when we get into qualifying because when you’re operating it in lots of places on the track in certain conditions we seem to have this separation.

He goes into quite some further detail.

Secondly, on his twitter account Cooper says that some of the grid slots were cleaned up a bit.

 

[MCLS]

Are there any support races before the race on Sunday?

 

[Enja]

Just the one - Malaysian Super Series. I'm guessing it's the cars and not the bikes..

 

[MCLS]

Wonder how much that will affect the supposed marbles

 

[Pyrope]

Lewis could be in trouble tomorrow at the start.
The pole slot has been switched to the right due to marbles on the left side of the track.

Lewis and Jenson would be advised to stick a few quid in the pockets of a couple of Super Series and JK Racing drivers to run down that side of the grid during their races...

 

[MCLS]

JK Racing drivers

I didn't know HRT were driving in support races tommorow?

 

[Cookinflatsix]

This is the closest Lewis has been to Seb in quali for a long time, I expect a real testing time for Vettel if the start throws up no upsets

Lewis with kers and drs and better racecraft stalking Seb through 3 pitstops and maybe rain

I also wonder if Webber will be more concerned with chasing Lewis or defending from Jenson

 

[MCLS]

I also wonder if Webber will be more concerned with chasing Lewis or defending from Jenson

The first lap will decide that

 

[Incubus]

Well done again Vettel..

Excellent showing from Button.

Hamilton and Alonso: "We touch each other"..

Brilliant from Heidfeld.

And good night.

 

[Brogan]

Check out this tweet from Ferrari http://twitter.com/#!/InsideFerrari/status/57015686081413120

WE deserved the podium with Fernando....

How arrogant can you get? Err no, you didn't deserve a podium and Massa beat him anyway.

Overall a great race.
Shame that no-one was able to challenge for the lead so once again it was a comfortable lights to flag victory for Vettel.

Hamilton really didn't like the hard tyres, and getting nerfed by Alonso didn't help much.

Renault are fast looking like the team most likely to challenge for 2nd.

 

[Hamberg]

Is more than one change of direction to defend your position allowed at the start?

 

[tooncheese]

Great race, we finally see the DRS working well, but not making overtaking too easy. Hamilton-Schumacher-Buemi lying astearn and not even in the DRS zone. Cars overtaking all over the track defiantly not made drivers think they can only pass in one place.

 

[snowy]

Exciting race, with some great overtakes outside of the DRS zone. It was rather unfortunate that Lewis's team didn't clock that the 3rd set of tyres were 3 seconds off the pace from the moment they put them on. In Lewis's final stint he was setting quickest laps on another set of primes, so there wasn't anything wrong with the car after the fracas with Fernando.

 

[Brogan]

In Lewis's final stint he was setting quickest laps, so there wasn't anything wrong with the car after the fracas with Fernando.

Makes you wonder why they spend millions on aero and design then if it was just as quick with borked bodywork