Grand Prix 2014 Malaysian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

So, after the thrills and (mainly) spills that was Australia, we move onto the greenhouse that is Malaysia for the second round of the championship. Situated just outside of the capital Kuala Lumpur, the Sepang International Circuit is fast, flowing, has numerous overtaking opportunities and is a real test for the driver, partly down to the inevitable and often oppressive heat and humidity. With the new regulations for this year, expect numerous driver errors and for the cars to be placed under immense mechanical pressure.

The Sepang circuit is the first of the Tilke circuits and the GP's inaugural year in 1999 paved the way for the Asian expansion of Formula 1, with races in China, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi, Singapore, Korea and India added to the calendar in recent years - although the last two have since departed from the travelling circus that is F1.

When one thinks of Malaysia, rain is one of the fist thoughts that occur. The race has been affected numerous times, most notably in 2001, 2009 (the race was unable to be finished, so half-points were awarded), qualifying in 2010 (two Ferraris and two McLarens at the back of the grid) and in 2012. With the high heat & humidity threatening to spark off rain showers any time, expect rain to play a big part in the weekend.

As for the pecking order, it is mainly unclear apart from the fact that Mercedes are miles in front of anyone else, and those with a Mercedes engine are all doing reasonably well. However, it is McLaren leading the constructors championship after a 3rd and 4th in Melbourne. Whilst it may not seem significant now, the points accrued in the early races may be pivotal in the championship as after all, every race is worth the same (oh wait, that's not right).

For some stupid reason, we now have to wait for two weeks before the race weekend, so there's plenty of time for discussion, dissection and disagreement.

So..... Ready, Steady, Discuss!!!

 

[Lew_beauty]

Ricciardo has inherited Webber's bad luck.

 

[Wombcat]

Wombcat there is a vast difference between asking a driver to hold station around lap 20 and telling a driver to move over in the final 5 laps, but it is a legitimate point that Williams had imposed team orders on Bottas too.

Not so much different. If you're telling him around lap 20 you withhold him a chance to gain trackposition. Trackposition is key.

Racing isn't an individual sport, it's a teamsport. Drivers should do what is in the best interest of the team. Massa made no impression on Button, Bottas may have.
On the other hand, Bottas should have been alongside Massa quicker.

 

[Lew_beauty]

I'd argue it is much different personally. In one situation a driver is handing another a definite position in the race, the other is denying a driver a chance to gain track position with 2/3rds of the race left.

 

[mjo]

Lew_beauty I genuinely meant to say 'probably' in the first part of the quoted post.

 

[no-FIAt-please]

Hamilton almost had his first Grand Chelem, only Hulkenberg on a 2 stop strategy spoiled it. One has to wonder how Australia might have panned out if Hamilton had a healthy engine.

 

[Wombcat]

Lew_beauty Yeah, but if they hadn´t told him that in the first place, it might very well be that he´d have passed Massa. So you can't really see the one without the other.

 

[Lew_beauty]

mjo no worries. If you change that for "possibly" then I'd agree with you, but you may be right, we are both just speculating. Ultimately, I think Massa did what was right for him, wrong for the team but was the correct result. I think Massa beat Bottas.

 

[Lew_beauty]

Wombcat I did say you made a good point in that regard, but I still maintain that they a very different situations. We've seen in the past too how damaging it can be in the wider scheme of things for drivers to move over for team mates.

You are also right that Bottas may have beaten Massa had the previous team orders not been adhered too, but again that is something we can't say for certain, but I doubt he would've got passed Massa myself. Again, I think there is this view of Bottas being quick, that I don't agree with. He probably edges Massa, but not by that much. In fact this will be one of the exciting battles for the season.

 

[teabagyokel]

no-FIAt-please - I don't think Hulk quite lead a lap, so I think it is a GC for Hamilton.

 

[Lew_beauty]

Good point teabagyokel.

 

[downforce]

Not a very exciting race but enjoyed Hamilton just being awesome!

 

[Lew_beauty]

There were a few questions people were asking at the start of the season over whether Lewis could handle the new Formula because you can't push flat out due to fuel saving, but it is an over-simplification that Lewis is only good when we are flat out. I think Lewis' problem is actually that he is a little bit too aggressive in style for the tyres and when there is a big drop off he pays a penalty. But fuel saving is a different issue. You have to lift, coast and then can brake later than you usually would. We don't have enough information to know whether that is something that will suit Lewis, but we did get that data for the first time in this race and Lewis was faster whilst using less fuel. More factors were at play, but maybe the fact that Lewis pulled such a large gap to Nico is an ominous sign for races this year.

 

[Lew_beauty]

downforce I thought it was a good race, but then again that may have just being Lewis being awesome, as you said. It's actually been a while since we've seen that from Lewis, for a variety of reasons.

 

[Lew_beauty]

The fuel used graphic was very interesting. I'm not sure what conclusions can be reached though as I don't know what 100% represents. If 100% represents 100kg no matter what teams put in then I reckon Williams must be fuelling their car less as their stats seemed a bit anomalous. If it represents what the teams have in the tank, then that's more interesting because you can see both who is over using fuel, but also under using fuel. There will be an optimal fuel usage. Where it was saying Williams were at 45% at half way, then that'd be a poor fuel strategy because that just means they are now carrying 5% more fuel than they have to. Obviously it then means they can push more, but it is not optimal to have your car heavier than it needs to be at that stage of the race.

 

[Hamberg]

Ricciardo has a ten place grid penalty at Bahrain for unsafe release

 

[teabagyokel]

Crikey!

 

[Lew_beauty]

Double punishment? They gave him a 10 second stop and go in the race. That's ridiculous. I thought the point of the stop and gos was to punish drivers during the race the incident happened in. It's a triple punishment. He lost 4th by having to stop and be pushed back, then he got the penalty, now he has a further penalty? Talk about kicking a guy why he is down.

 

[Lew_beauty]

I guess the next question will be, when is the court case?

 

[no-FIAt-please]

teabagyokel Did Hulkenberg not lead a lap over the line? It's hard to believe that it's taken Hamilton 23 victories to secure a Grand Chelem (assuming Hulkenberg didn't lead). So much so that it seems to have gone almost completely unnoticed, a very un-Hamilton-like victory today.

 

[F1Yorkshire]

Someone pointed out in chat that a loose wheel in the pits could kill someone. Harsh punishments but better than the alternative. The teams will have to make double sure cars are safe to be released.