The aftermath: Malaysia GP qualifying *spoiler*

[Andrea_Moda_Rules]

Pos  Driver       Team                       Q1        Q2        Q3      

 1.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:35.058  1:33.784  1:35.181

 2.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:34.745  1:33.990  1:35.273

 3.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:34.935  1:34.276  1:35.518

 4.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:34.681  1:34.387  1:35.651

 5.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:34.907  1:34.258  1:35.690

 6.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:35.083  1:34.547  1:35.750

 7.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:35.027  1:34.222  1:35.797

 8.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:35.166  1:34.562  1:36.106

 9.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:35.476  1:34.456  1:36.170

10.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:35.260  1:34.706  1:37.659

11.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:35.110  1:34.769

12.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:35.341  1:34.788

13.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:35.280  1:34.905

14.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:35.023  1:34.924

15.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:35.507  1:35.431

16.  Massa        Ferrari               (B)  1:35.642

17.  Piquet       Renault               (B)  1:35.708

18.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:35.908

19.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:35.951

20.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:36.107

*EDIT* p.s this doesn't include the penalties for barrichello and vettel

Well that was pretty intrestin who would of thought Massa would of been 16th. Looks very much like a damage limitation job for him. Button on Pole again not buy a lot though It looks a lot closer than i thought it would be this weekend thought Brawn would blow everyone away again. Ferrari all in all look not too good, Its gunna a tough season for them i think after looking a bit more competitive in Pre-Season.

what are your thoughts? any1 prepared to bet on a winner

 

[Amdathlonuk]

I don't think this is cut a dry for one minute.

Good that Button got pole again, however he still has to drive a faultless race to bring it home.

Also re-assuring to see the other teams closing the gap, it makes for a very interesting race indeed.

Obviously we'll have to wait till Wednesday for the official result....

 

[Brogan]

We need to see the fuel loads to see how Button and Trulli really stack up.

Trulli had to fight through the pack from 19th last week and still managed 3rd/4th/12th*.
Starting alongside Button he may well be able to win but we won't know until we see how heavy each car is.


*Take your pick

 

[Brogan]

And another thing...

Button and Trulli broke the lap record in Q2. So much for slowing the cars down
The current lap record is 1:34.223 set by Juan Pablo Montoya in 2004.

 

[teabagyokel]

TEABAG YOKEL'S TEAM BY TEAM REVIEW OF MALAYSIA QUALIFYING

McLaren looked slightly better than they did in Australia, and bearing in mind that they have KERS, and that rain is predicted, then they could be a surprise threat to the front. If it's wet I wouldn't want to bet against Hamilton for the win, I imagine points are a possibility anyway!

Ferrari were extremely daft in Q1 - they have to get used to being a midfield team! Massa will find it very difficult from 16th, although it seems to me that KERS will propel you forward in the race anyway. I'm surprised Raikkonen turned KERS off, he's clearly not comfortable with it and might therefore be vulnerable.

BMW Sauber are towards the sharp end again, and this time Heidfeld doesn't look too badly placed. Kubica, however, is different class and is clearly the closest to beating Brawn,Toyota & Red Bull.

Renault were disappointing. Alonso clearly was struggling with his ear infection and did well to make it to Q3 with a minimum number of laps. Nelsinho Piquet is on the fast road to contract termination.

Toyota looked good in the race in Australia, I think they're going to be the long-term challengers to Brawn this season and Jarno Trulli looked incredibly fast, particularly in Q2. Whether he got so close to Button because of fuel is unknown, but he did beat one Brawn. Glock is doing a solid, unspectacular job at the moment, as does his countryman Heidfeld.

Toro Rosso no longer have a world class driver, Gerhard Burger or significantly superior engines. Buemi lost this week, Bourdais must just be happy to get to Q2! Their main function is to get out of the way when Red Bull lap them.

Red Bull, meanwhile, have shown the world that diffusers aren't everything! Vettel is brilliant, its a pity he's down in 13th, but if its wet then he's likely to come through the field with Hamilton, if its dry he's likely to come through the field without Hamilton. Webber starts 5th, its his job to bring home the bacon!

Williams are much faster in practice than in competitive action, Rosberg is doing a decent job, Nakajima is an unneccessary attachment to the engines; I'm not suprised Toyota wanted Trulli and Glock instead.

Force India are exactly where they were last season; things aren't getting better - being McLaren II is far less good this year than last!

Brawn, obviously, look set to slug it out with Toyota all season, Barrichello was slightly dissappointing, however Button looks the class of the field, if it is dry the race win is his or Trulli's, and Jenson finally has the chance we all said he needed... I doubt he'll ever get a better opportunity!

 

[Brogan]

Nice summary Teabag

I think Ferrari are having problems with KERS and overcooling which is why they've turned it off.
I know in practice Kimi had to vacate the car fairly quickly due to some fumes that were emanating from it.

The fuel loads should be out soon so we'll know then exactly what's what.

 

[bogaTYR]

nice one TBY

however, i think that what we saw basically does not mean a lot as such. the sudden burst of speed of Button was surprising. as was the idea that macca seems to use these sessions as a kind of additional testing time. just to name but a few things.

more and more variables are coming into play in F1 right now and it seems that what we see in practice and quali can be only a few of these variables.

if it stays dry we could be in for an interesting race where we can see for the first time how the cars truly compare over a race distance with hopefully no SC. if it rains then it becomes a huge test for Brawn. they have so far not driven 1 inch in the wet. and, i am not a specialist, macca looked to be in wet mode. the car looked high up to me.

so macca could be gambling. and they could be lucky of it starts to rain at the right time. thats before race control allows the teams to adjust their cars to wet conditions.

 

[bogaTYR]

some goodies about tyres in sepang

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_ ... t_id=37460

 

[Brogan]

Here are the car weights and projected number of laps for the first stint, based on an average of 2.64kg of fuel per lap:

Grid	Driver			Weight	Laps

 1	Jenson Button		660.0	20

 2	Jarno Trulli		656.5	19

 3	Timo Glock		656.5	19

 4	Nico Rosberg		656.0	19

 5	Mark Webber		656.0	19

 6	Robert Kubica		663.0	21

 7	Kimi Raikkonen		662.5	21

 8	Rubens Barrichello	664.5	22

 9	Fernando Alonso		680.5	28

10	Nick Heidfeld		692.0	32

11	Kazuki Nakajima		683.4	29

12	Lewis Hamilton		688.0	31

13	Sebastian Vettel 	647.0	15

14	Heikki Kovalainen	688.9	31

15	Sebastien Bourdais	670.5	24

16	Felipe Massa		689.5	32

17	Nelson Piquet Jnr	681.9	29

18	Giancarlo Fisichella	680.5	28

19	Adrian Sutil		655.5	19

20	Sebastien Buemi		686.5	30

So that tells us that Trulli is slightly lighter than Button and therefore is still a couple of tenths off his pace.
Alonso being 20Kg heavier than the rest of the top 10 would explain the 1.5 seconds difference in qualifying time.

Strangely Glock and Trulli are on the same fuel load so I hope that doesn't cause problems in the pits tomorrow with one of the drivers having to queue.

Button has to be favourite again tomorrow.

 

[bogaTYR]

thanks bro!

heidfeld did pretty good in view of his weight. vettel was realy light, ready to be demoted so he'll have a quick first stint. sutil... disappointing. also surprised by the macca's.

 

[teabagyokel]

thanks bro!

heidfeld did pretty good in view of his weight. vettel was realy light, ready to be demoted so he'll have a quick first stint. sutil... disappointing. also surprised by the macca's.

Heidfeld wasn't in the top 10 shootout! What do the weights refer to for the other 10 drivers, is it the fuel they intend to start with. I also doubt Trulli & Glock will be queuing on lap 21 - maybe one of them will come in a lap early.

Yes, Button is favourite but it seems Toyota are closing the gap on Brawn compared with Australia, and we wouldn't watch races if Grand Prix were decided on Saturdays! (note Bernie, many don't in Valencia, Budapest, Monte Carlo... etc.).

It looks to me that McLaren and BMW(Heidfeld) are hoping for rain and a Safety Car, Massa is gambling (he doesn't ever hope for rain), and Vettel is the joker in the pack - he is very light in the first stint, and remember no-one knows how to advance after qualifying through Q2 better than Nick Heidfeld.

If Trulli can get past off the line it will be very interesting!

 

[Amdathlonuk]

Am I right in thinking that LH was only 2 tenths of the pace but has 11 laps more fuel?

That's interesting figures....

 

[Croydon Bob]

Trulli had to fight through the pack from 19th last week and still managed 3rd/4th/12th*.

*Take your pick

Depending on the diffuser appeal outcome it could still be 1st (Brawn car illegal but Toyota OK) or last!

 

[Brogan]

Am I right in thinking that LH was only 2 tenths of the pace but has 11 laps more fuel?

That's interesting figures....

No because Hamilton's time was set in Q2 so he never actually did a run with race fuel load.
Everyone usually runs very light in Q1 and Q2 as it's just a knockout phase so all you can do is compare the times from the same qualifying session and that would make Hamilton 1.1 seconds off the pace of Button.

 

[RickD]

I don't think anyone has mentiond that the Brawns saved a set of the soft tyres for the race by getting through on the harder tyres, that is how confident they are in the car.