Hamilton denied in Malaysia.

Hamilton was cocky about his chances but his lump blows early in Malaysia.

Hamilton, confident before
the race.

There is this mock religion whose main belief is in a "Luck Plane", which can tilt your way or not.  

The Luck Plane definitively tilted both for and against Lewis Hamilton in Malaysia.

"Someone does not want me to win"

Lewis' fans do not believe in luck of course.  Aided by an off the cuff comment by their idol, the fires of conspiracy have been stoked on the internet.   Because, after all,  it makes perfect sense Mercedes would diabolically arrange for Hamilton's engine to let go, insuring they would not clinch the constructor title in front of all their title sponsor's brass, at their home race.  

Makes perfect sense.

Thank god for engine failures,  frankly if engines were slightly less reliable we might have had a more exciting championship.    "Stuff happens" has a place in racing,  it should not be completely regulated out.

But the Luck Plane had been tilted in Hamilton's favor on lap one, Vettel managed to pull a Verstappen and spun Rosberg.   Vettel had the position but not the traction to make the low percentage move stick.

His error, no doubt.   Curiously, the FIA stewards decided to apply a different standard then they applied to Verstappen's almost identical incident in Spa: 3 grid spot penalty in Japan and 2 points on license for the German.

Ah FIA, don't ever change...

For all the online hate he receives, Rosberg drove a hell of a race, from last after turn one to an eventual third.  Nico now finds himself with a more than twenty point lead in the championship despite being handed a penalty for contact with Raikkonen.

It's funny, how may times have you heard people cite the Villeneuve-Arnoux battle at Dijon as one of the greatest things ever?  Rosberg hip checks Kimi to, finally,  make a non DRS pass, there is no damage to either car and he gets slapped with a penalty.  

Ah FIA,  don't ever change...

Is this the end for Hamilton's championship?  Hardly.  Rosberg did go from a 19 point deficit to a 23 point lead since the summer break, erasing Lewis' surge, but that's just one DNF in the remaining five races.  What remains uncertain at this time is if Hamilton will need to take additional engine penalties as a result of this rather massive looking blow up.

Very happy for Ricciardo,  he had a great moment with Verstappen,  they both went at it hard but, it must be said, 100% fair,  well done the both of them.

Finally, can we have a slow clap for Fernando Alonso dragging that path negra pig of a McLaren from last to seventh.   He is still the man,  and he deserves a better ride before he retires.

The internets were busy after the race!

Re-animator

F1 was left for dead after the Australian GP, mired in murky legal squabbles off track, terrible reliability on track and news of the cancellation of the German Grand Prix because of lack of interest.

The F1 supremo, Bernie Ecclestone publicly blaming the ills of F1 on boring drivers while touting Lewis Hamilton's "lifestyle", rather than his driving, as the model for the F1 champion of the moment.  Vettel, his occasional backgammon partner?  Bit boring.

But, in Malaysia, Sebastian and Ferrari gave Bernie and the sport the best possible gift by doing what no other team has been able to do in 20 races, beat Mercedes on pure pace and strategy.

For Ferrari it's the first win in 34 races.

What satisfaction it must be for a team that has had the courage to go through what must be one of the most radical restructuring in the sport's memory.

Despite being casually described as looking like an American movie mafioso or a "petulant, tobacco peddling marketing "guru",with the menace of a Bond villain,   Maurizio Arrivabene seems to have created a great atmosphere at the Scuderia, a podium and a win, the best answer to those media critics.

Vettel drove like you would imagine a 4 time champion would, cool, in control, aware of the big picture.  What a contrast to Rosberg. who seemed lost and Hamilton who appeared to get annoyed on Sunday.

Mercedes, a bit shellshocked, probably forgot what it's like to have another team beat them rather than  doing it all that "in-house".  Undoubtedly it will react.

Yes, it's possible Malaysia was bit of a fluke, track layout, high temperatures and all  but for sure you will tune in, two weeks from now to find out if it was.



Raikkonen had a unlucky but very strong race, confirming Ferrari's form but the other highlight had to be  Verstappen.  Man, the kid has got it.   Pass the popcorn!

One last thought for Fernando Alonso.  What must he be thinking?  Insert Asturian expletives here, for sure.  
Or perhaps, as someone suggested on the FB page, with Ferrari and Valentino Rossi winning on the same day, for Fernando it's 2004 all over again!

We kid, we kid...

Ferrari on front row for the first time in two years

Last time was in 2013,  also in Malaysia..

You can count on rain to mix things up but it looks like Ferrari does have some pace, at least in a straight line which could make tomorrow's 650 meter run to turn one quite exciting.

Shame about Raikkonen,  he should never have been in a position to be stuck behind Ericsson .  

Weird how Rosberg behaved in the closing minutes of Q3,  he certainly made it awkward for Hamilton to pass him and spoiled his lap.   Not sure if Lewis then returned the favor on the final lap  relegating him to P3 but result was a very beaten looking Nico who at the press conference set his sites on Vettel, not his teammate.

Red Bull must be happy with P 4 and P5,  Williams disappointed with 7th and 8th,  the result of being too conservative at the start of Q3.  Bothers and Massa will start behind the Kid in the Toro Rosso,  great job Max!



While you wait for the race you might want to read the interview with Bernie Ecclestone on F1.com.
Along with his declarations of love for Hamilton, you can see why Bernie liked Putin so much with quotes like this

Q: Formula One racing nowadays seems to be driven by meetings and everyone has their own agenda. If you could start from scratch, what would be number one on your agenda?
BE: I think I would like to get back to a modus where somebody has got the responsibility to make decisions. You need somebody to set the direction. Now it takes too long to get things working. 

Q: Have things turned sour since setting that direction has had to be decided by committee?
BE: Somebody goes into hospital because they’re sick and a surgeon might say that they’ve got to have their arm cut off - and they do it, and that’s it. They don’t have a meeting about it. We have meetings.

Pos	Driver	Car	Time	Gap
1	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1m49.834s	-
2	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1m49.908s	0.074s
3	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1m50.299s	0.465s
4	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull/Renault	1m51.541s	1.707s
5	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull/Renault	1m51.950s	2.116s
6	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m51.980s	2.146s
7	Felipe Massa	Williams/Mercedes	1m52.473s	2.639s
8	Valtteri Bottas	Williams/Mercedes	1m53.179s	3.345s
9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber/Ferrari	1m53.260s	3.426s
10	Romain Grosjean	Lotus/Mercedes	1m52.980s	3.146s
11	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1m42.173s	-
12	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus/Mercedes	1m42.197s	-
13	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India/Mercedes	1m43.022s	-
14	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	1m43.468s	-
15	Carlos Sainz	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m43.700s	-
16	Felipe Nasr	Sauber/Ferrari	1m41.308s	-
17	Jenson Button	McLaren/Honda	1m41.635s	-
18	Fernando Alonso	McLaren/Honda	1m41.745s	-
19	Roberto Merhi	Marussia/Ferrari	1m46.677s	-
20	Will Stevens	Marussia/Ferrari	-	-

Alonso and McLaren, they both can't be right about the accident.

More drama in F1 ahead of the Malaysian GP as Alonso's version of events just raises more questions.

Fernando Alonso,  asked about his testing accident during the FIA Thursday press conference, flat out contradicted his team's version of events.  

After the crash, McLaren blamed a sudden gust of wind, something that was ridiculed by everyone but the most rabid McLarenistas.

"...even a hurricane would not move the car at that speed. Also if you have any problem, medical issue, normally you will lose power and go straight to the outside, never to the inside."

said Fernando adding:

"...It's clear that there was a problem in the car. It's not found on the data at the moment."

but at the same time Alonso said he

 "fully trust(s) the team. They have been one month looking at every single component on the car, doing so many tests, changing every single part which they had some doubts about."

The situation in a very odd one.  Does anyone really believe McLaren is not fully aware if the steering had locked, as Alonso claims, causing the accident?

Where is the video? Why are versions of event during and after the accident so different when told by Alonso, McLaren and emergency personnel?

We hope Alonso is as fine as he claims to be and can add some much needed spice to the race this week end, we are not sure the relationship with McLaren is necessarily off to the best of starts.

You can read the full transcript of Alonso's Press conference answers HERE

2014 Malaysian GP: Silver Arrow's Bulleye

First 1-2 finish for Mercedes sing the 1955 Italian GP.   Well deserved as the Silver Arrows has kicked everyone's butt getting their cars and Power Units ready for the season.

F1 might be in a bit of a pickle, you have one manufacturer with a massive engine advantage and frozen specs.  It will be interesting to see if that gets resolved of if we are heading toward another 1988 type season.     We got a great first two laps but it was a procession after that.

A third place for Red Bull is not what Vettel wanted but he can be happy to know the RB10 has top grip if not top speed.    Radio transmissions were interesting, with the team seeming to want to remind Ricciardo of his place within the team and the Australian not letting himself be too intimidated.  It was pretty cool seeing him take it to Vettel in the opening laps, another good performance for him until the classic Red Bull "everything happens to the #2 car" moment.

Vettel almost put Rosberg in the wall with a classic Schumacher squeeze.

Ferrari was nowhere in the race.  When Ricciardo and Alonso were side by side after a pit stop,  it was painfully obvious how much less traction and grip the Red Bull had.   Raikkonen had bad luck when Magnussen ran into him and cut his tire but once out again he showed little pace.   

Good race from Force India, gambling on one fewer tire stop for Hulkenberg.

Comic relief came from Williams this time.  "I'm not a servant anymore" Felipe must have been fuming.  Valteri, classic Finn response.

Ecclestone admits F1 cars don't sound that bad in person

Interviewed by Sky Sports' Ted Kravitz, Bernie Ecclestone admitted the 2014 F1 cars sound much better in person

"I think it's a little louder than we thought so if we can just get it up a little bit more than that....I wish I could get it up, but anyway....then it will be all right".  (you can watch the complete clip HERE)

Gerontological considerations aside, a lot of this noise issue on TV can be addressed by different microphone placement and EQ.   The clip below has just a simple iMovie treble boost and it sounds much better, proper work by professionals would produce even better results without the need for artificial noisemakers.

Malaysia FP2: 11 cars in the same second but watch the tires

Nico Rosberg /Mercedes AMG F1 Photo

Nico Rosberg finished the second practice session for the Malaysian GP just 3/100 ahead of Kimi Raikkonen but the time sheets don't tell the whole story.    All the fast times were set early in the session with the teams then concentrating on long runs and race setup.

TV pictures showed a lot of tire marble build up and Mercedes was not satisfied with their tire wear.   Ferrrari showed more promise than in Australia with Raikkonen looking more comfortable and Alonso about 2/10th behind but with slightly better long run pace.

Good result for Red Bull with Vettel in third and Ricciardo in 7th but there are many reports of nagging technical issues.  Helmut Marko complained about having to spend too much money on a bunch of new fuel flow sensors.   Red Bull, in the last couple of seasons. have opposed any attempt at a cost cap.

So for the race, it will be a game of who will dare turn up the wick on their engines the most.  Likely some teams will still play the conservative long game hoping  to survive the Asian leg of the championship without a major failure.      And, being Malaysia, rain is never too far off the radar.

Kimi Raikkonen / Ferrari photo

Pos  Driver             Team/Car              Time       Gap      Laps
 1.  Nico Rosberg       Mercedes              1m39.909s           30
 2.  Kimi Raikkonen     Ferrari               1m39.944s  +0.035s  30
 3.  Sebastian Vettel   Red Bull-Renault      1m39.970s  +0.061s  30
 4.  Lewis Hamilton     Mercedes              1m40.051s  +0.142s  32
 5.  Fernando Alonso    Ferrari               1m40.103s  +0.194s  29
 6.  Felipe Massa       Williams-Mercedes     1m40.112s  +0.203s  34
 7.  Daniel Ricciardo   Red Bull-Renault      1m40.276s  +0.367s  29
 8.  Jenson Button      McLaren-Mercedes      1m40.628s  +0.719s  28
 9.  Valtteri Bottas    Williams-Mercedes     1m40.638s  +0.729s  35
10.  Nico Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes  1m40.691s  +0.782s  34
11.  Jean-Eric Vergne   Toro Rosso-Renault    1m40.777s  +0.868s  33
12.  Kevin Magnussen    McLaren-Mercedes      1m41.014s  +1.105s  20
13.  Adrian Sutil       Sauber-Ferrari        1m41.257s  +1.348s  28
14.  Daniil Kvyat       Toro Rosso-Renault    1m41.325s  +1.416s  32
15.  Esteban Gutierrez  Sauber-Ferrari        1m41.407s  +1.498s  34
16.  Sergio Perez       Force India-Mercedes  1m41.671s  +1.762s  25
17.  Romain Grosjean    Lotus-Renault         1m42.531s  +2.622s  14
18.  Max Chilton        Marussia-Ferrari      1m43.638s  +3.729s  20
19.  Jules Bianchi      Marussia-Ferrari      1m43.752s  +3.843s  29
20.  Marcus Ericsson    Caterham-Renault      1m45.703s  +5.794s  31
21.  Kamui Kobayashi    Caterham-Renault                           0
22.  Pastor Maldonado   Lotus-Renault                              0

2013 Malaysian GP Executive Summary

What can you say about a race where the man on the top step of the podium says he should have been second, the guy in third says he should have been fourth, and the guy in second freely admits all the drivers have to drive the whole race slowly to conserve tires, which are made to last just a few laps? Shit show comes to mind.

Possibly the most embarrassing GP I can remember for pretty much everyone involved.

Let's go from the beginning

Ferrari:   The team took the blame after the race but I suspect Alonso made the call.  Dumb idea, maybe understandable from his point of view since he was able to keep Webber at bay with the broken wing but the team could see the state of the car from tv pictures and should have forced him to come in, period.  Certainly he would have scored points.
Massa got totally lost in the opening laps, good comeback in the end but P2 to P5 is not good enough.

Mclaren:  How a team as good as Mclaren could still botch so many pit stops is a puzzle,  too much practice?   Shame for Button who had managed to get himself well up in the points.
On the other hand, it would have been a hilarious if they had actually serviced Lewis' Mercedes.

Mercedes:  Tell me what difference it would have made if they allowed Rosberg to go through?  They would have still brought in both cars.   Huge gamble on fuel calculations on Ham's car did not pay off but I guess there is a clause in the contract somewhere, otherwise it makes no sense.

Red Bull:  We all hate to see managed races, but what Vettel did at Sepang was the ultimate douche move.  You have a deal you stick to it, you don't turn the boost up and pass the guy who had been faster but turned his engine down on order from the team.  Once you do that,  You don't celebrate like Vettel did at the finish line and you certainly don't go to the press claiming you passed "unintentionally"  and you misunderstood orders.   Vettel lost many, many fans today.   (also, he passed Webber by crossing into the pit lane exit and should probably have been penalized for it)

Pirelli/F1:  Seriously,  this is starting to smell bad already and we are only two races in.  You cannot have a formula 1 where drivers are forced to drive 8/10ths like in endurance of old.   If Pirelli has been briefed to engineer tires that would "improve the show"  I can guarantee you this is not the show anyone wants to see.

NBC SPORTS:   With Bob Varsha back doing commentary, it was like deja vu all over again and not in a good way.  Can you really have three "experts" who for more than half the race (the whole race for Matchett, even after he was told)  did not realize you do not have to use both tire compounds if the race starts with cars on rain tires?   Really?    New blood please,

I'm adding bullpen comments from Webber and Vettel as shown by SkySports, after the break.   Will three weeks be enough to smooth this over chez Red Bull?

Mark, Tell Us How You Really Feel About Vettel...

Vettel raised his index finger again , Webber raised his middle one.
Race wrap coming later but Axis' first thoughts are that Mark won a whole lot of new fans today.

Please NBC Sports, Let Us GIve You Money!

Charles Pic. CaterhamF1, Andrew Ferraro/LAT Photo

How much would it add to your experience of watching F1 racing to have the same access to the multiple feeds available to fans in Europe?

For us quite a lot, we would much rather watch nat-sound onboard or hear communications between drivers and their engines on the pit wall rather than listening to three guys yammering on from a remote location.  For this we would gladly pay a sizable extra, even if those extras were just streamed on the internet.

Check out for example this composite clip from today's qualifying,  So much information, so many  little interesting tidbits, can you pick some out?

Qualifying was interesting and again determined in part by tire choice,  specifically in Q3,  the timing of when to put on a fresh set of intermediates for a final push.

Interesting also how Vettel's Red Bull was pretty much a dog in the dry early sessions but blew everyone away in the final Q3,  9/10ths over P2 Massa.

Tomorrow,  there's a 50% chance of rain around race time so we'll see who fortune favors and who's setup gamble pays off.

Pos  Driver                Team                 Time          Gap   
 1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m49.674s           
 2.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m50.587s  + 0.913s 
 3.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m50.727s  + 1.053s 
 4.  Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes             1m51.699s  + 2.025s 
 5.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m52.244s  + 2.570s 
 6.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m52.519s  + 2.845s 
 7.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m52.970s  + 3.296s 
 8.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m53.175s  + 3.501s 
 9.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1m53.439s  + 3.765s 
10.  Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes     1m54.136s  + 4.462s 
Q2 cut-off time: 1m37.342s                                   Gap **
11.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m37.636s  + 1.446s
12.  Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari       1m38.125s  + 1.935s
13.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m38.822s  + 2.632s
14.  Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari       1m39.221s  + 3.031s
15.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m44.509s  + 8.319s
16.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     no time
Q1 cut-off time: 1m37.931s                                   Gap *
17.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m38.157s  + 1.348s
18.  Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault     1m38.207s  + 1.398s
19.  Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth    1m38.434s  + 1.625s
20.  Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault     1m39.314s  + 2.505s
21.  Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth    1m39.672s  + 2.863s
22.  Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault     1m39.932s  + 3.123s

107% time: 1m43.585s

* Gap to quickest in Q1

** Gap to quickest in Q2

Formula 1 Getting Tired Already.

Tired as in the black Italian made rubber donuts which seemed to be be falling apart at an alarming rate in the Malaysian heat.    15 laps on the harder compound is the prediction for Sunday if the weather is dry, which at Sepang is always a possibility (40% chance of rain predicted).

Could potentially be a complicated week end for Pirelli's Paul Hembery who's saying everything is unfolding as planned.   But is it a good plan, this of having a good company make bad tires forcing drivers to become resource managers?  
The only thing we can say is that, whatever it is, at least it's the same for everyone,  just another technical challenge to deal with.

But this being F1, there are reports of muttering in the paddock about Lotus' unfair advantage given by  Pirelli using a 2010 Renault R30 as its development car.

FP2 Results:

Pos Driver                Team                    Time       Gap      Laps
 1. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault           1m36.569             28
 2. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault        1m36.588s  + 0.019s  27
 3. Felipe Massa          Ferrari                 1m36.661s  + 0.092s  33
 4. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                 1m36.985s  + 0.416s  23
 5. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault        1m37.026s  + 0.457s  29
 6. Romain Grosjean       Lotus Renault           1m37.206s  + 0.637s  26
 7. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes                1m37.448s  + 0.879s  32
 8. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes    1m37.571s  + 1.002s  30
 9. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes                1m37.574s  + 1.005s  32
10. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes    1m37.788s  + 1.219s  10
11. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes        1m37.838s  + 1.269s  21
12. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes        1m37.865s  + 1.296s  29
13. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari          1m38.068s  + 1.499s  31
14. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari          1m38.645s  + 2.076s  23
15. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m38.738s  + 2.169s  31
16. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault        1m38.801s  + 2.232s  27
17. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari      1m38.904s  + 2.335s  31
18. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth       1m39.508s  + 2.939s  30
19. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault        1m39.660s  + 3.091s  28
20. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault        1m40.757s  + 4.188s  29
21. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault        1m40.768s  + 4.199s  32
22. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth       1m41.438s  + 4.869s  23

2012 Malaysian GP Executive Summary.

2012 Malaysian Grand Prix wrap.

2012 Malaysian GP: A race won by men

It was not technology that made the 2012 Malaysian GP one of the best races in recent memory, it was not clever aero or smart engine tricks, it was the skill of men, behind the wheel and behind pit wall.

Alonso's win was by any standard, epic.  With an uncompetitive car, one that barely made it into Q3 on Saturday, he managed to make all the right calls, take risks at the right time, save tires as much as he could and have the skill to take advantage of his opponent's mistakes. It was masterful.

And while the three harpies on SpeedTV were busy ridiculing Ferrari for not raising an Easy-Up canopy over the cars during the rain delay ("how many Ferrari mechanics does it take to raise..." really Hobbs?), the guys in red were fastest on every pit stop and nailed strategy perfectly, unlike their beloved Mclaren. 
For Mclaren, a shocking debacle, blown pit stops, silly driver errors, a mess.

Not much better for Red Bull and what about Mercedes? Wow. It's almost as if they were cursed for Aldo Costa's comments Saturday.  Costa, who was fired abruptly as technical director from Maranello last year and now works at Mercedes, had said  how he was enjoying watching Ferrari struggle to get into Q3.... Sometimes it's best not to miss opportunities to keep quiet.

Button simply blew it, Hamilton tried to put a positive spin on it but he cannot be happy to start on pole and end up third again. Maybe he should avoid going for pole in China.

But what about Sauber, how amazing to have them on the podium.  After the brilliant call diving into the pits for full wets after the first lap, it's likely only the mistake not to have shadowed Alonso in the finale pit stop cost Checo Perez a victory. Fantastic result for the Swiss team, led by the way by a woman, Monisha Kaltenborn, the first ever to run an F1 team.

Sergio Perez will now be incessantly mentioned as Massa's replacement at Ferrari. Honestly, if I were Perez and I had a choice, I would not be so eager to go mid season: Massa is, justifiably given his performance, being used as a guinea pig for the team. But when Ferrari calls, do you say no?

Also, as Alonso and Domanicali rightly stated, it's not like Ferrari is suddenly different.  In terms of outright pace it's still severely lacking especially on a light fuel load. Still, they have Saint Fernando and miracles always help.

HEROES:

Alonso: Saint Fernando made a miracle
Ferrari pit and strategy crews: Spot on
Sergio Perez: Pedro Rodriguez is smiling
Sauber: Gets more cowbell
Bruno Senna: No way Ayrton likes that other yellow and green helmet better.
Kimi Raikkonen: this guy has been away for 2 seasons? maybe he was just napping.


Zeros

Jenson Button: Oy Jens
Mclaren pit crews: LOL
The complete Mercedes F1 organization: Heroes on Saturday, Zeros on Sunday
Felipe Massa: Alonso P1 Massa P15 'nuff said.
Narain Karthikayan: He would be a moving chicane even in a Mclaren
Sebastian Vettel:  You know he's a chicane, how can you hit him?

Pray for Rain...

...watch out for KERS issues.

Did Vettel make the right strategy call? he'll look very clever if it starts to rain between the option tire pit stop but before he has to stop and change his primes.

Pos  Driver                Team                 Time         Gap   
 1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m36.219s
2.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m36.368s   + 0.149
3.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m36.391s   + 0.172
4.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m36.461s   + 0.242
5.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m36.461s   + 0.242
6.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m36.634s   + 0.415
7.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m36.658s   + 0.439
8.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m36.664s   + 0.445
9.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m37.566s   + 1.347
10.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m37.698s   + 1.479
Q2 cut-off time: 1m37.477s                                   Gap **
11.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m37.589s   + 0.874
12.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m37.731s   + 1.016
13.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m37.841s   + 1.126
14.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m37.877s   + 1.162
15.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m37.883s   + 1.168
16.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m37.890s   + 1.175
17.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m38.069s   + 1.354
Q1 cut-off time: 1m38.437s                                   Gap *
18.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m39.077s   + 1.905
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m39.306s   + 2.134
20.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m39.567s   + 2.395
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m40.903s   + 3.731
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m41.250s   + 4.078
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m42.914s   + 5.742
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m43.655s   + 6.483
107% time: 1m43.974s

* Gap to quickest in Q1

** Gap to quickest in Q2

(via Autosport.com)

Why is Mclaren quiet while Red Bull and Mercedes protesting each other?

You could not be faulted for finding sweet irony in Red Bull and Mercedes going through a protest dance so early in the season. Both those teams are responsible for many of the cheater parts technical innovations over the past few seasons. From double diffusers to blown exhausts and flexi wings.


Mercedes Showed up with a ned form of F-Duct on the rear wing and was promptly protested by Red Bull (and Lotus). Wing was found legal and now Mercedes is getting some payback by protesting the legality of Renault engines. It is important to note that when teams proves or ask for "clarifications" from the FIA they are also hoping to gather information on rival systems.

Anyway, what is Norbert Haug getting all excited about? Remember during testing when I mentioned Renault engined cars were making an odd sound, reminiscent of the blown diffuser days? Is Renault still dumping fuel into their headers?

No, but the French manufacturer is doing something a different way than other teams within the scope of the regulations. FIA is allowing engine maps that shut off up to four cylinders on partial throttle as a fuel saving measure. Teams have two engineering choices, shutting down one bank of the V8 (leaving 4 inline firing) or in effect creating a V4. Renault uses the V4 setup and this results in the noise you hear. Mercedes is kicking up dust because Lotus and RBR protested their wing.

Meanwhile while these guys are busy having tea with Charlie Whiting, Mclaren is keeping quiet, the latest rumors has them ready with their version of of the Mercedes F-Duct and with a new take on RBR's flex front wing, clever enough to pass the latest FIA tests and still flex at speed.

Pos  Driver                Team                  Time               Laps
 1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes      1m38.172             28
 2.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes              1m38.533s  + 0.361   34
 3.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m38.535s  + 0.363   29
 4.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m38.696s  + 0.524   34
 5.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m38.853s  + 0.681   33
 6.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m38.891s  + 0.719   27
 7.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m39.133s  + 0.961   29
 8.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m39.297s  + 1.125   33
 9.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m39.311s  + 1.139   22
10.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m39.402s  + 1.230   25
11.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m39.444s  + 1.272   35
12.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  1m39.464s  + 1.292   26
13.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m39.625s  + 1.453   20
14.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari        1m39.687s  + 1.515   16
15.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m39.696s  + 1.524   29
16.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m40.271s  + 2.099   27
17.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault      1m40.678s  + 2.506   34
18.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari        1m40.947s  + 2.775   33
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault      1m41.464s  + 3.292   25
20.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth     1m41.681s  + 3.509   20
21.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault      1m42.594s  + 4.422   18
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth     1m42.874s  + 4.702   24
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth          1m43.658s  + 5.486   18
24.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth          1m43.283s  + 5.561   22

All Timing Unofficial

Tires and wings....

I'll get to the usual race summary later but I was curious as to your thoughts on the Malaysian GP.

For me, it was was one of the more exciting GP's in a while but at the same time the most artificially so. It reminded me more of MotoGP races of a few seasons back when it seemed that tire management was the main factor, except that these tires only last a dozen laps if that, before they turned into the biggest sea of marbles I have ever seen. I wonder what the total weight of the rubber swept from the track after the race is.

Many of the passes were because of the DRS wing and to me, somewhat fake. Ironically it seemed cars don't need DRS to pass each other: for example Alonso would have easily passed Hamilton if Hamilton had not moved over to block and Alonso had not forgotten he has a front wing on the car that needs to be kept intact.

Finally, congratulations to Speed TV for going back to their old tricks and managing to cut to commercial during most of the key moments of the race (like the Alonso-Hamilton doel which lasted two laps before the incident...

end of post

Vettel shows Hamilton his hammer

(photo: James Chow)

Hamilton must be seriously cheesed off today: he put in a brilliant, heroic lap, popping up that DRS wing in places nobody else dared to but all for nothing. He bested by Vettel who, in truly Senna like fashion , proved his quote "in quali, you pull down your trousers and show what you have got."

The two Mclarens will start on the "dirty" side which will make the whole KERS thing interesting. Nobody is quite sure what or how Red Bull is running theirs, or if at all. Alonso said it he is puzzled since the RB don't seem to accelerate as much as other cars when they engage the boost.

Apparently Ferrari has many things more to figure out as once again they were well off the qualifying pace though Alonso did well to drag the car to fifth and a points scoring possibility.

Tomorrow look for who will be forced to stop first, all the top runners were on their last set of softs which they used in their final run... Then again, it might rain and Bernie will be happy!

Check out this new camera view, it's something similar to the gyroscopic camera MotoGP experimented with but the other way around, this illustrates G-forces and gives a much better idea of the violence involved. We'll take a forward mounted one please!

Pos  Driver                Team                 Time         Gap   
1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m34.870s
2.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m34.974s   + 0.104
3.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m35.179s   + 0.309
4.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m35.200s   + 0.330
5.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m35.802s   + 0.932
6.  Nick Heidfeld         Renault              1m36.124s   + 1.254
7.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m36.251s   + 1.381
8.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault              1m36.324s   + 1.454
9.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m36.809s   + 1.939
10.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m36.820s   + 1.950
Q3 cut-off time: 1m36.811s                                   Gap **
11.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m37.035s   + 1.466
12.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m37.160s   + 1.591
13.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m37.347s   + 1.778
14.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m37.370s   + 1.801
15.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth    1m37.496s   + 1.927
16.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m37.528s   + 1.959
17.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1m37.593s   + 2.024
Q3 cut-off time: 1m38.163s                                    Gap *
18.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth    1m38.276s   + 1.532
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault        1m38.645s   + 1.901
20.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault        1m38.791s   + 2.047
21.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth      1m40.648s   + 3.904
22.  Jerome D'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth      1m41.001s   + 4.257
23.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth         1m41.549s   + 4.805
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m42.574s   + 5.830

107% time: 1m43.516s

* Gap to quickest in Q1

** Gap to quickest in Q2

end of post

Red Bull and Mclaren blow everyone away.

Signs from Friday practice point to a two way battle between Mclarens and Red Bull in Malaysia this week end.

After the second practice session, Webber and Button were .0005 of a second apart followed by Hamilton and Vettel in the next 2/10th.
But the rest of the field was nowhere, Schumacher and Massa were 1.2 sec off Webber's pace everyone else further behind with Alonso a massive 1.7 away.

Bad news for Ferrari and all the aero updates they had announced. A quick look at the onboard below seems to suggest the Ferrari needs quite a bit of correction mid corner and especially on tight corner exit. This would confirm reports of Ferrari being extremely worried about tire wear. Compare that to the smoothness of Vettel's RB or even Schumacher's Mercedes.

Pos  Driver               Team                     Time               Laps
 1.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault         1m36.876s            24
 2.  Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes         1m36.881s  + 0.005   30
 3.  Lewis Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes         1m37.010s  + 0.134   23
 4.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault         1m37.090s  + 0.214   30
 5.  Michael Schumacher   Mercedes                 1m38.088s  + 1.212   26
 6.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari                  1m38.089s  + 1.213   31
 7.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes                 1m38.565s  + 1.689   25
 8.  Nick Heidfeld        Renault                  1m38.570s  + 1.694   16
 9.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari                  1m38.583s  + 1.707   27
10.  Jaime Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari       1m38.846s  + 1.970   31
11.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth        1m38.968s  + 2.092   25
12.  Rubens Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth        1m39.187s  + 2.311   30
13.  Vitaly Petrov        Renault                  1m39.267s  + 2.391   17
14.  Kamui Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari           1m39.398s  + 2.522   29
15.  Sergio Perez         Sauber-Ferrari           1m39.603s  + 2.727   34
16.  Paul di Resta        Force India-Mercedes     1m39.625s  + 2.749   31
17.  Adrian Sutil         Force India-Mercedes     1m39.809s  + 2.933   28
18.  Sebastien Buemi      Toro Rosso-Ferrari       1m40.115s  + 3.239   31
19.  Timo Glock           Virgin-Cosworth          1m40.866s  + 3.990   24
20.  Jarno Trulli         Lotus-Renault            1m41.890s  + 5.014   19
21.  Narain Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth             1m43.197s  + 6.321   15
22.  Tonio Liuzzi         HRT-Cosworth             1m43.991s  + 7.115   14
23.  Heikki Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault            1m44.886s  + 8.010    4

All Timing Unofficial

end of post

Malaysian Weave

It's Easter so I won't go through the usual job of doing the big clip so just a couple of clips from the GP which unfolded pretty much as expected with a cakewalk for Red Bull. For me the unexpected highlight of the race was the performance of the Renaults (along with the Force India) and Valery Petrov's fight with Hamilton.

Renault definitively has the straightline speed but it was all over in the corners as you can see in the clip. The move Petrov put on Hamilton to retake position was fantastic but on the other hand, the move Hamiton made on the next lap was, shall we say, interesting? I counted four changes of direction on the straight and I have no doubt Petrov would have passed him again if he had not driven like that.

I'm also suspecting Hamilton would have been given more than the warning he received had he tried that move on someone other than a rookie in a Renault. Your thoughts?



Also interesting is how well Alonso was able to drive in a car that was in serious trouble mechanically. I would imagine that contributed to the engine failure to some extent but it was great to see Alonso fight to the end rather than cruise to bring home for a few points.



Ferrari looks like it has some issues following cars when on full tanks especially. Massa was stuck behind Buemi, that's not a good thing. Check out the interview with Stefano Domenicali, he conceeds that Mclaren is way faster in a straight line and in Italian says "...Thanks to their, quote, SPECIAL wing". Ferrari not too happy about that one, I guess.



end of post

Good one Champs, Chumps!

Three World Champions and two teams, Ferrari and Mclaren, who have won the vast majority of Formula 1 races and they still have not figured out that when the weather is variable you go out and put one in the bank? Ferrari especially who, before the season started, was making fun of the new "inexperienced" teams, must be eating a good dose of crow bucatini tonight.

It could have been , pun intended, Bernie's wet dream with the Force India's on the front row and even the Red Bulls midpack, but by the end of Q3 Webber put the hammer down and got a dominating pole in horrible conditions.

In the Senior GP division, Barrichello qualified ahead of the The Rainmeister Schumacher, something I'm sure will make his week end.

Tomorrow, should be a cakewalk for the Red Bulls as long as they stay in one piece and survive the inevitable massive crash in turn 1!

Pos  Driver         Team                   Q1        Q2        Q3
 1.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault       1:51.886  1:48.210  1:49.327
 2.  Rosberg        Mercedes               1:52.560  1:47.417  1:50.673
 3.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault       1:47.632  1:46.828  1:50.789
 4.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1:49.479  1:47.085  1:50.914
 5.  Hulkenberg     Williams-Cosworth      1:49.664  1:47.346  1:51.001
 6.  Kubica         Renault                1:46.283  1:46.951  1:51.051
 7.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth      1:50.301  1:48.371  1:51.511
 8.  Schumacher     Mercedes               1:52.239  1:48.400  1:51.717
 9.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari         1:48.467  1:47.792  1:51.767
10.  Liuzzi         Force India-Mercedes   1:49.922  1:48.238  1:52.254
11.  Petrov         Renault                1:47.952  1:48.760
12.  de la Rosa     Sauber-Ferrari         1:47.153  1:48.771
13.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:48.945  1:49.207
14.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1:48.655  1:49.464
15.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth         1:52.875  1:52.270
16.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth        1:52.398  1:52.520
17.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1:52.211
18.  Trulli         Lotus-Cosworth         1:52.884
19.  Alonso         Ferrari                1:53.044
20.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes       1:53.050
21.  Massa          Ferrari                1:53.283
22.  Chandhok       HRT-Cosworth           1:56.299
23.  Senna          HRT-Cosworth           1:57.269
24.  di Grassi      Virgin-Cosworth        1:59.977

( Sky, Autosport)
end of post