[deetjohn]

Round 2

Originally Posted by James Allen

Since its inauguration in 1999, the Sepang circuit in Malaysia has come to be regarded as one of the toughest for teams and drivers as very hot and humid conditions stretch the competitors to their physical extreme. Due to cockpit temperatures of 50°C it is not strange for a driver to lose three kilograms during the race, through sweat alone.

As the first of a now extensive portfolio of Hermann Tilke designed Grand Prix circuits, it follows his trademark style of long straights followed by a heavy-braking zone, which allows for slip-streaming and out-braking manoeuvres.

The very first race in '99 saw the return to fitness of Michael Schumacher following his leg-break at Silverstone earlier in the year and after dominating the race he handed victory to Ferrari team-mate and title contender Eddie Irvine. The latter' last F1 victory.

Last year, rain delayed the start of qualifying by 50 minutes and chances of rain are high at this year. Let's see if it will mix the grid up a bit.


Rain or snow, one pair who has the highest probability of making the top step of that podium is this one.


RBR is struggling and the noises coming from the camp aren't encouraging.


At the press conference yesterday. The veterans, the very impressive rookies and Nico. The German needs a win ASAP.


The chap behind the new faster and beautiful Ferrari, James Allison


Race Strategy Briefing

Originally Posted by James Allen

There are many challenges at Sepang. The start is always critical here; the distinctive first corner turns right and then left and always results in a big change of field order.

The intense heat and humidity of Malaysia pushes the cars’ cooling systems to the limit. If a team is in trouble, they are often forced to open the bodywork to improve cooling, which will hurt their aerodynamic performance and the stability of their car in the corners. This hurts tyre life too. The new Pirelli tyres are more consistent than before, but this track has high energy corners, so I think we will see two stops as the default strategy.

News for the round
Both Alonso and Bottas are back and I can confirm they are going round the track in FP1 right now.
And Manor is also racing. Will Stevens just put in a flying lap and is the slowest of the lot.

TV Listings
Q: Saturday - 2:20 PM - SS4, SS HD4
Race: Sunday - 12:40 PM - SS4, SS HD4

[rshanker]

Results from FP1

1 Nico Rosberg - Mercedes - 00:01:40.124
2 Kimi Raikkonen - Ferrari - 00:01:40.497
3 Sebastian Vettel - Ferrari - 00:01:41.471
4 Romain Grosjean - Lotus - 00:01:41.543
5 Carlos Sainz Jr - Toro Rosso - 00:01:41.596
6 Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull - 00:01:41.787
7 Max Verstappen - Toro Rosso - 00:01:41.803
8 Valtteri Bottas - Williams - 00:01:41.882
9 Daniil Kvyat - Red Bull - 00:01:42.055
10 Marcus Ericsson - Sauber - 00:01:42.064
11 Felipe Massa - Williams - 00:01:42.103
12 Pastor Maldonaldo - Lotus - 00:01:42.567
13 Rafaelle Marciello - Sauber - 00:01:42.621
14 Fernando Alonso - McLaren - 00:01:42.885
15 Nico Hulkenberg - Force India - 00:01:42.893
16 Sergio Perez - Force India - 00:01:43.054
17 Jenson Button - McLaren - 00:01:43.100
18 Will Stevens - Manor - 00:01:46.686
19 Roberto Merhi - Manor - 00:01:47.683
20 Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes

[zenren]

Any idea regarding the rain forecast for qualifying and race? Rain would even out the field a bit, especially for McLaren.

[Grand Drive]

Originally Posted by zenren

Any idea regarding the rain forecast for qualifying and race? Rain would even out the field a bit, especially for McLaren.

Partly cloudy skies in the morning hours. Thunderstorms likely in the afternoon and evening on race day. Chances of rain is very high on all the three days.

Source

[Fullrevs]

Ferrari's form seems to be no fluke. Very encouraging season for the Tifosi's.

Great to know that Valterri Bottas and Fernando Alonso have been cleared by the FIA medics to race this weekend. Will certainly spice up the racing this weekend.

Vettel declines Mercedes invite to drivers debrief:

Following the Australian Grand Prix, Vettel mocked Nico Rosberg for saying he hoped Mercedes' rivals close the gap over the next few rounds, leading to Rosberg inviting Vettel to join his team's debrief on Friday. Mercedes got behind the idea on social media and in the team's preview press release, but Vettel has shrugged off the invite as a PR stunt.
"I think when I was joking with Nico in the press conference the deal was the invite was for all the paddock, now it seems the invite has shrunk to just me," he said on Thursday. "Initially I think it was called off by Niki [Lauda] and Toto [Wolff], now they've told [Rosberg] yes so I think they are using it now as a bit more of a PR thing rather than a proper invite so the answer is no.
"I think they tried to use it as 'Ah yeah, we are so friendly and open to everyone'. Even if I went there, do you think they would really open up? That means I won't go, because even if I go it's all staged."

Source: F1-live

Adrian Sutil signs for Williams as reserve driver. Hope he gets a few friday outings this year. I guess Williams were a bit worried that Susie Wolff may have had to race if Bottas wasnt cleared. So they have setup a plan in case this happens in the future.

[sourav9385]

Hammer time back in time sheets, with almost 4/10th of a second gap to the Iceman.

Ferrari do look like they've got a decent car. Race pace though, Mercs are still the cars to beat.

Classification at the end of FP2 is as follows:

1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 01:39.8
   
2. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 01:40.2
   
3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 01:40.2
   
4. Daniil Kvyat Red Bull 01:40.3
   
5. Valtteri Bottas Williams 01:40.5
   
6. Felipe Massa Williams 01:40.6
   
7. Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 01:40.7
   
8. Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 01:41.2
   
9. Marcus Ericsson Sauber 01:41.3
   
10. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull Racing 01:41.8
    
11. Pastor Maldonado Lotus 01:41.9
    
12. Felipe Nasr Sauber 01:42.0
    
13. Sergio Perez Force India 01:42.2
    
14. Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso 01:42.3
    
15. Nico Hulkenberg Force India 01:42.3
    
16. Fernando Alonso McLaren 01:42.5
    
17. Jenson Button McLaren 01:42.6
    
18. Romain Grosjean Lotus 01:42.9
    
19. Will Stevens Marussia 01:45.7
    
20. Roberto Merhi Marussia 01:47.2
    

[zenren]

Originally Posted by sourav9385

Hammer time back in time sheets, with almost 4/10th of a second gap to the Iceman.

Classification at the end of FP2 is as follows:

1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 01:39.8
   
2. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 01:40.2
   
3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 01:40.2
   

The highlight for me is the scarlet car that split the Mercs. Unfortunately, this was the case last year too with Kimi enjoying the dry track in Malaysia. However, when it came to a wet qualifying, all his comfort zone evaporated. I hope it stays dry this time

[zenren]

FP3 results. Track is still dry but forecast seems to indicate rains by end of qualifying. Should be interesting.

Results:
1 Nico Rosberg - 1:39.690
2 Lewis Hamilton - 1:39.874
3 Kimi Raikkonen - 1:40.245
4 Sebastian Vettel - 1:40.266
5 Felipe Massa - 1:40.391
6 Valtteri Bottas - 1:40.406
7 Daniel Ricciardo - 1:40.590
8 Carlos Sainz - 1:40.601
9 Max Verstappen - 1:40.989
10 Marcus Ericsson - 1:41.200
11 Romain Grosjean - 1:41.206
12 Pastor Maldonado - 1:41.592
13 Daniil Kvyat - 1:41.776
14 Nico Hulkenberg - 1:41.804
15 Fernando Alonso - 1:41.991
16 Sergio Perez - 1:42.100
17 Felipe Nasr - 1:42.117
18 Jenson Button - 1:42.319
19 Roberto Merhi - 1:46.647
20 Will Stevens - 1:47.059

[adimicra]

Which channel is covering the qualifying?
I can't see any..

Is there live streaming available on the Internet?
Please respond if anyone is aware of.

[deetjohn]

Wow! The sky is turning super dark and explosive lightnings at the moment on top of the track. Looks like it will rain before we get to Q2.

Originally Posted by adimicra

Which channel is covering the qualifying?
I can't see any..

SS4, SS HD4 as mentioned in the first post of this very thread.

[doctorque]

While we are trying to figure out a sound channel to watch the race, KsmVtec, Danlalan and ArchieDsouza are the bhpians i know off, who are going to be there for the grand prix at Sepang. Theyre going to be at the grandstand if i am not wrong.

[tharian]

I am getting super annoyed and just waiting for the cricket world Cup to end.
They say F1 qualifying on SS 4 and show cricket replays for long during breaks!

[mayankk]

Im just glad that the cricket is over. At least the race will be on HD. Its such a waste when that relegates everything to SD, or even to a later time slot!!

And, yeah, Hammertime!!!
I feel, though Rosberg has been knocked off, it was because of racing lines coming through when vettel ran, and nico faltering under the sudden threat. Tomorrow, we may have normal transmission.

[fiesta1.6]

Qualifying results:

1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1.49.834s
2. Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1.49.908s
3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1.50.299s
4. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1.51.541s
5. Daniil Kvyat Red Bull-Renault 1.51.951s
6. Max Verstappen Toro Rosso 1.51.981s
7. Felipe Massa Williams 1.52.473s
8. Romain Grosjean Lotus 1.52.981s
9. Valtteri Bottas Williams 1.53.179s
10. Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1. 53.261s

11. Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1.42.173s
12. Pastor Maldonado Lotus 1.42.198s
13. Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1.43.023s
14. Sergio Perez Force India 1.43.469s
15. Carlos Sainz Jr Toro Rosso 1.43.701s

16. Felipe Nasr Sauber 1.41.308s
17. Jenson Button McLaren 1.41.636s
18. Fernando Alonso McLaren 1.41.746s

DNQ Roberto Merhi Manor Marussia 1.46.677s
DNQ Will Stevens Manor Marussia no time

[ashwin.terminat]

What a fantastic performance by Vettel!

Looks like I will be switching between SS1 and SS4 tomorrow.

The Star Sports TV Guide says Cricket will be on SS1 tomorrow and F1 on SS4. (http://tvguide.starsports.com/Home.aspx#)

Hope it rains tomorrow!