[motor_breathing]

Does anyone recall the hilarious radio transmission between Massa and his engineer?

Massa: I need a wiped visor! I cannot see anything!

Smedley: Felipe, baby, calm down! we're sending someone now. LOL

Kimi was seen eating an Ice cream in the pit garage, Better than sitting out in the rain.

Apparently MS was also in the pit wall supported the call to put extreme wet for Kimi.

[Bubby]

Brawns are showing some serious pace, I know its too early but they look to be serious contenders for winning the both the contructors as well as drivers championships. I say so as :::

Rubens came 2nd in Australia after being diffuser broken at teh very first corner of the Australian GP. So to conclude that means that means Rubens pace was not enhanced by diffuser nor with KERS ( which Brawns are not eqipped with ).

Button won the Malaysian GP ( feel sorry for the guy as i feel he lost 5 points yesterday ), you know what yesterday Button was the guy who made maximum pit stops, 4 pit stops in all. Now thats again some very serious pace, after pitting 4 times ( more then anybody else ) and still winning the race.

[shibujp]

What are the boffins at Ferrari doing shooting themselves in the foot? They got one of the best strategists on at Brawn GP and this is the time they pick to do their wild acts.

Last week at Australia was bad enough - they fixed Raikkonen up with the wrong tyres. okay you can let that pass. But this week...man...did they make a wild call or what?? Cooked Raikkonen's goose once and for all and just when the guy looked to be in a pretty good nick.

Now they are going on and complaining about the diffusers that three teams have. Now isn't that a constructive approach??

The guy who has continued to impress me is Fernando Alonso. I never liked him all that much but that is now changing to grudging admiration for the man. True champion stuff. Put him in the right car and he's gonna wipe the smile of quite a few guys given what he is doing with those Renaults these days.

Drive on!!
Shibu.

[Bubby]

Originally Posted by shibujp

The guy who has continued to impress me is Fernando Alonso. I never liked him all that much but that is now changing to grudging admiration for the man. True champion stuff. Put him in the right car and he's gonna wipe the smile of quite a few guys given what he is doing with those Renaults these days.

Exactly, even in feel the same for Alonso.

I sort of hated him in 05/06 in Renault, as he was taking some smile of from Schumi and I was not liking it, then I thought its just because he has a better car he is winning and that is about it.

But now I know, I was wrong, he indeed is a complete package, in dry or wet, he is the most determined of the lot with whatever wheel he has in his hands.

Renault is currently not even a handful in 09', but the way he jumped positions at the start and after that keeping Kimi in a far quicker car behind for corner after corner, needs some driving class which Alonso has.

[hiren.mistry]

Just when I thought it could not get any worse for Ferrari, it just did.

Too many tactical mistakes this weekend. One by not sending Massa out in Q1 and then in the race for Kimi by fitting extreme wets. That would've been a brilliant move had it started pouring but it did not ...

Does not bode too well for Ferrari. Hope they get their heads together and come out of this mess. I am keenly looking forward to the ICA decision later this month.

Till then...

[Blue_V]

Steve Slater can really get on the nerves sometimes. Chandok was right in pointing out Ferrari's stupidity. Wet tyres only on wet track ! Slater kept talking otherwise.

[Samir Taheer]

According to the Sunday Times - Lewis Hamilton considered quitting Mclaren and F1 after all the controversy. Would beinteresting to see him go to another team, although its most probably a PR thing. I dont think the incident would had created that much of a relationship problem between the team and him, plus he had said in the past that he would see his career thru with Mclaren.

[avishar]

Man i am loving this season.Looks like a classic underdog coming on tops story going on.Brawn GP has put in life and competition back into F1 and it is refreshing to see teams like red-bull and toyota do well too.

[Aditya]

Yes. It is good to see the what were minnows of F1 do well. There was no question about the fact that Jenson Button was the man of the Malaysian GP. So many pit stops, varying weather and he was the quickest all the time.
What is worrying me is the future of the sport. BMW are considering pulling out at the end of 2009. Mercedes Benz and Renault have said they will stay in F1 till the end of 2010, but, nothing after that. Toyota is also under tremendous pressure. That leaves us with just one engine manufacturer - Ferrari. However, Bernie Ecclestone remains optimistic.
Mercedes & BMW to Leave F1? - autoevolution

[hiren.mistry]

Originally Posted by Blue_V

Steve Slater can really get on the nerves sometimes. Chandok was right in pointing out Ferrari's stupidity. Wet tyres only on wet track ! Slater kept talking otherwise.

Can't stand his commentary at all.
His worst trait is that he will continue with his gibberish even when there is a team/driver radio transmission and he will stop talking only when its over.

He thinks what he is saying is a lot more important than the radio transmission. Earlier he used to be paired with Chris Goodwin and he was really good.

Karun Chandok and Alex Yoong are also doing a good job.

Cheers

[sharanramesh]

Karun chandok is doing a great job, i think steve slater should really calm down his enthusiasm when talking about ferrari, its a well known fact he loves ferrari. Alex yoong, hmmm... average. not very impressive.

Well think about it, considering the info ferrari had, it was a good call. but yes in hindsight it turned out to be awful. but if it had worked the otherway around, we would all have been lauding ferrari for their genius strategy.

Someone please explain to me whether all this additional speed brawn gp has boils donw to the difuser. well its surely not the engine, otherwise mclaren would be have been doing much better.

ive been reading that ferrari and sauber and some others have already begun working on their take of the illegal difuser. they fear in case the FIA hearing on Aril 14 goes against them, then it would be too late to start working on the difuser.

this year has thrown such an amazing spanner in the works, that i have no clue what to predict for any race. im still cheering the red squad, but my fav driver this season is turning out to be Seb Vettel. this guy has just incredible speed. he is the man Ferrari needs next. we need the aggresive and quick fellas.

well my fantasy f1 team on espn star has done decently so far

my team -

Driver 1 - Nico Rosberg
Driver 2 - Kimmi Raikkonnen
Driver 3 - Jenson Button

Team - Brawn Gp

Engine - Ferrari

Bonus track - Brazilian GP.

[Nachu]

I'm just back from KL.

I was a part of Formula 1 history.

Not since 1991 has a race been stopped because of rain. And I had to be a part of it. As the rain tore down I was one of the 70000 fans who were tearing their hair in frustration. This had to happen.

I've been to seven races in Malaysia before this. They used to start the race at 3 pm and finish by about 5. And not a moment later would the skies open out. Thunder, lightning and torrential tropical rain. It used to take amost 3 hours to get back to KL in the huge traffic jams that followed caused not only by the wet weather but by the invariable road accidents but someone trying to emulate Schumi on the wet roads. But who the hell cared after nearly two hours of extreme action.
Knowing all this the FIA, the governing body of Formula 1 and the Malaysia Authorities in all their collective wisdom decided to delay the start to 5PM to cater to European TV viewers. Well they certainly got to see a spectacle.

It cost me a cool 50K. God knows how much fans from who had come all the way from Italy, Finland, Hungary and the UK had spent, that too in a time of economic chaos that threatens to sink this high cost sport.

It left me with a sinking feeling. After two days of fantastic practice sessions, a thrilling qualifying and a fabulous race start a very soggy end indeed.

But it is a race which will no doubt go down in Formula 1 history.

[Steeroid]

Originally Posted by Nachu

They used to start the race at 3 pm and finish by about 5. And not a moment later would the skies open out. Thunder, lightning and torrential tropical rain.

I lived in KL for a couple of years, and went to the GP during both years.

Everyone who lives there knows that the tropical storms generally hit in the evening. Its been the same throughout - you are caught in a thunderstorm on the way back to Town (which doesnt really take 3 hrs if you're a local).

I understand this was also the logic behind the Sing GP becoming a 'night' event - the afternoon is too hot and the evenings are too wet.

I believe the Malaysian authorities did try and warn those in power, but were over-ruled so that the 'spectacle' can play out on European TV screens during prime time.

And what a spectacle it was!

[anachronix]

YouTube - Verguenza en McLaren F1

Bad to worse act from Mclaren boys again.

One person worried about driver safety and one person showing feathers.