Malaysian GP Thread - Contains Race spoilers!

[Fernando]

First topic message reminder :

Spoiler:

Just a few days after Jenson Button's victory for McLaren at the season-opening race in Australia, the battle for the 2012 FIA Formula One Championship gets even more intense as we journey to Malaysia and the grand prix billed as 'The World's Hottest Race'. With in-car temperatures often edging above 50º C and with track temperatures to match, the race places huge demands on man and machine.

The energy-sapping heat and humidity aren't the only problems however. While quite smooth, the circuit's long straights and heavy-braking corners mean that the tyres, already hurt by the heat, also take a beating from the circuit surface. Car set-up is tricky too, and the combination of flowing sections, power-hungry straights and tight corners makes it a tough balancing act for the engineers. Finally, there's the weather to contend with. Heavy storms are a constant threat and can lead to major trouble, as we found out in 2009 when a torrential downpour led to the race being stopped after just 31 laps.

That race was, of course, won by Button on the way to the 2009 World Championship, and the question now is whether he can take a second win here and set himself up for another shot at the title. It won't be easy. In Melbourne, the Red Bulls recovered well after a tricky qualifying session to finish second and fourth in the race. Mercedes and Lotus, too, gave notice that, once minor issues are ironed out, they are ready to make the step up to championship contention. Further back the midfield looks incredibly tight with a number of teams all in the mix for points. And, naturally, Ferrari can never be written off. If Melbourne was a baptism of fire for the Scuderia's new car, then Fernando Alonso's fifth place showed they can stand the heat. And as we get ready for sizzling Sepang that can only be a good thing.

Length of lap:
5.543km
Lap record
1:34.223 (Juan-Pablo Montoya, Williams-BMW, 2004)
Start line/finish line offset
0.000km
Total number of race laps
56
Total race distance
310.408km
Pitlane speed limits
60km/h during practice;
100km/h during race

CHANGES TO THE CIRCUIT SINCE 2011

The verge on the exit of turn 8 has been re-worked in order to remove the bump in the grass which caused a problem in 2011.

The entire debris fence around the outside of turn 1 has been renewed.

Source: FIA

[harryspiv]

Bonjourno!

well to show just how much faith Alessandro had in his 'Senor Diaz' he never even picked him in his fantasy F1 team.

Rock bottom of our little league

Forza Mclaren!

[Critical_mass]

thats rather funny. Still as i said before i reckon, at least for now, that was a hiccup in performance and i dont think it'll happen again for at least the next 3 or so races.

[Guest]

It's really started kicking off this week on here while i've been away.

[dyrewolfe]

Alonso showed supreme skill in the DRS detection zone to keep Perez behind him. Perez on the right tyres in an aerodynamically more efficient car could catch yet not pass Fernando Alonso.

Clearly you didn't hear the radio message to Perez after his first attempt to overtake Alonso. "Cheka, we need this 2nd place".

For the hard of understanding, that translates to: "Stefano Domenicali called to say if we don't let Alonso win, they won't be supplying our engines next season".

Also, in case you're sight-impaired, Perez was consistently lapping 0.3 - 0.5s quicker than Alonso for several laps previously and would certainly have passed him on the very lap he was given the radio message.

You may also have noticed Perez ran ridiculously wide on a relatively easy corner. Considering the Sauber had been running like it was on rails ALL RACE there was ABSOLUTELY NO REASON for this to happen in those conditions. Its not like Perez had been sliding off all over the place, other than 1 off track excursion before the race was red flagged.

Another thing you might want to note. After Perez ran wide, giving Alonso a 5-6 second cushion, he STILL closed the gap to under 2 seconds by the final lap. Thats how much better the Sauber-Perez combination was than the Alonso-Ferrari.

Face facts, the ONLY reason Senor Diaz won is because the driver chasing him was in a car with a Ferrari-supplied engine.

Coupled with McLaren having a nightmare race, Alonso was handed the race on a silver platter. Nothing "magnificent" about it. He did what he needed to, which basically amounted to keeping the car on the track.

[Fernando]

It's really started kicking off this week on here while i've been away.

Who'd have thought we'd actually have a busy motorsport article

[dyrewolfe]

With Alessandro Ciabatta back to his usual form its like the old 606 never closed.

[Guest]

So in evaluation...
Sauber clearly told Perez to halt his charge over the radio (failure to understand that is astonishing, if you dont understand f1 politics then you clearly dont understand f1). Sauber have more to lose in the long term if they had won, firstly the ferrari engine deal and relationship with the italian outfit would of been in tatters and secondly it would of only elevated perez into 'superstar status' and therefore the more chance of Sauber losing there promising driver more quickly.
Mclaren's race pace is worrying. Hamilton did clearly shake Perez's hand so all the haters out there blasting how arrogant the guy is need to shut the **** up. As for the pitcrew and strategy......where do i start? totally inept at their jobs. embarrasingly bad just doesnt even come close to describing hamilton's pit crew.
Also where is sterling moss, lauda and the rest now????? they were constantly chirping non-stop last season about Vettel being better than Senna

[monty junior]

Vettel drove a pretty great race in Melbourne, one misjudgement hardly makes him crap. It's when he starts doing it every second race that it becomes a problem and you could question whether he's overrated.

[mystiroakey]

"Sauber clearly told Perez to halt his charge over the radio (failure to
understand that is astonishing, if you dont understand f1 politics then
you clearly dont understand f1)"

the amopunt of people having a pop at me on here that cant figure that out is astonishing

[Alessandro Ciambella]

Also where is sterling moss, lauda and the rest now????? they were constantly chirping non-stop last season about Vettel being better than Senna

Let me get this straight. F1 Hall of Fame Superstars like Moss and Lauda claim that Vettel is simalar to Senna and you don't like it? Is it because they are not praising Hamilton?

Yet, Hamilton compares himself to Senna and you turn a blind eye to it? The worse thing is it's Hamilton making these noises about himself and Senna.

In my humble opinion this makes him even worse than Lauda, Moss and the rest. Yet you will defend him for this an attack me and anybody else who agrees.

Talk about double standards...

[Fernando]

Also where is sterling moss, lauda and the rest now????? they were constantly chirping non-stop last season about Vettel being better than Senna

Let me get this straight. F1 Hall of Fame Superstars like Moss and Lauda claim that Vettel is simalar to Senna and you don't like it? Is it because they are not praising Hamilton?

Id say it's because Vettel isn't even close to being as good as Senna

[Alessandro Ciambella]

And Hamilton is?

[Fernando]

He's better then Vettel despite less world titles for me and i don't like either of them.

[mystiroakey]

vettel similar to senna- what the heck has he done similar to senna- that is so laughable lol.

the only two drivers that you could compare to sennas style and quality would be hamilton and alonso.

happy to say that vettel has abit of schuy in him but not senna- its really not up for debate in my opinion

[SteveG]

vettel similar to senna- what the heck has he done similar to senna- that is so laughable lol.

the only two drivers that you could compare to sennas style and quality would be hamilton and alonso.

happy to say that vettel has abit of schuy in him but not senna- its really not up for debate in my opinion

+1

[Belgarion of Riva]

Lets see how good Seb is without a massive performance advantage over everyone else.

The crash kid has returned.

[dyrewolfe]

Well, my two cents' on the Vettel / Hamilton / Senna argument are as follows:

I've never heard either Lauda or Moss compare Vettel to Senna, or say Seb is as good as Ayrton, but if they did, I'd like to know what they were smoking at the time.

While it is widely known Hamilton idolises Senna (to the point of copying his helmet design) and has openly admitted trying to be like him on the race track, I don't think anyone, least of all Lewis himself, has EVER said he was as good as Ayrton.

I would say Lewis has a similarly aggressive style to Ayrton, but I don't think he has the same will and determination, or quite the same skill to pull off some of the moves Senna did. I don't think he's ever had that win-at-all-costs mentality, to the point of ramming opponents off the track, like Senna and Schumacher did.

I reckon he's mellowed a bit and lost some of that edge, but at the same time I think he's learned to think long-term and realised the need to manage his car better, in order to make race strategies work.

In one sense I'm a bit sad to think we likely won't see Lewis in full-on attack mode very often now, but I'm happy if it gives him a better chance of winning more titles.

[liverbnz]

Moss compared Vettel to Fangio rather than Senna. Neither do I remember Lauda saying anything like it. The only one I remember saying anything of the sort was the Toro Rosso director, which of course he would say of his former driver.

Hamilton was compared to Senna by Whitmarsh but it was in reference to Hamilton's tendency to create controversy.

[Guest]

Moss has also stated Vettel is a modern-day Fangio!

Yes I agree we will never see Hamilton drive to the limit and aggressivness of Senna thanks to the introduction of tyre management and the need for consistancy instead of outright pace which is sad. That's why Button has become so competitive and Lewis has lost that edge that we really can only view in qualifying

[SteveG]

Tyre management has always been part of F1 but like everything else its a question of balance and at the moment tyres play too much of a part. It has definately curtailed Hamilton and as a result has deprived us from seeing balls out racing. Aussie last week being a perfect example where Hamilton had to drop off Vettel and nurse his tyres home instead of going on full attack mode and having us on the edge of our seats for the last couple of laps. Senna wouldv'e probably hated racing today and IMO if they removed crumbly tyres and DRS tomorrow it wouldn't be too soon.

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