[Official] F1 2009 Round 2, 2009 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix

[Chatters]

So, round one over and dusted. Have all the questions been settled? It's hard to tell. Ferrari never had a chance at the front and Lewis Hamilton didn't start from the front, so how can we know if they can win races this year? If anything, the first race poses more questions about the second race then the off-season posed about the first race. Was Brawn GP's incredible 1-2 just good luck? Will ANYONE be able to challenge Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello? Or will they run away with this race as well?

The circuit at Sepang has not been renowned for its exciting races. Usually the heat and humidity are big factors and test engines to their limits. Previous GPs at Sepang have shown that Ferrari are typically strong here, having won 5 of the 10 Grands Prix that have been held here. But what does that mean this year, with such a huge change in the behaviour, handling, aerodynamics etc on the cars this year? Only time will tell...

Something tells me the Brawn cars will be perhaps a bit more challenged at this race. Now that everyone knows where they stand they know how much they have to improve, so expect Ferrari and BMW to feature more prominently. As for Red Bull, typically they haven't had good luck at this track but perhaps with Vettel on fire and (hopefully) a motivated Mark Webber they will have a good showing (Top 5?). As for McLaren, it seems that what they lack in outright speed Hamilton makes up in talent, so even if they qualify low, Hamilton may be able to break into the Top 8 by the end of the race...

MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX - STATS

Formula 1 World Drivers Championship Standings

Pos.	Driver	Pretty Picture!	Constructor	Points
1.	Jenson Button		Brawn-Mercedes	10
2.	Rubens Barrichello		Brawn-Mercedes	8
3.	Lewis Hamilton		McLaren-Mercedes	6
4.	Timo Glock		Toyota	5
5.	Fernando Alonso		Renault	4
6.	Nico Rosberg		Williams-Toyota	3
7.	Sebastien Buemi		STR-Ferrari	2
8.	Sebastien Bourdais		STR-Ferrari	1

Sepang International Circuit

Length	Direction	Turns	Lap Record (Driver, Year)
5.543km (3.44mi)	Clockwise	15	1:34.223 (Juan Pablo Montoya, 2004)

2008 Malaysian Grand Prix

Pole Position (Time)	Fastest Lap (Time)	Winner
Felipe Massa (1:35.748)	Nick Heidfeld (1:35.366)	Kimi Raikkonen

Previous Winners

Year	Driver	Team
2007	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Mercedes
2006	Giancarlo Fisichella	Renault
2005	Fernando Alonoso	Renault
2004	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
2003	Kimi Raikkonen	McLaren-Mercedes
2002	Ralf Schumacher	Williams-BMW
2001	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
2000	Michael Schumacher	Ferrari
1999	Eddie Irvine	Ferrari

Predictions Competition
Fantasy F1

[Cougar]

Already!?

Nice work.

Weather? Hot & Sticky I presume?!

[Chatters]

Well according to Bon I'm allowed to post it in the week of the GP...

[Marbot]

And the weather forecast is!

Sorry Bon,but it looks like it could really affect the race and qualifying..remove post it if you like.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/153

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by Chatters

Well according to Bon I'm allowed to post it in the week of the GP...

Nice work Chatters.


If it rains it will be hard to think of any other winner than Rubens. If not, I guess the one who gets the pole.

[Down F0rce]

Looks like the Friday will be very wet at least. Fingers crossed it stays nice and wet for the whole weekend!

[Burnsie]

Originally Posted by Down F0rce

Fingers crossed it stays nice and wet for the whole weekend!

Assuming a race which starts in the wet but dries up before the end (or vice versa), do the drivers still need to run a stint on the prime dry tyre and one on the option? Or will one stint on wets and one on either compound suffice?

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by burnsie

Or will one stint on wets and one on either compound suffice?

This is correct.

The weather forecast isn't likely to bring the crowds in is it,but I guess that wouldn't be out of the ordinary anyway.

[awrb]

If its wet you can run whatever tyres you want, and don't have to worry about compounds at all.

[duke_toaster]

Timetable and British TV details
Feel free to add to first post.

Session	BBCTV schedule	Channel
Practice 1	0255-0435	302*
Practice 2	0655-0835	302*
Practice 3	0655-0805	302*
Qualifying	0900-1130	BBC1
Re-run at	1300-1430	BBC1
Race	0900-1200	BBC1

*That's according to the EPG, but things are likely to change so do not blame me if you miss recording it

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldcloc...y=Kuala+Lumpur
63%, 63% and 99% chance of rain forecast for Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively.

Bear in mind that despite the aero cull, the wet tyres are the same. If it's a right royal downpour, it's going to be like ice skating unless you have the talent.

[Ralf's Girl]

Originally Posted by duke_toaster

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldcloc...y=Kuala+Lumpur
63%, 63% and 99% chance of rain forecast for Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively.

I like those odds.

[Dutton]

Sweet. I will now re-comment on the rain, since, apparently, it was illegal to do so before I went to bed.

Could we ask for more than R2 to be a rain-soaked weekend? The ideal for me would be for pre-race sessions to just be torrentially wet (though not so wet they through the red flag), followed by a variable race.

I'd say it would be best for it to be only sensibly wet at the start (maybe even dry?), since they seem to start behind the SC now without there needing to be much wet on the ground. After starting with a track dry enough to avoid the SC, it would be class if the track conditions varied between not very wet (slicks becoming thought about) and torrential (though not torrential enough to end up with the SC for a million laps). Just make it a tyre-changing strategy fest.

Anyway, outside of that ideal, it seems like it is going to be various degrees of rain throughout the whole weekend. That is just spankingly ideal!

[Dutton]

Originally Posted by Dutton

Sweet. I will now re-comment on the rain, since, apparently, it was illegal to do so before I went to bed.

Just thought I should say: "My bad!"

I have now seen the post I thought was removed from here in another thread. The ol' brain obviously getting confused.

[Lotusonpole]

According to Jake Humphrey's blog on the BBC site, rain is predicted.
Whether it's all weekend or not remains to be seen.

I hope it is. We would see how the new aero affects the spray with all 20 cars on track. First pics from the pre-season testing gave us a taster.

At least I can stay in bed a little longer this coming Saturday and Sunday with 9am programme starts.

[johntt]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/moto...ne/7974213.stm

I think Rosberg has a point.

Either run races in the afternoon or floodlit at night. Or start them in the dusk and run into the night with floodlighting throughout like they do in the America.

[Knowlesy]

I hadn't realised they were starting Malaysia later too!

I don't mind that so much as it is a tedious event, so getting up at that time will be quite nice. And if the delay causes it to coincide with a thunder storm, all the better!

[Burnsie]

FREE PRACTICE - FIRST SESSION: FINAL STANDINGS

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Nico ROSBERG	Williams	1:36.260		27
2	Kazuki NAKAJIMA	Williams	1:36.305	+0.045	25
3	Jenson BUTTON	Brawn GP	1:36.430	+0.170	20
4	Rubens BARRICHELLO	Brawn GP	1:36.487	+0.227	22
5	Felipe MASSA	Ferrari	1:36.561	+0.301	21
6	Kimi RAIKKONEN	Ferrari	1:36.646	+0.386	18
7	Lewis HAMILTON	McLaren	136.699:	+0.439	16
8	Mark WEBBER	Red Bull	1:36.703	+0.443	23
9	Sebastian VETTEL	Red Bull	1:36.747	+0.487	25
10	Timo GLOCK	Toyota	1:36.980	+0.720	27
11	Jarno TRULLI	Toyota	1:36.982	+0.722	26
12	Giancarlo FISICHELLA	Force India	1:37.025	+0.765	20
13	Robert KUBICA	BMW Sauber	1:37.039	+0.779	18
14	Nelson PIQUET	Renault	1:37.199	+0.939	20
15	Adrian SUTIL	Force India	1:37.241	+0.981	18
16	Fernando ALONSO	Renault	1:37.395	+1.135	12
17	Sebastien BUEMI	Torro Rosso	1:37.634	+1.374	22
18	Nick HEIDFELD	BMW Sauber	1:37.640	+1.380	17
19	Sebastien BOURDAIS	Torro Rosso	1:38.022	+1.762	19
20	Heikki KOVALAINEN	McLaren	1:38.483	+2.223	7

Not the most eventful of sessions - the highlight was David and Ant answering my question on air

It was interesting to learn that McLaren were using aero-paint during the session, definitely a sign that they're struggling. Apparently Raikkonen's sudden extinguisher release was KERS-related... the Ferrari is now sitting with a "KERS - KEEP CLEAR" sign on it, and the mechanics are getting gas-masks on so they don't breathe in any halon. Raikkonen wasn't so lucky, he must have got a good few lung-fulls of it.

Anyway, I'm off for some shut-eye. Not going to bother with FP2 or FP3, so see you all for Qualifying! (Hopefully I won't be talking to myself then )

[Burnsie]

I know what you mean about the snooze button - it's my best friend and worst enemy! Sorry I can't make it into the chat room, I tried the last time but my firewall doesn't like it

Originally Posted by burnsie

Anyway, I'm off for some shut-eye. Not going to bother with FP2 or FP3, so see you all for Qualifying!

Temptation got the better of me

Quite an impressive analogy from Ant about what it's like to race here... imagine running for an hour on a treadmill, while wearing a fleece and with the air conditioning switched off.

And there's a worry that the option tyre will last two laps in this heat

[Burnsie]

FREE PRACTICE - THIRD SESSION: FINAL STANDINGS

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Nico ROSBERG	Williams	1:35.940		19
2	Mark WEBBER	Red Bull	1:36.048	+0.108	13
3	Felipe MASSA	Ferrari	1:36.089	+0.149	13
4	Jarno TRULLI	Toyota	1:36.132	+0.192	21
5	Timo GLOCK	Toyota	1:36.189	+0.249	22
6	Sebastian VETTEL	Red Bull	1:36.194	+0.254	14
7	Kimi RAIKKONEN	Ferrari	1:36.322	+0.382	14
8	Kazuki NAKAJIMA	Williams	1:36.325	+0.385	18
9	Rubens BARRICHELLO	Brawn GP	1:36.519	+0.579	19
10	Jenson BUTTON	Brawn GP	1:36.541	+0.601	17
11	Robert KUBICA	BMW Sauber	1:36.563	+0.623	18
12	Lewis HAMILTON	McLaren	1:36.657	+0.717	15
13	Heikki KOVALAINEN	McLaren	1:36.742	+0.806	13
14	Fernando ALONSO	Renault	1:37.004	+1.064	16
15	Nick HEIDFELD	BMW Sauber	1:37.026	+1.086	18
16	Nelson PIQUET	Renault	1:37.032	+1.092	18
17	Adrian SUTIL	Force India	1:37.118	+1.178	18
18	Sebastien BUEMI	Torro Rosso	1:37.282	+1.342	17
19	Sebastien BOURDAIS	Torro Rosso	1:37.322	+1.382	16
20	Giancarlo FISICHELLA	Force India	1:37.398	+1.458	19

[Satorian]

Going to skip the practice sessions on this one. Qualifying and race should be enough.

I'm really eager to see how the KERS cars stack up on a track with straights as long as Sepang.

[Burnsie]

Originally Posted by Satorian

I'm really eager to see how the KERS cars stack up on a track with straights as long as Sepang.

...and I'm eager to see how a sudden KERS boost affects the cars in the wet.

[Satorian]

Originally Posted by burnsie

...and I'm eager to see how a sudden KERS boost affects the cars in the wet.

Considering that they can allegedly implement some form of TC while KERS is being used, I don't expect sudden spins due to KERS use.

[duke_toaster]

KERS TC appears to be banned.

No car may be equipped with a system or device which is capable of preventing the driven wheels from spinning under power or of compensating for excessive throttle demand by the driver. Any device or system which notifies the driver of the onset of wheel spin is not permitted.

Release of power from any such [KERS] system must remain under the complete control of the driver at all times
the car is on the track.

I do agree with Sodemo - open source engine software and no engine map changes after the start of qualifying apart from a pit lane speed limiter coupled with a standard data logger and open access to telementary could help enforce a power limit in a system with freer engines.

[Sodemo]

All forms of traction assistance should be outlawed, engine maps, throttle help, all should go. There is no excuse now that we have the standard ECU.

I want to see wheelspin and smoke off the start line...

[MarkkuAlen86]

Originally Posted by Sodemo

All forms of traction assistance should be outlawed, engine maps, throttle help, all should go. There is no excuse now that we have the standard ECU.

I want to see wheelspin and smoke off the start line...

I think it will be an exciting weekend rain or dry. The new rules are headed in the right direction so I expect to see more overtaking from a GP that's usually average at best.

I can see Jenson winning again this weekend, although I think the others will have caught up significantly by the time the circus gets to europe.

I hope Nico has more luck than Australia, he's clearly in a very quick Williams, that even Nakajima had a good run in (until he managed his customary accident).

If there are any incidents this weekend, I'd like to see more consistant stewarding. Trulli should have been third in Australia, in my opinion.