2015 Malaysian Grand Prix thread

GwilymJJames · Post by **GwilymJJames** » 25 Mar 2015, 17:57

It's the Malaysian Grand Prix! And big news is that Alonso will be returning to the grid. Sadly, he still believes he will be lining up for Minardi alongside Enrique Bernoldi. The McLaren car will not be dispersing him of that notion

The other big questions are: Will Bottas race? Will Manor finally get that no-CD crack of the Ferrari software off of BitTorrant? Which Youngest ever.... records will Verstappen break? Will anything of interest happen in the battle for the lead? Will it rain, necessitating lengthy red flags and tedious "Kimi ice cream lol" jokes?

Still, someone will be happy.

Jean Todt wrote:Malaysia is a fantastic place, I... like to have massages in one of the traditional spas

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 25 Mar 2015, 18:51

GwilymJJames wrote:It's the Malaysian Grand Prix! And big news is that Alonso will be returning to the grid. Sadly, he still believes he will be lining up for Minardi alongside Enrique Bernoldi.

At least he's improving. By his home race he'll be thinking McLaren are favouring Hamilton. Looking at the performance of the Mercedes however I think his recovery will stall at that point

tBone · Post by **tBone** » 25 Mar 2015, 21:53

Simtek wrote:
GwilymJJames wrote:It's the Malaysian Grand Prix! And big news is that Alonso will be returning to the grid. Sadly, he still believes he will be lining up for Minardi alongside Enrique Bernoldi.

At least he's improving. By his home race he'll be thinking McLaren are favouring Hamilton. Looking at the performance of the Mercedes however I think his recovery will stall at that point

So, when we get to Singapore, Fernando will be asking on the team radio whether his team mate crashed yet

novitopoli · Post by **novitopoli** » 25 Mar 2015, 21:55

Looking forward to see how Marciello can fare in FP1.

Post by **Londoner** » 25 Mar 2015, 22:16

Oh joy, it's the annual grand prix that's scheduled on the same day as the clocks go forward in the UK. This is going to be harder to wake up correctly for than the 5am start for the Aussie GP.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 26 Mar 2015, 07:18

Looks like both Bottas and Alonso have been medically cleared to race in Malaysia.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 26 Mar 2015, 07:54

I'd like to see where Alonso pulls that shitbox. I still remember what he did in Suzuka 2001 in that Minardi.

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 26 Mar 2015, 18:49

I was almost going to say that Verstappen would race someone his dad raced with for the first time this year since Alonso is returning, but then I remembered Kimi and Jenson was in Melbourne. :oops:

Wallio · Post by **Wallio** » 26 Mar 2015, 20:15

I don't think a Manor will out-qualify a McLaren, but I do think it will be damn close......

Post by **mario** » 26 Mar 2015, 20:25

Shizuka wrote:I'd like to see where Alonso pulls that shitbox. I still remember what he did in Suzuka 2001 in that Minardi.

I doubt that he'll be able to do that much - given the amount of time spent of full throttle thanks to those long straights and the issues Honda had with overheating components in the cooler climate of Melbourne, I really can't see him troubling the back of the midfield greatly.
The only chance he might have is if it starts raining, which would at least partially offset Honda's power deficit - however, given how torrential the rain usually is in Malaysia, not to mention that the FIA will now undoubtedly be more cautious in heavy rain following Bianchi's accident, means that qualifying or the race would be stopped in those circumstances, therefore negating the advantage he could take.

Wallio wrote:I don't think a Manor will out-qualify a McLaren, but I do think it will be damn close......

I agree that, in the circumstances, Manor probably will struggle to beat McLaren given their relative lack of preparation, but they'll probably be able to get reasonably close given that they can probably afford to push their engine harder.

VirtuaMcPolygon · Post by **VirtuaMcPolygon** » 26 Mar 2015, 21:03

Oh I don't know. Manor have a very good real chance of embrassing McLaren. The issues they had were all software link issues with the engine. It's the same car as last and they have most of the staff from last that can probably prep the car blindfolded. They only stuck a lump of carbon on the nose and welded in a few support bars to pass the crash tests.

I see McLaren upping the wick a bit but it's still going to be way off the pace. Bar humbug etc ...

WeirdKerr · Post by **WeirdKerr** » 26 Mar 2015, 21:11

I shall be watching the race with some unusual object on my head....

F1000X · Post by **F1000X** » 26 Mar 2015, 22:44

East Londoner wrote:Oh joy, it's the annual grand prix that's scheduled on the same day as the clocks go forward in the UK. This is going to be harder to wake up correctly for than the 5am start for the Aussie GP.

America here. That's how we watch nearly the whole season.

Aguaman · Post by **Aguaman** » 27 Mar 2015, 02:19

Gonna have to miss the race due to World Cup Final. Keenage.

Should be a good one though hopefully, well not the race but qualifying.

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 27 Mar 2015, 02:30

I mistook the Mercedes for a Force India. The grey-based mistakes begin....

DVST8R · Post by **DVST8R** » 27 Mar 2015, 02:41

Typical Pom's, whinging that they have to get up early for 3 races a year.

Unfortunately I think we are going to see a lot of rain this weekend in Malaysia, which will mean lots of laps behind the safety car! Nothing worse than starting a race behind the safety car, then keeping it out there until the track has dried off enough for the cars to pit for dry tyres!

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 27 Mar 2015, 04:04

The Force India looks rubbish - about as good as the McLaren. I wonder how much of the car is actually new compared to 2014. We all know they've had money problems and trouble with suppliers, it makes me think that under that nice new livery the car might actually be largely unchanged. Either that or they've just totally messed up on their design, because with a Merc engine they should be way higher.

Great to see the Manor cars out doing their first laps though. Eight for each driver, and hopefully they build on that in FP2 and get a bit closer to the McLarens.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 27 Mar 2015, 07:56

DVST8R wrote:Typical Pom's, whinging that they have to get up early for 3 races a year.

Not 3 but 5: Australia, Malaysia, China, Singapore and China. More than a quarter of the season... But not as many as for the Americans, that's true.

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 27 Mar 2015, 08:24

dr-baker wrote:
DVST8R wrote:Typical Pom's, whinging that they have to get up early for 3 races a year.

Not 3 but 5: Australia, Malaysia, China, Singapore and China. More than a quarter of the season... But not as many as for the Americans, that's true.

Those of us with young children are bloody up anyway.

Nice to see Manors on track, the car looks nice when its moving.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 27 Mar 2015, 09:29

Stevens has had his best time under 107%, but Merhi needs to improve 0.5s to get under 107% if we look at FP2 times.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 27 Mar 2015, 10:12

Shizuka wrote:Stevens has had his best time under 107%, but Merhi needs to improve 0.5s to get under 107% if we look at FP2 times.

Ditto FP1 times.

pi314159 · Post by **pi314159** » 27 Mar 2015, 13:16

Nice to see the Manor cars finally running. And they look like making 107% as well, especially if Mercedes don't run the option tyres in Q1.

Post by **Nuppiz** » 27 Mar 2015, 13:52

dr-baker wrote:
DVST8R wrote:Typical Pom's, whinging that they have to get up early for 3 races a year.

Not 3 but 5: Australia, Malaysia, China, Singapore and China. More than a quarter of the season... But not as many as for the Americans, that's true.

Except Singapore is a night race so it's shown in Europe at a pretty ordinary time.

Pepsibottle1 · Post by **Pepsibottle1** » 27 Mar 2015, 14:49

Get your umbrellas ready

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 27 Mar 2015, 15:42

Pepsibottle1 wrote:Get your umbrellas ready

But I'm inside! It's bad luck!

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 27 Mar 2015, 16:25

Nuppiz wrote:
dr-baker wrote:
DVST8R wrote:Typical Pom's, whinging that they have to get up early for 3 races a year.

Not 3 but 5: Australia, Malaysia, China, Singapore and China. More than a quarter of the season... But not as many as for the Americans, that's true.

Except Singapore is a night race so it's shown in Europe at a pretty ordinary time.

I find it easy to forget that. But against that, I still need to set my alarm for Bahrain and Sochi...

Post by **Ataxia** » 27 Mar 2015, 16:42

dr-baker wrote:I find it easy to forget that. But against that, I still need to set my alarm for Bahrain and Sochi...

You have to set alarms for races that are in the afternoon in the UK?

Post by **mario** » 27 Mar 2015, 19:00

Ataxia wrote:
dr-baker wrote:I find it easy to forget that. But against that, I still need to set my alarm for Bahrain and Sochi...

You have to set alarms for races that are in the afternoon in the UK?

If Sochi is anything like it was last year, the alarm would be to wake up again after the race...

Post by **Ataxia** » 27 Mar 2015, 20:34

mario wrote:
Ataxia wrote:
dr-baker wrote:I find it easy to forget that. But against that, I still need to set my alarm for Bahrain and Sochi...

You have to set alarms for races that are in the afternoon in the UK?

If Sochi is anything like it was last year, the alarm would be to wake up again after the race...

Touché.

watka · Post by **watka** » 28 Mar 2015, 01:54

Really hoping that Manor can qualify. As seen in Australia with McLaren, when the top runners turn up the wick in quali you can be some way off the pace. Stevens looks OK but Merhi (who has had far more time in an F1 car I must add) needs to find something.

gnrpoison · Post by **gnrpoison** » 28 Mar 2015, 03:31

watka wrote:Really hoping that Manor can qualify. As seen in Australia with McLaren, when the top runners turn up the wick in quali you can be some way off the pace. Stevens looks OK but Merhi (who has had far more time in an F1 car I must add) needs to find something.

Likewise I hope they do, Stevens has been within 107% in the two practices, so I imagine as long as he was very close (say 108%) I imagine he will be allowed to race. I think Merhi has a battle, but a bit more running in FP3 and maybe they can get closer. I wonder if it would be worth them using as many of their option tyres as possible in Qualifying in ensuring they get through. I wonder how they are for spare parts though? I imagine race strategy would be try to compete 50 laps (think that is roughly 90% race distance) and collecting race data. Anything else is probably a bonus, however well done to them for getting to this stage.

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 28 Mar 2015, 07:20

And now Merhi has had a time under 107% by... 0.021s. Not bad.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 28 Mar 2015, 09:06

Stevens has a fuel pressure problem, but at least Merhi is on track.

Warren Hughes · Post by **Warren Hughes** » 28 Mar 2015, 09:23

Merhi 4 tenths outside 107% apparently; hopefully they'll let him race but I'm not confident given the noises that certain people have been making about Manor.

Post by **Miguel98** » 28 Mar 2015, 09:38

Dat rain...

And so.. How much time before Kimi ragequits with all this bad luck?

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 28 Mar 2015, 09:45

All these technical problems remind me of the 1984 Monaco Grand Prix when Murray and James kept losing picture and the viewers kept losing sound

Post by **Miguel98** » 28 Mar 2015, 10:00

I wonder why do Pirelli even built Wet Tyres.. They don't use them. It's now more than safe to drive, it's intermediate conditions. And we aren't getting Q3 yet.. God damn it stewards, GOD DAMN IT.

Warren Hughes · Post by **Warren Hughes** » 28 Mar 2015, 10:06

I'm inclined to agree, I'd like to see them at least give it a go in these conditions. Problem is if they start it they'd have to finish it, and if it turns out to be carnage and then doesn't get any better they'll have nowhere to go. As in, if they red flagged it with 5 minutes to go they'd have to wait until it could be finished, whereas if it doesn't start they can leave it till tomorrow if conditions deteriorate.

Post by **Bobby Doorknobs** » 28 Mar 2015, 10:12

SESSION WILL START AT 18:15

Well, it's about bloody time...

Post by **Miguel98** » 28 Mar 2015, 10:30

0.074. 0.074.

God damn it. Oh so close Vettel was. Hopefully he grabs the lead into turn 1 tomorrow.