Grand Prix Rejects

10 a.m here in Sepang,and I have 5 autographs already.I've got Kovi,Brundle,Coulthard,Senna and Damon Hill out of all people.

Next target,Kobayashi.

Straight from the horse's mouth; Ferrari have said the Lotus hospitality unit caught fire last night. Not a good sign perhaps

kostas22 wrote:Straight from the horse's mouth; Ferrari have said the Lotus hospitality unit caught fire last night. Not a good sign perhaps

Didn't it catch fire last year as well or was that the other Lotus?

Our resident Mercedes Fan Razta's reporting that it's just started raining quite heavily at Sepang with 4 laps to go in the GP2 feature race. With luck, we may be able to find him in the paddock during the Sky coverage

Right now in Sepang,a support touring car race has just finished and there is no rain,although it does look a little bit overcast on the north part of the circuit.

Metro France reporting there's a rather large stationary cell to the West of the circuit that could grow at any minute.

6 minutes of Q1 left, Massa is in the drop zone and both HRT's are inside the 107% by half a second.

I can't get the BBC radio to play on the iplayer. Is this because I'm in the wrong country, or do they not broadcast F1 on the iplayer at all?

Waris wrote:I can't get the BBC radio to play on the iplayer. Is this because I'm in the wrong country, or do they not broadcast F1 on the iplayer at all?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/5livesportsextra/p ... nres/sport

The link is on the right, it's what I'm listening to in England.

AdrianSutil wrote:

Waris wrote:I can't get the BBC radio to play on the iplayer. Is this because I'm in the wrong country, or do they not broadcast F1 on the iplayer at all?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/5livesportsextra/p ... nres/sport

The link is on the right, it's what I'm listening to in England.

Hmm, then it must be because of the country...

EDIT: Found a solution

And that's one less Toro Rosso to worry about

Pastor Maldonado having another off where nobody has ever gone off before

Wizzie wrote:And that's one less Toro Rosso to worry about

I know Vergne messed-up his quick lap, but Caterham were only 3 tenths off his time. Progress?

Oh, Maldonado.

You know Ferrari are struggling when your drivers are fighting over each other JUST TO GET INTO Q3!

Vettel's running the risk of not making it into q3

Felipe Massa P12. And soon to be P45.

Man, that was close for Seb. Another tenth either way from just one or two people and he would have had the eternal shame of missing Q3 for the first time in years

That was quite thrilling! For the last year or so now, I've regularly found Q2 more interesting than Q3, has anyone else also noticed this?

The longer this goes on, the more and more convinced I become that Rosberg has Fisichellitis

Fernando, Lewis is faster than you

Hamilton-Button front row again. Vettel gone for the harder tyre for the start.

Hamilton gets 'r done with a lap early in the session.

NATHAN MCKANE APPROVES.

Raikkonen and Webber have done a Jerez '97.

Gotta say what a session, so close at the top, could make the dash to the first corner very interesting tomorrow, Schumacher is known as a demon starter, will the red baron bring back his form and score a maiden victory for Mercedes?

sswishbone wrote:Schumacher is known as a demon starter, will the red baron bring back his form and score a maiden victory for Mercedes?

Nope. Won't even be on the podium.

AdrianSutil wrote:Hamilton-Button front row again. Vettel gone for the harder tyre for the start.

It's an interesting strategy split for Red Bull - I wonder if that is in part because Kimi is getting a grid penalty and therefore won't be in their way on the grid? It'll be interesting to see how that plays out in the race - it'll rely on Vettel getting a good start and not getting bogged down behind, say, Grosjean or Rosberg.

Mind you, I think that McLaren might be a touch nervous of Mercedes off the line - we've seen that Schumacher has been fairly aggressive off the line, and he looks like he is much more comfortable than Rosberg (and yet again Rosberg has a scrappy final qualifying lap). Speaking of Rosberg, the fact that he has twice made mistakes in qualifying and thrown away a chance to start on the second row - whereas Schumacher has delivered in qualifying - is going to give ammunition to the critics who complain that he doesn't handle being under pressure that well. At the very least, people will ask why the advantage that Rosberg had over Schumacher in qualifying last year has vanished...

The big question, though, will be over how long Schumacher's tyres will last - we saw that in Melbourne Mercedes were still suffering from high tyre wear, although both Pirelli and Mercedes claim that was a one off due to their set up choice (which they say put too high an emphasis on qualifying over race trim). I wouldn't discount the possibility that Schumacher might lead the race if he gets a good start - which has been one of his stronger areas - and can beat both McLaren's to the first corner, but he could well fall back after the first tyre stops.

Aggregate best laps from the qualifying session:

1. Hamilton 1.36.219
2. Button 1:36.368
3. Schumacher 1:36.391
4. Webber 1.36.393
5. Räikkönen 1:36.433
6. Rosberg 1:36.589
7. Vettel 1:36.634
8. Grosjean 1:36.658
9. Alonso 1:37.356
10. Pérez 1:37.388
11. Maldonado 1:37.451
12. Massa 1.37.712
13. Di Resta 1:37.769
14. Kobayashi 1:37.781
15. Hulkenberg 1:37.820
16. Senna 1:37.841
17. Ricciardo 1:37.883
18. Vergne 1.39.008
19. Kovalainen 1.39.252
20. Petrov 1:39.456
21. Glock 1:40.903
22. Pic 1:41.250
23. De la Rosa 1:42.914
24. Karthikeyan 1:43.231


Britney, the Reverend and Our Lord Kobayashi have paid for small mistakes. Vergne has simply been slow...

I must say, even though Vettel's pace hasn't been all that this weekend, starting on an opposite strategy to those at the front makes him a dark horse for the win. Unless there's rain at some point, which will throw everything out the window. Especially if there's a heavy shower during the first pit-stop phase.

Red Bull and Ferrari are lucky that Merc and Lotus are shooting themselves in the foot.

Red Bull and Ferrari are lucky that Merc and Lotus are shooting themselves in the foot.

jackanderton wrote:Red Bull and Ferrari are lucky that Merc and Lotus are shooting themselves in the foot.

More to the point, Ferrari are lucky most of the midfield are too busy tripping over each other and the fact that Alonso is unquestionably one of the best drivers out there

Wizzie wrote:

jackanderton wrote:Red Bull and Ferrari are lucky that Merc and Lotus are shooting themselves in the foot.

More to the point, Ferrari are lucky most of the midfield are too busy tripping over each other and the fact that Alonso is unquestionably one of the best drivers out there

Be careful what you say, I happen to agree with you but certain forum members like to question Alonso's ability whenever possible (NotDirri).

Not a lot of surprises today, really happy to see HRT qualify but after practice yesterday I was expecting them to. Also nice to see Schumacher finding some form, I would like to see him grab a couple of podiums or maybe even a win this year before bowing out.

One thing that continues to disappoint is the gap that still exists between Fondmetal Team Malaysia and Q2. Kovalainen was only 0.25 off Vergne but there was another 6 tenths to Senna in 17th, they're making progress but after two years I was hoping for them to be in amongst the midfield by now.

IdeFan wrote:

Wizzie wrote:

jackanderton wrote:Red Bull and Ferrari are lucky that Merc and Lotus are shooting themselves in the foot.

More to the point, Ferrari are lucky most of the midfield are too busy tripping over each other and the fact that Alonso is unquestionably one of the best drivers out there

Be careful what you say, I happen to agree with you but certain forum members like to question Alonso's ability whenever possible (NotDirri).

I will admit though that I've never really liked Alonso that much off the track but I'm starting to feel sorry for him that Ferrari keep giving him sub-standard cars to wring the neck out of.

IdeFan wrote:

Wizzie wrote:

jackanderton wrote:Red Bull and Ferrari are lucky that Merc and Lotus are shooting themselves in the foot.

More to the point, Ferrari are lucky most of the midfield are too busy tripping over each other and the fact that Alonso is unquestionably one of the best drivers out there

Be careful what you say, I happen to agree with you but certain forum members like to question Alonso's ability whenever possible (NotDirri).
.

Real smooth ^^

Anyhow, it was an interesting qualifying, it's quite obvious that the hints of the changed balance of power we saw in Melbourne weren't just a mirage. Macca looks scary strong (Luckily it's Button who seems to be stronger and not Hamilton), RB isn't AS dominant as it was last year and the choice to go for Hards can make for quite an interesting tactical play at the race for Vettel. Lotus looks strong, Penalty or no penalty Kimi is one to look out for in the race and so is Grosjean assuming he doesn't get Pastored on the first lap again. Schuey is looking mighty impressive on the Merc, I just hope Nico could get his shite together. Massa dropping off of Q2 was hilarious, the car is just BAD... Which is kinda forcing me to grudgingly aknowledge Alonso's driving skill. I still don't like him and consider him an overrated egotistical whiner.

The midfield looks tightly packed like in Melbourne, could be quite a scrabble there, especially with Perez not having to make up 15 spots just to get where he belongs. All in all, quite an interesting race coming.

Wizzie wrote:The longer this goes on, the more and more convinced I become that Rosberg has Fisichellitis

Thank you, it's good to know that I am not the only one thinking this.

Klon wrote:

Wizzie wrote:The longer this goes on, the more and more convinced I become that Rosberg has Fisichellitis

Thank you, it's good to know that I am not the only one thinking this.

I just think the Mercedes car is useless.

JeremyMcClean wrote:I just think the Mercedes car is useless.

So useless that Schumacher can haul it into third place.

F1000X wrote:

sswishbone wrote:Schumacher is known as a demon starter, will the red baron bring back his form and score a maiden victory for Mercedes?

Nope. Won't even be on the podium.

Agreed. Schumi will make such a demon start that he and Hamilton will take each other off at the first corner, starting a season-long feud, that will open the door for Jenson to win.

IdeFan wrote:One thing that continues to disappoint is the gap that still exists between Fondmetal Team Malaysia and Q2. Kovalainen was only 0.25 off Vergne but there was another 6 tenths to Senna in 17th, they're making progress but after two years I was hoping for them to be in amongst the midfield by now.

Agreed here too. At least it is <1 second, but I still hope for more for teams run by people who used to go to the same school as me...

dr-baker wrote:

F1000X wrote:

sswishbone wrote:Schumacher is known as a demon starter, will the red baron bring back his form and score a maiden victory for Mercedes?

Nope. Won't even be on the podium.

Agreed. Schumi will make such a demon start that he and Hamilton will take each other off at the first corner, starting a season-long feud, that will open the door for Jenson to win.

OR, much more likely, Schumacher starts out strongly but as his tyres wear down - and the W03 seems to get through its tyres as rapidly as the W02 - his pace is likely to fade away and he is forced into a premature pitstop. The question, though, is how much of an impact Schumacher will have had on the race by that point - McLaren will probably hope that their drivers manage to hold Schumacher off at the start and that they can be out of DRS range, leaving Schumacher to fight with the Red Bull drivers.

On a different note, curiously Bruno Senna has been discussing various strategy options ahead of the race, commenting that he believes that, contrary to Pirelli's previous comments, that a two stop strategy would be better than three stops. In effect, he seems to be implying that he will go for a two stopper - mentioning how good his car is at managing its tyres and discussing a two stopper in the same sentence - and that sort of candid comments seems a little odd given how most teams are normally so secretive about their strategies. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/98344