90 replies to this topic

[hello86]

Post your comments ;)

[Yellowmc]

Ferrari are comfortable at the top.

[Owen]

Ferrari - might win this race. There you go. What a brave prediction.

[kar]

Said it in the Live forum, but just to reiterate - Alonso's move on Sutil was frankly outstanding, right up until the moment Sutil went all David Coulthard on this nose.

Don't really care much for Alonso personally, and until this year never really rated his driving talent up there with the truly great drivers. But this year has forced me somewhat to change my opinion.

Fred:

[AFCA]

I believe Raikkonen's problem in the morning was related to the gearbox, we'll find out...

[Beyond]

Ferrari are clearly in front, they must win.

[rodlamas]

Ferrari on the pace, no clues on who's faster Massa or Kimi, it seems Massa has been testing with less fuel than Raikkonen.

Mclaren seems to be quite close (I think they were running slightly heavier fuel loads than Ferrari). Hamilton will challenge for the win along the Ferraris, Kovalainen will settle for top3-top5.

Frankly I would like to see some major strategy changes this weekend. I'm just tired of the 20-20-15 laps stints at all the races for the teams that qualify on top 10...

Why on earth a team like Toyota doesn't try a 3-stopper with a joker pole-position?

[hobbes]

Originally posted by AFCA
I believe Raikkonen's problem in the morning was related to the gearbox, we'll find out...

did it have to do anything with Kimi's incident today?

[rodlamas]

Originally posted by AFCA
I believe Raikkonen's problem in the morning was related to the gearbox, we'll find out...

Did Ferrari change the gearboxes in between the Australian and Malaysian GP's?

[D A]

Originally posted by rodlamas


Did Ferrari change the gearboxes in between the Australian and Malaysian GP's?

This happend on a friday so it doesn't really matter. Who knows how old the gearbox used was.

[inca_roads]

Originally posted by kar
Said it in the Live forum, but just to reiterate - Alonso's move on Sutil was frankly outstanding, right up until the moment Sutil went all David Coulthard on this nose.

Don't really care much for Alonso personally, and until this year never really rated his driving talent up there with the truly great drivers. But this year has forced me somewhat to change my opinion.

Fred:

I disagree that it was an outstanding move. I don't think an ill-advised and unecessary lunge up the inside in a practice session is anything to write home about. I do agree he's been driving well this season though.

[MikeTekRacing]

alonso was nowhere near as close to passing as massa was in australia.
however, since it was only practice i expected sutil to move over, they were not fighting god dammit

[D A]

In other news, Kimi got caught for speeding the pitlane at the end of FP1, speed beeing 71.6 km/h. He got a fine of €2400.

[Matt Hughes]

I still reckon Raikkonen's got something up his sleeve when it comes to Massa. Will be interesting to see how it all ends up .

[Yellowmc]

Originally posted by Matt Hughes
I still reckon Raikkonen's got something up his sleeve when it comes to Massa. Will be interesting to see how it all ends up .

Massa will get pole. Kimi will beat him in the race.

[AFCA]

- Sutil: ''Whilst driving behind me, Alonso had a problem with is brakes. His rear end broke out and he had to drive alongside me on the inside. On the straight the distance between us was still big enough. And when you turn in there's no chance to looking in the mirror. He told the exact same thing to the officials and more or less apologized.''

''It was a shame that I couldn't complete my fast lap due to the incident. It would have been important to see how the tyre use would have worked out.''

BTW, Sutil thinks to have found a way of getting the soft tyres to work coming into the weekend.

- Glock about the wind, the sand and the slippery conditions: ''During the February test the sand was gone quickly, although only four cars were on track then. Now (instead) there are 20 as well as cars from GP2 and the Porsche Supercup.''

''In testing I was once caught out by a big blow of wind coming from the side, I abruptly lost the car then.''

Willis: ''For us the wind should be very good. The fin on the engine cover basically works like a weather vane high on top of a roof. Its big plate always turns with the wind. We should be doing better in this weather, BMW Sauber a bit worse on the other hand. It could be that the field shuffles in more.''

Rampf feels it's still too early to say: ''We haven't had a real comparison yet. There are three days of wind now. Then we'll know where we are regarding this matter.''

Some think that the deep part in the middle of the F1.08 front wing causes turbulent vortexes on both sides of the wing, which would consequently disturb the airflow at the underside of the car making the car unpredictable to drive. Rampf contradicts: ''I don't think that one could relate that to just one part of the car. When the speed of a crosswind is 20 km/h, then the gust of wind doesn't fully hit the car with 20 km/h. It's always a combination of how two vectors (the airflow over the car and the crosswind) relate to each other.''

''And when you have a tailwind of 20 km/h at one spot and a headwind of 20 km/h somewhere else, then that's a difference of 40 km/h. Subsequently the aerodynamic balance changes as well as the downforce level.''

Willis still thinks RBR has an advantage: ''There actually isn't a real tailwind - rather a more weak headwind, caused by the high speeds, with corresponding turbulences behind the engine cover. So our part should still be working well. The wind makes us a bit stronger, BMW should fall back.''

[Johny Bravo]

Felipe's 1.4s over the next non-ferrari is certainly promising.

[Ploert]

If you analyze these times

http://www.fia.com/r...2_Lap_Times.pdf

you will see that KR did his best time on the third lap of an eight lap stint. In the first two laps a double yellow was flagged because of Hamilton's crash. His tires weren't in the best shape anymore. Massa did his best time on a three lap Qual-sim. So the gap of 0,9 s isn't completely representative.

[Rambazamba]

- Ferrari in front, only question is by how much
- McLaren solid 2nd
- BMW: as already said here, they might struggle a bit with the wind, we´ll see. But they have enough room to Williams and Red Bull, so I think they´ll be solid 3rd fastest here
- Williams, Red Bull and maybe Alonso fighting for 4th behind BMW.

[rodlamas]

Originally posted by Ploert
If you analyze these times

http://www.fia.com/r...2_Lap_Times.pdf

you will see that KR did his best time on the third lap of an eight lap stint. In the first two laps a double yellow was flagged because of Hamilton's crash. His tires weren't in the best shape anymore. Massa did his best time on a three lap Qual-sim. So the gap of 0,9 s isn't completely representative.

Massa said the gap was useless as he and Kimi had been trying different things.

[Mika Mika]

Originally posted by Rambazamba
- Ferrari in front, only question is by how much
- McLaren solid 2nd
- BMW: as already said here, they might struggle a bit with the wind, we´ll see. But they have enough room to Williams and Red Bull, so I think they´ll be solid 3rd fastest here
- Williams, Red Bull and maybe Alonso fighting for 4th behind BMW.

Looking at the times onlt the Ferrari ran in the low 1:33's the McMerc in the mid to hi 1:33's and the BMW in the mid to low 1:34's

[Tigershark]

Did anyone catch the quote by Peter Windsor on Coulthard's early pitcommunication? The SPEED commentators were discussing it and Peter interrupted saying something along the lines of 'What's he's basically saying is that the car is %&#@" (not an accurate quote!).

[HoldenRT]

Originally posted by kar
Said it in the Live forum, but just to reiterate - Alonso's move on Sutil was frankly outstanding, right up until the moment Sutil went all David Coulthard on this nose.

Don't really care much for Alonso personally, and until this year never really rated his driving talent up there with the truly great drivers. But this year has forced me somewhat to change my opinion.

Fred:

It was a driver error. : He lost control under braking and it was a "oh **** I'm too hot need to turn to the inside to avoid hitting the car infront". It wasn't an overtaking move. The way he caught it was pretty impressive however.

[Fatgadget]

Originally posted by D A
In other news, Kimi got caught for speeding the pitlane at the end of FP1, speed beeing 71.6 km/h. He got a fine of €2400.

LOL I bet he had that loose change in his overalls.

[f1rules]

ferrari miles ahead, easy one-two for them, if massa doesnt **** up

[vaavu]

How refreshing to have a discussion that does not involve spanking, Nazis, or sex orgies!

I just hope that Ferrari is not as strong as they seem at this point... Otherwise it will be a rather boring race, which would mean that the void is filled with further gossip about the above things.

[Owen]

Originally posted by vaavu
How refreshing to have a discussion that does not involve spanking, Nazis, or sex orgies!

I just hope that Ferrari is not as strong as they seem at this point... Otherwise it will be a rather boring race, which would mean that the void is filled with further gossip about the above things.

yeh, potential for a snooze-a-thon race.

[AFCA]

The stewards Radovan Novak (Czech Republic), Surinder Thatthi (Kenya) and Mazen Al Hilli (Bahrain) were happy with Alonso's explanation, he won't be penalized.

Alonso is still unhappy: ''There's bad traction, bad stability under braking, the car responds much too little on changes to the set-up: a day to forget.''

[Just]

Originally posted by Tigershark
Did anyone catch the quote by Peter Windsor on Coulthard's early pitcommunication? The SPEED commentators were discussing it and Peter interrupted saying something along the lines of 'What's he's basically saying is that the car is %&#@" (not an accurate quote!).

I assume you want what DC said? It was something to the effect that the changes that they've made to the car have meant that the car doesn't feel very stable "aerodynamically". And yeah, Windsor just said something like "that's Coulthard's diplomatic and eloquent way of saying that the car is a pile of crap".

[Archangel]

Excesive flexible front wing ??

This capture is from MP4-23 Kovalainen car today at free practice.

[abc]

Originally posted by Rambazamba
- Ferrari in front, only question is by how much
- McLaren solid 2nd
- BMW: as already said here, they might struggle a bit with the wind, we´ll see. But they have enough room to Williams and Red Bull, so I think they´ll be solid 3rd fastest here
- Williams, Red Bull and maybe Alonso fighting for 4th behind BMW.

Again someone is totally omitting team Toyota. Their (especially Trullis) laptimes were much better than laptimes of overhyped Williams, RBRs. Alonso was nowhere - i.e. the whole 1sec. off Toyota.

[Dragonfly]

I also noted that the director showed the bridge wing several times and won't be surprised if they are told to place a support there Renault style.

[Rambazamba]

Originally posted by abc


Again someone is totally omitting team Toyota. Their (especially Trullis) laptimes were much better than laptimes of overhyped Williams, RBRs. Alonso was nowhere - i.e. the whole 1sec. off Toyota.

Yeah, you´re right. Trulli looked also very good. After reading the statements of Alonso, they might struggle to get in Q3 here.

[Phucaigh]

Originally posted by abc


Again someone is totally omitting team Toyota. Their (especially Trullis) laptimes were much better than laptimes of overhyped Williams, RBRs. Alonso was nowhere - i.e. the whole 1sec. off Toyota.

Trulli's long run pace looks very close to BMW.

[mclarensmps]

Pretty sure this will be a Raikkonnen walk. Massa will probably make a mistake somewhere down the line (but not DNF), and gift second place to one of the McLarens. Provided nothing goes wrong with the Mclarens or their drivers, they will probably damage limit to score a podium at least. The closest battle seems to be BMW vs Trulli.

Having said all that, I'm hoping for an (unlikely) front row start for Lewis and good pace off the line to throw a wrench into the works of the Ferrari plan.

[HoldenRT]

That's some nice flex on that video but it's been pretty much like that since it was first introduced at Spain last year? Or were they told to change it at some point..

This is what Alonso's incident reminded me of except of course it wasn't that bad and he caught it pretty well.

http://lolf1drift.ytmnd.com/

[MortenF1]

yep, Toyota very definately fourth fastest. As expected totally though, I have to say. A fine car to start with, so added with a small advantage from testing-experience, they were always going to be in that spot, and comfortably so.

Between BMW and McLaren, looking closely at the times, my impression from watching live-timing with one eye is unchanged; they're evenly matched. I'd like to see Kubica on an aggressive forward biased strategy, gunning for pole which he's capable of in that configuration*, together with Trulli on a 10/10's lap....

Between Renault, Williams and Red Bull it's very close. I had expected Williams to head this group but I'm not sure that's the case, but taking Rosberg's comments into account, maybe they are, and have just done their programme with more fuel than the other two teams. STR is probably right on this group's tail.
Webber did a really good stint, so I'm leaning more towards the RB4 being quickest in this group.

I included Button in my GTG's for this round - maybe a bit optimistic, but there's nothing wrong his pace on a long run - high 34's when the rest of the midfield were in the low 35's.


* but he will have to beat a fired-up Massa....

[ferrariwonagain]

Ferrari clearly the fastest car, little by little that stupid smile on Hamilton's face - after Australian gp - is disappearing.

[Just]

Originally posted by race addicted
Webber did a really good stint, so I'm leaning more towards the RB4 being quickest in this group.

Really? From the lap times of his that I saw, I thought he was a bit off the pace. I really hope you're right!

[MortenF1]

Webber ran one very, very good stint, in the high 34's. DC was a couple of tenths off, but quicker on his q-sim. Then again he did two, and the better one late in the session, while Webber did just one and much earlier.

[rodlamas]

Originally posted by ferrariwonagain
Ferrari clearly the fastest car, little by little that stupid smile on Hamilton's face - after Australian gp - is disappearing.

Nothing to expect from you other than your constant changes of nickname (SFMSKRFM, JONZO123 etc)...

Let's see who makes it first to the flag on Sunday.

[mursuka80]

Originally posted by rodlamas


Nothing to expect from you other than your constant changes of nickname (SFMSKRFM, JONZO123 etc)...

Let's see who makes it first to the flag on Sunday.

kimi wanna make bitch bet about it?

[rodlamas]

Originally posted by mursuka80


kimi wanna make bitch bet about it?

It depends...

Ferrari looks to be the best car, but it takes a single mistake in qual to destroy your whole race as we're going to see no overtaking manouvers just like last year (unless DC uses a different strategy).

[HoldenRT]

You don't remember Heidfeld brilliant overtake on Alonso? This is one of the better tracks for overtaking but of course your not going to see Ferrari's get overtaken or any car thats faster then those behind.

[Youichi]

Originally posted by Archangel
Excesive flexible front wing ??

This capture is from MP4-23 Kovalainen car today at free practice.

Nive video, but doesn't show us any wing flexing. Wing flex is measured on the endplates which are not shown, so how can we tell if its excessive ?

Although I'm more interested in the way the high wing appears to flatten out at speed.

---


Does anyone else think Nakajima is going nice and quickly ? he's much closer to Nico than many people were predicting.

[rodlamas]

Originally posted by HoldenRT
You don't remember Heidfeld brilliant overtake on Alonso? This is one of the better tracks for overtaking but of course your not going to see Ferrari's get overtaken or any car thats faster then those behind.

Alonso made a mistake on the last corner which made him compromise his approach into turns 1-2-3. Then Heidfeld had a better exit out of 2-3 and was able to get a tow and overtake him.

Had Alonso not make his mistake, Heidfeld would have never overtaken him.

[CWeil]

Youichi, Nakajima has been fantastic. Don't forget that it's his rookie year and Rosberg is in his third. He'll have some goo results this year.

[HoldenRT]

What about Nico on Heikki, Webber on Fisi (even with the fuel cap open), there was quite a few even forgetting DC's aggressive strategy.

The big thing thats helped two years in a row has been a headwind down the main straight which has increased the slipstream effect. Without it, maybe you are right.

[Dragonfly]

;)

[Jerome]

Originally posted by vaavu
How refreshing to have a discussion that does not involve spanking, Nazis, or sex orgies!

I just hope that Ferrari is not as strong as they seem at this point... Otherwise it will be a rather boring race, which would mean that the void is filled with further gossip about the above things.

Yeah, there's no fun in watching Ferrari whip the... spank the... beat... christ! I lost my innocence!;)