All change, and don't you know that when you
Play at this level there's no ordinary venue!
Giles' from Buffy The Vampire Slayer brother doesn't seem to have motorsport entirely in mind as he sings his song but as it's the last Malaysian GP, and it's the closest thing I could find, you're getting it anyway. I shall miss Malaysia, it had a distinctive sense of a track, and not only because of those huge parasol things over the grandstands. I'm turning to wikipedia for more Malaysian GP facts now. Did you know that "Since 2011, the race has been officially known as the Malaysia Grand Prix."? Well, seemingly it has. Thanks, Wikipedia! It's also been part of the modern calander since 1999, when it was won by my first boss's hero, Eddie Irvine, but the addition of the Singapore race is rumoured to have damaged sales. A shame, as the Malaysian GP has seen some good races, one of which you can vote to see again if you go here, provided the race you want to see is 2001, 2003 or 2012.
2012 was really good. It rained like crazy but eventually, as is clear from the photo, it was won by Fernando Alonso's evil twin:
It's had some more recent significant moments too. Let's go back, back, back to the 2016 race and THIS happening to the lead driver:
https://www.youtube....h?v=H0XT6n4OuSY
'Oh NOOOOOOO'! Not much between despair and ecstasy indeed. Tragic or hilarious or both, this tragilarious moment would turn out to be a rather crucial point in the championship last year. Will Sunday's race be as significant? It will have to go some to top the previous round which saw Max Verstappen trapped as the unhappy meat in a Ferrari sandwich, and the bread of that sandwich (Seb and Kimi) removed from the plate by waiter-marshals and taken back into the kitchen-garage, but not before it managed to be lobbed at Ferrnando Alonso. All of which kind of left the main course, pudding and brandy and post dinner cigar free for Lewis Hamilton to take his time over. Yes, sandwiches can be starters, why not.
This race presumably sees Mercedes in much more optimistic mood, having seen the back of the Singapore track which has traditionally held some kind of mysterious, mystic hoodoo over them. But as we've seen, come Sundays, you just never know, man. Ferrari do need to make up some lost ground though and despite or maybe because of that, the team has been in bullish mood, talking up their chances:
"You [the media] assume that it's difficult. We don't," [Kimi] said.
"We go there, it's another race, another weekend, and we go there full of fight and we'll do our best."
Vettel was still optimistic about his and Ferrari's chances, as the championship enters its final six races.
"It's a pity we couldn't show our pace [in Singapore]; but we have other races ahead of us and I am sure there will be more opportunities for us," he said.
Ferrari team principal Maurizio Arrivabene insisted Ferrari "will be back".
"That was very disappointing and it was definitely not the result we were expecting," said Arrivabene.
"But it doesn't mean that the battle is all over, just that it has become more difficult.
"We proved that we have an excellent car and two great drivers.
"We guarantee that we will be fighting right to the final corner of the very last grand prix of the year."
Also promising to be fighting right to the last race, (unlike in 2015 where it kind of looked after Austin like he was already mentally jet skiing with his dog in Malibu), is Lewis Hamilton:
Hamilton insists he "definitely won't change anything".
"Because it's working," he added after claiming a surprise win in Singapore.
"It's a perfect balance of being aggressive and cautious at the same time. So, the formula works at the moment, so I'll just continue with it. Right to the last race."
So hear that, Liberty? We definitely don't need double points because we're all going to be watching, watching, watching. Right to the end. Right until the very last Ted's notebook from Abu Dhabi.
Anyway, on with the techy/practical stuff.
What are the tyres? I love tyres.
Mercedes has chosen to focus on the soft compound, on which the W08 has looked particularly strong on many circuits this year, especially for world championship leader Lewis Hamilton.
He will have five sets of the yellow-walled rubber available to use in Malaysia, along with seven sets of supersofts and one set of mediums.
Teammate Valtteri Bottas, who is bidding to overhaul Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel for second place in the championship, will forgo a set of softs in favour of an extra set of mediums.
Ferrari[/size] has chosen to focus on the softest available tyres, selecting nine sets of supersofts for Vettel and teammate Kimi Raikkonen. They will also have three sets of softs and one set of mediums available each.[/size]
(source: https://www.motorspo...sian-gp-955281/ )
So when is all this happening?
Here, from the F1 main site, all times local
Fri 29 Sep – Sun 01 Oct 2017
Practice 1
Fri
11:00 – 12:30
Practice 2
Fri
15:00 – 16:30
Practice 3
Sat
14:00 – 15:00
Qualifying
Sat
17:00 – 18:00
Race
Sun
15:00 – 17:00
Full timetable
And where's it happening?
Here!
Anyway, goodbye Malaysisa - we'll (probably) always have MotoGP. Until then, please feel free to fill this thread with exciting and diverting small stories in the run up to race day next week, and of course, weather reports.
