Malaysian GP 2009 - Sepang

[freedom_honda]

i believe Rubens is starting from P9.
but im not sure if Alonso is in front or behind him.

EDIT: looks like i was wrong. My Appologies.

[ESPImperium]

And the first lap record of the year being broken by Jenson, the rules were ment to make the cars slower, but the contray has happened, loosing the grooves and cleaning up the aero has made a massive difference. Odds are that by the end of the season we will be .7 to 1.2 seconds faster than 08???

And can someone give a rough estimate on the fuel burn rate for this track so i can get my pit simulator on the go for when the car weights get published. Id recon 2.8 KG per lap, as its hotter and more humid in Sepang, thus making the engines work harder.

[mike]

again the ferrari has the fastest KERS car since kubica is not running KERS
i think they did a pretty good job since they are "KERSED"

[mike]

lap records are set in the race he cant brake a lap record before he even starts to race

[FaaB]

Hi all

Great season so far, I know its only the 2nd race but wow! The "big 2" not where they want to be, teams that were midfield/backmarkers in previous seasons doing very well and BrawnGP with Jenson in a league of their own. With so many changes, its hard to keep up with it sometimes.

Tomorrows race should be good, would be very interesting if it rains(doing my best rain dance) I can't wait. No idea what happened with Ferrari,no surprise the Mclarens are where they are. The Toyotas look good so do the Red Bull. I don't know about anyone else but its so refreshing to see the grid so close! Anyways heres to wishing for a great race tomorrow.

[MattF1]

lap records are set in the race he cant brake a lap record before he even starts to race

Correct, Button himself set a lap of 1:33.527 in 2006 but the cars are still faster than the last two seasons here.

[donskar]

Hi all

Great season so far, I know its only the 2nd race but wow! The "big 2" not where they want to be, teams that were midfield/backmarkers in previous seasons doing very well and BrawnGP with Jenson in a league of their own. With so many changes, its hard to keep up with it sometimes.

Tomorrows race should be good, would be very interesting if it rains(doing my best rain dance) I can't wait. No idea what happened with Ferrari,no surprise the Mclarens are where they are. The Toyotas look good so do the Red Bull. I don't know about anyone else but its so refreshing to see the grid so close! Anyways heres to wishing for a great race tomorrow.

"Great season so far" ??????????????????

I beg to differ. F1 has degenerated into a two-class series. At the front we have the "diffuser teams, or "A Teams" -- Brawn, Toyota, and Williams, along with RBR (Newey IS a genius). One of them will win, with the odds heavily favoring Brawn. Fighting for the scraps are the non-diffuser teams, or "B Teams" including such backmarker make-weights as Ferrari, McLaren and BMW. They can not win based on car/driver performance. They have to hope for pit mishaps, freaky weather, etc.

I guess what I see here is an exaggerated tendency to root for the "Underdog." But does your perspective change when you substitute "Honda" for "Brawn"??? What would be the tenor of these posts if Honda were dominating in name as well as in fact?

For next season I propose that a few teams be allowed to run fuel injection, while the others must employ carburetors.

Bring on IndyCar.

[roost89]

I beg to differ. F1 has degenerated into a two-class series. At the front we have the "diffuser teamsm, one of them will win, with the odds heavily favoring Brawn. Fighting for the scraps are the non-diffuser teams, including such backmarker make-weights such as Ferrari, McLaren and BMW. They can not win based on car/driver performance.

I guess it's an exaggerated tendency to root for the "Underdog." But does your perspective change when you substitute "Honda" for "Brawn"???

Bring on IndyCar.

You forgot Red Bull fighting with the Double-decker diffuser teams.

However, with this being the forecast for tomorrow:

# Tomorrow: Mixed clouds and sun with scattered thunderstorms. High 88F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
# Tomorrow night: Scattered thunderstorms. Low near 75F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.

There was a similar forecasr for today. How will the (possible) rain affect the teams? Will we see Brawn, Williams and Toytota steaming away? With more downforce, they'll be able to extract more traction from the tyres. Or will it level the playing field, with eternal back-markers like Force India coming to the front?
Who do you think is best suited to have a strategy flexible enough to cope with a sudden down-pour?

[outer_bongolia]

Hi all

Great season so far, I know its only the 2nd race but wow! The "big 2" not where they want to be, teams that were midfield/backmarkers in previous seasons doing very well and BrawnGP with Jenson in a league of their own. With so many changes, its hard to keep up with it sometimes.

Tomorrows race should be good, would be very interesting if it rains(doing my best rain dance) I can't wait. No idea what happened with Ferrari,no surprise the Mclarens are where they are. The Toyotas look good so do the Red Bull. I don't know about anyone else but its so refreshing to see the grid so close! Anyways heres to wishing for a great race tomorrow.

"Great season so far" ??????????????????

I beg to differ. F1 has degenerated into a two-class series. At the front we have the "diffuser teams, or "A Teams" -- Brawn, Toyota, and Williams, along with RBR (Newey IS a genius). One of them will win, with the odds heavily favoring Brawn. Fighting for the scraps are the non-diffuser teams, or "B Teams" including such backmarker make-weights as Ferrari, McLaren and BMW. They can not win based on car/driver performance. They have to hope for pit mishaps, freaky weather, etc.

I guess what I see here is an exaggerated tendency to root for the "Underdog." But does your perspective change when you substitute "Honda" for "Brawn"??? What would be the tenor of these posts if Honda were dominating in name as well as in fact?

For next season I propose that a few teams be allowed to run fuel injection, while the others must employ carburetors.

Bring on IndyCar.

Well, it just took couple of engineers who could read the rule book correctly. I think they should be congratulated for finding such a creative solution.

[outer_bongolia]

Though I am a big McLaren fan, I believe they should be further punished at Malaysia for their behavior. How did they think they could get away by lying about the team orders while Hamilton had said the opposite in front of the camera, especially with their image already tarnished by the whole Ferrari documents saga?

[WhiteBlue]

I understand that some Super Aguri guys actually found the loop hole. When the team was disbanded they ended up with Brawn and Toyota and Williams got a sniff of it by their technical cooperation with Toyota.

Imagine what Super Aguri would be doing if they had had a chance to keep it together. They would be in a position that Brawn is now or at least close.

If the stacked diffusors eventually are made legal it shows again that writing rules with a downforce target in mind is silly. The easiest way to deal with the problem ist simply a legal downforce limit which is monitored with sensors by the SECU. That was the intention of the rule initially and it would be pushing aero work in the right direction. Improvements would only come from better efficiency.

But the teams opposed simple rules for all and replaced it with reams of paragrafs on body work that nobody in his right mind can understand any more. So let them deal with the results of having it their way. They are shelling out to design a second car for the European tour anyway, so there is no point now to stop the thing.

As a result of the total missing of the downforce target the FIA should revert back to the original plan for next year or 2011 whichever is possible. FOTA bigshots have only to blame themselves for the mess they created.

It is nice to see some other drivers fighting at the front and the season could be one of the best in terms of wheel to wheel racing and on track action opposed to sterile processions determined by tyre chemists.

[fenix4life]

However, with this being the forecast for tomorrow:

# Tomorrow: Mixed clouds and sun with scattered thunderstorms. High 88F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.
# Tomorrow night: Scattered thunderstorms. Low near 75F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 60%.

There was a similar forecasr for today. How will the (possible) rain affect the teams? Will we see Brawn, Williams and Toytota steaming away? With more downforce, they'll be able to extract more traction from the tyres. Or will it level the playing field, with eternal back-markers like Force India coming to the front?
Who do you think is best suited to have a strategy flexible enough to cope with a sudden down-pour?

Alonso's Renault has done his quelifying with a rain setup and a full tank.

[ESPImperium]

My pit stop predictions:



Weights are confirmed here: http://www.fia.com/en-GB/mediacentre/f1 ... ent_33.pdf

[myurr]

I think in general you need to take about 3 - 4 laps off those first stops. They will all pit with a slight contingency, at least one lap, in case of problems so that they can be sent round again whilst the problem is sorted or in case the refuelling rig malfunctions and they don't take on any fuel. Also the fuel feed systems in these cars cannot completely 100% empty the tanks, they require some fuel in them in order to operate.

[ESPImperium]

I think in general you need to take about 3 - 4 laps off those first stops. They will all pit with a slight contingency, at least one lap, in case of problems so that they can be sent round again whilst the problem is sorted or in case the refuelling rig malfunctions and they don't take on any fuel. Also the fuel feed systems in these cars cannot completely 100% empty the tanks, they require some fuel in them in order to operate.

Im probably going to have to do something in my chart to refelect those contingencys. Probably add a new column or something like that with a "=-2*D26" formula or something like that.