2013 Malaysian GP - Sepang

[Hail22]

Not sure if this has been posted already:


IMO, this weekend we'll see oPP or oOPP as possible strategies.

Yes I posted this two days ago....

The weather predictions are changing every 12 hours...weird.

[Faustino]

http://translate.google.com/translate?s ... l=en&tl=en

I fully expect Mercedes to be more competitive. The characteristics of the Melbourne track didn't really utilise the benefits of their FRIC system (explained in the article above)
Corners pulling more G's will see the W04 come into it's own.

I believe they could have had a better race in Australia had they chosen a better strategy. Lewis or Nico were hardly going to criticize the team afterwards.

Has anyone got the latest reports on the weather for the weekend?

[Hail22]

Has anyone got the latest reports on the weather for the weekend?

Ask and you shall receive:

http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/S ... a+MYXX0031

[Faustino]

Has anyone got the latest reports on the weather for the weekend?

Ask and you shall receive:

http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/S ... a+MYXX0031

Thanks! So wet practice sessions, dry qualifying and then wet race.. I can see Alonso doing well here

[clipsy1H]

quali:

Vettel
Webber
Alonso
Kimi
Lewis
Rosberg
Massa
Grosjean
Button
Hulk

[Hail22]

[korzeniow]

Race:
- Alonso
- Vettel
- Massa
- Hamilton
- Rosberg

(For Webbers sake, I so hope I'm wrong)

I would live to hear your reaseons as to why you put Lotus drivers outside of top 5 ... unless it is you wish list

[NathanOlder]

But with their decent driver, on a damp drying track (which Hulkenberg excels in) The C32 was 2 seconds slower than the W04. I dont think the C32 will be fighting with the W04. Especially when Lewis and Ross say their car will be better in sepang.

. Hulk got a fluke pole under those conditions but that's all. It doesn't automatically prove anything.

Hulk didnt fluke anything in those conditions in 2010. Think for 1 minute. 2 races ago, similar conditions, in a different car Hulk was infront of Button, and fighting with Lewis for a win. Far from a fluke buddy

[Artur Craft]

Mercdes communication strategy since 2011 atleast:
"Everything is fine. we found the problems and neutralised them. next time we'll be much stronger"
http://i0.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/ori ... ad-bob.gif

Yes, I already said this as well

If anything, I'm only expecting Mercedes to finish even worse in Sepang

It will still take a while but the hype and positivism around this team will gradually decrease

So far, everything with the W04 and Hamilton has been very positive.

Only if you want to see it that way.

From all the hype they had of being the pace setters after a glory run winter testing, it was really an embarassment to see them so far behind Red Bull in Q and ridiculously slower on race pace than Top 3

Me and some other members never bought the Mercedes glory run during the last days of winter testings, we said the car didnt feature any special pieces on it and that it would be VERY strange if they were the fastest car. We obviously got attacked by some hardcore fans which overlook the technical side of it.

It's no surprise for us, who never believed in them, that W04 seems merely as a slightly improved W03

Hulk didnt fluke anything in those conditions in 2010. Think for 1 minute. 2 races ago, similar conditions, in a different car Hulk was infront of Button, and fighting with Lewis for a win. Far from a fluke buddy

You just cherry picked 2 out of many situations where the track resembled Australia Q2 and where Hulk was very good. In all the others, he was nothing special.

As I said before, I'm still expecting a good performance from C32 in Sepang. If it proves me wrong, then I'll accept the failure of it's design

[godlameroso]

...Sigh i believe I spelled out the weather already, wet p1 & 2 dry p3 q123 and race.

[Philledan]

From all the hype they had of being the pace setters after a glory run winter testing, it was really an embarassment to see them so far behind Red Bull in Q and ridiculously slower on race pace than Top 3

since when is qualifying 3rd behind the redbulls an embarassement? Even though they had some fast times during testing, i dont recall mercedes bragging about it, or stating they have the best or a better pacakage than their rivals. For a team that had such a disappointing last 3 years, for hamilton to qualify 3rd and finish the race 5th, aint all that embarassing, nor ridiculous in my eyes...

[NathanOlder]

From all the hype they had of being the pace setters after a glory run winter testing, it was really an embarassment to see them so far behind Red Bull in Q and ridiculously slower on race pace than Top 3

since when is qualifying 3rd behind the redbulls an embarassement? Even though they had some fast times during testing, i dont recall mercedes bragging about it, or stating they have the best or a better pacakage than their rivals. For a team that had such a disappointing last 3 years, for hamilton to qualify 3rd and finish the race 5th, aint all that embarassing, nor ridiculous in my eyes...

Dont worry about it mate. It seems there are many people about who just want to slam teams and never accept they make any progress. Mercedes showed their hand on light fuel in Barcelona. As did Ferrari. No one else really did, When it comes down to total speed and driving flat out for the fastest times, Mercedes were Faster than Ferrari, Lotus, Mclaren, Sauber, Force India, Williams, Toro Rosso, Caterham & Marussia. Not bad going if you ask me.

The fact of the matter is, the W04 IS faster than the F138, MP4-28 & E21. Its only down to running on heavy fuel and getting the best from the tyres over 20+ laps where the Ferrari & E21 excel.

F1 should be about smashing lap recors lap after lap. Not endurance racing. Bring back the Bridgestone

[stefan_]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPCNGo02VKc[/youtube]

[korzeniow]

Me and some other members never bought the Mercedes glory run during the last days of winter testings, we said the car didnt feature any special pieces on it and that it would be VERY strange if they were the fastest car. We obviously got attacked by some hardcore fans which overlook the technical side of it.

It's no surprise for us, who never believed in them, that W04 seems merely as a slightly improved W03

Exactly. The biggest BS were And Gary Anderson's fuel adjusted times. Hyping up Mercedes to be class of the field. Sky team added to that as well.

I always though there is consensus that long runs give the best picture when it comes to guess the relative pace in testing. But this winter the media focused only on one lap pace. And that's only because of the Hamilton, there is no better explanation really.

I remember after Australian race Builier was interviewed by Sky team. Surprised Herbert asked him where Lotus pace came from all of the sudden.

Boullier responded with some diplomatic talk of course, but even I know they had the good race pace and I'm not paid to vioce my opinions. That just shows you how much media focused on hyping up their favourites that the true picture of what's going on slipped their attention.

[Phil]

Race:
- Alonso
- Vettel
- Massa
- Hamilton
- Rosberg

(For Webbers sake, I so hope I'm wrong)

I would live to hear your reaseons as to why you put Lotus drivers outside of top 5 ... unless it is you wish list

Good question. It's neither a wish list, nor a prediction based on any analysis. I think races usually show that any factors can influence them and cause a freak result. I think Lotus is strong, possibly the favorite, but I'm playing a bit devils advocat here, just for the sake of participating in the fun in making a prediction. I hope that Mercedes will be stronger - I do think Mercedes could be stronger. Mercedes pushing Lotus out of the top 5 is probably less likely than the otherway around, now that I think about it, but as I said, it's more of a guessing thing. Perhaps I see Lotus as the dark-horse 'who got it right in Melbourne' but could easily 'get it wrong' on a different track, where as Mercedes, Redbull and Ferrari are more within the same ballpark in how they use their tyres and will have learned something valuable from the last race.

Besides, it's more fun to guess if you're going against the odds, which is probably why you're asking me in the first place.