2013 Malaysian GP - Sepang

[Unc1e_M0nty]

The twin DRS zones are intriguing, it's going to be crazy in the eary stages of the race when cars are still bunched up, multiple cars passing each other only to be passed on the next straight, i'm worried it might become a bit micky mouse for later though.

What do you think the tactics will be, the 2nd detection zone is about 3/4 of the way though the hairpin, i think close up on the first straight, then go deep into the hairpin, take a late apex and straighten up as quick as possible to make the pass on the 2nd straight.

[nim_peter]

I feel the top 3 qualified drivers have lesser chance of winning a race. The top 3 will be pushing each other hard, destroying the tyres, while the next 3, position 4-6 will take it easy, stick to a pace and will come up on top with lesser pit stop.

If the top teams want to make it work, they have to stick with the extra pit stop, but find race pace to negate the time spent on pits. Reminds me of Refuel era where schumi used to make quick 6 sec stops, push like hell, open 15-20 secs gap for another pit stop. Maybe we will be looking at the same thing this year, this time it is tyre instead of fuel.

This is just my observation/speculation and will accept if anyone can correct me.

[Vasconia]

Two DRS zones, well it is not a bad idea unless you put them one behind the other, then it becomes a stupid idea, you can overtake a car and then in the next straight the other car overtakes you again, its a nonsense.

60% chances of rain for Sunday, 67% for the beginning of the race, please Charlie dont ruin the spectacle again!, though I admit than sometimes it rains too much in this race.

If it rains tomorrow and then they have a dry race teams are going to struggle a lot with tyre degradation.

[hollus]

Nobody forces you to pass in the first DRS zone, you can always stay a bit behind there. But this way, if you happen to be 0.9 seconds behind after the flowing high downforce corners, you can close to ~0.3 seconds behind in the first DRS zone, then try to pass in the second.
Stupid? No way!
Does it sound gimmicky? Absolutely!

[Nando]

[thisisatest]

There is only one detection zone for the two DRS zones. That means the first driver gets two attempts per lap, or increases his lead after passing on the first section. Pass-back is unlikely.

[Unc1e_M0nty]

There is only one detection zone for the two DRS zones. That means the first driver gets two attempts per lap, or increases his lead after passing on the first section. Pass-back is unlikely.

From what i've ready there's two detection points, one for each zone.

http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2013/03/20/d ... es-sepang/

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/2919 ... -for-2013/

[Maxion]

The above inline chart is wrong, there are two DRS zones and two activation points.

[Gridlock]

here's a satellite weather pic:

http://www.accuweather.com/en/my/sepang ... ite/229918

The track is between KL and Port Dickson.

Radar: http://kiosk.met.gov.my/gen/PPI.gif

Forecasts are useless, even this close. It will rain all days. It's just timing.

[Nando]

[Juzh]

1st zone will be like a walk in a park to overtake.

[Gridlock]

Detection point 2 placed after pit entry this time, yes?

(although I guess it isn't comparable to Melbourne as there's no entire DRS section after the pit exit)

[thisisatest]

My mistake, there are two distinct zones in Malaysia. In Australia, there was only one.

[Artur Craft]

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...

It's because of the expectation they created around them. If there was no hype in winter testings, I would say that was quite a decent performance by W04. But pundits, fans(we know of which driver) were all putting Mercedes as the class of the field or, at the very least, to be thereabouts.

They are more than 0,5s slower than Red Bull in Q and people were believing this to be impossible after the glory run in Barcelona.

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

Things are not how you're assuming there. If Mercedes have much worse tyre management than their rivals, it's because they tune their tire's usage to an agressive approach.

Cars like F138 or E21 have much better tire management than W04. They could tune their car to be just as agressive as W04, with the tires, and they would be faster than W04 in a qualifying lap. They just, cleverly, design the car more biased towards the race

W03 also had some good pace when they were agressive with their tires. As soon as they setup the car to preserve more the tires, W03 became slower than Sauber, Williams and even FI on qualifyings last year

W04 is not entirely inherently fast, it's rather "tuned" to be relatively faster on Q than on race pace. Don't get me wrong here, W04 is decently quick, it's just not as quick as it might seem to some people

@korzeniow, I agree with everything you said on your previous post

[Forza]

Here is the 2012 lap telemetry of Sepang circuit provided by Renault Sport F1 & Caterham F1 Team



Live timing Friday Free Practice 1