2013 Malaysian GP - Sepang

[raymondu999]

What I think Vettel was actually trying to do, and it nearly backfired so he was very lucky to make it through, was to drive Q1 to a target time to not take too much life out of that set of tyres; and then use the same set for Q2 taking the rest of the life out of them. He'd then use another set for Q3.

That way he'd have an extra set of prime and option tyres available for the race, so even if he had to do an extra stop then he would have been able to push the tyres and try to overtake on track.

Precisely what I've been trying to say.

[SilverArrow10]

Second time Rosbergs says that pole was possible. Maybe it's time to show that it's possible rather then just talk about it.

Problem is when you have Vettel in the field. Nowhere near the possibility of taking pole so what he needed the most was a bit of rain and obviously it starts pouring down and RBR went from ok-ish to very quick.

Note that in Q1, Rosberg and Hamilton ran the hard compound and everyone else (near them) ran Medium.
That is pretty impressive.

I think pole was very possible today for mercedes and in the future they are bound to get there. Hamilton is known to be the only man that can really challenge Vettel on a saturday. With a competitive car under him that is.

[godlameroso]

Ferrari have historically been very fast around sepang, and from what I've seen so far I'm thinking it's going to be between them and Mercedes.

[Nando]

Lotus is the weird one.. you could hear Kimi saying he could not believe how the car could change so much.

[isomax89]

For tomorrow I think the race is a Vettel/Alonso affair.
But Kimi can at least gain the podium

This is a summary of the P1/P2/P3
most significant Long Run:
Kimi

• 1 1:37.003
  2 1:37.332
  [3 1:47.216]
  4 1:37.461
  5 1:38.230

• 1 1:38.758
  2 1:39.671
  3 1:39.570
  4 1:40.152
  5 1:40.307

• 1 1:42.812
  2 1:42.704
  3 1:40.246
  4 1:40.050
  5 1:40.591

Vettel

• 1 1:41.873
  2 1:42.487
  3 1:42.486
  4 1:42.687
  5 1:43.214
  6 1:43.593
  7 1:45.105
  8 1:45.381

• 1 1:43.994
  2 1:43.732
  3 1:43.343
  4 1:43.519
  5 1:43.464
  6 1:44.519
  7 1:44.092
  8 1:44.791
  9 1:44.868
  10 1:45.800

I think this run is done with a lot of fuel on board

Alonso
This is not a long run from Alonso but from Massa. I didn't know why but Alonso didn't focus on the long run

• 1 1:42.072
  2 1:42.736
  3 1:42.93
  4 1:43.049
  5 1:43.183
  6 1:43.933

For this i think that Vettel can do a good race.
Kimi can rise from the 10 position
Ferrari have a good tyre degradation and for this Alonso can fight for the victory

[kooleracer]

I got my 5 quid on Lewis and Rosberg pace is fast, long run was really impressive more laps then Red Bull with quicker times then Red Bull. If Lewis or Rosberg win i could win 5 * 15 for lewis and 5 * 25 for Nico. I really feel that Merc wil dominate the Race tomorrow. But you never know.

[Hamilton] [Rosberg]
2 2 lap 1:43.787 2 lap 1:44.164
3 3 lap 1:43.766 3 lap 1:42.622
4 4 lap 1:43.510 4 lap 1:43.619
5 5 lap 1:43.513 5 lap 1:43.441
6 6 lap 1:42.881 6 lap 1:43.389
7 7 lap 1:42.977 7 lap 1:43.167
8 8 lap 1:43.014 8 lap 1:42.894
9 9 lap 1:43.342 9 lap 1:43.047
10 10 lap 1:43.506 10 lap 1:42.947 +0.559
11 11 lap 1:43.957 11 lap 1:44.068 -0.111
12 12 lap 1:44.397 12 lap 1:43.653 +0.744
13 13 lap 1:45.768 13 lap 1:43.800 +1.968
14 14 lap 1:53.821 pit in 14 lap 1:45.886
15 15 lap 9:36.490 out lap 15 lap 1:45.366

[Webber] [Vettel]
2 2 lap 1:44.486 2 lap 1:43.994
3 3 lap 1:43.670 3 lap 1:43.732
4 4 lap 1:43.640 4 lap 1:43.343
5 5 lap 1:43.411 5 lap 1:43.519
6 6 lap 1:43.835 6 lap 1:43.464
7 7 lap 1:44.077 7 lap 1:44.519
8 8 lap 1:44.356 8 lap 1:44.092
9 9 lap 1:44.760 9 lap 1:44.791
10 10 lap 1:45.769 10 lap 1:44.868
11 11 lap 1:48.403 11 lap 1:45.800

[Vanja #66]

Note that in Q1, Rosberg and Hamilton ran the hard compound and everyone else (near them) ran Medium.
That is pretty impressive.

Both Ferraris as well... Others were probably trying to save Hard tires for the race.

[ferlonso]

Second time Rosbergs says that pole was possible. Maybe it's time to show that it's possible rather then just talk about it.

Problem is when you have Vettel in the field. Nowhere near the possibility of taking pole so what he needed the most was a bit of rain and obviously it starts pouring down and RBR went from ok-ish to very quick.

Note that in Q1, Rosberg and Hamilton ran the hard compound and everyone else (near them) ran Medium.
That is pretty impressive.

Actually apart from Mercedes, only Ferrari used the hards to make it into Q2. Taking that into account and Alonso's Q1 laptime only a few hundredths down on Rosberg, it would have been interesting to see where Ferrari would have ended up if Q3 would have been completely dry, especially after Rosberg said he had pace for pole.
We shouldn't take Q2 times into account though because Rosberg set his 1:36.190 on a completely dry track while the Ferraris lost grip on the slippery final hairpin and ended 6 tenths down.

[kooleracer]

Note that in Q1, Rosberg and Hamilton ran the hard compound and everyone else (near them) ran Medium.
That is pretty impressive.

Both Ferraris as well... Others were probably trying to save Hard tires for the race.

Wont make any difference tomorrow tough as anyone has enough sets left. Merc could do a 3 stop by the look of things Red Bull was talking about 4 stopping for tomorrow. Looking at there long run that could really happen.

[stefan_]

● Qualifying radio communications

[Nando]

Actually apart from Mercedes, only Ferrari used the hards to make it into Q2. Taking that into account and Alonso's Q1 laptime only a few hundredths down on Rosberg, it would have been interesting to see where Ferrari would have ended up if Q3 would have been completely dry, especially after Rosberg said he had pace for pole.
We shouldn't take Q2 times into account though because Rosberg set his 1:36.190 on a completely dry track while the Ferraris lost grip on the slippery final hairpin and ended 6 tenths down.

True, i checked the session again and noticed Alonso was on Hards too.

Yea i wonder if not one of the Merc drivers would have taken pole had it been completely dry.
They look very good on race pace as well.

[dren]

Freaking rain! It looked like a pole for Mercedes before the rain hit. Ughhhh. Well, bring on the race! The Mercedes is genuinely fast here. Let's see how well those tires hold up.

[stefan_]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Suxv15Gs7iM[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMycjnHmv3M[/youtube]

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

[Nando]

Can you be anymore distracted then Ted Kravitz?

[adam2003]

Whats the weather for tomorrows race?