2013 Malaysian GP - Sepang

[Nando]

Funny how people talk of Sutil "trashing" him when in reality he probably would have finished ahead of Sutil in AUS.
But i guess most people get blinded by the "oh he was leading the race"
They are also 1-1 in Quali.
But by all means don´t let reality get in the way of your world view.

[Juzh]

Funny how people talk of Sutil "trashing" him when in reality he probably would have finished ahead of Sutil in AUS.
But i guess most people get blinded by the "oh he was leading the race"
They are also 1-1 in Quali.
But by all means don´t let reality get in the way of your world view.

Or in yours.
I aint saying Sutil's trashing him, just that atm he's better and di resta seriously needs to step it up a notch. He lost all respect he still had from me in brasil last year for sure.

[wesley123]

Honestly in the 2nd race weekend, with mixed conditions I dont think you can compare anyone, even if it werent mixed conditions. To state who is the better in the team after only 3 competitive sessions isnt great if you ask me. Let's wait half a season, and then still you have the posibility of one of the drivers having a better second part of the season.

[ringo]

Why are we acting as if Di Resta was any better than his teammates?
Sutil was always the better driver at force India, in fact Hulk made things a little easier for Di Resta when Sutil left.
Normal procedings have commence and Paul will lose to another teammate again.'
I don't think he's a special driver. He's just an ordinary steady driver with a sense or entitlement.

Sutil will smash him, that is for certain, and it comes as no surprise.

[atanatizante]

Does anybody take into account that in Q3 Vettel, on the first sets of inters, according to FIA records : http://184.106.145.74/f1-championship/f ... 0Times.pdf, did a 1:52.576, which was at least 1sec. faster then the second driver Rosberg - 1:53.898, or Massa&Aloso who both did a 1:54,0 ...

And then, on the second sets of inters, Vettel did a pole time - 1:49.674 - which was the same 1 sec. faster than the second driver Massa or Alonso who did a 1:50,6 or 7 ...

Oh yeah, Webber did a 1:50,3 on the first inters, but what I`m trying to say is the fact that Vettel and Webber were setting up their cars towards a wet race.

That`s why they did bad times in Q1 and 2, coz their setup didn`t allow them to put heat into those tyres.
And that`s why, following that logic, they were forced to put only medium tyres in Q1 and Q2 ...

[atanatizante]

Hamy on RTL, when was asking about what weather he wanted to be tomorrow in the race, he replied:
"A dry one!" So a dry setup for him and his teammate ?

[Dyanxx]

Hamy on RTL, when was asking about what weather he wanted to be tomorrow in the race, he replied:
"A dry one!" So a dry setup for him and his teammate ?

Seeing how quick Rosberg was in Q2, I assume so.

[FoxHound]

Most teams would have a dry set up commencing Q1. Red Bull have, by some margin the most usable DF, and it is this that favoured them in a wet Q3 along with some good tactics.
If they have set up for a wet race, they will suffer in a dry race as is natural.

My bet is the Ferrari's have something about them, that will be usable in either wet or dry race. As we are now seeing, everything will depend on the degradation of the Pirellis as to whom will triumph. A failure if you ask me.

[Faustino]

So Red Bull gambling that it will rain, Mercedes gambling that it won't.

Ferrari could well pick up the pieces.

[Artur Craft]

I don't believe RBR is that fast, we have seen they struggled during Q1 and Q2, it's just that rain ...

But again good job from Bianchi!

They are much faster than any other car as Vettel's time on FP3 clearly showed. Vettel did that on a very old set of mediums.

It was pretty obvious that the Red Bulls were using a single set of mediums in both Q1 and Q2(not really pushing in neither session, just enough to pass to Q3). Their plan was to qualify on Q3 with hard tires, as was the case with Lotus.

Lotus is also another car that is mighty quick. Kimi said they were heavy all the time in Friday. Still, he did 1.36.6 or 1.36.5 in a quite green track with lot's of fuel on it.

Vettel was on the right tyre at the right time, I believe if Lewis had came in for the Inters he would of easily got pole.

Please, take such kind of fanboyism away.

He was being "easily" beaten by Rosberg on dry(over 0,3s on both hards and mediums). Rosberg was also faster in the rain in the first lap. Then when the track got drier, Lewis found an okay lap while Rosberg got traffic.

Hamilton is an absolutely overated driver

[Poleman]

Please, take such kind of fanboyism away.

He was being "easily" beaten by Rosberg on dry(over 0,3s on both hards and mediums). Rosberg was also faster in the rain in the first lap. Then when the track got drier, Lewis found an okay lap while Rosberg got traffic.

Hamilton is an absolutely overated driver

Brilliant stuff! =D> Seriously?

[Artur Craft]

rosberg 36 1 in q2....wow !!!!!!!

The W04 is probably 2 seconds quicker than last year's car. Outstanding.

Not really! Don't buy things just because somebody once said it

This year, they could use DRS on the 2 long straights, so they weren't losing much on last year's cars on that. They also have faster tires this year.

Rosberg's time this year was 0,2s faster than Schumacher's last year(Mercedes' car fastest time) in qualifying.

Obviously, it's not so good to compare with different drivers as Schumacher was 0,3s faster than Rosberg last year. So Nico was 0,5s faster than himself, last year.

Factoring the faster tires(around 0,5 to 0,7s) and extracting some tenths(at around 0,5s as they could use DRS on the 2 best places), due to not using DRS on the short straights, I would say that maybe it's not even 0,7 sec faster on a track like Sepang, at least.

Why are people taking it for granted that RBR were flat out in Q1 and Q2? I don't understand this reasoning. They've done this before, in Korea 2011 - drive to a time delta in Q1 and Q2 to save tyres for the race. Just look at how easily Mark could pump the laptime after he was told his Q1 time wasn't enough.

IMO they were saving tyres in Q1 and Q2 - Vettel driving well within the car in Q1, and driving flat out on his Q1 tyres in Q2. Leaves him 2 new option tyres and 3 new primes for tomorrow. Webber and Raikkonen oddly (in my opinion) went for new options in Q2.

Yeah, it's kind of frustrating. It seems people want to believe that their favourite team's car is faster than Red Bull.

[CHT]

CHT Vettel didn't coast, he barely made it. 1:37:8 was really poor lap. Didn't you see their faces on the wall and in the garage. There is no such thing as driving to a lap delta when the gap between Q1 and Q2 was only 1.5s. Also other cars could still improve there lap time. But the other part of your comment spot on.

Vettel is the only driver that uses the same medium tires for Q1 and Q2 and it was 10 laps old by the end of that. On the other hand all other Q2 drivers were using a fresh set.

Anyone who is struggling for pace will not gamble of such qualifying strategy.

[Artur Craft]

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.

To be based on what happened. Hamilton couldn't even keep up with Rosberg's pace, so let's not even speculate if he could challenge Vettel

Because RBR and Lotus went to qualify on hard tires and setup completely for the race, I guess the way would be free for Mercedes to grab the pole. But it would be a Rosberg one or maybe the Ferraris could challenge, albeit I also think they are more suited to race pace.

Anyway, as some Mercedes fans are kind of thinking I'm picking on them, I would like to say that their car, albeit not the fastest or second fastest, is quite decent in Sepang, it seems.

I believe RBR, Lotus and Ferrari are gonna be in one level at the race while Mercedes will be on the one behind it with, maybe, FI getting close. All this assuming a dry track, of course.

Force India is a quite good car, good on them. Nobody expected such thing after winter testings but their 2013 contender is pretty solid and quick on all kinds of demands. They are fast on big straight sectors as well as on downforce demanding ones.

I must say C32 is a disaster of a car, as is the case with the Williams and the Mclaren(to some extent). I was thinking the car would be great but it turned out to be a massive failure.

I got it completely wrong with these 3 cars, I was thinking all of them would be very fast but even FI is really faster than them

I like to point out when I was completely wrong about something and wish more members will do the same

[multisync]

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.

To be based on what happened. Hamilton couldn't even keep up with Rosberg's pace, so let's not even speculate if he could challenge Vettel

Because RBR and Lotus went to qualify on hard tires and setup completely for the race, I guess the way would be free for Mercedes to grab the pole. But it would be a Rosberg one or maybe the Ferraris could challenge, albeit I also think they are more suited to race pace.

Anyway, as some Mercedes fans are kind of thinking I'm picking on them, I would like to say that their car, albeit not the fastest or second fastest, is quite decent in Sepang, it seems.

I believe RBR, Lotus and Ferrari are gonna be in one level at the race while Mercedes will be on the one behind it with, maybe, FI getting close. All this assuming a dry track, of course.

Force India is a quite good car, good on them. Nobody expected such thing after winter testings but their 2013 contender is pretty solid and quick on all kinds of demands. They are fast on big straight sectors as well as on downforce demanding ones.

I must say C32 is a disaster of a car, as is the case with the Williams and the Mclaren(to some extent). I was thinking the car would be great but it turned out to be a massive failure.

I got it completely wrong with these 3 cars, I was thinking all of them would be very fast but even FI is really faster than them

I like to point out when I was completely wrong about something and wish more members will do the same

Good call,I'll get the ball rolling..

I would like to point out you were completely wrong about something

Hope that helps