2014 Malaysian Grand Prix - Sepang

[SpecialCircumstances]

The Renault engine is hurting in power delivery affecting traction/acceleration not so much top speed.

[atanatizante]

The Renault engine is hurting in power delivery affecting traction/acceleration not so much top speed.

It`s torque rather than power or maybe it`s better to say they are still making software tweaks in order to get a softer exit out of the turns as Vettel said in Aus ...
But yeah Renault is also down on power (or just they can`t turn it to full power, yet ...) and Sky commentators was backing that in FP2 with a comparative turn 9 analysis between Vettel and Kimi

[Sevach]

In that respect, the Renault engine cannot be faulted.

Except it can you know. Everytime you step on full throttle you're losing out to the others around you. And that manifests in slower lap time.

Sector 1 will reveal everything, a short sector in which the full throttle percentage is well above the rest of the track.

Today the Renaults are 0.4+ slower there, but it could be influenced by fuel loads and engine modes, so let's wait for Qualy shall we

[SiLo]

Surprised at how close the top 5 are. Mercedes with time in the bag?

[gray41]

Id think so, if you put both Mercedes drivers sectors together you get a lap quite a lot quicker.

[SiLo]

Id think so, if you put both Mercedes drivers sectors together you get a lap quite a lot quicker.

Anyone got the sector times? Only woke up recently so missed the practices.

[SpecialCircumstances]

Surprised at how close the top 5 are. Mercedes with time in the bag?

I don't think there is really much doubt they have qual pace in the bag, the intersting thing to see this weekend is how much faster than the others they will be in the race. i.e. will the gap be smaller than Melbourne?

[motobaleno]

Id think so, if you put both Mercedes drivers sectors together you get a lap quite a lot quicker.

due to different use of electrical power by different drivers in different part of the track I think that this year this kind of reasoning could be pretty misleading

[Joie de vivre]

what about tire degredation compared to others?

[f1316]

Id think so, if you put both Mercedes drivers sectors together you get a lap quite a lot quicker.

Anyone got the sector times? Only woke up recently so missed the practices.

I haven't seen the sector times or the session yet, but it was mentioned on the BBC that both Hamilton and Alonso lost half a second in the first sector, implying that both could probably go faster given a clear lap.

But who knows. Still, encouraging thus far that it's closer than I, at least, expected (even if Merc has time in hand, hopefully it won't be the full second most were forecasting).

[heimana]

what about tire degredation compared to others?

i don't know but the pace of mercedes was 1.7sec faster than others

[gandharva]

- RBR even closer to Mercedes (Quali and Race)
- Handling of Medium tyres will be one of the keyfactors in race
- Renault engine again improved (Look at Torro Rosso Topspeeds)
- Ham used too much fuel in race sim during first laps
- Alonso looked really strong on the hard tyre

Hope it will not rain as this track is a first indication (especially sector 2) of chassis performance and will give a first impression of 2014 pecking order.

[fritticaldi]

Ferrari seem to have a different rythme

[Harsha]

Id think so, if you put both Mercedes drivers sectors together you get a lap quite a lot quicker.

Both Merc Fastest sectors
Sector 1 LH - 25.265(4th), NR - 25.311(5th)
Sector 2 NR - 33.903(4th), LH - 34.289(9th)
Sector 3 LH - 40.340(1st), NR - 40.695(7th)
FL (Combining all PB Sectors) LH - 1:39.894 , NR - 1:39.909
Over all Merc fastest lap combining LH and NR sectors - 1:39.508
Overall Fastest lap Combining all Sectors
Sector 1 VB - 25.249
Sector 2 SV - 33.658
Sector 3 LH - 40.340
Theoretical Fastest lap - 1:39.247
Source : http://www.formula1.com/results/season/ ... times.html

[Ferraripilot]

MB have quite a bit more in the bag. We will see more serious lap times during FP3. Nico and Lewis were both significantly slower through sector 2 than the car is capable is my guess.