2015 Malaysian Grand Prix - Sepang

[De Jokke]

Fuji '07: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsMoktU88GE


The race will be interesting: rain, reliability, tyre deg, etc.

[Artur Craft]

Can't believe on Lotus' aero.... STR also good
Best sector 2 from qualifying:
SECTOR 2
6 N. ROSBERG 33.508
44 L. HAMILTON 33.845
13 P. MALDONADO 33.908
55 C. SAINZ 33.982
33 M. VERSTAPPEN 34.073
5 S. VETTEL 34.077

It's worth mentioning that, contrary to Mercedes, which has low top speed(318kmh for both), Lotus almost tops it with 325kmh. STR not that bad with 315kmh, as they got Renault

I guess Lotus must be horrible at lower speed corners for them not to be quick

[ringo]

Looking at the video of rosberg slowing down to let lewis past.. I think Nico had enough time to go on the inside and let Lewis around. I don't know why he was accelerating so hard on the outside. It's like he doesn't know what move to make, as if he is flustered?
Seems very strange, almost intentional.

[Overdriving]

Haven't seen Alonso, schum or Vettel doing a 2008 Silverstone performance.

What, winning a race on a dominant car(Kovalainen was on pole) and having the benefit of no spray ahead?

These 3 have done way more, something that Hamilton never did, ie, put it on pole or win in a clearly much inferior car.

All these 3 are head and shoulders better than the guy who crashed in Monaco 2008 because couldn't keep up with Massa in the wet track

I don't think you watch F1 closely enough in the past 15 years or so. It's crazy to even suggest Hamilton is not good in the wet. Alonso is not wet weather specialist. too many spins and barrier hits to even put him anywhere with shumacher on that front.
Hamilton has proven too many times that he is one of the best. We shouldn't even be having this discussion, as it would be a waste of energy bringing up all the drives where he as tonked the field, including the holy grail that is shumacher in some really memorable races.
Sometimes to best wet races to watch are the battles in the wet. Last year at suzuka, the battle with webber and shumi at nurburg ring, battle with shumi in china.. too many examples with Hamilton to list. Let's just end this discussion here. Vettel is good in the wet as well, but he doesn't have the portofolio of Hamilton at all. He's good but he's not magical, he wont leave you scratching your head wondering if the track was dry under his tyres.
What happened today was a good lap by Vettel, but without Kimi there, and without Lewis getting a clean lap, i would say that the first run was a better indicator of the relative wet weather pace, and1.2s blows everyone else out of the water.

Except the track was evolving dramatically fast during the first run and Vettel set his first time earlier than either Rosberg or Hamilton.
During the final run, Ferrari sent Vettel out too early on an evolving track (or too late, since he missed the end of the session by not much).
The fact that Vettel managed to be less than a tenth slower in an inferior car two years in a row speaks volumes about how good in the wet he really is. That Ferrari doesn't have the downforce of the Mercedes, so in the wet it was much harder for Vettel than for the Mercedes drivers. Credit where it's due.

[tanmay324]

I hope mods will clear this thread pretty soon. The thread is for the ongoing GP for sake, not for "your fav driver" legend tales.

[Just_a_fan]

I reported it to the mods a while back because of the fanboy/hater stuff. No doubt they'll get here soon and give it a good sweep out!

[Moose]

Look, Hamilton himself said he thought the pole lap was pretty rough. He said he had a good first sector, but then lost lots of time in the other two.

Add to that that Hamilton had up until that point been substantially faster than Vettel.

These two things combined says that while Hamilton got pole (gratz to him), Vettel drove a better lap given the limitations of his car.

With that dealt with, lets talk about the race.
My bet would be that if Hamilton makes it into the first corner in the lead, he'll win. If Vettel makes it into the first corner in the lead, Hamilton will have no ability to pass the faster-in-a-straight-line Ferrari.

[bdr529]

I hope mods will clear this thread pretty soon. The thread is for the ongoing GP for sake, not for "your fav driver" legend tales.

Yes it's been quite the history lesson

[SectorOne]

Button was better than Lewis in wet races during their McLaren stint. 5 of his 8 wins @ McLaren were in wet conditions.

2010

Australia - started wet, Hamilton overtook Button in the wet, track dried up and Button won the race through fooling the whole paddock it was still too slippery.

China - Safety car, Button in the lead then Rosberg, Kubica, Petrov, Michael Schumacher, Webber and Hamilton behind.
1,5s separated Button and Hamilton at the end of the race.

Belgium - Hamilton did not spin, he went wide in Rivage but stayed on track, but Button was out of the race long before the rain even came. No real comparison can be made.

2011

Canada - The whole reason there was even an accident between Button and Hamilton was because Hamilton was faster in the wet.

Hungary - Hamilton defended from Button at the start, sold a dummy to Vettel who went wide in Turn 3 in the slippery conditions and extended his gap to over 5 seconds with Button behind him.
Hamilton then spins, Button catches up, they have a small battle where Hamilton comes out on top, then proceeds to take the wrong tires forcing him to stop again, which Button did not have to do.

2012

Brazil - I don´t remember the event in exact detail but i think it went something like this,
Hamilton in the lead, drizzle starts to come down, Button overtakes him, Hulkenberg overtakes Button, Hamilton overtakes Button then Hulkenberg, Hamilton and Hulkenberg had collision in Turn 1.

[arahman_93]

Lewis talking to martin brundle about lap.
A few funny moments.
http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/s ... the-skypad

[mikeerfol]

Trying to get this back on topic, any news on the weather for tomorrow?

[godlameroso]

Probably going to be a dry race, it's being held earlier than qualifying, so it may rain at the end of the race if it does at all. The temperature has become relatively cool for the area due to El Nino, it's usually 4-5 degrees warmer on the average. What I'm really hoping for is that there is intense sun destroying the tires, followed by a period of intense cloud cover that completely changes the grip on the track, which precludes a nasty rain storm with about 7-8 laps left. That would make it an awesome race with crazy strategies and gambles like what usually happens in Brazil. Instead I think it's going to be a tire destroying snoozefest, the only thing that will save the race is watching Raikkonen fight his way back to chasing Vettel.

[Shrieker]

Hungary 2011, china 2009. Lost count of spins.

I reported it to the mods a while back because of the fanboy/hater stuff. No doubt they'll get here soon and give it a good sweep out!

[PlatinumZealot]

Nico did not really hamper lewis lap. Lewis knew that rosberg was planning to hang back and copy his racing lines, so lewis smartly aborted his lap so that he can keep his secrets away from his main rival.

[F1NAC]

One question. After clock changes this night will race start at 8 am (CET) or 9 am(CET)?