2015 Malaysian Grand Prix - Sepang

[GPR-A duplicate2]

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.

I like it when people bear those forgone conclusions. There are way too many instances where Lewis overtakes in places, where no one expects an overtake. Anyway, the Mercs have an upper hand over Ferrari in the sector 2, which means, right before the back straight starts, a Merc can be at the tail of Ferrari and then the two back to back DRS zones and importantly, Malaysia has never been a difficult track for overtakes.

[giantfan10]

let me correct your whole post for you
mercedes is running more downforce... period!
they have a more powerful engine and can afford to run more downforce with the added drag being negated to some extent by engine power... the end
stop with this mercedes super chassis nonsense....

At risk of going off topic again, how does one separate "chassis" from "downforce" in an aero-dominated series? If a car is quicker in twisty bits then that is going to be some combination of aero-grip and mechanical grip along with engine tractability. How do you say that one car is doing well because it has a better "chassis" but another is doing well purely because it can strap on more downforce because it has a good engine? If both are equally quick over a lap there is no way for an external observer to distinguish between the two. However, the fact that tyres aren't being worn out at a silly rate suggests that the car's chassis isn't bad at all.

Looking at the onboard footage (the only way an external observer can get "in to" the car), the Mercedes appears to be easy to drive smoothly and quickly in all corners. That is not just "great engine so slap on downforce". That's just a very well sorted motor car. I.e. the chassis, aero and engine are all working at a very good level. If any one of those was missing then the overall performance would be less. That's the same no matter who makes the car.

i made my assumption based on a couple facts we all have at our disposal... mercedes has the most horsepower/best integrated/best power delivery availble in F1 so far this year.... what we also know is a fact is that they are not the fastest car on the straights... simple logic tells me that they are running more downforce...
now back to the race ... i predict hamilton runs off into the distance with Vettel fighting off rosberg for at least the first stint... then tire deg comes into play and who knows after that...Rosberg has issues overtaking so.........

edit: youre in the wrong era my friend ... 2015 formula one is an engine dominated series

[SoCalWJS]

Rain.

The Great Equalizer.

Any definitive word on the weather for the Race yet?

Unless there is rain, I think the Mercs are still on a different level as long as the race is dry, but the Scuderia is definitely closing the gap. Excited for the Race to begin.

[Moose]

i made my assumption based on a couple facts we all have at our disposal... mercedes has the most horsepower/best integrated/best power delivery availble in F1 so far this year.... what we also know is a fact is that they are not the fastest car on the straights... simple logic tells me that they are running more downforce...

Where did you get this "fact"? How do you know how much power the Mercedes or Ferrari engines produce?

[GPR-A duplicate2]

let me correct your whole post for you
mercedes is running more downforce... period!
they have a more powerful engine and can afford to run more downforce with the added drag being negated to some extent by engine power... the end
stop with this mercedes super chassis nonsense....

At risk of going off topic again, how does one separate "chassis" from "downforce" in an aero-dominated series? If a car is quicker in twisty bits then that is going to be some combination of aero-grip and mechanical grip along with engine tractability. How do you say that one car is doing well because it has a better "chassis" but another is doing well purely because it can strap on more downforce because it has a good engine? If both are equally quick over a lap there is no way for an external observer to distinguish between the two. However, the fact that tyres aren't being worn out at a silly rate suggests that the car's chassis isn't bad at all.

Looking at the onboard footage (the only way an external observer can get "in to" the car), the Mercedes appears to be easy to drive smoothly and quickly in all corners. That is not just "great engine so slap on downforce". That's just a very well sorted motor car. I.e. the chassis, aero and engine are all working at a very good level. If any one of those was missing then the overall performance would be less. That's the same no matter who makes the car.

i made my assumption based on a couple facts we all have at our disposal... mercedes has the most horsepower/best integrated/best power delivery availble in F1 so far this year.... what we also know is a fact is that they are not the fastest car on the straights... simple logic tells me that they are running more downforce...
now back to the race ... i predict hamilton runs off into the distance with Vettel fighting off rosberg for at least the first stint... then tire deg comes into play and who knows after that...Rosberg has issues overtaking so.........

edit: youre in the wrong era my friend ... 2015 formula one is an engine dominated series

Phrrr..... this is the problem when you simply read posts on this forum and without scientifically validating them, learn about F1 cars. First of all, downforce doesn't automatically means drag. There are many possibilities of getting great downforce with very little drag. Ground effects and skirts were classic examples. Last year, Mclaren using a Merc PU, were neither good at corners, not good at straight lines. If 2015 F1 is engine dominated, why have McLaren, Force India and Williams struggled to win last year and FI, Williams and Lotus this yea so farr? You cannot bring a tractor, put a Merc PU and take it to pole. Aero is still incredibly important aspect of an F1 car. Please read a story from Gary Anderson on autosport, where he is of the opinion that, the current formula has a perfect balance of PU and Aero.

[SectorOne]

So with that enlightenment, who´s gonna tell Ferrari they can simply add more downforce to the car so that they match Mercedes in the speed traps but more importantly in the twisty bits?

[iotar__]

Phrrr..... this is the problem when you simply read posts on this forum and without scientifically validating them, learn about F1 cars. First of all, downforce doesn't automatically means drag. There are many possibilities of getting great downforce with very little drag. Ground effects and skirts were classic examples. Last year, Mclaren using a Merc PU, were neither good at corners, not good at straight lines. If 2015 F1 is engine dominated, why have McLaren, Force India and Williams struggled to win last year and FI, Williams and Lotus this yea so farr? You cannot bring a tractor, put a Merc PU and take it to pole. Aero is still incredibly important aspect of an F1 car. Please read a story from Gary Anderson on autosport, where he is of the opinion that, the current formula has a perfect balance of PU and Aero.

Phrrr yourself . Merc not good in corners in 2014? How is it perfect when a customers have little chance of competing with a manufacturer? How is close integration, feedback back and forth between chassis and engine teams, planning in advance not an advantage? Same with close cooperation with fuel manufacturer (Lotus vs RB last season). Not to mention quality of units and support (software etc.) .Then there are budgets and price money distribution.

As for balance itself you can hardly disconnect engine and chassis, for example in terms of cooling/aero/reliability but even basic things like testing and delays. I'm not sure that with Renault engine in the beginning of 2014 Mercedes would have had a chance to develop aero how they wanted running 40 laps in Barcelona. Anderson is delighted because a driver they're selling has 50/50 chance to win every race. F1 is not balanced at all and Mercedes was barely beating Sauber couple of season before hybrids when engines were comparable within 0,3. To paraphrase Cowell what sort of laws of physics prevented Merceds do better then?

[Moose]

So with that enlightenment, who´s gonna tell Ferrari they can simply add more downforce to the car so that they match Mercedes in the speed traps but more importantly in the twisty bits?

No one - Ferrari have simply found that their ideal L/D ratio is in a different place on the drag scale to where Mercedes found their ideal.

Also, Ferrari in the knowledge that their car is not quite as good as Mercedes' have realised that they're likely to qualify behind them. Because of that, they've chosen a package that's ideal for overtaking.

[Andres125sx]

I´m the only one impressed by that 39.8 Sainz Jr. did on Q1?

I´ve been comparing and....

Fastest laps for Ferrari:
FP1 Kimi: 40.497
FP1 Seb: 40.985
FP2 Kimi: 40.163
FP2 Seb: 40.652
FP3 Kimi: 40.245
FP3 Seb: 40.266
Q1 Seb: 39.814
Q1 Kimi: 40.415
Q2 Seb: 39.632
Q2 Kimi: 42.173

Fastest laps for STR:

FP1 Sainz: 41.596
FP1 Max: 41.803
FP2 Max: 41.220
FP2 Sainz: 42.291
FP3 Sainz: 40.601
FP3 Max: 40.989
Q1 Sainz: 39.814
Q1 Max: 40.793
Q2 Max: 41.430
Q2 Sainz: 43.701

Faster than Kimi´s fastest lap!! And only .182 slower than Seb´s fastest lap, matching exactly second fastest lap for Seb, both 39.814 in Q1. For these four drivers only three laps under 40, two for Seb and one for Sainz

Then he ruined the qualifying with that mistake when it started raining in Q2, but impressive for a rookie anycase

[giantfan10]

and we can all go find quotes from this journalist or the next to justify our position.....
im amazed at some of the lengths some of you will go to to convince non mercedes fan boys that the engine has nothing to do with them being out front....
now mercedes has discovered dragless downforce and no other manufacturer can either find it to copy it or know anything about it because mercedes is all seeing and knowing and their cars have a cloaking device so other teams cant see them
does mercedes have a the ability to build a better chassis than the other broke mercedes PU teams ? probably.... does the fact that they manufactured the chassis and pu in house make it more efficient than a costumer team? more than likely yes
its blatantly obvious how much more downforce mercedes is running than tlets say ferrari... take a look at their front wings and the angles of attack on those front wings then come back and explain to me how the mercedes front wing produces less drag here are 2 pictures .. who do u think is running more downforce? which wing will produce more drag?
next i will hear that ferrari cant produce the merc wing because they dont have the super duper crbon fiber mercedes has lol

[Moose]

now mercedes has discovered dragless downforce and no other manufacturer can either find it to copy it or know anything about it because mercedes is all seeing and knowing and their cars have a cloaking device so other teams cant see them

I still don't get why you think it's amazing that an F1 team has a better aero package than another F1 team.

Seriously, what's so impossible about this that it requires such incredulous straw men thrown at it?

[Richard]

Since when had life been binary? Please cut out the drag v PU arguments, the optimum configuration is multi dimensional. It also gets the fanboys and hateboys too excited.

[SectorOne]

No one - Ferrari have simply found that their ideal L/D ratio is in a different place on the drag scale to where Mercedes found their ideal.

Also, Ferrari in the knowledge that their car is not quite as good as Mercedes' have realised that they're likely to qualify behind them. Because of that, they've chosen a package that's ideal for overtaking.

Or they simply don´t have the downforce to bolt on in the first place.

now mercedes has discovered dragless downforce

Have you even looked at the speed traps this year?

How is this "dragless downforce"?



they have the same top speeds as a Red Bull which is 100 horses down on the Mercedes power unit.
And you still think they have drag less downforce?

[Andres125sx]

im amazed at some of the lengths some of you will go to to convince non mercedes fan boys that the engine has nothing to do with them being out front....

I´ve never read such a stupid argument, people state it´s not only the engine, but nobody said engine has nothing to do with their domination

[zeph]

I have to say, I am impressed by Ferrari's return to form. Too early for conclusions, let's see how the race pans out, blah blah blah, but dang it; if you consider where they were last year, their revival is stunning.

Alonso must be choking on his bile.