Malaysian GP 2008

[manchild]

Wet qualifying and wet race!

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/b ... k_business

http://www.wunderground.com/global/stations/48647.html

Massa's doomsday is nearing!

[axle]

Hmmm, if it's wet that will be fun

Massa DNF
Kimi 1st or 2nd depending on how calm he is compared to last week.
Lewis the same.

I think the BMW will be a PITA in the wet as it's so hard to get it to balance.

I expect Jenson could well shine, Bordais too...basically anyone with a smooth style.

[HKS]

The only thing I want is that it should rain and Fernando should win it. [-o< [-o<

[axle]

The only thing I want is that it should rain and Fernando should win it. [-o< [-o<

After he showed us his l33t skills in the wet in Japan(IIRC) lol

[DaveKillens]

Wow, according to weather predictions, it looks like we're in for a wet Malaysia GP. Now if this (hopefully) wet race brings any kind of mayhem as we saw in the wet races last year, it's anybody's guess. Webber to win? Or Alonso?

[ben_watkins]

Very wet!

http://www.worldweather.org/020/c00082.htm

Thunderstorms for practice, qually and race!!

33C 100% humidity & heavy rain!

I predict less cars will finish than Oz GP last w/e!

[Jersey Tom]

Impossible to predict. I imagine some good drivers in good positions will be taken out by means of crash.

Securing front row position will be critical.

[jaho101]

Hopefully there's less safety car periods, those are the real danger in the rain. People won't realize if they're passing each other in the spray, just like Fuji. I'm willing to bet Massa manages to off himself at half distance, and Button/Vettle and the gaggle of good drivers prove their worth again. Maybe a win for Kubica, hopefully there's a gravel trap near the pit entrance for Hamilton to park at so it can happen. Hamilton's good in the rain unfortunately, so he might win it. Ferrari, who knows. Kimi might wake up in the rain and be brilliant like usual. Exciting prospects, we'll see the conditions in about 2 hours in the first free practice.

[Ray]

Hopefully there's less safety car periods, those are the real danger in the rain. People won't realize if they're passing each other in the spray, just like Fuji. I'm willing to bet Massa manages to off himself at half distance, and Button/Vettle and the gaggle of good drivers prove their worth again. Maybe a win for Kubica, hopefully there's a gravel trap near the pit entrance for Hamilton to park at so it can happen. Hamilton's good in the rain unfortunately, so he might win it. Ferrari, who knows. Kimi might wake up in the rain and be brilliant like usual. Exciting prospects, we'll see the conditions in about 2 hours in the first free practice.

Hamilton won the race in the rain cause he was out front. He spun a few times as well, so hopefully he can keep it on the road all race. Though I don't highly regard him as a rain driver. Fernando on the other hand is phenomenal. Maybe he won't cause another wreck too.

[jaho101]

No rain to be seen today in Practice, the Ferraris were the quickest and most stable under braking. Kimi's engine went though, no smoke, just lost drive. DC managed to bounce off a curb and shatter the front suspension, then Webber blew an engine. Continuing the bad luck for RB, Vettle had a break failure on the rear I believe, reminiscent of Webber in Melbourne.

Mclaren were slower, but looked to have no problems until Hamilton went off the track and his car crawled back to the pits. Nico put in a lot of laps, Kaz only did a few and lost the rear end on his second lap I believe. Williams still struggling under breaking occasionally, Nico's having to fight the engine breaking very hard. Toyota put in a lot of laps, still looking for grip like the rest of them.

Another Ferrari engine blew today for Sutil, they brought some 2006 Renault fins along with a clever new mirror solution. Well, I'm sure a lot of teams will set up better next session and we'll see if BMW can get it hooked up like in Melbourne, I'm waiting for that Kubica pole.

[Ray]

It was not a good morning for the team, as Mark Webber, having lapped in 1m 38.707s for 17th, suffered an engine failure. He will not get a penalty as it’s Friday and all teams in any case get one free breakage, but the failure will compromise his running this afternoon.

I'm confused. I thought no failures counted towards anything. Everything I've heard all last season and so far this season contradicts that. All commentators I've heard speak about Friday failures have said they could blow up all the engines they wanted.

[joseff]

The 2-race engine rule only applies to qualifying & race.
New for 2008 is the "one free engine change" rule. It's like a get-out-of-jail-free card that you only get once.

[allan]

kimi's engine didnt blow up, the car just ran out of fuel
i read that on formula1.com

[Principessa]

Yes Allan, you're right. The press release of Ferrari (http://www.f1technical.net/news/8562) says that Raikkonen ran out of fuel and stranded on the track because of this. The only Ferrari engine that needed replacing today was the one of Bourdais...again.

Edit: Sutil had one too, engine failure.

[Carbon]

Are the McLaren's running new barge-boards this weekend? The trailing edge on Hamilton's MP4/23 looks to be modified. Or, it might just be distorted in the pic I was looking at.