2013 Malaysian GP - Sepang

[Juzh]

Red bull is loosing masive amounts of time in the final sector on the 2 straights. This car is draggy as hell. It didnt seem to have the grip of a lotus in slow corners as well. If someone gets a drs on them I expect them to fly past easy peasy.

[gandharva]

Red bull is loosing masive amounts of time in the final sector on the 2 straights. This car is draggy as hell. It didnt seem to have the grip of a lotus in slow corners as well. If someone gets a drs on them I expect them to fly past easy peasy.

P1:
Sector 3: Webber (fastest), Vettel (2nd fastest)

P2:
Sector 3: Vettel (3rd fastest), Webber (7th fastest)

Would'n call this "massive"... Yes, top speed is ~5 km/h slower than the fastest (their top speed is still midfield), but their acceleration is better. Overtaking them won't be that easy as you think.

[Gerhard Berger]

Red bull is loosing masive amounts of time in the final sector on the 2 straights. This car is draggy as hell. It didnt seem to have the grip of a lotus in slow corners as well. If someone gets a drs on them I expect them to fly past easy peasy.

top speed is low and about 5kph slower than the Lotus and Ferrari, but Mercedes have the lowest top speed of all.

[Mika1]

What happened with Merc's top speed? It's RBR style this year.

[GrizzleBoy]

Which isn't a good thing if you aren't RBR lol.

Its kind of funny how they've literally gone entirely in the other direction..

Maybe the reason their tyres aren't hurting (at least not that much) anymore is because they've found some draggy downforce?

[dxpetrov]

Red bull is loosing masive amounts of time in the final sector on the 2 straights. This car is draggy as hell. It didnt seem to have the grip of a lotus in slow corners as well. If someone gets a drs on them I expect them to fly past easy peasy.

It's gonna be all right. They gonna increase the RPM tomorrow. As same as happened in Melbourne... Remember they were 6th fastest on speed trap.

[godlameroso]

Was I the only one that noticed massive amounts of sliding with the hard tire in the dry?

[Mika1]

[Nomore]

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/4917 ... 2886x5.jpg

@Mika1, I know you are a big Lewis Hamilton fan and i respect HAM very much, with Alonso are the 2 best driver in the grid...
But this year he is not sitting in a race winning car (like last year) or a Championship winning car...he can make some podiums..but nothing more...maybe a win maybe

[Mika1]

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/4917 ... 2886x5.jpg

@Mika1, I know you are a big Lewis Hamilton fan and i respect HAM very much, with Alonso are the 2 best driver in the grid...
But this year he is not sitting in a race winning car (like last year) or a Championship winning car...he can make some podiums..but nothing more...maybe a win maybe

Where did I say that??! I am not only a LH fan, but also a Mercedes-Benz/AMG follower. I know the situation and the expectations.

[turbof1]

Hamilton felt improvement compared to last race. Imo, last race could have been also much better for him if he didn't flatspot his tyre and had to stop his commitment to a 2 stopper. The potentional to win races certainly is there.

[Nando]

They really went after race pace as well.

Both sessions pretty much full on for race stints. Then both barely managed to get a lap on the mediums before the rain started pouring down everywhere.
According to Sky it was raining in last corner and pit lane/start/finish so that probably compromised them slightly as well.

[Vasconia]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/106235
Malaysian GP: Lewis Hamilton upbeat about Mercedes' race pace

They have improved but I think they still are behind Lotus, Ferrari and RB. And be careful with Force India, they have a great pace.

[danielk]

Its hard to figure out how good Mercedes pace is but they sure are consistent on the long runs:

http://en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?page ... Ux1ARfwkm8

he starts in a 1:44 drops down to a 1:42 and bounces around between 1:42-1:43 untill lap 13. Lap 14 & lap 15 he drops to a 1:45 and then pits.

Rosbergs times are also very similar. Issue is doesn't look like any one else has done a long run as long as them in second session, so hard to compare.

looking at lotus pace they were straight in to 1:40 but I very much doubt they were full fuel as could not be over 2 seconds a lap faster surely?

[MercedesAMG]

Does everyone know a link (fia?), where all lap times of the practice sessions can be seen?