2015 Malaysian Grand Prix - Sepang

[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

i figured u would resort to internet insults at some point go

Really?

I had never said a single word about the subject before

go read the mercedes thread then come back with that same point of view

No, its you who should go to that thread and reply there... asuming what you say is true

[giantfan10]

From what speed does drag really start to work as a 'parachute' ?

Could it be that the Mercedes is still accelerating faster than anybody else towards -lets say- 250km/h and above 250km/h the drag really becomes a 'penalty'.. and therefor they have a lower top speed than some others?

something like that george ... its all about compromises.... how much top speed will you sacrifice to corner faster....and which version will give you a faster lap time... you then slap on or take off downforce till you get to where you want to be..if you have the "extra" horsepower you can slap on more downforce with less penalty from drag... i'm talking about any car not mercedes.

[giantfan10]

go read the mercedes thread then come back with that same point of view

No, its you who should go to that thread and reply there... asuming what you say is true[/quote]
been there and dont want to go back..."OMG did you see the new front wing they are going to be ahead by 5 seconds next race it looks so sexy" " mercedes aero dept is so far advanced ferrari cant make a wing that efficient" a snippet lol

[CBeck113]

Gentlemen & trolls (you're free to choose), since we don't have more than 1.67 race weekends so far, no one can say if it's "just" the engine or "just" the chassis or a combination of both. What we can say so far is that Mercedes is still ahead of everyone else, with the elements helping Ferrari - OK, just Vettel - making it very interesting today. When the lights go out tomorrow morning we'll know even more, but we still won't know if it's the engine or the chassis or both. If you're having fun (I personally can't see much humor from anyone involved), keep it up, but since none of you can prove you're right, just wait and see, without dragging the forum to a lower level. We want to read facts & theories, and we like the discussions about these theories, even if they can't be proven, but keep it mature.

So, the race will be exciting tomorrow if it rains, otherwise Lewis will drive away (has he even had a bad start since sitting in his Mercedes? I can't remember any...) Let's do a rain dance and hope everything gets mixed up nicely, so we can keep guessing about "the gap" and its source.

[Manoah2u]

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.

I am looking forward to the start of this race, especially how things will pan out there past the first couple of corners.

it's important for Vettel to be in front of Rosberg to benefit most from the race, so that's where their main focus will be at the start. indeed - Ferrari has a higher straight line speed. Vettel could engage all his 'ERS' at the first corners to protect himself well in regards to Rosberg.

Rosberg seems more frustrated compared to last year and lost some of his craft, imho that was visible during the qualy debriefing. His 'move' on Lewis imho wasn't that big of a deal though, could have went aside for lewis more, but it's not like he made life hard on him.

Rosberg said his goal is to overtake Vettel, and he's on the 'better part of the track' ['grippier']. Still, he's behind Seb and Rosberg's starts aren't always that 100%, rather 99.98% [to please the fanboys lol].

Vettel has a good race start history and has a free run to first corner - if i understand correctly, we're looking out for a wet race start. Which only enhances my feelings Ferrari's tactics with Vettel will be as following:

maintain 2nd at the first corner, use as many ERS as possible to keep in front of Nico, keep as close to Hamilton as possible to maintain within a one-second window so he can benefit from DRS when and IF it gets available during the race. The higher topspeed advantage surely will play out well for Ferrari's possibilities there.

position his car to make it very difficult for Nico to overtake during corners and then focus on using speed to keep in front of Nico's Merc, and hope for chaos and hungry drivers behind to make life difficult for a -frustrated- nico.

During pitstops, have Kimi out as long as possible so he can 'hold back' Nico or Lewis if either one of them pits and end behind him [shouldn't be too much of a task from P11] so Vettel can try to use tactics to overtake Lewis and keep in front of Nico, with the benefit fresher tires. Then Kimi can come in.

Kimi either needs one of his bold eau-rouge moves to swerve around the tight pack in front of him on first corner, but i'd think he'd rather keep out of the chaos and avoid damage, especially for their prospects with Vettel. Kimi's best chance is 4th but it would take luck and effort, whilst it's comparitavely easier to use tactics to get Vettel 1st or 2nd and have Kimi 5th or 6th. Either way, 5th or 6th is a reality and reasonable for Kimi, and so is 2nd for Vettel with the hope for 1st with some daring and hard work. At worst case scenario, Vettel ends up 3rd and Kimi 6th.

Still, crazy wet = crazy race = unpredictable.

Meanwhile, there could be a first-corner collision between Ricciardo and Rosberg.

I'll go ahead and say it

Wet race

1. Sebastian Vettel
2. Lewis Hamilton
3. Max Verstappen

let's have such a crazy race.

[foxmulder_ms]

Ferrari is really looking good but guys, please, there is no way they can match Mercedes yet. You will see, bar mechanical issues or some accident, Lewis will be >20sec ahead of Vettel at the end of the race. I also think Rosberg will pass Vettel rather easily.

[Manoah2u]

Ferrari is really looking good but guys, please, there is no way they can match Mercedes yet. You will see, bar mechanical issues or some accident, Lewis will be >20sec ahead of Vettel at the end of the race. I also think Rosberg will pass Vettel rather easily.

Yes, but Ferrari's possibilities are because of wet circumstances, exactly what we're having tomorrow.

In a dry race, Ferrari has no chance against Mercedes. In a wet race; through luck and very hard work.
This might be the only wet race all season if inlucky, so better put all effort in tomorrow and do that hard work.

Dry = bye. Wet = (try) Get them.

[search]

Ferrari is really looking good but guys, please, there is no way they can match Mercedes yet. You will see, bar mechanical issues or some accident, Lewis will be >20sec ahead of Vettel at the end of the race. I also think Rosberg will pass Vettel rather easily.

usually, yes, but they do not seem to get their stuff together on this track yet. Hamilton missed half of the Friday, then running with the setup from Melbourne (ffs?!?), most of the time all over the place, still beating Rosberg, who was just "slow". Vettel would have easily won FP2 without the red flag, and also was just 3 tenths behind the Mercedes in Q1 - with hard tyres, and Mercedes on mediums. And their longruns weren't any better than Ferrari's and Red Bull's as well. Sure, they have been hiding pace in the past, but this weekend they haven't showed any signs of it yet, which is rather unusual. Could be a close race I think

Edit: rain is unlikely to be a factor considering the early start this year by the way. For qualifying it arrived earlier than usual - and even at that time the race will long be over tomorrow

[PlatinumZealot]

I posted this in the driving styles and preferences thread, but I thought i would post it here too..

Was this the info that Nico wanted? Any karters out here?

[atanatizante]

1. After FP3 Rosberg was complaining at RTL for having to much understeer (than he'd have liked).
This setup was done in order to minimize oversteer further down in the race, hence to preserve better the rear tires?
2. Before Q3 on Rosberg's car they changed all the drum brakes with ones better suited for the weather conditions on the track.
Had they didn't had enough time they'd have gone with plan B : duct tape on the brake air intake?
3. After the first run in Q2 Lewis was moaning about not letting him sooner on the track.
Then he received a reply from his race engineer saying that the reason was due to having problems with his engine starting.
And in addition he also mentioned they'd investigating later ...
Does somebody heard some news about this matter?

[SiLo]

I think the Mercs are a lot faster when heavy with fuel, more so than with low fuel so overtaking Vettel wouldn't be an issue for Hamilton, but I feel it might be an issue for Rosberg.

[Hail22]

Bruno Senna's Analysis of Vettel / Hamilton's lap during Q3:

[jz11]

I posted this in the driving styles and preferences thread, but I thought i would post it here too..

Was this the info that Nico wanted? Any karters out here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYxxvjc ... e=youtu.be

he didn't really say anything new, any racing driver knows those things, I bet he would totally destroy Ros in that 2nd run, in conditions like these you can really see who can drive the car, and who can just execute strategy

anyway, that interview should be filed under "awkward"

[Moose]

Okay, I had not actually realised Nico blocking Lewis had meant he didn't go faster on his second run. That implies to me then that actually the Ferrari is further back than it seems
1) Lewis made a pretty big mistake onto the final straight
2) Vettel had the benefit of a drier track
3) Vettel had the benefit of knowing a little more about where the grip was.

Those three things combined say to me that the Ferrari is further off the pace in the wet than I had originally thought.

I don't think Ferrari can win this race wet or dry.

[stuartpengs]

A combination of clocks going forward, me not bothering to change them and just telling myself "I'll just set the alarm an hour earlier", and then my phone and iPad auto moving forward, has resulted in me getting up too early!

Ah well, I'm up now. Looking forward to a good race. Any updates on track-side weather at the moment?