2014 Malaysian Grand Prix - Sepang

[Phillyred]

Neither of those will happen, because as we saw last race, the Merc will be far into the distance by turn 1.

I'm holding you to this!!

[thevlack]

Ohh kmon, I do not deny that RBR and FERRARI did well, but... again the water mixed up things a little...

Mercedes is years ahead still. I would love a dry Qualy, but the god of showers is not playing nice.

[bhall]

I don't expect Mercedes to get away so cleanly at the start. Apparently, both Ferraris were without ERS power for the first two laps in Melbourne due to a glitch in the FIA-mandated software that disables ERS power at the start until the car reaches 100 km/h (it's to prevent launch control). If Ferrari have fixed that, I wouldn't be surprised to see them get a good start, something that's been a great strength for them in recent years.

[beelsebob]

I don't expect Mercedes to get away so cleanly at the start. Apparently, both Ferraris were without ERS power for the first two laps in Melbourne due to a glitch in the FIA-mandated software that disables ERS power at the start until the car reaches 100 km/h (it's to prevent launch control). If Ferrari have fixed that, I wouldn't be surprised to see them get a good start, something that's been a great strength for them in recent years.

My comment was purely about Hamilton getting away from Vettel. I fully expect that the Ferraris (if working) will be right up with the Mercs, but the Renaults will be no where near.

[f1316]

I don't expect Mercedes to get away so cleanly at the start. Apparently, both Ferraris were without ERS power for the first two laps in Melbourne due to a glitch in the FIA-mandated software that disables ERS power at the start until the car reaches 100 km/h (it's to prevent launch control). If Ferrari have fixed that, I wouldn't be surprised to see them get a good start, something that's been a great strength for them in recent years.

My comment was purely about Hamilton getting away from Vettel. I fully expect that the Ferraris (if working) will be right up with the Mercs, but the Renaults will be no where near.

Just to add to that thought: kimi still had a good start despite issue (and being hit) and I am pretty sure Fernando got out of it in order to avoid magnusen.

[gray41]

It would probably be beneficial for Lewis if Nico is held up by Vettel or Alonso for a lap or two, good chance to pull a second or two and control the gap.

[basti313]

I don't expect Mercedes to get away so cleanly at the start. Apparently, both Ferraris were without ERS power for the first two laps in Melbourne due to a glitch in the FIA-mandated software that disables ERS power at the start until the car reaches 100 km/h (it's to prevent launch control). If Ferrari have fixed that, I wouldn't be surprised to see them get a good start, something that's been a great strength for them in recent years.

My comment was purely about Hamilton getting away from Vettel. I fully expect that the Ferraris (if working) will be right up with the Mercs, but the Renaults will be no where near.

Just to add to that thought: kimi still had a good start despite issue (and being hit) and I am pretty sure Fernando got out of it in order to avoid magnusen.

There are two points:
-ERS is not working at the start until 100kph. Ferrari had problems afterwards, as the system stayed in the "start mode". As the distance to the first corner is short, the starts in Oz were not strongly affected by the problem. Alonso was more held up by Magnussen.
-Magnussen had an incredible start, but spoiled it with loosing the rear. With the speed of the first meters he would easily have caught Ricciardo and Hamilton before the first corner.

[Paul]

Have I missed something, or are the lights on top of the cars ignored now? Pretty sure I saw a car with red lights on being lifted during qualifying.

[Moanlower]

Well it's raining, it's pouring
You didn't bring a sweater...

Thank you for posting this! A quick search revealed this is from Tom Waits, an artist I had heard about but never paid any attention to. Well, that's changing now. Great stuff.

I'm glad you liked it He's amazing in many ways. Released over 600 songs of which more than half I don't quite like, but has many great songs. A great poet that knits the right music on top of it. The album I like most is Blue Valentine.

Ok, back on topic

[Rikhart]

So the forecast is RAIN RAIN RAIN the whole day tomorrow... And Raikkonen was going so well in the dry, meh.

[Multi21]

Incredible job by Vettel as expected. The guys a machine.

1.1 seconds faster than his teammate.

He shows us Why he is 4X... Only Schuy and Fangio ahead of him.

Remember the rb7 or the rb9 after Hungary? The machine's machinery helped him at times to seem as amazing as some people think.

[bhall]

There are two points:
-ERS is not working at the start until 100kph. Ferrari had problems afterwards, as the system stayed in the "start mode". As the distance to the first corner is short, the starts in Oz were not strongly affected by the problem. Alonso was more held up by Magnussen.
-Magnussen had an incredible start, but spoiled it with loosing the rear. With the speed of the first meters he would easily have caught Ricciardo and Hamilton before the first corner.

I didn't watch the race, so I won't pretend to know how it all transpired. Yet, I imagine it wasn't exactly helpful to hit the first turn without a functioning ERS.

The cars would have been well up to speed at that point, and the loss of 120bhp, and perhaps most crucially, the absence of ERS in terms of driveability, is a significant handicap. Moreover, it's unlikely start-modes are even designed with braking in mind.

But, alas, that was a different affair...

[SiLo]

We can hark on all day about the Ferrari's being down on power, but Hamilton could easily have beaten Ric to the first corner and he was missing an entire cylinder. I think they will be just fine. I just really want a dry race!

[mix2mix]

I think, does not matter, wet or dry start tomorrow, after two laps merc will say "bye-bye!" to all

[jurinius]

Have I missed something, or are the lights on top of the cars ignored now? Pretty sure I saw a car with red lights on being lifted during qualifying.

I don't think so ! I paid attention on it when Ericsson crashed, wanted to see how safe it was under the rain.