2014 Malaysian Grand Prix - Sepang

[Pierce89]

Red Bull don't know what's hit them

Sure they do. They can see that Merc's advantage is all engine. Brixworth is winning these races more than Brackley. From what I've seen, the RB10 is still the best chassis and the Ferrari chassis looks pretty close too, but the Merc engine walks it.

[Shrieker]

Hamilton was spending less fuel and was lapping faster than Nico in the first half. I was like -..-

How can that happen. It's obvious Nico had some sort of issue with the car., maybe he didn't nail the setup.

A word about the Hulk. He is well on his way to becoming one of the top drivers. If he keeps on what he's doing right now, people will think no less of him than they do with Hamilton, Vettel or Alonso.

The race looked too slow to me. But looking at the race finishing times, i was surprised:

2013 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing-Renault 56 laps 1:38:56.681

2014 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 56 laps 1:40:25.974

IIRC, there wasn't a safety car last year so two minutes something is nothing to fuss over. Not that anyone is, for that matter. When you come to think in terms of average lap times, there's a difference of ~2.67 seconds which is of course night and day tho.

[Unc1eM0nty]

For a big part of the race I thought Rosberg had a problem with the car, I was half expecting the team to mention something after the race but it seems it was just down to pace

Everyone keeps saying that he looks after tires better than Lewis but it seemed the other way round today, Lewis had better fuel consumption as well.

Just a bad day at the office for Rosberg (pace wise not the result), 24 secs bwtween Vettel & Lewis at the end, we still haven't seen Merc's real race pace - he was just cruzing, to me the gap seems as big as is was in Aus.

[Just_a_fan]

Interesting to see that the current Mercedes doesn't appear to suffer any of the tyre problems of previous versions. Both drivers changed tyres later on each stint than any other 3-stop driver. Of course, being able to run their own pace would have helped but even so, it's a big turn around from a season or two ago.

[Just_a_fan]

24 secs bwtween Vettel & Lewis at the end, we still haven't seen Merc's real race pace - he was just cruzing, to me the gap seems as big as is was in Aus.

Indeed, at one point his engineer told him that his pace and engine saving were good and he asked if there was anything else he should do to save the engine! He had pace to burn today if he'd needed it. Rosberg's "battle" with Vettel shows this to be true. It looked like Vettel was going to be a threat and suddenly Rosberg was nearly a second a lap quicker for several laps.

At the moment the Merc is as good as the RB was at the end of last season. It's just a question of how quickly RBR can catch up. If the Merc drivers get another 3 or 4 races like today then they're going to be difficult to overhaul later in the season.

[Unc1eM0nty]

Red Bull don't know what's hit them

Sure they do. They can see that Merc's advantage is all engine. Brixworth is winning these races more than Brackley. From what I've seen, the RB10 is still the best chassis and the Ferrari chassis looks pretty close too, but the Merc engine walks it.

It's not just the PU though is it, the gap between Merc and McLaren & Williams proves that they must have good chassis & aero.

Merc targeted 2014 as their best chance to grab titles and ploughed more resources into it for longer, they will be hard to catch this season, they will drive development as hard as anyone.

When Lewis made the switch from McLaren many questioned the decision, he knew how much work they were doing on the 2014 car, seems like a no brainer now but back in 2012 it must have been a difficult decision.

[gray41]

Lewis' fuel management with lap time almost seems illogical.

Just how?

[myurr]

Lewis' fuel management with lap time almost seems illogical.

Just how?

A slippery car (second only to Red Bull through the twisty bits but one of the fastest in a straight line) and very efficient engine and energy recovery systems. Today they also had the best tyre management despite being so much quicker, really showing how easy it is when you're out front with that level of car advantage.

Aerodynamically I think they're right up there with Red Bull, maybe losing a little downforce but being more efficient overall. That slipperiness also helps use less fuel, and given they still have good levels of downforce so they're not sliding all over the place, helps them get the most out of the tyres without pushing them too hard.

[myurr]

Red Bull don't know what's hit them

Sure they do. They can see that Merc's advantage is all engine. Brixworth is winning these races more than Brackley. From what I've seen, the RB10 is still the best chassis and the Ferrari chassis looks pretty close too, but the Merc engine walks it.

It's not just the PU though is it, the gap between Merc and McLaren & Williams proves that they must have good chassis & aero.

Merc targeted 2014 as their best chance to grab titles and ploughed more resources into it for longer, they will be hard to catch this season, they will drive development as hard as anyone.

When Lewis made the switch from McLaren many questioned the decision, he knew how much work they were doing on the 2014 car, seems like a no brainer now but back in 2012 it must have been a difficult decision.

Completely agree. This years car advantage has not been an accident and despite the blather from Red Bull it's not just the engine. Today they looked after the tyres better than anyone and had a consistent 1s per lap advantage whenever they needed to push, whilst using less fuel. Some of that is engine, but they still have a damn fine racecar with solid aero and great mechanical grip.

Merc / Rosberg clearly didn't get the setup quite right today but still had a healthy advantage. Vettel was able to challenge for a handful of laps before tyres and fuel usage forced him to back off. Rosberg then steadily pulled away despite not getting the best from the car.

In Bahrain in dry qualifying I think we'll finally see the true size of the advantage at about 1.5 seconds per lap. In fact they may have such an advantage in Q2 that they can drive to a target time to make sure they get through without stressing the tyres, as those will be the tyres the start on.

[SilverArrow10]

Just realised its back to back race weekends!!! love these. Someone get the Bahrain thread open haha

[iotar__]

Merc has good chassis compared to who? Teams which are twice+ smaller and couldn't influence chassis/engine interaction design: Williams with no rear downforce, and Force India with safe/basic approach to aero/weight. McL same - minus budget, + other problems. Until engines are more or less equalised any theories about Mercedes' aero excellence are questionable. Plus: thanks to engine they had a big head-start in other areas of development.

- driver better at managing tyres/fuel won, how horrible
- Alonso has Hulkenberg's number, you should thank DRS for making it possible
- classic, pure racing team orders at Williams, thank god for the remaining elements of good old times, I hope sanctimonious journalists will jump on them like they did with Ferrari in 2010
- classic, pure racing too in other aspects (Williams again) - even DRS and faster car over the lap means overtaking is almost impossible, last two laps wouldn't make a difference IMO, "if Bottas was that much faster etc.". You need differentiating strategy/tyres, watch and learn or stop complaining about boredom. It has more to do with that and less with whatever modern equivalent of tyres you found yourself to lament about in 2014 ("green" "engines").

[beelsebob]

Honestly, I have no idea how anyone at this point can think the Merc has aero dominance. The RedBull is clearly better in this area for me.

[gray41]

First GP win by a car running 44?

[Helios]

First GP win by a car running 44?

Yep. After first pole for car #44 in Australia.

[Unc1eM0nty]

Honestly, I have no idea how anyone at this point can think the Merc has aero dominance. The RedBull is clearly better in this area for me.

I don't think anyone is, my point was that the Merc advantage isn't all down to the engine.