2011 Malaysian Grand Prix (April 8 - 10)

[Wouter Melissen]

Webber tops eventful first practice. Front brake problems for both Renaults and Jerome d'Ambrosio's front-left suspension failed spectacularly. The HRTs have clocked up 30 laps between them and are quite close to the 107% cut-off.

Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1m37.651s 22
2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1m39.316s + 1.665 16
3. Schumacher Mercedes 1m39.791s + 2.140 29
4. Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1m40.377s + 2.726 23
5. Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1m40.443s + 2.792 31
6. Massa Ferrari 1m40.453s + 2.802 22
7. Heidfeld Renault 1m40.525s + 2.874 6
8. Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1m40.581s + 2.930 21
9. Alonso Ferrari 1m40.601s + 2.950 23
10. Rosberg Mercedes 1m40.646s + 2.995 29
11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1m40.734s + 3.083 21
12. Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m40.748s + 3.097 23
13. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m40.770s + 3.119 24
14. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1m40.872s + 3.221 27
15. Button McLaren-Mercedes 1m40.927s + 3.276 16
16. Trulli Lotus-Renault 1m41.620s + 3.969 21
17. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1m41.627s + 3.976 18
18. Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1m41.642s + 3.991 24
19. Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1m42.154s + 4.503 18
20. d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 1m42.540s + 4.889 20
21. Valsecchi Lotus-Renault 1m44.054s + 6.403 18
22. Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1m45.228s + 7.577 20
23. Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1m46.267s + 8.616 10
24. Petrov Renault 1m47.932s + 10.281 4

autosport.com - F1 News: Webber dominates eventful practice (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90501)

[ScionDriver]

We could have a much more competitive race this week. Button finished FP2 within .005 seconds of Webber's time. And at the least, we should see some interesting retirements, if Renault can't sort out their front end and HRT actually qualifys for a change.

[Matra et Alpine]

WOW ! Schumi doesn't make Q1 again ..... not going to be a good year I sense

[Matra et Alpine]

Brundle oosing about Hamilton's "perfect" lap "hit every apex" etc etc as Hamilton goes in to pole ..... and then few minutes later Vettel trounces it !!

[LeonOfTheDead]

I'm not sure if the 107% as it's applied makes sense, meaning being based on Q1 times.
I understand slower cars can't be prepared to stay within 107% of a time that has yet to be set (in Q2 or Q3), but now you have both HRT and Virgins as well qualified within the 107% gap, yet they are about 7 seconds slower than the pole.
Doesn't make sense if you ask me. They are withing the 107% of a time which is 2.6 seconds higher than pole. Compared to the pole time, the two HRT would have been out, even if by not a huge margin.

My point is that this is motorsport, you have to give everything you have. It's sort of like Ski races, you set a time and hope the next guy won't be faster than you, but you don't know how quick he is going to be. So you go for the best you can do.

On a side note, Lotus is closing the gap with the rest of the field, still 1 second adrift.

[Wouter Melissen]

I'm not sure if the 107% as it's applied makes sense, meaning being based on Q1 times.
I understand slower cars can't be prepared to stay within 107% of a time that has yet to be set (in Q2 or Q3), but now you have both HRT and Virgins as well qualified within the 107% gap, yet they are about 7 seconds slower than the pole.
Doesn't make sense if you ask me. They are withing the 107% of a time which is 2.6 seconds higher than pole. Compared to the pole time, the two HRT would have been out, even if by not a huge margin.

It would not be very fair to expect teams to beat a time from a session they cannot compete in. The track gets quicker with every session, which naturally makes Q3 faster than Q1.

Your ski racing element is hardly valid as skiers, unlike F1 cars, set their time one by one.

[LeonOfTheDead]

It would not be very fair to expect teams to beat a time from a session they cannot compete in. The track gets quicker with every session, which naturally makes Q3 faster than Q1.

Your ski racing element is hardly valid as skiers, unlike F1 cars, set their time one by one.

Both points are right, yet skiers face a track that changes with each competitor, so that's unfair as well.

I don't think I have the right solution to this problem (wouldn't be here otherwise), but I still think there is something wrong with the current set of rules (oh really?!).
I've never seen the point of dividing qualifying into three parts, it just makes for an overall similar action (moments with loads of it, and then zero for a few minutes), while also diluting what's there to be seen during the whole session.

Then again I don't see the point of no refueling as long as they must put for tires, and I'd suggest to reconsider the DRS thing to work always as in Malaysia, rather than as in Australia. Two longer straights set apart by a corner probably helped a lot.

The list goes on.

[Wouter Melissen]

I believe the current format of qualifying is actually one of the best changes introduces in recent years. It offers three arcs, offering tension for a full hour. The only thing I don't like about is that the top 10 have to start on the tyres they qualified on, which are usually the softest available. The first part of the race could benefit from the top ten not all being on the same tyres.

[RacingManiac]

The race was decent even if the winner was not a surprise. Lots of ontrack action throughout and I think DRS for the most part worked as intended, while not making a mockery out of the act of passing as they still have to do some "work" to get the pass done.

[pimento]

I believe the current format of qualifying is actually one of the best changes introduces in recent years. It offers three arcs, offering tension for a full hour. The only thing I don't like about is that the top 10 have to start on the tyres they qualified on, which are usually the softest available. The first part of the race could benefit from the top ten not all being on the same tyres.

100% agreed.

Is it just me or should Petrov really not have been able to launch like that? Surely that's a crap place for a culvert...

[RacingManiac]

Well if he ran across a piece of drain trench on a straight part of the track that is not in the braking zone.....

I think typically people don't get off there....

[LeonOfTheDead]

I actually preferred the old format, perhaps reduce to 45 minutes.
It also allowed for some more technical commentary back then, analyzing the various different solutions, which now is not featured anymore. Maybe they are too focused on commenting what's going on on track which is good, but sometimes it seems more convulsed than interesting.
It doesn't look like there is any rush to get the perfect lap or anything lke when there were 20 cars on track and getting a clear lap was a bit more complicated.

Parc ferme isn't working that much either in some aspects, I think. They probably intended it so that drivers would have to go for a qualifying setup or race setup, but it doesn't seem to make such a big difference. There are probably less options to work with to really make the two setups all that different, as opposed to I guess 15 years ago when there still were qualifying engines iirc.
Of course that's not the only point of parc ferme.

I'm also of the opinion that drivers should be "invited" to drive as fast as they can, or thereabouts, with points assigned for qualifying and race lap times.

Point being Kobayashi wouldn't have received 2 additional points if he was just a few more seconds behind. He was basically in the middle between the guy in front of him and the guy behind him, and there was "no reason" to push as the gap was too large. Not only because of penalties, but also because of smaller incidents (Alonso's wing, or even Petrov's, steering failure aside), you could still gain a position if you were close enough, and quite often it seems to me that many drivers just prefer to settle for the current position.

In that regards, I didn't perceive a penalty to either Hamilton or Alonso as necessary. Didn't check if Hamilton indeed changed his race line more than once, even if during the race I got the feeling he braked too early by the sound of the engine (not saying he did that on purpose). Then again I was watching it on streaming, so God knows where that sound came from.

Alonso did crash against Hamilton, but it was such a dangerous maneuver, we've seen worse things with no penalties. Perhaps the stewards were more concerned about their relationship? Meh.

It seemed a relatively fair and good fight to me.
Sometimes I just feel like penalties are spoiling the party. Perhaps they should remove you a point or more every time you take somebody else out of the race?

[pimento]

Wait, Ham/Alonso penalty? What happened there?

RM, it's not that it's an atypical racing line so much as it's not unheard of for people to go off in that sort of spot and given the magnitude of the flying leap he took then maybe they should take that small possibility into consideration.

[RacingManiac]

Where he was though, flying was probably one of the last thing they might consider, since it was grass(a rarity these days, I guess thats due to Sepang being the oldest of the "new" tracks), if someone had gone off there they could well plow into the wall or spin-off also....

Only real solution was to pave everything like the newer tracks....Something I don't find particularly attractive...

Penalty:
autosport.com - F1 News: Alonso, Hamilton hit with penalties (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90614)

[Wouter Melissen]

I actually preferred the old format, perhaps reduce to 45 minutes.

That would be like the current Q1 then with nothing going on in the first 25 minutes.

[Ferrer]

Is it just me or despite the increase in overtakings races are still a bit boring?

Also, the Renaults (or is that Lotus?) are on a bit of a roll lately...

[RacingManiac]

Judging by the fact that I had only an hour of sleep before and waking up at 4am to catch the race live and did not fell a sleep during it(more than what can be said a few times in the past), I thought it was interesting throughout....

[LeonOfTheDead]

This race was surely more interesting than the average 2010 or even 2009 (and so on) race.


That would be like the current Q1 then with nothing going on in the first 25 minutes.

Trow out of the window the Friday's sessions, and if required add more time to Saturdat morning.
Even if there was zero action for the first 25 minutes, at least the rest of the session would really be packed with action.

I still manage to watch a full MotoGP practice or qualifying session tbh. Even if they are just like 16 or 17 riders, there is always someone on track and it just force the commentary team to trow in something more than just tell me what I'm already seeing there. Which is basically what the guys who comment the ALMS/LMS races do, and I always enjoy it.

[pimento]

Where he was though, flying was probably one of the last thing they might consider, since it was grass(a rarity these days, I guess thats due to Sepang being the oldest of the "new" tracks), if someone had gone off there they could well plow into the wall or spin-off also....

Only real solution was to pave everything like the newer tracks....Something I don't find particularly attractive...

Penalty:
autosport.com - F1 News: Alonso, Hamilton hit with penalties (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/90614)

Agreed that grass is better than paving. Maybe they should get some golf course people in to make it smooth :D

Weird penalty, Hambo didn't seem to move too much to me.

[RacingManiac]

Yeah it never really occurred to me as "blocking", looks much like good ol' wheel to wheel racing....