2011 Malaysian Grand Prix

interludes
A fast car does not make one dominant because you can completely drop the ball, as Red Bull did in 2009. One of the main reasons why they started favouring Vettel so heavily in 2010 was because they completely blew it the year before. Rather than backing one driver and let him mount an assault on Jenson Button's lead, Red Bull let Vettel and Webber race, and they ended up being too busy taking points out of one another to take the fight to Button. They might have won more races than Brawn and McLaren did from Silverstone onwards, but that's not exactly the most impressive feat in the world considering that Button won six races from seven and Red Bull then won five races from ten between their two drivers.
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Not to mention the accidents, reliability problems and mistakes that led to Red Bull losing both titles in 2009. Red Bull still had the fastest car for most of the season. Even some of Button's earlier wins were lucky due to a Red Bull either going out of the race or making a mistake, or getting caught up during pit stops. They were verging on dominant in terms of pace towards the end of 2009.

It still doesn't change the fact that they were dominant throughout last year and they look to be continuing that dominance this year.
 
Seismica
It still doesn't change the fact that they were dominant throughout last year and they look to be continuing that dominance this year.
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It's been one race, so don't be so quick to judge. The high heat, humidity and downforce of Sepang is about as different from Melbourne as a circuit can be.

Grayfox
Rain means no DRS, will mean RB will need to use kers this time, unless they can get a good gear setup again.
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Getting the downforce right and the gear ratios wrong is better than getting the gear ratios right and the downforce wrong around Sepang.
 
Grayfox
Rain means no DRS, will mean RB will need to use kers this time, unless they can get a good gear setup again.
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Newey would say "U mad?" :lol:
 
Forgive me Father, for I have sinned.

I thought that practice started on Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday.

And did anyone else find it funny that the concert that will be held is called 'Rain'? :lol:
 
Tesla
I thought that practice started on Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday.
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Consider yourself lucky that I gave up being a moderator. Because I would have given you a two-day ban just for that.

Grayfox
Rain means no DRS, will mean RB will need to use kers this time
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KERS is less effective in the wet. Red Bull need to work on KERS in case the weekend is wet, but the race is dry
 
FIA confirms DRS zone for sepang

28322011drssectormalaysia.jpg



It will be used coming out of turn 15
 
It will be interesting to see how well DRS is put to use on such a long straight... should make for some great challenges.
 
Tesla
I thought that practice started on Friday, Friday, gotta get down on Friday.
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Grrr.......

Anyways, I would like to see some rain at this race, maybe halfway through just to mess the whole thing up strategy wise. This, I think, would make the order unpredictable. If it ends up a dry race, I think Vettel again, maybe Hamilton then Webber.

Webber just doesn't look like the same guy, in terms of speed. He won't be able to compete with Vettel for another 3 or 4 rounds in my opinion. He seems to go through patches of form where he is one of the very best, but then slides away. If you look at his performances from Malaysia last year to Silverstone, he looked very good, and kept up with Vettel, at times outshining the young German. But even though he won at Hungary, he seemed to hit a form slump, especially in the last 3 races or so.

I hope we can see a more consistant drive from Webber this year. And to return to the topic at hand, I can't wait for Sepang. I really like the track itself, and because of the DRS, there will be many battles down the twin straights (even though DRS is for the Pit straight only). Overtakes, maybe. Battles, definatly
 
Apparently Webber's car underperformed in Melbourne; confident will be more competitive - I hope so 👍

Hot weather will be a big factors with the Pirelli's; maybe lead to more pit stops?
 
I think it was simply Webber who underperformed.
 
Rossticles
I think it was simply Webber who underperformed.
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Confirmed by Red Bull - the team went over the car after the race, but found no mechanical issues that might explain why Webber struggled.
 
Sebastian Vettel, the reigning drivers' champion, was noticeably quicker at last month's opening race in Melbourne, but Mark Webber is confident his problems have been fixed and he will be more competitive this weekend.
"There were a few issues we found post-race which certainly did not help the situation," he said.
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From news.com.au.

Not convinced. I get the feeling his lack of pace was a combination of driver and car.
 
It was the driver, not the car. There were a combination of little issues with the car, like the rear damper, but it wasn't enough to slow him down.

Face it, Webber has never been good in Melbourne. The pressure and media commitments for that one race probably out-weigh everything he does at every other Grand Prix combined.
 
interludes
Face it, Webber has never been good in Melbourne. The pressure and media commitments for that one race probably out-weigh everything he does at every other Grand Prix combined.
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Not trying to deny that.

I didn't bother tracking down your source in your previous post, but having read it now, it is abundantly clear that Webber is just trying to make himself feel better about his performance in Melbourne by believing that it was the car's fault, then telling it to the Australian media, who now report it as fact. Apologies for believing news.com.au without chasing the facts:dunce:

Already looking forward to another 5th place in Melbourne next year.
 
Is their any way to watch the practice?

One HD is just showing basket ball for most of the day.
 
There goes one HRT.

edit: I don't think I've ever seen a "fresh" engine blow that quickly. It started blowing smoke as soon as the car left the garage.
 
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CarolinaBlue704
There goes one HRT.

edit: I don't think I've ever seen a "fresh" engine blow that quickly. It started blowing smoke as soon as the car left the garage.
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No kidding. That thing was gone in 3 seconds.

And Nick just can't catch a break.
 
Thanks for the link fission, but i get a timeout message when trying to watch.
 
Just nabbed this from the site, I don't think any other countries besides the US can view it due to licensing issues...

"...Please view in Flash-enabled browser with broadband connection. FOM practice session online rights to SPEED apply to continental US residents only & will be blacked out to all other areas."
 
That looked like a massive tire failure on Petrov's car. It sounds like he said something about the brakes too.
 
AWWW poor Petrov he just got out in the field and his damn tire blows up!!!
 
I really hate region only things.
 
I'm watching on justin.tv. The commentary is in Spanish though.
 
A lot of drivers are seeming to have trouble at the double-right turns, 7 and 8 I believe.
 
Rossticles
A lot of drivers are seeming to have trouble at the double-right turns, 7 and 8 I believe.
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i was noticing that too, couldn't really nail which turns exactly but it seemed to be troublesome to most of the drivers

and was it just me or was everyone just waiting for another tire to explode? what the hell is wrong with the Pirellis???!!!
 
Using a proxy so i can watch.

I still don't know why OneHD is showing American NBA over the F1.
 
fissionproject
and was it just me or was everyone just waiting for another tire to explode? what the hell is wrong with the Pirellis???!!!
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It is only the first Friday practice session, but they seemed to dislike the heat. I couldn't tell what happened to d'Ambrosio's car.

I can't wait to see the one in a couple hours on SpeedTV.
 
Well i can't find a good US proxy to let me watch.
 
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