2011 Malaysian Grand Prix

Today was fantastic there! Sweet to see Vettel waived at us for his pole position but unfortunately a bit dissapointing to see both Mercedes and Team Lotus didn't put a good performance. The Lotus Renault on the other hand was doing its job neatly - though could be better if there were no glitch in FP1.

It didn't rain today, although some black clouds were all above our heads, I'm expecting one tomorrow...
 
It will be very interesting if there is rain tomorrow. Sadly I can't watch it as it will be on during my bed time.
 
chippy1000
Exactly. And he still won the WDC, that just shows how good the Red Bull really is.
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Fixed that for you. ;)

I maintain that I will call Vettel a world class racing driver when I see him fight his way through a field of cars of similar performance to his own. Until then he's just lucky to be in a superior car.
 
Thinking about Skipping school for this one .Shaping up to be a Brilliant race.
 
Anghammarad
Let's just hope that Vettel fumbles up the start tomorrow so that we wont have to sit through him leading from start to finish. Which is the dirty side btw?
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Pole is always on the clean side, on the racing line. Thats part of the advantage of being on pole (and why Suzuka 1990 happened, when pole was not on the racing line).

chippy1000
Exactly. And he still won the WDC, that just shows how good he really is.
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Hang on, Vettel made his own mistakes last year too, he did have the lion's share of mechanical gremlins but he also made several errors of judgement and driving errors. Most notably Turkey, Silverstone and Spa. He is a fast driver, no doubt about that and he is a worthy champion. But he had by no means the perfect season and he was beaten by Webber on pure pace alone at times.
All 5 championship contenders had their highs and lows of 2010, none of them were particularly fantastic efforts.

InvincibleM5
Today was fantastic there! Sweet to see Vettel waived at us for his pole position but unfortunately a bit dissapointing to see both Mercedes and Team Lotus didn't put a good performance. The Lotus Renault on the other hand was doing its job neatly - though could be better if there were no glitch in FP1.

It didn't rain today, although some black clouds were all above our heads, I'm expecting one tomorrow...
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5 tenths off the midfield is disappointing from Team Lotus???? What were you expecting? Team Lotus are effectively part of the "pack" now, albeit at the back but they are miles closer than they were. They are in a position to actually run on pace with the cars in front of them and use strategy to beat them. This is a massive step forward from last year, even from the last race. How you can be disappointed with this I don't know, they weren't going to be much closer than that, Q2 is a possiblity but not a certainty.

Today was a great day for them - and importantly this is a very aero-dependant track, so Lotus might be even closer on less aero-focused circuits!

Also good to see Hispania qualify now that they've actually shaken the car down and practiced with it a bit. There will be more speed to come from that car as the year wears on (last year they managed to catch Virgin and Lotus without ever upgrading the car...on setup alone!), so I won't be surprised to see them possibly catch Virgin who are really struggling this year (2 seconds off Lotus is very worrying).
 
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Ardius
5 tenths off the midfield is disappointing from Team Lotus???? What were you expecting?
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Perhaps my expectations were too high! :dunce:

Actually I was expecting them to be a lot better by getting into Q2 - almost a second better than Timo's Virgin is already enough.

EDIT: I'm also surprised with McLaren's performance - way better than what some of us and even them expected. They really are going to be a threat to Red Bull tomorrow...
 
juniordee
Watching the hot dog eating contest eh?
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Huh?

And i am glad that HRT made it within the 107% rule, now they can either finish last or DNF(if they have bad luck).
 
Is it just me or will the Maclaren be the best car at most circuits?
The Red Bull only just got pole and it's a track which rewards aero and Red Bull have much better aero. I think Maclaren will be fastest in Shanghai because it's similar to Sepang but it has that massive straight. Well, I'm excited for the other races because they could be like today.:D


As for Lotus, they were 4 tenths off Maldonado. Vettel was 8 tenths ahead of Hamilton on a shorter circuit 2 weeks ago. And, Lotus will be closer on lower downforce circuits. Lotus, I can say, have made the back of the mid-pack.:D
 
Gee...yet another issue with Schumacher's car :crazy: :lol:

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Wing issue cost Schumacher
Saturday 9th April 2011
source: PlanetF1

Michael Schumacher has revealed that "issues" with his adjustable rear wing cost him dearly in Saturday's Sepang qualifying.

Despite being a top-six contender on Friday, Schumacher's form slumped on Saturday, resulting in the German being knocked out of qualifying - by his team-mate - in Q2.

And the Mercedes GP driver has put his P11 grid slot down to a problem with his adjustable rear wing.

"We had some issues with the rear wing activation today and unfortunately that's what compromised my last run in Q2.

"The car became difficult to drive, which is a real shame as it had been working very well during the earlier runs.

"The performance was much better with the wing, so of course we had to use it, and I would still say that we have made a step forward thanks to the hard work from our guys.

"We now have to concentrate on tomorrow's race which we go into with the firm belief that anything can be possible."

Meanwhile, Nico Rosberg will start the Malaysian Grand Prix from ninth on the grid as he too had a few issues with his car in qualifying.

"The team have made some good progress here and I had a decent balance up to Q2 today.

"Unfortunately I lost that feeling in Q3, which combined with the rear wing issue, meant we weren't able to get the performance out of the car which is frustrating.

"The car is better than we have been able to show so far this season but we don't know exactly why we are not getting more performance at the moment.

"We need to look into today's issues now and have a good think to see what can help us improve in the race tomorrow."

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AMuS:

The DRS failed to work in 7 turns at Michaels Q2 run, which cost him around a second.
Nico thinks he could have done a ~ 1:35.8 under perfect conditions.

AMuS also questioned how it´s possible that HRT for example get it right while MGP do not. Its been said that MGP gain more than any other car with the DRS system.
Ross explains that the system is very sensitive, cross wind or turning in the front wheels can already collapse the system.
The problem is that it takes too long till the down force is available when the wing is closed again.
A final solution might only make it to Istanbul. Ross says they could come up with a conservative DRS system but it´s wouldn´t be nearly as effective as the current one.
The tyre wear is still to high in race conditions, he says. "Everybody says we should copy the Red Bull front end but that needs huge resources and McLaren shows you can be fast with a different concept too".
 
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I wonder when people will finally accept that Schumacher is not the man he was, granted a wing failure certainly ruined his performance today but I really don't see him making his comeback like people kept telling me last year.
First it was "wait a few races" then "wait till the end of the season" then "wait till next year" along with the excuses "the Bridgestones don't suit him", "the Pirelli's will suit him better" etc etc etc.
I'm prepared to eat my hat but I'm a little sick of the excuses. This isn't so much of an excuse but I'm a little sick of explanations either way.

Perhaps Schumi is very unlucky at Mercedes but there is always an element of making your own luck, especially with this man. I will say that he has shown some of his old self with some clever thinking (testing his braking points at Korea 2010 behind the safety car) and some dastardly moves (infamous Barrichello incident) but he has yet to show his speed and furious consistencey. Where is the man who won the Hungarian Grand Prix on a 3-stop strategy doing qualy-pace laps?

I don't see the point in having him in the seat if he doesn't show this speed again. Better to give the seat to a new talent, there are plenty out there.
 
Well I felt that last year Schumacher certainly lost his edge, but I was also one that was willing to give him time to prove his worth after his 3 year hiatus, and that he still can be quite quick given a car that suits him well (not the W01 which had some major design flaws).

I think he has certainly lost some adaptability (which particularly affects his consistency when the car isn't working for him), but when the car (particularly the DRS) was working for him this weekend up to Q2, he looked to be quite strong and could have very well gotten the better of Nico.

With that said, I'm still far from writing off Michael, especially if Brawn can develop the car to a level close to the RB7. IMO, Michael still has a certain level of precision and raw speed that very few of the drivers on the grid have...it's just that the cars balance issues and other problems get in the way of him being able to display this ability to full affect.
 
The excuses for Schumacher need to stop. He isn't the championship-winning driver he used to be. He's not a bad driver. He just can't compete anymore. The seat at Mercedes GP needs to be given to someone who is on par with Nico. He scored almost twice as many points as Schumacher last season. If Mercedes GP hadn't had the bad luck they had in Melbourne it's clear Nico would have finished ahead of Schumacher. He didn't make it into Q3 there either. I'm baffled Nico is still the 2nd driver on the team with the lower number and the yellow TV camera. Schumacher hasn't earned the preference since his return.
 
akmuq
Is it just me or will the Maclaren be the best car at most circuits?
The Red Bull only just got pole and it's a track which rewards aero and Red Bull have much better aero. I think Maclaren will be fastest in Shanghai because it's similar to Sepang but it has that massive straight. Well, I'm excited for the other races because they could be like today.:D
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  1. I think it's too early to really say. We've only done one race and are into the second race weekend. It's too early yet to really comfortably predict a pattern.
  2. Even if one team has so much advantage over another today, that doesn't mean it will stay that way. All the teams constantly develop over the season, so a team struggling early on can surge forward later on or vice versa.
 
I believe the RB7 is still the strongest car overall atm. I think the MP-4/26 still lacks (like the 25) a bit of mechanical compliance and grip in comparison the RB7, and this will be a bit more obvious once they arrive to the bumpier, slower circuits. I think on the high speed corners Mclaren definitely are quite strong though atm...and also on the straights of course.

I do believe that the Mclaren possibly has more room for growth though (especially if they can implement the octopus exhaust with success), and with Mclaren's very aggresive development program they could very well be the strongest in the not too distant future.
 
I think the RB5 family will stay the fastest, as with the old cars the McLaren and Ferrai (and the Renault to a leser extent). I think the McLaren will always be a bit off thanks to the relativley bad MP4-24 from 2009
 
Duffers917K
I think the RB5 family will stay the fastest, as with the old cars the McLaren and Ferrai (and the Renault to a leaser extent). I think the McLaren will always be a bit off thanks to the relatively bad MP4-24 from 2009
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Personally, I don't think the performance of the 24 has that much relevancy to the potential of the 26. Also, at Abu Dhabi the 24 squashed the field in qualy and was pretty much on even grounds with the RB5 in terms of race pace. Mclaren also has the benefit of an extra year of development of KERS, which has likely allowed them to concentrate a bit more on aero development instead of KERS, like RB has had to do coming into this year.

With this said, I still don't think any car on the grid is at the level of the RB7 in terms of all around handling. I really does look like it's on another planted in terms of the grip, balance, and ease of driving...it's quite astonishing.
 
akmuq
Is it just me or will the Maclaren be the best car at most circuits?
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What? :odd:

Are you suggesting McLaren will have a superior car over Red Bull on "most other circuits" because Hamilton was only a tenth off in qualifying?

I'm quite baffled at how many people here are talking about McLaren's development when Adrian Newey can easily come forward with some updates to the RB7 that will give it yet another edge over the rest of the field.

To be entirely honest: Ever since the RB5, I think the Red Bull team will always come forward with an update that will give them the edge over the competition as it looks now. It's just remarkable just how fast the RB6 and RB7 are.
 
The Outlaw
Well I felt that last year Schumacher certainly lost his edge, but I was also one that was willing to give him time to prove his worth after his 3 year hiatus, and that he still can be quite quick given a car that suits him well (not the W01 which had some major design flaws).

I think he has certainly lost some adaptability (which particularly affects his consistency when the car isn't working for him), but when the car (particularly the DRS) was working for him this weekend up to Q2, he looked to be quite strong and could have very well gotten the better of Nico.

With that said, I'm still far from writing off Michael, especially if Brawn can develop the car to a level close to the RB7. IMO, Michael still has a certain level of precision and raw speed that very few of the drivers on the grid have...it's just that the cars balance issues and other problems get in the way of him being able to display this ability to full affect.
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Anyone would be foolish to write off any driver in a car like the RB7...so that really isn't saying much at all. I honestly believe at this point that Rosberg would beat Schumacher hands down in the RB7.
The fact that we have to wait for Mercedes to make the quick car says it all.

The main point of hiring someone of Schumacher's calibre is that you are hiring an experienced driver with a proven high success record. Someone that you can be sure will deliver not just when the car is quick, but also when the car is slow and helps develop the team. There is no doubt in my mind that the Schumacher of 1993-2000 would be dominating Rosberg all the way.

So if he hasn't got the speed anymore and lacks the ability to push in a car which doesn't suit him, you wonder why would you hire him. There are plenty of drivers out there who do have the speed and enough experience to deliver results. The reason Barrichello is still in F1 is that he still has the speed and the ability to make something from nothing, without that, he wouldn't be here still. There is little risk left in going for a less experienced driver who has more speed, even if more unreliable, the potential future gains are way bigger than waiting for Schumacher to deliver when the car is already fast.

If Mercedes make a much faster car of the RB7 standard, Rosberg will take the title and Schumacher will win some races. I would also argue that as Mercedes fall further back down the grid, BAR/Honda style, they lose more and more chances to sign better drivers. They may find themselves in a position when they have to stick with Schumacher because there are no better options anymore. Already Renault and Sauber look like better options to aspiring rookies than Mercedes do.
 
The fact is, Schumacher has had rather major issues (unless MB are bs'ing) with the W02 in both Q2 sessions at Melbourne (KERS) and Malaysia (DRS), which are once again tarnishing most outsiders views of his ability in comparison to Nico's. It doesn't help when people would like to see the controversial legend kicked to the curb (what about drivers like Massa) whenever something goes wrong either.

Hopefully Schumacher will have a good race here and hopefully have a bit better luck in qualy at the next race...because at the moment it seems as if karma is slapping Michael across the face at the worst moments :lol:
 
The excuses for Schumacher's lack of speed will eventually die down. They will run out of things to blame it on. The W01 was completely changed to suit Schumacher's style midway through last season. It did nothing. Is it that hard to believe he isn't the driver he used to be?

d11mal1329.jpg


What's Newey looking at?
 
Rossticles
Is it that hard to believe he isn't the driver he used to be?
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I don't see anyone (in this thread) arguing against that at this point 👍
 
OK. Is it that hard to believe he's not going to finish ahead of a teammate, at season's end, ever again? Nico massively outscored him last year.
 
Rossticles
OK. Is it that hard to believe he's not going to finish ahead of a teammate, at season's end, ever again? Nico massively outscored him last year.
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You believe what you believe...I don't need to give you the answer you are looking for.

To me the points tally from last year only means so much (like judging a book by its cover) - I see many factors going into this year which mean Michael could very well go to toe to toe with Nico, now that he's had some time to polish off some rust and should be in a car that he should feel more comfortable with. But again, that's just in my eyes...the results and bad luck at the end of the year will do the talking...not your or my opinion at this point in time.
 
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I think it's funny that some people are so quick to call Vettel "a decent driver in a fast car" but are still willing to believe Webber is talented. It seems, that some people think rbr designed 2 cars. One for Seb and a different one for Mark.

Seb has outqualified Webber 29 times out of 38 Grand Prix. He even outqualified Webber in their first 8 races as team mates and outqualified him in 15 out of 17 races in the 2009 season. He has thoroughly bested Webber throughout the last 2 seasons in equal machinery. I'm a fan of Webber, but some people seem to conveniently forget his record against Vettel. It seems very hypocritical. I wonder what these people think of Nigel Mansell.
 
Although I believe a car like the RB5-RB7 will make a driver like Webber generally look better than he is (by closing the potential gap to a super qualifier like Vettel...due to the amount of grip and DF), comparing drivers simply on qualifying placement (or points tally) rather than more important statistical data like time gap is rather short sided IMO.

I don't know what the stats are for '09, but in 2010 the average qualifying gap between Vettel and Webber was only .05 (according to F1fanatic)...in favor of Vettel.
 
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