Formula 1 2017 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix

This is the last Malaysian GP, at least for now. We arrive after an unusually-astounding Singaporean race... Vettel has it all to do if he's going to retake the championship lead!

Kvyat is sitting this race out in favour of Red Bull's up-and-coming junior Pierre Gasly while Jolyon Palmer is looking to impress enough to make the running for Williams' 2018 seat.

Not sure. In all it was an easy win for MSC who stormed the entire season ahead of Coulthard, it was also the debut season of Raikkonen and Alonso and the finale season for Mika Hakkinen.

EDIT: Here's the full 2001 race, you'll need to watch it at YouTube.

Things to look out for: Murray Walker's opening comments about McLaren and the aliasing on the track map, rain starts about 20:00

Spoiler: 2017 FP1 Times

Spoiler: 2017 FP2 Times

Spoiler: 2017 FP3 Times

 

To celebrate the last Malaysian GP, there was a vote of three races, 2001, 2003 or 2012. 2001 was the winner because of the rain chaos and the names Schumacher and Verstappen.

 

What happened in 2003 and 2012? I started watching in 2011 or so but 2012 was when Vettel was dominating in the super aero Red Bull right?

 

2003 - Raikkonen's first win, Alonso's first podium, full-dry race.
2012 - Big rain storm that would red-flag the race for a bit, caused chaos and all that

Anyone think Hamilton will take a knee on the podium given his social media post of late?

 

I posted it for you, you'd forgotten to give people linky-poos. I don't see why he would, we're astonishingly unlikely to hear the American anthem this weekend.

 

Guess I'm just hoping for something meme-worthy, like Multi-21 or the Petronas-sponsored car blowing up at their home track then.

 

Gasly scoring more points on his debut than Kvyat has all season?

 

I wouldn't call 2001 an "easy" win for MSC. At one point they were close to the back of the field; Barrichello had a nightmare 1m 12s pit-stop with MSC queuing behind him as I recall. It was Ferrari's brilliant strategy in response to this, in the tricky conditions, that secured the win.

Still, imagine Bernie allowing a full-race upload. How times change.

 

I don't think he ever really understood media sales, he was a bricks-and-mortar man. Murdoch understands how to use cheap services (such as already-filmed races, drivers' media accounts, news placement et al) to increase the viewer appetite for new content. That's why his takeover (Liberty is Murdoch in all but name) is good for the media spread of the sport in general but risks over-monetising actual live race viewing.

 

The long pit stop was due to Ferrari waiting to find inters for Barrichello (they'd initially prepared to fit wets). With all things even once the track was drying the Ferraris had enough pace (astonishingly so, as was often the case) to have won from the back of the pack of remaining cars. Schumacher's "off" as the rain started (and his subsequent "off" after getting his inters) added some interest to his day but overall I think it was relatively easy

 

This phrase is so unseen in the past years of F1, that it might as well be new and foreign.

 

I don't think Hamilton will kneel because, the race takes place in Malaysia and the American anthem probably will not be played.

When you take into account the fan demographics of F1, the divided opinions of Hamilton himself and the fact that F1 is trying to grow the sport in the US, kneeling during the American anthem is going to take a boat load of courage, IMO. We are talking about the sport's only Black driver, hell I would guess that there are some races in which Hamilton is the only black person at the event, I think it can be a big issue if he does.

 

Press conference on Thursday with VER, VET, RAI can also be fun

 

Ah Liberty

 

Lets see if they put Max inbetween Seb and Kimi so he can be in a Ferrari sandwich again. Will be interesting to see that one for sure, wonder if Ferrari is finally able to admit their mistake instead of blaming it on Max. I doubt it though.

 

I would pay money if the three of them were in that same order...in wheeled chairs and when they wheeled up to the microphones, they repeated the crash.

 

And then the Ferrari Twitter account blames Verstappen again.

 

Opening a can of worms here, but I don't think Max is fully in the clear either. The contact goes Max->Kimi->Seb IMO, whether that's because Max lost spatial awareness due to the weather conditions, or forgot 'the throttle works both ways' and could've just lifted, we'll never really know.

I do love how he got all 'aggressive' in his interview though, giving Seb crap for not being conservative. It's like... dude, you're fighting with Alonso for most DNF's this year, if you want to finish a race too you're going to have to learn some conservative driving behavior as well.

That said, Ferarri PR was way too quick to make a call via twitter, like everyone else I waited & watched footage and drew my own conclusion.

 

I'm pretty sure Max was being conservative. I dont think we saw him give as much space during his entire career as he did that weekend in Singapore.

 

If you listen to the audio from Max's car, he lifts before contact is made.

 

Well, you can keep that can closed, I don't like worms. There really is nothing Max could've done to prevent it except for making a slower start on purpose, which no real racing driver will ever do, especially in a race where he had the best chance of the season to take a win. He actually did lift when he saw what was going to happen but it was already too late. He was locked in by both Ferrari's already with nowhere to go. When he lifted was when the contact with Kimi's rear tyre happened. He also couldn't keep going cause then he would've lost his front wing and both front tyres with the speed and angle Seb was closing in on him. He also left more space with Seb than with Kimi, I think because he expected Kimi to move over to the left a bit more (there was still plenty of space). Instead, Kimi actually moved slightly to the right before the contact. So in my opinion, only the Ferrari's could've really prevented it from happening. Kimi by moving to the left where there was still some space left (allowing Max more time to get out of it) and Seb by just not doing such a stupid move when the visibility was very low because of the rain/spray.


The interviews today weren't as good as I hoped. Why didn't they put Max in the middle?! Looks like they all 3 just didn't want to make a comment on it. It's good in a way though, they should be focusing on this weekend in Malaysia and not on what happened in the last race. They seem to have "forgotten" about it, just the press and people watching still want to know more about it.

 

haha release the throttle with a bunch of other cars full speed breathing in your neck. That's kind of suicide and also against the nature of a pro driver.
Based on the kind words of Sebbie he indirectly admits his fault. If it was e.g. Max fault you could expect more ranting from Ferrari side. case closed and now proceed to this GP. Ready for night shift.

Enjoy!!

 

Dutch defending the Dutch, I've done walked into a lions den.

Fair enough, the drivers themselves have clearly moved on, so I might as well too.

Edit* Went back and had another look, I see Max react to Kimi getting by on his left and then squeezing him to the left, only to then see how aggressive Seb was squeezing himself. Had Max kept about as straight as Kimi did getting by, moving his position over like a meter, he could've lifted with no contact and we could've had a much different race IMO.

Yes, this is all 'angles' and what-ifs, but I still don't think he's in the clear entirely.

 

FP1 on hold due to heavy rain

 

Ricciardo is likely getting a Gearbox change after having some issues with it in the Singapore Race.

 

Sometimes you hope that the points were given after P1.

During P1 it was good to see so many testdrivers.

 

GOMAX!!




Please please please let him have a trouble free race this weekend... (or in other words: Vettel off!!.... )



Spy.

 

That was a pretty useless session, Gasly in the Toro Rosso managed the most laps with a measly 14. The fastest lap (Verstappen) was 13 seconds slower than last year's FP1. Not sure how much the drivers learnt there.

I've added the times to the OP.

 

With the knowledge I could have slept for two hours longer...

Hopefully some drivers learnt how to drive (not even race) a car when it rains.

 

Grosjean has just been wiped out by a drain cover ripping his right rear clean off the rim. Scary stuff