Malaysia Grand Prix 2009

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quali's broadcats at 10p.m tonight here in Perht, so I haven't seen it yet. But it is good to see Webber doing well. And Button, another Pole! Looking forward to the race tomorrow.
 
I am happy to say, even suprised,but the new rules have been the best thing to happen to F1 since..........I don't know when and I've been watching for almost 30 years.
 
Just watched the full qualifying session on red button service. Good, although would have been nice to see the build-up.

I think the Toyota's are a real threat in the race, they had exceptional race pace in Australia, the car is good. Should be a good race, I reckon it's between Button and Trulli for the win.
 
Provisional Grid and start weights

1. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 660kg
2. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 656.5
3. Timo Glock, Toyota, 656.5
4. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 656
5. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 656
6. Robert Kubica, BMW-Sauber, 663
7. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 662.5
8. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn, 664.5
9. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 680.5
10. Nick Heidfeld, BMW-Sauber, 692
11. Kazuki Nakajima,Williams, 683.4
12. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 688
13. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 647
14. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 688.9
15. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso, 670.5
16. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 689.5
17. Nelson Piquet, Renault, 681.9
18. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 680.5
19. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 655.5
20. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 686.5

Minimum weight is 605KG and according to Martin Brundle 10KG of fuel is used every 4 laps and costs .4 of a second of a lap.
 
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Those weights are meaningless without including exact weights of driver and KERS if there is any. It would be better if it actually said, "x driver has x laps of fuel on board".
 
605KG is the minimum weight of the car & the driver. There is no additional weight for KERS.
 
Tired Tyres
Minimum weight is 605KG and according to Martin Brundle 10KG of fuel is used every 4 laps and costs .4 of a second of a lap.
Click to expand...


1 litre of fuel is 0.8 KG, Vettel weights 64 KG, Car weighs 605KG with the driver.

0.8 x 42kg (difference between dry weight and quali weight of Vettels car)
= 33.6

Thats 33.6 litres of fuel. Now we need Metar with his extensive knowledge to tell us how many litres a lap roughly for Sepang.👍
 
Just looking over the qualifying standings... haha Ferrari's not happy at all with Massa and his 4 laps... and Brawn looks strong again. But I really think that if Vettel doesn't tangle with anyone again, he just might have a good chance of winning it... but you can't count out toyota either.
 
mPWRD
Just looking over the qualifying standings... haha Ferrari's not happy at all with Massa and his 4 laps... and Brawn looks strong again. But I really think that if Vettel doesn't tangle with anyone again, he just might have a good chance of winning it... but you can't count out toyota either.
Click to expand...

Vettel winning it? You do realise he's starting from 13th? I mean, he is good but its not very likely he's going to catch and overtake the "diffuser three" teams especially looking at the laptimes they are throwing down.
If we have rain, then yeah.

Safe mans bet is on Button or Trulli for the win, they seem equally matched and their cars are the fastest in the field.
 
Ardius
Vettel winning it? You do realise he's starting from 13th? I mean, he is good but its not very likely he's going to catch and overtake the "diffuser three" teams especially looking at the laptimes they are throwing down.
If we have rain, then yeah.
Click to expand...
If you remember Singapore last year, Alonso was light and starting at a similar position. Vettel will probably be the first to pit in sequence, so if there is a safety car after his stop but before the cars ahead, he will be sitting pretty. Problem is that it isnt so easy to get a safety car in Sepang sconsidering the huge runoffs.
 
SagarisGTB
If you remember Singapore last year, Alonso was light and starting at a similar position. Vettel will probably be the first to pit in sequence, so if there is a safety car after his stop but before the cars ahead, he will be sitting pretty. Problem is that it isnt so easy to get a safety car in Sepang sconsidering the huge runoffs.
Click to expand...

Without rain, it would take something pretty spectacular to cause a safety car here, but then rain is still very likely.
 
Im pretty sure the weather forecast for this weekend was 69% chance of wet weather for Friday, Saturday and Sunday and well, it wasn't compeltely accurate when it was time to put the cars on track. So we shall have to wait and see.

I'm expecting it be a dry race from the start but a wet shower to appear half way through and spice up the race.
That would be the best case scenario anyway, as I wouldn't like to see a race so bad it was red-flagged like Adelaide 1991.
 
I must say Jarno Trulli was spectacular, and will admit the RBR Renaults are crazy fast in sharp contrast to the factory Renaults. Adrian Newey may be a genius... Was nice for me to witness Alonso knocking out Hamilton to proceed to Q3. The best knock-out qualifying I've seen, ever. I'm cautiously optimistic for Trulli. Frankly, I didn't know he had 'it' in him, and Vettel is living up to the hype! It's time for Renault to get clever... Enjoy the Grand Prix.
 
Well, if we take their teammate history into account and when they were teammates with each other, Button has Trulli beat.

However, Trulli although not known for his racecraft in charging, we can never forget the "Trulli Train". Button when he has it right can easily dominate but he has a tendency to let people overtake him too easily, so this combined with the Trulli train should make a good race and hopefully a great battle between the two!
I can imagine Glock playing a part in the race too and naturally Kubica, Vettel, Barrichello, Rosberg and Raikkonen will be drivers to watch out for creeping from behind.

Once again we have seen the KERS cars largely fail in qualifying but I think like last race we will see the KERS system play a big part, especially in seeing Massa battle up and the McLarens.
If Raikkonen really isn't using his KERS system, he has seriously damaged his chances as he doesn't rate as a brilliant overtaking driver in recent times and KERS would have been his saving grace.

I think some people are too quick to discount the KERS system based on the qualifying times, I still believe this system is better used in a race than it is over a lap.
 
Tired Tyres
2.5 litres per lap.
Click to expand...

So Vettel has about 14 laps worth of fuel in the dry (unlikely), with no safety car (which there shouldn't be). I am curious of the strategy, a short stint seems like he's banking on rain happening early into the race.
 
Estimated Lap Of First Stop For Fuel: (around 3.5-3.8kg of fuel per lap)

Vettel: 12
Sutil: 14
Rosberg: 15
Webber: 15
Glock: 15
Trulli: 15
Button: 16
Räikkönen: 16
Kubica: 17
Barrichello: 17
Bourdais: 19
Alonso: 22
Fisichella: 22
Piquet: 22
Nakajima: 22
Buemi: 23
Hamilton: 24
Kovalainen: 24
Massa: 24
Heidfeld: 25

Something doesn't click right, but that's the best I could find. It makes sense, though. Fuel-usage is especially high in Malaysia (long straights, high humidity), and Heidfeld has twice the weight Vettel is carrying. Also remember, even without the safety-car rule, that teams still have to factor an extra couple of KGs of fuel, just-in-case. (647-605)/12=3.5, which looks ok-ish...
 
Ardius
Well, if we take their teammate history into account and when they were teammates with each other, Button has Trulli beat.

However, Trulli although not known for his racecraft in charging, we can never forget the "Trulli Train". Button when he has it right can easily dominate but he has a tendency to let people overtake him too easily, so this combined with the Trulli train should make a good race and hopefully a great battle between the two!
I can imagine Glock playing a part in the race too and naturally Kubica, Vettel, Barrichello, Rosberg and Raikkonen will be drivers to watch out for creeping from behind.

Once again we have seen the KERS cars largely fail in qualifying but I think like last race we will see the KERS system play a big part, especially in seeing Massa battle up and the McLarens.
If Raikkonen really isn't using his KERS system, he has seriously damaged his chances as he doesn't rate as a brilliant overtaking driver in recent times and KERS would have been his saving grace.

I think some people are too quick to discount the KERS system based on the qualifying times, I still believe this system is better used in a race than it is over a lap.
Click to expand...

Lewis Hamilton will get a penalty for holding up Massa. I know it, flashback to last year....and also the events of this week too.

Button for the win though!!!!
 
Well it looks like my calculation is a bit out, I used Alex's fuel numbers and tired tyres consumption figure. Still, How much fuel is burnt on the two prelude laps?
 
Metar
Estimated Lap Of First Stop For Fuel: (around 3.5-3.8kg of fuel per lap)

Vettel: 12
Sutil: 14
Rosberg: 15
Webber: 15
Glock: 15
Trulli: 15
Button: 16
Räikkönen: 16
Kubica: 17
Barrichello: 17
Bourdais: 19
Alonso: 22
Fisichella: 22
Piquet: 22
Nakajima: 22
Buemi: 23
Hamilton: 24
Kovalainen: 24
Massa: 24
Heidfeld: 25

Something doesn't click right, but that's the best I could find. It makes sense, though. Fuel-usage is especially high in Malaysia (long straights, high humidity), and Heidfeld has twice the weight Vettel is carrying. Also remember, even without the safety-car rule, that teams still have to factor an extra couple of KGs of fuel, just-in-case. (647-605)/12=3.5, which looks ok-ish...
Click to expand...

Remember that only the top 10 have to qualify with their start fuel. I'd say Vettel was running light to get the best grid position he could so he wouldn't drop down so far with his penalty. Once outside the top ten I think you can then add more fuel like anyone else outside the top ten.
 
Good to see you earning your keep Metar :p
 
Tired Tyres
Remember that only the top 10 have to qualify with their start fuel. I'd say Vettel was running light to get the best grid position he could so he wouldn't drop down so far with his penalty. Once outside the top ten I think you can then add more fuel like anyone else outside the top ten.
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Indeed, they don't qualify with race-fuel - but they must start with the fuel they told the FIA. So these figures hold true for the whole field.

crooky369
Post 227 in this thread looks the most reasonable ---> http://forums.autosport.com/showthread.php?threadid=107539&perpage=40&display=&pagenumber=6
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It's quite close to my figure, but also seems exaggerated at the heavy side: He says Nakajima will go two extra laps compared to Alonso despite carrying just ~3kg more of fuel, and Heidfeld will go another 4 more...

Alex.
Good to see you earning your keep Metar :p
Click to expand...
 
Pick 'em time. Who you got winning the Malaysian Grand Prix? Picking either Brawn GP driver is a good pick, but something tells me that I have two dark horses- J. Trulli and Sebastien Vettel. Something tells me either of these two drivers will have a strong finish. Perhaps... a P1 finish?
 
Trulli isn't really a dark horse after Australia but he hasn't been in such a good position very often.

I hope this race turns out to be a great battle between Button and Trulli on a par with Schumacher vs. Hill or Senna vs. Mansell because they're quite evenly matched.
 
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