Official NOT606 2015 Malaysian GP Chat and Predictions

[allsaintchris.]

Just had a thought about Merc. I wonder if there is some sort of a deal where the team will not 'disadvantage' one driver by strategy. So they had to pit both cars at once. It does seem stupid that with Ferrari showing good pace, they would put all their eggs in one basket and pit both cars at same time after safety car.

Am sure they mentioned last year that both drivers had to do the same number of stops each race, but could choose what tyres they wanted to use.

It does seem daft, unless Merc knew they could never do just two stops, but were caught out by Ferrari who thought they could (and did!)

 

[BrightLampShade]

When the safety car came out Ham and Ros were about 3s apart so stacking the cars wasn't as bad as it could have been. I think Mercedes need to be open to mixed strategies through, yes it will backfire sometimes but let the drivers have a input. Let them disagree with the engineers but be prepared to take the flack if it doesn't pay off. They will only then push for different idea's if they truly believe in it.

 

[dhel]

Great race! What a surprise – to most, except perhaps Silver who I should congratulate! . Well done, Herr Vettel; that was one of your most important victories.

Ferrari did a fantastic job and have – for the moment at least – extricated F1 from the doldrums, temporarily side-lining Bernie's ludicrous threats (to anyone passionate about motorsport) of sprinklers and a return to the massively unpopular gimmick of double-points. With quick cars relatively easy on tyres, the red team grabbed Lady Luck's early safety Car with both hands and completely out-manoeuvred the apparently complacent Mercedes team. This was matched by a superb drive from both Ferrari drivers, but especially Vettel. What a shame Räikkönen started so far back, eh? Rosberg's lucklustre performance (despite being consistently quick in clean air) suggested that his podium finish was merely by default.

I found the race itself hugely entertaining and feel that Mercedes are more than a little shell-shocked. They cannot afford to sit on previous advantage or to be blasé about tyre choices (for instance) in the early stages of qualifying. Whilst Melbourne should not be considered a properly reliable indicator of relative performance, Mercedes advantage had appeared huge but the heat of Sepang and cleverness within a resurgent Ferrari camp has highlighted a real weakness for the championship favourites.

There were many other interesting aspects and discussion-worthy incidents to this race, but for now, this is all I want to say:
Game on !

I agree with you totally. I think what was missing here for mercedes, here and it was clearly evident, was the experience of Braun. I think he would have used a different strategy for the two cars especially when Ferrari, who was much better on tyres than mercedes during the practice session, decided to stay out with the first safety car. Also the faster tyre during qualifying meant that Hamilton didnt have any new ones for the final stint so he couldnt reel in Vettel enough on the slower harder tyre, and Rosberg, even though he had the benefit of the new softer tyre for the last stint he was too far back to put up any fight at the end. But the race was lost after the first safety car when Mercedes pitted both cars together. By the time Hamilton cleared traffic Vettel and Ferrari were a little over 10 seconds up the road and it took too much life out of Hamilton's tyres overtaking and clearing the traffic to make up those 10 seconds. It is interesting that by the time Vettel took the flag Hamilton was just under 10 seconds behind. so the same time he lost clearing traffic is about the same time he would have needed to catch Vettel. I wouldnt take anything away from Vettel and Ferrari, they ran a beautiful and very strategic race, they new they had the tyre advantage and they used it well. They spotted Mercedes weakness during qualifying and they took advantage of that. Mercedes needs to work a little harder too instead of worry about what would Horner and Bernie say... not only on the cars but also on the mindset of their top men on the pitwall. Braun would never have played the hand like that...pitting and stacking both cars together made no sense to me, especially when you are going to bring both of them out a heavy traffic.

 

[DHCanary]

I think Mercedes are so busy trying to treat their drivers equally to have made the right call. You just know one of them would have moaned if splitting strategies was seen to cost one of them. It's not been a problem before as they've been so dominant.

As others have said, should Ferrari pose a genuine challenge, I wonder how long Mercedes will try to be neutral.

 

[El_Bando]

If mercedes gets challenged then they will have to back 1 driver. Not good news for rosberg... again. Still dont understand why he is rallying them to challenge

 

[Smithers]

Given the outright pace of the Ferrari it was suicidal not to split the strategies and cover Vettel. With hindsight you would want the driver most likely to challenge Vettel on track to mirror him and the other take the alternative. It would be decided by the driver ahead on the road anyway.

I agree that the stacking of cars wasn't as bad as it would be normally, but Rosberg must have lost an element of time (Lewis was held in the pits because of the amount of trafic) and also track position - I would have left him on track personally.

 

[Smithers]

If mercedes gets challenged then they will have to back 1 driver. Not good news for rosberg... again. Still dont understand why he is rallying them to challenge

Rosberg can't and probably won't be allowed to rattle or legitimately challenge Lewis, but Vettel can and hopefully will. As much as Rosberg as been mocked for his Radio communications, Lewis is often rattled when under pressure on track.

 

[di Fredsta!]

Rosberg can't and probably won't be allowed to rattle or legitimately challenge Lewis, but Vettel can and hopefully will. As much as Rosberg as been mocked for his Radio communications, Lewis is often rattled when under pressure on track.

Especially when it's Vettel. There's nobody he hates more than winning, which will only increase the pressure.

 

[allsaintchris.]

Given the outright pace of the Ferrari it was suicidal not to split the strategies and cover Vettel. With hindsight you would want the driver most likely to challenge Vettel on track to mirror him and the other take the alternative. It would be decided by the driver ahead on the road anyway.
.

I doubt they had the time to pull Lewis out of coming in to the pits once they realised Seb wasn't coming in, even if they had thought of that in the first place.

All they can do in the future in a similar situation, is to have it all ready for both drivers to pit, but get the lead driver to either shout 'abort' if a person in front does not pit so as to allow the following driver to pit and have their tyres ready, or say to the following driver not to pit if the lead driver decides to pit....... I think.

That may be too complicated for racing drivers to understand though.

 

[allsaintchris.]

Especially when it's Vettel. There's nobody he hates more than winning, which will only increase the pressure.

How do you know that? I thought he hated Rosberg winning more.

Or is this just some of your semi-trolling going on again that you admit to enjoying?

 

[di Fredsta!]

How do you know that? I thought he hated Rosberg winning more.

Or is this just some of your semi-trolling going on again that you admit to enjoying?

Going by his attitude when Vettel was winning the championships. He seems to be a lot more pressured by Vettel than by Rosberg (and rightly so) and if his comments about Vettel only winning with the best car is something to go by, he most likely wouldn't want to eat them words.

 

[allsaintchris.]

Going by his attitude when Vettel was winning the championships. He seems to be a lot more pressured by Vettel than by Rosberg (and rightly so) and if his comments about Vettel only winning with the best car is something to go by, he most likely wouldn't want to eat them words.

He probably does fear Vettel more than Rosberg. He knows Vettel does have that killer instinct. Wouldn't say he 'hates' losing to Vettel, anymore than Vettel 'hates' losing to him.

Any decent driver does not like losing, except Rosberg it seems.

 

[dhel]

As much as Rosberg as been mocked for his Radio communications, Lewis is often rattled when under pressure on track.

IS that a fair statement? He was under pressure all last year especially after having to win four consecutive races to catch his team mate on a couple occasions, being behind his team mate in the same car right up to the last race of the season. He held his head right through until the end especially when he conned Rosberg into going hot into the first corner of the final race and flat spotting his tyres. Wouldn't it be more fair to say he gets angry when his team gets strategy totally wrong? And who wouldn't? He disobeyed orders last year and it turned out to be the right decision. Also last year when they left him out for an extra lap after telling him to put in a hot lap before his pitstop and cost him a race where he would have certainly come out in front of eventual winner Rosberg. Ok he lets them know in no uncertain terms when he thinks the team is wrong on strategy and you hear it in his voice especially when he ends his sentences with "man". Afterall he is a racer and he is in the race to win. He has a right to get angry when he thinks the team is making mistakes, just like the team has the right to get angry with him when he makes mistakes too. I believe all racers have a right to take their passion to the circuit or you end up being a loser.
Another thing I think he enjoys racing Vettel, Alonso and Kimi and he said recently he likes racing against the best..thats the only way you can get good ratings really.

 

[Big Ern]

Rosberg is a **** racing driver and always has been, fast on an empty track, and even that is debatable. as to Mercedes, there was no magic strategy for them to win, Ferrari's 2 stop pace was roughly the same as Mercedes 3 stop, the only reason it was as close as it was at the end was because Vettel turned down the wick to save the engine life. otherwise it would've been more

 

[allsaintchris.]

Rosberg is a **** racing driver and always has been, fast on an empty track, and even that is debatable. as to Mercedes, there was no magic strategy for them to win, Ferrari's 2 stop pace was roughly the same as Mercedes 3 stop, the only reason it was as close as it was at the end was because Vettel turned down the wick to save the engine life. otherwise it would've been more

Yeah agree. Ferrari genuinely had Mercs licked in the race. Vettel seemed to managing everything just fine and didn't look rattled at any point. Kimi's charge through the field was way better than Rosberg's.

I still think it could have been a 1-2 if Kimi hadn't had his tyre shredded on the first lap.

Fully expect Ferrari to give Mercedes a real run in China too, though the long straight would seem to favour Merc slightly more, but a DRS shod Ferrari would seem to at least now be able to get alongside the Merc, last year they had no chance and could barely do a Caterham on a straight let alone anything good.

 

[Smithers]

It's interesting that you say that, but if you look at a lot if the speed traps Merc rarely feature at the top - they appear to set their car up RedBull like in overall lap time. Their downforce is very good and their strength of engine allows them yo load as much as they want on the car. I have no doubt if they went skinny they would blitz everyone in a straight line, but unlikely to improve the ultimate performance in lap time and race performance.

 

[Smithers]

IS that a fair statement? He was under pressure all last year especially after having to win four consecutive races to catch his team mate on a couple occasions, being behind his team mate in the same car right up to the last race of the season. He held his head right through until the end especially when he conned Rosberg into going hot into the first corner of the final race and flat spotting his tyres. Wouldn't it be more fair to say he gets angry when his team gets strategy totally wrong? And who wouldn't? He disobeyed orders last year and it turned out to be the right decision. Also last year when they left him out for an extra lap after telling him to put in a hot lap before his pitstop and cost him a race where he would have certainly come out in front of eventual winner Rosberg. Ok he lets them know in no uncertain terms when he thinks the team is wrong on strategy and you hear it in his voice especially when he ends his sentences with "man". Afterall he is a racer and he is in the race to win. He has a right to get angry when he thinks the team is making mistakes, just like the team has the right to get angry with him when he makes mistakes too. I believe all racers have a right to take their passion to the circuit or you end up being a loser.
Another thing I think he enjoys racing Vettel, Alonso and Kimi and he said recently he likes racing against the best..thats the only way you can get good ratings really.

Oh I see, Lewis on the radio is justified because the team are ****, whereas Rosberg is just.....well ****. Got it now, always new I was missing something!

 

[allsaintchris.]

It's interesting that you say that, but if you look at a lot if the speed traps Merc rarely feature at the top - they appear to set their car up RedBull like in overall lap time. Their downforce is very good and their strength of engine allows them yo load as much as they want on the car. I have no doubt if they went skinny they would blitz everyone in a straight line, but unlikely to improve the ultimate performance in lap time and race performance.

I think they'll trim some wing to make sure they can make the most of their power advantage, though they definitely don't have the same power advantage as they did over the others last year

 

[BrightLampShade]

I'm not sure we really know how fast the Mercedes can go, the season is about reliability as well as speed and so they will go as slow as they can get away with if possible. Maybe they went too slow this time or maybe it really was just too hot for them. Will be a long season so we'll have to wait to find out.

 

[EternalMSC]

Some of me thinks Mercs were turned down to save the popularity of the sport.

This could just be like Alonso in Bahrain 2010 or Spain 2013.

Ridiculous I know.