Official Not606 Malaysian GP Chat and Predictions

Fortunately the almost daily storms don't crop up till late afternoon in that sort of area... In other news the Race and quali starts 4pm local time

 

Rain **** off.

 

I was there in 2009 and it was ridiculous!

 

Occasionally people base their race predictions on some dream they had or "hunch". I will not be basing my prediction on my dream from last night:

Hamilton and Raikkonen (I think) in a very closely fought duel at the front of the field. Suddenly they come across a very large red truck which is driving down the track in the same direction they are going. As they approach the truck, Hamilton forces Raikkonen into the back of the truck. He goes straight under the back wheels and his car us not seen again, presumed destroyed. Unfortunately for Hamilton he doesn't get clear of the truck quickly enough, and is dragged under the rear wheels on the other side.

The truck is then travelling in the opposite direction to the rest of the field, who are driving round in grid formation for some reason, and spaced out ideally to be crushed by the wheel tracks of the oncoming truck, which piles over them, destroying all of the cars and squashing most of them completely flat.

By the end the track is a scene of carnage with smashed and squashed cars everywhere. It is unclear how many drivers have escaped with their lives. There are no winners. Literally.

 

SV for me.

 

Ferrari should be much improved in Sepang, unlike Red Bull they've been controlled in their complaints against the FIA:


Ferrari – Melbourne ERS issues caused by FIA software systems


Whilst it is unlikely Fernando Alonso had the pace in Melbourne to challenge the Mercedes he would probably have been contesting a place on the podium. The Ferrari F14-T is not the most competitive car or engine currently but issues have emerged from Australia that some of the FIA systems severely handicapped the Ferrari engined teams.


With flow-gate and the ensuing appeal dominating the headlines – Ferrari has maintained a dignified silence after what was a poor outing for the scarlet machines in Melbourne. Fernando Alonso salvaged fifth after a race long struggle in his Ferrari but it transpires that there may have been other issues limiting the car’s true speed.


On live Italian television – viewers were told that Ferrari had a problem with releasing the electrical power in the F14-T. Assumptions were made it was an inherent fault in the Ferrari power unit as it affected all Ferrari powered cars but it seems to have been caused by a ‘bug’ in the FIA launch control systems.


In the same way that KERS was not available until the cars had passed 100km/h from the starting grid, the 2014 regulations forbids the deployment of energy from the MGU-K system before reaching this magical figure. The ‘flag’ that restricts this is controlled by the FIA and once the 100km/h is superseded the full power of the system can be released.


In Melbourne, all the Ferrari powered cars experienced the same problem – they remained in the starting mode which prevented their respective drivers being able to release the MGU-K’s power at any point, not only after passing the 100km/h marker after the start.


The activation of the MGU-K systems should have restarted themselves but the units had entered ‘safety mode’ and would need to be over-ridden with certain procedures from the drivers and teams. Alonso, for example, struggled through 36 laps without the 120kW power boost and it was only after the pit-stop that the car began to run properly.


Raikkonen was further penalised with a malfunctioning DRS system. He had more than one opportunity to use the system to pass an opponent but it’s failure stymied his progress. The FIA has since announced they will be introducing changes to the electronic control system for the rear wing in Sepang to ensure the problem does not happen again.


So, nearly one third of the gird were handicapped by systems that were the responsibility of the governing body. Ferrari has made no comment on these matters and the FIA has not offered apologises to the teams affected. Direction should come from the top in any organisation and it seems that Jean Todt’s softly-softly approach has filtered through to the remainder of the FIA’s infrastructure..


It does not bear thinking about the outcome; if the same problems that affected the Maranello team had handicapped the Red Bull team. In the same way they use the media to highlight shortcomings with FIA provided flow-meters, or they are critical of tyres they do not want, the campaign would have been rousing journalists from their slumber to once again sing from the corporate hymn sheet.


Currently Formula One has bigger problems than inaccurate fuel meters which the team from Milton Keynes is shouting about.


There are issues with the electronics which have affected six cars – in regards power delivery. Issues with DRS deployment are significant enough to warrant updated software immediately and a draconian fuel limit has been imposed that makes following the race practically impossible as to when drivers are actually pushing.


Throw in the uninspiring noise being broadcast around the world and slowly the sport is becoming irrelevant – irrespective of how cutting edge the technology is.

 

It's amazing that Domenicali is keeping his mouth shut about this. Weak leader. No balls.

 

I think he's quite the opposite on this occasion, not trying to pass the buck. The Ferrari is yet again a bit off the pace and rather than have the team moaning that its others fault he has them concentrating on their own failings. The only real way to improve

I'm sure they've complained to those in charge, but theres no point crying about it over and over instead of getting on with car developments

 

So it begins!

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McLaren

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has the caterham nose changed? or was it like that at the first race? I didn't see much of it till it got obliterated

 

Thursday Press Conference:
Valtteri Bottas
Kamui Kobayashi
Daniil Kvyat
Pastor Maldonado
Kimi Raikkonen
Nico Rosberg

Friday Press Conference:
Cyril Abiteboul
Frederico Gastaldi
Paul Hembrey
Monisha Kaltenborn
Graeme Lowdon
Franz Tost

 

New colour only I think:

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Bild reporting that Lewis has a cold.

 

2 independent DRS zones


CIRCUIT DATA

ALBERT PARK CIRCUIT

Length of lap:
5.543km
Lap record
1:34.223 (Juan-Pablo Montoya,
BMW-Williams, 2004)
Start line/finish line offset
0.000km
Total number of race laps
56
Total race distance
310.408km
Pitlane speed limits
80km/h in practice, qualifying and the race

CIRCUIT NOTES

► The kerb on the exit of Turn Five has been extended further towards the apex of Turn Six.
► Artificial grass has been removed from areas around the outside of Turns One, Five, Seven, Eight and 12.
► A new kerb has been installed on the Turn 15 entry.
► Attention has been paid to levelling the grass verges as bumps were noted during December’s inspection.

DRS ZONES

► The DRS sectors will be between Turns 14 and 15 and Turns 15 and One. The first zone has detection 54m after Turn 12 and activation 104m after Turn 14. Zone two has detection 16m after the Turn 15 apex followed by activation 28m after Turn 15

 

Crisis! :O

 

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The Judge:

Taffin accepts, “We had several issues across the cars in Melbourne but we have recreated the problems in the dyno at Viry. Most are fixed and the remaining will be under control by Friday in Sepang. While we anticipate further issues may occur we are much more able to react quickly to minimize their impact.


Sepang is one of the circuits whose technical requirements will change under the new regulations. In the V8 era the circuit sat towards the middle of the table for the challenge it posed for engines but now it will be one of the toughest races of the year.”
Yet the mantra from Horner of 2013 still repeats in our consciousness, “whenever you run an F1 car, you are learning something”. It may appear obtuse to observe, though conversely, when you can’t run an F1 car, you are falling behind the learning others are achieving.


In terms of track time and subsequent ‘real running’ data gathered, the Renault engine is light years behind that of the Mercedes.

The demands of Sepang will not offer Red Bull, Caterham, Lotus or Toro Rosso much comfort as Taffin explains. “Of the six main components of the Power Unit, the internal combustion engine will be under the most pressure in Malaysia. The humidity in Sepang made it a little bit easier on normally aspirated engines since power comes down as the water content in the air increases.


This means we were generally able to offset the impact of the two long straights. This year we won’t have this luxury. With a turbo engine the air intake is controlled at all times regardless of ambient conditions so those long straights will really start to hurt. As a result Sepang will become a lot less forgiving as twice a lap the PUs will be flat out, with the turbo revving at close to 100,000rpm for over 10 seconds.”

 

McLaren have made their car uglier.

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Well so long as it's quick...

Btw my vote was for Hamilton if it wasn't obvious.

 

Interesting- that's an actual change in shape is it not?

That looks a little like last years Red Bull nose.

Whether it will bridge any gaps though we will see.

 

My money is on Lewis Hamilton this weekend.