F1: Sepang

Once again I used up most of my good material yesterday for Qualifying, which is ok I guess since unless there are surprises or someone blows up or parks there’s just not a lot to talk about; and if you’re not going to cover all of Qualifying and cut it so you can carry your lame Scuderia Marlboro UPC suck up fest and repeat everything everybody knew 2 weeks ago there’s hardly any point at all.

Pick any random race from last year and you have almost exactly the same Starting Grid.  Michael Schumacher once again underperforms and Kamui Kobayashi does better than expected.  Everyone made the 107% limit so we start a field of 24.

As we approach the actual race there are 2 scenarios- rain and not rain.

If it doesn’t rain then the drivers and teams who waited in the pits until the last 2 and a half minutes of Qualifying (warm up and hot lap) may have done themselves a favor in terms of tire wear since Sepang is notoriously tough because of the heat and cornering.  On the other hand everyone might start a fresh set of Wets which will be exciting racing.  If dry they are predicting 3 or 4 pits.  The bottom 14 get a chance to start Hards (weather permitting) and run some tire strategy.  Right now the forecast is for temperatures in the high 80s, 70 – 80% humidity, and a 60% chance of scattered Thunderstorms (if there is lightning they Red Flag the race because it’s just not safe).

Nothing I’ve seen yet has changed my overall opinion, which is that it’s McLaren and Red Bull and everybody else.  Hamilton and Button will be running handcrafted Titanium underwings that they’re running their exhausts back to front over to improve downforce.  The exhaust direction is not unique, all the other teams are doing the same thing but their wings are Carbon Fiber.

Pretty tables and discussion below.

Once again the Q-Laps field gives an indication of tire and engine wear during qualifying.  If it rains, of course, tire strategy goes out the window.

Starting Grid

Grid Driver Team Q-Time Q-Laps
1 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 01:34.9 12
2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 01:35.0 19
3 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 01:35.2 17
4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 01:35.2 15
5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 01:35.8 14
6 Nick Heidfeld Renault 01:36.1 9
7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 01:36.3 13
8 Vitaly Petrov Renault 01:36.3 9
9 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 01:36.8 17
10 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 01:36.8 13
11 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:37.035 12
12 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 1:37.160 13
13 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 1:37.347 12
14 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1:37.370 12
15 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:37.496 15
16 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1:37.528 10
17 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:37.593 9
18 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 01:38.3 8
19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 01:38.6 8
20 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 01:38.8 8
21 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 01:40.6 8
22 Jerome d’Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 01:41.0 7
23 Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 01:41.5 7
24 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 01:42.6 7

Driver Standings

Rank Driver Team Points
1 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 25
2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 18
3 Vitaly Petrov Renault 15
4 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 12
5 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 10
6 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 8
7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 6
8 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 4
9 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 2
10 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1

Constructor Standings

Rank Team Points
1 RBR-Renault 35
2 McLaren-Mercedes 26
3 Ferrari 18
4 Renault 15
5 STR-Ferrari 4
6 Force India-Mercedes 3

81 comments

Skip to comment form

  1. Vettel

    Hamilton

    Button

    Alonso

    Heidfeld

    Massa

    Webber

    Petrov

    Kobayashi

    di Resta

  2. Only pitted once.

  3. Hamilton picks up another set of Hards too.

  4. fucked up pit strategy is the norm fo McLaren, not a surprise.

  5. Vettel

    Alonso

    Button

    Hamilton

    Webber

    Petrov

    Heidfeld

    Massa

    Schumacher

    Kobayashi

  6. Most pit stops of anyone.

  7. Vettel

    Button

    Hamilton

    Alonso

    Petrov

    Heidfeld

    Massa

    Webber

    Kobayashi

    di Resta

  8. After hearing his rear wing isn’t working.

    Alonso loses his front wing.

    Hamilton may have a flat.

  9. Vettel

    Button

    Hamilton

    Heidfeld

    Massa

    Webber

    Alonso

    Kobayashi

    Petrov

    di Resta

  10. broken steering column

  11. Vettel

    Button

    Heidfeld

    Hamilton

    Massa

    Alonso

    Kobayashi

    di Resta

    Schumacher

  12. Vettel

    Button

    Heidfeld

    Webber

    Massa

    Alonso

    Hamilton

    Kobayashi

    Schumacher

    di Resta

Load more

Comments have been disabled.