.:: 2009 Malaysian GP Thread ::.

2009 MALAYSIAN GP

Welcome to the 2009 Malaysian GP thread. cjek will update the thread with the latest times as they happen.

RANDOM FACT

Despite the constant threat of heavy rain in Malaysia, the 2001 race is the only time wet weather has been seen during a GP.

POINTS OF DISCUSSION

1. Brawn GP showed total domination (and to boot a crash-proof car!) - at this early stage, is it conceivable that one of Ross' drivers can take the title, and can the team take the constructors title given they already have a 12 point lead?
2. Vettel was penalised for crashing with Kubica in Australia - where do you feel the blame lies?
3. Speaking of that incident, Kubica and the BMW team were sure the win was there - could Kubica really close a 4-second gap in just 3 laps?
4. Ferrari, like last year, double DNF'ed. However this time, wins aren't necessarily an instant guarantee after some performances we saw in Australia. How do you see the team doing in their '09 campaign?
5. A shock result was Hamilton's 3rd place, despite starting 18th on the grid - if he can pull off fluke results like this until the car comes good, do you think Lewis still has a shout for the title?
6. Lastly, the Toyota's flew throughout the weekend - how impressed are you by the improvements made, but how unlucky do you feel Trulli was in Australia?

SCHEDULE FOR WEEKEND:

Friday 3
First practice: 1000-1130 ( 0300-0430 BST)
Second practice: 1400-1530 ( 0700-0830 BST)

Saturday 4
Third practice: 1400-1500 (0700-0800 BST)
Qualifying: 1700 (1000 BST)

Sunday 5
Race: 1700 (1000 BST)

WEEKEND WEATHER:

FRIDAY: Heavy Rain Shower, Max. 31 deg. cent.
SATURDAY: Heavy Rain Shower, Max. 32 deg. cent.
SUNDAY: Heavy Rain Shower, Max. 31 deg. cent.

PRESS CONFERENCE SCHEDULE:

THURSDAY: Sebastien Bourdais (Toro Rosso), Jenson Button (Brawn GP), Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari), Nico Rosberg (Williams), Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull). 7AM GMT

FRIDAY: Ross Brawn (Brawn GP), John Howett (Toyota), Adam Parr (Williams), Martin Whitmarsh (McLaren). 8AM GMT

BBC PRESENTS THE MALAYSIAN GP

PREVIOUS SESSIONS

Friday Practice 1
Friday Practice 2
Qualifying
Race

Kubica really mucked that up. Could have had a solid P2 but gets anxious and had Vettel been more experienced he might have let up and knew to let Kubica through.

Could Kubica have made up that 4 second gap? Well with the super soft compounds falling off the pace so quickly, it might have been possible given the way Ferrari dropped back at the beginning of the race.

I really can't understand how the stewards could rule against Trulli when Hamilton agreed that he was letting him pass to be fair. And if Trulli had stopped behind Hamilton, would he have been penalized for slowing the field or something asinine.

1. I'm thibking that right now we can't judge their performance just yet.... But really the only point they did not dominate is when Bsrrichello missed his start. So, this could be a fantastic year for Brawn GP. But I wouldn't give the number one spot to Button just yet. Remember Fisi and Alonso a few years ago.

2. I think that pass was dumb. Really too risky for nothing. But my guess is that he came in the curve with at least half a car of advantage over Vettel.... So it's not my favorite decision but still, I won't call it all that biased.

3. Kubica had a sure 2nd place finish. He would have caught up to Button but he would have stayed behind himm till the end of the race. That's going a little too much on the maybe's there. And anyways, what tells you Button was going all out?

4. I predict a slow first few grand prix's, but tell will get a good pace a one pointin the season. Their best bet for the title is if many teams are good at the beginning of the season, thisway spreading the points a lot.

5. That 3rd place did not prove much. I mean, it was very lucky, but still this could prove to make a difference in the long run. But, to my point of view, everything is still to p^rove for the young world champion!

6. Toyota are very impressive in my point of view, but, Trulli was unlucky at the end of the race. I thibk this could be the start to a great season for them. But, then again, it is very unclear so, like Brawn GP, it could go bothways as the season progresses.

Brawn GP are well ahead of their competitors right now and there is nothing that the other teams can do about that right now pending the diffuser appeal. If they are deemed legal expect every team to bolt one on within seconds :D However it will need some clever thinking right around the car.

Kubica should really have given Vettel a little more room. I rate them both highly but they REALLY messed up big time. Kubica probably wouldn't have made it onto the back of the Brawn of Button, but if he had... well who knows, he would have had the better tyres that's for sure.

Ferrari will probably (hopefully) come right in Malaysia, they did last year... :) dependant on how the Ferrari adapt to the diffuser rules and/or Brawn's diffuser gets outlawed things will get mixxy up front. At the moment it is Red Bull in the hot seat of the non-trick diffuser cars.

Hamilton's drive? Semi luck with the safety cars bunching the field and the multiple retirements but he did well to get that far up and not give up on the car.

Toyota have probably started their strongest season to date. Hopefully they can keep it up (unlike in 2005).

Ferrari will come good probably, once this defuser issue is sorted and we know the FIA will side with the oposing teams to it (or if they are allowed all the teams will use it and thus Toyota, Williams, and Brawn GP will find their times will slip back).

Personally I think we could see a different team win again, maybe Red Bull as Webber and Vettel looked handy in qualifying, Webber was pole in session 2 wasnt he? That and Toyota seem to have found pace having moved from last to third (until disqualified yet again).

I think its more a case of "what will the FIA do next" rather than "what will the teams do". I just hope the difusers are allowed but I think this could see the teams mentioned above struggle for pace. I know they have done really well but if the part is allowed the others will copy it and we could see Brawn back to mid table like the Honda of old (before last season). I want them to do well but I am just pesemistic, I honestly dont think we can judge who will win the title yet so its still pretty open which is good.

 As for Hamilton, I dont think it was a fluke where he finished, yes some luck did come into play but you dont finish 3rd on pure luck, he over took people otherwise he would have been last still.

Webber was pole in session 2 wasnt he?Garfield360UK

Q1 Barrichello
Q2 Barrichello
Q3 Button

THE RED LIGHT

Well, I'm comforted by the fact that I'm so far right in this section. Still not aware as to how long this will exist though.

The one thing that's been going round the paddock is Button was holding back at the end of the race in Australia. Whilst this is a possibility, one has to remember that he ended the race on the soft tyres - and those were terrible in Melbourne. In fact, I'm wondering how long it will be until people decide to do just one lap on the lesser preferred tyres if the performance gap is this big.

The standout performance to me though was the Toyotas - not only did they qualify well, but once excluded, they pounded right up to the front again through the race. I have underestimated the sheer pace of the team - the boys have made a good car - not as strong as Brawn GP, but the next best thing. Whether this revolves around the diffuser or not we'll find out in due time, but for now, I wouldn't be surprised to see a Toyota driver along with the Brawn boys consistently in the early stages of the season.

That is provided they can keep off the fight from Vettel and BMW.

A stupid squabble cost both Vettel and Kubica - Kubica had the speed and, whilst 8 points would've been nice, Vettel should've settled for 6 - Rubens wasn't going to catch up to Seb. Instead, the pair left Australia empty - apart from Red Bull, as Vettel was awarded a 10-place grid penalty and the team lost £35,000 for keeping the German going with three wheels. Dependent upon the strategy of BMW, they may push Brawn in the race, however this also could mean nothing - the weather so far suggests a very wet weekend, and so the race could still be a lottery. Vettel is likely to fly up the field come rain or shine, and this is probably what will kick-start a potential title challenge for young Seb.

Then again, Vetel isn't the young Seb anymore. That is in fact Buemi, who had a stormer of a race in his debut, and two points is a well-deserved effort, matching the same as his teammate just 12 months ago (just a happier outcome this time). Buemi is a much different driver than his GP2 days, which is a nice thing to see.

I'm surprised at Ferrari saying it's the pace that concerns them and not the reliability. For sure, they weren't exactly flying in qualifying, but they were only a tenth off in Q2, it just so happens that qualifying is now a lottery behind Brawn GP. Reliability-wise, if Ferrari say it's a concern, then two different failures on the cars in Melbourne proves it - that's a significant irregularity for a team like Ferrari, and the fact that McLaren outscored them in Melbourne with an inferior car won't please them. If the team want to be challenging for the titles, both the pace and reliability need to be fixed quickly.

One thing I don't like is people saying Nakajima's no use for Williams - it seems to have skipped everyone's mind that this guy scored five points finishes last year, all of which were brillaint climbs up the field, and no one took notice. It all went under the radar. One mistake in one race does not throw someone out of a team - is Kimi useless for Ferrari for the Sutil shunt? No. Hamilton for McLaren? No. So neither is Nakajima for Williams.

Piquet, on the other hand, is another matter - what you get from Nelson is pot luck. Sometimes he can pull of stunning races, such as Japan, but most of the time you get someone who likes being off-circuit more than on. Did Rosberg put the pressure on Piquet? Yep, but the fact Nelson couldn't control the car after that is rather worrying. Then again, we could've had Giorgio Pantano in the field, so we should consider ourselves lucky.

So what do I predict for Sepang? Behind Brawn GP, chaos. The downside for the rival teams is that not only are the two in the strongest car, but they are both wet weather specialists - it's a brutal combination that could possibly see their lead in the constructors increase to over 18 points already. If the rain does fall, look out for Hamilton and Vettel as well. And look for Massa the spinning top.

Pantano is good though from what I have seen on GP2?

I am not sure Brawn will dominate again, if there is rain who knows what will happen (as the top of this says, it has been predicted nearly every year it will rain and it has done so only the one time). I am not going to jump on the Brawn band wagon just yet. whilst they did very well can they keep the pace up, the car has had little testing and to be honest Button didnt get pushed much as the fast cars were demoted or took each other out. Thats not to say its a bad car as its topping the charts for now, will they be allowed to keep this defuser or will it be cut out, if so it will damage Williams and Toyota thus brining Ferrari and BMW back into the top again along with Red Bull who have supprised last race with some good pace from both cars shown in qualifying but some silly mistakes and misfortune (Webber had his wing taken off in the first corner didnt he?).

I really sound like I am constantly dissing Brawn GP, I want them to be successful but I just dont see it as experience says Ferrari will come strong again, their drivers are both title contenders and it all hangs on whether Brawn can keep their early pace, if the defuser they use is allowed then others will quite simply copy it and then thats the advantage lost. This is why the FIA needs to sort it out sooner, this silly rules set up where nobody knows what will happen next is taking away from what was probably a race that had reasonable overtaking on the track, excellent designed cars from all the teams and more competition in the field. I would like Brawn to do well and Toyota and Williams but we must remember that this is race 1, this is a marathon and not a sprint and we can only wait and see who will be champion at the end.

...if the defuser they use is allowed then others will quite simply copy it and then thats the advantage lost.Garfield360UK

So... how were Brawn GP still significantly ahead of Toyota and Williams when it counted? And don't forget Barrichello's diffuser was damaged in turn 1 by Kovalainen... surprisingly, despite all the hype in the media about it, the Brawn success is not just the diffuser. There's an article that actually pretty much proves how significantly dominant Brawn are right now and, even if teams catch up, Brawn will still be at or near the front by the end. I'll go find it for you.

EDIT: Here it is. This is a VERY strong case in favour of the Brawn cars.

[QUOTE="Garfield360UK"]...if the defuser they use is allowed then others will quite simply copy it and then thats the advantage lost.Redders1989

So... how were Brawn GP still significantly ahead of Toyota and Williams when it counted? And don't forget Barrichello's diffuser was damaged in turn 1 by Kovalainen... surprisingly, despite all the hype in the media about it, the Brawn success is not just the diffuser. There's an article that actually pretty much proves how significantly dominant Brawn are right now and, even if teams catch up, Brawn will still be at or near the front by the end. I'll go find it for you.

EDIT: Here it is. This is a VERY strong case in favour of the Brawn cars.

Some good points raised, but Renault last season were wrote of at the start as "not going to win anything" and they won at least 2 of the last Grand Prixs if I remember right. I am not saying Brawn GP wont win the title but its so very early in the season, nobody knows how the lack of difuser could affect the car, yes it is faster than them but the first lap gap was because of the first corner incident, only Button was ahead of Rubens so he of course would not be affected by Rubens slowing down and cars moving all over the place to avoid hitting him.

I want the team to be successful but I dont want it to be a one horse race either, we need Toyota, Williams, Red Bull etc to step up to the plate otherwise its just the same as Ferrari was for the past decade.

Its wrong of me to say its all down to the difuser, I am not very good with the technical aspects but its a case of wait and see what happens if they are allowed to keep it or are forced to take it away, it could imbalance the car and make it alot slower for all we know or it could not affect it whatsoever.

Also, dont forget Toyota started in the pits in last and moved from last to third for Truli until he was demoted. (I am no fanboy of any team bar Minardi by the way, I just want other teams to do well, I cant stand it if Brawn just wins everything, no offense to their team or fans, but we need racing otherwise the sport is finished for me if it just ends up being a one team race every year even if its different teams winning it. The more memorable races are ones where outsiders won it like Canada last year or the year before when Sato overtook a McLaren for race position in a Super Aguri or Euro 99 where a Steward and Prost finished in the podium or Belgium 98 with Jordan winning the race).

the first lap gap was because of the first corner incident, only Button was ahead of Rubens so he of course would not be affected by Rubens slowing down and cars moving all over the place to avoid hitting him. Garfield360UK

Vettel had a clear line through remember - he was directly behind Button so wasn't affected by Rubens' stall or the melee behind.

Anyways, Jenson's posted an audio blog about the weekend of Australia here.

I dont know, its just a case of wait and see, I am pesemistic, but whilst I want Brawn to do well, I want others to do well as well so its more competative, I dont want to see one team dominate all year as it gets boring to be honest.Garfield360UK

I know what you mean, 2008 & 2007 was pretty darn close, but 2009 could be even closer if the other could catch up with Brawn. Then again, seeing Button is one of the Brawn drivers, I might not worry too much about a dominated season :lol:

Oh, and good news everyone: THE RAIN PREDICTIONS HAVE BEGUN! 1 out of 2 so far (remember last year, it was 11 out of 18 that had rain predicted, so let's see if we can beat it despite the fact we're one race down).

The diffuser is not just a bolt on piece, from what Steve Matchett and others have said it will take weeks for teams to fit the Brawn etc. diffuser to their cars. We're talking complete redesigns including possible gearbox changes.

And as for the risk of Brawn/Williams/Toyota dominating, I think the Australian GP proved the opposite, barring the screw up by Kubica and Vettel. I think having two styles of diffusers would add not detract from the racing, and keep us from doing the follow-the-leader hogwash that is often associated with F1, even though Button led all the laps there was some good racing behind him.

BBC's choices of c_lassic Malaysian GP's. Why oh why is there no 2001!?!

1999 | 2000 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008

EDIT: Press conference schedule announced. To save space in the threads, I will just link the transcripts in the first post rather than have the whole thing on here.

EDIT 2: Here's Murray Walker's review of the Australian GP.

^^ Should make for a fun race!!

But isn't torrential rain predicted just about every year, and it usually fails to materialise?

In a way I kinda hope we do get rain as it should throw up another interesting race and prevent teams like McLaren just using it as a testing opportunity

Top post updated with link to press conference. Just click on "Thursday", and you'll get it.

EDIT: And then the weather improved...

Any of the officers who are possibly going to be up at the time, if you could update the top post with the link to the live BBC feed online, it would be much appreciated :)

If all else fails and no one does it, I'll post the sessions later on anyway.

PRACTICE 1

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time              Laps
 1.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:36.260 +         27
 2.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota      (B)  1:36.305 + 0.045   25
 3.  Button        Brawn GP-Mercedes    (B)  1:36.430 + 0.170   20
 4.  Barrichello   Brawn GP-Mercedes    (B)  1:36.487 + 0.227   22
 5.  Massa         Ferrari              (B)  1:36.561 + 0.301   21
 6.  Raikkonen     Ferrari              (B)  1:36.646 + 0.386   18
 7.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:36.699 + 0.439   16
 8.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:36.703 + 0.443   23
 9.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault     (B)  1:36.747 + 0.487   25
10.  Glock         Toyota               (B)  1:36.980 + 0.720   27
11.  Trulli        Toyota               (B)  1:36.982 + 0.722   26
12.  Fisichella    Force India-Mercedes (B)  1:37.025 + 0.765   20
13.  Kubica        BMW Sauber           (B)  1:37.039 + 0.779   18
14.  Piquet        Renault              (B)  1:37.199 + 0.939   20
15.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes (B)  1:37.241 + 0.981   18
16.  Alonso        Renault              (B)  1:37.395 + 1.135   12
17.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:37.634 + 1.374   22
18.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber           (B)  1:37.640 + 1.380   17
19.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   (B)  1:38.022 + 1.762   19
20.  Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes     (B)  1:38.483 + 2.223    7

AUTOSPORT 

Barnaby on the 81111 texts: "Been awake all night finishing coursework for tomorrow... and I've just finished! This practice is my reward. Do you think Kimi's Kers failure is a sign of things to come in the hotter GPs?"BBC Live Text

[QUOTE="BBC Live Text"]Barnaby on the 81111 texts: "Been awake all night finishing coursework for tomorrow... and I've just finished! This practice is my reward. Do you think Kimi's Kers failure is a sign of things to come in the hotter GPs?"mjk1

Haha, nah that isn't me - I still haven't finished :|

And goodness me! Rosberg doesn't top a practice session!

PRACTICE 2

Pos  Driver       Team                       Time              Laps
 1.  Raikkonen    Ferrari               (B)  1:35.707            40
 2.  Massa        Ferrari               (B)  1:35.832  + 0.125   38
 3.  Vettel       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:35.954  + 0.247   40
 4.  Rosberg      Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:36.015  + 0.308   39
 5.  Webber       Red Bull-Renault      (B)  1:36.026  + 0.319   36
 6.  Barrichello  Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:36.161  + 0.454   37
 7.  Button       Brawn-Mercedes        (B)  1:36.254  + 0.547   31
 8.  Nakajima     Williams-Toyota       (B)  1:36.290  + 0.583   35
 9.  Kovalainen   McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:36.397  + 0.690   40
10.  Piquet       Renault               (B)  1:36.401  + 0.694   35
11.  Hamilton     McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  1:36.515  + 0.808   30
12.  Trulli       Toyota                (B)  1:36.516  + 0.809   34
13.  Buemi        Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:36.628  + 0.921   32
14.  Glock        Toyota                (B)  1:36.639  + 0.932   29
15.  Alonso       Renault               (B)  1:36.640  + 0.933   20
16.  Sutil        Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:36.875  + 1.168   36
17.  Kubica       BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:37.267  + 1.560   38
18.  Bourdais     Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  1:37.278  + 1.571   30
19.  Fisichella   Force India-Mercedes  (B)  1:37.432  + 1.725   27
20.  Heidfeld     BMW-Sauber            (B)  1:37.930  + 2.223   37

Have you all heard about the Red Bull rear wing end plates extending down around the diffuser? Looked pretty smart.mgmeek

It's been this way since launch, it effectively increases the length of the diffuser which is beneficial to it's function the only bad thing is that they miss out on a substatial amount of diffuser width - but that doesn't seem to be harming them just now :)

BARRICHELLO TO GET 5-PLACE GRID PENALTY

Rubens Barrichello will be given a five-place grid penalty at the Malaysian Grand Prix after needing a gearbox change following Friday's practice.

The Brazilian, who finished second in the Australian Grand Prix last weekend, did not have any apparent problems during practice, but his Brawn GP team has decided a gearbox change was necessary ahead of tomorrow's sessions.

As a result of the change, Barrichello will get a grid penalty because gearboxes must last for four grand prix weekends.

SOURCE: Autosport

from practice it looks like the Brawn cars still have good pace. Barrichello should aim to reach Q3, then put in a lot of fuel for a long first stint.

The other strategy if they expect torrential rain early in the race would be to gamble on a safety car, fuel light, and hope for an incident - as bad as that sounds.

Ya I wouldn't be worried about Brawn, they should be fine come qualy and race day. But man I sure hope BMW working on race strategy. I know they weren't quick in Melbourne practice but 17th and 20th!? SchumiF1

Yeah that was painful.

MOST TEAMS CHANGE ENGINES FOR MALAYSIA

McLaren and Scuderia Toro Rosso are the only teams who have elected to use their engines for a second race at this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix.

The race stewards announced on Saturday morning that 16 cars will start the Sepang 'event', which officially kicks off with free practice on Saturday, with new engines.

However, McLaren and Toro Rosso are to stick with the same power-units that they used in Melbourne.

Drivers are allowed to use a total of eight engines over the course of the season.

SOURCE: Autosport

Wow... massive screw-up by Ferrari there!

Raikkonen should consider himself lucky there...

Brilliant lap by Button to seal pole position number 2 of the season. A very exciting session with so many drivers moving up and down the order, and I can't wait for the race now. We must remember Barichello's 5 place and Vettel's 10 place penalties though.

Penalty-Corrected grid:

QUALIFYING

1. Jenson Button

2. Jarno Trulli

3. Timo Glock

4. Nico Rosberg

5. Mark Webber

6. Robert Kubica

7. Kimi Raikkonen

8. Fernando Alonso

9. Rubens Barrichello

10. Nick Heidfeld

11. Kazuki Nakajima

12. Lewis Hamilton

13. Sebastian Vettel

14. Heikki Kovalainen

15. Sebastien Bourdais

16. Felipe Massa

17. Nelson Piquet

18. Giancarlo Fisichella

19. Adrian Sutil

20. Sebastien Buemi

Look out for the Toyota's P2 and P3, it should be a exciting race tomorrowmjk1

I really think this could be Toyota's breakthrough season.. I can see them scoring poles and winning races if they can keep up this pressure on Brawn, and they can fight Red Bull. Victory tomorrow really isn't out of the question.

[QUOTE="mjk1"]Look out for the Toyota's P2 and P3, it should be a exciting race tomorrowcjek

I really think this could be Toyota's breakthrough season.. I can see them scoring poles and winning races if they can keep up this pressure on Brawn, and they can fight Red Bull. Victory tomorrow really isn't out of the question.

...but for my sakes, let's have Button win a few more first? :lol:

Nah, I'm looking forward to this. I was nervous near the end of Australia until Kubica and Vettel took each other out, and with Toyota a lot closer to Button than those two were in Aus, I may end tomorrow morning with no nails :P