official F1 World Championship 2011 Thread

[simonlang]

Pirelli predicts four stops in Malaysia

so that means between 5 and 6 stops for the tire eating ferrari f150th italia. gr8 prospects. :crazy:

[Subject Delta]

so that means between 5 and 6 stops for the tire eating ferrari f150th italia. gr8 prospects. :crazy:

The Ferrari is traditionally known for being kind to it's tyres, I don't think it's likely to be any harder on them than any of the other fast cars.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Webber dominates eventful practice

Mark Webber bounced back from his disappointing Australian Grand Prix to dominate an eventful opening practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix on Friday morning.

Just as he did in Melbourne, the Australian set the pace in P1, but unlike there, he was never challenged for supremacy during the first 90 minutes in Sepang, his Red Bull some 1.665s faster than Lewis Hamilton managed in the McLaren. And as if to make a point, Webber's best, a 1m37.651s, came with less than ten minutes to remaining. He followed it up with another lap within two tenths of his best, both more than a second faster than anyone else managed.

Michael Schumacher moved up to third fastest in the final minutes of the session for Mercedes ahead of an impressive Nico Hulkenberg in his one and only session of the weekend for Force India.

Pastor Maldonado was a strong fifth fastest for Williams, setting his best time quite late into an extraordinary 19-lap run on his primary Pirellis.

Felipe Massa, having spent much of the 90 minutes driving in and out of the pits without setting a time, as he and Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso concentrated on aerodynamic evaluation tests, finally moved up to sixth.

Renault looked strong initially, with Nick Heidfeld setting the early pace, before what looked like a dramatic front-right brake failure saw his wheel remain locked on. The German had only completed six laps at the time, and his time of 1m40.525s was still good enough for seventh.

But the team's problems continued and later Vitaly Petrov, one of the stars of Australia, suffered a catastrophic problem under braking for Turn 9 relating to his left-front wheel - sending him flying into the gravel. It's unclear whether the two issues were related.

The Russian, who ended the session last, was not the only one to have a high-speed scare as Virgin rookie Jerome d'Ambrosio suffered a front-left suspension failure under braking for the final corner, the system exploding in a similar style to that of Sebastian Buemi's STR at China last year.

Tyre wear was also more of an issue than it had been in Australia, with significant marbling offline. Turn 8 in particular caught a few drivers out as Hamilton, Fernando Alonso - who ended the session ninth behind Rubens Barrichello, and Sergio Perez all ran wide there.

Nico Rosberg meanwhile rounded out the top ten.

What of Australia's dominant winner and the world champion Sebastian Vettel? He was 17th, behind Jarno Trulli's Lotus, after an usually quiet session. Using the Red Bull KERS, he remained under the radar for nearly the entire 90 minutes but looked like he was just about to turn up the wick when d'Ambrosio's Virgin careered into the gravel - effectively ending the session.

Pos  Driver         Team                   Time              Laps
 1.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault       1m37.651s            22
 2.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes       1m39.316s  + 1.665   16
 3.  Schumacher     Mercedes               1m39.791s  + 2.140   29
 4.  Hulkenberg     Force India-Mercedes   1m40.377s  + 2.726   23
 5.  Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth      1m40.443s  + 2.792   31
 6.  Massa          Ferrari                1m40.453s  + 2.802   22
 7.  Heidfeld       Renault                1m40.525s  + 2.874    6
 8.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth      1m40.581s  + 2.930   21
 9.  Alonso         Ferrari                1m40.601s  + 2.950   23
10.  Rosberg        Mercedes               1m40.646s  + 2.995   29
11.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1m40.734s  + 3.083   21
12.  Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m40.748s  + 3.097   23
13.  Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m40.770s  + 3.119   24
14.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari         1m40.872s  + 3.221   27
15.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m40.927s  + 3.276   16
16.  Trulli         Lotus-Renault          1m41.620s  + 3.969   21
17.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault       1m41.627s  + 3.976   18
18.  Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m41.642s  + 3.991   24
19.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth        1m42.154s  + 4.503   18
20.  d'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth        1m42.540s  + 4.889   20
21.  Valsecchi      Lotus-Renault          1m44.054s  + 6.403   18
22.  Liuzzi         HRT-Cosworth           1m45.228s  + 7.577   20
23.  Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           1m46.267s  + 8.616   10
24.  Petrov         Renault                1m47.932s  + 10.281   4

All Timing Unofficial

Source: Autosport

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Webber stays on top in second practice

Mark Webber remained fastest in the second free practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix as Red Bull continued to look the class of the field in Sepang, but this time the team was run closer by Jenson Button's McLaren.

The top four drivers were covered by less than 0.250s, as Webber's 1m36.876s - on Pirelli's Option - proved to be the quickest lap of the day, set just after halfway through the 90 minutes and in response to Sebastian Vettel's 1m37.090s.

The two Red Bulls were split, however, with Button and Lewis Hamilton going second and third fastest.

Michael Schumacher survived a scary grassy moment down at Turn 6 to go fifth fastest for Mercedes ahead of Felipe Massa's Ferrari.

Nico Rosberg was seventh ahead of Nick Heidfeld, who recovered some of this morning's lost time to go eighth fastest with Fernando Alonso and Jaime Alguersuari completing the top ten.

The session was fairly uneventful, with the exception of a crash for Pastor Maldonado, who got his right tyres on the grass on the pit entry and dumped his Williams in the barrier. It was a shame for the Venezuelan, who looked fast for much of the day.

He did however end up just faster than team-mate Ruben Barrichello, as the pair occupied 11th and 12th.

The last 30 minutes did highlight some interesting tyre degradation rates as the teams switched to high fuel and soft tyres. Some eight seconds slower than the ultimate pace, most ran in the mid-1m44s bracket. But Webber fired an ominous warning shot with his final 1m43s lap late on in race trim.

Vitantonio Liuzzi caused the only other notable yellow flag when ran wide over some kerbing which appeared to switch off his HRT's Cosworth engine.

Despite this the Italian managed to outpace Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus to go 22nd, the Finn having spent most of the second session in the pits.

Pos  Driver               Team                     Time               Laps
 1.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault         1m36.876s            24
 2.  Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes         1m36.881s  + 0.005   30
 3.  Lewis Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes         1m37.010s  + 0.134   23
 4.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault         1m37.090s  + 0.214   30
 5.  Michael Schumacher   Mercedes                 1m38.088s  + 1.212   26
 6.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari                  1m38.089s  + 1.213   31
 7.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes                 1m38.565s  + 1.689   25
 8.  Nick Heidfeld        Renault                  1m38.570s  + 1.694   16
 9.  Fernando Alonso      Ferrari                  1m38.583s  + 1.707   27
10.  Jaime Alguersuari    Toro Rosso-Ferrari       1m38.846s  + 1.970   31
11.  Pastor Maldonado     Williams-Cosworth        1m38.968s  + 2.092   25
12.  Rubens Barrichello   Williams-Cosworth        1m39.187s  + 2.311   30
13.  Vitaly Petrov        Renault                  1m39.267s  + 2.391   17
14.  Kamui Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari           1m39.398s  + 2.522   29
15.  Sergio Perez         Sauber-Ferrari           1m39.603s  + 2.727   34
16.  Paul di Resta        Force India-Mercedes     1m39.625s  + 2.749   31
17.  Adrian Sutil         Force India-Mercedes     1m39.809s  + 2.933   28
18.  Sebastien Buemi      Toro Rosso-Ferrari       1m40.115s  + 3.239   31
19.  Timo Glock           Virgin-Cosworth          1m40.866s  + 3.990   24
20.  Jarno Trulli         Lotus-Renault            1m41.890s  + 5.014   19
21.  Narain Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth             1m43.197s  + 6.321   15
22.  Tonio Liuzzi         HRT-Cosworth             1m43.991s  + 7.115   14
23.  Heikki Kovalainen    Lotus-Renault            1m44.886s  + 8.010    4

All Timing Unofficial

Source: Autosport

[simonlang]

The Ferrari is traditionally known for being kind to it's tyres, I don't think it's likely to be any harder on them than any of the other fast cars.

after having seen todays fp1 and fp2 i disagree. the car is a mess, unstable, slow and IS eating its tires. plus, the car has got no balance and the team hasnt even got a clue why.

hell they are so slow that at the moment they cant even focus on making massa slower than alonso, so on that perspective it could become a good weekend :D

[starbearer]

Schumacher out of qualifying again!

What's the matter with his qualifying?He showed pace in the practice,easily beating Rosberg in all,and in Q1 as well.While you can't read too much into oractice times,but it is an indication of sorts.

Even his most die hard fans will start despairing now.It's very disappointing.

[starbearer]

Pole for Vettel!

Pulled off a stunner in the last lap.Red Bulls and McLarens looking extremely strong.

Ferrari wide off the pace,Lotus has done very well,and the same sad story for Mercedes.

It'll be a cracking GP tomorrow.Hope it rains.

[TheLegendOfMart]

Nice to see the Mclarens on pace and Button back up there not that much in it for the top 4, going to be an interesting race tomorrow.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Qualifying times:

Pos  Driver                Team                 Time         Gap   
 1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m34.870s
 2.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m34.974s   + 0.104
 3.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m35.179s   + 0.309
 4.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m35.200s   + 0.330
 5.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m35.802s   + 0.932
 6.  Nick Heidfeld         Renault              1m36.124s   + 1.254
 7.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m36.251s   + 1.381
 8.  Vitaly Petrov         Renault              1m36.324s   + 1.454
 9.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m36.809s   + 1.939
10.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m36.820s   + 1.950
Q3 cut-off time: 1m36.811s                                   Gap **
11.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m37.035s   + 1.466
12.  Sebastien Buemi       Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m37.160s   + 1.591
13.  Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m37.347s   + 1.778
14.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m37.370s   + 1.801
15.  Rubens Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth    1m37.496s   + 1.927
16.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m37.528s   + 1.959
17.  Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes 1m37.593s   + 2.024
Q3 cut-off time: 1m38.163s                                    Gap *
18.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth    1m38.276s   + 1.532
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus-Renault        1m38.645s   + 1.901
20.  Jarno Trulli          Lotus-Renault        1m38.791s   + 2.047
21.  Timo Glock            Virgin-Cosworth      1m40.648s   + 3.904
22.  Jerome D'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth      1m41.001s   + 4.257
23.  Tonio Liuzzi          HRT-Cosworth         1m41.549s   + 4.805
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m42.574s   + 5.830

107% time: 1m43.516s

* Gap to quickest in Q1

** Gap to quickest in Q2

MSC was interviewed by RTL right after qualifying. Apparently his DRS had a malfunction in his last run and didn't move back into position, hence only P11.

Tomorrow's race should be fairly interesting, especially if it rains.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Great race.

[simonlang]

wow. vettel all the time. he could take it easy after 10 laps already. great great job. :D

alonso being an idiot nothing new and destroyed hamiltons race. glad that badluck equaled out and massa could finish in front of him. well deserved. after a brilliant start again (passing alonso on the outside!).

whats the matter with mercedes? schumacher and rosberg NOWHERE :(

if it goes on like this, in 4 or 5 races vettel can take it easy and cruise to his 2nd wdc.

[ahmz]

Good race but disappointed to see Alonso throw away that podium position.

Also the racing was more exciting when the DRS wasn't working.

[simonlang]

LOL alonso on spanish TV:

Q: Fernando, a bit too much ambition there...

FA: No (and this was literally the answer)

Q: So what happened?

FA: Some strange aggressive movements at over 300km/h, we touched and I got the worst deal

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :no:

this guy has absolutely no class at all. singapore 2008, last year hockenheim and now this. never been a fan of raikkonen but why oh why did they exchange him for such a sore loser?

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Man of the race today: Nick Heidfeld. He really proved that he's a worthy replacement for Kubica today - see also the start of the race.

Reject of the race: Fernando Alonso. Drove too aggressively and threw away a podium place.

And yay for MSC winning the first two points for Mercedes GP this year.

[Scirwode]

Man of the race today: Nick Heidfeld. He really proved that he's a worthy replacement for Kubica today - see also the start of the race.

Reject of the race: Fernando Alonso. Drove too aggressively and threw away a podium place.

And yay for MSC winning the first two points for Mercedes GP this year.

Heartily agree. Nick Heidfeld was amazing on the start and kept that momentum. Unfortunately, that idiot Alonso had to ruin Hamilton's race with his stupid move.

Scirwode

[TheLegendOfMart]

Heartily agree. Nick Heidfeld was amazing on the start and kept that momentum. Unfortunately, that idiot Alonso had to ruin Hamilton's race with his stupid move.

Scirwode

Dont blame Alonso for that, Hamilton was running off pace since his last pit stop which allowed Alonso to catch up.

[+Frank B. Subscriber²]

Alonso, Hamilton hit with penalties

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were handed 20-second penalties following the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang.

The McLaren driver, who endured a difficult race and finished in seventh position, was handed the penalty for making more than one move to defend his position when fighting with Fernando Alonso.

Alonso was given the penalty after he made contact with Hamilton during their fight, the Spaniard damaging his front wing and having to pit to replace it.

The penalty has dropped Hamilton to eighth, with Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi taking seventh.

Alonso keeps sixth place.

Source: Autosport

[TheLegendOfMart]

What a ****take. I saw Vettel move more than once on several occasions defending his position, hell half the field should have been slapped with penalties for that.

[ahmz]

The only real battle on the track (no DRS) and they get penalties...

[Zain Adeel]

this DRS thing sucks..

everybody use it on straight to overtake.. this is so lame..

it was better when they had to battle the whole lap and find any corner they can overtake.

[TheLegendOfMart]

DRS is best thing that happened to F1, it makes it more interesting. So you would be happy without DRS and every car stayed in their position and nothing changed for 50odd laps?

[what]

this DRS thing sucks..

everybody use it on straight to overtake.. this is so lame..

it was better when they had to battle the whole lap and find any corner they can overtake.

We've had plenty of seasons where the majority of the race was a procession. DRS, KERS and the fast degrading Pirelli tyres make things so much more interesting. I couldn't keep up with the place changes with DRS helping someone on every lap and the 80 or so pitstops. It might be 'artificial' but it's better this way than it was before.

[simonlang]

Alonso, Hamilton hit with penalties

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were handed 20-second penalties following the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang.

The McLaren driver, who endured a difficult race and finished in seventh position, was handed the penalty for making more than one move to defend his position when fighting with Fernando Alonso.

Alonso was given the penalty after he made contact with Hamilton during their fight, the Spaniard damaging his front wing and having to pit to replace it.

The penalty has dropped Hamilton to eighth, with Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi taking seventh.

Alonso keeps sixth place.

Source: Autosport

now this is absolutely ridiculous. fia assisting ferrari again. is hamilton supposed to race or supposed to be there to prevent alonsos constant brainfarts? :no:

unbelievable...

[starbearer]

Good race today,had its sweet moments with good old-fashioned racin'

Vettel,as usual,handed in a clean performance.Jenson was lucky as everyone in front of him committed hara-kiri.

And how quickly fortunes changed within a team,as Hiedfeld secured a podium,while last race Renault hero Petrov couldn't finish.

Also,2 points for Schumacher!Comprehensively beat Rosberg.

[verved]

now this is absolutely ridiculous. fia assisting ferrari again. is hamilton supposed to race or supposed to be there to prevent alonsos constant brainfarts? :no:

unbelievable...

Why i find unfair is alonso norsed it right up, yet still keeps his 6th place while lewis drops to 8th? don't seem fair to me unless i'm missing something :crazy: