Formula 1 - 2014 Season

[Davros]

Especially after the awesome stuff he did on thunderbirds
but yes he was the crowning jewel in the bbc's coverage imho

 

[DJ12]

Looking ominous for Mercedes rivals again. I'm pretty sure they are sandbagging in practice but still comfortably both sessions.

Have we swapped one dominant team for another lol

 

[Kaotik]

Sepang International Circuit


Changes since last season:
- 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.

Race name: 2014 FORMULA 1 PETRONAS MALAYSIA GRAND PRIX
Track name: Sepang International Circuit
Track length: 5,543 km
Race length: 56 laps = 310,408 km
Lap Record: 1:34.223

Juan Pablo Montoya, Williams-BMW (2004)

2013:
Podium:
1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault
2. Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault
3. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes

Pole Position: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault - 1:49.674
Fastest Lap in race: Sergio Perez, McLaren-Mercedes - 1:39.199

Previous winners:
2012: Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
2011: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault
2010: Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault


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[Kaotik]

If you ignore the finnish, nice video showing the difference between KImi's and Vettel's cornering style
http://www.mtv.fi/sport/f1/uutiset.shtml/2014/03/1876237/video-raikkosen-ja-vettelin-ajolinjan-ero


First practice
1. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1.40,691 19 laps
2. Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari +0,152 20
3. Nico Rosberg Mercedes +0,337 19
4. Jenson Button McLaren +0,420 20
5. Kevin Magnussen McLaren +0,583 18
6. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso +0,711 15
7. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull +0,832 9
8. Nico Hulkenberg Force India +0,951 19
9. Felipe Massa Williams +0,995 23
10. Valtteri Bottas Williams +1,139 22
11. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +1,232 14
12. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull +1,426 20
13. Adrian Sutil Sauber +1,674 21
14. Daniil Kvjat Toro Rosso +2,178 21
15. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber +2,213 23
16. Jules Bianchi Marussia +3,134 18
17. Marcus Ericsson Caterham +5,084 24
18. Max Chilton Marussia +6,220 10
19. Kamui Kobayashi Caterham +10,489 5
20. Sergio Perez Force India no time 2
21. Pastor Maldonado Lotus no time 2
22. Romain Grosjean Lotus no time 4

2nd practice
1. Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1.39,909 30 laps.
2. Kimi Räikkönen Ferrari +0,035 30
3. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull +0,061 30
4. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +0,142 32
5. Fernando Alonso Ferrari +0,194 29
6. Felipe Massa Williams +0,203 34
7. Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull +0,367 29
8. Jenson Button McLaren +0,719 28
9. Valtteri Bottas Williams +0,729 35
10. Nico Hülkenberg Force India +0,782 34
11. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso +0,868 33
12. Kevin Magnussen McLaren +1,105 20
13. Adrian Sutil Sauber +1,348 28
14. Daniil Kvjat Toro Rosso +1,416 32
15. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber +1,498 34
16. Sergio Perez Force India +1,762 25
17. Romain Grosjean Lotus +2,622 14
18. Max Chilton Marussia +3,729 20
19. Jules Bianchi Marussia +3,843 29
20. Marcus Ericsson Caterham +5,794 31
21. Kamui Kobayashi Caterham
22. Pastor Maldonado Lotus

 

[Kaotik]

Rainy qualifying, looks like Alonso is out from Q2 unless Ferrari can fix the car in ~10 mins, he lost left front suspension completely after hitting Kvyat (who braked too late, had to steer inside the corner and next to Alonso, who never saw him coming)
edit2: oh wow, they fixed it in just couple mins

 

[Davros]

webber has done a really good video for the bbc about how drivers deal with heat
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/26783092

 

[Wynix]

This does not seem like a lap that would get someone pole.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lZW_Ofckh8

(can't post embedded video).

 

[zed]

webber has done a really good video for the bbc about how drivers deal with heat

Its not the heat, its the heat & humidity combo thats the killer there.
I was there last year taman negara (5th time) 48.9c apparent temp, sweat dripping off me just sitting down. Give me a desert any day

 

[Davros]

Like Hulkenberg I also knock the stiffness out of my boxer shorts, although it has nothing to do with them being frozen

 

[Kaotik]

sigh, the new 5-sec penalty is worthless, Magnussen gets 5 secs longer pitstop for ruining another drivers complete race

 

[Rurouni]

sigh, the new 5-sec penalty is worthless, Magnussen gets 5 secs longer pitstop for ruining another drivers complete race

You're mixing the usefulness of this small penalty with the correctness of penalty applied to Magnussen. A lot of people asking for smaller penalty because before it was either stop and go or drive thru which was a bit too much for the smaller infringement.
So no, 5 sec penalty is very useful. Is Magnussen got the correct penalty? I don't know. How we should applied the penalties? Is it by looking at the result of the incident or purely the type of incident? If it's by the result, should we consider only the misfortune the offender caused to his competitor or to the offender himself (should Magnussen got the same penalty if he was also limping to the pit?)? The more you include the result of an incident for applying penalty, the more harder to become objective. For me, Kimi is just unlucky. Is the penalty to light for Magnussen? Considering the type of incident, no. Considering the result, yes.

 

[Wynix]

Mag takes out another driver, gets 5sec penalty;
Ricc makes a pit error(he quickly stops) and the team re-pits him immediately, gets 10sec penalty, retires from race so they give him a 10 grid positions penalty for the next race...

I don't care much for Seb or RBR but i think this young guy(ricc) has become the punching bag for some people who hold a grudge against his team.

 

[UniversalTruth]

I agree with you, totally right that these things are too much... In no case it should be fair to introduce more pain to someone who is already injured.

 

[Rurouni]

According to Horner, the penalty for unsafe release is 10s stop and go + 10 place grid penalty. It is not either, it is both. Basically they don't want to see any unsafe release, so the punishment is harsh. It is made like this because last year's incident when a cameraman was injured (from an unsafe release).

 

[UniversalTruth]

How do they distinguish what a safe and unsafe release is? I mean at the point when they released the car, perhaps they didn't know his tyre was not properly mounted.

 

[DJ12]

Maybe it's when his tire looked like it was going to wobble off

 

[cjo]

How do they distinguish what a safe and unsafe release is? I mean at the point when they released the car, perhaps they didn't know his tyre was not properly mounted.

The guy who was actually fastening the wheel knew it wasn't seated properly. The person with the jack reacted to the gun being removed from the wheel. If you have to drag the car back to the pit box to reseat the wheel, or if the wheel comes off, it is an unsafe release.

 

[-tkf-]

sigh, the new 5-sec penalty is worthless, Magnussen gets 5 secs longer pitstop for ruining another drivers complete race

Yeah, and he didn't do it on purpose, a classic driving incident. But somehow every kimi fan is up now arms about it. Ignoring how slow kimi was in the race, his best lap a whole second slower than Alonso. Kimi didn't impress at all.

And Magnussen also got 2 points on his license, 10 more and it's costly. With 17 races to go that it more than enough punishment.

EDIT: Just to add, Magnussen also punished himself with the collision, his front wing was damaged as was his race.

 

[UniversalTruth]

What happened to Ferrari, Kimi, Fernando?

 

[Lightman]

Yeah, and he didn't do it on purpose, a classic driving incident. But somehow every kimi fan is up now arms about it. Ignoring how slow kimi was in the race, his best lap a whole second slower than Alonso. Kimi didn't impress at all.

And Magnussen also got 2 points on his license, 10 more and it's costly. With 17 races to go that it more than enough punishment.

EDIT: Just to add, Magnussen also punished himself with the collision, his front wing was damaged as was his race.

It's not fair to say Kimi was 1s slower than Alonso as his car floor was badly damaged causing significant loss of downforce!

I was impressed with how Grosjean drove his race, considering how bad the car currently is with lowered engine revs, K and H not working at their full potential, he did splendid job!

I think Lotus will bounce back as soon as European leg starts, hopefully challenging for podiums from time to time to spice up competition. I also hope Ferrari and RedBull catch Mercedes to within 0.2-0.5s before mid season to at least let Hamilotn/Rosberg gang fight for their points and not just drive away every race