2014 Malaysian GP Thread

[steveaki13]

From watching the practice sessions I got the impression that most teams were asking their drivers to drive at 80% to save the cars.

I imagine the times will be a lot faster coming Quali and thus todays times become irrelevant

Lotus are the biggest issue once more. They still cant seem to run any decent amount of laps.

I mean Maldonado blew up and spent FP2 with his car in bits and I think Grosjean broke down 3 times.

I can see the team fold at the end of the season, if they cant improve things. I mean when they actually run they are still only 17th-20th type speed.

Slow and unreliable. That's about as bad as a racing car gets.

Mercedes still seem the fastest. Red Bull seemed slow early on, but by the end they seemed to have improved pace.

[minardi]

Based on practice team-wise, it seems Mercedes are lightyears ahead, followed by (in order) Ferrari, Red Bull and then Williams slightly adrift. Hulkenberg's Force India is sniffing around the top six and the McLarens are somewhere in there too but impossible to say exactly where with their problems this morning. I'd say they're around the Williams pace, but might be just behind as they're playing catch-up having not set a timed lap this morning.

The threat of rain for the latter part of qualifying could make it very interesting and could pull Toro Rosso into the mix for top 10. As for the rest, I think we all know the order in the second half of the grid pretty much.

[henners88]

I've got a feeling Hamilton will stick his lawn mower on pole even if Nico was two Tenths up in practice. The bookies are not open yet however.

[minardi]

Judging by the BBC guys starting to get work, looks like the rain has come earlier than expected. Good opportunity for the backmarkers to sneak through to Q2 if it persists.

[henners88]

The rain should spice things up, it's very heavy by the looks so a mixed grid with the Mercs fighting through might be exciting.

[Tazio]

Mercedes is threatening to run away with this thing before they even get to Austria. Hooray for their fans I guess.

[journeyman racer]

att: Europeans

Thanks for nothing.

[N4D13]

Whoops. That was a very bizarre accident from Kyvat and Alonso. :-/

[jens]

So quali is over.

Front row for the drivers, who got a DNF in Australia and want to get some points on board now! As expected, Red Bull can be threatening in the wet and Vettel is right up there with Hamilton and between the two Mercedes, so if it is wet in tomorrow's race it can be a great battle. In the dry though I suspect Mercedes will disappear into the horizon unless they have significant tyre wear issues.

Ferrari running better too, so first three teams this time are comfortably the three "factory" teams as they call it. Something we are going to see much more regularly during the rest of the season, also in the dry?

Hülkenberg doing his usual solid job behind the big teams. And Toro Rossos and even the Lotus of Grosjean showing promise in wet conditions.

Was Australia just a suitable circuit for McLaren, and they happened to capitalize on the opportunity well? Because as things stand, this performance very much reminds 2013.

Williams again not going well in the wet. Should once again be a strong damage limitation race for them if it is dry tomorrow.

[steveaki13]

Wow, that was a drawn out and incident filled Qualifying session.

Lewis Hamilton was good, but probably could have and should have improved a tad, but for going off on that final run.

It seems though with its excepted better downforce that Red Bull can challenge in the wet, a great effort by Vettel after what looked like more issues with the car in Q1.

An exciting front row for tomorrow providing rain doesn't cancel the race.

Despite it being 3rd I think Nico will be happy. It seems as though in early dry pace he should be able to jump Vettel down a straight some where. Although if Mercedes are having issues with tyre wear then it may get exciting again later on.

A 2nd Row for Alonso is a real bonus. It appeared that 5th was the best to hope for in the wet, but Fernando managed to leap Ricciardo for 5th. Both will be satisfied with those positions I think.

Kimi in 6th seems to round off the top 3 teams this qualifying session.

I think from then on, it is anyones race from 7th-15th, so Nico Hulkenberg again shows his class and 7th leaves him in a good position for the race. Although maybe with an eye on McLaren and Williams.

Kev Magnussen again out qualifying JB, and most of the session he was ahead, of course Jenson gambled on Inters in the last part, but after early troubles I think Magnussen can be happy with 8th.

Toro Rosso again looking good in the wet conditions. 9th for JEV and 11th for Kyvat.

Jenson Button had another ordinary day really. Gamble never looked like paying off. I expect he will move forward tomorrow.

Kyvat getting into trouble with Alonso a couple of times in Quali, but a decent job. Although I guess he might get a penalty for hitting Alonso, although I thought Alonso looked like he was yielding in the corner and then turned in. So I guess Danii thought the same.

It wont get noticed but Esteban Gutierrez actually did a good job for 12th, I thought.
The Sauber is slow and heavy but he did a decent job.

Felipe Massa and Williams must be scratching their heads. In the dry the still look quick (albeit not as fast as Oz) but once the rain comes, 13th only. Hope they can move forward tomorrow. Williams need to improve the car otherwise they will tumble down the grid.

Sergio Perez in 14th seems way off Nico Hulknebergs pace generally and starts a mediocre 14th.

Same again for Bottas and Williams. 15th and potentially worse if he is found guilty of Blocking on Ricciardo. He will need to hope its dry.

Romain Grosjean I thought did a good job today, despite only being 16th/15th on the grid. In Q1 he was 14th or something and looked more on the pace of midfield today.

Same for Maldonado. 17th/16th depending on Penalty for Bottas. I mean he did virtually nothing yesterday so to get himself ahead of the backmarkers is a decent effort. Lotus now need to make sure they get themselves to the end.

Adrian Sutil looked slow and sluggish all weekend really. And 18th seems about right for Sauber this year. Battling Lotus to stay ahead of backmarkers.

I though one of the backmarker drivers might end up in Q2 in the rain. Disappointing really.
Jules Bianchi actually was quite a bit faster in 19th than the other 3 backmarkers. He was only 7 tenths off Sutil and 8 tenths ahead of Kobayashi. Decent effort really. Kobyashi 20th will be OK I suppose. I look forward to him racing Bianchi for the lead of Division2.

The back row is as expected really. Chilton after a good weekend in Australia struggled more here. Can he keep his finishing run going from 21st.

Ericcson starting last had that strange crash, which was a silly error. He will look to finish the race I guess.

Looking forward to the race tomorrow. I hope if it rains it is raceable rain. Not monsoon that abandons the event.