Malaysian GP week end

[F1boat]

Interesting qualy, McLaren seemed very close to Ferrari in qualifying.

[Garry Walker]

Simple; the driver who made it possible is now on another team.

Silly. Renault lost their co-operation with Michelin and are struggling with BS tyres. Alonso has nothing to do with it. Put him in the Renault at the moment and he would look like **** aswell.

Ferrari is just as quick as McLaren here, the people who were going into frenzy with Ferraris "superiority" need to understand only circumstances made Ferrari look so much better at Oz, in reality they only had 2-3 tenths there over McLaren on race pace.

[jens]

Simple; the driver who made it possible is now on another team.

Actually that can't explain everything. If Renault had dropped from 1st to 2nd or 3rd, then we might say that it's the result of the loss of Alonso. But from first to what? Sixth? No-no, it can't be purely Alonso's "fault".

[Erki]

I read that towards the quali, it started to drizzle. What's the forecast for the race?

[andreag]

Actually that can't explain everything. If Renault had dropped from 1st to 2nd or 3rd, then we might say that it's the result of the loss of Alonso. But from first to what? Sixth? No-no, it can't be purely Alonso's "fault".

Fisichella's times on Q1 and Q2 were 0.5 and 1.2 seconds slower than Massa; exactly the same he achieved last season on Turkey, Italy, Japan and Brazil. He's doing as he finished last year.

There's no improvement on his pace compared to Massa's, and Heikki is around that (adding some rookie mistakes). So Renault hasn't shown a better form than it would be without Alonso.

On the other side, McLaren times are closer to Ferrari than there were on the end of last season. The car has adapted better than Renault to BS, and to do this is neccesary a great feedback from the drivers, and McLaren has an advantage having a good test driver (PDLR) and having Fernando, who's very good explaining the car's behaviour to the engineers (apart from being faster than Fisi).

[ioan]

Fisichella's times on Q1 and Q2 were 0.5 and 1.2 seconds slower than Massa; exactly the same he achieved last season on Turkey, Italy, Japan and Brazil. He's doing as he finished last year.

There's no improvement on his pace compared to Massa's, and Heikki is around that (adding some rookie mistakes). So Renault hasn't shown a better form than it would be without Alonso.

On the other side, McLaren times are closer to Ferrari than there were on the end of last season. The car has adapted better than Renault to BS, and to do this is neccesary a great feedback from the drivers, and McLaren has an advantage having a good test driver (PDLR) and having Fernando, who's very good explaining the car's behaviour to the engineers (apart from being faster than Fisi).

Your logics are flawed. You can't compare last year's gaps wit this year's gaps without taking into account that the cars are very different this year (one tires supplier and different tires).

Renault simply have a flawed chassis, it happened to Ferrari too, in 2005, with or without MS, it happens to Renault now, with or without FA.

[ioan]

Fisichella's times on Q1 and Q2 were 0.5 and 1.2 seconds slower than Massa; exactly the same he achieved last season on Turkey, Italy, Japan and Brazil. He's doing as he finished last year.

BTW I forgot to ask, if you are already doing it what about comparing the gaps with the ones they got last season in Sepang?

[donKey jote]

I like your glasses andrea

[andreag]

BTW I forgot to ask, if you are already doing it what about comparing the gaps with the ones they got last season in Sepang?

I really beleive there're more differences in a car between Malaysia 06 and Brazil 06, than between Brazil 06 and Malaysia 07.

That's why I don't compare them from season to season. Everybody knew Renault was superior at the begining of last season, but not at the end, and the relative pace of both teams (Ferrari and Renault) is now similar to what it was at the end of last season, and completely different as what it was one year ago.

Of course tyres had an influence, but is not only Renault the team who has to change tyres; some teams have changed with a good result, and other teams were on BS but are lost this year.

The fact is that for two consecutive years Renault started the seasons on a superior pace, but its improvement through the season was poor (compared to other teams). McLaren started worst, but its improvement were clearly better.

This scenary has changed, and tyres is not the big difference, as both teams had to move to BS. So there's another reason.

And according to Campoamor (thanks Donkey jote):

"And it is that in the treasonous world
nothing is truth or lie:
everything is according to the color
of the crystal through which it is seen."

[Ranger]

Coulthard and Barrichello starting from the back of the grid:

http://www.formula1.com/race/news/5905/771.html

...Which makes the starting grid:

1. Felipe Massa
2. Fernando Alonso
3. Kimi Räikkönen
4. Lewis Hamilton
5. Nick Heidfeld
6. Nico Rosberg
7. Robert Kubica
8. Jarno Trulli
9. Ralf Schumacher
10. Mark Webber
11. Heikki Kovalainen
12. Giancarlo Fisichella
13. Takuma Sato
14. Jenson Button
15. Vitantonio Liuzzi
16. Scott Speed
17. Anthony Davidson
18. Alexander Wurz
19. Christijan Albers
20. Adrian Sutil
21. David Coulthard
22. Rubens Barrichello

Noteworthy is that this is the first time Renault have not qualified in the top 10 since late 2002.