The Malaysian Grand Prix is famous for its unpredictable weather and torrential monsoons. When the heavens open at Sepang, chaos ensues. The 2001 Malaysian Grand Prix was one of the most memorable races with chaos from the first lap, all the way to the end. Cars on fire, plenty of bumping and shoving and the tandem spin off by Ferrari team-mates Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello are but a few of the highlights from this crazy race. Watch this awesome 2001 Malaysian Grand Prix highlights video and enjoy the epicness of it all!
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F1 2015: Malaysia GP Preview – Sepang First True Test
The first race of the season around Australia’s Albert Park circuit is a highly anticipated one. It’s the keenness to kick off a new F1 season which gives the streets of Melbourne that distinctive feeling of excitement. Its twenty-five points awarded to the winner are no less important than some of the more iconic races on the calendar but it can often disguise the teams’ true form and potential.
The second round of the season, around Malaysia’s Sepang International circuit, will highlight those who have taken a genuine step forward. Equally, the dazzlingly high-speed corners and tantalising long straights of Sepang is also going to emphasize any shortcomings a car might have.
Not much has changed at the sharp-end of the grid which Mercedes still, comfortably, dominate. But behind the silver arrows’ Williams and Ferrari appear to have traded places in the competitive order. Much of the Ferrari turnaround is down to the notorious power unit. Not long ago the Ferrari power unit more closely resembled a slow trotting donkey than its famed emblem of the prancing horse. But the Maranello team has produced a unit worthy of its heritage with a rumoured initial 80 horsepower gain since last year. It even has Williams raising a few eyebrows and admitting that the Ferrari unit may be “a bit quicker” than their Mercedes. This has made such a big change at Ferrari that it’s even spurred to normally tacit Kimi Raikkonen into a notably bullish state. “I believe in the race, we are not far from Mercedes. I’m sure we can be up there and fight at the front,” said Raikkonen.
At this stage no there has been no news on Valtteri Bottas’ readiness after suffering a partial muscle tear in the Oz quali session. If Bottas is not Finn he will undoubtedly be missed by Williams who will likely find themselves in a spicy fight for the podium with Ferrari. The lofty predictions for an all-out fight could not happen thanks to the temperamental weather system in the area.Of the things that will happen this weekend Red Bull whinging and finding fault with Renault is a given. If their problems were evident Down Under then they will be glaring in Malaysia because Sepang is a power hungry circuit and Red Bull has nothing to feed it. So unhappy is Red Bull with the competitive order that Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s motorsport advisor, has threatened that Red Bull will quit the sport because of its current regulations. Team boss Christian Horner suggests that the FIA should look into an equalising engine performance to close up the field. It’s quite ironic, and perhaps even a bit hypocritical, given Red Bull plethora of victories during Vettel’s four consecutive championship seasons.
Let’s be clear Red Bull may have won four consecutive drivers and constructors championships but it doesn’t have the legacy of a Ferrari or Williams or McLaren so its threat to quit the sport doesn’t elicit the same fear. In the meantime, they’ll do their PR image a huge favour by taking it on the chin and focusing on the track. The form suggest that their fight will be for the lower points paying positions with Lotus and Toro Rosso and perhaps on a good day they may even challenge for a top five place.Malaysia will provide a more realistic pecking order which will unquestionably be headed by Mercedes. It is ridiculous to suggest that the mighty Silver Arrows will face any form of pressure but it will be fascinating to see Sepang reveal Ferrari’s true progress.
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Weather Forecast for the 2015 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix
Round 2 of the Formula 1 World Championship brings us to the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia for the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix.
The Herman Tilke designed track is one of the most technical tracks on the F1 calendar. It has a good mix of slow corners with a few high speed corners thrown in for good measure which places a tremendous amount of energy through the tyres. A few elevation changes an bumpy braking zones adds to the complexity of the track.
With the hard abrasive surface Pirelli has chosen the white medium and orange hard compound tyre for the race. The two tyre choices will best suit the high humidity and high ambient temperatures which is not only tough on the drivers but also extremely tough on the cars. Nearly every afternoon there is an intense downpour in Sepang this should bring out the wet weather tyres for the first time this season.
The weather this weekend in Sepang will be hot with thundershowers forecast in the afternoons. Temperatures will hover in the low 30’s with high humidity. The thundershowers are forecast to hit the track in the afternoons. This would put them during qualifying and just before the race.
Below is a snapshot of the weekends weather and a live forecast that updates through the day.
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Adderly Fong Signed as Lotus Development Driver
Hong Kong born driver Adderly Fong was announced as Lotus’ new development driver.
Fong will join Jolyon Palmer and Carmen Jorda who also have development roles at the Enstone based team.
The GP3 racer will undergo work in the simulator aimed towards improving the 2015 E23. Fong will still race in GP3 and in the GT Asia series which means this will be a very busy year for the young man.
Fong drove for Sauber in October last year and made his F1 practice debut at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. Lotus feel that that the experience he’s gained will be of much value to the team
“This is a great opportunity to further my racing career,” commented Fong.
I’ll be able to learn how an F1 team operates during race weekends as an integral part of the team and these invaluable experiences are going to lay the foundations of my future development as an F1 driver,” he added.
“I am happy but I am not going to get carried away, for this is only the first of many steps.”
“I aim to become the first Chinese driver to compete in a Formula 1 Grand Prix which will assist to promote the sport in China and also in Hong Kong. There is great potential for me with Lotus F1 Team so I can’t wait to get underway in my new role.”
Lotus CEO Nick Carter added: “It’s great to have Adderly join the team. We have an aggressive development programme with the E23 so he will be able to both learn from our engineers and race drivers as well as contribute to our car through the course of the season.
We have a very strong driver line-up which Adderly will join so he has a great opportunity to learn ahead of him. We are committed to moving back up the competitive order and Adderly’s work behind the scenes will be invaluable in assisting us to achieve this.”
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Broadcast Times for the 2015 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix
Formula 1 heads to Malaysia this week for round 2 of the Formula 1 World Championship to one of two home races for the Mercedes F1 Team.
The Malaysian Grand Prix always throws up a curve ball or two we can always depend on its unpredictability. The tropical weather may have a surprise or two for us this weekend.
With the first race out of the way the pecking order of the field is starting to take shape although we wont get a true sense of it until a few more races. From what we can tell, all the fun and action is happening behind Mercedes who are well and truly ahead of everyone. Ferrari have emerged as best of the rest for now and there has been a considerable amount of talk about the improvement that they have made. The truth of the matter is that it was just one race and one race does not a season make. If Ferrari can maintain and improve this level of performance then we can call them the best of the rest.
Williams, on pace, is not that far off from Ferrari. Technical Head at Williams Pat Simmonds has said that he feels that Ferrari are faster than them. This week however, Williams say that they should be much stronger on a purpose built track.
Red Bull are struggling with their power unit and have made their feelings very clear about how what they think about the Renault power unit. McLaren on the other hand show some encouraging signs and its been a week of good news for the team with Alonso poised to return to racing once again after his concussion ruled him out for the first race of the season.
The mid-field battle is heating up rather nicely with Toro Rosso showing some very good pace early on and with Sauber coming back into the mix. It does make things tough for Force India who seem to be on the back foot at the moment.
After software issues dented Manor’s chances of turning a wheel in Australia, they will want to come out fighting in Malaysia. This will be the first time their car has turned a wheel this season and it will be interesting to see just how they fair.
Although the race is in Malaysia the times this weekend are slightly more favorable.
Free Practice 1: Friday 04:00
Free Practice 2: Friday 08:00
Free Practice 3: Saturday 08:00
Qualifying: Saturday 11:00
Race: Sunday 09:00
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Alonso Returns McLaren Cockpit in Malaysia
The McLaren Formula 1 Team have announced that Fernando Alonso will return to the cockpit of his MP4-30 for the Malaysian Grand Prix subject to a final FIA medical assessment on Thursday.
Alonso suffered from a concussion at the after crashing at the Barcelona test. Alonso was kept in hospital for a few days after the crash where extensive tests were carried out. He was advised by doctors not to take part in the Australian Grand Prix at the risk of another concussion.
Last week Alonso was back at the McLaren Technology Centre driving the simulator. He used the time to discuss the accident with senior engineers. Alonso said that he felt a heavy steering before crashing into the barriers.
“While there was nothing evident in the extensive car telemetry data, nor anything abnormal in the subsequent reconstructions and laboratory tests, Fernando recalls a sense of ‘heavy’ steering prior to the accident,” read a statement from McLaren.
The team have moved to fit an additional sensor to the car to aid in further data recovery.
“Fernando is very much looking forward to getting back into the car and making a substantial contribution to our collective efforts with Honda, to accelerate the required improvement to our on-track performance.”
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German Grand Prix Dropped From 2015 F1 Calendar
For the first time in since 1960 the F1 calendar will feature without a German Grand Prix after it was confirmed today by the FIA that it was being dropped from the 2015 Formula 1 Calendar.
The German Grand Prix alternates between Hockenheim and the Nurburgring each year. It was revealed in January that the Nurburgring’s new owners did not have a contract in place to host the 2015 German Grand Prix and that they could not afford to pay the hosting fee.
Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone said in January that Hockenheim is the only alternative to host the German leg of the F1 Championship but at the Australian Grand Prix he was quoted as saying “The German Grand Prix is dead at the moment. It won’t get replaced if it doesn’t happen. As with any race, if it is cancelled it is cancelled. There’s not much we can do.”
This was confirmed earlier this week after Hockenheim boss Georg Seiler told BILD that it was too late to step in at this point.
This resulted in the FIA dropping the race from the 20 race calendar leaving just 19 races for the season and with a gap during the summer period.
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Sauber “Surprised” by Van Der Garde’s Remarks
After Giedo Van Der Garde voiced his dissatisfaction at Sauber and the way they handled his contract dispute, the Sauber F1 Team have released a statement of their own saying that they are surprised by what the young Dutchman has claimed.
In a statement released on Facebook, the Sauber F1 Team have said that they are “rather surprised” by van der Garde’s intentions and they cannot understand the reasoning behind his scathing statement directed towards the team.
“Many of you read today’s statement on Giedo van der Garde’s Facebook page. So have we and we were, indeed, rather surprised,” read the statement from Sauber.
“We don’t know about Giedo’s intentions. He may try to present himself as a winner, while we had actually hoped to come to rest after our agreement. Giedo decided to take a different approach – the reasoning behind we cannot understand.”
The statement goes on to say that the team have answers to the accusations made in the statement, but Sauber will not be drawn into a mud slinging match in the media.
“We’d have very good answers to the many statements and accusations in Giedo’s post. But to expand on this wouldn’t help our race team nor our fans and partners. It would only encourage a mud fight via the media and we will not lend ourselves to that.”
Sauber have made it clear that they have put the matter behind them and that they are now focusing on preparations for the upcoming Malaysian Grand Prix.
“The next race in Malaysia is where our focus is and that’s where we will build up on last weekend’s success together with our drivers Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr. All our efforts are drawn to this objective.
“With this in mind we’d like to encourage you to form your own opinion about what happened, however critical it may be. From our side we herewith close the matter and look already forward to celebrating future achievements at the race track together with you.”
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Van Der Garde Reaches Settlement with Sauber
Former Sauber driver Giedo Van Der Garde has announced on Facebook that he has reached a settlement with the team and his contract with them has been ended by “mutual consent” and says that his future in Formula 1 is probably over.
The Dutchmen sought a court order in Melbourne at the eve of the first round of the Formula 1 World Championship which would have allowed him to race for the Swiss based team. Van Der Garde won the case which Sauber subsequently appealed and lost.
In a strongly worded statement Van Der Garde says that the bosses at Sauber outright refused him a race seat, even though, contractually, he had a race seat. He also says that his sponsors paid a large sponsorship fee to Sauber for 2015 during the 2014 season. This, Van Der Garde says, was done in good faith. He also reveals that because of the payment Sauber was able to see the 2014 season through to the end. This money was paid back as the contract settlement to the young Dutchmen.
Van Der Garde places the blame with Sauber’s management for the situation in Melbourne saying that “the team principal was adamant not to let me drive, notwithstanding my legal rights to do so and a series of rulings and court orders in my favour and despite my race driving abilities.”
He goes on to say that he could have pushed on with the legal action which would’ve resulted in both of Sauber’s cars being seized by the court and also the arrest of the team’s directors. His conscience did prevail as he did not want to ruin the careers of Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson.
“To push on against this determination might have brought down the team, it would most certainly have wrecked the opening Grand Prix in Melbourne because the team´s cars would have been seized by the court, it may have ruined the careers of two young drivers Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr.”
Van Der Garde will now consider a drive in the FIA WEC Chapionship or in DTM. There is nothing confirmed at this time but he says that he will sit down with his management and discuss his options for the future.
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Red Bull Issues Threat to Quit F1
The Red Bull F1 team have warned that the team may leave the sport unless the sports’ regulations are overhauled.
According to Dr Helmut Marko, who acts as an advisor to the Red Bull Racing Team owner Dietrich Mateschitz, the team warned that they may quite the sport because Mateschitz will loose the “passion for F1.”
This comes in the wake of the Australian Grand Prix where the Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo finished a lap down from race winner Lewis Hamilton.
Speaking to Austrian media after the race on Sunday, Marko was quoted saying that they will evaluate the situation the team is in during the summer break and decide whether to continiue in F1. “If we are totally dissatisfied we could contemplate an F1 exit. The danger is there that Mr Mateschitz loses his passion for F1,” he added.
Marko insists he would still be voicing his concern at the new regulations even if Red Bull were doing as well as Mercedes. “These power units are the wrong solution for F1, and we would say this even if Renault were in the lead”.
Red Bull Team Principal slated Renault after the race saying that they are in “a bit of a mess.” He went as far as saying that the FIA should reign Mercedes in by means of an equalisation mechanism.
“The problem is the gap is so big. You end up with three-tier racing and I think that’s not healthy for Formula 1,” Horner said.
“It’s important after this weekend that we re-group with Renault and try and offer our support where we can, because they’re obviously in a bit of a mess at the moment,”
“It’s frustrating that we’re effectively even further back than we were in Abu Dhabi in both power and driveability.”
The Briton went on to explain that even when Red Bull had a clear advantage at the turn of the decade, they were not winning by such a large margin. He goes on to say that most of what gave Red Bull an advantage was banned by the FIA.
“Double diffusers were banned, exhausts were moved, flexible bodywork was prohibited, engine mapping mid-season was changed; anything was done. That wasn’t just unique to Red Bull.”
Formula 1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone agrees with Horner. Speaking to Reuters he had this to say: “They are absolutely 100 per cent right,” he said. “There is a rule that I think [former president] Max [Mosley] put in when he was there that in the event…that a particular team or engine supplier did something magic – which Mercedes have done – the FIA can level up things.
“They [Mercedes] have done a first class job which everybody acknowledges. We need to change things a little bit now and try and level things up a little bit.”
Red Bull have an agreement with Ecclestone that they will remain in the sport until 2020 but that never stopped Toyota when they left the sport in 2009.
