F1 Madness

Tag: malaysian grand prix

  • Broadcast Times for the 2015 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix

    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

  • Sauber “Surprised” by Van Der Garde’s Remarks

    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.”

  • Pirelli Announces Tyre Choices for First Four Grands Prix

    Pirelli Announces Tyre Choices for First Four Grands Prix

    Formula 1 tyre provider Pirelli has announced the tyre nominations for the Australian, Malaysian, Chinese, and Bahrain Grands Prix.

    For the Australian Grand Prix Pirelli will bring in the white medium and yellow soft compound tyres.

    In Malaysia, the Orange Hard and White Medium compound tyres will be used. Pirelli nominated these the two hardest compounds available for the high abrasiveness of the asphalt at the Sepang Circuit and also because of the high temperatures.

    The P Zero White medium and P Zero Yellow soft tyres are nominated for China. Those are the tyres best suited for the high degradation experienced by the tyres on the Shanghai circuit.

    For Bahrain, a circuit that is tough on the rear tyres, Pirelli have nominated the White Medium and Yellow soft compound tyres. The Bahrain Grand Prix is the first day-into-night race on the calendar. This leads to falling ambient and track temperatures as the race goes on. The tyres chosen would provide the ideal balance between the rear mechanical grip needed whilst coping with the falling track temperatures.

    The above tyre choices are identical to the first 4 races of last season. The only difference is that the rear tyres have a different construction which allows for temperatures to be distributed more evenly.

     

    Photo by courtesy PIRELLI

  • Malaysian GP Qualifying report: Hamilton makes it 2 in a row

    Malaysian GP Qualifying report: Hamilton makes it 2 in a row

    Lewis Hamilton clinched his second pole in a row during a very wet and rainy Malaysian Grand Prix qualifying session this afternoon. He edged out Red Bull’s Sebastian by just 0.055 seconds.

    Nico Rosberg took the third place away from Fernando Alonso in his final flying lap and Daniel Ricciardo got the second Red Bull into the Top 5.

    The start of qualifying was delayed by 50 mins today ericcson-ouchwith heavy rains hitting the Sepang circuit after three days of dry practice sessions. Many felt it should have started sooner, since all teams except McLaren started the qualifying session on intermediate tyres. After starting late, the Q1 session also ended early following a crash by Caterham’s Marus Ericcson after the rookie lost control of his car exiting Turn 3.

    Kimi Raikkonen finished in 6th place ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen.

    Q2 also never went off without  incident. The session was stopped shortly after it had started after contact between Daniil Kvyat and Alonso. Kvyat tried to dive up the inside of Alonso into turn nine but made contact with the Ferrari, damaging the front suspension on the F14T. The Ferrari mechanics put on a real show by fixing the F14T in no time a all and sending Alonso back out immediately after the red flag was lifted.

    Valterri Bottas has had to take a penalty though. The driver will lose three grid places as well as two penalty points for impeding Daniel Ricciardo.

    Below are the full results of the session. Follow us @F1_Madness on Twitter for live race commentary and F1 chit chat during the race tomorrow.

    malaysia-qualifying

     

  • Weather Report for the 2014 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix

    Round 2 of the Formula 1 World Championship brings us to Sepang in Malaysia.

    You can always count on the Malaysian Grand Prix to bring some unpredictability to F1. Not that we dont need any more that we have currently. The weather at the Malaysian Grand Prix is about as unpredictable as the current Renault engines with sudden downpours followed by immediate sunshine and 100% humidity.

    This weekends Grand Prix is no different. The weather for Friday is predicted to be hot and sunny with thundershowers expected for the afternoon session. The forecast is very similar for Saturday with a possibility of a wet qualifying. The same can be said for the Sunday forecast. Despite the possibility of thunderstorms temperatures will hover in the mid-to-low 30s.

  • Virtual lap preview – Malaysia, Sepang International circuit

    Virtual lap preview – Malaysia, Sepang International circuit