Heidfeld takes 7th, Alonso stays in 9th
So final order: Massa, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Hamilton, Trulli, Kubica, Heidfeld, Webber, Alonso and Glock
The 2008 Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix Thread
Moderators: cmlean, Ed, The Qualiflyer, The Heretic
Both McLaren drivers have been dropped 5 places on the grid for impeding at the end of the qualifying session.
Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso were on flying laps while most other cars were on their slow down laps. It appears that the stewards penalised the 2 McLaren drivers as they were going slow and on the racing line when Heidfeld followed by Alonso appeared behind them. TV footage shows a McLaren quickly moving out of the way however it seems that the stewards considered it too late.
With the 5 place drop for the McLaren duo the starting grid becomes:
Massa, Raikkonen, Trulli, Kubica, Heidfeld, Webber, Alonso, Kovalainen, Hamilton and Glock.
More here
Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso were on flying laps while most other cars were on their slow down laps. It appears that the stewards penalised the 2 McLaren drivers as they were going slow and on the racing line when Heidfeld followed by Alonso appeared behind them. TV footage shows a McLaren quickly moving out of the way however it seems that the stewards considered it too late.
With the 5 place drop for the McLaren duo the starting grid becomes:
Massa, Raikkonen, Trulli, Kubica, Heidfeld, Webber, Alonso, Kovalainen, Hamilton and Glock.
More here
Team by team summary following qualifying at Sepang (GMM)
FERRARI
After the Melbourne debacle, the Italian team is the class of Sepang, with Felipe Massa on pole by half a second, and both F2008s well clear of the McLaren pace in Q3. "I was not able to get the tyres to work as well as possible," said Kimi Raikkonen, who is second.
TOYOTA
Due to the demotion of the faster McLarens, Jarno Trulli will start the race from third place. Timo Glock is off the Italian's pace but still made the Q3 cut.
BMW-SAUBER
Nick Heidfeld, who topped the morning time sheets, angrily complained to the stewards after qualifying that both McLarens impeded his last flying lap as they cruised at slow speed to save fuel back to parc ferme. Several hours later, the stewards agreed and docked them five grid places each, thus promoting Heidfeld from seventh to fifth. Robert Kubica's best lap was a few hundredths faster.
RED BULL-RENAULT
The stewards let the team qualify following David Coulthard's suspension-shattering incident on Friday, and Mark Webber duly drove the RB4 to a credible eighth quickest (sixth on grid). Coulthard did not make it through to Q3.
RENAULT
Fernando Alonso, who like Heidfeld complained about the impeding McLaren drivers, could not keep up with the proper pace once he made the Q3 cut and started carrying a bigger fuel load than many of his rivals. Nelson Piquet, thirteenth, has had a better weekend than Melbourne, observing that he is "not too far away from my teammate" in Malaysia.
MCLAREN-MERCEDES
The MP4-23 is clearly the second quickest car in Malaysia, but the gap to Ferrari seemed significant after qualifying. Lewis Hamilton has struggled to keep up with his teammate Heikki Kovalainen all weekend and qualified fourth, but both racers fall five places down the grid after stewards found them unintentionally blocking the flying Heidfeld and Alonso on the racing line as they conserved fuel at the end.
HONDA
After such an uncompetitive winter, Jenson Button was delighted to so narrowly miss the Q3 cut, and Rubens Barrichello was a few tenths behind. The Brazilian had a broken sixth gear repaired in the morning, but the FIA rules allowed its repair without falling foul of the four-race gearbox rule.
TORO ROSSO-FERRARI
After a good outing in Australia, Sebastian Vettel never looked like making the Q3 cut, but he had a better day than his teammate Sebastien Bourdais, who dropped out in Q1 with a brake failure. Earlier in the day his Ferrari V8 failed, so the Frenchman has now used up his 'penalty-free' engine change for the season.
WILLIAMS-TOYOTA
Nico Rosberg sprayed champagne on the podium one week ago, but he came crashing to earth in Malaysia, qualifying an abysmal sixteenth. "Can't believe it," said the German, who lost time in the morning with an hydraulic leak. "Our car doesn't seem to like the new asphalt they laid on this track at all." Kazuki Nakajima dropped out in Q1, and moves right to the back of the grid because of his Melbourne penalty for crashing into Robert Kubica.
FORCE INDIA-FERRARI
The Silverstone based team again failed to reach its target of reaching Q2, but Giancarlo Fisichella did come tantalisingly close - half a tenth - to beating Barrichello's time. Also to the Roman's credit, he has so far in 2008 proved clearly quicker than his highly rated teammate, Adrian Sutil.
SUPER AGURI-HONDA
It is situation-normal for F1's currently slowest team, but Takuma Sato did well to at least pip Sutil.
FERRARI
After the Melbourne debacle, the Italian team is the class of Sepang, with Felipe Massa on pole by half a second, and both F2008s well clear of the McLaren pace in Q3. "I was not able to get the tyres to work as well as possible," said Kimi Raikkonen, who is second.
TOYOTA
Due to the demotion of the faster McLarens, Jarno Trulli will start the race from third place. Timo Glock is off the Italian's pace but still made the Q3 cut.
BMW-SAUBER
Nick Heidfeld, who topped the morning time sheets, angrily complained to the stewards after qualifying that both McLarens impeded his last flying lap as they cruised at slow speed to save fuel back to parc ferme. Several hours later, the stewards agreed and docked them five grid places each, thus promoting Heidfeld from seventh to fifth. Robert Kubica's best lap was a few hundredths faster.
RED BULL-RENAULT
The stewards let the team qualify following David Coulthard's suspension-shattering incident on Friday, and Mark Webber duly drove the RB4 to a credible eighth quickest (sixth on grid). Coulthard did not make it through to Q3.
RENAULT
Fernando Alonso, who like Heidfeld complained about the impeding McLaren drivers, could not keep up with the proper pace once he made the Q3 cut and started carrying a bigger fuel load than many of his rivals. Nelson Piquet, thirteenth, has had a better weekend than Melbourne, observing that he is "not too far away from my teammate" in Malaysia.
MCLAREN-MERCEDES
The MP4-23 is clearly the second quickest car in Malaysia, but the gap to Ferrari seemed significant after qualifying. Lewis Hamilton has struggled to keep up with his teammate Heikki Kovalainen all weekend and qualified fourth, but both racers fall five places down the grid after stewards found them unintentionally blocking the flying Heidfeld and Alonso on the racing line as they conserved fuel at the end.
HONDA
After such an uncompetitive winter, Jenson Button was delighted to so narrowly miss the Q3 cut, and Rubens Barrichello was a few tenths behind. The Brazilian had a broken sixth gear repaired in the morning, but the FIA rules allowed its repair without falling foul of the four-race gearbox rule.
TORO ROSSO-FERRARI
After a good outing in Australia, Sebastian Vettel never looked like making the Q3 cut, but he had a better day than his teammate Sebastien Bourdais, who dropped out in Q1 with a brake failure. Earlier in the day his Ferrari V8 failed, so the Frenchman has now used up his 'penalty-free' engine change for the season.
WILLIAMS-TOYOTA
Nico Rosberg sprayed champagne on the podium one week ago, but he came crashing to earth in Malaysia, qualifying an abysmal sixteenth. "Can't believe it," said the German, who lost time in the morning with an hydraulic leak. "Our car doesn't seem to like the new asphalt they laid on this track at all." Kazuki Nakajima dropped out in Q1, and moves right to the back of the grid because of his Melbourne penalty for crashing into Robert Kubica.
FORCE INDIA-FERRARI
The Silverstone based team again failed to reach its target of reaching Q2, but Giancarlo Fisichella did come tantalisingly close - half a tenth - to beating Barrichello's time. Also to the Roman's credit, he has so far in 2008 proved clearly quicker than his highly rated teammate, Adrian Sutil.
SUPER AGURI-HONDA
It is situation-normal for F1's currently slowest team, but Takuma Sato did well to at least pip Sutil.
This incident involving the 2 McLaren cars was bound to happen. In a way it is good that it happened sooner rather than later.
The 2 McLaren drivers shouldn't really take the full blame. All the drivers do this, it just happened that when Heidfeld and Alonso passed them they were on the racing line.
The ridicilous process where some cars travel at turtle's pace in order to save fuel while other cars could be on their flyers should not be allowed. Not only will those on flying laps have their lap times affected but it is very dangerous.
All teams should be told to maintain a certain speed on their slow down lap or travel at a speed not less than 10% of their qualifying time (or risk having their best time taken away).
This would be fair to all team and ensures that cars on their slow down lap would be fast enough not to be caught so quickly by cars behind them on flyers.
The 2 McLaren drivers shouldn't really take the full blame. All the drivers do this, it just happened that when Heidfeld and Alonso passed them they were on the racing line.
The ridicilous process where some cars travel at turtle's pace in order to save fuel while other cars could be on their flyers should not be allowed. Not only will those on flying laps have their lap times affected but it is very dangerous.
All teams should be told to maintain a certain speed on their slow down lap or travel at a speed not less than 10% of their qualifying time (or risk having their best time taken away).
This would be fair to all team and ensures that cars on their slow down lap would be fast enough not to be caught so quickly by cars behind them on flyers.
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Southernman
- 2004 Top 10
- Posts: 801
- Joined: Sat Feb 12, 2005 6:18 am
- Location: New Zealand
I agree with you Ed. Just imagine if this occured on a track like Monaco.Ed wrote:This incident involving the 2 McLaren cars was bound to happen. In a way it is good that it happened sooner rather than later.
The 2 McLaren drivers shouldn't really take the full blame. All the drivers do this, it just happened that when Heidfeld and Alonso passed them they were on the racing line.
The ridicilous process where some cars travel at turtle's pace in order to save fuel while other cars could be on their flyers should not be allowed. Not only will those on flying laps have their lap times affected but it is very dangerous.
All teams should be told to maintain a certain speed on their slow down lap or travel at a speed not less than 10% of their qualifying time (or risk having their best time taken away).
This would be fair to all team and ensures that cars on their slow down lap would be fast enough not to be caught so quickly by cars behind them on flyers.
I felt that the penalty was harsh. In my opinion a reprimand would have been sufficient. If it was a team other than McLaren would the penalty have been the same.
Air temperature is 30 degrees with track temperature is 45 degrees.
The starting grid has changed as Kovalainen and Hamilton were penalised for impeding Heidfeld and Alonso during qualifying.
Massa on Pole alongside Raikkonen
Trulli in 3rd alongside Kubica
Heidfeld in 5th alongside Webber
and Alonso in 7th alongside Kovalainen
Formation lap underway
The starting grid has changed as Kovalainen and Hamilton were penalised for impeding Heidfeld and Alonso during qualifying.
Massa on Pole alongside Raikkonen
Trulli in 3rd alongside Kubica
Heidfeld in 5th alongside Webber
and Alonso in 7th alongside Kovalainen
Formation lap underway