The 2008 Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix Thread
Moderators: cmlean, Ed, The Qualiflyer, The Heretic
Similar to last weeks GP, we see Ferrari setting consistent and fast lap times, whilst McLaren appear to struggle to match their pace or consistency. Lewis set the fastest lap in practice 2 but it was a very short stint.
Kimi running out of fuel in practice 1 has got to be a very cunning deception or a major strategic blunder. If indeed he did run out of fuel it removes any doubt as to how much fuel he had on board and how fast the Ferrari is going to be this weekend. Whilst teams have ways and means for assertaining how much fuel a competitor is using there is always an element of doubt, this weekend McLaren will be in no doubt as to what they are up against and what they need to do.
However I have to say that I believe McLaren have been playing mind games, and pretending to lack consistency. Ferrari are perhaps pretending to be running light when in fact they are heavy with fuel in the hope that McLaren will make a strategic blunder of their own.
Kimi running out of fuel in practice 1 has got to be a very cunning deception or a major strategic blunder. If indeed he did run out of fuel it removes any doubt as to how much fuel he had on board and how fast the Ferrari is going to be this weekend. Whilst teams have ways and means for assertaining how much fuel a competitor is using there is always an element of doubt, this weekend McLaren will be in no doubt as to what they are up against and what they need to do.
However I have to say that I believe McLaren have been playing mind games, and pretending to lack consistency. Ferrari are perhaps pretending to be running light when in fact they are heavy with fuel in the hope that McLaren will make a strategic blunder of their own.
Lewis Hamilton & Jenson Button World Champions 
Selected quotes from teams and drivers from Friday
Kimi stopped on the track in Free Practice 1
Ferrari - Luca Baldisserri:
BMW Sauber - Willy Rampf:
Force India - Mike Gascoyne:
Pat Symonds:
The team issued this statement:
During David Coulthard's accident in this morning's first practice session, his RB4 sustained substantial peripheral damage. With safety the team's primary concern as always, it has been decided that David will not run in this afternoon's session. This will allow the team sufficient time to investigate the causes of the incident and to ensure that the car is fully and properly repaired prior to tomorrow's final free practice session
Christian Horner:
Sebastian Vettel:
Kimi stopped on the track in Free Practice 1
Ferrari - Luca Baldisserri:
Kimi Raikkonen:This morning we got our lines of communication mixed up between the garage and the pit wall, which left Kimi stuck out on the track without fuel, but in the afternoon, we were able to get more done, without any technical problems whatsoever.
Both drivers found good settings on their cars and we got a lot of data on the behaviour of the two types of tyre. Now we must prepare very carefully for qualifying, because we know how important it is to start from the front. All in all, we are satisfied with the way the first day has gone here in Sepang.
Robert Kubica only came out very late in Q1This morning I lost time because of a communication problem within the team, but we made up for it in the second session. The car seems to be going well and I am pleased with the work we have done. I worked mainly on the harder tyres, but I think that even with the softs, from what we have seen, we can be competitive. It is always difficult to say where we are compared to our rivals, but I think we can face the rest of the weekend with confidence.
BMW Sauber - Willy Rampf:
Robert Kubica:We concentrated on the race preparation today and collected a lot of data concerning the tyres. We also tested different aerodynamic configurations. Now we will analyse the data. On Robert’s car we measured a gearbox pressure that was too high. There was a risk of damaging the cooling system, therefore we decided to change the rear end to enable Robert to continue the session. Compliments to the mechanics, who did a great job. We had a dry first day of practice, but we expect some rain for the remainder of the weekend.
Adrian Sutil's engine failureAfter I had lost quite some time in the morning session due to a gearbox problem, we mainly concentrated on evaluating different downforce configurations and comparing the tyres in the afternoon. We now have a lot of data available, which we have to analyse and understand in order to make the right decisions for the rest of the weekend. We haven’t had much time yet to work on the set-up of the car, so there is more to come.
Force India - Mike Gascoyne:
Adrian Sutil:A useful day. A difficult first session with low grip and both cars having a lot of oversteer and an engine failure on Adrian's car, which limited his running. We were however able to analyse the reasons in the break and improve for the second session. The long runs looked very good and we were able to gather all the data we need. Once again we proved we have a competitive car in that midfield pack and we just have to get everything right for tomorrow to make sure we can now get the best out of qualifying.
Fernando Alonso's slow times in the second sessionThis morning we had a problem with the engine and then the second session in the afternoon was not so good. Again we had problems with the new tyres - I don't know if it was the car or the pressures, but we just can't get a time out of the softer tyres. We have to look at this and improve for tomorrow as I am not happy with today.
Pat Symonds:
Fernando Alonso:Fernando experienced a gearbox problem and he was unable to use second gear, which is quite a penalty around Sepang. In view of the new gearbox regulations, we decided that, even though this was a test gearbox, we would leave it on and continue running to see what happened. Before the end of the session the gearbox failed completely. Nelson had a solid day learning the circuit, and his early performance was very good. However, our emphasis today was to develop both him and the car, and so we chose to use the tyres in a way that would give us optimum learning, as opposed to optimum lap times.
Coulthard's off and Webber's engine failureIt was hot today for the first day of work and I had a problem with my gearbox this afternoon which disturbed my programme a bit, but we still managed to continue and finished this first day with some interesting data in view of the qualifying session tomorrow. We will try and analyse that this evening in order to make the most of the last practice session tomorrow. To improve our performance level in qualifying is always our objective and we are working hard on this area.
The team issued this statement:
During David Coulthard's accident in this morning's first practice session, his RB4 sustained substantial peripheral damage. With safety the team's primary concern as always, it has been decided that David will not run in this afternoon's session. This will allow the team sufficient time to investigate the causes of the incident and to ensure that the car is fully and properly repaired prior to tomorrow's final free practice session
Christian Horner:
Mark Webber:It's frustrating for David that he wasn't able to take part in
the second practice session, due to a suspected track rod issue, which is very much a one off. In order to ensure that his car is fully checked over we decided to use the time sensibly this afternoon and he will resume driving duties tomorrow.
Mark ran to a solid programme this afternoon and seems reasonably happy with the balance of his car, so we look forward to tomorrow.
Sebastian Vettel's off in session 1 and Sebastien Bourdais not completing a flying lap in session 2We lost some running in the first session due to an engine failure. The second session went better and we got quite a few laps in, so we've got some good data to go through tonight. We still need to find more pace though
Sebastian Vettel:
Sebastien Bourdais:Lap times don't always tell the full story, but I think we can be happy with the afternoon, when we did quite a lot of laps. Unfortunately, this morning we had a brake problem, but in the end it did not cost us too much time and we were able to continue with our programme in the afternoon. We spent most of the time fine-tuning
the car and finding the right balance, sorting out tyre choice. It has been a good day and we have got plenty of data to study for tomorrow.
This circuit is very nice and very fast, a really good track. However there wasn't much grip so it was difficult to get a full understanding of the situation. Then it was a case of moving forward step by step, waiting for the track to come to us.
Unfortunately, this afternoon, we had a gearbox problem right at the start, after a ratio change and this error on our part broke the engine. The car seemed not too bad this morning and we were planning to see how it felt on different tyres this afternoon, but it was not to be.
Last edited by Ed on Fri Mar 21, 2008 9:56 pm, edited 1 time in total.
The most concerning of all the above incidents is that suffered by David Coulthard.
He went wide and went over the kerbs at a relatively high speed. His front suspension just collapsed by just going over the kerbs. That Red Bull looked very fragile and Mark Webber has raised concern as well (Webber worried about RB4's suspension)
He went wide and went over the kerbs at a relatively high speed. His front suspension just collapsed by just going over the kerbs. That Red Bull looked very fragile and Mark Webber has raised concern as well (Webber worried about RB4's suspension)
Team by team summary following Friday Practice sessions (GMM)
MCLAREN-MERCEDES
Lewis Hamilton took the shine off Ferrari's morning one-two - when he coasted into the pits with a gearbox problem - by going quickest in the afternoon. Heikki Kovalainen called his seventh "steady".
FERRARI
Kimi Raikkonen ran out of fuel amid a "communication misunderstanding" in the morning, but both F2008s are competitive.
HONDA
Jenson Button's fourth place is undoubtedly a false dawn, with teammate Rubens Barrichello settling in eleventh.
TORO ROSSO-FERRARI
Sebastian Vettel calmed the sensation when he explained that fifth fastest doesn't tell "the full story", but Sebastien Bourdais had a truly miserable day on his maiden outing at Sepang, nearly driving into a BMW in pitlane before a wrong gear ratio blew his Ferrari engine.
TOYOTA
Jarno Trulli was sixth quickest, while teammate Timo Glock's hand is fully recovered after Melbourne but he still struggled to match his teammate's pace on new tyres and settled well down the order.
BMW-SAUBER
As in Melbourne, the German team made a low-key start on Friday; Robert Kubica needing an early gearbox change before outperforming his teammate Nick Heidfeld in both sessions. "I hope we manage to find a couple of setup improvements for Saturday, just like we did in Australia," said Heidfeld.
FORCE INDIA-FERRARI
As in Melbourne, Giancarlo Fisichella ranked conspicuously highly, again outperforming teammate Adrian Sutil, who had a Ferrari engine failure in the morning.
WILLIAMS-TOYOTA
Tenth and twelfth for Kazuki Nakajima and Nico Rosberg, with Nakajima suffering a clutch problem in the morning.
RENAULT
As in qualifying in Melbourne, Renault was ominously the ninth quickest car of the eleven in the field on Friday afternoon, as Fernando Alonso - who drove without second gear until the transmission failed completely - led a seemingly improved Nelson Piquet.
RED BULL-RENAULT
The press release made no mention of it, but Red Bull has been asked by stewards to argue why they should not be excluded from the rest of the race weekend, after the suspension on David Coulthard's RB4 fell apart during a minor off in morning practice. Team boss Christian Horner said the problem was a "suspected track rod issue, which is very much a one off". The Scot subsequently did not practice in the afternoon, while Mark Webber was sixteenth quickest, following a Renault engine failure in the morning.
SUPER AGURI-HONDA
As in Melbourne, the struggling team is well off the pace and grappling with fundamental overheating issues as it deliberately conserves mileage. "The lack of winter testing is really hitting home now," said sporting director Graham Taylor.
MCLAREN-MERCEDES
Lewis Hamilton took the shine off Ferrari's morning one-two - when he coasted into the pits with a gearbox problem - by going quickest in the afternoon. Heikki Kovalainen called his seventh "steady".
FERRARI
Kimi Raikkonen ran out of fuel amid a "communication misunderstanding" in the morning, but both F2008s are competitive.
HONDA
Jenson Button's fourth place is undoubtedly a false dawn, with teammate Rubens Barrichello settling in eleventh.
TORO ROSSO-FERRARI
Sebastian Vettel calmed the sensation when he explained that fifth fastest doesn't tell "the full story", but Sebastien Bourdais had a truly miserable day on his maiden outing at Sepang, nearly driving into a BMW in pitlane before a wrong gear ratio blew his Ferrari engine.
TOYOTA
Jarno Trulli was sixth quickest, while teammate Timo Glock's hand is fully recovered after Melbourne but he still struggled to match his teammate's pace on new tyres and settled well down the order.
BMW-SAUBER
As in Melbourne, the German team made a low-key start on Friday; Robert Kubica needing an early gearbox change before outperforming his teammate Nick Heidfeld in both sessions. "I hope we manage to find a couple of setup improvements for Saturday, just like we did in Australia," said Heidfeld.
FORCE INDIA-FERRARI
As in Melbourne, Giancarlo Fisichella ranked conspicuously highly, again outperforming teammate Adrian Sutil, who had a Ferrari engine failure in the morning.
WILLIAMS-TOYOTA
Tenth and twelfth for Kazuki Nakajima and Nico Rosberg, with Nakajima suffering a clutch problem in the morning.
RENAULT
As in qualifying in Melbourne, Renault was ominously the ninth quickest car of the eleven in the field on Friday afternoon, as Fernando Alonso - who drove without second gear until the transmission failed completely - led a seemingly improved Nelson Piquet.
RED BULL-RENAULT
The press release made no mention of it, but Red Bull has been asked by stewards to argue why they should not be excluded from the rest of the race weekend, after the suspension on David Coulthard's RB4 fell apart during a minor off in morning practice. Team boss Christian Horner said the problem was a "suspected track rod issue, which is very much a one off". The Scot subsequently did not practice in the afternoon, while Mark Webber was sixteenth quickest, following a Renault engine failure in the morning.
SUPER AGURI-HONDA
As in Melbourne, the struggling team is well off the pace and grappling with fundamental overheating issues as it deliberately conserves mileage. "The lack of winter testing is really hitting home now," said sporting director Graham Taylor.