Welcome to ESPNF1's live coverage of the Malaysian Grand Prix. Just five days after Jenson Button crossed the line for victory in Melbourne, F1 is back in action at the high-speed Sepang circuit and first practice is just 25 minutes away. |
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It was a fantastic race in Australia but there are still quite a few unanswered questions going into this weekend. The overall competitiveness of the Mercedes and Lotus is still unclear, as both look quick in qualifying but struggled to convert that into major points in Melbourne. |
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There's also the question of how McLaren and Red Bull will stack up against each other on a high-speed circuit like Sepang. Over the past two years it has been the happy hunting ground of Red Bull, but McLaren are very confident in their car through fast sweeping corners so it should be a close scrap. |
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And then there's the midfield. Sauber is currently third in the constructor's championship after finishing sixth and eighth with 12 points in total. Ferrari is fourth on ten points, but some other teams - Mercedes, Lotus and Williams - look quicker on the track. |
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Sepang always provides a challenge for the drivers because of the intense heat and humidity. It's currently 28C at the track but that is set to rise. The track temperature is 33C so the tyres will also be getting a work out. Pirelli has brought the medium and hard compounds to cope with the heat and also the heavy loading the tyres experience in some of the faster sections. |
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Valterri Bottas is in Bruno Senna's car this morning. Bottas is the Williams test driver and is currently getting strapped into the FW34. The team is very excited about the Finn so it will be interesting to see what he can do in this session. |
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We have action in Sepang. Vergne, Kovalainen and Perez are the first drivers to leave the pits. |
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Everybody heading out on the hard tyres in this session before they'll start experimenting with the mediums this afternoon. |
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Benjamin gets in touch to say: "It will be interesting to see what the teams will be doing with the unpredicted weather in Malaysia. The Qualifying and Race Day timing is during the rainy part of the day. It is a trend here to rain during that period." |
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Max asks: "I know it's early in the season but, do you think that McLaren's decision to retain chassis and nose set up is paying off in added performance? I don't think they had to test new chassis and nose, they just kept improving their overall car's performance instead." It's a good point. This is the first year since 2008 that McLaren has not started with a clean sheet of paper and has decided to evolve its car. Some concepts have obviously spilled over from year to year since 2009, but Red Bull was the team that nailed the reguilations that year (if you discount the double diffuser) and the evolution of the RB5 has been the key to their success. McLaren now has a concept to rival that and they are sticking to it. |
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Not a huge amount of action on track at the moment. Bottas is doing so constant-speed tests to gain aero data. Ricciardo is also on track. No times set. |
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All the cars - HRTs included - have done an installation lap so that bodes well. Kovalainen has told Sky Sports the track is in good condition so hopefully we'll see cars out soon. |
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Matthew says: "Look for Jenson to finish ahead of his team mate again. JB is a master of preserving his tires (as we saw in Melb) and Sepang will be even harder on tires. Go JB!!!" Any Lewis fans out there who reckon he'll have the edge over Button this weekend. it would be good to hear people's thoughts on the battle at McLaren. Can they remain best mates for the rest of the season if they are fighting each other for the title? |
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Di Resta is on track but taking it very easy. Looks like he is also gathering aero data. |
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Ferrari tweets: "Nothing special to report from the drivers. All OK on the cars." |
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And an interesting stat from McLaren about weight loss for the drivers in the heat of Malaysia: "Weight loss is from fluid loss: we make sure the drivers drink plenty of liquids during the race weekend. Drivers can lose 3kg in the race." Who needs a diet? Just go racing in Malaysia. |
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David Coulthard once compared driving an F1 car at Sepang to having sex in a sauna, if that helps you understand the kind of stresses the drivers are under... |
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Glock has set the first proper time of the day with a 1:43.487. His Marussia went the distance in Melbourne so the team are actually looking pretty good considering it missed all of pre-season testing. But it's unlikely they'll be worrying the midfield teams any time soon. |
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Caterham's Mike Gascoyne tweets: "Rain risk for FP2 increasing rapidly so teams may bring their run programs for so expect some more running this morning than normal" |
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The fastest time in last year's first practice was a 1:34.921, set by Hamilton in the McLaren. |
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Raikkonen clocks a 1:39.128 to go fastest, 0.195 ahead of Button's first effort. |
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On-board with Felipe Massa and the front of the car still seems a bit reluctant to go in the direction he is pointing it. The rear seems a little more stable but it's hard to teel on hard tyres on a dirty track. The rear was the main problem in Australia. |
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Grosjean is going very slowly back to the pits. He still has drive but is in a very high gear. He comes on the radio to say the rear of the car feels odd. Maybe a loose rear wheel. He should make it back to the pits. |
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Benjamin on the McLaren drivers: "It doesn't matter if Button or Lewis tops. I think they have a good rivalry policy between them in the Maclaren Team. Nothing about priority driver. It will be great to see a one two finish from the Brits." |
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For those that were with us last week, Rock says: "Keeping with last weeks on going list of exotic location from which to keep up with the web live timing, I'm curreently on a friends yatch in beautiful downtown Vancouver. From Rock, Go Kimi, pedal to the metal Iceman." That's going to be tough to match! |
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Schumacher goes quickest with a 1:39.083 and then improves to a 1:38.826 on his next lap. It's likely the hard tyres will take a lap or so to offer their best performance. |
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Hamilton is back on track for the first time since his installation laps. Vettel is still in the pits but it doesn't look like there is any cause for concern, probably just waiting for better track conditions. |
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Hamilton goes fastest on his first timed lap with a 1:38.598. Proving the McLaren is having no problems getting its tyres into the operating window. |
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The temperature has creeped up to 30C. Humidity is currently 65%. |
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Vettel is now top by 0.063s from Hamilton. The Red Bull's fastest time is a 1:38.535. |
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But as I type, Hamilton crosses the line with a 1:38.021 to go fastest again. He then has a huge lock up at the start of his next lap and backs off as a result. |
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Di Resta holds a huge slide through turn five. Very impressive but another sign that the Force India is struggling to live up to the promise it showed in testing. |
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Reports Karthikeyan is stopping on track. It's brought out the yellow flags. |
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Confirmation that Karthikeyan's HRT has stopped on track on the final straight. Apparently it's another hydraulics issue with the F112. |
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Mark asks: "Following y'all from Atlanta. What are the engine quantities this year? Is still a max per driver? What effect does the add'l heat have on them? Cheers." The drivers are still restricted to eight engines over the course of the season, which they can use as and when they wish. Sepang is a fairly tough track on engines. There are the obvious cooling problems that the teams have to take into account and they have been known to hack holes in the bodywork if the car is overheating. The engines are also down on power slightly as high-revving naturally aspirated V8s love cool air. |
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Alonso locks his right front on the entry to turn one. He's currently 15th fastest, 2.070s off the pace, but I wouldn't be surprised if he is focusing on car development rather than set-up. His car is running temperature stickers on the rear suspension so the engineers can see how hot the rear is getting with the exhaust blowing over the back of it. |
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Watching Alonso on-board, the front of his car appears to be biting as he hits the apex of the final corner, but he is still fighting the rear end under acceleration. |
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Another potential talking point for you guys ... Adam asks: "Why are HRT still allowed to compete? Surely their licence has to be revoked, they really are embarrassing. I feel so sorry for the drivers with what they are dished up with. " I suppose you could argue they weren't allowed to compete in Australia as they didn't qualify! A real danger they might fail to make 107% this weekend too, although the drivers are more confident. |
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Massa locks a front wheel into the first corner (similar to Alonso earlier) and comes on the radio to say he has a bad flat-spot vibrating the car as a result. |
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Track temperature is 41C. Air temp still at 30C. |
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Rosberg is currently the fastest through the speed trap at 306 km/h in the Mercedes. Kovalainen also clocked 306 km/h in the Caterham and the Force Indias are about 2 km/h slower. |
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Animesh on our ongoing discussion about the McLaren rivalry: "It's good at the moment but I can see it turning ugly if they continue to dominate the championship this year..." |
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Back on the subject of speed traps, we know the Mercedes is always going to be up there because of its DRS-activated F-duct which strips the car of drag on the straights. That means the team can run more wing for the twisty parts while still remaining competitive on the straights. Of course, it's a bigger advantage in qualifying when the DRS is constantly active. |
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Ross says: "Greetings from tasmania guys, Would HRT go a few seconds quicker - and would they be less trouble as they are lapped, if they had top drivers -I mean Karthikeyan is a dangerous moving chicane and Pedro is too old - and was never much chop, even in his day. By the way - what chance Ricciardo for a top 5 this weekend?." A Ricciardo top five is not beyond the realms of possibility. However, he'll face stiff competition if the Mercedes, Lotuses, Saubers and Williams all remain in the hunt. |
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Arshdeep: "Last year I was at the Australian GP and I paid lot of money to see 24 cars on track racing each other. HRT weren't allowed and I felt a little robbed to be honest. Same thing happened this year.. it's just not fair for people who paid to see all the cars on the track. Surely they need to be dumped out of the championship.. 3rd year in and they haven't improved one percent." Or we could ditch the 107% rule... |
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Benjamin says: "Actually kudos to the HRT team for their continuous effort and courage to compete despite the lack of efficiency and ability in several areas." |
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So, Hamilton is still fastets by 0.514s from Vettel. Rosberg is third, 0.749 off Hamilton and Schumacher is 0.013s off his Mercedes team-mate. Grosjean si fifth and within a second of Hamilton's time. |
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Webber is out on track at the moment on the hard tyres - as we would expect him to be - but is not setting the world alight with his pace. |
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The drivers are already struggling to keep the rear tyres in check. Caterham's Mike Gascoyne tweets: "Both our drivers and lots of others saying the car is limited by rear tyre grip" |
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Brad on HRT: "I don't understand why HRT don't just buy a GP2 car and bring that up to F1 spec. We saw it in many instances where the top5 or top10 cars in GP2 were quicker than what HRT could manage. It's sad to see such a mediocre team on the grid not to mention their driver choice, how they could stump up for the current 2 over Liuzzi based on last years performances is just mind boggling." |
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Tony says: "I agree Arshdeep, I was at Melbourne last year and expected the full 24 on track, and was disappointed that they were not there. And its just frustrating watching Karthikeyan constantly blocking cars last week during qualifying. The team deserves a round of applause for trying their hardest with limited funds but the fact the teams administration lets it run as far and as late as they do is frustrating!!" |
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John asks: "Do you think some of the teams will go for a set up to cover the potential risk of rain on Sunday?" It'll certainly be a consideration. Although when we've talked to teams about wet set-ups they often say there isn't much of a difference to the dry set-up. The wet tyres have extra tred so that lifts the ride height, although there are aero tweaks and suspension settings that still make a difference in the wet. It all depends on the weather forecast! |
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Ian says: "Hi, Looks like being a great season. However, I still don't like seeing the mid-low teams having to sacrifice tyres during qualifying. Then if they do get into Q3 they cant run as they have to save tyres for the race. Maybe they need to look at allowing a certain number of tyres just for qualifying?" Pirelli has suggested a qualifying tyre to the teams, but it was rejected. The argument I've heard quite a lot is that as long as we still have a decent fight for pole it doesn't matter if other cars don't go out in Q3. It would be interesting to hear your thoughts on that and then we can relay it back to the teams and Pirelli when we're in the paddock. Pirelli is very keen to get feedback from fans to improve the show. |
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Vettel, Rosberg, Schumacher and Grosjean all on track. None of the, looking likely to set a new fastest time. Chances are they are still on the same set of hard tyres they started the session on. |
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Benjamin on HRT: "Agree with all the points posted. It is all due to management and administration of the team. The main source is funding. If they have the capability like the top teams they would be able to buy cars and contract good drivers. It is all bout the Money. Like what Jerry Mcquire said "SHOW ME THE MONEY"" |
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Not that we suggest you should leave live commentary just ten minutes from the end of the session, but .... Matthew says: "Great article: http://www.f1racing.co.uk/testdrive Look for Jenson to finish ahead of his team mate again. JB is a master of preserving his tires (as we saw in Melb) and Sepang will be even harder on tires. Go JB!!!" |
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Geoff on HRT: "Re Arshdeep/Tony wanting 24 cars on track, this is Formula 1. The HRT cars are not up to scratch, they are racing in their own (slower) formula. If you bring a knife to a gunfight don't expect everyone else to give you a fair go." |
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Sounds like Massa is still searching for grip out there. Ferrari tweets: "Felipe is back in the garage. We try to do another change on the car for the final run but it will be tight with the time" |
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Another car with some fairly major work going on is Button's. The team appear to have found a fluid leak and they have the floor of the car off. |
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Meanwhile, Hamilton has notched up 15 laps in his McLaren and is still pounding round. |
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Confirmation that there is an oil leak on Button's car and the KERS battery have been removed too. |
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Ian says: "Tyre follow up ... I'm Australian as it was great to see Ricciardo in Q3 but crap to see him sit it out in the pits." |
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Adam asks: "Isn't it about time Ferrari looked at replacing Massa, He is a bit of a joke to be in such a high quality team when he has such poor performances" There's been a lot of talk about that. He's contracted until the end of 2012 and the general feeling is that he'll be replaced at the end of the season. The only question is who by... |
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The chequered flag comes out with Hamilton's time safe at the top of the timesheets. |
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Damo asks: "Is everyone using the same set of tyres for the whole session? There hasn't been any movement on the timing sheets since the first proper runs." Yep, that's right. They have to return a set of the harder compound after FP1 so most drivers tend to burn through those. It means we see the fastest times early in the session. However, FP2 is slightly more exciting as we will see the drivers try the mediums towards the end of the session. Of course if the expected rain shows up the plan goes out the window. |
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Thanks for joining us for the session. More indications that McLaren and Red Bull are leading the way but it's still early days. Make sure you join us again in two and half hours for second practice. I'll leave you with Chris's comments on Massa: "Maybe Massa isn't so bad, but Alonso is that good" |