The Malaysian Grand Prix Thread

[saintbletch]

An interesting article on Mercedes' new DRS system. Well, interesting in an "I'm an F1 geek" sort of way.

 

It apparently allows them to have the rear wing open for a greater percentage of the lap.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/17484900

[JackFrost]

Race suspended due to heavy rain.

 

Sergio Perez was the first to come in for full wets and it got him up to 3rd.

 

Vergne was wise to the fact that within a couple of laps of full wet tyres being needed the safety car comes out or the race is stopped altogether, and is up to 7th. Karthikeyan is up to 10th.

[Colinjb]

Sergio Perez is looking really strong. Surely he can do this!

[Sheaf Saint]

Sergio Perez is looking really strong. Surely he can do this!

 

He probably would have had Alonso if he didn't lose his concentration and run wide. Stunning drive from the lad though.

[Colinjb]

He probably would have had Alonso if he didn't lose his concentration and run wide. Stunning drive from the lad though.

 

That really was edge of the seat stuff. Such a shame that Perez made that error and also stayed out one lap too long on the inters. Sauber and Perez should have won that, they may never get a better chance.

[saintbletch]

Enjoyment and frustration in equal measure. Rain usually shuffles the pack and it was great to see the rain remove the usual advantages of the better funded teams.

 

Very early thoughts on the season so far.

 

- That win does nothing to disguise the problems the Ferrari team has (and with 5th in Australia probably says that Alonso is the the best driver out there?)

- Hamilton seems to have some demons left after last year - driving very well but he's moping around without his mojo

- The Mercedes seems to be completely different car between qualifying and in the race

- Either the Red Bull is a dog, Vettel isn't interested this year or previously Vettel's wins were more down to car dominance than his mastery

- Williams surely have had the greatest transformation from 2011 to 2012 - looking good.

 

As I said, early days but it does look like things have been really shaken up this year.

[badgerx16]

- The Mercedes seems to be completely different car between qualifying and in the race

 

Technical assesments of their DRS vents feeding back round to the front wing predict this :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/17484900

[saintbletch]

Technical assesments of their DRS vents feeding back round to the front wing predict this :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/17484900

 

Yep, see opening post.

 

So does that mean that the device is SO clever that it can put the Mercedes right into contention during qualifying and that without it the car is at best average? Early days to draw any conclusions I guess.

[hutch]

Unfortunately, it seems that there is definately something amiss at McLaren. 2 abysmal pit stops for Hamilton yesterday.

[Alanh]

Yep, see opening post.

 

So does that mean that the device is SO clever that it can put the Mercedes right into contention during qualifying and that without it the car is at best average? Early days to draw any conclusions I guess.

From what I understand the f-duct system that Mercedes have developed allows them to stall both the rear and front wings whenever the DRS is open. This gives them a huge advantage during practice and qualifying because they can have the DRS open as much as they like on any given laop. During the race the DRS zone(s) are resticted to one or two places in the lap so there isn't as much of an advantage and they end up defending a falsely high grid position against faster cars behind them.

 

Also, I'm sure I heard the BBC commentators musing on how quickly they will get off the line at the start and how their f-duct will help them in the race to the first corner when it isn't active until about the third lap anyway.