Malaysian GP - Costly Assumptions
Sepang, 4 April 2009
Kimi Raikkonen qualified ninth for the second round of the world championship, while Felipe Massa is down on the ninth row in sixteenth spot. To put it bluntly, it is not a promising first step for tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix.
An assumption as to the state of the track surface and the strength of the opposition meant that the Scuderia’s qualifying was immediately on the back foot right from the start of the session. It put both its drivers straight out on track as the lights went out in case the threat of rain – a few drops had fallen in the run up to the session – turned into reality. Running on new sets of the softer tyre, this in itself was not a bad decision, but while other teams immediately set off on second and even third runs as track conditions got drastically quicker, the Ferrari strategy was aimed at saving new tyres for the remainder of qualifying. While the tactical error was spotted in time for Kimi to scrape through to Q2 and eventually Q3, Felipe was caught out and his afternoon’s work ended with the flag to end Q1. Ninth out of ten in Q3 for the Finn? He reckons the Ferrari F60 is currently not at the pace of the quickest, at least over the single lap required for a qualifying time.
And again here in Malaysia, the quickest man was Jenson Button, who took his second consecutive pole position for the Brawn GP team. Second was the Toyota of Jarno Trulli. Third quickest on the timing screen was Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull Renault, but the German has to take a ten place grid penalty tomorrow for driving infringements committed in the Melbourne race. Rubens Barrichello was fourth in the second Brawn, but the Brazilian also faces a penalty, this time five places, for having required a gearbox change. Timo Glock was fifth fastest for Toyota, with Nico Rosberg sixth in the Williams Toyota. But the penalties mean that behind Button and Trulli on the front row, the second row now features Glock and Rosberg, while row 3 now sees Mark Webber in the Red Bull Renault promoted two places to fifth, with the BMW of Robert Kubica moved up to sixth, with Kimi gaining two places to start seventh.
The weather is the big question mark for tomorrow and today a heavy shower hit the track around 7 in the evening, which if it did the same on Sunday would be after the race finish. If the weather upsets team strategies, then at least the tyres should not do so, as both types brought here by Bridgestone seem to work fine over a long run, whereas in Melbourne the super-softs had an unexpectedly short life. The Ferrari duo will also be hoping to exploit their KERS, particularly at the start, given that this modern circuit is very wide, making for several passing opportunities just after five o’clock tomorrow afternoon.
Kimi Raikkonen qualified ninth for the second round of the world championship, while Felipe Massa is down on the ninth row in sixteenth spot. To put it bluntly, it is not a promising first step for tomorrow’s Malaysian Grand Prix.
An assumption as to the state of the track surface and the strength of the opposition meant that the Scuderia’s qualifying was immediately on the back foot right from the start of the session. It put both its drivers straight out on track as the lights went out in case the threat of rain – a few drops had fallen in the run up to the session – turned into reality. Running on new sets of the softer tyre, this in itself was not a bad decision, but while other teams immediately set off on second and even third runs as track conditions got drastically quicker, the Ferrari strategy was aimed at saving new tyres for the remainder of qualifying. While the tactical error was spotted in time for Kimi to scrape through to Q2 and eventually Q3, Felipe was caught out and his afternoon’s work ended with the flag to end Q1. Ninth out of ten in Q3 for the Finn? He reckons the Ferrari F60 is currently not at the pace of the quickest, at least over the single lap required for a qualifying time.
And again here in Malaysia, the quickest man was Jenson Button, who took his second consecutive pole position for the Brawn GP team. Second was the Toyota of Jarno Trulli. Third quickest on the timing screen was Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull Renault, but the German has to take a ten place grid penalty tomorrow for driving infringements committed in the Melbourne race. Rubens Barrichello was fourth in the second Brawn, but the Brazilian also faces a penalty, this time five places, for having required a gearbox change. Timo Glock was fifth fastest for Toyota, with Nico Rosberg sixth in the Williams Toyota. But the penalties mean that behind Button and Trulli on the front row, the second row now features Glock and Rosberg, while row 3 now sees Mark Webber in the Red Bull Renault promoted two places to fifth, with the BMW of Robert Kubica moved up to sixth, with Kimi gaining two places to start seventh.
The weather is the big question mark for tomorrow and today a heavy shower hit the track around 7 in the evening, which if it did the same on Sunday would be after the race finish. If the weather upsets team strategies, then at least the tyres should not do so, as both types brought here by Bridgestone seem to work fine over a long run, whereas in Melbourne the super-softs had an unexpectedly short life. The Ferrari duo will also be hoping to exploit their KERS, particularly at the start, given that this modern circuit is very wide, making for several passing opportunities just after five o’clock tomorrow afternoon.
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