Malaysian Grand Prix

[bigC]

F1 2005 Season, Round 2: the Malaysian Grand Prix.

after an interesting opening to the 2005 season, i wonder what Malaysia will bring. a different driver has won this race every year, with Schumacher taking it twice, winning it last year. in the past, there has been some interesting weather conditions, including a monsoon. the qualifying system will be tested for a second time. if there are any adverse conditions that rival what happened in Australia, the pressure will likely mount to fine-tune or change the system (i still prefer a system that awards race positions based on savvy, driving skill, and car production, not sheer luck of weather or qualy running order). and FIA closed the engine loophole, so if you choose not to finish, you will be penalized in the next race 10 spots or be forced to start with the same engine.

BAR and Toyota have to step up and get some results, as does the reigning champion, M Schumacher. Schumie had a bad qualy and was never in the Aussie GP (emotionally, i guess) but i think he is the kind of person (competitor) that will bounce back with a vengeance. Button and Sato had disappointing races in Aussie-land and the Toyotas were a joke (all 4 of them, the main team and Jordan, but i give Jordan some slack since they had two rookie drivers). will R Schumacher begin to regret moving to Toyota if he cannot score some points in this race? i wonder if Räikkönen will be outperformed by his new teammate again, JPM, and whether the "iceman" will crack under the pressure brought on him by JPM.

DC and Red Bull? can they continue to keep up with the big teams? the rebranded Jaguar team using Cosworth engines had an impressive debut, with both drivers scoring points, and DC almost getting a podium. a better start then the new Jordan (to be renamed Midland next season) but i think that had a lot to do with the fact that Red Bull was basically an established team with new drivers and ownership. i'm actually cheering for DC, disgarded afetr last season, and i hope he continues to be competitive.

on a personal note, i loathe the first 2 and last 2 races (Aus, Mal, Japan and China). the race starts at 2AM EST on Sunday morning, hardly an acceptable hour to watch a race, and if i choose to watch it live, i may need a nap sometime during Saturday or it may be a "dry" race. :beer: :D

race preview:http://www.formula1.com/race/news/2709/733.html
weather report: sun and rain: http://www.formula1.com/race/news/2708/733.html

JV to be ousted at Sauber after one race!!?? well, that was the rumour, and all parties have denied it. while the race produced an unsatisfactory result, it would be wrong to oust him after only 1 race. at least give him a chance to prove himself. http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/formula_one/news_story.asp?ID=118537&hubName=auto_racing-formula_one
http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/formula_one/news_story.asp?ID=118653&hubName=auto_racing-formula_one

engine loophole closed: http://www.formula1.com/news/2706.html

BMW to split from Williams? interesting, as BMW is rumoured to supply Sauber with engines, and perhaps even buy the team, as they alienated Ferrari during the off-season. who knows what will happen: http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=32307

Ferrari may introduce the new engine in Bahrain: http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/formula_one/news_story.asp?ID=118651&hubName=auto_racing-formula_one

[9point9]

Sniffpetrol has a nice bit about F1:

http://sniffpetrol.com/

[Daneel Olivaw]

JV should at least have 4 races... to see if he/the team can improve

[MUYA]

Zonta with the fastest time on practise!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/4360261.stm

[Mr_LoL]

JV is useless. He should be dropped

[NAZCA M12]

JV is useless. He should be dropped

JV is priceless. He should be cloned :D :p

[bigC]

JV is useless. He should be droppedbite me. :)

JV is priceless. He should be cloned :D :pthe sport needs more people like JV, ie, drivers who have actual personalities.

[bigC]

i hope JV stays with Sauber (or moves to another top team) because he has always been one of my favourite drivers, and i've followed his career way back to the mid 90s when he was racing in Champ car. he deserves the opportunity to prove himself, and that means more then just 1 or a few races, more like an entire season to get the car suited to his liking. he can deliver results if the conditions (car) are right. more on JV: http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/formula_one/news_story.asp?ID=118780&hubName=auto_racing-formula_one

Sauber leads 2nd Fri practice, but it isn't JV (18), it's Massa. JPM and Kimi are right near the top, and Toyota may have found the pace. alas, M Schumacher is way down the grid at 16th whilst Barrichello is at 7th. DC is at 10th, still within striking distance of a point position.http://www.formula1.com/race/result/733/10.html

story: http://www.tsn.ca/auto_racing/formula_one/news_Story.asp?ID=118759

[Mr_LoL]

bite me. :)

the sport needs more people like JV, ie, drivers who have actual personalities.
Yeah have loads of drivers with personalities especially if they havent got what it takes anymore. Its great for the "sport" :rolleyes:

[9point9]

In terms of personality, he's got way more than Schumacher who according to Sniffpetrol was replaced by a robot without anyone noticing.

I don't think many F1 drivers are that exciting, not just now though. Mansell was immensely dull. He also had a monobrow AND a moustache just to dissolve any impression that he was a worthwhile person to meet in a social situation.

JV has in general been a bit of a loser since he became World Champion. Gone down hill in such a big way...

[bigC]

it's a Renault 1-3 (are they the team to beat so far this year?) with Alonso taking provisional poll. Toyota, McLaren, and WilliamsBMW all occupy the top positions, with Trulli in 2nd, Kimi in 4th, followed by R Schumacher.

Ferrari have no pace in Sat qualifying, as Schumi is 12th and Barrichello is 14th, 1 1/2 seconds off the pace. pathetic. they really need the introduction of the 2005 car before they fall even further behind the pace. are they a team in decline? how could they be that slow and uncompetitive? Massa is 13th, out qualifying JV at 16th. sigh, poot JV. other also-rans, as expected, the Minardis are last, where they belong, and the Jordans are right ahead of them. BAR seems to be slipping, with Button only managing a 9th, sato sick and not racing, so Davidson getting a 15th position. and Red Bull are at 10th (Klien) and 11 (DC). so Red Bull is faster then ferrari. weird.

http://www.formula1.com/race/result/733/19.html

[NAZCA M12]

So what should we do now, replace the title of the thread with "Jaques' Malaysian Grand Prix" or sth? Personally, if i had to choose between "finished" guys like JV or Mansell, and those new 20-year-old kids that are licked by the press, have fat sponsors behind them, government support, don't know **** from what F1 used to be, never oppose to the regulations and whatever **** form of rules the FIA throws at them they respond with a "i'm very 'appy to be racing" etc etc, i'd go for the "finished" drivers any day. JV's mistake was listening too much to his manager and less to himself. He went for the money, he paid for it. It's hilarious that every stupid moron decides from the first race of the season that JV is slow. Things can turn around.

Anyway, one little thing from the previous race first:

http://f1.racing-live.com/en/index.html?http://f1.racing-live.com/en/headlines/news/detail/050318182245.shtml

Normally i would have forgotten about it (until the next time someone tries to pass MS), but on ITV's site a similar poll gave almost 85% against Schu, now the drivers gave a 19:1, what were the FIA officials doing in Australia? Normally there should be an immediate investigation and a possible penalty during the race. Meh, 19:1. More like 19:Ralf :rolleyes:

First qualifying results:

http://www.f1racing.net/en/raceresults.php?racepartID=679

[MUYA]

about time toyota made a good showing

[BrianG]

Great showing for Toyota and Renault is all over everyone right now. Ferrari should be scrambling to get the new car in for the next race, but if the car is a second faster, as Ross Brawn has said, it is still just competitive with the top runners.

Fear Toyota for they have the bucks...

[Shamrock]

about time toyota made a good showing

what about Redbull? :P

they have been the absolute surprise of the year!

[NAZCA M12]

Well, one more great qualifying session finished. Here's the story:

http://www.f1racing.net/en/news.php?newsID=80409

and the full starting grid:

http://www.f1racing.net/en/raceresults.php?racepartID=680

Before everyone starts thinking "omfg Toyota for the title" or "omg, Ferrari battling a Sauber", looks like lots of drivers are on a different stategy. My bet is that at the first part of the race, Trulli will be slowing down the rest of the field which will work in favour of the two Renault guys, if they beat him on the start.

[mikechai]

2nd Qualifying:-
1. Alonso
2. Trulli
3. Fisichella

These 3s are significantly faster than the rest of them...
Where is Ferrari?

[mikechai]

Webber crashed with Fisichella, a bit controversial.

Wear out tyres are killing everyone....

Barichello retired.

M. Schumacher 7th place.

Alonso 1st place.

1st ever popium for Toyota via Trulli.

Raikonnen scores nothing.

[bigC]

well, that was a much more interesting race then the opening: actual passing, fights for position, racing incidents as several cars came together (Ralf was involved in one, as well as Webber and Fisichella).

Renault wins, this time Alonso taking the top spot, posting back to back wins for Renault, and all those hundreds of millions have finally started to pay off for Toyota, with a 2nd (Trulli) and a 5th (R Schumacher). Red Bull has another good race, scoring a 6th and 8th place finish (and they are 3rd in the constructors. who would have seens that coming? they must be one of the big surprise stories of the season so far). DC is now the highest scoring Brit in F1 history, passing Mansell. and Schumacher for Farrari gets 2 points, but he was far back, around 1 min 20 secs behind Alonso. one of the commentators stated that he rhought Shumacher was driving slowly (or stubbornly) as a message to the team, ie, saying to the team "get the 2005 car ready, now!" a 3rd place finish for Heidfeld and BMW, which must make-up for the accident in Australia.

after the stunt BAR pulled in Australia, retiring in order to get new engines for this race, it was fitting that both their Honda engines blew. poetic justice. JPM in 4th, beating his teammate who only managed a 9th, but Kimi did have a shredded rear tire that needed to be replaced, so he was lucky to even finish. Barrichello retired because of a "handling" problem, bad tires, but i thought you could change your tires once during the race, as long as you didn't refuel at the same time (perhaps i'm mistaken on that rule). JV ended his race early in a pretty pathetic spin off into the gravel, and the speculation of his replacement at Sauber will only intensify.

next up, in two weeks, the Bahrain Grand Prix. :D

story:http://www.formula1.com/race/news/2744/733.html
results:http://www.formula1.com/race/result/733/8.html

Alonso feels that he can win the championship:http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=32341

Ferrari is "not strong enough:":http://www.itv-f1.com/News_Article.aspx?PO_ID=32347

[Mr_LoL]

poetic justice indeed for bar. its great to see ferrari struggling :D

[BrianG]

How obvious was it that Fisi braked too late and hit Webber? Even to hold position there, he should have been early on the brakes to be able to regain the spot at corner exit and set up Webber to retake the position at the next corner. Ah well, I'm just an armchair driver. It looked to me like Fisi still has some growing to do to know what to do with the top tier of competition.

Ferrari looked awful. The Bridgestones may get them DQ'ed if someone behind protests, the rears were flat dman near slicks (but I guess that's still not slicks, eh?). There is going to be some trouble ahead if they can't get the tires right, new car or not, and Michelin has a HUGE advantage now when it comes to test hours.

What else...

The Renault is a gorgeous machine.

BAR = Carma, get it? I crack myself up.

RBR? Man did Jag walk away from a good car, at least better comparitively. They are no longer competing with Minardi and Jordan, heh. Nipping the heels of the big boys instead of thumping the whipping boys, and success is infectious. They mentioned in our broadcast that Coulthard was helping Klien with set-up, seems DC has a future as a team manager?

Williams and Toyota are going to be a force to reckon with. remember, they are still growing new drivers into all new cars. Alonso has a little carry over in the Renault which has helped but BAR is doomed right now.

Can Mclaren get it together? I don't think so. The loss od DC will show as the current drivers get frustrated with out knowing how to tell the engineers what's wrong. Kimi is a better driver than DC, but we know where the team set up smarts were coming from based on the huge leap at RBR.

Comments/Questions?

[Mr_LoL]

will dc be at red bull next year di you think?

[Head_slinger]

will dc be at red bull next year di you think?

He struggled very hard just to get a drive with Red Bull, so probably not sadly :(, he is quite old in F1 terms, but if he does well i suppose they might keep him on. I heard he had to sacrifice getting paid to get a drive. He currently only gets paid when he gets point and has to fund his own flights to circuits etc. Which isnt a big problem for him seing he is a millionaire.

[BrianG]

He struggled very hard just to get a drive with Red Bull, so probably not sadly :(, he is quite old in F1 terms, but if he does well i suppose they might keep him on. I heard he had to sacrifice getting paid to get a drive. He currently only gets paid when he gets point and has to fund his own flights to circuits etc. Which isnt a big problem for him seing he is a millionaire.
If he performs, and the car is good enough, the initiative Red Bull has to get an American driver would be well complimented by a very experienced teammate. Let's face it, if you are finally have fun at DC stage in his career, he would almost pay to be a driver. Hell, he could probably buy the team.