2013 Malaysian GP - Sepang

[raymondu999]

2012





2013
Tyres - Hard (prime, orange) and Medium (option, white)

2012
Tyres - Hard (prime, grey) and Medium (option, white)
Winner - Fernando Alonso (Intermediate - Wet - Intermediate - Medium)

2011
Tyres - Hard (prime, grey) and Soft (option, yellow)
Winner - Sebastian Vettel (Soft - Soft - Soft - Hard)

2012 pole lap

[FrukostScones]

it will be sweating hot and mixed conditions. 35 degrees that will feel like 47 according to some forecast.

[raymondu999]

I'd say watch out for a different pecking order. Melbourne 2013 was very cold by f1 average standards. Let's see how the cars go in more representative hot conditions. And a more representative aero track.

[Mika1]

Red Bull is the favourite, very interesting to see Merc's tyrewear here. I hope it will be good.

[raymondu999]

How can you say red bull is the favorite? For pole maybe. But from what we've seen so far, they're 3rd fastest at best in equal conditions race pace.

Though as I say - the warmer climates could change all that. Remember lotus last year? The Red Bull could very well be the similar in that it becomes competitive in race pace in the heat. Considering their pole advantage in Melbourne, they could probably bias their setups more towards the race now anyways as they can afford to weaken their qualifying to increase race pace.

[munudeges]

If Lotus can maintain that kind of pace while doing one less stop than anyone else it doesn't really matter who is on pole.

[Neno]

How can you say red bull is the favorite? For pole maybe. But from what we've seen so far, they're 3rd fastest at best in equal conditions race pace.

Though as I say - the warmer climates could change all that. Remember lotus last year? The Red Bull could very well be the similar in that it becomes competitive in race pace in the heat. Considering their pole advantage in Melbourne, they could probably bias their setups more towards the race now anyways as they can afford to weaken their qualifying to increase race pace.

I wonder what will happen if Lotus has last year pace on warm weather. They sucked last year on cold, but this year they win Melbourne in those conditions, if their pace is even better on warm conditions, well goodbye everyones see you in next lap

[Nomore]

I think no one will know the pecking order till the race is finish.

[Mika1]

I think RBR is favorite, because Sepang suits the RBR especially in Q.

[raymondu999]

How can you say red bull is the favorite? For pole maybe. But from what we've seen so far, they're 3rd fastest at best in equal conditions race pace.

Though as I say - the warmer climates could change all that. Remember lotus last year? The Red Bull could very well be the similar in that it becomes competitive in race pace in the heat. Considering their pole advantage in Melbourne, they could probably bias their setups more towards the race now anyways as they can afford to weaken their qualifying to increase race pace.

I wonder what will happen if Lotus has last year pace on warm weather. They sucked last year on cold, but this year they win Melbourne in those conditions, if their pace is even better on warm conditions, well goodbye everyones see you in next lap

I think it remains to be seen whether it will play out like that, or if in fact their efforts to rectify their cold weather lack of competitiveness means that they will be losing their hot-weather advantage.

[kilcoo316]

Very interesting.

Its hard to see where everyone sits exactly off the back of Melbourne.

Thought trains (so far) are:

- RBR: Too hard on tyres? Despite their obvious downforce advantage. If they are putting too much heat into the tyres in a cold Melbourne, what will they be like in Sepang? Conversely, a faster circuit may help as it moves the bias away from mechnical grip towards aerodynamic grip.

- Ferrari: encouraging. Very encouraging. Possibly the best balance of speed and durability on the grid. Although I'm still wary of them burning rear tyres due to a loose aerodynamic back end on faster and longer corners - like T5, T6, T7, T8, T11, T12 in Sepang.

- McLaren: Oh dear. The rumours from testing were indeed correct. Looks like there will be a lot of growing pains with the pull rod front suspension. It might be pain worth taking with the 2014 rules benefiting a pull-road suspension.

- Lotus: Nice. One of their issues last year was fundamental grip on colder tracks, looks solved this year. Qualifying may still be a problem, but that is balanced against their tyre wear. How much was Raikkonen pacing himself? Is there another 5-10 seconds in that car over the race distance?

- Mercedes: I'm very wary of predictions. Last year Rosberg finished about a minute off the lead. This year, Hamilton about 45 sec - albeit with poor pit-stop sequencing (although against that, Rosberg had late race issues last year too). Have they really fixed their tyre deg issues? Sepang will hopefully go a long way toward telling that story.

- Sauber: No comment
- Force India: No comment beyond they look closer than last year.
- Williams: No comment
- STR: No comment
- Caterham: A step backwards.
- Marussia: I don't think Max Chilton will be in F1 very long. Bianchi, with virtually no testing, schooled him.



More generally - how much will each team have to compromise their downforce to ensure adequate cooling in ambient temps of 30+ degC

[kilcoo316]

I think it remains to be seen whether it will play out like that, or if in fact their efforts to rectify their cold weather lack of competitiveness means that they will be losing their hot-weather advantage.

Their *relatively* poor qualifying showing would tend to indicate they are still benign on the tyres (relative to the other teams).

Hardly concrete evidence though...

[beelsebob]

I think RBR is favorite, because Sepang suits the RBR especially in Q.

I'm not sure you can really say anything along those lines. At the moment we have no idea which kinds of tracks this years cars are suited to. No, last year's cars are not an indication.

[stefan_]

- Marussia: I don't think Max Chilton will be in F1 very long. Bianchi, with virtually no testing, schooled him.

That was expected because, although he didn't test this year, Bianchi has more mileage in an F1 car than probably all the rookies that started today.

[kilcoo316]

That was expected because, although he didn't test this year, Bianchi has more mileage in an F1 car than probably all the rookies that started today.

Miles in the actual car are far and away more relevant than miles in another car.


For examples, see Luca Badoer and Giancarlo Fisichella when they parachuted into the Ferrari mid-season when Massa was injured.