Malaysian Friday

Looking forward to the race day on Sunday. Got a grandstand ticket and will be watching this year F1 race live in Sepang.

Looking outside my office windows (my office is less than 20km away from Sepang F1 Circuit), suddenly I felt that I made a wrong decision by getting the ticket for Sunday race.

Not only raining here, is pouring and the thunder storm is so loud that I can hear it with my headphone on. If this happen during the race, I am sure that we will see red flag and the race will not be able to complete like last year... The team should consider put in 3/4 of fuel so that can qualify better.

Since two weeks ago, the weather timing is more accurate that a chronometer watch. Right on the dot, 10 minutes before 5 start pouring. And I bet today rain will start at 6pm.

2009 Malaysian GP Result

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	22	Jenson Button	Brawn-Mercedes	31	55:30.622	1	5
2	6	Nick Heidfeld	BMW Sauber	31	+22.7 secs	10	4
3	10	Timo Glock	Toyota	31	+23.5 secs	3	3
4	9	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	31	+46.1 secs	2	2.5
5	23	Rubens Barrichello	Brawn-Mercedes	31	+47.3 secs	8	2
6	14	Mark Webber	RBR-Renault	31	+52.3 secs	5	1.5
7	1	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	31	+60.7 secs	12	1
8	16	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	31	+71.5 secs	4	.5
9	3	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	31	+76.9 secs	16
10	11	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	31	+102.164 secs	15
11	7	Fernando Alonso	Renault	31	+109.422 secs	9
12	17	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	31	+116.130 secs	11
13	8	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	31	+116.713 secs	17
14	4	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	31	+142.841 secs	7
15	15	Sebastian Vettel	RBR-Renault	30	Spin	13
16	12	Sebastien Buemi	STR-Ferrari	30	Spin	20
17	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Mercedes	30	+1 Lap	19
18	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Mercedes	29	Spin	18
Ret	5	Robert Kubica	BMW Sauber	1	Engine	6
Ret	2	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	0	Spin	14

Race stop with 23 laps remaining due to extremely heavy down pour.  Less than 75% of lap completed, all awarded point will be multiply by 0.5

No Restart – Half point awarded

Dramatic event, back to back victory for Brawn GP.

More update coming after the break…

Race Suspended In Sepang due to heavy downpour

With 23 laps remaining, extremely wet.  Race track turning into river, cars spinning…. Felipe Massa losing his temper!? That’s why.

Jenson Button leading at the moment, Timo Glock second, Nick Heidfeld third.  I have not seen anything quite like this before, lets see what will happen next

Malaysia GP Qualifying – Q3

Jenson Button on pole, Jarno Trulli Second.

Sebastian Vettel and Ruben Barrichello set a good time as well (third and forth)

But Vettel got 10-place grid penalty, and Barichello 5-place grid penalty for changing his gear box on practice.

2009 Malaysia F1 GP - Prediction

Malaysia, my home.  The race will be held on this Sunday 5th of April 2009.  For me, it will be different from last year, I will be stuck in front of the television monitoring all corners on Sepang F1 Circuit.  Sadly, I will not joining the crowd on the track this year, its ok at least I will not suffering from sun-burned (sour-grape)

Malaysia GP expecting to be a hot and humid race, apart from the speed, engine reliability is the key to success in the race. 

 

Everyone is expecting Brawn GP to dominate again, I will think so too, but definitely will be a closer, tougher fight compare to Melbourne last weekend.

Renault will be competitive, watch out for Alonso.

 

I don’t think the big boys (McLaren Mercedes and Ferrari) can do wonders in one week time, but Ferrari should perform better than McLaren team.  We will see.

Williams-Toyota and Toyota themselves should continue the great performance last weekend, too bad that crashed at the closing stage of last race.

Red Bull Sebastian Vettel should perform will, but due to the 10-place grid penalty as the incident with Robert Kubica,  it will be a tough race for him.

Last but not least, BMW Sauber.  This will be home of major sponsor Petronas, and do not forget, last year they collected 11 points in total in this same circuit

 

The teams running KERS - Ferrari, McLaren, BMW Sauber and Renault - may enjoy more of an advantage here thanks to those long straights, but now that air extraction chimneys have been banned, the heat may prove too challenging for those teams that have marginalised their cooling systems in the interest of aerodynamic efficiency.

 

Brawn will still be running without KERS, if the car is fast enough to win the race, they can take their time.

Little bit on KERS…

2009 Malaysia GP - Promotion Event

Some of the photo taken from shopping mall in Malaysia. The heat is not as great as last year for some reason.

2008 Renault – This car collected 80 solid point home for the last F1 season

Front view – As you can see, no one is interested in this car

Top view – ING is going to pull out at the end of 2009 season

From a higher angle – The floor is deserted (sort of)

In a separate place, Petronas Malaysia did a larger scale of promotion in Suria KLCC shopping complex.

BMW Sauber booth

2009 BMW Sauber – 135 was the total points collected by this machine

Black face – Not so professional model standing next to the car (she’s not even smiling!)

Rear View – This rear wing design is a history

Apart from displaying the F1 machine, there was a challenge event as well. The prize was a watch from Cortina watch worth RM1500. I was too late, no change on participating the event (last year I did!)

And the challenge was…

Refuelling Challenge (refuelling or refueling… who cares)

Acrylic F1 car and refuelling simulator, all the way from Germany

Front view – Fragile! Handle with care!

The “Real” Fuel hose

Fill it up, the light will be lighted up when the fuel hose touches the sensor.

When the lights reach the top (the white triangle piece), pull it out place it on the stage and you are done.

The score board. 10 seconds of fuel, this one is an incomplete cycle

Malaysian GP - Trophy

Check out the 2009 Malaysian Sepang F1 GP trophy…

Night Race, night race, night race

Malaysia is getting ready for night race that Bernie Ecclestone always pushing for it. Due to the larger market in European countries, and the different time zone, hosting a race in Asia makes the revenue slightly not so lucrative compare to races in other Europe countries. That's the whole story behind this night racing thingy that trouble country like Australia, which face the similar problem.

From my understanding, Australia is against the night racing idea, simply because it is not viable. Why? Because even without the night race, Melbourne GP currently is at a loss, millions per year. To held a night race in Albert's park, heavy investment will be needed, that will burn another big hole in the pocket.

Why Bernie Ecclestone is so firm on the decision, he even treaten Australia, saying that Australia F1 will be removed from next year calendar if they do not agree to the night racing concept. Because there are other countries dying to hold a F1 GP in their country. If Australia is not interested, he has plenty of other choices.

The bottom line is, he want to make as much money as he could by pressing country like Malaysia and Australia to invest in night racing, on the other hand, larger market group enjoy it, he is happy, the organiser? Not so happy.

Night race could be fun, I totally agree with it, but what about the organiser? What they going to do with the state-of-the-art flood lights? How many night racing events like F1 can be held in a year? Who is going to bear the cost? Not Bernie definitely...

No one knows what will happen during the night race, as this is something new, on one has done it before. How well will the driver adapt to this night race, how they deal with the lights, glares, shadows.. All remain to be seen.

"I want to keep racing alive in this part of the world and the only way we can do that is to have races at night." The F1 supremo said. To me that's a nice way to say it. You can put it in a nastier way:

"I want to make sure I can make lots of money, I don't care how much are you going to invest on your track. If you are not cooperative, I will remove you from F1 calendar. The only choice is LISTEN to me, I WANT NIGHT RACE!"

This is my personal opinion, to host or not to host a night race, they must make a wise decision. I totally understand what Australia trying to do. For Malaysia, I do not know what will be the outcome. But if I am the decision maker, I probably will against the idea as well.

Malaysia - Race Result

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Pts
1	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	56	1:31:18.555	2	10
2	4	Robert Kubica	BMW	56	+19.5 secs	4	8
3	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	56	+38.4 secs	8	6
4	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	56	+45.8 secs	3	5
5	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	56	+46.5 secs	9	4
6	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW	56	+49.8 secs	5	3
7	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	56	+68.1 secs	6	2
8	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	56	+70.0 secs	7	1
9	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	56	+76.2 secs	12
10	16	Jenson Button	Honda	56	+86.2 secs	11
11	6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	56	+92.2 secs	13
12	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	55	+1 Lap	17
13	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	55	+1 Lap	14
14	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	55	+1 Lap	16
15	19	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda	55	+1 Lap	21
16	18	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	54	+2 Laps	19
17	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	54	+2 Laps	22
Ret	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	39	Hydraulics	15
Ret	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	30	Spin	1
Ret	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	5	Hydraulics	20
Ret	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	1	Accident	10
Ret	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	0	Spin	18

Source: http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2008/788/6490/

Malaysia - Qualifying Result

Pos	No	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	2	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	1:35.347	1:34.412	1:35.748	17
2	1	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:35.645	1:34.188	1:36.230	13
3	23	Heikki Kovalainen	McLaren-Mercedes	1:35.227	1:34.759	1:36.613	12
4	22	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren-Mercedes	1:35.392	1:34.627	1:36.709	18
5	11	Jarno Trulli	Toyota	1:35.205	1:34.825	1:36.711	18
6	4	Robert Kubica	BMW	1:35.794	1:34.811	1:36.727	13
7	3	Nick Heidfeld	BMW	1:35.729	1:34.648	1:36.753	13
8	10	Mark Webber	Red Bull-Renault	1:35.440	1:34.967	1:37.009	18
9	5	Fernando Alonso	Renault	1:35.983	1:35.140	1:38.450	18
10	12	Timo Glock	Toyota	1:35.891	1:35.000	1:39.656	20
11	16	Jenson Button	Honda	1:35.847	1:35.208		15
12	9	David Coulthard	Red Bull-Renault	1:36.058	1:35.408		12
13	6	Nelsinho Piquet	Renault	1:36.074	1:35.562		12
14	17	Rubens Barrichello	Honda	1:36.198	1:35.622		15
15	15	Sebastian Vettel	STR-Ferrari	1:36.111	1:35.648		15
16	7	Nico Rosberg	Williams-Toyota	1:35.843	1:35.670		13
17	21	Giancarlo Fisichella	Force India-Ferrari	1:36.240			9
18	8	Kazuki Nakajima	Williams-Toyota	1:36.388			9
19	14	Sebastien Bourdais	STR-Ferrari	1:36.677			8
20	18	Takuma Sato	Super Aguri-Honda	1:37.087			9
21	20	Adrian Sutil	Force India-Ferrari	1:37.101			10
22	19	Anthony Davidson	Super Aguri-Honda	1:37.481			9

Source: http://www.formula1.com/results/season/2008/788/6489/

Alonso - Not in the position to win this year Malaysian GP

Sepang F1 Circuit, it may be one of Fernando Alonso favourite track, but the two-time world champion thinks he will not be on the top spot of the podium in tomorrow race.

Fernando Alonso, the winner here last year, expressed his frustration after only managing the 14th fastest time of 1:37.328 in the afternoon practice session yesterday.

His rookie team-mate, Nelson Piquet Jr, was just behind on 1:37.331 and the indications are that the team have their work cut out for them ahead of the crucial qualifying session today.

Alonso conceded that Renault have a lot of catching up to do before they can even think about challenging McLaren, Ferrari and even BMW Sauber.

“I would like to have wheel-to-wheel racing with McLaren or Ferrari in a normal race. That is the target for the season. But we are too far behind at this point,” he said.

The 26-year-old bagged five points for a fourth-place finish in the season-opener in Melbourne last Sunday but attributed it more to the fact that only seven cars finished the 58-lap race than to the true measure of his car's pace.

Alonso and Piquet Jr both missed out on making the top 10 of the final qualifying session in the Australian GP. The Spaniard was 13th fastest while Piquet Jr was 19th on the starting grid and retired after a first-lap incident.

However, Alonso was optimistic that they would be more competitive as the season progresses.

“You are always optimistic at the start of the year. There are a lot of races to come, a lot of time. I really think we will close that gap and improve the car quite a lot.”

Alonso took his first pole position in his debut in Sepang in 2003. He went on to hand Renault their first Malaysian GP win in 2005 and repeated the feat last year for McLaren.

Other than the two race victories, his impressive resume in Sepang included two third-place finishes in 2003 and 2006.

Source: http://www.thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2008/3/22/sports/20724697&sec=sports

Malaysia - Second Practice Result

1. Lewis Hamilton 1m 35.055s
2. Felipe Massa 1m 35.206s
3. Kimi Raikkonen 1m 35.428s
4. Jenson Button 1m 36.037s
5. Sebastian Vettel 1m 36.474s
6. Jarno Trulli 1m 36.493s
7. Heikki Kovalainen 1m 36.512s
8. Robert Kubica 1m 36.671s
9. Giancarlo Fisichella 1m 36.756s
10. Kazuki Nakajima 1m 36.838s
11. Rubens Barrichello 1m 36.879s
12. Nico Rosberg 1m 36.908s
13. Nick Heidfeld 1m 37.106s
14. Fernando Alonso 1m 328s
15. Nelson Piquet 1m 37.331s
16. Mark Webber 1m 37.346s
17. Timo Glock 1m 37.512s
18. Adrian Sutil 1m 38.614s
19. Takuma Sato 1m 39.021s
20. Anthony Davidson 1m 39.361s
21. Sebastien Bourdais NO TIME (Transmission Problem)
    
22. David Coulthard NO TIME (not participate)

• David Coulthard will be allowed to use a new engine for the Malaysian GP
• Sebastian Bourdais was fine twiced 1,000 Euro and 3,000 Euro for exceeding speed limit in the pit lane within a period of 12 minutes
• Anthony Davison was fine 400 Euro for exceeding the speed limit

Malaysia - First Practice Result

1. Felipe Massa 1m 35.392s
2. Kimi Raikkonen 1m 36.459s
3. Heikki Kovalainen 1m 36.556s
4. Nico Rosberg 1m 36.578s
5. Lewis Hamilton 1m 36.626s
6. Fernando Alonso 1m 37.022s
7. Nelson Piquet 1m 37.034s
8. Robert Kubica 1m 37.218s
9. Jenson Button 1m 37.282s
10. Jarno Trulli 1m 37.540s
11. Nick Heidfeld 1m 37.649s
12. Kazuki Nakajima 1m 37.649
13. Rubens Barrichello 1m 37.776s
14. Timo Glock 1m 37.782s
15. Sebastian Vettel 1m 38.219s
16. David Coulthard 1m 38.232s
17. Mark Webber 1m 38.707s
18. Sebastien Bourdais 1m 38.798s
19. Anthony Davidson 1m 40.351s
20. Adrian Sutil 1m 41.269s

• David Coulthard suffer a suspension breakage after running hard over a kerb
• Mark Webber suffered an engine failure. He will not get a penalty as it’s Friday and all teams in any case get one free breakage.
• Williams’ Kazuki Nakajima and Toro Rosso’s Sebastian Vettel had off-course moments, as did BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld
• Adrian Sutil suffered an engine change (which will count, as he had his ‘freebie’ [New in 2008 season] in Australia) in his Force India.

Kimi - Ferrari will be back!

Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen believes the F2008 engine troubles will not be an issue on the upcoming races, despite the poor result on the Australian GP.

“I know that back in Maranello the team is working hard to solve our problems,” he told Ferrari’s official website. “I'm not worried at all about the performance and the competitiveness of the car. The first race was like it was, but we know that we have a really good car. I know that the team will never lose its focus. They've shown that already in the past - Ferrari will be back!”

The World Champion did score one point result form the disqualification of Ruben Barrichello.

“There's really not much to say about the first race weekend of the season,” the Finn added. “The only positive thing is that it's all behind us. Obviously we are really disappointed. We have to give our best and need to try to get the most points in every single race.”

Malaysian GP Promotion Event

Some photos taken on one of the F1 promotion event in Malaysia. Air Asia, official sponsor for Team Williams were also there. Purchase a Williams' cap and you get to drive the F1 simulator...




There was the competition which giving away tickets, but the rule is you must hold an actual F1 wheel for 2 minutes. Two grandstand tickets will be given to the person that able to do so...

I was there and I was thinking, how often would be able to feel and hold the F1 wheel? If I can do it, I win tickets, otherwise nothing to lose..


Honestly, I was quite confident on myself. "Most probably I can do it...", I keep telling myself.




And that was what happen, I only lasted for 50 seconds... But I've learned something, the F1 wheel is really really light, it weights less than 3KG, according to the host of the show...


After awhile, there was a senior citizen entered the contest, and the crowd goes wild (by the way, he is 60 years old).





The host promised to give him a ticket if he able to hold it for 1 minute...






At the end he failed, 50 seconds was his time (same as mine, what a shame!), but the host (in red) gave him a hill stand ticket, for his participation..