Looking ahead to the race.
After a long off season wait we hoped that Melbourne would answer many of the questions we have been pondering during winter testing. Unfortunately, the weather intervened which left many cars ‘out of position’ on the grid and several questions unanswered.
One thing we did learn was that Renault’s off season speed did convert into genuine race pace, although Fisichella was unchallenged for pole due to the rain in qualifying, the effortless way he streamed to victory coupled with Alonso’s searing pace (once he was released from behind Villeneuve’s Sauber) mark Renault out as the team to beat in Malaysia. Tyres will be key at Sepang, the fact that Renault’s Michelin’s looked barely used after the race will be a worry for other teams that struggled on tyres.
McLaren were favourites to do well at Melbourne, once again the weather intervened to put their cars way down the grid or not even on the grid in Kimi’s case, so it will be intriguing to see how they fare up against Renault this weekend.
Trulli contrived to turn a front row starting slot at Melbourne into a non point scoring finish, blaming tyre wear after opting for the softer Michelin tyre. It’s likely to be much harder on tyres in Sepang, so we will see if it is purely down to a wrong tyre choice, or if Toyota has genuine tyre wear issues.
Meanwhile, BAR will introduce a new front wing (the 4th evolution since the new car was launched) for Malaysia. It’s believed that BAR’s performance problems stem from struggling to get heat into the tyres, Button looked downbeat after the last race, BAR also became the first team to exploit a loophole in the new engine regs by retiring the cars before the flag opening up the possibility to fit new engine for Sepang. This is a loophole that needs filling quickly
There is talk of Ferrari bringing forward the debut of the F2005, maybe to Bahrain, a decision will be made after testing this week, the fact it is being considered suggests that Ferrari are worried that teams already running 2005 cars could open up a gap over these opening few races. Once again we hope to see the real pace of Ferrari in Sepang (weather permitting) if MS had got a reasonable grid slot in Melbourne it would have been interesting to compare the cars. As it was, Ross Brawn’s strategy helped Rubens to score a result they probably didn’t expect after qualifying.
Williams will be hoping for a bit more after a solid start to the season by Webber. They will have new bits coming onto the car over the forthcoming races, so hopefully we can see them fighting for wins in the future.
RBR proved to be a revelation at Melbourne, the weather help to a certain extent but DC drove really well and ran at a good race pace almost scoring a podium on the way – on paper it should be harder to do this time out if the Renault’s, McLaren’s and Ferrari’s get a clear run in qualifying, but there is nothing to say that RBR won’t be competitive in Malaysia.
So to the winner, I would have to say that Renault look strong, great pace coupled with a car that’s sympathetic on it’s tyres looks like a great combination for Sepang. McLaren haven’t been able to show their true colours yet, so I expect it to be a close fight between the two teams – I’m going to stick my neck out and go for an Alonso win – his pace in Melbourne was stunning.
Weekend Timetable
Local time/
UK time
Friday 18th March
Practice 1 – 11:00 to 12:00/
03:00 to 04:00
Practice 2 – 14:00 to 15:00/
06:00 to 07:00
Saturday 19th March
Practice 1 – 09:00 – 09:45/
01:00 to 01:45
Practice 2 – 10:15 – 11:00/
02:15 to 03:00
Saturday Qualifying – 13:00/
05:00
Sunday 20th March
Sunday Qualifying – 11:00/
03:00
Race (56 laps)–15:00/
07:00
Convert the timetable to your local time
http://www.formula1.com/race/timetable/733.html
Live Timing
http://www.formula1.com/race/livetiming/733.html
Circuit Map
http://www.formula1.com/race/circuitmap/733.html
UK TV Schedule
Malaysian Grand Prix on ITV1 and ITV2
Qualifying 1 - Sat 19 March 1320-1505 (ITV1)
Live race - Sun 20 March 0640-0900 (ITV1)
Race rpt - Sun 20 March 1500-1730 (ITV1)
Highlights - Mon 21 March 0015-0115 (ITV1)
Highlights - Mon 21 March 0030-0120 (ITV2)
http://www.itv-f1.com/TVSchedule.aspx
(Please check times with your TV guide before recording the race!)
Drivers Table
1 G.Fisichella 10
2 R.Barrichello 8
3 Fernando Alonso 6
4 David Coulthard 5
5 Mark Webber 4
6 J.P.Montoya 3
7 Christian Klien 2
8 Kimi Räikkönen 1
Constructors Table
1 Renault 16
2 Ferrari 8
3 Red Bull/Cosworth 7
4 Williams/BMW 4
5 McLaren/Mercedes 4