The Official 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix Thread ***Spoilers with monsoon showers***

Will Stevens will not start the race

Pushing cars out of the gravel trap isn't allowed, is it?

Well... I never thought I'd be this happy seeing Vettel win a grand prix, that's for sure!!

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You know you want to. [judgegrudge.mybrute.com]

Pretty good race. Ericsson surprised me at the start, some nice overtakes before he went full retard in turn 1. Nice recovery drive from Raikkonen, didn't expect that he could get anywhere near 4th when he got the puncture just after the pit entry. I wonder if Mercedes had been in front without the early stops.

Hats off to Manor and Mehri for making it to the end of the race.

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Cracking win for Vettel. I thought they'd blown it totally when they didn't pit under the safety car and nearly everyone else did, but I guess Hamilton was just held up long enough for him to lose enough time and take the best out of his fresh tyres. Raikkonen had a storming race too.

How often will Ferrari be able to challenge Mercedes? Was it just a case of temperatures and track conditions suiting them, or can this become a regular battle?

Good to see both Toro Rosso's beating both Red Bulls. Is that one down to Renault too?

Harsh penalty for Hulkenberg I thought.

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xSilvermanx
Pushing cars out of the gravel trap isn't allowed, is it?

It is if they're deemed to be a dangerous position. Sadly for Ericsson it was deemed too dangerous and they threw the safety car out instead. It wasn't going to move anyway.

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gav
Harsh penalty for Hulkenberg I thought.

Same thought here. Where was he supposed to go, imo Kvyat just turned left while Hulk was still besides him.

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Breaking news, Christian Horner now wants Ferrari, Williams and STR reigned in too.

And Mclaren, because they weren't quite @#$%& enough for his liking today.

Why don't we just give everyone a Red Bull?

guys would you share with me your opinion? Lewis finished ca. 3-4 seconds ahead of rosberg, yet he was given a score of 8 by SKYSPORTS, and rosberg was given a score of 5. How is that possible? Is it that I do not understand something or do you think that those ratings are really biased?

mitadumapaga Wrote:
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> guys would you share with me your opinion? Lewis
> finished ca. 3-4 seconds ahead of rosberg, yet he
> was given a score of 8 by SKYSPORTS, and rosberg
> was given a score of 5. How is that possible? Is
> it that I do not understand something or do you
> think that those ratings are really biased?

Did you read the reasoning or just look at the scores? It'll be more than just the result that counts in their scorings (and for what it's worth, Rosberg had the faster tyres on at the end of the race whilst Hamilton had the slower - almost a given that Rosberg was going to catch Hamilton).

"A race and a weekend to forget for Nico Rosberg. Other than his bizarre intervention in Hamilton's post-qualifying press conference, when he asked his rival whether he had held him up in Q3 and received short shrift in response, the German was a peripheral figure from start to subdued finish in Sepang.

This year's Rosberg is a pale imitation of the spiky, no-holds-barred figure who caused Hamilton so much inconvenience and aggravation in 2014, a regression summed up by his 'open door defence' against Vettel on lap 22 and subsequent perplexing struggle to understand his race engineer's warning that he would lose the race if his Ferrari rival passed him. This is motor racing, not rocket science."

Following on from the bold part, I'd suggest there is this issue (highlighted in the BBC Live Text):
Also, very honest interview from Nico Rosberg, who kept asking his team to describe the picture of the race over the radio.

"I struggle to understand what's going on," admits the German. But David Coulthard isn't that impressed.

"Fair play to Nico for being so open and honest - but it's a bit confusing," says the BBC pundit. "Because there isn't that much to work out. You only have two compounds of tyres and you know where stand with your team-mate. So it's either he's suddenly found turn of pace or is on softer tyres if he starts pulling away from you.

"We have all built Nico up as a thinker, the engineer behind the wheel, while pegging Lewis as the raw racer. But that interview exposes Nico to be vulnerable and confused."


My 2 pence.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2015 06:55PM by Diax F1.

BOOM! And Ferrari are back, winning the race on their own merits. Granted that was down to a clever reading of the strategical situation at the SC, but if there had not been an SC, Vettel would still have had a decent shot at the win. Alonso must be grinding his teeth. What a great move, to ditch the prancing horse in favour of the rice-cooker that McLaren has produced. Not that it isn't good in the corners. Indeed it looks very solid, but as soon as they get to a straight, the car is just lumbering along. Honestly, it is hard to see that Alonso is bringing that much to Macca. He had the jump on Button for 0.222 in qual theoretical best time on Button, but that is in the same range as what Kevin had on Button at Melbourne, if he hadn't gotten the engine failure in qualifying that eventually would also cost him the chance to race.

As for Horner wanting equalisation, I think the prime target for "equalising" is Torro Rosso! Remember back in what was it 2009, when TR also began to show strength compared to Red Bull, and how there was a sudden "free flow of information"? Horner can't complain about Renault, when the junior team is beating his with less than half the employees and the same engine.

And what a surprise... it seems being a slightly optimistic rookie that shreds Kimi's rear tyre in the middle of a corner isn't a punishable offence after all...

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It's only after we've lost everything, that we are free to do anything.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2015 07:35PM by Morbid.

FORZA SEB!!! Brilliant! I'd hoped he and Ferrari would win a race or two this year, never thought it would happen quite this soon though. This, plus his podium in Melbourne, should be enough to convince anyone who thought he needed the RedBull environment around him to do well that they were wrong. Awesome drive! Relentless pace, supreme tyre management and great confidence and racecraft too.

I liked Martin Brundle's comment towards the end of the race about Michael Schumacher. Somehow, although Seb is just as much an individual as MS, I sense a continuum has resumed. Watching this race I felt a happiness I soon realised I hadn't felt since October 1, 2006. For me, Seb is Michael's natural successor, and although my mind had told me this ages ago, my heart told me it today.

Great pace from Ferrari in general too, obviously. Clearly the new car is a massive step forward, and it's a long time since I've seen a team go from so uncompetitive and a complete state to together and challenging for wins in such a short time. That's brilliant too. If only Kimi hadn't been delayed in quali and had had a trouble-free race, we might even have had a Ferrari 1-2.

The Sauber drivers are showing great promise, even if they need to calm down. Ericsson in particular seems to be trying too hard so far, I think he's got a lot of speed and ability if he just stops overdriving. Nasr just needs to stop driving into Kimi.

Positive weekend overall for Macca, IMO. Two DNFs, but in probably the most demanding race of the season, and considering they basically have to do their testing in public as well as their racing I thought they showed well. Their pace in particular is improving well. Good progress too from Fernando, good to see him back, and good that he completed his longest distance in the McLaren Honda so far(a whole 22 laps) and I think he's managing the steep learning curve nicely. Overall, I think they're only starting to unlock what is huge potential, but the journey is underway.

Fantastic performance from Manor. To not only get one of their cars into the race but get it to the finish too is excellent progress. They're truly a special team.

This season is taking great shape now. We've got a possible 3-way title fight developing(maybe even 4-way if Kimi has a good run in the next few races) which will be very unpredictable.

Fantastic race altogether IMO. Loads of wheel-to-wheel action and overtakes and a few juicy contacts too(I guess we have to thank Force India in particular for those), which is never bad.

2015 is starting to kick ass now.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2015 09:03PM by EC83.

Enjoyable race, possibly helped by Ericsson prompting the safety car and creating some more strategy intrigue.

I think it's now clear that Ferrari have taken a very definite and impressive step forward, the powertrain has improved and it seems that James Allison has engineerd the chassis to use the tyres very effectively. The Malaysia heat may have played into their hands but this was not a lucky win, it was on merit.

I think Merc were taken by surprise by Ferrari's pace hence some ratiness on the radio, but Rosberg's wish from Melbourne has been granted rather quickly.

Williams are now on their own as third best, I think Ferrari are now a step of few ahead, but they basically got the maximum amount of points they could have hoped for. Terrible start for Bottas (he really needs to work on those) but nicely fought back through the field. I was having flashbacks from last year as he homed in on Massa at the end, but this time he made a move stick. Great fun.

Good stuff by Toro Rosso, I think the fact they're giving Red Bull some head aches and out performing two Mercedes powered teams show that Renault can not be held completely responsible for Red Bulll's relative lack of form.

Sauber seemed to have fallen back a bit, rookie error by Ericsson, Nasr never recovered from poor qualifying.

Funny stuff by Lotus and Force India, they're proving that it's no longer enough to have the best engine, the car has to be good as well.

Painful stuff for McLaren, but it's very much baby steps for now and they will make progress, the basic car and driver lineup is too good to languish down in Q1.

Manor inevitably were invisible today, shame Stevens couldn't make the start and slightly concerning that they couldn't fix the problem between qualifying and the race but at least they got one car to the finish. Bernie isn't best pleased with them, but screw him.

Yeah, I forgot Merhi was even in the race. What a butthurt little man Bernie is.

Was a good race really happy Merc did not win tbh.

Nico showed yet again that he cannot work things out for himself and needs a lot of info from his team. Yet again beaten by Lewis and not even second on the grid, plus he let Vettel pass far too easy.

Vettel was fantastic just got on with it and never made a mistake the whole race, I think we was in control from the start really knowing he had one stop less.

Lewis done all he could do, losing most of Friday I feel did hurt his race setup.

Merc just could not make their tyres last and just did not seem to have the pace.

Really good fighting through the field.

Will be interesting to see now if this was a one off or if Ferrari really can fight Merc



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/30/2015 11:15AM by marcl.

Really enjoyable race. As much as Melbourne was boring this one was a pretty good one from the start till the finish line.

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enjoyed the race very much and found lewis's ranting entertaining.reminds me of my kids when they where younger,more races like this please...massa next please

Loved the race. Much needed after the dismal Australian GP Merc overload. Just hope it is not a one hit wonder because of the 3/2 pit stop strategies. Maybe if Red Bull could stop crying and McHonda could get their $#]t together we could have an exciting season.

jickmagger écrivait:
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> Loved the race. Much needed after the dismal
> Australian GP Merc overload. Just hope it is not a
> one hit wonder because of the 3/2 pit stop
> strategies. Maybe if Red Bull could stop crying
> and McHonda could get their $#]t together we could
> have an exciting season.


Nope, there was battles all along the field not only for first places which is good news obviously for the reminder of the season.

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Hopefully it will be 1998 all over again! Merc (Macca in 98) with the quickest car, but a Red Barron (Ferrari - Seb / Schuey) hunting them down

Wish people would be careful what they wish for. I can't be the only person happy to see Ferrari and Vettel not winning anything for a while
Ferrari Schuey dominance killed the sport in the early 00s, guys we do NOT want a return to that. Red Bull was worrying enough.

The Merc dominance has been refreshing.

Anyway, hope Mclaren can get more performance out of their car.