The F1 Thread

[Psychowolf]

Talking of Senna there is a biopic film due at the cinema in July. Might be worth a watch.

I believe they are releasing it in various countries to coincide with the GP that is held there?. Can't wait to see it myself as I've heard/read nothing but positive things about it. Wonder if they'll have some previews or stuff at the GP itself.

Looking towards Sepang and although its still just over 3 days away, every forecast seems to be predicting storms throughout the weekend. Really hope it's not a repeat of 2009 and we only get half a race. Unfortunately doesn't seem like we'll get to see how the DRS performs on the long straights either as it's not allowed in wet conditions. Providing race doesn't start behind safety car and no red flags it could be a very interesting weekend all in all.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

It is always a risk with Sepang that they run the race in late afternoon to make it more convenient for the European audience to watch and that is when you get storms most days from my experience of the area (admittedly Singapore rather than Malaysia but it isn't that far off).

 

[pavlosmacwolf]

Interesting article about Michael Schumacher in todays Independent, I thought you might like to look at chaps, and chaplets of course.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...humacher-once-a-red-always-a-red-2259769.html

 

[The Bear]

I see it's only predicting heavy showers at the minute. One during the race would be nice. We might get 5 or even as many as 7 pitstops in that situation!

Pirelli are predicting 3 or 4 stops for everyone this weekend. Same two compounds as Australia (soft/hard - yellow/silver) so that would be about right given that Sepang is hotter and has higher tyre degradation. 2 stops for the Saubers then!

The DRS zone for Sepang is on the main pit straight. I would have liked to have seen it leading up to the last corner, but I suppose that's already an overtaking chance into there. I did read that the zone was being increased to 700m this weekend but the FIA hasn't confirmed anything yet.

 

[The Bear]

Oh and a quick thing about the DRS not being allowed in the wet. The exact wording of the rule is that you are not allowed to use it on a car running intermediate or wet tyres.

It's essentially the same thing, but I suppose if a driver were to gamble on coming in early for slicks on a drying track (like Button last year in Melbourne), then he would be able to use it against a car that is still on inters, bit not the other way round.

It also makes me wonder, given the degradation rates of the new tyres, if a new set of slicks would give better grip in that situation than a used set of inters. I reckon it wpuld certainly make the cutoff point for slicks come a bit earlier and also give those teams who managed to save a set of new tyres during Qualifying another slight advantage.

This is the sort of crap I sit pondering during an F1 week!!

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

If you used DRS on greasy dry shoes you would become a 200mph barrier-seeking missile I imagine

 

[MARKakaJIM]

If you used DRS on greasy dry shoes you would become a 200mph barrier-seeking missile I imagine

Oh what i'd give to see this happen to Alonso.

 

[The Bear]

Not if it's around the time for slicks anyway. There's a point when they start going faster than inters so if you can pit for slicks and come out in the midfield drivers who are trying to make their inters last as long as possible.

I imagine it would be a very tiny opportunity or window for it to happen anyway. Usually one tyre is suddenly better than the other when it switches around in that situation.

Plus you can only use it on a straight anyway so I doubt anyone would be flying off because of it. Unless they locked their brakes badly.

 

[broughtonwolf]

One of my favourite Senna clips, there are lots. But above is the Lotus Renault at Monaco, 1400bhp in Qualifying trim!

 

[Nando]

Ferrari were awful this morning, not looking good.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

See how they go in qualification, but it looks like McLaren and Red Bull have the hang of Sepang rather better.

 

[Nando]

There's some pace in the car, but I can't see them getting near them in quali trim.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Karthikeyan's car was billowing smoke when it was wheeled back into the garage. Another failure to meet 107% for Hispania?

 

[Nando]

They're a joke, they probably only brought along one engine.

 

[The Bear]

Looks like everyone is struggling with tyre degradation with a very sharp dropoff on the soft tyre after only 10-15 laps. Pirelli's soft tyre now has a new gold ring around the edge of the sidewall for this weekend for better Identification too.

RBR look like they'll definitely keep the KERS on the car for the weekend. They'll need it to keep the McLarens honest down those straights.

I still haven't read any condirmation on the DRS zones. Anyone know anything?

Thought I'd give a shout out to the news sites I use as well:

www.jamesallenonf1.com
www.autosport.com/f1
www.thef1times.com
http://scarbsf1.wordpress.com/ (technical info site)

Anyone got any other good ones? PlanetF1 is ok but are mainly just the same stories from the above.

 

[The Bear]

Ferrari were awful this morning, not looking good.

They do tend to run quite heavy on Fridays to work on race set up though. They'll probably be a bit closer in FP3 tomorrow morning.

 

[The Bear]

Found out the DRS zone is te entire pit straight with detection 200m before the last corner.

That should create loads of overtaking moves as that straight is bloody long! Cars will already be close too, after the fairly long straight leading to the last corner. Good stuff.

 

[Nando]

I'd have preferred the penultimate straight to be used, it's pretty difficult to overtake into the first corner.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Q1 about to start. Rain expected for Q3 by the look of it.

 

[FrankMunro-371]

Vettel got pole, with Hamilton a close second. It would be nice if Hamilton could pass Vettel early on.