Malaysian Grand Prix 2013, Kuala Lumpur - Race 2/19

I'm expecting McLaren to come good, they have such an amazing speed of development and with parts that usually work. Mercedes had an OK car last year but couldn't keep up in the development race. They weren't even top ten qualifiers for some of the final races. Unless they can improve that they may win a race or two but will tail off.
 
MissChief said:
I'm expecting McLaren to come good, they have such an amazing speed of development and with parts that usually work. Mercedes had an OK car last year but couldn't keep up in the development race. They weren't even top ten qualifiers for some of the final races. Unless they can improve that they may win a race or two but will tail off.
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Mercedes did shift focus to this year pretty quickly though and had difficulty understanding their car last year.

Even if McLaren do find pace they have far too many issues to come good IMO. Getting rid of Whitmarsh would be a start.
 
Mr Jack said:
No love for Lotus?
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No I do like Lotus and their team/drivers but I feel that they will be quick in the first quarter / maybe half the of the season but their development curve isn't as strong as the other top teams.
 
I think Vettel was a bit sly, but then he has won the last three championships in a row.

He can do whatever he pleases. The team aren't exactly going to tell him to quit! Webber is the number 2 driver. Vettel knows it. Webber knows it.
 
The team will have been behind it, probably even planned it in the event Webber was leading.

Vettel coming on the radio calling Webber slow just sets the scene of an angry driver, then Vettel goes against team orders and the team act surprised, Horner comes on the radio telling him he's been naughty.

At the end of the day Vettel is happy because he has a championship lead and Red Bull are happy for the same reason, a couple more GPs like that and technical issues for Webber and he'll be told to resume his role as support driver because of Vettel's championship lead, the last thing Red Bull want is Webber taking a lead in the Championship they learned that lesson the first season.
 
Seen this on the Ferrari website

To understand how good the Brazilian’s pace was you just need to take a look at the lap times. On the ninth lap, once the series of pit stops for cars to swap from intermediates to slicks was over, the gap from Felipe to race leader Mark Webber was 22”627: the final gap to winner Sebastian Vettel was just three seconds more (25”648). That means for 47 laps Felipe’s pace was at the same level as the winners, and no one can say that anyone was backing off at the front! The second fastest lap time of all – set by the Brazilian when the track was completely dry – was another confirmation of the car’s performance.
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Quite interesting that Massa after he stopped being a bit crap when it was damp was able to match the Red Bulls.
 
Sky sports covered the whole 'was vettle faster' in their what next article. They highlighted the fact that Webber probably wasn't concentrating after the incident.

http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1...tian-Vettel-s-tainted-win-at-the-Malaysian-GP

The very justifiable - and logical - flip side of that is Webber had already been instructed to turn his engine down and hold position to the end of the race, hence it wasn't a battle he was either expecting or fully equipped to rebuff. His later cryptic admission that "there were a lot of things going through my mind in the last 15 laps of the Grand Prix" proves further evidence that his ultimate 4.2s 'defeat' by Vettel is irrelevant and the damage was already done.
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Though we will never know the truth.
 
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Skeeter said:
Vettel pulled away at a second a lap once he passed Webber.
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"Let's just say there were a lot of things going through my mind in the last 15 laps of the grand prix, lots of different reasons, not just from today but also from the past.

"We'll see what happens. We've got three weeks before the next race (in China on April 14).

"Right now it's very early days, it's very raw, but we need to work out how the team best goes forwards from here.

"That's obviously going to be discussed this week. I will be in Australia on my surfboard, the phone won't be engaged, so let's see what happens."
 
Mr Men said:
Seen this on the Ferrari website



Quite interesting that Massa after he stopped being a bit crap when it was damp was able to match the Red Bulls.
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So Mercedes must be incredibly quick then if they managed to maintain an equal gap between the red bulls and the ferraris for the last 10 or so laps whilst on mega fuel saving mode.

I think that the Mercs could have been challenging the Red Bulls up front if it wasnt for their fuel issue. After all, they were for the first half of the race.
 
I don't know what people are complaining about, you came to watch a race. Vettel certainly spiced things up a little.

Probably helped with the ratings too, which is ultimately for Formula One all that matters.

Vettel raced; Webber, Hamilton and Rosberg (although you can't blame him for that) didn't; Horner and Brawn facilitated that so complain about them, its where your anger should be focused.

I would have much rather have seen a Rosberg podium wouldn't you?
 
I didn't have time to watch the interviews at the end of the race (I literally had to switch off straight after the first few places were decided), so if anyone could tell me roughly much fuel Hamilton had left at the end it would be great. If we're talking loads then I wont mind so much that Rosberg wasnt allowed to overtake, but if it was a very small amount then, despite being a massive Hamilton fan, I will be very dissappointed that Brawn didn't allow Rosberg past
 
Reaper 392 said:
I didn't have time to watch the interviews at the end of the race (I literally had to switch off straight after the first few places were decided), so if anyone could tell me roughly much fuel Hamilton had left at the end it would be great. If we're talking loads then I wont mind so much that Rosberg wasnt allowed to overtake, but if it was a very small amount then, despite being a massive Hamilton fan, I will be very dissappointed that Brawn didn't allow Rosberg past
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We don't know. He didn't stop at the end of the pit lane, so it wasn't fumes, but other than that we don't know how much he had. All Mercedes have confirmed is that he was saving fuel, nothing else really.

Rosberg did a good job of giving the impression he had better pace, but I'm not convinced it was genuine.
 
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Nico was not saving fuel, Lewis pretty much said so when he told how Nico drove a more controlled and consistent race than he did and deserved the podium ahead of him. And if Nico was told to save fuel as well how come nobody heard it on the radio like they were telling Lewis?
 
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