2006 Malaysian Grand Prix - Race 2/18

rpstewart said:
OK, will take a look.


EDIT: Works OK here (not the machine I created the kmz on). Anyone else seeing the same error?
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Same here.

Seems to be on ones with an image overlay. Like Germany *iirc anyway*

Hmmm...

Simon/~Flibster
 
Malaysia Preview: McLaren

The Formula One fraternity moves to Malaysia this week for round two of the 2006 World Championship. Following the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday, Team McLaren Mercedes arrives in Malaysia looking to build on the pace of the MP4-21 demonstrated at the Sakhir circuit.

With only four days between the Bahrain event and Free Practice in Malaysia, the team travelled straight to Kuala Lumpur's Sepang circuit to begin preparations for the race, with the MP4-21s and other trackside equipment also leaving in the early hours of Monday morning, arriving in Malaysia on Tuesday 14th. Kimi Raikkonen and Juan Pablo Montoya are spending a couple of days in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore respectively, to start acclimatising to the hot and humid conditions of the Malaysian Grand Prix. Sea freight for the race left the McLaren Technology Centre on Friday 27th January and arrived at Sepang on Saturday 4th March, after a period in storage in Kuala Lumpur.

Kimi Raikkonen: "My race in Bahrain showed that the MP4-21 is a competitive car, despite the heavy fuel load I had for most of the race compared to the cars around me, it was quick. I now want to get back on track in Malaysia and have a better qualifying session, so that I can improve on my finishing position in Bahrain. Sepang is a track that sees car set-up compromised between efficiency at high speeds, for areas such as the start and final straights where we reach full throttle, and good grip for the slower corners, such as the complex at turns one, 14 and 15. Parts of the track are great to drive, such as the S complex and you need to really push through here to get a good lap time. After Bahrain, I have been spending a few days relaxing and doing my fitness training in hot conditions. I will also focus on getting used to taking on a lot of fluid to replace what is lost through sweat. Dehydration affects concentration levels, muscle strength and endurance, and so I have been working with my trainer to avoid this. We also have to make modifications to the cars to cope with the heat, for example there will be larger air cooling intakes on MP4-21 for this race."

Juan Pablo Montoya: "I am really looking forward to the Malaysian Grand Prix this weekend, Sepang is a track I love to race on and it suits my driving style. I am hoping that this will help me and the team to find a better set-up with the car than I had in Bahrain and that we will be putting more points on the board. The wide track and its sweeping corners mean there are a few good overtaking chances, I guess the main opportunity is corner 15, but you do need really good traction to make the most of it. Other characteristics of the track are the gradient changes, including through the complex at the end of the first straight, and the different cambers. Of course the humidity is another major factor, Malaysia is a really punishing race physically. It gets so hot in the cockpit, up to 50 degrees centigrade and you lose a lot of fluid, up to four litres, during the race alone. The tropical climate means that it could rain at any minute, so that is always a bit unpredictable, particularly because when it rains in Malaysia, it really rains!"

Martin Whitmarsh: "It was an interesting start to the 2006 season in Bahrain, which gave us the first opportunity to understand how the new qualifying and tyre change regulations would operate in race weekend conditions, and to gauge our genuine competitiveness compared with the other teams. Of the latter, it was a reassuring race for Team McLaren Mercedes with the performance of the car meeting our expectations. Despite Kimi's issue in qualifying and Juan Pablo's handling concerns, we were able to take ten points from the weekend, which is a good basis to build upon. We now move to Malaysia, where tyre wear is a key factor. Despite a smooth surface characteristic, the hard acceleration and braking points combined with the high track temperatures, which can reach 50 degrees centigrade, tends to punish the tyres. Our Michelins performed well in Bahrain, with the intensive development work conducted with the test team and Michelin over the winter to ensure we adapt back to short stints proving invaluable, and we hope this performance will continue at Sepang. After Malaysia, our test team will return to the track, at Paul Ricard in France, to continue their programme. This will include conducting the shakedown of chassis 4 of MP4-21, which we aim to get out to Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix."

Norbert Haug: "We learned in Bahrain that the level of competition is higher than we have ever previously seen in this sport. A demonstration of this was the fastest lap times of the top seven drivers, which were all within just over four tenths of a second and the best lap times of the top ten drivers in qualifying all within about a second. We were quite pleased with the performance of our technical package and are now looking forward to the Malaysian Grand Prix. The conditions at the Sepang circuit will be different from those experienced in Bahrain last weekend, as the race takes place in hot and very humid conditions with a chance of rain this time of the year. The track with a smooth, low grip surface is quite hard on the tyres as a result of the high surface temperatures. Close to 70 percent of a lap will be run under full throttle, so the track is quite stressful for the engines.”
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Malaysia Preview: Midland

MF1Racing looks to bounce back from a disappointing opening race in Bahrain with a much-improved performance in Malaysia.

Having spent the week solving the technical problems that plagued both race cars at Sakhir, the team is cautiously optimistic it can finally demonstrate the reliability and pace it believes it is capable of.

Swiss driver Giorgio Mondini makes his official Formula One debut for the Midland team, testing tyre compounds behind the wheel of the T-Car on Friday. The 2004 Formula Renault V6 champion will also be on standby as a reserve driver throughout the weekend.

Built in 1999, Sepang International Circuit is a high-downforce circuit with a good combination of technical corners. The heat and lateral forces, combined with a surface that has become increasingly bumpy over time, make this one of the most physically challenging tracks on the F1 circuit.

Tiago Monteiro: "I'm very glad to be back in Malaysia because this was one of my favourite tracks last year, actually. From a driver's perspective, it's really enjoyable to race here - very quick, very aggressive, nice high-speed corners - but at the same time, it's also very demanding, both for the car and for the driver. The temperature, humidity and downforce loads will all be extreme, so it won't be an easy race for anyone, I guess. But we understand why we had problems last week in Bahrain, so we know what we have to work on and how we can improve. Therefore, I'm really looking forward to doing better here."

Christijan Albers: "Although the track is quite challenging, it's very nice to drive and, from what I'm told, to observe a race at. The weather here is typically very hot, but it shouldn't be a problem for us. The guys are working really hard to overcome the problems we experienced last weekend, and hopefully we'll be OK. We're pushing like hell to improve and I'm just anxious to get my first race lap of the season out of the way. After that, I can concentrate on getting into a good rhythm and putting all this hard work to good use."

Giorgio Mondini: "I'm so excited to be here. This is so different from anything I'd experienced previously - not just the car, which is obviously much faster, but also the number of personnel at our disposal, their skill level, everything. They don't call it F1 for nothing! It is the maximum, in every way. To be honest, I had hoped to get some more test time in the car before coming here, but my aim is still the same: to make the best tyre and car set-up choices for the race. I don't know the track very well, but this should only take me 5 or 10 laps to figure out. After that, I should get up to speed very quickly."

Dominic Harlow, Head of Race and Test Engineering: "It's a back-to-back race, so it's been quite an exciting push to get ourselves across from Bahrain and get prepared for this event. Like Bahrain, it's a very hot environment here - it's one of the main features of this circuit. In terms of our car performance, we'll be looking to improve on Bahrain, obviously. We weren't happy with what happened there, with a lack of reliability in the race, so we'll address those issues. We expect pretty good performance from the package in these conditions, that's for sure. We think we're well suited to the hot climate with what we're bringing here. We've got Giorgio Mondini in the third car this weekend, so it will be interesting to see what he's got to say on the Friday. Apart from that, we'll execute our normal programme and push as hard as we can to get the job done properly this time."
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Rossi challenges Alonso to the ultimate duel

Clearly smarting from comments Fernando Alonso made to the media recently, MotoGP sensation, Valentino Rossi, has laid down the ultimate challenge to the F1 World Champion, a series of head-to-heads on various racing machinery.

Previously, as the media speculated on the possibility of Rossi joining Ferrari in 2007, Alonso told a press conference that he didn't believe the Italian had the potential to win F1 races, far less a World Championship.

"He might finish fifth or even get on the podium," he mocked, "but some time I could do the same on the bikes if I was given enough time to practise."

Like a red rag to a Spanish bull, Rossi has hit back, challenging the Renault driver to a series of races.

"I read that if Alonso is able to make some practice then he can put a MotoGP bike on the podium with me," the Italian told Motorcycle News. "Well, I think we should drive a Formula One car, a World Rally car and a MotoGP bike, add the times together and then we will see who is the fastest."

Over to you Fernando!
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Flibster said:
Same here.

Seems to be on ones with an image overlay. Like Germany *iirc anyway*

Hmmm...

Simon/~Flibster
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Yup, Germany has 2 overlays in the kmz, one for the lap overview and one for an aeriel photo of the new layout. The photo is missing from the kmz.

Will fix it later today :o
 
rpstewart said:
Yup, Germany has 2 overlays in the kmz, one for the lap overview and one for an aeriel photo of the new layout. The photo is missing from the kmz.

Will fix it later today :o
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None of the tracks worked on my google earth :(
 
Well when i open up google earth all these boxes come up and say something to do with the file name.

I took a screan shot of what i see once ive clicked ok on them all

 
Right, I think I may have cracked it - I was trying to put the overlays in the .kmz which seems to be the problem. I've moved them on to separate hosting and linked to the URL so hopefully that'll fix it.

Can you have another go using either the link at the top of the page or this one here

PS the Hockenheim aeriel photo has been removed temporarily as I can't fix that until later...
 
It works now :)
Thank you for fixing it.
Would it be possible to point me to the dirrection of the Nurburgring? I cant seem to find it on google earth anywhere
 
Zip said:
It works now :)
Thank you for fixing it.
Would it be possible to point me to the dirrection of the Nurburgring? I cant seem to find it on google earth anywhere
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The full 14 mile Nordschleife circuit? If you pull up the placemark for the new Nurburgring (05 in my kmz) it's just to the north east of the new track. The only thing you can clearly see is the main finish straight which runs up to the north east corner of the new track. I've got a couple of links at home, one with an overlay and one with a flyby of the full circuit, I can post them later if you like.
 
rpstewart said:
The full 14 mile Nordschleife circuit? If you pull up the placemark for the new Nurburgring (05 in my kmz) it's just to the north east of the new track. The only thing you can clearly see is the main finish straight which runs up to the north east corner of the new track. I've got a couple of links at home, one with an overlay and one with a flyby of the full circuit, I can post them later if you like.
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Yes please, that would be great :)
 
Coulthard, Massa to get engine penalties

Scot driver David Coulthard and Brazilian Felipe Massa will be penalized at the Malaysian Grand Prix following an engine change.

Red Bull driver Coulthard suffered an engine problem at the Bahrain Grand Prix, stopping on track right after the end of the race. Since he finished the event, Coulthard is not entitled to a penalty-free engine change like the drivers who retired earlier from the race.

Massa finished in ninth place after spinning off early on, but some problems found in his Ferrari engine have forced the Italian squad to replace the unit for the Sepang race next weekend.

"We've taken this decision today after an analysis of the engine, which presented some anomalies that could presumably have caused a failure," a Ferrari spokesman said.

Both men will lose ten grid positions in the race.

Under current regulations, engines must last for two Grand Prix weekends.

Coulthard himself had been critical of the rules earlier this week.

"For me I was 14th on the grid and, if you give me 10 places, then I am at the back. I am not driving a McLaren and I cannot go from there to third place," the Scot said.

"I understand the regulations to try and make people use less engines, but I think there should be a handicap penalty based on a performance at a GP. Maybe it could be percentage to the fastest time, but just 10 places is wrong.

"The guys at the front only ever get to just outside the top 10 whereas we always have to go to the back."
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Also Villeneuve after he cooked his engine a little bit...
 
Red Bull driver Coulthard suffered an engine problem at the Bahrain Grand Prix, stopping on track right after the end of the race. Since he finished the event, Coulthard is not entitled to a penalty-free engine change like the drivers who retired earlier from the race
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How does that work :confused: if he stopped in the last lap he would get a penalty free engine change?
 
el_dazza said:
showers eh?

We all remember what happened in 2002, right? ;) :cool:
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Yup.

Was very hot.

Schumcaher hit Montoya going into the first corner and lost his nose. *for which Montoya was given a very unfair drive-through penalty*
Coulthard retired in the pits.
Raikkonen engine failed
As did Barrichello's
Button's suspension failed on the last lap removing him from 3rd and his first podium

R.Schumacher took the win, Montoya came 2nd and M.Schumacher was 3rd

Think thats the right race. ;)

Simon/~Flibster
 
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