2006 Malaysian Grand Prix - Race 2/18

Just watched the old re-run.. being a student means no no on the get up early, feelings:

Bloody hell, Kimi.. my main man.. never gets a break does he. :(

Alonso off the soddin line like a rocket ship. :(

Poor Rosberg too.. hope he hasnt caught what kimi has. :(

Fisichella won :)

Button on the podium :)

On a side note:

4 posts for every sodding activity that happens in the race is ridiculous guys... i understand if youve got a comment to add on something happen, but it was like Flibster x 4... and is just a pain to read. Sorry but its true.
 
gord said:
4 posts for every sodding activity that happens in the race is ridiculous guys... i understand if youve got a comment to add on something happen, but it was like Flibster x 4... and is just a pain to read. Sorry but its true.
Click to expand...
Thing is, some of us like to comment on whats going on as well, and by the time one of us is replying, someone else has beaten them to it or whatever, cant be helped sometimes :o
 
Only Merc's V8 is intact
No engine failure

Mere weeks ago, who would have bet their bank that every single engine maker in formula one would have experienced a failure by the end of round two - except Mercedes-Benz ?

Either in Bahrain or last weekend at Sepang, Renault, Ferrari, Toyota, Cosworth (Williams), BMW and Honda failed to make it to the Malaysian chequer without losing an engine.

But amazingly, following McLaren's dire winter of unreliability, the V8s in the silver cars emerged from Sepang intact.

''Six weeks ago, we were not where we wanted to be with our engine,'' Mercedes' Norbert Haug told 'RTL' TV, ''so I have to thank everyone in England and in Stuttgart.''

The silver combination should be patted on the back, but it is also true that - in order to cool the V8 in Malaysia - a large number of cooling holes had to be opened in the bodywork of the MP4-21. Demonstrated by Juan Pablo Montoya, it was a significant handicap on pace.

Haug said : ''We were not the only ones, but yes, our car was not in the ideal specification.''

Back in Europe, McLaren will test car and engine upgrades this week.
Click to expand...
 
^^^

I like that story. :D


Nico 'slapped' for Webber squeeze

He was the toast of the paddock in Bahrain, but feisty rookie Nico Rosberg got 'a slap on the wrist' by Williams in Malaysia's searing heat, media reports say.

The British 'Mirror' newspaper suggests that Frank Williams and Patrick Head were none too happy about the 20-year-old German's squeeze on teammate Mark Webber on the run to the first corner on Sunday.

It cost the pair, shoved onto the dirty side of the track, track position to the fast-starting Fernando Alonso.

Webber, who touched down in Tasmania on Monday, complained : ''Another few feet and he would've had me in the wall.''

Following his Cosworth engine failure, though, Rosberg - the son of Williams' 1982 world champion Keke - admitted that he still has something to learn about taking on a F1 rival.

He said : ''I tried to block Mark but I realised he wasn't going to lift. I think in GP2 most people would have backed off.''
Click to expand...
 
Has Honda reneged on Super Aguri deal?

It should not be forgotten that talk of a new Japanese team first surfaced in the run up to last season's Japan Grand Prix.

With Takuma Sato dropped by BAR, which was to be subsequently bought out by Honda, the car manufacturing giant expected a backlash in the Japanese media. Therefore, when the Super Aguri rumour first surfaced, media sceptics elsewhere regarded it as a bit of smokescreen to take the heat off Honda at a difficult time.

However, as we all know, with the help of a couple of 2002 Arrows bought from Paul Stoddart, a helping hand from Bernie Ecclestone, the agreement of its rival teams, and the promise of support from Honda, Super Aguri became reality.

In Malaysia however, our sources learned that Super Aguri is feeling badly let down by Honda, which to all intents and purposes has reneged on previous agreements, with the order allegedly coming down from the President of Honda Racing, Yasuhiro Wada.

Originally it had been hoped the Honda (BAR) might help with chassis - well it worked for Toro Rosso - but instead Aguri Suzuki had to go to Paul Stoddart. Since then, Honda's assistance for the team that effectively saved its Japanese bacon, has been minimal, to put it mildly.

We hear that there is now a distinct feeling of bitterness within the Japanese F1 community, which feels that Wada has failed to complete his side of the deal.

That said, Aguri Suzuki has a lot of support in the paddock, including that of Bernie Ecclestone and Bridgestone.
Click to expand...
 
Technical analysis: front wing controversy

Television footage aired throughout the Malaysian Grand Prix has clearly shown movement of the upper element on Ferrari's bi-plane front wing arrangement.

Such in-car footage, aired on Germany's Premiere channel during qualifying, has lead teams to believe that either the upper element of Ferrari's front wing is twisting, or the whole front wing assembly is flexing at speed.

Both of these movements are considered outside the spirit of the regulations, and the latter movement ought to contravene the existing FIA deflection test for front wings.

This flexing could allow the front wing to provide downforce at lower speeds, then at higher speed - as the wing bends backwards - to improving top speeds, by preventing the increase of downforce and drag.

ferrariwing.jpg


What has been seen on TV, is the in-board mount for the upper element. This consists of a sliding pin that allows the wing to move laterally relative to the nose-cone.

The movement can be seen (as illustrated by the yellow arrow) by clear space appearing between the wing and the nose. This space opens up when the car jumps around on the bumps, but also - and more disturbingly - upon increasing speed.

This movement can be caused by several potential explanations. As with any F1 car's bodywork, the front wing assembly does shake around as the car goes over bumps and kerbs. This would require some free movement in the mounting, but would not explain the gap increasing with speed.

This speed-related gap could be a result of the aerodynamic load flexing the wing in one of two ways, too: by the twisting of the upper element itself, or by the drooping of the lower wing under load (as illustrated by the yellow lines). Either of these movements could be deemed as aerodynamically beneficial.

Although the wings of most teams do show a degree of flex, as the wing is supported so close to its centre-line, the outer tips are not very well supported.

For many years (and in Sepang this weekend) on-car footage has shown many front wings flex at high speed, although this has never been seized upon by other teams or the FIA before.

Drooping front wings were, by coincidence, something that Ferrari were accused of in 2000, and an FIA test - to see if the wing drooped, by placing a load on the endplate - was introduced back then.

As the Ferrari current front wing has passed this long-standing test, it is deemed legal within the wording of the current rule-book.

What rival teams are upset about is that the rules are not entirely clear with regards to how rigid the bodywork must be, saying the current deflection tests are outdated and do not counter what Ferrari and several other teams might be doing with the front wing assembly.

Teams sail very close to what may be deemed as legal. And now that the matter has been raised with a whiff of acrimony, the FIA will most likely issue a clearer guidance before the Australian Grand Prix at the end of this month.
Click to expand...
 
Ferrari: We'll bring new wings to Melbourne.

Ferrari has agreed to bring modified front and rear wings to the Australian Grand Prix after a bust-up with rival teams on Sunday morning in Malaysia.

Eight teams "everyone except Ferrari allies Red Bull and Toro Rosso" presented a unprecedented letter to the FIA indicating their disquiet, and threatening a protest after the race. During the day, Charlie Whiting met with the teams and discussed their concerns. He also had contact with Ferrari.

As reported earlier, Ross Brawn met with Pat Symonds, Martin Whitmarsh and Geoff Willis to discuss the situation. We can now reveal that, while Brawn initially refused to concede that there was a problem with Ferrari's interpretation, after Jean Todt joined the meeting, a compromise was reached. Brawn reportedly had a dossier of information on wing behaviour on other cars.

Ferrari has now given its assurance to the teams and the FIA that it will bring revised wings to the next race in Australia.
Click to expand...
 
Interview with Jean Todt

Although both of his cars had finished in the points in Malaysia, fifth and the sixth was not the result he'd hoped for, and certainly not what Ferrari fans around the world had expected, following the Italian team's strong start to the season in Bahrain.

Therefore, when asked about his team's performance at Sepang, Jean Todt gave a typically Gallic shrug.

"I would say that we started from the twentieth lap quite good," he began. "However, we had to start the race at the first lap, and needless to say that starting from where we started, we can only be pleased with the final result, even if it's not pleasing, generally speaking, it's the best result we could expect to do today.

"It has been a tough weekend because we had to identify a potential risk of reliability on Michael's engine, a clear problem Felipe had at the first race, which meant that we decided to change his engine, we changed it again this morning, always to try to take as little risk as possible.

"Otherwise the package was quite good, even though I feel we need to be a bit more competitive. Tyres, definitely Bridgestone made some progress and it's quite interesting to have some other good teams with Bridgestone, because we can see some development which seems promising for the future."

And will the engine problem be sorted out fairly easily?

"I think we already did one step forward with today's engine," he replies. "I think we've understood quite a lot of things. That's why the factory has been working hard and it's been positive. Even if we saw some other teams have had their problems with engine reliability and some others didn't. So we have to be focused on doing our best, not on what other people's problems.

Asked to specify the problem, he replied: "It's around the piston. We have a specific failure that comes from the component so it's around that.

'Were those engines built a week later and were they in the programme?' he is asked. "No they weren't of a different batch, they were of a different specification," he responds.

So is it a manufacturing or a component problem?

"At the moment we are still analysing, before making a final judgement," he admits. "We need to have very accurate analysis."

In terms of the championship, Todt is asked if he is disappointed that Michael finished behind Felipe.

"After two races it's too early," he replies, clearly exasperated. "Felipe could not defend his chances in his first Grand Prix in Bahrain, so I think he did a pretty good job today. He was on a different strategy and considering the traffic Michael had, he could not take advantage of the two pit stops, and Felipe could take advantage of one pit stop. It's too early, at the moment. I was very happy for Felipe to be able to…" he trails off.

"He's under a lot of pressure as well," he continues, "so it's important that he can score points and he can demonstrate that he's a very good driver."

In retrospect does Todt regret pushing Michael all the way to third qualifying and not pulling him out as he did with Felipe?

"No," he replies without hesitation, "we knew that he could be in quite a good position at the start but we knew that it was a different strategy. On paper, two pit stops was quicker but then you can't predict the traffic.

"Renault did a good job," he adds, "they are the ones who did the best job."

Other than the race, the big story of the day is the news that eight team have signed a letter, calling on the FIA to investigate the flexibility of the front wing on the 248 F1. Todt is asked if the team has been asked to make any modifications to the car's wings for Melbourne?

"Ross has been talking with the FIA who were happy with the conformity, the legality of our cars," he replies, "and if there is something the FIA want us to do we will apply to what they ask us which was not the case today."

Nonetheless, TV images, seen in millions of homes around the world, clearly showed that the front wing was moving a lot - surely this is outside the rules?

"If it was outside the rules, considering the noise which has been made about that, I don't think we would be talking about our result today," is Todt's firm response.

One of the rival teams has officially protested, but eight of them have written to the FIA following a meeting on Sunday morning.

"They sent a letter," Todt agrees, "and you all have had a copy of this letter. If they want… either you do it or you don't do it. Nothing prevents them from protesting if they wanted to. The FIA say that it's OK for them."

So will Ferrari take a modified front wing to Melbourne?

"We are not in Melbourne," he snaps. "Ask me the question in Melbourne.

"Myself, I try to be a manager. I am not a technical director, so my people will know much better about this; they will then suggest to me what we should do. You must know your limit in life; I try to know mine."

"So no deal has been done?" he's asked.

"I would never do any deal with anybody in this business," he fires back, "only with people I contract to work for Ferrari, that's the only deal I do.

Moving on from the contentious issue of the Ferrari wing(s), Todt is asked how he sees the competitiveness at the front of the grid after two round of the championship.

"There are four teams which are very strong, even five teams, because Williams has been very strong, was strong in Bahrain, and was strong today. There was a problem with reliability but otherwise they were very competitive. I see five teams who are good competitors at the moment, and some others who may have good potential. We saw some teams who were not as good as they were in performance at this Grand Prix."

So will this be a particularly competitive season? "For me, all seasons are competitive," he replies, "each season is competitive."

And Renault in particular? "There is no major reason why they should not be competitive," he says. "They were very good last year, so it's continuity; the same people."
Click to expand...
 
Dutch Guy said:
I heard that the FIA tests the wings with a 50Kg load so all they had to do is make it so that with 50Kg nothing happens bet when the load is 55Kg is starts flexing.

So they will use new wings, admission of guilt in my book
Click to expand...

Whilst this may be so, as has been conceded by Nick Fry other teams inc McLaren are running a similar system - will they too be running adapted wings in Melbourne?
 
Type_R said:
Only Merc's V8 is intact
No engine failure

Mere weeks ago, who would have bet their bank that every single engine maker in formula one would have experienced a failure by the end of round two - except Mercedes-Benz ?

Either in Bahrain or last weekend at Sepang, Renault, Ferrari, Toyota, Cosworth (Williams), BMW and Honda failed to make it to the Malaysian chequer without losing an engine.

But amazingly, following McLaren's dire winter of unreliability, the V8s in the silver cars emerged from Sepang intact.

''Six weeks ago, we were not where we wanted to be with our engine,'' Mercedes' Norbert Haug told 'RTL' TV, ''so I have to thank everyone in England and in Stuttgart.''

The silver combination should be patted on the back, but it is also true that - in order to cool the V8 in Malaysia - a large number of cooling holes had to be opened in the bodywork of the MP4-21. Demonstrated by Juan Pablo Montoya, it was a significant handicap on pace.

Haug said : ''We were not the only ones, but yes, our car was not in the ideal specification.''

Back in Europe, McLaren will test car and engine upgrades this week.
Click to expand...

Hehehe, the super reliable McLaren :D Shame that Kimi's doesnt the get the luck he needs to be up at the sharp end of things. Im sure his time will come though. Its about time Alonso and Fisi get thier fair share of bad luck this season ;)
 
Todt: Massa free to fight Schumacher
Felipe Massa has been assured that he will be free to continue beating Michael Schumacher on the track, after edging out his teammate in Malaysia on Sunday.

Although Ferrari have previously made sure that all their efforts have gone behind Schumacher in the quest for title glory, the team had no hesitation in allowing Massa to bring his car home first at Sepang.

Speaking about the situation and whether there were any team orders, Ferrari sporting director Jean Todt insisted that Massa would have equal chances to Schumacher.

"After two races, it's too early," he said. "Felipe could not defend his chances in his first Grand Prix in Bahrain, so I think he did a pretty good job today.

"He was on a different strategy and considering the traffic Michael had, he could not take advantage of the two pitstops, and Felipe could take advantage of one pitstop.

"I was very happy for Felipe. He's under a lot of pressure as well, so it's important that he can score points and he can demonstrate that he's a very good driver."

Massa added: "I wasn't told anything. It was a nice and competitive moment. I'm proud to have kept behind a driver of his stature."

Schumacher said he had no complaints about Massa finishing ahead of him, especially because he was not being held up by the Brazilian.

"He was quick enough to not give me a chance! He didn't make any mistakes and I was not much quicker than him," he said.
Click to expand...

Now personally I'm taking this with a bucket load of salt. Maybe Ferrari are hoping that yesterday's performance is just a one off but it'll be interesting if Filipe manages to keep it up.
 
Well Massa is very aggressive and so is Schummy. Massa managed to lock his front wheel's about 13 times yesterday, thats how hard he was pushing. Schummy just couldnt get past him at the end. He might just have a match now, saying that, Ruben's was more than a match but Schummy last year seemed to have a faster car, this year it doesnt seem that to be the case.

It will be great to see how they battle against each other, like the 2 Williams drivers too. They couuld do some damage this season.
 
Teams were ready to protest Ferrari

Ferrari's rivals were going to officially protest Michael Schumacher's car over the flexi-wing issue after yesterday's Malaysian Grand Prix, before the FIA stepped in to defuse the situation, autosport.com has learned.

Although teams are now waiting for a clarification from the FIA about whether Ferrari's wings are legal, the unhappiness about the situation in Sepang on Sunday morning led eight of Ferrari's competitors to actually lodge an advanced notice of protest.

BMW-Sauber, Honda Racing, Midland, Renault, Toyota, Super Aguri, McLaren and Williams all signed a letter to the stewards of the meeting indicating that they were going to protest Schumacher's car unless action was taken before the race.

In the letter, a copy of which has been obtained by autosport.com, the teams wrote: "The undersigned teams, by means of this document, formally notify the Stewards of the Meeting that they intended to protest against car number 5 driven by M. Schumacher of the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro Team whilst competing in the Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang circuit on the 19 th day of March 2006 unless suitable actions are taken ahead of the race.

"The protest is based on Article 3.15 of the Technical Regulations of the 2006 F.I.A. Formula One World Championship in that the upper forward element of the front wing of car no. 5 is free to move laterally away from the nose of the car thus contravening Article 3.15 and that the rear bodywork is allowed to deflect in a systematic manner in order to improve aerodynamic performance at speed also contravening Article 3.15."

It is understood that after the stewards received the letter, FIA technical delegate Charlie Whiting stepped in to calm the situation and promised the teams that a clarification would be issued before the Australian Grand Prix.

That promise of a clarification was enough for the teams to decide against lodging a protest in Malaysia, although the situation remains uncertain for Australia.

Honda Racing boss Nick Fry said: "The FIA will clarify the situation before we get to Melbourne. That's what we need. All we asked (FIA technical delegate) Charlie Whiting is which interpretation is correct.

"It would be unfortunate if Ferrari's interpretation is said to be right because all the other teams will have to do similar things."

Fry also suggested that two of the eight teams that had signed the letter to the stewards were also running flexi-wing systems and would need to modify their cars if the regulations were changed for the Australian Grand Prix.

Article 3.15 of Formula One's technical regulations outlaws moveable aerodynamic devices The rule states that all parts of the car, apart from pitlane covers and brake ducts, "must comply with the rules relating to bodywork", "must be rigidly secured to the entirely sprung part of the car (rigidly secured means not having any degree of freedom)" and "must remain immobile in relation to the sprung part of the car."

Television images of Ferrari's front wing indicated that it not only flexed at high speed but that it actually moved laterally away from the nose along a sliding pin.
Click to expand...

The full letter from the teams:

protestletter.jpg
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom