2014 FORMULA 1 PETRONAS MALAYSIA GRAND PRIX

[FaultyMario]

One to be raced under unfortunate circumstances.

Sepang had been, I think, the only Tilke circuit to favor the 2009-2013 formula, let's see how the faster in a straight line and aero-limited cars perform here.

Let's hope all teams have made advancements, that Williams is closer to McLaren, and Ferrari and RB can compete at the top, and that Lotus and Sauber get closer to where they left off at the end of last year. It's more entertaining that way.

[Alan P]

http://uk.weather.com/weather/weekend-MYXX0031:1:MY

It's going to rain all weekend. HURRAH!

[Godson]

C'Mon KIMI!!!



Fuck RBR

[balki]

didn't you get teh memo? Bottas is the new kimi

go Valtteris Silberpfeil (wtf, i can never properly get mario's references)

[Godson]

I like Bottas, but I gotta stick with my guy.

[FaultyMario]

All cars in contention for wins are silver arrows at the moment. I, for one, welcome our new German overlords.

[FaultyMario]

All these articles in the press (British press, mostly) about the new noise of F1 not being liked by fans stinks of Bernie's spin. I think the CVC sale is more to blame than the fans or anything else for this unusual focus on such a triviality, specially when most fans HATE the idea of double points, which is kept absent from public forums.

http://joesaward.wordpress.com/2014/03/25/tosh-in-the-papers/

[Freude am Fahren]

Yeah, he probably want to the Aussie GP people and told them to complain (and sue) or he'd find a way to screw them over.

[Blerpa]

I LIKE the engine sound as toned down as it is.
For the first time in AGES you can also hear tyre skids and other sounds instead of just a blaring earpiercing noise.
Fuck petrolheads.

[Freude am Fahren]

Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of the sound, but I don't hate it, and I do like that you can hear other things. The exhaust sound it a bit "farty" and lame, but the whitles and bangs that go with it are cool.

[FaultyMario]

Barring any engine glitch, Lewis should have it the bag.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I do miss the old engine sounds..., but for sure don't care as much as Bernie.

Anyway, looking forward to a rainy race!

[FaultyMario]

Any bets on how fast they'd check at the speed trap?

Or if a Lotus is the first one out?

[samoht]

Barring any engine glitch, Lewis should have it the bag.

Thinking (and personally, hoping) the same. Lets see!

[Godson]

Yeah. I need a better outing than the last race :lol:

[samoht]

I'll be perfectly happy if Lewis continues to 'do a Vettel' all year :-)

[Freude am Fahren]

I think we could see a pretty good battle between all four of the Mercedes and Red Bull drivers by the end of the year. I don't doubt Red Bull will get to where Mercedes is now, but the question is if Mercedes can keep up the progress enough to keep ahead.

Force India and Williams could both play spoilers here and there.

Ferrari and McLaren I suspect will go in slight opposite directions, with McLaren fading a bit behind with Ferrari ending up a solid #3 team by year's end.

[Fiat500]

"Valtteri is faster than you" gave me a chuckle.

[Freude am Fahren]

Yeah, that was excellent.

But was that not Smedley? Didn't he go with Felipe to Williams?

[Alan P]

He is at Williams but not as Filipé Baby's Engineer.

[IMOA]

I'd love to know just what Ricciardo has done to anger the karma gods so much. Two races in, he's driven really well and he's dead last in the championship and has a 10 place grid penalty for Bahrain.

[G'day Mate]

He's taken on the debt of luck Webber ran up in that first race for Minardi.

[Crazed_Insanity]

"Valtteri is faster than you" gave me a chuckle.

Williams' folks should've known such radio communications would trigger deep emotional response from Massa... Probably wasn't the best way to talk to him. It came as no surprise that Massa didn't obey.

Anyway, if Valtteri couldn't pass Massa, most likely he couldn't pass Jenson too.

[Crazed_Insanity]

I'd love to know just what Ricciardo has done to anger the karma gods so much. Two races in, he's driven really well and he's dead last in the championship and has a 10 place grid penalty for Bahrain.

Probably that silly grin or smile on his face. He just looks way too happy... so God also wants to help him exercise his frowning muscles too! ;)

Anyway, he appears to be talented enough... I'm sure sooner or later he'll shine.

[Random]

I'd love to know just what Ricciardo has done to anger the karma gods so much. Two races in, he's driven really well and he's dead last in the championship and has a 10 place grid penalty for Bahrain.

He's the number 2 driver at RB--comes with the job description. ;)

[overpowered]

Anyway, if Valtteri couldn't pass Massa, most likely he couldn't pass Jenson too.Indeed.

As I almost always say, let them race. It's rare and special cases where I think team orders to give way are OK. This wasn't one of them. If he couldn't pass Massa, I have a hard time imagining him being able to pass Button.

Saying it like that was severely insulting too. If I were Massa I'd badly want to punch whomever said it in the face. That was the last time he was in a position to actually win a race.

[Godson]

He's the number 2 driver at RB--comes with the job description. ;)

Ouch.

[Blerpa]

Massa believed that Valtteri wouldn't have done much better to catch up Jenson as the finn struggled to downright clearly pass him (aside from team orders) AND the team would get the same amount of points no matter if they switched or not. That's very smooth thinking by an experienced driver.

Williams sheepishly replied they didn't like Massa's way to approach the matter and they said they would have let Bottas try to pass Jenson and in case that came to nothing they would have ordered the finn to switch places with Massa in the second last or last lap. Yeah, Sure. ROFL.

[FaultyMario]

Thinking (and personally, hoping) the same. Lets see!

Not just won, He Grand Chelem'd it too.
Sepang International is a bitch and he spanked it.

[tigeraid]

Well isn't that fancy.

http://jalopnik.com/mercedes-f1s-secret-is-it-split-its-turbo-in-half-1558154190


As Sky F1 reports, Mercedes has split its turbo in half. The turbine that takes the hot exhaust gas is at the back of the V6 and the turbine that compresses the cool air is at the front of the engine. The two are linked by some kind of complicated shaft running through the vee of the engine. I mean, I say it must be complicated, because noone else has figured out how to do this, so it's got to be complicated.7891011

There are two key advantages for this, as Sky F1 explains. The first is that the cool turbine up front stays cooler since it's now far away from the hot exhaust turbine in the back. This means that Mercedes doesn't need as big an intercooler to keep the compressed air going into the engine cool. That means they can package the car tighter around the engine, making it more aerodynamic.

Mercedes can also package their transmission closer to the center of the car. The gearbox sits behind the engine, and now it has more room since there's only half a turbo back there taking up space.

[Freude am Fahren]

I would think that last bit is a bit off. The space between the bulkhead/fuel tank, whatever is in front of the PU, and the gearbox would be the same. The block of the engine would just be moved back a bit. Right? So actually I would imagine that you'd have a bit more weight aft of center. Unless the compressor sits in a space that is otherwise wasted in a traditional setup.

Also, I don't think it would be that complicated a shaft. Afterall, there is already some kind of shaft there for the MGU-H. I think it's one of those, "why didn't we think of that" things rather than "how did they think of that." Still very neat.

Also is this Mercedes the team, or do all Mercedes powered teams have the same packaging for the PU? I actually haven't checked, do the Engine suppliers make the whole PU, or is some of the ERS up to the team? KERS was made by the teams in the past, right?

Also, you can bet Honda is already doing this for next years engine, if McLaren has that same setup.

[Random]

Reading at another forum, the complicated part about the shaft is keeping it straight and in one piece at 150,000 rpm.

[Freude am Fahren]

True. Gearing?