Another session completed now, and the formbook that was thrown out the window can probably now be retrieved as the relative performances are beginning to reflect the pace in Melbourne with a whole lot of silver machinery towards the front. As the colourful worlds of Red Bull and Ferrari are a little further back on where they would like to be especially in the rumour filled world of Felipe Massa. Which brings the now warmer residence of Lotus back into the frame for an outside shout of scoring highly in those FIA points, which for some reason are rated above the bonus points here.
One thing to point out is that Coulthard still reckons that the session was taking place in Kuala Lumpur for some reason, there are more places in Malaysia D.C., the fact that the event is set in Sepang should be a slight clue there. We had this problem last year as well, which is all very odd considering the track made it's début in 1999 and has been in the same place for each event... Schumacher has been multiple champion in that time, took some time off and came back the track still hasn't moved to KL in that time. I reckon it's the heat that's got to them, it's become so warm back in the Lotus hospitality suite, where they've managed to set fire to a fridge. While Webber has clearly been taking a leaf from Raikkonen's Malaysia cuisine manual and gone for the ices, looking like orange flavour - not what I'd have opted for but he is Australian afterall.
Culinary preferences aside there was a qualifying session taking place this morning, there was a victor, and some bonus points will be awarded, and this is how things played out, from the BBC highlights show as sky still have control this weekend. But I have managed to borrow a Sky powered TV for the live session in the morning so a rather early start and a hike, but for now here is qualifying..
Qualifying
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| Points leader One-Stop Perez credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk |
The first session was started by the powersliding Force India of Paul Di Resta beating Charles Pic to the track and setting a fairly average but sensible opening time, a time which naturally didn't last too long, in the hands of stronger competition. It was Kimi Raikkonen powered by a fury of loosing his Ice Cream stash in the fridge fire, who took the lead position, knocking a whole second off the time set by the Scot. Further down the grid we actually saw an HRT moving round the track without being painfully slow, showing that once more that their season actually starts at round two. But still finishing behind Marussia and a week behind division leaders Caterham - at least they qualified, for the first time.
There was a bit of a battle brewing towards the front trying to claim initial supremacy - Hamilton took the Q1 pole position but was beaten by the Mercedes of Rosberg who was in turn beaten by the former all dominant German Bloke. Life was just as competitive on the edge of the relegation zone as Bruno Senna, and was duelling with the Torro Rosso's over who would be joining the division three in sitting out the next sessions. As the session developed it was Jean-Eric Vergne who ended up in the relegation spot, but at the oposite end of the timesheets Mark Webber made a late run to claim the top time 0.4s out front.
Moving onto Q2, seven cars down - all seven of which are allowed on the grid this week, and it was One-Stop Perez the current bonus points leader who took to the track first, getting a little sideways under-breaking into turn four. Not to be out done Maldonado decided to experiment with the scenery, at least here there was no solid green concrete walls to hit this time. Told you that those decreasing radius corners were a force of evil, and they sent the Williams into the gravel, taking some damage to the barge-boards but the team fixed the car and Pastor got back out.
Back at the sharp end, it was Ice Cream fuelled Raikkonen was putting his car back up front hopefully in an effort to win enough money for another fridge back at Lotus HQ. Just ahead of the two McLarens, as the two Mercedes cars were lurking outside the top ten so for a while Force India and Williams had a car in the top ten. Also in relegation was the struggling Ferrari of Felipe Massa, who was a long way of the pace of the rest of the grid - yet only four tenths behind Alonso indicating the weak pace of the team as a whole. Schumacher and Rosberg both managed move into the shoot-out, bringing Melbourne qualifying star Grosjean along with Perez too. That left Massa in relegation in 12th along with the Force India's, Ricciardo, Kobayashi and both Williams.
And then there was only ten, filtering out the top four teams to be McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull and Lotus this weekend and dominating the time sheets. Still seemingly without Ice Cream - Raikkonen took to the circuit first in the Lotus with Jenson next up. Kimi's opening lap was brilliant, sideways more often then not proving the little vacation in the world of Rallying has trained him well - and the final time wasn't too bad either. Sadly Ice Cream Raikkonen was defeated by Jenson by a couple of tenths, only for that time to be destroyed for a second race in succession by his team-mate Hamilton, finding more time than it seems possible.
Behind them it was a lot closer with Mercedes competing with Red-Bull and Lotus and as they fought each other their times were closing in on those of the leading McLarens - to the point where Schumacher placed his car on the front row, under two tenths off pole. A gap which Jenson managed to fill with his McLaren to claim a second consecutive front row lock-out, and Red Bull lined up behind Michael with Webber in front. However Vettel is playing a very interesting game starting the race on the harder compound tyre which is a shrewd plan indeed, benefiting from a gear-box change penalty applied to Ice Cream Raikkonen. Meaning that Grosjean will be the highest placed Lotus again, on an almost identical time to Rosberg's Mercedes ahead of Alonso in a struggling Ferrari and One-Stop Perez in 10th,
Bonus points winners
At the conclusion of the second qualifying session of the season, although that was a long time ago now, it is taking a little longer than normal for some reason, but without further delay here are the points for Malaysian Grand Prix Qualifying Session.
10pts - Kimi Raikkonen - For winning Q2 and that was a very entertaining Q1 lap as well
6pts - Lewis Hamilton - For being strong again claiming pole on the first run of the shootout, but loses out for being a more boring than Kimi.
4pts - Michael Schumacher - For fully exploiting the pace of the Mercedes and returning to a former pace
3pts - Lotus GP - Managing to set fire to a fridge in the most humid climate of the season gets points
2pts - HRT - For managing to qualify inside the 107% rule albeit 1.7s behind the Marussia cars
1pts - Paul Di Resta - Albeit not in qualifying but the epic slide in turn five deserves a point.
Additionally everyone was rather well behaved so far this weekend, with the only penalty for technical difficulties in the Lotus camp for Kimi who needs a new gearbox. A similar problem hit Kobayashi earlier in the weekend but no penalty was applied, at that point in the event, but no driving based dubious dealings going on. So there is no need to roll out the other tables at this point in proceedings.
Looking to tomorrow
Another race out in the east means a other early morning start, and as I'm borrowing a feed for the live showing so likely be encountering the fog gripping the nation at the moment. It's a good thing there is an entertaining prospect waiting for us all at the morning hours of the day, the cars are closer on the timesheets than they were last week. We have four teams running really well towards the front, oddly enough not containing Ferrari at the moment who have fallen back on raw pace in comparison to Australia. In amongst the competition there is the alternate strategy that Sebastien Vettel is running with using the harder tyres for the opening stint.
The mid-field oddly enough have spread out a little, as Torro Rosso have been filtered down the order a little along with Force India and Williams have been a little further back from the first division opening up a gulf we were seeing last year between the top team and everyone else. We also have a first in 2012 as HRT join the grid, but their speed is rather woeful in comparison to the other cars so could turn into an obstacle to the other drivers rather than anything else.
There is one other major element to consider in preparation to the race tomorrow and that is the Malaysian climate in Sepang - not KL DC - it's like deciding blog HQ is in Northumberland, which it isnt... But geography aside the weather can play a very interesting role in the events, and the monsoon nature of the area might be a problem for Lotus as Kimi no longer has a fridge for his red flag desert menu. If the race does stay green in the event of some rain then what can be an underwhelming track can produce an overwhelming race. So until next time this is farewell from blog HQ.
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