The Official 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix Thread **Spoilers**
Discussion
Sepang International Circuit, Friday 30 September - Sunday 02 October 2016
F1 is back in Malaysia for the 16th race of the season. Following his third win in a row, Nico Rosberg carries an 8 point championship lead over Lewis Hamilton. Ricciardo is sitting comfortably in third place in the drivers championship after a run of podium finishes. Raikkonen is closing the gap to Vettel in recent weeks, with now only 5 points separating them.
Meanwhile in the constructor's championship, Red Bull will be looking to extend their 15 point cushion over Ferrari. Force India and Williams will continue the battle for fourth place, only one point between them, with McLaren looking to maintain their small gap back to Toro Rosso.
Malaysia can throw up some interesting challenges with extreme heat and chance of rain, this will hopefully make for an interesting race. Vettel won here last year from 2nd on the grid and will no doubt be looking to replicate that success.
All sessions are live on both Sky F1 and Channel 4
Live timing for all sessions will appear here;
http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/f1-...
Info such as lap times, PU use, technical reports, stewards decisions etc for the weekend will appear here;
http://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula-one-world-ch...
http://www.myweather2.com/Motor-Racing/Malaysia/Se...
Tyre compounds available for the weekend are soft, medium and hard.
Under 2016 rules, drivers must have two sets of hards available for the Sepang race, and must use at least one of them.
Each driver will also have to save one set of softs for the Q3 qualifying session. This set will be given back to Pirelli after Q3 for those who qualify in the top 10, but the remaining drivers will keep it for the race.
The teams are free to choose the 10 remaining sets per driver permitted from the three available compounds, making up 13 sets in total for the weekend. The tyre choices requested by the teams:
More info from Pirelli
Fastest Race Lap: 1:42.062 (L43, N. Rosberg; Mercedes)
Overview
F1 is back in Malaysia for the 16th race of the season. Following his third win in a row, Nico Rosberg carries an 8 point championship lead over Lewis Hamilton. Ricciardo is sitting comfortably in third place in the drivers championship after a run of podium finishes. Raikkonen is closing the gap to Vettel in recent weeks, with now only 5 points separating them.
Meanwhile in the constructor's championship, Red Bull will be looking to extend their 15 point cushion over Ferrari. Force India and Williams will continue the battle for fourth place, only one point between them, with McLaren looking to maintain their small gap back to Toro Rosso.
Malaysia can throw up some interesting challenges with extreme heat and chance of rain, this will hopefully make for an interesting race. Vettel won here last year from 2nd on the grid and will no doubt be looking to replicate that success.
Session Timings
All sessions are live on both Sky F1 and Channel 4
Session | Day | Sky F1 | Channel 4 | Session Start | Local Time |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Practice 1 | Fri | 0245 | 0255 | 0300 | 1000 |
Practice 2 | Fri | 0645 | 0655 | 0700 | 1400 |
Practice 3 | Sat | 0645 | 0655 | 0700 | 1400 |
Qualifying | Sat | 0900 | 0900 | 1000 | 1700 |
Race | Sun | 0630 | 0700 | 0800 | 1500 |
Race Info
Live Timing
Live timing for all sessions will appear here;
http://www.formula1.com/content/fom-website/en/f1-...
FIA Info
Info such as lap times, PU use, technical reports, stewards decisions etc for the weekend will appear here;
http://www.fia.com/events/fia-formula-one-world-ch...
Weather
http://www.myweather2.com/Motor-Racing/Malaysia/Se...
Session | Comment | Air Temp (°C) | Cloud Cover | Rainfall (mm) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Practice 1 | Sunny Skies | 34 | 24% | 0.0 |
Practice 2 | Partly Cloudy Skies | 36 | 32% | 0.0 |
Practice 3 | Partly Cloudy Skies | 37 | 29% | 0.1 |
Qualifying | Sunny Skies | 37 | 20% | 0.1 |
Race | Patchy Rain Possible | 36 | 32% | 0.5 |
Tyres
Tyre compounds available for the weekend are soft, medium and hard.
Under 2016 rules, drivers must have two sets of hards available for the Sepang race, and must use at least one of them.
Each driver will also have to save one set of softs for the Q3 qualifying session. This set will be given back to Pirelli after Q3 for those who qualify in the top 10, but the remaining drivers will keep it for the race.
The teams are free to choose the 10 remaining sets per driver permitted from the three available compounds, making up 13 sets in total for the weekend. The tyre choices requested by the teams:
Tyre selection per driver
More info from Pirelli
2015 Grand Prix
Qualifying
Pos. | No. | DRIVER | TEAM | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 44 | LEWIS HAMILTON | MERCEDES | 1:39.269 | 1:41.517 | 1:49.834 | 13 |
2 | 5 | SEBASTIAN VETTEL | FERRARI | 1:39.814 | 1:39.632 | 1:49.908 | 13 |
3 | 6 | NICO ROSBERG | MERCEDES | 1:39.374 | 1:39.377 | 1:50.299 | 13 |
4 | 3 | DANIEL RICCIARDO | RED BULL RACING | 1:40.504 | 1:41.085 | 1:51.541 | 16 |
5 | 26 | DANIIL KVYAT | RED BULL RACING | 1:40.546 | 1:41.665 | 1:51.951 | 16 |
6 | 33 | MAX VERSTAPPEN | TORO ROSSO | 1:40.793 | 1:41.430 | 1:51.981 | 16 |
7 | 19 | FELIPE MASSA | WILLIAMS | 1:40.543 | 1:41.230 | 1:52.473 | 17 |
8 | 8 | ROMAIN GROSJEAN | LOTUS | 1:40.303 | 1:41.209 | 1:52.981 | 18 |
9 | 77 | VALTTERI BOTTAS | WILLIAMS | 1:40.249 | 1:40.650 | 1:53.179 | 14 |
10 | 9 | MARCUS ERICSSON | SAUBER | 1:40.340 | 1:41.748 | 1:53.261 | 18 |
11 | 7 | KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN | FERRARI | 1:40.415 | 1:42.173 | 7 | |
12 | 13 | PASTOR MALDONADO | LOTUS | 1:40.361 | 1:42.198 | 11 | |
13 | 27 | NICO HULKENBERG | FORCE INDIA | 1:40.830 | 1:43.023 | 9 | |
14 | 11 | SERGIO PEREZ | FORCE INDIA | 1:41.036 | 1:43.469 | 11 | |
15 | 55 | CARLOS SAINZ | TORO ROSSO | 1:39.814 | 1:43.701 | 9 | |
16 | 12 | FELIPE NASR | SAUBER | 1:41.308 | 7 | ||
17 | 22 | JENSON BUTTON | MCLAREN | 1:41.636 | 8 | ||
18 | 14 | FERNANDO ALONSO | MCLAREN | 1:41.746 | 8 | ||
NC | 98 | ROBERTO MERHI | MANOR | 1:46.677 | 7 |
Race
Pos. | Driver | Nat. | Team | Time | Grid | Points |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | SEBASTIAN VETTEL | GER | FERRARI | 1:41:05.793 | 2 | 25 |
2 | LEWIS HAMILTON | GBR | MERCEDES | +8.569s | 1 | 18 |
3 | NICO ROSBERG | GER | MERCEDES | +12.310s | 3 | 15 |
4 | KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN | FIN | FERRARI | +53.822s | 11 | 12 |
5 | VALTTERI BOTTAS | FIN | WILLIAMS | +70.409s | 9 | 10 |
6 | FELIPE MASSA | BRA | WILLIAMS | +73.586s | 7 | 8 |
7 | MAX VERSTAPPEN | NED | TORO ROSSO | +97.762s | 6 | 6 |
8 | CARLOS SAINZ | ESP | TORO ROSSO | +1 lap | 15 | 4 |
9 | DANIIL KVYAT | RUS | RED BULL RACING | +1 lap | 5 | 2 |
10 | DANIEL RICCIARDO | AUS | RED BULL RACING | +1 lap | 4 | 1 |
11 | ROMAIN GROSJEAN | FRA | LOTUS | +1 lap | 8 | 0 |
12 | FELIPE NASR | BRA | SAUBER | +1 lap | 16 | 0 |
13 | SERGIO PEREZ | MEX | FORCE INDIA | +1 lap | 14 | 0 |
14 | NICO HULKENBERG | GER | FORCE INDIA | +1 lap | 13 | 0 |
15 | ROBERTO MERHI | ESP | MANOR | +3 laps | 19 | 0 |
NC | PASTOR MALDONADO | VEN | LOTUS | DNF | 12 | 0 |
NC | JENSON BUTTON | GBR | MCLAREN | DNF | 17 | 0 |
NC | FERNANDO ALONSO | ESP | MCLAREN | DNF | 18 | 0 |
NC | MARCUS ERICSSON | SWE | SAUBER | DNF | 10 | 0 |
Fastest Race Lap: 1:42.062 (L43, N. Rosberg; Mercedes)
Edited by rsbmw on Tuesday 20th September 12:57
Edited by rsbmw on Tuesday 27th September 08:38
Edited by rsbmw on Tuesday 27th September 10:35
Taking a look at previous compound announcements, it seems they mandate two sets of tyres that must be available for the race, of which one must be used. In this case both nominated sets are hard, rather than two different compounds.
Not sure I see the point myself, just limits strategy options. Probably pushes it towards a one stop race as well, since you would expect the hard to last a while.
Not sure I see the point myself, just limits strategy options. Probably pushes it towards a one stop race as well, since you would expect the hard to last a while.
I'm going to be in KL for a few days prior to the race weekend - I fly out on the Thursday evening - does anyone know of, or where I can find out about, any F1 events happening within the city prior to the race weekend? There are usually some local publicity events in the days up to a Grand Prix weekend and was thinking may be worth seeing if close by.
I would have thought that Mercedes may have something planned given the Petronas links?
I would have thought that Mercedes may have something planned given the Petronas links?
Good one, OP.
The track was resurfaced quite a bit since 2015, so learning the tyre behaviour will be important. Looks the like weather forecast for the practice is not ideal for this. Looking at the track temps forecast, if ambient in the mid 30 C, track temp is around mid to high 40 C. Not quite as hot as 2015 when the track temps were in the mid to high 50 C. This was when Ferrari came into its own, so I'd expect a more natural running order for the coming race weekend. Hopefully the teams won't have warm up problems with the Hard tyre as it is a compulsory tyre for this GP.
If a dry race, a team that can get good pace out of the Hard tyre is likely to do well, although historically teams don't seem to like this tyre all that much so tend to relegate to one stint. Since the hardest tyre is compulsory, a 2-stop will be the norm but there's no big difference between a 2-stopper and 3-stopper, so interesting strategy variations will be on display.
The track was resurfaced quite a bit since 2015, so learning the tyre behaviour will be important. Looks the like weather forecast for the practice is not ideal for this. Looking at the track temps forecast, if ambient in the mid 30 C, track temp is around mid to high 40 C. Not quite as hot as 2015 when the track temps were in the mid to high 50 C. This was when Ferrari came into its own, so I'd expect a more natural running order for the coming race weekend. Hopefully the teams won't have warm up problems with the Hard tyre as it is a compulsory tyre for this GP.
If a dry race, a team that can get good pace out of the Hard tyre is likely to do well, although historically teams don't seem to like this tyre all that much so tend to relegate to one stint. Since the hardest tyre is compulsory, a 2-stop will be the norm but there's no big difference between a 2-stopper and 3-stopper, so interesting strategy variations will be on display.
Some info from the McLaren preview:
Pirelli say that the track is less bumpy and smoother in terms of surface roughness than previously, and this will impact on the overall tyre degradation levels. Still they reckon a 3-stopper is expected.
Distance to Turn One | 600m/0.373 miles |
---|---|
Longest straight | 920m/0.572 miles, on the approach to Turn 15 |
Top speed | 330km/h/205mph, on the approach to Turn 15 |
Pitlane length | 420m/0.261 miles, estimated time loss 24s |
Full throttle | 65 per cent, with the longest period of full throttle being 12s |
Key corner | Turn 14, a tightening, understeer-inducing right-hander that loads up the outside tyres. It’s important to get the car into the apex and get the power down early because the longest straight on the lap follows, along which there is the second DRS zone |
Fastest corner | 260km/h (162mph), Turn Five |
Slowest corner | 70km/h (43mph), Turn Two |
Major changes for 2016 | The circuit has been re-surfaced since last year and more than half of the corners have new kerbs and improved drainage. The camber at Turn Nine has been altered, and, most significantly, Turn 15 has been re-profiled to make it slower, in an effort to encourage overtaking |
Fuel consumption | 1.79 per lap, which is average |
ERS demands | Low. There are several slow corners, out of which electrical power has an impact on acceleration, but there are eight significant braking events around the lap where energy can be recovered |
Brake wear | Medium. Only 15 per cent of the lap is spent braking |
Gear changes | 57 per lap/3,192 per race |
Pirelli say that the track is less bumpy and smoother in terms of surface roughness than previously, and this will impact on the overall tyre degradation levels. Still they reckon a 3-stopper is expected.
Dr Z said:
Pirelli say that the track is less bumpy and smoother in terms of surface roughness than previously, and this will impact on the overall tyre degradation levels. Still they reckon a 3-stopper is expected.
with soft, medium and hard tyres available and the new track surface I wouldn't be at all surprised if most teams were erring towards a two stop by the end of FP3.Most of the drivers do not seem keen on the hard though - with only two sets available that would mean using one set for all the practice and one in the race. Manageable, but perhaps not ideal. I guess they are expecting it to be a slower tyre and plan on using it for the last stint only, when the race will be largely just processing around so setup won't be that important.
30 place grid penalty for Alonso, due to testing a new engine this weekend
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/37503760
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/37503760
rsbmw said:
30 place grid penalty for Alonso, due to testing a new engine this weekend
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/37503760
Hope it's an improvement.http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/37503760
Always wondered why honda/mclaren haven't said stuff the penalties and just gone for outright development every race.
Gary C said:
rsbmw said:
30 place grid penalty for Alonso, due to testing a new engine this weekend
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/37503760
Hope it's an improvement.http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/37503760
Always wondered why honda/mclaren haven't said stuff the penalties and just gone for outright development every race.
All that said, it would never be tolerated by those governing the sport or competitors, I'd say that's the main reason.
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