2009 Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix

Hamilton won three out of the five wet races last year (if you count Belgium). He's the rain meister.
 
He is good in the rain, but will his current car be as good in the rain as last years car was?
 
stiggles said:
Seb's got a 10-place penalty for the racing incident at Melbourne.
Click to expand...

Which I thinks makes it a lot more likely for him to qualify in pole position as he will need to have an aggressive strategy so he isn't too far down the grid.
 
DaHitch said:
He is good in the rain, but will his current car be as good in the rain as last years car was?
Click to expand...

I think it will. The McLaren looks good, and it appears stable on the circuit, it's just slow. Rain is a great leveller - even Schumacher was able to drag out some awesome wet weather victories in 1996.
 
but it also enhances the need for downforce doesn't it? and with McLaren having lower downforce than everyone else, and KERS, I don't know if they will find the grip to utilize it or stay with the others. They may just end up spinning their wheels, when using KERS
 
I don't think McLaren will score any points in Malaysia.

My reasoning being, if it doesn't rain, the car will be hopelessly inadequate.

If it does rain, and the McLaren's qualify in the midpack, there is a high likelihood of there being a clusterfuck in the first corner, of which the Maccas will be a part of.

I'm crossing my fingers, but I don't see any other situation being too likely :(.
 
Cold Fussion said:
If it rains, I put money on a Hamilton victory.
Click to expand...

Yeah, if it rains he's got no competition. He can storm through the field in the rain like no one else...

And mclarensmps, Lewis is always really cautious the first few laps in the rain for that reason. I think he'll be fine. I'm really hoping for some rain...
 
Last edited:
Partial rain during the race might actually be a blessing in disguise for the teams since softs have never been used at Malaysia and will likely be usesless for anything other than a hot lap.
If it rains during the beginning of the race and dries out later the teams can just stick to the hard compound.
 
DaHitch said:
Partial rain during the race might actually be a blessing in disguise for the teams since softs have never been used at Malaysia and will likely be usesless for anything other than a hot lap.
If it rains during the beginning of the race and dries out later the teams can just stick to the hard compound.
Click to expand...

Very true because teams only have to use both dry compounds if it's totally dry.

As for Hamilton winning if it rains: while he is very good in wet conditions, I don't think the car is good enough to allow him to do much. I think a podium is possible, but unlikely.
 
I think the Brawn might actually be even stronger in the rain because it is so balanced and seemingly easy to drive, and Button is a fantastic wet weather driver.
 
DaHitch said:
Partial rain during the race might actually be a blessing in disguise for the teams since softs have never been used at Malaysia and will likely be usesless for anything other than a hot lap.
If it rains during the beginning of the race and dries out later the teams can just stick to the hard compound.
Click to expand...

I don't think bridgestone is bringing the same supersoft to Malaysia are they? I forgot what the tyre allocation was (they have already announced them all), but seeing how they performed in Australia, it would be borderline dangerous to use them in such a hot place as Malaysia (or Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Brazil...)
 
mclarensmps said:
I don't think bridgestone is bringing the same supersoft to Malaysia are they? I forgot what the tyre allocation was (they have already announced them all), but seeing how they performed in Australia, it would be borderline dangerous to use them in such a hot place as Malaysia (or Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and Brazil...)
Click to expand...

They are bringing the softs rather than the supersofts.
 
I'm pretty sure this whole tire mayhem gives the teams a big head ache as one set in completely useless, but it does cause allot of overtaking so im all for it.

As for the race, if it rains I expect Hamilton and Alonso to shine but lets not forget Button AND Barrichelo, those are 2 very good wet drivers in the best car on the grid...RB made like 10 places some race last year for simply making the correct tire choice and Button is known to have very good throttle control in the wet, don't forget his only victory till now was in the wet in a crazy ass race in Hungary. Brawn will look good in the wet as well as the drivers are not a couple of morons.
 
Sepang requires hard tyres so we'll have soft and hard compounds.

Bridgestone's Hirohide Hamashima said that we should expect that teams will have problems with soft tyres like in Australia.

Of course if there will be rain this wouldn't be an issue.
 
Question are you required to run both compounds like last year?...I honestly think it's stupid, but the track was quite green throughout the sessions in OZ..
 
Basically all the teams are going to run with five laps of fuel in Q3, go out on the softer compound tyres, get them out of the way, and then do two more stints.
 
One lap on the crap tyres and in I say - stupid and dangerous rule, they should just have the choice of two tyres, wet and dry use as necessary, end of story.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top