F1: Sepang *****Spoiler*****

[imcarthur]

Malaysian Formula 1 GP grid AFTER penalties

1st row

Jenson Button (GBR/Brawn)
Jarno Trulli (ITA/Toyota)

2nd row

Timo Glock (GER/Toyota)
Nico Rosberg (GER/Williams)

3rd row

Mark Webber (AUS/Red Bull)
Robert Kubica (POL/BMW)

4th row

Kimi Raikkonen (FIN/Ferrari)
Fernando Alonso (ESP/Renault)

5th row

Rubens Barrichello (BRA/Brawn)
Nick Heidfeld (GER/BMW Sauber)

6th row

Kazuki Nakajima (JPN/Williams)
Lewis Hamilton (GBR/McLaren)

7th row

Sebastian Vettel (GER/Red Bull)
Heikki Kovalainen (FIN/McLaren)

8th row

Sebastien Bourdais (FRA/Toro Rosso)
Felipe Massa (BRA/Ferrari)

9th row

Nelson Piquet Jr (BRA/Renault)
Giancarlo Fisichella (ITA/Force India)

10th row

Adrian Sutil (GER/Force India)
Sebastien Buemi (SUI/Toro Rosso)

Malaysian Formula 1 GP qualifying times at Sepang on Saturday

Final qualifying (BEFORE grid penalties)

1 Jenson Button (GBR) Brawn - 1min35.181
2 Jarno Trulli (ITA) Toyota - 1min35.273
3 Sebastian Vettel (GER) Red Bull - 1min35.518
4 Rubens Barrichello (BRA) Brawn - 1min35.651
5 Timo Glock (GER) Toyota - 1min35.690
6 Nico Rosberg (GER) Williams - 1min35.750
7 Mark Webber (AUS) Red Bull - 1min35.797
8 Robert Kubica (POL) BMW - 1min36.106
9 Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Ferrari - 1min36.170
10 Fernando Alonso (ESP) Renault - 1min37.659

-----------------------------------

Button does it again. And Hamilton gets a fine for pit lane speeding . . .

Ian

[sammyg2]

Ferrari choked big time by not sending Massa back out in Q1.
Someone better be updating his resume.

What do ya think about Kimi hinting that he's gonna retire after this year?

[Monza_dh]

If Toyota and Brawn continue this pace, Honda is going to look sooooo stupid for pulling out.

[tsiegwart]

Is the Mercedes motor making a big difference as well as the chassis? That's what I'm trying to figure out. Would Brawn being doing as well with Honda motors? I don't know.

Anyway this is going to be a very fun season to watch.

[Jims5543]

1. Jenson Button, Brawn GP, 660kg
2. Jarno Trulli, Toyota, 656.5
3. Timo Glock, Toyota, 656.5
4. Nico Rosberg, Williams, 656
5. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 656
6. Robert Kubica, BMW-Sauber, 663
7. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 662.5
8. Rubens Barrichello, Brawn, 664.5
9. Fernando Alonso, Renault, 680.5
10. Nick Heidfeld, BMW-Sauber, 692
11. Kazuki Nakajima,Williams, 683.4
12. Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 688
13. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 647
14. Heikki Kovalainen, McLaren, 688.9
15. Sebastien Bourdais, Toro Rosso, 670.5
16. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 689.5
17. Nelson Piquet, Renault, 681.9
18. Giancarlo Fisichella, Force India, 680.5
19. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 655.5
20. Sebastien Buemi, Toro Rosso, 686.5

[Doug E]

Should be interesting to see how Toyota responds from a strategy standpoint given the heavier fuel load Jenson appears to be carrying.

It would also be fascinating to see what type of comparable times JB would pull if they could just drop the Honda engine back in. That would definately tell us how much of the improvement this year is chasis vs. engine

Anybody else catch that comment during the broadcast this morning that Ferrari said it would cost them 20M to redesign the car for a new diffuser ? I don't understand how that could be the case.

[fumanchu]

I thought Raikkonen would be heavier, Ferrari is good on the soft tire though. Ferrari management dropped the ball on Massa, quite ridiculous really.

Another variable.....Wait for the rain to come and reward the lighter cars which may need to pit early to pick up rain tires (Vettel). Should be a good one likely with carnage.

[Stanley]

BBC live feed: http://www.justin.tv ....Something to think about, Brawn GP have not tested in the rain.

Edit: feed is here now http://www.justin.tv/dragon_blades

[Won]

What a strange race.

Kimi eating his ice cream before the official finish of the race was priceless.

Anyone else notice the lack of "watch show" during the interviews?

[Jims5543]

I hope Bernie is happy pandering to the EU audience to the detriment of the drivers.

Last week they had to deal with horrible sunlight and dusk setting in. This week they threw away what could have been a great race running so late and having to deal with rain and darkness.


Congrats to Braun GP for another good showing.

[imcarthur]

Congrats to Button. I want the other half of the race . . . I feel cheated somehow.

Ian

[Zeke]

For the first time I criticize the announcers. They interrupt each other constantly and don't really know what's going on. With the new rules/cars, they need to be there and in booth overlooking the track like the old days.

There is so much passing going on that I couldn't keep track. That's their job, isn't it?

[legion]

Boring race.

We'll have to wait until tomorrow to see what the final results really are. Or maybe the middle of the week.

[jyl]

Well, that was turning into a spanking good race - until it was stopped. I loved the teams scrambling with tire choice, there was tons of passing, and thankfully no one was taken out by stupid accidents.

I agree with the complaints about the late start time for TV purposes, which meant that it was getting too dark to restart. However, I'm not sure if the two-hour maximum time rule would have allowed anything more than a few more laps anyway?

Happy to see Button win another one for Brawn. I'd like to see Trulli give Toyota its first win. And my new project is Webber.

The Red Bull cars are darned nice - fast and pretty (from the side anyway). Webber has always been a good driver, well-spoken, never had winning equipment. I am rooting for him to win some races this year. Really nice tussle with Hamilton today.

[Aerkuld]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

... I want the other half of the race . . . I feel cheated somehow.

Yeah, tell me about it. Like Jim said, I hope Bernie's happy. I'd be really pissed if I'd bought a ticket to watch half a race. By messing around with the race time like that I think he might end up shooting himself in the foot.


Which would be nice.

[VincentVega]

x2

I thought it was very exciting, not boring at all. Well, until it was stopped at least. Weber and Hamilton were going at it more in 1 lap than most cars in any race the past few years. The tire game was interesting to say the least, especially for Kimi. I assumed his tires would go off in a few laps, he was dog slow with the wets.

[450knotOffice]

I enjoyed the race...until the monsoon started anyway and everyone parked.

[sammyg2]

Ferrari screwed massa in qualifying, and screwed kimi with the full wets long before it started raining. he was 30 seconds a lap slower than anyone else and he stayed out. 30 seconds is less than the time it takes to pull in and get different tires, so he was basically taking a pit stop on every lap.

I'm no F1 pro but I bet I could make better racing decisions than they did this weekend. They just look like amateurs.

[DaveE]

There's got to be some shake-up at Ferrari. Their decision-making sucks. It's a far cry from the days of Jean Todt and Ross Brawn.

[t951]

F1 needs a major shake up...

Bernie E....he needs to go away.
The Ferrari team is clearly asleep at the wheel.
McLaren has oodles of troubles.

I want F1 to be unrestricted, the rules that are leading to a spec series in the future need to go away. Allow pure engineering to win (it is amazing what they do now, but imagine if they were unrestricted!!)

I do have to say though, this weekend was interesting. I wish it had gone the distance.