No times from FP2?
Safe to say practice has been a bit of a disaster all round. Looks like Quali and Race set up is going to be mixed up nicely. That should spice things up a bit!
I heard that Merc struggling,and Ferrari fastest? if it rains Max and Ricci should be entertaining too.
Is this for real? I hope this is a joke or Haas has a screw loose. 295k of damage is actually surprisingly cheap for all the customized carbon fibre damage incurred.
McLaren was faster than Merc. Ferrari were 1.5 secs + clear of Hamilton. Had things held together in Singapore, it may have been Ferrari emerging in solid control of the WDC after this weekend. If form holds through the weekend, things still may get interesting.
FP2 was a strong signal: Ferrari>Cans>Merc Unless Mercs were sandbagging it looks like damage control for the Mercs. Again. I thought they'd dominate but somebody mentioned the tight turn combos suiting Ferrari and the well balanced RBs more. Seems to be the case. Add to that rain and we have ourselves a great race to look forward to. Thanks for Tivo.
Mecs not sandbagging. Toto has declared internal emergency and they need to work over night to sort the Mercs out. Cause of poor performance not understood. Great news!
This Merc's suspension arrangement just doesn't like some circuits, it is a very hot or cold car with nothing between. Fickle on courses with tight slower turns.
Haas gets free pass to break curfew after 17G Grosjean shunt https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/haas-grosjean-crash-malaysia-repair-959147/ … via @motorsport
The diva strikes again for Mercedes. Rain will be the ultimate diva for the entire grid. Entertaining should be the order of the day. The order of the grid should be interesting.
From Autosport + headline/title -- The puzzle confounding Mercedes in Malaysia Ferrari starred, Red Bull looked strong and Mercedes floundered in practice at Sepang. That was a surprise result given Mercedes was expected to lead the way, and there's no obvious answer either
Interesting review and gossip via SKY if you have not seen it. They might as well rename Williams to Stroll after reading the piece on Kubica and Williams. Pathetic that mess is - http://www.skysports.com/f1/news/12430/11058557/malaysia-gp-what-you-may-have-missed-during-friday-practice
I still wouldnt be surprised to see a Merc on pole. Really a shame we threw away all those points last race. Could have been sitting real pretty assuming the Mercs struggle here as well
I would. I thought this was a Ferrari track even moreso than Singapore when we were looking forward to the next two races following Monza. Those multiple curves/changes of direction seem to be Merc's weakness and Ferrari's strength (and low-speed corners) . Everyone else was saying Merc would star, but based on what we've seen this season, I thought they might struggle. FTR, I'm not giving the USGP to Merc either. I think it's the same situation as Malaysia. I would say the same for Suzuka, but while sector 1 should favor Ferrari, 2 & 3 definitely favor Merc.
I can get onboard with that. Something with the way W08's heave arrangement doesn't favor quick change of direction, the car just becomes far too snappy. I remember the days of W03 and W04 especially as both had a ton of suspension travel that was magically soft or hard where it needed to be one or the other, hence why W03 ate tires like candy, then W04 had it more under after a time. I still don't know how they did that but at the time there was talk of some sort of heavy gravity dynamic fluid switch that seemed to think what it needed to do, but didn't actually move.....Schumacher was quoted to say he knew W03 was going to be incredible at Monaco the first time he drove it, and sure enough it was, and with a significant amount less downforce than the dominant Red Bulls, all that speed was from that trick suspension. Wild.
I think that's what was sacrificed when they were forced to change from the FRIC-type suspension. That lwb was probably on-point with the suspension that was designed for the car, but the Merc is still good enough to win without its optimal set up.
