Formula 1 General Chat & Discussion

The Sakhir circuit will host the Bahrain Grand Prix. This year is the 10th edition. First edition in 2004.
Pirelli has chosen the “White medium” and “Yellow soft” compounds for this weekend

Podium 2011: the GP was cancelled

Podium 2012: Vettel(Red Bull) – 2° Raikkonen and 3° Grosjean. Fastest lap: Vettel
pole position : Vettel 1'32''422

Podium 2013: Vettel(Red Bull) – 2° Raikkonen and 3° Grosjean. Fastest lap: Vettel
pole position : Rosberg 1'32''330

• 2012 and 2013 the same podium for two years in a row

the winners
3 wins: Alonso (2005-2006-2010)
2 wins Vettel (2012-2013) and Massa (2007-2008)
1 win: Button(2009)

Pole Position
2 pole: Vettel(2010-2012)
1 pole: Alonso (2005); Massa(2007) and Rosberg(2013)

Fastest lap
2: Vettel (2012-2013)
1: Alonso (2010); Massa(2007) and Rosberg(2006)

• Pole Position & Fastest lap: the same pilots

Podium(winner+second+third) for current pilots at Sakhir
6 (0 win + 3 second +3 third) Raikkonen
3 (3+0+0) Alonso
3 (2+1+0) Vettel
3 (2+1+0) Massa
2 (1+0+1) Button
2 (0+1+1) Hamilton
2 (0+0+2) Grosjean

One month ago. the Sakhir circuit has hosted the last pre-season testing in Bahrain and Felipe Massa scored the quickest lap time

Felipe Massa Williams1:33.258 (tyre supersoft new)
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes1:33.278 (tyre soft used)
Nico Rosberg Mercedes1:33.484 (tyre supersoft new)
Valtteri Bottas Williams1:33.987 (tyre soft new)
Fernando Alonso Ferrari1:34.280 (tyre supersoft new)

these were the five best times, in the last test before the start of the season
the gap on the flying lap compared to last year might be small
Pole time 2013 (1'32''330)

Latest news about Michael Schumacher from his manager Sabine Kehm : "All I can say is that there are
encouraging signals" she said to "Bild", "we hope they will continue"
"Bild" also wrote that in next days Schumi could leave Grenoble hospital and be transferred to another clinic

2014 FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX
[Verstecktes Bild - Registrierung notwendig]
Fri 04 April 2014
Practice 1 13:00 - 14:30
Practice 2 17:00 - 18:30
Sat 05 April 2014
Practice 3 14:00 - 15:00
Qualifying 17:00
Sun 06 April 2014
Race 17:00

drivers standings
1 Nico Rosberg German Mercedes 43
2 Lewis Hamilton British Mercedes 25
3 Fernando Alonso Spanish Ferrari 24
4 Jenson Button British McLaren-Mercedes 23
5 Kevin Magnussen Danish McLaren-Mercedes 20
6 Nico Hulkenberg German Force India-Mercedes 18
7 Sebastian Vettel German Red Bull Racing-Renault 15
8 Valtteri Bottas Finnish Williams-Mercedes 14
9 Kimi Räikkönen Finnish Ferrari 6
10 Felipe Massa Brazilian Williams-Mercedes 6
11 Jean-Eric Vergne French STR-Renault 4
12 Daniil Kvyat Russian STR-Renault 3
13 Sergio Perez Mexican Force India-Mercedes 1
14 Romain Grosjean French Lotus-Renault 0
15 Adrian Sutil German Sauber-Ferrari 0
16 Esteban Gutierrez Mexican Sauber-Ferrari 0
17 Max Chilton British Marussia-Ferrari 0
18 Kamui Kobayashi Japanese Caterham-Renault 0
19 Marcus Ericsson Swedish Caterham-Renault 0
20 Jules Bianchi French Marussia-Ferrari 0
21 Pastor Maldonado Venezuelan Lotus-Renault 0
22 Daniel Ricciardo Australian Red Bull Racing-Renault 0

constructors standings
1 Mercedes 68
2 McLaren-Mercedes 43
3 Ferrari 30
4 Williams-Mercedes 20
5 Force India-Mercedes 19
6 Red Bull Racing-Renault 15
7 STR-Renault 7
8 Sauber-Ferrari 0
9 Lotus-Renault 0
10 Caterham-Renault 0
11 Marussia-Ferrari 0

Update :

Daniel Ricciardo gets Bahrain grid penalty :
Daniel Ricciardo has been given a 10-place grid penalty for the Bahrain Grand Prix as a punishment for an 'unsafe pit release' by Red Bull in Malaysia. Although he also received a 10-second stop/go penalty during the race, under the 2014 Formula 1 rules a grid demotion at the subsequent race is also applied. The Australian was running fourth when he exited his pit before the left front wheel was properly attached at his final stop. Ricciardo parked in the pitlane as soon as he spotted the problem and was then brought back by his mechanics. He rejoined a lap down, but subsequently had a front wing breakage and a puncture, and was retired before the finish. The Malaysian GP stewards ruled that Red Bull had breached article 23.12c of Formula 1's rules by "releasing a car in an unsafe condition during the race." Ricciardo said he had known there was a problem as soon as he pulled away.
"I guess everyone thought the tyres were on," he said. "As soon as I left I could feel something wasn't right and the left front was loose."
His Red Bull team also received a reprimand thanks to a mechanic not wearing head protection during a pitstop.

Kind Regards
Shaky - Schumi

Maybe it's just me thinking this ....a Australian driver in a Red Bull Team does not go well together 1st it was most of the time always something with Mark Webber's car or Team... and now it's going in the same direction with Daniel Ricciardo !!!

Result of the Malaysian GP :

1. L. Hamilton - Mercedes - 1:40:25.974
2. N. Rosberg - Mercedes - +17,313
3. S. Vettel - Red Bull - +24,534 +7221
4. F. Alonso - Ferrari - +35,992 +11,458
5. N. Hulkenberg - Force India - +47,199 +11,207
6. J. Button - McLaren - +1:23.691 +36,492
7. F. Massa - Williams - +1:25.076 +1385
8. V. Bottas - Williams -+1:25.537 +0461
9. K. Magnussen - McLaren - +1 lap
10. D. Kvyat - Toro Rosso - +1 lap
11. R. Grosjean - Lotus - +1 lap
12. K. Raikkonen - Ferrari - +1 lap
13. K. Kobayashi - Caterham - +1 lap
14. M. Ericsson - Caterham - +2 laps
15. Mr. Chilton - Marussia - +2 laps
16. D. Ricciardo - Red Bull - +7 laps
Did Not Finish :
17. E. Gutierrez : Sauber
18. A. Sutil - Sauber
19. J. Vergne - Toro Rosso
20. J. Bianchi - Marussia
21. P. Maldonado - Lotus
22. S. Perez - Force India

Fastest Lap : Lewis Hamilton - 1:43.066
Pitstop Esteban Gutierrez : DNF
Bat. 2 Teams : Valtteri Bottas > Sergio Perez
Grid Pos. Kimi Raikkonen : 12th place

Hamilton wins Malaysian GP as Mercedes dominates :
Lewis Hamilton won the Malaysian Grand Prix today from pole position, while his Mercedes GP team mate Nico Rosberg finished in second place, 17.3 seconds behind. World Champion Sebastian Vettel finished in third place, 24.534 seconds behind the winner.
It is Mercedes’ first one-two finish as a team since the 1955 Italian GP, where Juan-Manuel Fangio beat his team mate Piero Taruffi.
It is Lewis Hamilton’s 23 career win, and his second victory since joining Mercedes last season. Fernando Alonso (35.992s) in the Ferrari finished in fourth place, followed by Nico Hulkenberg (47.199s) in the Force India-Mercedes was fifth, Jenson Button (1m23.691s) in the McLaren-Mercedes was sixth, Felipe Massa (1m25.076s) in the Williams-Mercedes was seventh, his team mate Valtteri Bottas (1m25.537s) was eighth, Kevin Magnussen (1 lap) in the second McLaren was ninth and Daniil Kvyat (1 lap) in the Toro Rosso-Renault finished in the final points paying position in tenth. Before the race, Hamilton sits on pole-position in his Mercedes GP, with Sebastian Vettel alongside in his Red Bull-Renault. Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso are on the second row, with Danial Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen on the third row. With the qualifying session taking place in the rain, the drivers are open to choose whichever tyre compound they want to choose, most choosing medium compound tyres. As always in Malaysia there are threats of rain and thunderstorms throughout the afternoon. Valtteri Bottas drops three positions for impeding Ricciardo during qualifying to start 18th. Sergio Perez will start in the pits, suffering from technical problems. As the cars get ready to start off the grid, all drivers opting to start on the softer medium compound tyres, except Perez starting from the pitlane. Perez is out of his car, as it appears the team cannot fix the car for the start. Hamilton leads the field back to the grid. At the start Hamilton takes the lead, Vettel squeezes Rosberg, but Rosberg takes second followed by Vettel, Ricciardo, Alonso and Raikkonen. Rucciardo passes Vettel for third. On lap 2 Hulkenberg battles Alonso, while Magnussen passes Raikkonen who slows with a punctured rear tyre, after Magnussen touches his tyre with his front wing. Bianchi pits with a puncture. Vergne and Raikkonen pit as well, Vergne switching to hard tyres. On lap 3 Bottas is up to tenth place, after starting in 18th. Button passes his team mate for seventh place. On lap 4 Vettel passes his team mate Ricciardo into the first corner to take third place behind the two Mercedes. Massa and Magnussen battle back and forth for eighth place. On lap 5 Kvyat passes Gutierrez for 11th place. Hamilton sets fast lap at 1m47.428s. On lap 7 Bianchi is given a 5 second stop and go penalty for causing a collision at the start. Maldonado is told by the Renault team to pit the car and retire on the next lap. Hamilton sets another fast lap at 1m47.048s. On lap 8 Maldonado pits and retires. Williams tells Bottas to follow his team mate Massa through past Magnussen ahead - Bottas tells the team to tell Massa to up his pace. On lap 10 Magnussen pits, and has a slow stop as the team replaces the front wing, and his rejoins in 17th. Bianchi pits as well. On lap 11 Magnussen is given a 5 second stop/go penalty for his incident with Raikkonen. Hamilton holds a 6 second lead over his team mate Rosberg in second, and a further 4.6 seconds to Vettel in third place. Kvyat, Gutierrez and Chilton all pit. On lap 12 Alonso pits for more medium tyres and rejoins in 10th place behind Grosjean. Sutil pits as well. Alonso passes Grosjean for ninth. On lap 13 Ricciardo, Massa, Grosjean all pit. Ricciardo battles with Alonso coming out of the pits. Ricciardo gets ahead. On lap 14 Vettel and Button both pit. Vettel on fresh tyres gets ahead of Bottas. Ricciardo gets past Bottas as well. On lap 15 Rosberg makes his first pitstop from second place for more medium tyres. Bottsd pits as well. On lap 16 leader Hamilton pits for new medium tyres, and comes out still in the lead. Kobayashi pits as well. Vettel sets fast lap at 1m46.334s. On lap 17 Hulkenberg finally makes his first pitstop. Hamilton on fresh tyres sets fast lap at 1m46.190s. Markus Ericsson, Raikkonen and Vergne battle over17th place.
Ricciardo is told to back off of Vettel, and he tells the team he would rather stay close in case something happens in front of him.
On lap 18 Vergne pits, while Raikkonen gets past Ericsson. On lap 19 Raikkonen pits and switches to hard tyres. Vergne pits again and retires in the pits. At lap 20 Hamilton leads Rosberg by 9.5 seconds, followed 2.5s further back by Vettel, Ricciardo, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Button, Massa, Kvyat and Bottas in tenth place. On lap 21 Bottas uses DRS to get past Kvyat on the frn straight to take ninth. On lap 22 Mercedes tells Hamilton to dial back the settings to look after his engine. Hamilton asks if there is anything else he can do to conserve his engine. On lap 23 Kvyat pits from 10th place, taking on hard tyres. Gutierrez pits the next lap for hard tyres as well. On lap 25 Magnussen and Sutil both pit. Button and Grosjean pit the next lap. Gutierrez passes Chilton for 15th place. Red Bull report that Ricciardo’s fuel flow sensor has failed. On lap 28 Ericsson and Alonso both pit. Kvyat passes Kobayashi for tenth place. Massa pits. Magnussen sets fast lap at 1m46.110s. On lap 29 Ricciardo pits from fourth place, switching to hard compound tyres. Magnussen passes Kobayashi for 11th place. There are reports of drops of rain in the general area. At lap 30 Hamilton continues to lead his team mate Rosberg by 10.2 seconds, followed 3.9 seconds back by Vettel, Hulkenberg, Ricciardo, Alonso, Bottas, Button, Massa and Kvyat in tenth place. Ricciardo sets fast lap at 1m45.831s. On lap 30 Bottas pits and stays on medium tyres. Kobayashi and Grosjean battle over 12th place. On lap 32 Vettel pits from third place taking medium tyres. Bottas sets fastest lap at 1m45.475s.
On lap 33 Kobayashi and Rosberg both pit. Rosberg takes on another set of medium tyres. Hamilton pits from the lead on the next lap, and takes another set of medium tyres as well. Vettel sets fast lap at 1m44.779s. Vettel chases after Rosberg, who comes out of the pits less than a second ahead of the World Champion. On lap 34 Sutil stops off track just after the final corner, and yellow flags come out. DRS is disabled. On lap 35 Hulkenberg pits and takes hard tyres. Raikkonen reports rain drops on the back straight.
On lap 36 Raikkonen pits. Gutierrez pits as well, but the car sits seemly unable to select a gear. On lap 37 DRS is enabled again.
Reports of rain drops in turns 9 and 10. Alonso closes to under 1.5 seconds behind Ricciardo. Vettel thinks there is some fluid coming from Rosberg’s car. On lap 40 Ericsson pits. Button and Magnussen pit as well. At lap 40 Hamilton leads Rosberg by 11.0 seconds, followed 3.9 seconds further back by Vettel, Alonso, Ricciardo, Hulkenbergm Massa, Button, Bottas and Magnussen.
On lap 41 Ricciardo pits for medium tyres. As he exits down the pitlane his left-front tyre is not secure. The mechanics push Ricciardo all the way back to the Red Bull pit and reaffix the tyre. Ricciardo rejoins, but loses nearly a lap. On lap 43 Alonso pits from fourth and switches back to medium tyres. Ricciardo reports he has a puncture and his front wing mount is falling off. Ricciardo pits again and the team changes tyres and replaces the front wing.Hamilton sets fast lap at 1m44,329s on lap 44. On lap 45 Bottas pits from sixth place. On lap 46 Ricciardo is given a 10-second stop/go penalty for and unsafe release. On lap 47 Button and Massa battle over sixth place, followed by a closing Bottas. On lap 48 Alonso sets fast lap at 1m44.165s. The Ferrari is closing fast on Hulkenberg in fourth. On lap 49 Vettel pits for hard compound tyres, rejoining just ahead of Hulkenberg. On lap 51 Rosberg pits and rejoins still in second place. Hamilton pits the next lap and rejoins still in the lead. Ricciardo pits again, and retires.Raikkonen closes on Grosjean to battle for 11th place. On lap 52 Alonso with fresher tyres battles with Hulkenberg - finally taking fourth place from the German. Hamilton sets fastest lap at 1m43.066s. On lap 53 Massa is told that Bottas behind him is faster and he should let his team mate past. The two Williams battle over seventh place. Hamilton comes across the line first followed by Rosberg and Vettel.

Kind Regards
Shaky - Schumi

Ricciardo seems that he has inherited the bad luck of Webber in Red Bull.

shaky-schumi wrote:

shaky-schumi wrote:Update : Bottas hit with grid penalty for impeding Ricciardo :
Valtteri Bottas has been given a three-place grid penalty for the Malaysian Grand Prix for impeding Daniel Ricciardo in qualifying..........

Kind Regards
Shaky - Schumi

Italianfan wrote:Also Williams had a -2 points penalty in Constructor Championship

@Italianfan ....I think I should say that there's a correction needed in your post ! It's not the Williams Team that get the 2 points penalty ....but it's the driver who get's 2 points penalty behind his name ! Here's the story behind it

Valtteri Bottas first F1 driver to get penalty points :
Valtteri Bottas became the first Formula 1 driver to be awarded penalty points following the introduction of the system for the 2014 season.
Under the new rules, any driver who earns 12 penalty points during a 12-month period will be given a one-race ban.
Williams driver Bottas was awarded two points for having impeded Daniel Ricciardo during qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
The Finn was also hit with a three-place grid penalty for Sunday's race, meaning he will start from 18th position.
Bottas, who admitted he did not expect to be penalised, was convinced that he had not hurt Ricciardo's lap.
"I thought it would be OK and there would be no penalties," he said.
"He was coming very quickly and it was a bit closer in the last few corners than maybe it should've been," said Bottas.
"It didn't cost him anything in the end and I wasn't sure whether he was on a timed lap or not."
The stewards ruled that he should have shown more awareness.
"The driver did not pay attention to the approaching car and continued to impede car #3 through Turns 14 and 15," said a statement from the officials.

So that's the official statement behind it

Kind Regards
Shaky - Schumi

Sorry for the correction Italianfan

Don' t worry Shaky , it seems my infos were wrong
Thanks for the correction

shaky-schumi wrote:Update : Bottas hit with grid penalty for impeding Ricciardo :
Valtteri Bottas has been given a three-place grid penalty for the Malaysian Grand Prix for impeding Daniel Ricciardo in qualifying..........

Kind Regards
Shaky - Schumi

Italianfan wrote:Also Williams had a -2 points penalty in Constructor Championship

@Italianfan ....I think I should say that there's a correction needed in your post ! It's not the Williams Team that get the 2 points penalty ....but it's the driver who get's 2 points penalty behind his name ! Here's the story behind it

Valtteri Bottas first F1 driver to get penalty points :
Valtteri Bottas became the first Formula 1 driver to be awarded penalty points following the introduction of the system for the 2014 season.
Under the new rules, any driver who earns 12 penalty points during a 12-month period will be given a one-race ban.
Williams driver Bottas was awarded two points for having impeded Daniel Ricciardo during qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix.
The Finn was also hit with a three-place grid penalty for Sunday's race, meaning he will start from 18th position.
Bottas, who admitted he did not expect to be penalised, was convinced that he had not hurt Ricciardo's lap.
"I thought it would be OK and there would be no penalties," he said.
"He was coming very quickly and it was a bit closer in the last few corners than maybe it should've been," said Bottas.
"It didn't cost him anything in the end and I wasn't sure whether he was on a timed lap or not."
The stewards ruled that he should have shown more awareness.
"The driver did not pay attention to the approaching car and continued to impede car #3 through Turns 14 and 15," said a statement from the officials.

So that's the official statement behind it

Kind Regards
Shaky - Schumi

Sorry for the correction Italianfan

shaky-schumi wrote:Update :

Bottas hit with grid penalty for impeding Ricciardo :
Valtteri Bottas has been given a three-place grid penalty for the Malaysian Grand Prix for impeding Daniel Ricciardo in qualifying.
The Red Bull driver complained that he had been blocked by the Williams in Q2. "He was on his out-lap," said Ricciardo of Bottas.
"I'll have a word with him. There were a lot of times last year, to be honest... "We raced each other a lot in the junior categories and I thought we had a lot of respect for each other, but it's a little difficult how many times he's done that now." Bottas had been nonplussed by Ricciardo's charge. "I think there was nothing special," said the Finn. "We were both pushing. For me, there was no incident." The penalty will drop Bottas from 15th to 18th on the grid, and he admitted to being surprised at its imposition.
"I thought it would be OK and there would be no penalties," he said. "It was a difficult situation - we had a radio problem and in Turn 9 the team told me that I had either a gap in front or behind Ricciardo. "So I thought I would try to stay in front. Obviously he was coming very quickly and it was a bit closer in the last few corners than maybe it should've been.
"It didn't cost him anything in the end and I wasn't sure whether he was on a timed lap or not."

Kind Regards
Shaky - Schumi

Bottas also had a -2 points penalty in his driving licence

Update :

Bottas hit with grid penalty for impeding Ricciardo :
Valtteri Bottas has been given a three-place grid penalty for the Malaysian Grand Prix for impeding Daniel Ricciardo in qualifying.
The Red Bull driver complained that he had been blocked by the Williams in Q2. "He was on his out-lap," said Ricciardo of Bottas.
"I'll have a word with him. There were a lot of times last year, to be honest... "We raced each other a lot in the junior categories and I thought we had a lot of respect for each other, but it's a little difficult how many times he's done that now." Bottas had been nonplussed by Ricciardo's charge. "I think there was nothing special," said the Finn. "We were both pushing. For me, there was no incident." The penalty will drop Bottas from 15th to 18th on the grid, and he admitted to being surprised at its imposition.
"I thought it would be OK and there would be no penalties," he said. "It was a difficult situation - we had a radio problem and in Turn 9 the team told me that I had either a gap in front or behind Ricciardo. "So I thought I would try to stay in front. Obviously he was coming very quickly and it was a bit closer in the last few corners than maybe it should've been.
"It didn't cost him anything in the end and I wasn't sure whether he was on a timed lap or not."

Kind Regards
Shaky - Schumi

Result of a wet qualifying :

Q3:
1. L. Hamilton - Mercedes - 01:59.431
2. S. Vettel - Red Bull - 01:59.486
3. N. Rosberg - Mercedes - 02:00.050
4. F. Alonso - Ferrari - 02:00.175
5. D. Ricciardo - Red Bull - 02:00.541
6. K. Raikkonen - Ferrari - 02:01.218
7. N. Hulkenberg - Force India - 02:01.712
8. K. Magnussen - McLaren - 02:02.213
9. J. Vergne - Toro Rosso - 02:03.078
10. J. Button - McLaren - 02:04.053

Q2 :
11. D. Kvyat - Toro Rosso - 02:02.351
12. E. Gutiérrez - Sauber - 02:02.369
13. F. Massa - Williams - 02:02.460
14. S. Perez - Force India - 02:02.511
15. V. Bottas - Williams - 02:02.756
16. R. Grosjean - Lotus - 02:02.885

Q3 :
17. P. Maldonado - Lotus - 02:02.074
18. A. Sutil - Sauber - 02:02.131
19. J. Bianchi - Marussia - 02:02.702
20. K. Kobayashi - Caterham - 02:02.595
21. M. Chilton - Marussia - 02:02.388
22. M. Ericsson - Caterham - 02:02.407

Qualiying Time : 01:59.431
Pole : Lewis Hamilton
Team Battle : K.Magnussen > J.Button
Grid Pos. Nico Rosberg : 3rd place

Hamilton edges Vettel at Sepang :
Rain or shine, the Mercs have the best time. Or to be accurate the best time ‚Äì Lewis Hamilton put his Mercedes on pole in the wet qualifying sessions ‚ and the third best time as Nico Rosberg gridded third in the other Mercedes. Sebastian Vettel qualified his Red Bull second.
Qualifying 1
Torrential rain delayed the start of qualifying by 50 minutes. Mercedes teammates Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton lined up at pit exit to be the first out. The track had dried enough so that the intermediate Pirelli wet weather tire was an option, but the McLaren drivers had the extreme wet tire fitted. The ambient temperature at the start of the session was 79 degrees Fahrenheit (26 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 93 degrees Fahrenheit (34 degrees Centigrade.) More rain was expected, so the drivers had to get in some quick times while the rain held off. Everybody headed out except Marcus Ericsson whose Caterham had stalled in the pit lane. Hamilton, on inters, posted the first time: 1:57.309 and then Rosberg crossed the line with a time of 1:57.189.
McLaren radioed Kevin Magnussen that the inters were the best option and told him to pit for tire switch. With 11 minutes remaining in the session, Rosberg shaved his time down to a 1:57.183 and Hamilton was down to a 1:57.202. The rain was getting heavier on some sections of the circuit. Daniel Ricciardo had snatched third place while his Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel was 10th.
With 7 minutes remaining in the session, all 22 drivers were on track as Nico Hulkenberg moved his Force India into third place. McLaren's Jenson Button and Jan Magnussen had managed to claw their way into the top 16. With 4 minutes remaining in the session, Vettel got up to third with a 1:57.654 and then slid off at Turn 9. With 2 minutes remaining in the session, only the Mercedes duo was not on track. With just under a minute remaining, Ericsson lost control of his Caterham and hit the barriers. Esteban Gutierrez (Sauber) just missed hitting the Caterham. The top six at the end of Q1 were: Rosberg, Hamilton, Vettel, Hulkenberg, Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) and Ricciardo. The six drivers eliminated at the end of Q1 were: Pastor Maldonado (Lotus), Adrian Sutil (Sauber), Jules Bianchi (Marussia), Kamui Kobayashi (Caterham), Max Chilton (Marussia) and Ericsson.

Qualifying 2
It started to rain heavier during the break between Q1 and Q2 but not enough to cause any delays. But the track was wet enough for Hamilton and Rosberg to have the extreme wets on their Mercedes. The other drivers except the inter-shod Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari) and Valtteri Bottas (Williams) followed suit. Once again everybody was out trying to get in a time before the rain increased. But then Alonso clipped Daniel Kvyat's Toro Rosso and the red flags stopped the session after just two minutes. The left front suspension on the Ferrari was damaged. After a 6 minute delay the Q2 session restarted. Everybody was on extreme wets except for Bottas. Everybody but Alonso headed out. But within two minutes Alonso joined them. Hamilton set the mark: 1:59.419. Bottas was 10 seconds off the pace. With 7 minutes remaining in the session, Daniel Ricciardo put his Red Bull into second place with a 2.00.147. With 6 minutes remaining in the session, Sebastian Vettel took second with a 1:59.879 while Hamilton improved to a 1:59.241. With 4 minutes remaining in the session, Magnussen spun off in the final turn. With minutes 2 remaining in the session, Hamilton improved to 1:59.041 while Rosberg moved up to second with a 1:59.445. Then at the least minute Vettel snatched second with a 1:59.399. The top six at the end of Q2 were: Hamilton, Vettel, Rosberg, Ricciardo, Hulkenberg and Alonso. The six drivers eliminated at the end of Q2 were: Kvyat, Gutierrez, Felipe Massa (Williams), Sergio Perez (Sauber), Bottas and Romain Grosjean (Lotus).

Qualifying 3
Raikkonen was the first out for the 12-minute Q3. The question now was intermediate or extreme wet tires? Most drivers opted for the latter. Magnussen and Button were on inters, which was the wrong choice. Magnussen pitted for extremes. Raikkonen set the first time: 2:01.218, only to have Hamilton beat that with a 1:59.431. With 4 minutes remaining in the session, the track was starting to dry off but was it enough to warrant a switch to inters? Raikkonen pitted for new extremes. That was the way to go. Vettel moved into second and Alonso third. Rosberg was fourth and Ricciardo fifth. On his final fast lap Hamilton went off at Turn 4 and continued.
Just as the checkered flag came out, Rosberg grabbed third from Alonso. But the rest of the drivers failed to improve. The top 10 qualifiers at the end of Q3 were: Hamilton, Vettel, Rosberg, Alonso, Ricciardo, Raikkonen Hulkenberg, Magnussen, Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso) and Button who had stayed out on inters for the entire session.

Kind Regards
Shaky - Schumi

The 3rd practice is done , so here is the result :

1. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes GP - 1:39.008
2. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes GP - 1:39.240 +0.232
3. Kimi Räikkönen - Ferrari - 1:40.156 +1.148
4. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull Racing - 1:40.387 +1.379
5. Nico Hulkenberg - Force India - 1:40.523 +1.515
6. Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing - 1:40.686 +1.678
7. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari - 1:40.736 +1.728
8. Felipe Massa - Williams - 1:40.781 +1.773
9. Valtteri Bottas - Williams - 1:40.891 +1.883
10. Sergio Perez - Force India - 1:41.029 +2.021
11. Daniil Kvyat - Toro Rosso - 1:41.182 +2.174
12. Jean-Eric Vergne - Toro Rosso - 1:41.441 +2.433
13. Adrian Sutil - Sauber - 1:41.552 +2.544
14. Esteban Gutierrez - Sauber - 1:42.041 +3.033
15. Romain Grosjean - Lotus - 1:42.749 +3.741
16. Pastor Maldonado - Lotus - 1:43.539 +4.531
17. Max Chilton - Marussia F1 Team - 1:43.977 +4.969
18. Jules Bianchi - Marussia F1 Team - 1:44.170 +5.162
19. Marcus Ericsson - Caterham - 1:44.457 +5.449
20. Kamui Kobayashi - Caterham - 1:46.015 +7.007
21. Jenson Button - McLaren - 2:05.555 +26.547
22. Kevin Magnussen - McLaren - no time

Nico Rosberg fastest as Mercedes dominates :
Mercedes head into qualifying for the Malaysian GP as the team to beat as Nico Rosberg was quickest in FP3, 0.2s up on Lewis Hamilton. As many expected - and some feared - Mercedes had a clear advantage over the chasing pack in the final practice at the Sepang circuit. Swapping to the medium Pirelli tyres in the final 20 minutes, Rosberg clocked a 1:39.008 to set the pace ahead of Hamilton. The British driver was 0.232s down on his team-mate's best but well ahead of third placed Kimi Raikkonen.
The Finnish driver's best time, a 1:40.156, was 1.148s short of Rosberg's P1 time while Sebastian Vettel was fourth for Red Bull Racing. The German, who used a new front wing that features slots gaps that are much further apart than its predecessor, was a further two-tenths off the pace. Nico Hulkenberg showed some pace in his Force India to finish fifth ahead of Daniel Ricciardo and Fernando Alonso. Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas were eighth and ninth ahead of Sergio Perez. Meanwhile, it was a better day for Lotus in that Romain Grosjean managed 16 laps and Pastor Maldonado 20. Grosjean, though, was not happy and told his team "there is no performance" followed by "the rear end is a disaster". There were also issues for McLaren with Jenson Button covering just four laps and Kevin Magnussen five. Sensor problems meant neither driver could get the power out of their engines.

Kind Regards
Shaky - Schumi

Result of the 2nd practice session :

1. Nico Rosberg - Mercedes GP - 1:39.909
2. Kimi Räikkönen - Ferrari - 1:39.944 +0.035
3. Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull Racing - 1:39.970 +0.061
4. Lewis Hamilton - Mercedes GP - 1:40.051 +0.142
5. Fernando Alonso - Ferrari - 1:40.103 +0.194
6. Felipe Massa - Williams - 1:40.112 +0.203
7. Daniel Ricciardo - Red Bull Racing - 1:40.276 +0.367
8. Jenson Button - McLaren - 1:40.628 +0.719
9. Valtteri Bottas - Williams - 1:40.638 +0.729
10. Nico Hulkenberg - Force India - 1:40.691 +0.782
11. Jean-Eric Vergne - Toro Rosso - 1:40.777 +0.868
12. Kevin Magnussen - McLaren - 1:41.014 +1.105
13. Adrian Sutil - Sauber - 1:41.257 +1.348
14. Daniil Kvyat - Toro Rosso - 1:41.325 +1.416
15. Esteban Gutierrez - Sauber - 1:41.407 +1.498
16. Sergio Perez - Force India - 1:41.671 +1.762
17. Romain Grosjean - Lotus - 1:42.531 +2.622
18. Max Chilton - Marussia F1 Team - 1:43.638 +3.729
19. Jules Bianchi - Marussia F1 Team - 1:43.752 +3.843
20. Marcus Ericsson - Caterham - 1:45.703 +5.794
21. Pastor Maldonado - Lotus -no time
22. Kamui Kobayashi - Caterham - no time

Rosberg fastest as Mercedes own first day in Malaysia :
Mercedes F1′s early season strength was again evident with German Nico Rosberg going fastest in Friday Free Practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix as a number of Formula One teams suffered teething problems on a tricky day. Rosberg, who won the season opening race in Australia two weeks ago, clocked a best time of 1:39.909 seconds in the second session at a steamy, slippery Sepang circuit, where track temperatures reached 50 degrees Celsius, testing the cooling systems on the new V6 turbo engines to the max. Rosberg’s team mate Lewis Hamilton had clocked the best time of 1:40.691 in the opening session despite sliding off the track earlier on Friday, the Briton was only fourth in the second session, with a 1:40.051 after more grip issues. The 2008 world champion complained on the team radio after his first venture into the gravel that the circuit was “like driving on marbles”. With less downforce and more torque and power, on the new cars taking some getting used to. Kimi Raikkonen was second quickest on Friday in both sessions for Ferrari with a best time just 0.035 seconds behind Rosberg, with team mate Fernando Alonso fifth with a 1:40.103. The Spanish double world champion had led the timesheets in the opening half of the first session, before making an error and spinning at turn eight. He and his engineers then concentrated on system and balance checks with the result that his times slipped back. For Raikkonen it was a turn around of form, as at the season opener in Melbourne he did not finish any session ahead of teammate Alonso. World champion Sebastian Vettel was third quickest in the second session with a best time of 1:39.970 seconds, but Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner told Skysports that the team were having problems with a fuel sensor that required changing. Perhaps most notable was the fact that a mere 0.061 of a second separated the top three, while the top 11 were within a second of the top time. Last year, at the end of the same FP2 session, only the top seven were within a second. Fuel flow rates led to Vettel’s team mate Daniel Ricciardo being disqualified from his home grand prix in Melbourne last week, a verdict the team have appealed.The Australian was seventh quickest in the second session on Friday and ended the day by taking a run over the grass. He was behind Felipe Massa of Williams who also took a spin at turn eight, like his former Ferrari team mate Alonso, while Sauber’s Adrian Sutil, Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg and Jean-Eric Vergne in the Toro Rosso also had similar spins. McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen had an up-and-down day with his car stopping on the track at turn 15 in the opening session before the Danish rookie bemoaned oversteering in the second session, as he finished well down the grid. It was nothing compared to the problems of Lotus, however, with Pastor Maldonado not even making it out for the second session after engineers worked on his car which billowed smoke in the opening 90 minute run, before he could register a time. Romain Grosjean’s Lotus faired little better with his car stopping at turn 10 also without him setting a time before his second session was interrupted by another problem with his team telling him to bring the car back to the garage in second gear. Japan’s Kamui Kobayashi was also absent in the second session because of electronic control issues on his Caterham, while Max Chilton also missed most of the precious running time after going off the track after only six minutes.

Kind Regards
Shaky - Schumi