In Practice 3, Nico Rosberg reestablish himself as the fastest driver, with the Ferraris securing 4th and 7th palce, the latter being for Kimi Raikkonen. Equally impressive is the form of the two RB5. Mark Webber outperformed his teammate Sebastian Vettel to put both Red Bull in a comfortable position.
The Qualifying saw the Ferraris having a hard time translating their Practice 2 form. It appears they have issues on the second and third sector of the Sepang circuit, most probably due to their front wing design. The Malaysian leg of Formula 1 has favoured the Scuderias many times before, so it is quite a surprise they have issues with this circuit.
The Ferrari has also made an error in judgement relating to Felipe Massa's strategy. Although Steve Slater speculate that he have mechanical issue with his F60 and therefore explains why he didn't do censecutive runs in Q1, we at home has been aware that it was simply a strategy error. The team believes the time set by Massa is quick enough to qualify for Q2. To save the engine, gearbox, tyres, etc., thwy chose to not to run again. That's how Massa goteliminated in Q1 and only manage to secure the 16th spot.
Button did it again for Brawn. Barichello has been penalised 5 grid position and going to start 9th, elevating Raikkonen to 8th. Vettel is on 10 place penalty as well, making him 13th on the provisional grid, thus Hamilton will start at the 12th spot alongside Kazuki Nakajima. That elevated Raikkonen to 7th and Barichello 8th, as well Alonso and Heidfeld.
A very cool step taken by the FIA this season is to make public the weights of all cars ahead of the race start to help give an idea of relative fuel loads. Bear in mind the minimum weight allowed for the cars is 605kg. Here is the list :
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
We can see that Vettel is so light, no wonder he is so fast. And he didn't sweat a bead after qualifying. In post qualifying interview, he said "Yeah thanks. I'm still young...". Assumingly, he has the same fuel load as Mark Webber, only that he is skinnier.
Noticably, Alonso, Heidfeld, Nakajima, Massa and the two McLarens are heavy, most probably carrying extra fuel load. We can also extrapolate that Raikkonen and Kubica will be pitting later that the top 5, if they have no other issue like graining or even worse, a collision. But Sepang has seldom see the Safety Car being deployed. The local newspaper reported that since 1999, only once the Safety Car has been leading the field.
Rain is highly expected. As of now, we don't have any info on how the cars will behave in rain. Furthermore slicks will cause the car to slide more compared to the grooved tyres.
Jenson Button is expected on the podium, but strategically, Alonso and Raikkonen can create a surprise. Don't count them out yet.
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