It's exactly the same as last week's incident. Grosjean had lost the corner but put his car into a position where contact was inevitable.

Nice to see Helio win.

Senna drove very well too. Williams have a tidy car this year.

Great stuff from Perez and Alonso. Hamilton did well too and Webber showed good pace again after getting a bit hamstrung being held in the pits to avoid unsafe release. Clearly Vettel made a mistake - not sure where he wanted the HRT to go and he should have been penalised.

Can't see any mileage in any Sauber / Ferrari conspiracy. Sauber no doubt remembered Maldonado chasing Alonso last week and with their 2nd place are 21 points ahead of Force India and 29 ahead of Mercedes - constructor places are worth so much.

2nd place in GP2 race 1 won the charge to T1 easily. As they diagonal the straight it's not as clear cut as say Silverstone or Hungary.

I am undecided about whether the hard tyre is a good or bad option for Vettel.

You would expect him to take a little pain off the start, but then probably be able to hold whatever position he has. He will be able to run a few laps longer, but once the other drivers pit and take fresh primes they will be a lot quicker, so I can't see any benefit there as they get the undercut. Three plus points for him:

• Staying out longer will maximise opportunities if it starts dry and gets wet later, as if it rains in a small window he could pit first time for inters whilst the others stop first for new primes and again in response to the weather
  
• Staying out longer means he will have more opportunity to gain a big enough gap to the midfield prime runners so he can get in and out and retain track position.
  
• He should be mega in the last stint - but will it be too late? Will he have the straine speed to make up places?
  

A full day of dry running today. Race pace running order looks to be McLaren and Red Bull, then Mercedes. After that, Lotus and Alonso - although Lotus didn't look tremendously planted.

This chat belongs in the Australia thread doesn't it?

Back to Malaysia...

Any takers for a Mercedes on the front row? Super Duper DRS has a lot of straights to work on at Sepang.

Quote from dekojester :

Surely you've got something you can hold hostage for her for an appropriate time in sort-of revenge since she has cost you 5 points (because the rule about raegquitting (which this wasn't but the rule doesn't allow exceptions :|) is -5 points for first infraction) and thus you'll probably be on -5 points ? :P

You're one of the last people I'd expect to raegquit, so I thought something was up when you vanished

Trust me, if you'd seen her then you would have ruled it a ragequit anyway! Can you put her on -5?

It's usually not a problem with a bit of negotiation and pre-approval, but I don't race a lot these days and forgot to mention it.

Quote from rudagar :

super maldonado kart :d

http://www.youtube.com/watch?f ... mbedded&v=umrymjuq_qs

:d

I got Alt-F4'd by the missus! We started arguing about my dinner (which was on the table going cold) just after the restart and that made me spin. I got back on and we carried on shouting at each other until the main straight when she closed down LFS. Argument over!

It depends on the type of upset though. If it's of the "I'll show them" variety then that can galvanise - remember "Not bad for a number two driver"? If it's the "But Lenny Kravitz told me I was really cool and bound to win, boo-hoo", then that's a different matter.

There's lots more interesting stuff apart from Maldonado.

What about Hamilton's state of mind? Happily chatting to the wrong Kravitz during FP, and it seems that old bird he hangs around with is back. Then he gets his doors blown off by JB and he's sulking around muttering about the need to refocus.

Refocus on what? Perhaps what suit he's going to wear to the MOBOs? I don't see a great deal of change from last year's Hamilton. I wonder who else's contract is up at the end of the year apart from his? Massa and Webber for sure. What about Rosberg?

Indeed, a wider entry would have helped Romain.

But, instead of arguing, what did we learn?

McLaren super quick and turned their tyres on much quicker. More downforce from their new rear setup?

Red Bull not as bad as Saturday seemed to indicate. Webber and Vettel seem much more even; in fact, during respective clean air periods Webber had better pace, and didn't lose it anywhere. Poor start though. Vettel impressed in his racecraft. I have a feeling that they have more to learn from their new exhaust setup as they were changing bits from Friday to Saturday.

Mercedes were encouraging; lots of pace and decent downforce. FW duct is very clever - probably! Looks like the DRS exposed holes that are fluidic switches rather than intakes and they use that pressure change to stall the front wing. Schumi in the mood!

Alonso - brilliant.

Ferrari - in a bit of a mess. No traction which killed their tyre life.

Quote from BlueFlame :

If you're holding the outside and someone runs you off the track violently enough to break your steering arm then the chances are it was an unfair move.

You're missing the point. You are looking at this as an internet expert where there is only right and wrong; black and white.

You have the luxury to pontificate. Grosjean is out of the race. Even if it had been a penalty for Maldonaldo he'd get a drive through but Grosjean would still have been out of the race.

Quote from BlueFlame :

He has the right to hold the outside, and he left enough room. Losing the inside line doesn't mean you have to concede the outside line.

But what did it gain him? There's no point being righteous in the gravel trap.

Quote from BlueFlame :

Maldonado purposefully ran Grosjean off the track. Though from a guy who will ram you in Qualifying I expect nothing else. FIA really need to evaluate his safety. It's a shame tho, cos he proved today that he's actually quick enough to BE in F1. He's just not professional enough.

Or perhaps Grosjean left his nose where it didn't need to be - he had conclusively lost the corner and the next one was another right so no point trying to hang around the outside?

Quote from Mustafur :

Mandonado just had to remind everyone he sucks.

He was having a go, fair play. I doubt that the team will see it that way though. He drove very well for 57.5 laps.

Some glimpses of the red button and online coverage look encouraging. Looks like TV and laptop at the same time!

Vettel wasn't really sandbagging - he broke his front wing in a trip over the gravel and then had a gearbox problem so only did 20 laps.

Quote from J@tko :

For all British people:

Links to every F1 highlights package the BBC have

Thanks

Max could run away with this - Checa is going to have to try so hard to keep up he will inevitably not be as consistent.

Shame there no Yamaha team. BMW needs to step up and there are small signs of that happening.

Don't worry about missing one race as your worst round is dropped. Still in the title hunt!

There's no real overtaking in the replay. I'm not sure what point is being made there.

Quote from FPVaaron :

You think I'm an expert? How sweet <3

Certainly not at reading