Friday, March 28, 2008

FIA to tweak qualifying for Bahrain

The FIA is to revise the rules for qualifying in time for the Bahrain Grand Prix in a bid to ensure there is no repeat of the controversy that marred the session in Malaysia, autosport.com has learned.

In Sepang, a quirk in the current regulations meant that several drivers were touring slowly back to the pits in a bid to conserve fuel while other drivers were on their final qualifying laps.

This led to dangerous scenes when Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso had to weave their way past much slower cars, and resulted in Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton being penalized for blocking their rivals.

With that scenario having prompted widespread calls for the qualifying rules to change, the FIA is to issue an imminent clarification to the teams imposing a maximum laptime for drivers in qualifying.

This will prevent drivers from going too slowly after they have finished their qualifying runs.

It is similar to the rule that is in place for drivers on their reconnaissance laps to the grid - which was prompted by fears of collisions between cars going slowly to conserve fuel and those going fast to evaluate their set-up.

An FIA spokesman confirmed that teams will be notified of the decision to impose a maximum time limit, which is likely to be 120 percent of a normal lap.

"The matter is under discussion and our clarification to the teams and drivers will be that cars returning to the pits having completed their flying lap or laps will be required to do so within a time that we will set," the spokesman told autosport.com.

"This could be approximately 120% of the 'normal' time as we do to prevent drivers going very slowly to the grid to save fuel."

Schumacher to help distribute McLaren fine

Ferrari's retired world champion Michael Schumacher will help distribute $60 million paid by McLaren as punishment for last year's spying controversy, Formula One's governing body said on Wednesday.

The seven times world champion, who quit in 2006, will form part of a five-man management committee for the worldwide Motor Sport Safety Development Fund.

The International Automobile Federation (FIA) said in a statement that the intention was to use the fund over the next five years to concentrate on three safety programmes for drivers, officials and facilities.

Other members of the committee are FIA president Max Mosley, former Ferrari team boss Jean Todt, Mercedes motorsport director Norbert Haug and Nick Craw who represents the national sporting associations.

Felipe Massa says new rules make Q3 boring

Felipe MassaFelipe Massa believes this year's regulations have made the final qualifying segment boring in comparison to previous seasons.

The final session has been shortened to 10 minutes for this year, eliminating the wasteful fuel burning seen last season at the start of the final round.

Refuelling is not allowed now between the end of qualifying and the start of the grand prix, which means drivers have to run in Q3 with the fuel they will start the race with.

Ferrari driver Massa says the change have made the final session boring.

The Brazilian also believes the governing body should look at introducing a new rule to avoid cars going too slowly at the end of qualifying, a problem that cost McLaren drivers Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen a penalty in Malaysia.

"There has been plenty of talk about the new qualifying format and whether or not we need to introduce a means to stop cars slowing too much to save fuel in Q3 on the lap after their quick one and certainly I think we need to discuss the situation," said Massa.

"Personally, I don't find the new sporting regulations concerning qualifying in Q3 do much to make it more interesting. At least in the old one you got to do a low fuel run but now it's a bit boring running with the fuel you will use to start the race.

Q1 and Q2 are so long and then you have to wait in the garage and having a very heavy car to drive in Q3 is not really much fun, even if I put in a fantastic qualifying lap in Q3 in Malaysia to take pole position.

"In the past, it was a bit more fun from the driving point of view. Maybe we need a rule change because of this problem of cars going slowly on their in lap, but let's wait and see what suggestions people come up with."

Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Todt vows to help successor

Former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt has vowed to do everything he can to help his successor Stefano Domenicali adapt to his new role.

Todt stood down as team boss at the end of last year and, now acting as an advisor to the team, he has said he will give Domenicali all the support he needs to continue Ferrari's recent run of success.

Speaking in Sepang, Todt said that his years of experience would be of benefit to Domenicali if he ever felt he needed some help.

"It would be presumptuous to say (it is) advice," said Todt. "But we are talking about the tensions and the pressure, so to have somebody you trust and like, and share emotions and doubts and problems with is a help.

"Sometimes, the tendency of people retiring is to criticise and say you shouldn't have done that. That's not my style - I want to support them and help as much as they need."

Todt urges F1 to reduce costs

Formula One chiefs have been urged to do even more to help reduce costs in the sport.

Former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt believes that keeping F1's finances in check is the biggest challenge that faces F1 in the future.

"Definitely the cost of Formula One is very high," said Todt. "We cannot ignore there's an economic crisis in the world at the moment and you can see the prices of shares and all that.

"If a company wants to be in F1 it's because the costs are acceptable and it's worth being here. So even if the increase of the costs has dramatically slowed over the last three or four years it's still very expensive and [FIA president] Max [Mosley] has worked very hard with the support of the teams. That's the number one challenge.

"And then we need to make sure the regulations are suitable to the business because sometimes some regulations did not give the results people expected. But it's going in the right direction."

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

Raikkonen predicts tight battle for title!

Kimi Raikkonen is predicting a season-long tight battle for the championship following the first two rounds of the 2008 season.

The Ferrari driver dominated the Malaysian Grand Prix last Sunday, while rivals McLaren were unable to fight on top after being hit by penalties in qualifying.

A week earlier, McLaren's Lewis Hamilton had taken a commanding win in Australia while Ferrari had a weekend to forget.

"This is going to be a very tight battle all year long," wrote Raikkonen in a column on his personal website. "As I said before the first race, this season is very long. Now we have just started, and nobody can say what happens next.

"Obviously, we have a winning car. While everything works well, we have the speed to win races. We just need to get qualifying in a better shape. When the qualifying performance is there, it also helps a lot for the race."

He added: "Obviously, it was great to win again. I've got a really nice feeling while flying back home after the race on Sunday. The race was run exactly according to our plan.

"While we didn't have any problems, the speed is there. No doubt about that. Our car is strong enough to take, and to keep the first place."

Raikkonen admitted his win on Sunday had been easy and he claimed he could have gone faster if needed.

"It was an easy victory," he said. "We just took it really easy and saved the car and engine for the next race. I could have gone much faster, but there wasn't any need for that.

"I won my first ever Grand Prix in Malaysia too. As I remember, it was also pretty easy back then five years ago too. It just shows that when the car is working well, Sepang seems to suit me well."

Raikkonen is second in the standings, three points behind Hamilton.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Best Ferrari F1 and its pilots photography from last GP




Enjoy hi-res!

Disappointed Massa baffled by spin

Felipe Massa is hopeful he will be able to bounce back following another disappointing race in Malaysia on Sunday.

The Ferrari driver, starting from pole, looked set to finish in second place when he lost control of his car on lap 31 of the Sepang event, spinning into the gravel.

It was his second consecutive retirement following an engine problem in Australia.

"I feel for sure disappointed, it was not the start of the season that I expected and I feel very disappointed for what happened," said Massa after the race.

"We just need to concentrate, there are still 16 races to go, and we need to have a strong pace for the next race.

"It was for sure, as I said before, disappointing. It was a very safe first and second today and we couldn't finish with one car, we need to recover now."

The Brazilian admitted he was baffled by his spin.

"I had a strange feeling in Turn Six, I went into the kerb quite heavily and then when I went to turn Seven I just lost the car. It is difficult to explain right now what happened."

When asked if he had lost his car because of the lack of traction control, he said: "No. I didn't make a single mistake for the first day, so for sure that was not the case.

"It was not a corner where you need to go very aggressive on the throttle as well, it was a reasonable corner to do so I don't think it was an influence on that."

Luca Di Montezemolo hails Ferrari's reaction

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo was overjoyed after the Italian squad bounced back from their disappointing Australian Grand Prix.

Just one week after both Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa retired from the Melbourne race due to mechanical problems, the world champion took a commanding win in Sepang.

Ferrari looked set for a one-two, but Massa spun off the race on lap 31.

Despite that, di Montezemolo was delighted with Ferrari's reaction.

"I expected a reaction like this, because I know how strong and competitive our car and also our team is," said di Montezemolo.

"I am especially happy for Stefano Domenicali, as it was his first win as Team Principal of the Scuderia Ferrari, but also for Kimi Raikkonen, who drove a perfect race.

"This is the best Easter present we could give to our fans."

Q & A with Stefano Domenicali

Q. Does victory feel any better in your new position compared to last year when you were team manager?

Stefano Domenicali: Honestly, we are very happy in a way, because of course want to show the reaction of Ferrari. After a very different weekend in Australia, that was not really unfortunately our standard or it was something that was difficult to digest, first of all, from us.

So I'm very happy because we show that the team can do a great job. I think the best thing that I have seen is that we kept cool and calm as we are normally, without softening, in a negative way, the pressure that is normal when you have such a difficult start. But that's the main reason why I'm happy, to be honest.

Q. Is there a sense of relief after the problems in Australia, to come back with victory here?

SD: No, I think the sense of relief is connected to the fact that we really showed what is our potential. We were strong all weekend, very good pace on both tyre specs and that is, for us, the main thing, that is positive.

We knew that our car was good, so that's the reason why we are happy, partially, in a way, because of course what we want is to have let's say 18 points, because that's the way it has to be, that's the way we have to think and looking at the situation, it's like a bitter feeling because of course these are very important points. Nothing is lost because it's a very very long championship but points are always points.

Q. What happened to Felipe?

SD: He went on the kerb and now we need to understand if he lost the car or something has happened at that specific moment but it's not clear yet.

Q. After the engine failures in Australia, obviously you made some precautions here, but have you been 100 percent sure or was there still some nervous feeling about it?

SD: We are always sure after the chequered flag, and not enough because the chequered flag has to last two times for the engine and four times for the gearbox so for sure, what I can say is that in another view, the reliability is the main issue that we need to be very strong on.

Really, I'm not joking, it's really a different championship this year, with the four race gearbox, you never relax and this is the reason why we need to be focused on the way we are working in trying to improve every time the quality of everything, the method of working and this is really the most important thing where we will work very hard in the next days.

Q. Do the engines remain a big concern because of the problems that Force India and Toro Rosso had this weekend?

SD: It is a concern in a positive way. Of course we want to be sure 100 percent to understand what has happened and because our customers have to be satisfied what we are doing and of course we are not happy at all if we have something broken from our side, so we need to understand properly, we need to react and this is the reason why I say that is for sure our main target for the next days.

Q. The drivers swapped the lead in the pitstop. The same thing happened last year in France last year, I think and somewhere else as well. How difficult is it going to be to manage them this year to keep them both happy, one gets pole, but the other one then gets the lead at the stops?

SD: No, it's not very difficult, it's part of the work of the team. It's a fact that we have two very good drivers, they know the rules, they respect the rules and they can fight on the track, very free, without doing any damage, both for them and for the team.

On that respect, of course we discuss, also this morning, the way to handle the start because it was creating a moment and the way we did this was to check the starts in previous years, more than last year, and I think we did a good on that, and also on the strategy, our choice was really good. We didn't want to stress the tyres with a very heavy fuel load on the car and I think on that the team worked very well.

Q. Felipe did seem to be leaning on Kimi a bit going down to the first corner.

SD: No. When you're racing, you try to have a line, we discuss how to cope with that. Honestly, it was good.

Q. You said in Italian the McLarens were maybe not at their real level here...

SD: I think that for sure it's exactly the same feeling as we said after Australia, when everyone said McLaren are in another world and we said OK, they did a great race no doubt but here we are and we will see that they have not really had a great weekend, but this doesn't say that they are like that.

For sure they behaved differently, they didn't have a great weekend in terms of performance but for sure they will be very strong in Bahrain, and what I can say is that for sure we have seen that also BMW had a great weekend and they are there. We need to respect them and we will for sure… they will be in the middle of the field for sure in order to take points from us, from McLaren, so we need to have a lot of respect for them.

Q. Will it make the championship harder, because BMW eventually can take points away from your or from McLaren?

SD: Absolutely, I think as we said at the beginning of the season, the championship this year is very very long and the fact that we will have one more competitor that shows that they are good, for sure is an added element to take into consideration. Today, honestly, we were very strong, we took it very easy in the last part of the race because we wanted to save the car and bring it home because for sure for us it was so important to take the chequered flag.

Q. What about Bahrain?

SD: For sure the conditions are very different, we tested in February, now it's April, the temperatures are different but for sure we did a good test there and let's hope that it will bring some positive result being there in February.

Raikkonen storms to Malaysian GP win! Bravissimo!

Kimi Raikkonen got his title defence back on course with a dominant victory for Ferrari in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

With Raikkonen's teammate Felipe Massa spinning out of second place at half-distance, and McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton only managing third and fifth places following their qualifying penalties, Robert Kubica was able to take a career-best second place for BMW Sauber.

Massa's error spoiled what had looked like a dominant one-two finish for Ferrari.

The Brazilian had led from pole at first, fending off a strong challenge from Raikkonen into the first corner. But he was not able to pull away from the world champion, who remained within two seconds of his teammate throughout the first stint.

Raikkonen then went one lap further before his first pitstop, and a superb in-lap allowed him to emerge from the pits just ahead of Massa.

The Finn subsequently pulled away, and was nearly five seconds clear when Massa lost the rear of his car at Turn 8 on lap 30. The Ferrari slid sideways into the gravel, and its rear wheels bogged down, ending Massa's race.

That handed second place to Kubica. The Pole had jumped to third at the start, then had an extremely lonely race - unable to match the Ferraris but comfortably quicker than the rest of the field, including the delayed McLarens. Running longer than Ferrari also allowed Kubica to lead the race for several laps at both pitstops.

Hamilton made the most progress of the two McLarens at first, moving up from ninth on the grid to fifth by the first corner. But he then became stuck behind Mark Webber's Red Bull throughout the opening stint.

He was set to jump ahead of the Australian in the first pitstops, but a problem removing the right front wheel cost Hamilton over 10 seconds and dropped him back into the traffic again.

Kovalainen had no such troubles when he pitted a lap later, and was able to leap from seventh to fourth during the first stops. Massa's departure then elevated the Finn on to the podium for the first time in his McLaren career, albeit a long way behind Raikkonen and Kubica.

Jarno Trulli resisted a late challenge from Hamilton to secure fourth for Toyota. The Italian had lost ground at the first corner after banging wheels with BMW's Nick Heidfeld, but recovered well and was pushing Kovalainen for third during the middle stint.

He could not maintain that pace later on, though, falling away from the Finn and only just holding off the charging Hamilton at the end - the McLaren having finally cleared Webber's Red Bull at the second stops.

Heidfeld also got ahead of Webber during the final pit sequence, and duly took sixth place - setting fastest lap right at the end. Webber fended off Fernando Alonso (Renault) for seventh. Alonso had run very long stints, but lacked the pace on heavy fuel to make significant progress.

David Coulthard (Red Bull) overcame mid-race pressure from Honda's Jenson Button and Renault's Nelson Piquet to take ninth position.

Further back, Force India's Giancarlo Fisichella beat Rubens Barrichello (Honda) to 12th after the Brazilian received a pit lane speeding penalty.

A week after their Melbourne podium finish, Williams had a very poor race. Nico Rosberg tangled with Timo Glock on the first lap, taking the Toyota out of the race and breaking the Williams' front wing.

The German could only recover to 14th, while his teammate Kazuki Nakajima fell off the pace in the closing laps and dropped to last, behind the two Super Aguris.

Toro Rosso also had a very disappointing day. Sebastien Bourdais crashed out on the opening lap, while his teammate Sebastian Vettel was on course for 12th before a late engine failure.

PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Malaysian Grand Prix
Sepang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
56 laps; 310.408km;
Weather: Sunny.

Classified:

Pos Driver Team Time

1. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1h31:18.555
2. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) + 19.570
3. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 38.450
4. Trulli Toyota (B) + 45.832
5. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 46.548
6. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 49.833
7. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) + 1:08.130
8. Alonso Renault (B) + 1:10.041
9. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) + 1:16.220
10. Button Honda (B) + 1:26.214
11. Piquet Renault (B) + 1:32.202
12. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) + 1 lap
13. Barrichello Honda (B) + 1 lap
14. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) + 1 lap
15. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) + 1 lap
16. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) + 2 laps
17. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) + 2 laps

Fastest lap: Heidfeld, 1:35.366

Not classified/retirements:

Driver Team On lap

Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 41
Massa Ferrari (B) 31
Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 7
Glock Toyota (B) 2
Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1


World Championship standings, round 2:

Drivers: Constructors:

1. Hamilton 14 1. McLaren-Mercedes 24
2. Raikkonen 11 2. BMW Sauber 19
3. Heidfeld 11 3. Ferrari 11
4. Kovalainen 10 4. Williams-Toyota 9
5. Kubica 8 5. Renault 6
6. Rosberg 6 6. Toyota 5
7. Alonso 6 7. Red Bull-Renault 2
8. Trulli 5 8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 2
9. Nakajima 3
10. Webber 2
11. Bourdais 2

All timing unofficial

Kimi Raikkonen celebrates Ferrari fightback

Kimi Raikkonen was delighted after his Ferrari team managed to fight back in Malaysia following their dismal Australian Grand Prix.

The Finn, who retired from the Melbourne race, took a dominant victory in Sepang, crossing the finish line nearly 20 seconds in front of BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica.

Raikkonen's win, five years after he had scored his first at the same track, moved him to second place in the standings, just three points behind McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, winner in Australia.

"For sure we had quite a difficult weekend in Australia but I didn't really expect to have such difficulties," said Raikkonen after his 16th F1 win.

"We were not 100 percent sure things would be different here. We knew speed wise we would be fine, even in Australia the speed should have been fine.

"Everything worked perfectly here and we took it easy to make sure nothing went wrong. We saved the engine. It was a perfect job by the team to come back. I would have been happier with Felipe in second but things go wrong."

Raikkonen still reckons his Ferrari team have work to do, especially in order to improve their qualifying form.

"I think we still have some difficulties to get the qualifying right," he said. "It was good in Q2 but in the last session we found no grip on the tyres.

"We knew we were running one lap longer so we were not panicking and knew as long as we kept close I knew a good chance to pass him.

"The car was good all weekend, but sometimes it was difficult to get the best out the tyres."

Teammate Felipe Massa's race ended on lap 31 when the Brazilian, who had started from pole position, spun out at Turn Eight.

Todt touted again as Mosley successor

Former Ferrari team principal Jean Todt says he is 'open' to the idea of moving to a new kind of role within motorsport, amid speculation that he could be set for a switch to the FIA in the next few years.

It was announced last week that Todt has stepped down from his role as CEO of Ferrari, although he promised to continue in an advisory role with the Maranello outfit for up to three years.

The change of Todt's position has prompted speculation that he could be poised to become Max Mosley's eventual successor as FIA president. And, interestingly, the Frenchman drew short of denying the possibility when talking at Sepang this weekend.

Speaking in the Ferrari motorhome during a visit to the Malaysian Grand Prix, Todt made it clear that he does not intend to retire completely.

"Since Wednesday last week, I am a member of the (Ferrari) board, and an official advisor to the president of the company Luca di Montezemolo," explained Todt about his new role. "He is going to finish his role as president of Confindustria, so he will be able to come more often to Maranello.

"I will support him and the team for a determined period. So I'm determined to be present between one and three years, which will allow me to keep half of my time, which has not happened in the past 25 years.

"I've been fortunate I've never had to miss one day of working and will have half my time free and open a new professional and private chapter in my life. It is fantastic."

Todt is well aware of the speculation suggesting that he is a likely candidate to succeed Mosley. And, clearly motivated by the idea of a new challenge, he refused to deny the possibility of joining the FIA when asked about it.

"I'm still motivated," said Todt. "Max Mosley is a great president. I know he gets a lot of controversy but, for me, he has been outstanding for the sport and for the business. And he is a friend.

"He is one of the founders of our medical institute and he's somebody I respect very much. He's dedicated to the job and reliable. And it's fortunate to the sport that he will stay on for many more years because he is still a young man."

He added: "(But) I'm not going to speak about any speculation. I don't want to be put in a position. I'm not a young man, but I still have space.

"I feel I'm still too young to retire, let's put it that way, and I still want to have some challenge in my life. I never had time to think about it really because I was committed and focused to my work for 14 hours a day.

"So first, I will fulfil my obligation to Ferrari for half of my time, and the rest of my time will be spent trying to do some other things."

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Lack of grip costs Raikkonen pole

Kimi Raikkonen admitted that second place was the best he could have hoped for after qualifying half a second behind teammate Felipe Massa to ensure a Ferrari lock-out of the front row in Malaysia.

The world champion, who was quickest in Q2, admitted that he could not find the grip he needed to challenge Massa, but added that he was unconcerned by missing out on pole position.

"I was not so happy with the Q3 but the car is good," he said. "We couldn't get the grip really, but anyhow second place is a good place to start, we should have a good strong car.

"It's going to be a long hot race tomorrow and we don't know about the weather yet so we are looking forward to it."

Raikkonen also remarked that there should be no surprise about Ferrari's return to form in Sepang, which he described as a more 'traditional' circuit than Melbourne, where neither Ferrari finished the race last weekend.

"I think this is a more normal circuit so the car has been quick all weekend," he said. "I think it is a completely different circuit [to Melbourne], so our car should be pretty fast everywhere, when you start from behind it is difficult to use your own speed, tomorrow should be okay."

McLaren drivers docked five places

Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen have each been moved five places down the grid for blocking rival drivers in qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The McLaren pair were investigated by the stewards after qualifying following claims that they had impeded Nick Heidfeld and Fernando Alonso in the closing stages of the session.

The two drivers were driving slowly back to the pits, having completed their final qualifying efforts, while other drivers were still on their fast laps.

Following several hours of deliberation by the stewards about whether or not the McLaren pair had done anything wrong, it was eventually decided that the duo should be punished.

A McLaren spokesman confirmed that the two drivers had been moved back five places each. He also said the team would not appeal the decision.

Hamilton was penalised for blocking Heidfeld, while Kovalainen got his penalty for blocking both the German and Alonso.

It means Kovalainen will now start from eighth place on the grid, with Hamilton one place behind him.

BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica, who was lapping on the track close to the McLarens, said he felt Alonso was hurt more than Heidfeld by the blocking.

"I saw clearly that Alonso's lap was screwed because of, I think, Kovalainen staying on the racing line," he said. "Nick was a bit more lucky because his incident was before braking, so he could rejoin the good line.

"But Alonso, he had to brake inside and he lost for sure there a lot of time. It was quite dangerous."

Revised grid:

 1.  Massa         Ferrari          
2. Raikkonen Ferrari
3. Trulli Toyota
4. Kubica BMW Sauber
5. Heidfeld BMW Sauber
6. Webber Red Bull-Renault
7. Alonso Renault
8. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes *
9. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes *
10. Glock Toyota
11. Button Honda
12. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault
13. Piquet Renault
14. Barrichello Honda
15. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari
16. Rosberg Williams-Toyota
17. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari
18. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari
19. Sato Super Aguri-Honda
20. Sutil Force India-Ferrari
21. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda
22. Nakajima Williams-Toyota **

* Penalised for blocking
** Penalised for his crash in Australia

Malaysia Saturday quotes: Bridgestone

Hirohide Hamashima - Director of Bridgestone Motorsport Tyre Development:

"Congratulations to Felipe Massa for his first pole position of 2008. Today it seemed that the medium compound had more grip when cars were running lighter in Q1 and Q2, but in Q3, when cars were running heavier, the difference between the hard and medium was small and some cars were quicker on the hard compound.

"We had heavy rain last night and the track surface started the day in a similar condition to yesterday after FP1. We saw a dramatic improvement in lap times as rubber went down on this relatively new surface through practice and qualifying today.

"Tyre appearance on both compounds was good and teams will have to spend a long time analysing the data we give them to decide which tyre strategy will be best if it is a dry race tomorrow. If we see a wet race, the strategies could be very interesting as we have not seen any wet running here without traction control this weekend."

Massa: Our championship starts now

Felipe Massa says his 2008 world championship begins on Sunday after he put the dramas of Melbourne behind him by taking pole position for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

The Brazilian became the seventh Ferrari driver to take pole position at Sepang in the last ten years with a lap time nearly half a second faster than that of his teammate Kimi Raikkonen.

"I managed to make a fantastic lap in Q3, said Massa. "I did two great laps, both were without mistakes.

"In Q2 I didn't make a very good lap, I was struggling a little bit with the grip on the tyres and also I didn't do a very good last sector as well. I was just braking a little bit too early at Turn 14, it was just stupid mistakes, just stupid luck... then I managed to put everything together in Q3."

Massa said that an all-Ferrari front row was the perfect way to bounce back from the disasters of Australia, where both cars failed to finish and both drivers had mid-race spins.

"Definitely the championship is starting now because what happened in the last race was incredible, we didn't expect that," said Massa.

"We did a very good job during the winter and coming to the first race we didn't expect the problems we had, but hopefully we now can put that behind us."

Rain was a threat throughout qualifying and began to fall towards the end of the session, but Massa said he was more unconcerned by this.

"To be honest it didn't us effect so much, you just need to be starting the session, to go out straight away and then if its raining at least you can manage to put the lap on the paper," he said. "That was what everybody did. It was okay we had a couple of drops but it did not effect the performance on the track. It was no problem at all."

Malaysia Saturday quotes: Ferrari

Felipe Massa - 1st: "I am very happy! In the final part of qualifying, I managed to put together two really good laps after struggling a bit in Q2. Right at the end there were a few drops of rain, but it had no effect whatsoever on the performance. It is very important to start from the front and I hope I can have a good race. We know our car is very competitive over a long run, but it is also clear we face a long tough race. All the same, we can only be confident about tomorrow."

Kimi Raikkonen - 2nd: "Of course, I would prefer to have taken pole, but second place is definitely not bad and I am happy that the team got the best result possible. In Q3, I was not able to get the tyres to work as well as possible, especially on my second run, after having had a good lap in Q2. The track seemed to be a bit more slippery and I was not able to get everything out of the car. Tomorrow's race will be very tough: I made a good start in Melbourne and I hope I can do the same tomorrow."

Luca Baldisserri: "Finally, a trouble-free day. Car performance was good and it worked well as can be seen from the result. There are a few unknowns regarding the various sets of tyres, which seem to be a bit up and down and we will have to study that carefully. The threat of rain meant we operated differently to usual, going out on track at the start of all the sessions. We expect a very difficult race tomorrow because of the weather which will be tough on cars and drivers. Clearly our aim is to do the maximum, which is to say to repeat this afternoon's result."

Post-qualifying press conference - Sepang

Q. Felipe, a beautiful lap to watch. You were a half second quicker than your teammate in Q3 but a little bit slower in Q2. Talk us through that.

Felipe Massa: I managed to make a fantastic lap in Q3 which is the most important one. I did a great lap the first try and the second try without a mistake. In Q2 I didn't make very good laps and I was struggling a little bit on the grip from the tyres on the lap. Also I didn't do a very good last sector as well just braking a little bit too early at turn 14. It was just stupid mistakes. Not really mistakes but just a stupid lap. Then I managed to put everything together in Q3 and did a great lap.

Q. Apart from the disappointments of Melbourne you obviously felt confident coming here with a different track surface and with Ferrari having such a great record here.

FM: Definitely. Our championship is starting now. What happened in the last race was incredible and we didn't expect that. We did a very good job during the winter but coming to the first race and having a lot of problems like we had was not expected. But hopefully now we can manage to put everything together to have a very consistent, quick and good championship.

Q. There was a lot of talk before qualifying about the potential for rain here on Saturday and perhaps even tomorrow. How did that affect the preparation for qualifying and the way you ran qualifying?

FM: To be honest, it did not affect it too much. You just needed to be starting the session by going out straight away, so if it was raining at least you could put one lap on paper. Everybody did that. You saw at the beginning of the qualifying everybody going out, just a little bit afraid that if the rain comes at least you had a lap, so I think it was not a big difference compared to a normal qualifying.

Q. And what were the conditions like right at the end there?

FM: It was okay. We had a couple of drops but it did not affect the performance on the track, so it was no problem at all.

Q. Kimi, it was a very quick lap in Q2, a 1min34.1secs, the fastest lap of qualifying. Talk us through your Q3 and how you feel in terms of the race tomorrow?

Kimi Raikkonen: I was not sure what happened with Q3. The car is good, but I just couldn't get the grip. I didn't get the best out of it, but anyhow I am in second place. It is a good place to start and we should have a strong race car. It is going to be a long hot race tomorrow and we don't know about the weather. But I think we can look forward quite happily to it.

Q. Once the race began in Melbourne, even from where you started on the grid, you were very quick. How does the car compare here in terms of its feel and grip level with Melbourne?

KR: I think this is a more normal circuit, so the car has been quick all weekend. I think we are seeing two completely different circuits but our car should be fast anywhere but when you start from behind it is very difficult to show your speed. Tomorrow should be a bit clearer about who is where and what kind of speed everyone is doing.

Q. Felipe obviously has the clean side of the road off the line. Without traction control now how do you anticipate it is going to be on the dirty side of the grid?

KR: I don't know. It is very difficult to say. Hopefully we will get a good start and it is up to us much more now than it was before. In the last race we had a very good start, so hopefully we can manage to do that also tomorrow.

Q. Congratulations to you Heikki. Your second successive P3 in qualifying and just ahead of your teammate Lewis Hamilton. First of all from a personal point of view your feelings about qualifying third behind the two Ferraris and being the fastest McLaren driver.

Heikki Kovalainen: Of course we were hoping to do a couple of places better but obviously, Ferrari, they have both been very fast here all weekend and we had nothing more to give today. I think third place was the maximum we could achieve today. I am happy about that. It was a clean lap without any big mistakes.

It was pretty much the same story as I had in Melbourne, just trying to go step by step and increase the pace as I get used to the team and the car. I think we are on a very good track and still in a good position to start with tomorrow and we will see how the strategy goes. But we will still aim to do the maximum job tomorrow and see what happens.

Q. Does the McLaren feel more difficult to drive here? Does the grip level feel lower than in Melbourne if you could compare the two?

HK: No, not really. It feels pretty similar. I think our balance is very similar to what it was in Melbourne and I think the fact is we didn't see the true pace of Ferrari in Melbourne. They both had some problems in qualifying or in the race, so I think this is more representative between the pace of the teams. But anyway, like I said, the race is tomorrow and we are still in a good position. By no means the game's over. Tomorrow we can attack and we will see what we can do.

Q. Felipe, every race win you have had, has been from pole, so this is a good start to the weekend. This is always a difficult race physically for the drivers. Perhaps you could reflect on both those points and how you anticipate the race is going to be from a physical point of view tomorrow?

FM: The race will be very physical here. It is not so physical, but it is also very hot. The humidity we have here is so high and you lose a lot of water from the body. For sure when you get from the middle to the end of the race you start to feel it a little bit just because you are sweating so much. But I am really looking forward to having a strong race and strong physical preparation as well.

Press Conference

Q. Felipe, congratulations. Your best position here is fifth - once from pole last year and once from 21st a couple of years ago. What are your feelings about tomorrow particularly the start if you remember from last year?

FM: My thought is to change the best result I have, hopefully we can repeat what we did today which was a very good job and a very good lap. It was very clean with no mistakes and taking away the maximum from the car. I was pretty happy with our day. In Q2 I couldn't manage to do a good lap. I was just struggling to find the right grip. Also I was too conservative. But I learned everything I did wrong in Q2 and managed to do a great lap in Q3.

Q. Presumably total confidence in the engine. No problems and no further feelings from last weekend?

FM: For sure, I am looking forward to having a very reliable car. It was a very bad result we had in the last race, not just the engine but also the race itself was a problem and the qualifying with Kimi. It was definitely a weekend to forget. We think we know what we are doing now. We think we know how it is going to be during the race in terms of reliability with all the preparations the engineers are doing, so hopefully we can have two very reliable races now with the same engine.

Q. What are your weather predictions? How much were you slightly worried about rain in qualifying?

FM: I think everybody was a little bit worried but I just managed to be one of the first cars to go out just to try to at least make a lap in case something really different happens and the rain comes. At least you have a lap and you can jump to the next qualifying. But at the end of the day the rain didn't come, although at the end of Q3 we had a couple of drops but it didn't affect the track, so it was no problem at all.

Q. What are your weather predictions and how much were you worried about rain in qualifying?

FM: I think everybody was a bit worried but we just managed to be one of the first cars to go out, just to try to at least make a lap if something really different happened, if the rain came, so at least you would have a lap and maybe you can jump to the next qualifying. At the end of the day, the rain didn't come. At the end of Q3 we had a couple of drops but it didn't affect the track, so it was no problem at all.

Q. Also on the front row, Kimi Raikkonen, winner in 2003 here. At least it must be very encouraging to be on the front row after the Australian problems.

KR: Yeah, for sure, I think so for the whole team. We've been working hard and we've got one and two, so it couldn't have gone better. For sure, I would rather have been in first place but I couldn't get the tyres working as well as in the second qualifying. I think we still have a strong position for the race, so we will see what we can do.

Q. Who do you prefer to race, your teammate or someone from another team?

KR: It doesn't really matter. We know, between us, when we are going to stop, so in that way it's an easier thing, but in the end you need to beat everybody to win the race, that's our aim, and hopefully we can have a strong race as a team.

Q. Are we going to see a different type of race to Australia, was that a bit of a one-off, all that incident?

KR: I don't know. We will see tomorrow. If it's raining, it can be very tricky here, so anything can happen in a race. If it's normal conditions, probably not as many mistakes and people going off. I'm expecting a few more people to finish the race.

Q. Heikki, a bit of a surprise to out-qualify your teammate?

HK: Yeah, of course Lewis is a strong driver and it's always difficult to beat him, but honestly, all weekend I've been fairly happy with my car since the first practice sessions on Friday. Yesterday I was feeling comfortable and we've been going in the right direction little by little all the time.

The qualifying session was fairly straightforward for me, nothing special, but they were all clean laps and I managed to... probably the best lap was the last Q3 lap with more fuel in the car, so I think we're in a good position. Of course Ferrari seems to be very strong but we are right behind them and the race is long, so we can look forward to a good race tomorrow.

Q. Interesting to see you trying both types of tyre in Q3. What was the thinking behind that?

HK: We were not entirely sure which one was going to be the better one, so that's the reason behind it really.

Q. Does that mean you're not entirely sure for the race either?

HK: Now I am sure, yeah.

Q. Last year most people were on the softer tyre.

HK: Yeah, I think it was more the one lap pace that we were not sure of, seeing how the tyres were lasting throughout the lap, but to be honest, in the longer run, we have a clearer picture, so it's no concern at all.

Q. What are your feelings about the weather tomorrow?

HK: Honestly, everybody has a different prediction and obviously today we were a little bit concerned, just by looking at the sky because in Q3, we thought it might start to rain, so we went early and I think tomorrow the best we can do is look up to the sky, fifteen minutes before the start and see what happens.

Questions From The Floor

Q. (Heikki Kulta – Turun Sanomat) Kimi, was that a perfect lap you did in Q2 and for Heikki, how much did it mean to you to beat Lewis already in the second qualifying?

KR: I think you can always improve if you try again, but it was a good lap, the car felt good. Unfortunately we couldn't get as good a lap in the last qualifying but that's life.

HK: Well, for me, I must stress that my primary target is not to beat Lewis. I would rather be in the first position than the third position but of course to beat Lewis… he's a great driver, he did a great year last year. He's a very fast driver, to be ahead of him is always good but of course as a team we want to do better, we want to be higher than third and for me, I'm not making a big number out of it. I need to just keep the focus on the race tomorrow and that's the best we can do.

Q. (Flavio Vanetti – Corriere della Sera) Felipe, last year you had Alonso beside you, now you have your teammate beside you, even if you have to expect that Kimi will push. Do you feel more comfortable now?

FM: No, it doesn't matter. You always try to do the best start you can, you always try to stay in front at the first corner. Last year it was not possible. I will just try to do better this year. I should have a good start, so let's hope and see if we can keep the same position tomorrow.

Q. (Mark Danby – Auto Magazine China) A question to Kimi: were you happy with your start last week and do you hold any concerns for tomorrow on the dirty side of the track?

KR: No, we were happy. I gained many places on the first lap, so it was good but of course this is a different circuit, definitely, different conditions. I don't know if it's going to make a difference not being on the clean side but we will see tomorrow. Hopefully we can have a good start. It's up to us really, so we will try the best.

Q. (Marco Evangelisti – Corriere dello Sport) Felipe, you were one of the first to say that it would be tricky to drive in the wet without traction control. Now many drivers agree with you. Do you think it was a mistake to take traction control off the cars?

FM: I don't think it was a mistake. I think – if I need to give my opinion – I think we should have a safe setting for everybody for the wet, because if we have a situation like in Japan last year, maybe we're not going to have any cars finishing the race. I think there's always room to improve.

In the dry it's quite nice to drive the cars without traction control, it's not a big problem but in the wet it will be different. There's always room to improve. We just need to see how it's going to be the first time in the rain. But you know, just from having the feeling of driving in the wet in winter testing was not so easy.

Q. (Paolo Ianieri – La Gazzetta dello Sport) Heikki, before you said that here the situation is more realistic than it was in Melbourne. Does that mean that Ferrari is pretty much in front of you and that it could be hard for the next races?

HK: I'm hope I'm wrong – or the prediction I made in Melbourne is not correct. Certainly today – and to be honest all weekend – the Ferraris have looked strong but we will see tomorrow how the strategies are panning out and how the race is panning out. We are still in a good position to fight and I think all I can say is that we know they are going to be strong all the way through the year, but we can improve our package as well, so there's no concern.

Q. (Juha Paatalo – Financial Times Germany) Kimi, given the fact that it might rain tomorrow, how much of a relief is it that you can start from the front row?

KR: I don't think it makes much difference if it rains. If it's dry you would rather be in the front (row) anyway, it's much easier there, less chance to have accidents and less people to follow, so it should be a bit easier. We will see how the weather is tomorrow. It can be very tricky, it can change very quickly here.

Massa leads all-Ferrari front row at Sepang

Felipe Massa took a commanding pole position for Ferrari in the Malaysian Grand Prix qualifying.

The Brazilian, who was also on pole at Sepang a year ago, was almost half a second faster than teammate Kimi Raikkonen as the Ferraris secured both front row positions.

The McLarens had to settle for the second row, with Heikki Kovalainen beating Lewis Hamilton to third by 0.096 seconds.

Massa was fastest on both runs in Q3, and although Raikkonen briefly edged ahead of him with his second lap, the Brazilian responded with a 1:35.748 to comfortably take pole position.

Hamilton was never a contender for pole, and momentarily lost fourth place to BMW's Robert Kubica before getting back on row two with his final lap.

Toyota's Jarno Trulli - who was fastest of all in Q1 - took an impressive fifth on the grid, pushing Kubica back to sixth, one place ahead of teammate Nick Heidfeld, in the closing seconds.

Mark Webber secured eighth for Red Bull, while teammate David Coulthard was 12th after his troubled start to the weekend.

Last year's Sepang winner Fernando Alonso (Renault) and Trulli's Toyota teammate Timo Glock will start ninth and 10th.

Outside the top ten, Melbourne podium finishers Williams had an extremely disappointing session. Nico Rosberg could do no better than 16th place, while his teammate Kazuki Nakajima will start last of all.

The Japanese driver was already facing a ten-place grid penalty for taking Kubica out of the Australian Grand Prix while behind the safety car, and only managed 18th place in qualifying today.

Despite being much closer to teammate Alonso's pace than he had been in Australia, Nelson Piquet missed out on a top ten spot. He was 0.4 seconds slower than Alonso in Q2 and will start 13th.

The two Hondas also departed in Q2, although they continued to show promising form as 11th-placed Jenson Button missed a Q3 spot by just 0.068 seconds. Rubens Barrichello was four tenths of a second slower and put the second Honda 14th on the grid.

Sebastian Vettel failed to repeat his impressive Melbourne qualifying form for Toro Rosso and was only 15th. His teammate Sebastien Bourdais was eliminated in Q1 again. The Frenchman ended up 19th after going off the road at Turn 4 on his flying lap.

Both Force Indias and both Super Aguris were also knocked out early. Giancarlo Fisichella came extremely close to making the Q2 cut, moving up to 16th in the closing seconds of Q1 only to be pushed back down by Barrichello moments later.

Adrian Sutil continued to trail teammate Fisichella, lapping 0.8 seconds slower and qualifying only 21st, between Aguri duo Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson.

Pos  Driver        Team                Q1       Q2       Q3       Laps
1. Massa Ferrari 1:35.347 1:34.412 1:35.748 17
2. Raikkonen Ferrari 1:35.645 1:34.188 1:36.230 13
3. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.227 1:34.759 1:36.613 12
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:35.392 1:34.627 1:36.709 18
5. Trulli Toyota 1:35.205 1:34.825 1:36.711 18
6. Kubica BMW Sauber 1:35.794 1:34.811 1:36.727 13
7. Heidfeld BMW Sauber 1:35.729 1:34.648 1:36.753 13
8. Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:35.440 1:34.967 1:37.009 18
9. Alonso Renault 1:35.983 1:35.140 1:38.450 18
10. Glock Toyota 1:35.891 1:35.000 1:39.656 20
11. Button Honda 1:35.847 1:35.208 15
12. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault 1:36.058 1:35.408 12
13. Piquet Renault 1:36.074 1:35.562 12
14. Barrichello Honda 1:36.198 1:35.622 15
15. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:36.111 1:35.648 15
16. Rosberg Williams-Toyota 1:35.843 1:35.670 13
17. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari 1:36.240 9
18. Nakajima Williams-Toyota 1:36.388 9
19. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:36.677 8
20. Sato Super Aguri-Honda 1:37.087 9
21. Sutil Force India-Ferrari 1:37.101 10
22. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda 1:37.481 9

Heidfeld quickest in practice 3 - Malaysia

BMW's Nick Heidfeld beat the two Ferraris to the fastest time in the final free practice session at Sepang.

Until the German's late lap, Ferrari had controlled the session, with Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen holding first and second positions for most of the morning.

As had been the case in Melbourne, McLaren chose not to go for a low-fuel run in this session. Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen therefore ended up 11th and 16th respectively.

Hamilton had a run through the gravel at Turn 8 on his first lap, and neither driver threatened the top of the timesheets during the hour.

Raikkonen was the first of the major contenders to set a time, and his early 1:35.729 was swiftly beaten by teammate Massa, who advanced to a 1:35.513 by the end of his run.

Both improved further when they re-emerged 20 minutes later, with Massa remaining two tenths of a second ahead as he lapped in 1:35.388.

Raikkonen moved back ahead of Massa by 0.126 seconds with his last lap, both both were beaten by Heidfeld, who produced a 1:35.019 with three minutes remaining.

Toyota's Jarno Trulli took fourth, while Red Bull showed much-improved form after their difficult Friday as Mark Webber and David Coulthard took fifth and sixth places.

Nelson Piquet also continued the promise he had shown on Friday as he set the seventh-fastest time, 0.3 seconds faster than his Renault teammate Fernando Alonso, who was 12th.

The Brazilian set the fastest sector one time of all on his last lap, only to make an error in Turns 5 and 6 and back off.

Jenson Button (Honda), Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) and Timo Glock (Toyota) completed the top ten.

Pos  Driver        Team                     Time             Laps
1. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:35.019 18
2. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:35.262 + 0.243 17
3. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:35.388 + 0.369 17
4. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:35.389 + 0.370 20
5. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:35.437 + 0.418 16
6. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:35.653 + 0.634 17
7. Piquet Renault (B) 1:35.768 + 0.749 15
8. Button Honda (B) 1:35.781 + 0.762 19
9. Vettel Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:35.827 + 0.808 16
10. Glock Toyota (B) 1:35.911 + 0.892 21
11. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:35.927 + 0.908 13
12. Alonso Renault (B) 1:36.068 + 1.049 14
13. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:36.183 + 1.164 14
14. Fisichella Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:36.229 + 1.210 21
15. Rosberg Williams-Toyota (B) 1:36.490 + 1.471 7
16. Kovalainen McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:36.529 + 1.510 16
17. Kubica BMW Sauber (B) 1:36.618 + 1.599 19
18. Bourdais Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:36.668 + 1.649 15
19. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:36.908 + 1.889 14
20. Sutil Force India-Ferrari (B) 1:36.939 + 1.920 21
21. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:37.140 + 2.121 12
22. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:37.703 + 2.684 6

Friday, March 21, 2008

Pre-GP Stats Analysis: Malaysia

he winner of the first race of the season has good chances for the world championship, because 14 times in the last 18 seasons the first winner went on to take the title.

But the second race is also important: since 1990, the world champion has won the first race of his successful world title campaign 17 times out of 18 by the second race of the season. The only exception was 2003, when Michael Schumacher won his first race in San Marino, the fourth GP in calendar.

In Formula One history, the world champion won his first race of the season by the second race 40 times out of 58.

Ferrari and McLaren

If a Ferrari or a McLaren wins in Malaysia, the winning streak recorded by these two teams will reach 20 races since Brazil 2006. Currently the count is 10 wins for Ferrari and nine for McLaren.

This takes us back to 1999-2001, when McLaren and Ferrari were the only winners between Malaysia 1999 and Brazil 2001 - a total of 21 races in a row- 13 for Ferrari and nine for McLaren.

Moments to remember in the Malaysian Grand Prix

Michael Schumacher holds off David Coulthard in the 1999 Malaysian Grand Prix © LAT

1999 - The Puppet Master

Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) was back on track after an absence of six races due to a broken leg that he suffered at Silverstone. The German had no hope of winning the championship, so he was asked to help his team-mate Eddie Irvine, who was trailing Mika Hakkinen (McLaren) by two points in the drivers' standings.

Schumacher responded perfectly - he took the lead at the start, then let Irvine and Coulthard (McLaren) through and placed himself in front of Hakkinen in order to slow him down.

In this way Irvine was able to gain some space for his pit stop without risking the lead. Schumacher then accelerated and left Hakkinen on the spot, so he too was able to make his pit stop and came back on track in front of the frustrated Finn, slowing him down again.

At the end of the day Irvine was able to win despite two stops versus only one made by Schumacher, because in the closing stages the German backed off to let him through - again.

The image of the podium was revealing: Schumacher looked fresh and was barely sweating, while Hakkinen was close to exhaustion.

After the race the Ferraris were disqualified for using illegal barge boards, but reinstated before the last race in Japan after a successful appeal in Paris.

2000 - Last day of school

With the drivers' title already gone to Schumacher (Ferrari), the last race of the year was not as tense as the rest of the season.

Hakkinen (McLaren) had the right strategy and pace to win, but his car moved before the lights went out and he was penalised with a stop/go. Michael Schumacher pipped Coulthard (McLaren) with a long first stint and controlled him after the second stop. Hakkinen finished fourth.

2001 - The right tyres on the right car

The race started on a dry track, but after a few laps a sudden downpour flooded the circuit. The safety car was brought out and when the cars queued up to change tyres, the Ferrari pit had some troubles in serving its drivers. They came out of the pits just before being overtaken by the safety car, and were almost lapped.

But the Bridgestone intermediates on the Ferrari F2001 were blisteringly fast, and not only did Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello recover all of the lost places and move into a one-two, but Schumacher pulled away and by half-distance he was more than one minute ahead of his team-mate, a safe margin to win easily.

2002 - Schumacher hits Montoya

Juan Pablo Montoya (Williams) made a perfect start from the second spot on the grid and was able to establish a clear advantage over pole-sitter Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) when braking for the first corner.

The German refused to give way and hit the back of the Williams, damaging the front wing of the Ferrari. The stewards then took the inexplicable step of penalising Montoya.

This put the Colombian out of the fight for the win and, given the good form of the Williams team, handed the win to his team-mate Ralf Schumacher. Barrichello, with the other Ferrari, was in the position to take second, but his engine blew and the second spot went to an irate Montoya.

2003 - Schumacher hits Trulli, Raikkonen says thank you

Fernando Alonso (Renault) scored his first pole position. At 21 years, 7 months and 22 days he was (and still is) the youngest pole-sitter in the history of Formula One.

The race was influenced by an accident at the second corner: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari), concerned about Coulthard (McLaren) who was attacking him, rammed Jarno Trulli (Renault) and put an end to the hopes of both.

The fight for the win was between Alonso and Raikkonen (McLaren). Alonso's performances faded because he had to put more fuel after the first stop and then developed gearbox problems, so Raikkonen won easily with almost 40 seconds over second-placed Barrichello.

2004 - Hopes shattered

Before the race weekend there was considerable chance of having a good battle as the previous year, in very hot conditions, the Michelin tyres fared well and could help to fight the dominant Bridgestone-shod Ferraris.

The hopes were shattered after a few laps. A few drops of rain created some tension in the first minutes of the race, but then a procession set in, with Michael Schumacher leading Montoya (Williams) for the whole afternoon.

2005 - Fernando flies, Ferrari sinks

Alonso (Renault) took his first win of the season almost unchallenged as Trulli (Toyota) behind him kept his rivals at bay for the first part of the race. The Renault driver was able to gain some ground before his pit stop and keep the advantage to win.

Trulli was a safe second because Giancarlo Fisichella, the other Renault driver, had aerodynamic problems and ended his race by ramming into Mark Webber (Williams), and because Raikkonen (McLaren) suffered a tyre failure right after his first stop and dropped out of contention.

For the first time in years the Ferraris were seriously uncompetitive, with Michael Schumacher only seventh and Barrichello retiring.

2006 - Saturday decides

The outcome of the race was decided in qualifying: Michael Schumacher (Ferrari) was penalised for an engine change and had to start from the seventh row, Fernando Alonso (Renault) had a refuelling problem and was only seventh.

With Massa at the back of the grid for an engine change, there was only one of the four most competitive cars in front: the Renault of Fisichella, who duly led comfortably and won. Second was Alonso, who was able to gain several places with a long first stint.

2007 - Hey Felipe, where are you going?

Massa (Ferrari) was on pole, in front of Alonso (McLaren), Raikkonen (Ferrari) and Hamilton (McLaren), but at the start the Brazilian left too much room at the first corner, Fernando was able to take the lead and Hamilton passed as well to take second at the following turn.

After six laps a frustrated Massa tried an impossible move on Hamilton, outbraked himself and went off the track. Alonso had an easy race in front, while Hamilton had to sustain the pressure of Raikkonen for the entire afternoon, coming out on top.

Kim Raikkonen en route to his first victory in the 2003 Malysian Grand Prix © LAT

Malaysia personal scorecard

• Kimi Raikkonen won his first Formula One race here in 2003. He was third last year but counts four retirements out of seven starts. Raikkonen has never made it to the front row; his best qualifying performance being a third place last year.

• The best result for Felipe Massa in Malaysia is a fifth place, obtained in 2006 and 2007. Massa was the pole-sitter last year; the only good qualifying performance he was able to achieve in five attempts - he was 14th in 2002 due to suspension problems, 11th in 2004, 14th in 2005 and 21st for an engine change in 2006.

• Nick Heidfeld made it to the podium in third place in 2005, but retired four times out of eight starts. Heidfeld was able to qualify inside the top ten only three times, in 2002 (7th), 2003 (6th) and 2007 (5th).

• It is a favourable track for Fernando Alonso, who scored here his first pole and podium in 2003. The Spaniard won twice, in 2005 and 2007, and was on the podium four times out of six starts. Alonso also took pole in 2005.

• Nico Rosberg has never made it to the finish. He retired due to an engine failure in 2006 and a water leak in 2007.

• David Coulthard was on the podium in 2000 and 2001, but retired five times out of nine participations. The last time he saw the chequered flag was in 2005 (6th).

• Mark Webber's only highlight in Malaysia was in 2004, when he recorded his first front-row spot of his career. But his race performances are a real nightmare - he only finished the race last year, in 10th place, after five failed attempts. He retired from mechanical failures three times and twice from race accidents.

• Jarno Trulli made it to the podium in second place in 2005 and was able to be second in grid in 2003 and 2005 out of nine participations.

• Mixed emotions for Jenson Button in Malaysia - e was in sight of his first podium finish in 2002 when a suspension failure left him on three wheels while in fourth place a few laps from the end. He was able to take revenge two years later, when he stepped on the podium for the first time in his career.

• Rubens Barrichello was second twice, in 2001 and 2003, and was running second when he retired due to an engine failure in 2002. But his recent runs in Malaysia were not rewarding - a retirement in 2005, a 10th in 2006 and an 11th (his worst place in Malaysia) last year. Barrichello hasn't made it into the top ten in qualifying since 2004 (third).

• Takuma Sato never made it to the points in five attempts.

• Giancarlo Fisichella's win in 2006 was his only podium appearance. His other best result in Malaysia was the sixth place obtained last year. In nine attempts the Italian was only finished inside the top 10 one other time, in 2000 (ninth).

• Lewis Hamilton recorded the first fastest lap of his career in Malaysia at his second race start.

• Heikki Kovalainen gained his first Formula One points in Malaysia last year with an eigth place.

• Ferrari won for the last time in Malaysia in 2004, then only climbed on the podium again last year with the third place from Kimi Raikkonen. In 2005 the best result for the red cars was a seventh place scored by Michael Schumacher, and in 2006 a fifth by Felipe Massa. Ferrari recorded pole six times out of nine races.

• Honda has never made it inside the top ten. Its best result was a tenth place in 2006 and an 11th last year.

• Williams cars haven't made it into the points in Malaysia since 2005, when Heidfeld was third. The only time that a Williams car made it to the front row of the grid was in 2002, when Montoya started second.

• Renault recorded pole in 2003, 2005 and 2006, but last year the best-qualified French car was Kovalainen in 11th place.

• McLaren's best result in qualifying in Malaysia is a second place, scored only twice, in 2000 and 2007.

Other notes about the Malaysian GP

• The win has came from pole position five times, twice from the second spot of the grid, once from the fourth (Ralf Schumacher, 2002) and once from the seventh spot of the grid (Raikkonen, 2003).

• Ferrari and Renault are the only cars to have recorded pole positions in Sepang.

• The last win and pole by an Italian driver came in Malaysia in 2006 (Fisichella).

The 2008 Malaysian GP Preview

The unexpectedly hot Australian Grand Prix is likely to make the test that follows in Malaysia quite interesting. The teams are now headed to one of the hottest weekends of the year, where long straights will require the engines to work hard, putting real stress on the cooling systems.

This means that the nine cars that completed the race in Australia have to consider the longevity of their gearboxes and engines, which may need more looking after on their second hot race, perhaps offering a significant race day advantage to rivals.

Alongside straights that challenge the aerodynamic efficiency of the cars, tight corner sequences will ask for mechanical grip and the medium speed corners require balance: this is circuit is highly technical and rewards a fundamentally sound package, including the driver (until the heat and humidity gets to them), as the wide track permits some leeway for them to work their way around minor weaknesses.

As if the track was not challenge enough, there is a high chance of heavy rain at any point throughout the weekend, so teams will have to consider the consequences of being caught in the wet with a dry setup, or vice versa - how each approaches the compromise will be interesting, especially as there is a very real chance of different weather for qualifying and the race.

Lewis Hamilton battles the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen © LAT

Flashback

In 2007, a rain threatened, drizzle impacted but surprisingly drama-less qualifying session saw Massa put together a stunning lap that entirely justified pole position, whilst Alonso edged out Raikkonen for the other spot on the front row. Hamilton was a comfortable fourth, ahead of BMW's Heidfeld. Rosberg split the BMW's, underlying his re-emergence as a talent, and the Toyota's both made it in to the final session.

Poor starts from the Ferrari duo saw the McLarens move up to first and second through the opening corner, incidentally confirming Hamilton's capacity to make demon race starts. Alonso never looked back, going on to record a comfortable win, but the race behind him was far harder...

Lap 2 saw Massa and Hamilton fighting determinedly for second place, a fight that would lead to the Brazilian locking up on turn four of lap 6, costing two positions and ultimately any shot at the podium. Raikkonen then pressured the McLaren for a spell before traffic and diminished pace in the middle stint saw him fall off, but essentially the podium was now set up.

Further back, Kubica had punted Heidfeld in Turn 2, damaging his wing and making himself vulnerable to Rosberg's Williams; the Renault duo started well, and the Toyotas struggled off the line - Ralf Schumacher suffering from contact with a Super Aguri of Sato, who then proceeded to tangle with both the Toro Rosso pair, causing Liuzzi to stop for a new wing. Sutil dropped his Spyker, collecting Button's Honda on his way to the kitty litter. And Albers cooked the other Spyker when it caught fire after being stuck in first gear.

The action was relatively scant otherwise - Rosberg stopped with an hydraulic failure, Fisichella surprised himself with a points finish and Trulli held on to finish seventh. Kovalainen rounded out the points.

Pos Driver        Team                   Time
1. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1h32:14.930
2. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) + 17.557
3. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) + 18.339
4. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) + 33.777
5. Massa Ferrari (B) + 36.705
6. Fisichella Renault (B) + 1:05.638
7. Trulli Toyota (B) + 1:10.132
8. Kovalainen Renault (B) + 1:12.015

Fastest race lap: Hamilton, 1:36.701
Qualifying best: Alonso, Q2, 1:34.057

Weather

With temperatures expected to be in the mid eighties (a shade cooler than last year), as in Melbourne the track could again exceed 100 degrees this weekend. Winds should largely be consistent in both direction and strength, but rarely more than a light breeze.

So the real question driver for the weekend is the potential for thunderstorms, as there is approximately a sixty percent chance that scattered thunderstorms will impact any session, including qualifying or the race.

Strategy

Whilst the teams faced Australia anticipating the regular appearance of the Safety Car, this weekend will require somewhat different flexibility over the potential for rain: should it rain during the race, then qualifying is going to prove largely irrelevant compared with making the right call on when to change tyres, and being fuelled appropriately to hit those windows.

That said, strategy starts with handling perfect conditions, before compromises are added for circumstances; ordinarily this should prove to be a fairly straightforward two stop race. Qualifying well is helpful, as overtaking is not trivial, but this is a place where it is certainly possible, so it is arguably more important to be starting the race on a good fuel load.

This offers a respectable advantage over shorter stopping rivals, provided the drivers look after their tyres. In principle, this is less of a problem with a single tyre provider than during a tyre war, as they should prove far from marginal, but now we are racing without traction control, smooth drivers are going to be better rewarded.

When going in to qualifying, the teams will have already decided if they are going to set up for rain, dry, or a compromise, as they will not be able to adjust their cars until the race starts. When anticipating rain, accurately predicting when it will arrive is more art than science: those that scrape in to the third qualifying session (so fixing their fuel loads) will be at some disadvantage to similarly performing Q2 rivals, who will have a far more accurate picture as they decide their own strategies just before the race starts.

Should there be a gamble from any midfield player, it will be on a dry race and three stops: should they prove right, then they will not only be out of sequence for pit-stops, but have enough performance advantage to pass cars that are compromised for wet weather...

Conclusions

With a comfortable win under his belt, Hamilton takes on the mantle of favourite, but there is no doubting that Ferrari really have not been able to show their potential so far: take out the comedy of errors, and it ought to remain a tight battle between the front two outfits. Both Raikkonen and Massa illustrated great pace, but they seem to be spending more time on the edge than last year, which is likely to result in more errors.

BMW-Sauber are still leading the charge to the front, though Williams and Red Bull have quite clearly raised their games; all three teams will be looking to score good points, which could prove pivotal from these early races as the reliability of the front runners can only improve, making points harder to come by.

A lap of Sepang with Alex Wurz

"It's usually very hot and humid in Malaysia, so the race is a big challenge for the brakes, the engine and also the drivers. The circuit is a great challenge too, so it's a pretty full-on weekend for the teams.

"To take you around the track: you arrive at the first corner in seventh gear, at about 310km/h (192mph). There is a lot of grip from the asphalt, so you can brake really late before turning-in in third gear. The rear gets a bit light at this point. You then have the left-hander at Turn 2, which is the slowest corner on the circuit. It's first or second gear, depending on your gearing, and it has a camber change in the middle, so it's quite difficult to find the right differential set-up for it.

"Next comes a long right-hander, which is easy-flat even in the wet, and then you're braking for the right-hander at Turn 4. The braking area is really bumpy, which makes it a bit tricky, and then comes a really nice part of the circuit.

"You enter Turns 5 and 6 in fifth gear, at 230km/h (143mph), and the entry to turn 5 is almost flat so you really have to squeeze the throttle and make sure you have a very late apex. There's an immediate change of direction and at this point we pull about 4.5g. You might touch the brakes to stabilise the car into Turn 6, which is incredibly bumpy and the rear gets very light. Don't forget that we are still at 220-230km/h (137-143mph), with not much run-off, and I really enjoy it!

"Then comes a double right-hander, which is easy to get wrong if you overdrive and it leads to a hairpin. It's first or second gear and it's very important to have a good exit because that gives you pure lap time.

"Then we go to another flowing section, which leads to the penultimate corner. It's very difficult here because you enter it very fast and the rear gets very light. You have to brake down to second gear while turning and the car is oversteering the whole time. It's very easy to overdo it. The last corner is another hairpin and we again brake very late, from 300km/h (186mph), down to second gear."

Team by Team

Ferrari

The Australian Grand Prix was not good for Ferrari, who struggled with reliability issues through the weekend, and saw both cars spin when attempting to pass Kovalainen, and retire with engine related problems. The team were clearly not firing on all cylinders this weekend, and without a doubt come away knowing they dropped the ball.

The reliability issues are particularly troubling, so the team are setting about identifying and resolving the causes in a hurry - if they don't get this nailed, then they will lose ground to McLaren, as developments for improving performance will inevitably be compromised.

With Malaysia following on only a week later, big question marks remain over whether the team will make the finish of the race; on the positive side, both drivers will have new engines, which should help then take the fight back to McLaren, provided they remain in one piece.

On a different note, Jean Todd officially stepped down as CEO this week after 15 years with the firm; he remains on the board and the team's official for liaising with the FIA, but he continues to distance himself from the outfit.

1. Kimi Raikkonen: after a fuel pump failure wrecked qualifying, Raikkonen drove a great race, give or take the spin passing Kovalainen, and his engine letting go a couple of laps from the finish. Based on the best form shown over the weekend, he will be something to see in Malaysia, and expecting at least a podium finish if he can avoid mistakes!

2. Felipe Massa: having started the race with great optimism, Massa made a mistake attempting to pass Kovalainen, sending him down the order; attempting to move forwards, Coulthard closed the door late on a pass, resulting in more contact - then the engine gave up. The car illustrated enough pace to expect a podium finish, so this was disappointing... but there is every reason to believe Massa will bounce back in Malaysia and return to fighting at the front.

Objectives: Win the race.

Robert Kubica © LAT

BMW Sauber

There is no denying that folks started paying real attention when BMW put a car on the front row in Australia: it turns out they were running a little less fuel than Ferrari or McLaren, but it put them on notice. A strong race to second place confirmed that they are going to be ready to pick up the pieces at any opportunity they get.

The Malaysian Grand Prix is something of a home event for the team, who have been sponsored by Petronas for years; they approach it with that attitude, and generally seem to raise their game. The team have to be expecting to get both cars well in to the points, as they are clearly still leading the midfield, even if the gap has closed.

By a similar token, they have closed the gap to Ferrari and McLaren, so the opportunity to score podium finishes this year ought to be higher, as it will be easier to capitalise when the front duo drop the ball.

3. Nick Heidfeld: another solid, reliable performance from the German netted second place in Australia, a great way to start the season. It is likely to be the first of another series of strong races, and it would not be a surprise to see him fight for a podium spot again this weekend if either of the leading teams falter.

4. Robert Kubica: very nearly on pole, Kubica illustrated his pace unequivocally in Australia, even if his race was marred by a strategy change that did not work out, and ended by a collision behind the safety car. It appears that Kubica has finally worked out how to get the best from his tyres, so there is every chance of another qualifying shot this weekend.

Objectives: At least one car on the podium.

Renault

The return of their double World Champion was not enough to help Renault get in to the top ten in Australia qualifying, but his race day performance certainly helped them to fourth place. Clearly happy to be back, Alonso is already encouraging and cajoling his team in order to drive them onwards.

Of course, with only one week since the last race, nothing has changed, so he will be racing essentially the same equipment again, which means that again, getting in to Q3 in qualifying will be challenging. Renault seem to have the capacity to fight for a point in Sepang, but it will be hard come by unless the weather creates chaos, teams take themselves out of the game again, or Alonso pulls something special out of the bag.

5. Fernando Alonso: missing out on Q3 in Australia frustrated Alonso, but his pace on race day was pretty useful - enough to finish fourth after coming out on top of a protracted battle with Kovalainen. There is absolutely no doubt that the Renault is really not as fast as McLaren, but he must have been very satisfied to finish ahead, whatever the circumstances. The next weekend could offer a chance at more points, it ought to be a struggle, but Alonso has always done surprisingly well there.

6. Nelson Piquet Jr: a terrible qualifying session can have done nothing to help the confidence of Piquet, who had an equally disastrous race, effectively ending at the first corner with a collision. Needless to say, he would be hard pushed to have a worse weekend in Sepang, but rumours of his demise will surely start to spread if he doesn't have a decent qualifying session or race.

Objectives: At least one car challenging for points.

Nico Rosberg © LAT

Williams

Starting the season with a podium finish has to be considerably more than Williams expected, so the weekend in Melbourne is surely a success from that alone. Adding a points finish for Nakajima puts icing on the cake - this will be a tough act to follow.

Making it tougher, the Japanese driver will be starting the next race with a ten-place penalty after some careless driving behind the safety car; getting him to the points against that penalty is going to be challenging, even if this race also suffers from high attrition.

The team remain suspicious of the reliability they can count on from their cars, which were troublesome in testing: accordingly, as neither driver is expected to change engine or gearbox, they are going to have to look after them carefully through the weekend and this might compromise race pace. That should not interfere with qualifying, though, where they are rather hoping to see both cars fighting well in to the top ten.

7. Nico Rosberg: having posted his first podium in Australia, Rosberg is heading to a circuit that he particularly enjoys at Sepang, and should be expected to make a solid showing. Should more chaos descend, Rosberg's relative inexperience should be tempered by the experience on the wall: more points should be in the offing.

8. Kazuki Nakajima: Australia proved to be an interesting weekend for Nakajima, who only just made it in to Q2, but in making it to the end of the race (after twice stopping for new car parts after contact with others), he picked up sixth place and valuable points. He also picked up a ten place penalty to apply to his Malaysia qualifying for colliding with Kubica behind the safety car... so a second points finish will be difficult this weekend.

Objectives: Rosberg in the points - and a contact free race for Nakajima.

Red Bull Racing

Having both cars finish the Australian Grand Prix with contact damage sums up the weekend all too well. The car has shown sufficient pace to hope for a decent finish - particularly given the attrition rate. The threatened reliability bug-bear barely showed its head, yet neither car went the distance and points went begging... so a disappointing outing.

While the midfield continues to see so many closely matched teams, Red Bull Racing retain good opportunities to score points; but, to the point, the smallest improvement is worth several places in performance terms, so they really must capitalise now, in case they develop through the season at a different rate and lose the opportunity. Accordingly, getting the cars to the finish in Sepang must be a priority!

9. David Coulthard: a top ten qualifying session in Australia put Coulthard in a decent position to race, which he did with some effect until he turned in to Massa and ended up in the kitty litter. Malaysia was not kind to Coulthard last year, but this platform ought to offer him a chance at a points finish.

10. Mark Webber: equipment failure is never a good thing, and in front of your home crowd, when the car is capable of a top ten qualifying spot, it is frustrating. Compounding it with a first corner incident in the race doubly so. Must do better in Sepang - and surely will!

Objectives: Score points.

Jarno Trulli © LAT

Toyota

Poor reliability hurt Toyota in Australia, but there was no doubt that the car is showing enough pace to compete in the midfield. As they improve the reliability and develop the car, they should become more competitive, but until then, they will face an uphill struggle coming away with points on most weekends.

The Malaysian weekend could prove to be an exception: historically, the team have been pretty handy at this circuit, with Trulli in particular showing an affinity. Should they be able to unlock the potential of the car, then points are certainly a reasonable goal. With no time to work on improving reliability, however, there is a significant chance of problems interfering with grid position or the race, so this has to be their chief concern.

11. Jarno Trulli: qualifying specialist or not, sixth was a good result on Saturday in Australia, following up with a points finish even better; Trulli made the most of others misfortune, as the pace of the car would probably not have sufficed in a race with less attrition. He has demonstrated particular speed in Malaysian qualifying, so another strong performance can be expected - should he do it with a heavy fuel load, then like last year, more points could be on the cards...

12. Timo Glock: getting in to Q3 was a nice start for Glock, but a gearbox substitution in practice did him no favours, costing five places. Another five for impeding Webber put him to the back, then a huge accident during the race compounded his miserable weekend. On the positive side, as the balance improves on the car, he is clearly capable of extracting a decent turn of speed.

Objectives: Score points.

Scuderia Toro Rosso

It is interesting times at Toro Rosso, as the outfit has been put up for sale - with customer cars being effectively banned from the end of next year, it is going to become prohibitively expensive for parent company Red Bull to run two teams, so Toro Rosso will be changing owners by 2010. There is clearly going to be some impact to the motivation of the team while their future is uncertain.

The opening race in Australia was quite interesting: getting a car to Q3 was a fillip, even if technical problems prevented them from running the session - then some inspired calls and a solid drive had them looking at fourth place on merit, until more mechanical problems denied them that finish.

There is no doubt that the car was quick enough in Australia to justify delaying the introduction of the new chassis, but the premise of that delay was improved reliability, which makes it doubly disappointing that they did not capitalize on such a solid opportunity.

14. Sebastian Bourdais: tough practice and qualifying saw Bourdais start at the back of the grid, but an almost perfect race day brought him to fourth place, before a mechanical problem ended his race two laps early. Clearly demonstrating strength as a racer, it will be fascinating to see what he can do with the car when he gets a good qualifying session in.

15. Sebastian Vettel: getting the car in to Q3 was a solid reward for the faith the team has shown in the youngster, though stalling on the grid at the start dropped him down the order, ultimately getting him mixed up in a first corner incident. Vettel has to be looking for a repeat in qualifying this weekend - and improved reliability.

Objectives: Score points.

Ross Brawn and Jenson Button © LAT

Honda

Putting the disaster of 2007 behind them, Honda came away from Melbourne encouraged by the pace of the car and their potential to mix it up in the midfield - indeed, they are now looking to fight for points regularly as the season unwinds.

For the coming weekend, it is easy to envisage the team playing to their drivers' strengths; Button being particularly noted for his wet-weather driving, it would not be any surprise to see hedged approaches, with the Briton running a strategy and set-up optimised for wetter weather, while Barrichello follows a dryer approach. With neither driver having anything to prove, or a chance at the drivers' championship, a team approach to scoring points makes sense.

On a different note, the pit-crew will likely be paying more attention this weekend. Having not only sent Barrichello out too early, causing mayhem to those still working on the car, someone should have mentioned the red light at the end of the pits to the Brazilian. They really must maintain a top drawer game if they are to return to the sharp end of the grid!

16. Jenson Button: having missed out on Q3 before being caught up in an accident on the first corner of the race, it is clear that Button's weekend was far from ideal. On the positive side, the car performs so much better than it did last year, that even this miserable outing is a relatively positive experience: roll on Malaysia, with the potential to shine in the rain!

17. Rubens Barrichello: being disqualified from sixth after the Australian Grand Prix for running a red light leaving the pits, Barrichello did not, after all, collect three points for the team. On the positive side, despite imperfect luck - he had the potential to finish on the podium, but for the timing of a safety car period - the car was clearly performing far better than pundits expected, so the Brazilian is heading to Malaysia in a positive frame of mind.

Objectives: Fight in the midfield - for points!

Super Aguri

Having barely made the opening race, and arriving with almost no testing miles under their belt, it is little surprise that Super Aguri had a fairly miserable weekend. On the positive side, every lap turned adds considerably to their very limited store of knowledge regarding the car, which ought to help.

There is little prospect of change in Sepang - quite simply, the team have insufficient spare parts to risk running right to the ragged edge, insufficient test distance to get straight to the optimum set-up of the car, let alone comfort in the reliability level, and they have had no time to change anything in the last week.

On the positive side, things can only get better. The future of the team has been secured, they have almost no expectations set against them, and their remaining team is committed to moving forwards. Each session will let them claw back in to the season - so even if Sepang works out as little more than a test session, it will be an invaluable opportunity to improve the car.

18. Takuma Sato: having avoided the back row in qualifying, proceeded to have a difficult race before retiring on lap 33. It was actually an encouraging performance, implying that with more reliability he might do more than prop up the grid.

19. Anthony Davidson: underprepared for the season, Davidson struggled to get the best from the car in Australia, and was punted out on the opening lap of the race. It has to be better this weekend - at least, he is almost certain to get more laps in and some time in the cockpit to acclimatise to the car!

Objectives: Qualify off the back row...

Giancarlo Fisichella © XPB/LAT

Force India

Melbourne was a bit disappointing for Force India, really. They had shown some promising pace in the test sessions, but struggled with qualifying and failed to see either car get to a pitstop on race day. Races with this much attrition are few and far between in the modern sport, so it was doubly tough to see a genuine points opportunity go begging.

Heading to Malaysia, things could be interesting. The team have less money to spend on efficient aerodynamics than their rivals, so deficiencies in that arena will be more obvious. On the other hand, provided they can get the car well balanced and set up for wet weather, a couple of decent bouts of rain could again see the field decimated and a chance of sneaking in to the points.

20. Adrian Sutil: a tough qualifying saw Sutil wreck his car and start from the pitlane in Australia; the race was little better, as a hydraulic failure ended the day after nine laps. Consistency remains a problem for Sutil, who appears to be very quick when he can avoid coming off the road and damaging the car.

21. Giancarlo Fisichella: nearly through to Q2 in Australia, Fisichella's race was ended in the first corner... avoiding the same fate in Malaysia could be tricky, as the long run down to the first corner often sees misjudged braking zones. On the positive side, following flashes of real midfield pace in the practice sessions, it could be an interesting weekend.

Objectives: Fight in the midfield.

McLaren Mercedes

It was not quite a perfect outing for McLaren in Melbourne; they qualified on pole, took fastest lap and the race win, but suffered when their pit strategy unravelled for Kovalainen, who had to be called in after his lead was eroded by the safety car. That said, with main rivals Ferrari imploding on race day, they still come away with a comfortable points advantage.

With no time for testing, the team should arrive at Sepang with relatively few differences to their car, though they can be expected to run a slightly different aerodynamic solution: the long straights adding emphasis on aerodynamic efficiency could see some reduction in downforce, particularly if rivals are much faster down the straights.

Besides that, the weekend ahead should be about ensuring a solid strategy for the weather, protecting the engines just enough to finish the race, and keeping a good eye on Ferrari to see how well they recover from their mistakes, as there is no doubt they will perform well.

Rather unusually, Ron Dennis is not attending this race: personal matters have taken him back to England. It will be interesting to see what changes there are when the team reacts to pressure while his hand is off the helm.

22. Lewis Hamilton: Starting the season with a comfortable win in Australia has set up tremendous expectation on the sophomore Briton - though he spent much of last year with a points lead, and largely seemed immune to the pressure. With a six point lead over his nearest real rival for the Championship, a car that is capable of a podium finish every time out and benefiting from looking after his engine in the last race, Hamilton has to be looking for a second win...

23. Heikki Kovalainen: poor fortune behind the safety car and a simple mistake took Kovalainen out of contention for a podium finish in Australia. Besides that, it was a fine outing, with fastest lap and a very tidy passing manoeuvre on Alonso to boot... there is every indication that the Finn is settling in very well at McLaren. Better fortune should see him on the podium this weekend.

Objectives: Win the race.