Formula 1 General Chat & Discussion

iceman wrote:Let`s keep our feet on the ground. Alonso`s victory was a mini miracle. Perfect race strategy + a few mistakes made by Perez (faster then the spaniard though!). Fernando still can`t rely on his car, on the press-conference after the race he admitted that fact. Ferrari is facing now a 3 weeks break until china gp. Let`s hope that the ingeneers & mecanics can do something to reduce the technical gap between ferrari and th..e other important teams:mclaren and red bull especially. Otherwise, I don`t see how Alonso could stay in front, despite his trumendous talent.

On the other hand, I`m glad to see "iceman" back on top. The fastest lap on race shows that he can fight again for "the crown". Go Kimi !!!!

You are right, iceman, Alonso today to triumphed for the strategy of the team, for being a magnificent pilot, for the circumstances of the climate and for an error of Perez.
The Ferrari is still more than 1 second behind the best teams.
It is necessary to have the feet in the soil and to admit that, presently, Ferrari has a lot of work that to do to be really competitive.
I hope that it should obtain it soon.

Let`s keep our feet on the ground. Alonso`s victory was a mini miracle. Perfect race strategy + a few mistakes made by Perez (faster then the spaniard though!). Fernando still can`t rely on his car, on the press-conference after the race he admitted that fact. Ferrari is facing now a 3 weeks break until china gp. Let`s hope that the ingeneers & mecanics can do something to reduce the technical gap between ferrari and th..e other important teams:mclaren and red bull especially. Otherwise, I don`t see how Alonso could stay in front, despite his trumendous talent.

On the other hand, I`m glad to see "iceman" back on top. The fastest lap on race shows that he can fight again for "the crown". Go Kimi !!!!

Whoehoe...yes .. Alonso has won the race with his Ferrrari !!!!!!!!! Again Schumi made not the podium ..but i'm sure it will happen soon ..about Felipe Massa ..come on ...get back on your feet /get a grip on yourself ...you belong upfront !!!
Nice drive by Perez .Again Malaysia with his weather condition made the race more exciting ...aldo i thought that they would end the race again like 2 years ago ....but thankfully the rain stopt and the circuit was again driveble
Oké enough of this blablabla ...here are the official results of today :

1. Fernando Alonso : Ferrari : 2:44:51.812
2. Sergio Perez : Sauber : +2.263
3. Lewis Hamilton : McLaren : +14.591
4. Mark Webber : Red Bull : +17.688
5. Kimi Räikkönen : Lotus : +29.456
6. Bruno Senna : Williams : +37.667
7. Paul di Resta : Force India : +44.412
8. Jean-Eric Vergne : Toro Rosso : +46.985
9. Nico Hülkenberg : Force India : +47.892
10. Michael Schumacher : Mercedes : +49.996
11. Sebastian Vettel : Red Bull : +1:15.527
12. Daniel Ricciardo : Toro Rosso : +1:16.828
13. Nico Rosberg : Mercedes : +1:18.593
14. Jenson Button : McLaren : +1:19.719
15. Felipe Massa : Ferrari : +1:37.319
16. Vitaly Petrov : Caterham : +1 lap
17. Timo Glock : Marussia : +1 lap
18. Heikki Kovalainen : Caterham : +1 lap
19. Pastor Maldonado : Williams : +2 laps
20. Charles Pic : Marussia : +2 laps
21. Narain Karthikeyan : HRT : +2 laps
22. Pedro de la Rosa : HRT : +2 laps
Did Not Finish
23. Kamui Kobayashi : Sauber : +10 laps
24. Romain Grosjean : Lotus : +53 laps

Fastest Lap : Kimi Raikkonen - 1:40.722
Pitstop Mark Webber : 3
Drivers Same Lap : 15

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

i like the fact that Kimi and Michael are up there... i think we will see a really good match tomorrow.

pity for the Ferrari.

May be they need to change something, somehow, somewhere.. someone..
expecially someone -_-

It is not normal what happens with Ferrari.
Perhaps error in the design of the car?
For me, the new front part of the car, has been a mistake.
Although Alonso is a big pilot, if he does not have a good car, it is impossible to do miracles.
Anyway, I trust in the recovery of Ferrari and in that it will do a big championship.

hanshel wrote:Well, after qualifying four teams seem to go in a class of it´s own and for victory! - Maybe the whole season !???
But what a magnificent Schumi !!! The Legend again on 3 !!! - For me he is the best forever! I am sure he is going for victories this season !
One is again missing - Ferrari to start the 9th place with almost a second slower than 8! That's a lot to say when you know that the driver named Aloso ! About Massa I am not want to talk or !
Shaky, I think not the best times for you right now - why Ferrari has no speed so far ? I have no idea! Maybe somebody has an idea ???
For me very interesting:
Vettel will start as the only one with hard tires and fast with full tank it seems ! Maybe the key to victory ????

Brothers, have a nice Race !!!

Yeah Schumi is my Hero and how great he is he need only one Round for this Supertime! All the Critics about him: he is to old he shoul retired bla bla bla. Im sure this Saison he give this Critics the right Answer! GO SCHUMI GO !

Well, after qualifying four teams seem to go in a class of it´s own and for victory! - Maybe the whole season !???
But what a magnificent Schumi !!! The Legend again on 3 !!! - For me he is the best forever! I am sure he is going for victories this season !
One is again missing - Ferrari to start the 9th place with almost a second slower than 8! That's a lot to say when you know that the driver named Aloso ! About Massa I am not want to talk or !
Shaky, I think not the best times for you right now - why Ferrari has no speed so far ? I have no idea! Maybe somebody has an idea ???
For me very interesting:
Vettel will start as the only one with hard tires and fast with full tank it seems ! Maybe the key to victory ????

Brothers, have a nice Race !!!

Information for those who where watching F1 live on the BBC last year, there will be 10 shown live by them from China 15th of April onwards

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The official result of the qualification :

1 Lewis Hamilton : McLaren : 1:36.219
2 Jenson Button : McLaren : 1:36.368 + 0.149
3 Michael Schumacher : Mercedes GP : 1:36.391 + 0.172
4 Mark Webber : Red Bull Racing : 1:36.461 + 0.242
5 Kimi Raikkonen : Lotus F1 : 1:36.461 + 0.242
6 Sebastian Vettel : Red Bull Racing : 1:36.634 + 0.415
7 Romain Grosjean : Lotus F1 : 1:36.658 + 0.439
8 Nico Rosberg : Mercedes GP : 1:36.664 + 0.445
9 Fernando Alonso : Ferrari : 1:37.566 + 1.347
10 Sergio Perez : Sauber : 1:37.698 + 1.479
Q2
11 Pastor Maldonado : Williams : 1:37.589
12 Felipe Massa : Ferrari : 1:37.731 + 0.142
13 Bruno Senna : Williams : 1:37.841 + 0.252
14 Paul di Resta : Force India : 1:37.877 + 0.288
15 Daniel Ricciardo : Toro Rosso : 1:37.883 + 0.294
16 Nico Hulkenberg : Force India : 1:37.890 + 0.301
17 Kamui Kobayashi : Sauber : 1:38.069 + 0.480
Q1
18 Jean-Eric Vergne : Toro Rosso : 1:39.077
19 Heikki Kovalainen : Caterham : 1:39.306 + 0.229
20 Vitaly Petrov : Caterham : 1:39.567 + 0.490
21 Timo Glock : Marussia : 1:40.903 + 1.826
22 Charles Pic : Marussia : 1:41.250 + 2.173
23 Pedro de la Rosa : HRT F1 : 1:42.914 + 3.837
24 Narain Karthikeyan : HRT F1 : 1:43.655 + 4.578

Qual :1:36.219
Pole : Lewis Hamilton
Rain : no

Kind Regards
Shaky -Schumi

Times of the 3rd practice session :

1. Nico Rosberg :Mercedes : 01:36.877 laps 16
2. Sebastian Vettel : Red Bull : 01:37.320 laps 15
3. Mark Webber : Red Bull : 01:37.338 laps 12
4. Kimi Räikkönen : Lotus : 01:37.356 laps 13
5. Romain Grosjean : Lotus : 01:37.382 laps 13
6. Jenson Button : McLaren : 01:37.404 laps 12
7. Pastor Maldonado : Williams : 01:37.455 laps 13
8. Michael Schumacher : Mercedes : 01:37.663 laps 15
9. Lewis Hamilton : McLaren : 01:37.776 laps 8
10. Kamui Kobayashi : Sauber : 01:37.977 laps 17
11. Bruno Senna : Williams : 01:38.091 laps 20
12. Sergio Perez : Sauber : 01:38.178 laps 15
13. Fernando Alonso : Ferrari : 01:38.246 laps 17
14. Nico Hülkenberg : Force India : 01:38.285 laps 16
15. Daniel Ricciardo : Toro Rosso : 01:38.423 laps 13
16. Jean-Eric Vergne : Toro Rosso : 01:38.640 laps 11
17. Paul di Resta : Force India : 01:38.794 laps 18
18. Felipe Massa : Ferrari : 01:39.209 laps 16
19. Vitaly Petrov : Caterham : 01:39.704 laps 15
20. Heikki Kovalainen : Caterham : 01:40.189 laps 14
21. Charles Pic : Marussia : 01:41.901 laps 14
22. Timo Glock : Marussia : 01:42.007 laps 14
23. Pedro de la Rosa : HRT : 01:42.464 laps 14
24. Narain Karthikeyan : HRT : 01:43.378 laps 17


Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

The Times of the 2nd practice session + News of Today :

1 Lewis Hamilton : McLaren : 1:38.172 laps 28
2 Michael Schumacher : Mercedes GP : 1:38.533 + 0.361 laps 34
3 Jenson Button : McLaren : 1:38.535 + 0.363 laps 29
4 Nico Rosberg : Mercedes GP : 1:38.696 + 0.524 laps 34
5 Daniel Ricciardo : Toro Rosso : 1:38.853 + 0.681 laps 33
6 Fernando Alonso : Ferrari : 1:38.891 + 0.719 laps 27
7 Mark Webber : Red Bull Racing : 1:39.133 + 0.961 laps 29
8 Jean-Eric Vergne : Toro Rosso : 1:39.297 + 1.125 laps 33
9 Romain Grosjean : Lotus F1 : 1:39.311 + 1.139 laps 22
10 Sebastian Vettel : Red Bull Racing : 1:39.402 + 1.230 laps 25
11 Pastor Maldonado : Williams : 1:39.444 + 1.272 laps 35
12 Nico Hulkenberg : Force India : 1:39.464 + 1.292 laps 26
13 Paul di Resta : Force India : 1:39.625 + 1.453 laps 20
14 Kamui Kobayashi : Sauber : 1:39.687 + 1.515 laps 16
15 Kimi Raikkonen : Lotus F1 : 1:39.696 + 1.524 laps 29
16 Felipe Massa : Ferrari : 1:40.271 + 2.099 laps 27
17 Bruno Senna : Williams : 1:40.678 + 2.506 laps 34
18 Sergio Perez : Sauber : 1:40.947 + 2.775 laps 33
19 Vitaly Petrov : Caterham : 1:41.464 + 3.292 laps 25
20 Timo Glock : Marussia : 1:41.681 + 3.509 laps 20
21 Heikki Kovalainen : Caterham : 1:42.594 + 4.422 laps 18
22 Charles Pic : Marussia : 1:42.874 + 4.702 laps 24
23 Pedro de la Rosa : HRT F1 : 1:43.283 + 5.111 laps 22
24 Narain Karthikeyan : HRT F1 : 1:43.658 + 5.486 laps 18


Felipe Massa ignoring speculation Ferrari are to replace him :
Ferrari driver Felipe Massa has shrugged off mounting speculation the team is preparing to replace him, saying he is accustomed to premature reports of the end of his Formula One career. Massa's poor performance in last weekend's season-opening Australian Grand Prix had heightened expectations that Ferrari will fire him, with Italian media already speculating upon a replacement.
"I really don't care," Massa said today ahead of this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix. "I don't drive thinking about what others are thinking or saying about me."
"I'm doing my job, thinking about doing my best in the car, which is not what happened in Australia."
Massa said there was similar speculation early in the 2008 season, and he went on to come within one turn of winning the world championship. "I arrived here in 2008 and I was out of Ferrari (yet) it was my best season," he said. "I don't care about (speculation). Things change very quickly from one day to another."
Following that strong 2008 season, Massa was involved in a freak, life-threatening accident in 2009 and since then had been very much in the shadow of teammate Fernando Alonso.
Last year, he became the first Ferrari driver in 19 years to go through an entire season without a podium finish, meaning he entered this season under intense pressure to justify his place in the team. He had an unhappy first race in Australia last week, spinning out in practice, qualifying in a lowly 16th place and spending much of the race fighting off regular back markers before a race-ending collision with Williams' Bruno Senna.
Sauber driver Sergio Perez is high on the list of potential replacements. Adrian Sutil, Jarno Trulli and former Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello have also been linked with Massa's seat. They have more experience on their side than Perez and all drove in F1 last season. But Perez is part of Ferrari's Young Driver Program, has tested for the team and at 22 years of age is seen to have the most upside. Asked Thursday about speculation of a move to Ferrari, the Mexican driver said "they are only rumors."
"It's only the first race of the season, so it's very early to say this or speculate," Perez said. "I am very focussed with my team, with Sauber, and we have a great car."
Michael Schumacher, Massa's former teammate and mentor at Ferrari and an icon of the Italian team, urged Ferrari to exercise patience and not make judgments based just on the Melbourne performance. "If you look at all the winter testing, the two (Ferrari) drivers were very close together," Schumacher said Thursday. "To see the big difference we saw in Melbourne, I can only assume there must have been something not right for him.
"I trust he will (improve) and the team will do the utmost to give him the support he needs." Despite having only a one-week break between the first two races of the season, Ferrari have gone to the effort and expense to ship an entirely new chassis out for Massa to use this weekend, with many parts also being replaced.
"We really think its the right thing to do," Massa said. "Every time I drove this car, I never had the problems I had in Australia — I could not drive after the first lap."


Raikkonen to get five-place penalty for qualifying :
Kimi Raikkonen is set to be demoted five places on the grid for the Malaysian Grand Prix. The Lotus driver has had to have a gearbox change, which will incur a five-place penalty. Raikkonen’s gearbox overheated during the Australian Grand Prix after he went off the track, though he was able to finish the race. The team initially believed the gearbox was fit enough to be used again over a race distance. However after inspecting the unit in Malaysia they concluded it was too much of a risk to try to finish another race with the gearbox.

High tyre degradation makes three-stop strategies likely :
Malaysia’s high temperatures combined with Pirelli’s softer 2012 tyres will make life difficult for the drivers this weekend.
As track temperatures hit 47C in Friday practice, drivers saw their lap times drop off quickly.
“Managing tyre degradation is going to be critical to performance on Sunday,” said Heikki Kovalainen.On the face of it this may seem a surprise – Pirelli have brought their medium and hard tyre to this year’s race, whereas last year the soft and hard tyres were used. But Pirelli have produced softer compounds for their three hardest tyres this year. According to the tyre manufacturer the 2012 hard tyre is 31% harder than the super-soft – last year the same tyre was 70% harder.
Even so, we are not necessarily going to see a repeat of last year’s race, where some drivers used four-stop strategies.
According to Pirelli motorsport director Paul Hembery: “Our first impression is that a three-stop strategy seems likely and so far there is a difference of around 0.5 seconds between the two compounds, but the track will still evolve considerably before the race.” How many pit stops we end up seeing will be strongly influenced by the weather. If it stays dry and the surface rubber builds up, this will help protect the tyres. Rainfall will wash away the rubber and make the circuit more abrasive, leading to more pit stops. Added to that, the difference between the two compounds is smaller than last year. Jenson Button said: “It’s going to be tough on both compounds around here with all the humidity and the heat.
“I think the race will be tough for all of us – unless the circuit improves a great deal, there’s going to be quite a few stops on Sunday.” This sounds like bad news for Mercedes, who struggled with tyre degradation even in the cooler temperatures at Melbourne. But Michael Schumacher believes they’ve made progress on that front: “I am very happy about the work that has been done since Australia,” he said. “This has enabled us to achieve reasonably consistent long runs which is obviously important in these conditions.” It was clear from his message to the pits during practice that Sebastian Vettel is not happy with his new car yet.
“The tyres drop off quite quickly here, which is the same for all the drivers,” he said. “But I think we are sliding quite a bit and I would like the car to be a bit more stable.”

Valtteri Bottas makes first race weekend appearance :
Williams reserve driver Valtteri Bottas made his first appearance in an F1 race weekend at Sepang on Friday. Bottas drove Bruno Senna’s car in the first practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix. He ended the session 11th-quickest, a few hundredths faster than team mate Pastor Maldonado.

Ferrari says it has confidence in Felipe Massa despite troubled start :
Stefano Domenicali is confident that both Felipe Massa and Ferrari can find improvements after troubled starts to 2012.
Amid speculation over Felipe Massa's seat at the team - following poor performances in 2011 and in Australia last weekend - Domenicali said it was important to retain confidence in the Brazilian. He explained that Alonso and Massa had been on different programmes in second practice, the primary reason why they were more than a second and 10 places apart at the session's close. The Ferrari boss also said curing the F2012's traction in low speed corners was one of the chief priorities for the team, and that with such a close field even small gains would make a big difference.
"It is important at the moment to have good confidence around him," Domenicali said of Massa.
"In terms of what we see today, we were working in different programmes for the different drivers. Tomorrow we see what the situation is - the work is to make sure Felipe has the best car in the best conditions.
"In order to make Felipe comfortable in this particular moment we took different parts of what we had, so we changed to the spare chassis for Felipe and changed all the pieces to make sure there was nothing wrong with car he used in Melbourne." We know what are the problems and we need to tackle them, and make sure these problems that are fundamental are solved as quickly as possible." Pressed on what the issues were, Domenicali said: "The problems of the car are what I said in Sunday in Melbourne : mainly traction in low speed corners and speed. These are the two fundamental issues that we need to resolve. "At home we need to push on the development of the car and I am confident our engineers will solve the issues we have as quickly as possible. In such a close field a little step makes a big difference.
"For sure I am disappointed by the performance of the car no doubt, it is an easy answer. But not to be happy does not help, and I ask the engineers to be focused on their job as that is what they have to do.
"In one week, it is important to say we have identified issues on car and we are working at home to resolve it. We need to maximise what we are doing on track and improve it."

HRT confident it will qualify for the Malaysian Grand Prix :
HRT duo Pedro de la Rosa and Narain Karthikeyan are confident that qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix should not be too much of a problem, even though doubts remain about their potential to make it through to the end of the race.
Improvements to the power steering of the car, as well as the arrival of DRS, meant both men were comfortably within the mandatory 107 per cent time of the pace-setters in practice in Sepang on Friday. However, questions about cooling on the F112 in the hot Malaysia conditions make it more of a question mark about whether they will be able to complete Sunday's 56-lap event. "We expected to be within 107 per cent, with everything like DRS and the new parts working," explained de la Rosa on Friday. "But we should not be over-confident because you never know what fuel and stuff other people are running. "I think we are looking okay, but we should not stop here. We have to try to get quicker tomorrow as well, because this is the first running of the car reliably that we have had since this car was born."

Tomorrow saturday at 06.00u CET will be the 3rd free practice session ,followed at 09.00u with he qualification


Kind Regards
Shaky - Schumi

Sorry for the delay ..but i'm just home from work and physiotherapist . Here are the times of the 1st practice session :

1 Lewis Hamilton : McLaren : 1:38.021 19
2 Sebastian Vettel : Red Bull Racing : 1:38.535 + 0.514 Laps 21
3 Nico Rosberg : Mercedes GP : 1:38.813 + 0.792 laps 21
4 Michael Schumacher : Mercedes GP : 1:38.826 + 0.805 laps 19
5 Romain Grosjean : Lotus F1 : 1:38.919 + 0.898 laps 17
6 Mark Webber : Red Bull Racing : 1:39.092 + 1.071 laps 20
7 Kimi Raikkonen : Lotus F1 : 1:39.128 + 1.107 laps 22
8 Paul di Resta : Force India : 1:39.298 + 1.277 laps 23
9 Jenson Button : McLaren : 1:39.323 + 1.302 laps 15
10 Nico Hulkenberg : Force India : 1:39.440 + 1.419 laps 19
11 Valtteri Bottas : Williams : 1:39.724 + 1.703 laps 23
12 Pastor Maldonado : Williams : 1:39.783 + 1.762 laps 23
13 Felipe Massa : Ferrari : 1:39.896 + 1.875 laps 16
14 Kamui Kobayashi : Sauber : 1:39.910 + 1.889 laps 21
15 Fernando Alonso : Ferrari : 1:39.980 + 1.959 laps 23
16 Jean-Eric Vergne : Toro Rosso : 1:40.099 + 2.078 laps 23
17 Heikki Kovalainen : Caterham : 1:40.247 + 2.226 laps 19
18 Daniel Ricciardo : Toro Rosso : 1:40.469 + 2.448 laps 23
19 Vitaly Petrov : Caterham : 1:40.857 + 2.836 laps 25
20 Sergio Perez : Sauber : 1:41.085 + 3.064 laps 23
21 Timo Glock : Marussia : 1:43.170 + 5.149 laps 18
22 Charles Pic : Marussia : 1:44.580 + 6.559 laps 14
23 Narain Karthikeyan : HRT F1 : 1:45.360 + 7.339 laps 8
24 Pedro de la Rosa : HRT F1 : 1:45.528 + 7.507 laps 18

Kind Regards
Shaky - Schumi

Jaime Alguersuari 23rd March 1990
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Happy Birthday to your 22nd anniversary

Here are the time for this weekend Gp of Malaysia :

Friday :
1st free practice session : 03.00u - 04.30u CET
2nd free practice session : 07.00u - 08.30u CET

Saturday :

3rd free practice session : 06.00u - 07.00u CET
Qulification : 09.00u 10.00u CET

Sunday :

Race : 10.00u CET

News :

Massa to get new chassis for Malaysian Grand Prix :
Felipe Massa will have a new chassis for the Malaysian Grand Prix as Ferrari tries to get to the bottom of its troubles with its new F1 car. In a statement on their website Ferrari said: “Work has already begun in the Sepang pits to prepare chassis number 294, which replaces the number 293 and will be used by the Brazilian in the second race of the season.
“This choice was taken to clear up any doubts about the unusual performance of his car during the weekend at Albert Park.” Massa qualified 16th in Melbourne, a second slower than team mate Fernando Alonso. He failed to finish the race after colliding with Bruno Senna while running 13th.
Ferrari added: “Felipe knows he can count on the team to do everything, both from the technical and the operational point of view, to put him in a better state to show off his talents – even at the cost of extra work in these few days that separate the Australian race from the one in Malaysia.”

Malaysia’s unpredictable rain will keep teams guessing :
For the second race weekend in a row the teams have been greeted by heavy rain at an F1 track on Thursday. In Australia it cleared up in time for the all-important qualifying and race sessions. Will the same happen in Malaysia?
Rain is a regular occurrence in this part of the world at this time of year, so it’s no surprise to see weather forecasts predicting it throughout the race weekend and beyond. But the rainfall tends to happen late on in the day. That means there’s a good chance it won’t come during the race. History provides a good guide on this point. In the 13 previous Malaysian Grands Prix, two have seen heavy rainfall. And on one of those occasions, in 2009, the race was held in a later than usual time slot. The start time has been moved forward an hour since then.
But early reports of an increased chance of rain later in the weekend will have teams watching their weather radars closely. Even that is no guarantee – in 2010 McLaren and Ferrari took what their radar was telling them for granted during qualifying and got no further than Q1 after being caught out by a sudden shower. hen it rains in Malaysia, it tends to fall in huge, sudden downpours. But high ambient temperatures help the track dry quickly. Thesehot, humid conditions make life hard for the drivers, the pit crews, and the cars. Any shortcoming in a car’s cooling will be mercilessly exposed with temperatures in the high 20s to low 30s.

Drivers and teams pay tribute to Marco Simoncelli in Sepang :
F1 drivers and teams have paid tribute to Moto GP rider Marci Simoncelli in Sepang. Simoncelli was killed in a race at the circuit in October last year. Fernando Alonso said: “From now on, coming here will never be the same again as it will always make one think of Marco.
“I think the Ferrari family and all Italians who love sport and motorcycling will remember him always. His death was something one could never have expected. We will remember him always and he will always be a hero to us.”
Felipe Massa added: “We wanted to go to Turn 11 to pay a tribute to Marco’s memory. I think it was the least we could do for him, for his family and for all his fans. I think that all weekend long, we will drive here with thoughts of Marco.”
The Ferrari team displayed the message “Sic: Always with us” on their pit board. Heikki Kovalainen and was among other drivers who visited the site of Simoncelli’s crash at turn 11

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Alonso certain Ferrari can challenge for championship :
Fernando Alonso says he’s “convinced” Ferrari can be championship contenders in 2012 despite their poor start to the season. Quizzed by journalists in Malaysia, Alonso said: “This is Formula One. There is not an easy time for anybody. We need to work hard every day and night to normally catch up people in these three years.
“But anyway, you know, the experience has been fantastic. As you all know, fighting for the world championship in the first year and then last year with one win and ten podiums. Obviously, the target is always to win the world championship but it was not possible the last two years.
“This year we are convinced that we will fight for it. We need to stay focused and work more than the others knowing that we are a little bit behind now.
“But the championship is long. We stay calm, we stay focused, because we see a lot of determination in the team. We see the team with a very good atmosphere, (we) trust each other in the team, we are very united, so the time will come to us very soon.” He said the team’s goal for the coming races was to limit the damage until they can improve their car:
“We are not in the situation we wanted to start the 2012 championship but after 11 years in Formula One I think you understand how long the championship is, what you need when you have the best and what you need when you don’t have the best car – which is sometimes more points or less points. “But as far as our targets and our goals (are concerned) we need to score as many points as possible in these couple of races and in a very short period of time try to be on the podium and win races.
“If we manage to do that we have plenty of races to recover the gap. If we don’t manage to do that it’s because someone else did a better job than us. We just need to wait and see but I have 100 per cent trust in the team.”

UK TV audience falls by one million at Sky’s first F1 race :
Viewing figures from the first race weekend of 2012 indicates a fall of over a million viewers in the UK. There was no live free-to-air coverage of the race in Britain. The race was shown live on Sky while the BBC broadcast highlights later in the day. Sky declined to issue details of their TV audiences for their F1 programming over the race weekend when asked .
However multiple sources have reported their first F1 broadcast attracted a peak audience of 1.02 million viewers.
This represents a fall of over 2 million compared to the figure recorded by the BBC for last year’s live race. The BBC reported a peak of 3.2 million people watched their highlights programme, over one million more than their repeat of the race in a similar time slot attracted last year. Combining the figures suggests around one million fewer people in the UK watched the first F1 race of the season, a fall of over 20%.
However Sky commentator Martin Brundle, who left the BBC to join the broadcaster, praised the figures, saying on Twitter: “Very happy Sky F1, BBC F1 (and hopefully BBC 5 live) had strong Australian F1 audiences. So important for British [motorsport], Silverstone and F1 generally.”
Half of this year’s ten races will be shown live on the BBC, starting with the Chinese Grand Prix.

Ross Brawn says Mercedes' new technical structure is paying off :
Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn believes his team's approach of having multiple technical directors is already paying off - and thinks the benefits will only increase in the future. Although some rival outfits have poured scorn on the Mercedes approach – with the team having Bob Bell, Aldo Costa, Geoff Willis and Brawn all pushing on the technical side – the man in charge is delighted with the way things are panning out.
"They are getting on very well, gloriously well," explained Brawn. "Bob Bell's position was very easy. We didn't have a technical director. I was trying to cover that role, but not effectively enough.
"We have John Owen as chief designer, who is very talented, but needed some support.
"So with Aldo looking after the engineering side and Geoff looking after the aerodynamics, they are natural areas of responsibility. They are able to focus more on taking care of their areas than perhaps they were when they were just technical directors." Brawn thinks having such a pool of technical talent at his team will also pay off hugely with big regulation changes looming for 2014.

FIA confirms single DRS zone for 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix :
The FIA has confirmed the DRS zone for the upcoming Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang circuit.
Unlike the season-opening Australian GP, which had two zones, the Sepang race will have a single DRS zone, with the detection at the end of the back straight and the activaction zone right after the final corner. The activation zone remains unchanged in comparison to last year's race.

Sergio Perez focused on Sauber job despite Ferrari speculation :
Sergio Perez has vowed to concentrate on his job at Sauber despite Italian media speculation linking him to Felipe Massa's seat at Ferrari. The Mexican is a member of Ferrari's young driver programme and tested for the Italian squad last year.
Massa has had a poor run of form since his accident in qualifying for the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix. This year's season opener in Melbourne continued the trend, qualifying 16th before clashing with Bruno Senna in the race.
Perez had a successful year in 2011 and is highly rated by the Italian team.
However, Perez poured cold water on the talk of a change, saying: "It was only the first race of the season, so very early to speculate. I am really focused with my team, with Sauber, we have a great car and there is nothing else I can say."
He added: "The rumours... they are only rumours."

FIA rejects claims that Mercedes's rear wing is illegal :
Lotus and Red Bull Racing's complaints that the DRS-activated F-duct on the Mercedes rear wing is illegal have been rejected by the FIA . The two outfits wanted clarification on the matter ahead of this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix, with both teams reckoning the duct that helps stall the Mercedes wings for a straight-line speed boost is a breach of the rules that prevents driver activated aerodynamic devices. Discussions between the FIA and all the teams involved have taken place throughout Thursday in the Sepang paddock, but the governing body has not changed its stance on the matter. The FIA informed the outfits that it remains convinced that the concept is legal because it is passive, and there is nothing in the rules that outlaws a device that is activated by movement of the DRS.
FIA race director Charlie Whiting, who is head of the F1 technical department, said in Australia last weekend: "It is completely passive. There are no moving parts in it; it doesn't interact with any suspension. No steering, nothing. Therefore I cannot see a rule that prohibits it."
The news means that Red Bull Racing and Lotus - the two teams most unhappy about the design – must now choose to either challenge the matter with an official protest in Malaysia this weekend, or go ahead and develop a similar system themselves.

Kind Regards
Shaky-Schumi

KIMI RAIKKONEN is shooting for a podium finish in Malaysia this weekend.
Iceman Raikkonen is convinced he can fight at the front at Sepang, the venue of his maiden win for McLaren nine years ago.
He claims his new Lotus E20 "feels very good" and insists he was unable to show its full potential in Australia because he was often stuck in traffic.
The Finn said: "Who knows what might have happened if I'd had a better grid slot? There is a lot of speed in the car. As long as qualifying goes well we could be fighting for podiums.There's much more to come. We're learning about the car all the time and the Melbourne race didn't really give us a chance to use its full potential.Hopefully Malaysia will be a bit more straightforward."

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I think we maybe will see how many speed is really in that new car ! We know racing-speed is sometimes different to qualifying-speed or ?! But maybe we are not know much more after the next race - the malaysian rain you know !?!?!?

But nevertheless I am really curious about what will happen with the new car - McLaren and RedBull seems to be the yardstick for Lotus ! Impressive !!!