2014 FORMULA 1 PETRONAS MALAYSIA GRAND PRIX Round two of the 2014 championship gets underway this weekend in Malaysia in a somewhat quantum state following Red Bull’s spat with the FIA over fuel flows; Koala has both 18 points and none at the same time, and so does everyone down to Checo, who has both one and none also, presumably he and Koala share that none, because when the appeal has been heard in April then only one of them will have none, except of course by then they probably won’t have none, having scored in the three intervening races. The issue arises with the new rules for 2014 that, in addition to limiting the cars to 100kg fuel for the race (previously they used around 160kg), also limits the rate at which the engine can consume fuel at any instant in time. High fuel flow can be used to increase engine power, allowing a car to accelerate faster. To measure this, the FIA have an “approved” meter that is installed in every car, but Red Bull decided that the meter was not as accurate as their own telemetry and decided to abandon use of the FIA unit, despite being told several times over the weekend, and during the race, that they could not do this, and hence their eventual disqualification. Of course, the interesting thing will be to see if Red Bull use the FIA fuel-flow meter in Malaysia -- If they do, then they are tacitly admitting defeat in their argument that it doesn’t work compared to their own readings, which makes their appeal in April almost untenable, or do they stick to their argument and go into this race without the FIA unit again, risking another disqualification. Sepang is the exact opposite of Melbourne; a dedicated, high-speed racetrack that, though smooth, has loads of grip thanks largely to a tyre-eating abrading surface. It is also incredibly hot. So, for the new specification cars, this will really test their ability to cool the new ERS components – something we already know that Renault have a big problem with – and will also test the ability of the engines to run flat out in top gear, something we never got in Australia. The smooth-flowing nature of the circuit means that fuel management will be less of a problem at this circuit and the race will revolve more around engine, tyre and driver degradation. Pirelli are bringing their new, harder, Orange Hard along with the White Medium tyres, the latter being worth about 1½ seconds per lap, however the Option tyres that were bullet-proof in Australia are only lasting for a lap or two in the much hotter and more abrasive Malaysian environment; this will make Qualification interesting. The heat may also introduce an issue for the rookies; although they have all driven here before, it would have been for a maximum 35 minutes in GP2, not the two hours that F1 demands, so we may well see a little flurry of driver errors in the second half of the race. Mercedes again look like the team to beat, with Hammster topping the timing in FP1 and Rozzer taking over in FP2. The former’s early exit due to engine shutdown in Melbourne means that we haven’t yet seen him at full race pace, and that engine is back up and working, so he can push it a little harder than can his team-mate if he needs to. Rozzer’s emphatic 24 second lead in the first race leaves the manufacturing team the one to beat so far, however the Silver Arrows seem to be repeating their problems of last season with respect to tyre wear as both drivers had some issues with doing more than one hot lap in FP1. Red Bull also only effectively ran the one car in Australia, though Klaus is performing well in Free Practice and if the Red Bull is gentler on its tyres than the Mercedes, and if it remains reliable, then we could see both Red Bulls vying for the podium. As noted above, the team is playing coy about the fuel-flow meter, though we know that the one fitted to Koala’s car in FP1 failed again and needed to be replaced. Oddly, only Red Bull are reporting failures of these units. Of course, the other big question this year is whether or not Klaus has learned what “Multi-21” means yet. Ferrari look to be the next best competitor to Mercedes, and are definitely kinder to their tyres. Iceman has put in consistently good timings throughout both sessions today, with Spiteful Spaniard not far below. After Melbourne, Big Ron at McLaren was touting spec changes for Malaysia that would give the Thunderbirds another couple of seconds per lap. Though many wondered if this meant that McLaren had found the hidden “Rosberg” setting in their Mercedes power plant, it turns out that it was just a new nose and that, if anything, it is slower than before. As a result of “flow-gate”, both Minion and Our-boy ended up with podium positions, and McLaren are currently top of the constructors table, but they only put a very middle-order showing in today as the car struggles with the heat. Williams have put on a strong showing with both Move-over and Lucky doing well on the timings and putting in some decent laps. Just behind them are Sauber and Torro Rosso, and though both Eric and Cat have spent some time off track, the latter has set a reasonably high bar for the former’s Russian toddler to clear when he eventually gets a super-license. Convict and Gutsy have had more luck in keeping the car on track and the two teams are happily midfield. Force India are likewise holding position with Hulk and Checo coming in the top 10 in Australia. No longer at the back, Marussia have done quite well, with Jules II finishing slightly behind Chiltern-Windows in FP2 and getting in a fair amount of running in the process and also keeping up their tradition of at least getting their cars home in the race. Not so lucky are Caterham, who had two DNF’s in Australia, with go-buy-sushi taking the dubious honour of having the first crash of the season; though of course, this is the man that managed to write off a Ferrari F-60 during a demonstration on Moscow. His problems in Aus. with the rear braking system is also troubling Sony, though at least he put some laps in today whereas our favourite Japanese driver only managed 5 laps today. Of course, those 5 laps were 3 more than Bishop’s Lotus managed all day; His Renault engine failed on his out lap and needs to be changed. Nutter fared a little better in FP1, but did manage at least to set a time in FP2 before parking up at the side of the track and sloping off for an early bath. Lots of spinning all through the Free Practise sessions, and how bad is it going to get if it rains? At least that will help them survive the tyre degradation.
Posted on: Fri, 28 Mar 2014 10:44:58 +0000
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