Still back in the UK, watching from the sofa. The logistics of the early fly-aways were just too much to combine with a day job and limited annual leave. Watching from the sidelines was torture - every face in the background on the BBC was someone I'd gotten to know in Bahrain.
F1 Sofa Blog – Dry running for FP1
I'm getting a strange feeling of déjà vu all over again. It's stupid o'clock in the morning, and I'm on the sofa with my laptop, trying to get my sleep-befuddled brain to make sense of the screens in front of me.
And they're off. The first free practice session at Sepang is underway, and the boys dutifully trundle out for their installation laps. Installation laps complete, it's all quiet on the Malaysian front. Or mostly quiet, anyway – Lotus' Fairuz Fauzy is making the most of his drive in front of the home crowd, and essentially has the track to himself.
Fauzy is top of the leaderboards, but he and Pedro de la Rosa are the only two drivers to have posted a time, and de la Rosa's been back in the pits for a while now.
Looks like the Red Bulls could be in for another tough weekend – we're 15 minutes in to the session, and Mark Webber's car has already begun to overheat. Apparently the stickers are "bubbling" and peeling off. It was the installation lap wot done it, so there could be major problems over race distance. Christian Horner has just rubbished claims that the car's overheated, but I'm not sure what else would cause the bubbling effect.
Malaysia is face-meltingly hot, even when you're not in a cockpit – the level of humidity found inland is punishing for anyone not used to the climate. Stickers born in the less-than-tropical paradise of Milton Keynes probably never had a chance.
Always think of the BBC as the benchmark of journalism, so it was nice to hear them make a slip-up this morning. Too overworked to keep on top of the news, poor lambs – James from Plymouth has texted in with a question about 2011 regulation changes (KERS and tyre width) to be discussed at a meeting later today.
Jonathan Legard and Anthony Davidson spend a good few minutes talking about the paddock connections needed to obtain that level of secret info before someone points out an Autosport article covering the possible reappearance of KERS and increasing the width of rear tyres, to be discussed by the powers that be on Friday in Sepang. Oops!
Not much on-track action – most drivers seem to be waiting until the second half of the session to do much in the way of running.
Of course, this morning's dry practice is pretty useless when it comes to looking at form for the race, which is widely expected to be held in the rain. The 2009 event finished on half points when the heavens opened, the skies turned black, and it was impossible to see and dangerous to drive. It is hoped the (slightly) earlier start time on Sunday will prevent a repeat of last year, but we are still in the middle of 'it's afternoon, so it's time for a deluge' season in Malaysia.
As long as it doesn't rain too hard, we should be in for an interesting race. Wet races always involve more reactive strategy, and on a track as challenging as Sepang the new teams are likely to bring out a safety car or two if running in the wet. Until we've seen this year's cars do wet and dry running, we won't know who's likely to do well at a rain-soaked Malaysian GP. There are a few 'rain masters' on the grid this year, but their cars all have varying levels of mechanical grip and the narrower front tyres to contend with, so there are no obvious winners.
The big story this morning – although it first appeared yesterday – is the news that outboard mirrors are to be banned from the Shanghai GP onwards. There were a number of complaints in Melbourne of drivers not being able to see cars approaching from behind, and some mirrors were said to be more effective at directing airflow than assisting in visibility. And you'd think the latter would be a mirror's key job...
Not all of the teams will be affected by this new ruling, but Ferrari, Red Bull, Force India, and Williams will all need to get a hammer to the existing mirrors and stick new ones on with a bit of Blu-tac and gaffa tape. Not really – the teams do need to change the mirrors, but a slightly more high-tech approach will be used. Superglue!
According to Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull are worried that the mirror change is going to slow them down. "We have no concerns for this weekend, we are much more concerned that from the next race onwards we'll have to run the mirrors inboard and our car is losing quite some performance due to that," he said. That wouldn't have anything to do with the mirrors acting as an aerodynamic device, would it now?
Ooh, it's kicking off again on-track. As I've been typing drivers have been pouring out of the pits and setting times left, right, and centre. Jenson Button was fastest for McLaren before Lewis Hamilton popped up to steal that accolade from his teammate. Pretty much everyone's out on the field and setting times – everyone but Michael Schumacher, that is.
Schuey's car seems to be the focus of a lot of work in the Merc garage. No worried faces, though – Schumacher appears to have requested an exotic and complex change to his hydraulic set-up that's taking most of the session to put into place. Not sure what, but we'll see whether or not it works when he hits the track. If he ever hits the track – we've got less than 40 minutes to go and the German's not looking like he's about to strap his helmet on.
Whatever Michael's done to his car – or had Mercedes do on his behalf – appears to be working. He's out on track and climbing up the timesheets. Just popped up in P3 after six laps. It's currently Hamilton, Button, Schumacher at the top of the sheets, with Lewis in the high 1.34s and the other two in the low 1.35s.
Vettel's car not running properly – rather, not slowing down properly. Braking issues already? A repeat of the bad luck that struck in Melbourne and Bahrain is the last thing anyone wants to see. According to the Beeb, Renault's engine bods are keeping an eye on things while the Red Bull boys try and establish whether the problem's the brakes, the powerplant, or some as yet undiscovered gremlin. Will being you the answers when they give them. If they give them.
Loads of laps, but not many changes at the top of the leaderboard – it's been the two McLarens and Schuey for a while now. Not much time left in the session, and the track's beginning to look pretty full of cars. Lots of running, drivers improving by tenths and hundredths, but no massive changes in the classification. Chequered flag is about to fall, so other than the few drivers yet to come in it looks like much of the order has been set.
And I spoke too soon! With the chequered flag down, Nico Rosberg swoops in to second place behind Hamilton, pushing Button down into third. More importantly, teammate Schumacher is now in fourth and has been beaten by his teammate. There's still a lot of this weekend left to run, but Nico's won the first battle, and done so in dramatic fashion.
So what does any of this tell us for the race? Not much. The two McLarens are fast on the twin straights, thanks to their F-duct – which apparently isn't called an F-duct, but McLaren won't tell the BBC what it's really called (my vote's for Bob) – but all that could change as the weather changes. There is a chance of rain in FP2, and that might give us more of an idea of race pace. We shall see.
The one thing we do know is that FP1 has been a victory for the Mercedes engine at Sepang – the top four places were McLaren, Mercedes, McLaren, Mercedes, and Adrian Sutil popped up in seventh with a Mercedes-powered Force India. The rest of the top ten was made up of three Renault engines (both Red Bulls and Robert Kubica), and two Ferrari engines – Fernando Alonso and the Toro Rosso of Sebastian Buemi.
See you in a couple of hours for FP2...
And they're off. The first free practice session at Sepang is underway, and the boys dutifully trundle out for their installation laps. Installation laps complete, it's all quiet on the Malaysian front. Or mostly quiet, anyway – Lotus' Fairuz Fauzy is making the most of his drive in front of the home crowd, and essentially has the track to himself.
Fauzy is top of the leaderboards, but he and Pedro de la Rosa are the only two drivers to have posted a time, and de la Rosa's been back in the pits for a while now.
Looks like the Red Bulls could be in for another tough weekend – we're 15 minutes in to the session, and Mark Webber's car has already begun to overheat. Apparently the stickers are "bubbling" and peeling off. It was the installation lap wot done it, so there could be major problems over race distance. Christian Horner has just rubbished claims that the car's overheated, but I'm not sure what else would cause the bubbling effect.
Malaysia is face-meltingly hot, even when you're not in a cockpit – the level of humidity found inland is punishing for anyone not used to the climate. Stickers born in the less-than-tropical paradise of Milton Keynes probably never had a chance.
Always think of the BBC as the benchmark of journalism, so it was nice to hear them make a slip-up this morning. Too overworked to keep on top of the news, poor lambs – James from Plymouth has texted in with a question about 2011 regulation changes (KERS and tyre width) to be discussed at a meeting later today.
Jonathan Legard and Anthony Davidson spend a good few minutes talking about the paddock connections needed to obtain that level of secret info before someone points out an Autosport article covering the possible reappearance of KERS and increasing the width of rear tyres, to be discussed by the powers that be on Friday in Sepang. Oops!
Not much on-track action – most drivers seem to be waiting until the second half of the session to do much in the way of running.
Of course, this morning's dry practice is pretty useless when it comes to looking at form for the race, which is widely expected to be held in the rain. The 2009 event finished on half points when the heavens opened, the skies turned black, and it was impossible to see and dangerous to drive. It is hoped the (slightly) earlier start time on Sunday will prevent a repeat of last year, but we are still in the middle of 'it's afternoon, so it's time for a deluge' season in Malaysia.
As long as it doesn't rain too hard, we should be in for an interesting race. Wet races always involve more reactive strategy, and on a track as challenging as Sepang the new teams are likely to bring out a safety car or two if running in the wet. Until we've seen this year's cars do wet and dry running, we won't know who's likely to do well at a rain-soaked Malaysian GP. There are a few 'rain masters' on the grid this year, but their cars all have varying levels of mechanical grip and the narrower front tyres to contend with, so there are no obvious winners.
The big story this morning – although it first appeared yesterday – is the news that outboard mirrors are to be banned from the Shanghai GP onwards. There were a number of complaints in Melbourne of drivers not being able to see cars approaching from behind, and some mirrors were said to be more effective at directing airflow than assisting in visibility. And you'd think the latter would be a mirror's key job...
Not all of the teams will be affected by this new ruling, but Ferrari, Red Bull, Force India, and Williams will all need to get a hammer to the existing mirrors and stick new ones on with a bit of Blu-tac and gaffa tape. Not really – the teams do need to change the mirrors, but a slightly more high-tech approach will be used. Superglue!
According to Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull are worried that the mirror change is going to slow them down. "We have no concerns for this weekend, we are much more concerned that from the next race onwards we'll have to run the mirrors inboard and our car is losing quite some performance due to that," he said. That wouldn't have anything to do with the mirrors acting as an aerodynamic device, would it now?
Ooh, it's kicking off again on-track. As I've been typing drivers have been pouring out of the pits and setting times left, right, and centre. Jenson Button was fastest for McLaren before Lewis Hamilton popped up to steal that accolade from his teammate. Pretty much everyone's out on the field and setting times – everyone but Michael Schumacher, that is.
Schuey's car seems to be the focus of a lot of work in the Merc garage. No worried faces, though – Schumacher appears to have requested an exotic and complex change to his hydraulic set-up that's taking most of the session to put into place. Not sure what, but we'll see whether or not it works when he hits the track. If he ever hits the track – we've got less than 40 minutes to go and the German's not looking like he's about to strap his helmet on.
Whatever Michael's done to his car – or had Mercedes do on his behalf – appears to be working. He's out on track and climbing up the timesheets. Just popped up in P3 after six laps. It's currently Hamilton, Button, Schumacher at the top of the sheets, with Lewis in the high 1.34s and the other two in the low 1.35s.
Vettel's car not running properly – rather, not slowing down properly. Braking issues already? A repeat of the bad luck that struck in Melbourne and Bahrain is the last thing anyone wants to see. According to the Beeb, Renault's engine bods are keeping an eye on things while the Red Bull boys try and establish whether the problem's the brakes, the powerplant, or some as yet undiscovered gremlin. Will being you the answers when they give them. If they give them.
Loads of laps, but not many changes at the top of the leaderboard – it's been the two McLarens and Schuey for a while now. Not much time left in the session, and the track's beginning to look pretty full of cars. Lots of running, drivers improving by tenths and hundredths, but no massive changes in the classification. Chequered flag is about to fall, so other than the few drivers yet to come in it looks like much of the order has been set.
And I spoke too soon! With the chequered flag down, Nico Rosberg swoops in to second place behind Hamilton, pushing Button down into third. More importantly, teammate Schumacher is now in fourth and has been beaten by his teammate. There's still a lot of this weekend left to run, but Nico's won the first battle, and done so in dramatic fashion.
So what does any of this tell us for the race? Not much. The two McLarens are fast on the twin straights, thanks to their F-duct – which apparently isn't called an F-duct, but McLaren won't tell the BBC what it's really called (my vote's for Bob) – but all that could change as the weather changes. There is a chance of rain in FP2, and that might give us more of an idea of race pace. We shall see.
The one thing we do know is that FP1 has been a victory for the Mercedes engine at Sepang – the top four places were McLaren, Mercedes, McLaren, Mercedes, and Adrian Sutil popped up in seventh with a Mercedes-powered Force India. The rest of the top ten was made up of three Renault engines (both Red Bulls and Robert Kubica), and two Ferrari engines – Fernando Alonso and the Toro Rosso of Sebastian Buemi.
See you in a couple of hours for FP2...
F1 Sofa Blog – Melting rubber in FP2
And here we are again. The two big stories between the practice sessions have been an earlier-than-predicted rainfall and a mystery meeting that Bernie Ecclestone has called with all the team principals. No word yet on what was discussed, but you'll find out seconds after I do. If I do.
Track temperature in Sepang is a scorching 51 degrees, and seems to be climbing all the time. Anyone know the melting point of rubber offhand? Session has just begun, and cars are pootling out onto the track for their installation laps.
Seven minutes in and we've already got more times on the board than we had 20 minutes in to FP1, so I think it's safe to assume we're in for a lot more action in this second session. Until the storm comes, that is – the teams are expecting heavy rains, and are trying to maximise running before they arrive.
Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button are currently top of the timesheets, continuing this morning's strong showing. But it's very early days yet, and there will be a lot of change in the next 80 minutes. A handful of drivers have yet to set times, but almost everyone's currently out on track.
A mildly amused smirk from me as the top five replicates the end of this morning's practice session – Hamilton leads from Nico Rosberg, who is followed by Button. Michael Schumacher is in fourth, and Robert Kubica closes out the quintet. If it weren't for the likelihood of rain and safety cars, we might be looking at possible form for Sunday.
It's a bit quiet on track now as the vast majority of the drivers are back in the pits, checking out telemetry and getting briefings from their engineers.
But the top seven drivers – Hamilton, Schumacher, Rosberg, Button, Kubica, Adrian Sutil, and Kamui Kobayashi – are all out on track. Schuey's fast lap pushed him up into second. Will Rosberg respond with a faster time?
With an hour to go, drivers are popping in and out of the pits like yo-yos. Both the Ferraris and Red Bulls – cars that can be confident in their qualifying pace – are hovering near the bottom of the timesheets, presumably on heavy-fuel runs. Mark Webber's currently in 15th, with a 1.38.786s, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa are 16th and 17th, and Sebastian Vettel is in 18th with a 1.39.126s. Hamilton's timesheet-topper was a 1.34.765s.
And Webber has just run into the gravel with another Red Bull reliability issue. It looks to be a problem with the gearbox, and is almost certainly the end of the day's running for the Australian driver. The last thing Red Bull need is more broken car parts requiring analysis – is this the third piece of bad luck needed to break the cycle?
While the cameras have been focussed on the crane manoeuvring Webber's car, Rosberg has popped up in second place with a 1.35.145s. I think it's safe to say that the Mercedes intra-team battle is definitely on. It will be handbags at dawn for the rest of the session as the German teammates keep trying to out-do the other's time and win the FP2 glory crown. The pressure is certainly on for Schumacher to best his teammate this weekend, and the media have been circling all week.
Change on the timesheets as the session approaches the half-way mark. Schumacher enjoyed about 20 seconds on top with a fastest time of 1.34.674s before Lewis posted a 1.34.276s and snatched back top honours. Rosberg is in third, with Kubica behind in fourth, and Button in fifth. And as I typed that sentence Button popped up in the number two slot with a 1.34.538s, just as his teammate is lighting up the boards with purple after purple: Lewis improves his fastest time to a 1.34.175s. McLaren seem to have taken inspiration from Mercedes' intra-team battle, but your teammate is always the first man to beat, I suppose.
The four Mercs and McLarens are the only cars to be lapping in the 1.34s, with a half-second gap between Hamilton and Schuey. Rosberg's now in second place, only 0.3 seconds behind Lewis, and Button's only a tenth behind Nico. If today were any indication – and the dry weather so far means it probably won't be – the Mercedes engine is the right one for Sepang.
Sebastian Vettel has leapt up the timesheets and appeared in fifth with a 1.34.863s; he had been down in the 15-18 zone. It's a bittersweet improvement – since finishing his lap, Vettel has been on the radio complaining of problems with his power steering. The Beeb are theorising it's a bigger issue with the hydraulics, but no one's certain. Red Bull have yet to confirm the cause of Webber's earlier drift into the gravel, and the conspiracy theories are flying.
It's not looking brilliant for the RB6 – questions over the car's reliability are on the increase, which is the last thing the team needed.
What is looking good for Red Bull is Vettel's lap times. Despite problems with the power steering, the young German is now second on the timesheets with a 1.34.441s. The pit wall data didn't show any problems with the power steering, so it looks like there's some research to be done there. Christian Horner has just told the BBC that Webber's retirement was due to an engine problem, but it's too early to know anything more.
Rain clouds are approaching the track, and a deluge could hit in the last ten minutes of FP2. Drivers are pouring back onto the track, trying to make the most of what's left of this dry session.
Nothing really changed at the end of the afternoon session – teams were running on heavier fuel loads and old tyres, so flying laps weren't on the agenda. Lewis Hamilton ended the day at the top of the timesheets in both morning and afternoon, and the F-duct seems to be working well for both McLaren drivers. Jenson Button was complaining of understeer and handling difficulties as afternoon practice drew to a close, but he'd already posted a fast enough lap to secure fourth in the afternoon standings.
Sebastian Vettel hung on to his second place, and Nico Rosberg took third. Fifth-placed Michael Schumacher will not be pleased to have been beaten by his teammate yet again, but all could change between now and the end of FP3. Schuey's under a lot of pressure to perform this weekend, and he might yet get the best of young Nico.
The rest of the order was: 6th Robert Kubica, 7th Fernando Alonso, 8th Sebastian Buemi, 9th Vitaly Petrov, 10th Adrian Sutil, 11th Kamui Kobayashi, 12th Tonio Liuzzi, 13th Pedro de la Rosa, 14th Jaime Alguersuari, 15th Felipe Massa, 16th Rubens Barrichello, 17th Nico Hulkenberg, 18th Jarno Trulli, 19th Heikki Kovalainen, 20th Mark Webber, 21st Timo Glock, 22nd Lucas di Grassi, 23rd Karun Chandhok, 24th Bruno Senna.
Track temperature in Sepang is a scorching 51 degrees, and seems to be climbing all the time. Anyone know the melting point of rubber offhand? Session has just begun, and cars are pootling out onto the track for their installation laps.
Seven minutes in and we've already got more times on the board than we had 20 minutes in to FP1, so I think it's safe to assume we're in for a lot more action in this second session. Until the storm comes, that is – the teams are expecting heavy rains, and are trying to maximise running before they arrive.
Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button are currently top of the timesheets, continuing this morning's strong showing. But it's very early days yet, and there will be a lot of change in the next 80 minutes. A handful of drivers have yet to set times, but almost everyone's currently out on track.
A mildly amused smirk from me as the top five replicates the end of this morning's practice session – Hamilton leads from Nico Rosberg, who is followed by Button. Michael Schumacher is in fourth, and Robert Kubica closes out the quintet. If it weren't for the likelihood of rain and safety cars, we might be looking at possible form for Sunday.
It's a bit quiet on track now as the vast majority of the drivers are back in the pits, checking out telemetry and getting briefings from their engineers.
But the top seven drivers – Hamilton, Schumacher, Rosberg, Button, Kubica, Adrian Sutil, and Kamui Kobayashi – are all out on track. Schuey's fast lap pushed him up into second. Will Rosberg respond with a faster time?
With an hour to go, drivers are popping in and out of the pits like yo-yos. Both the Ferraris and Red Bulls – cars that can be confident in their qualifying pace – are hovering near the bottom of the timesheets, presumably on heavy-fuel runs. Mark Webber's currently in 15th, with a 1.38.786s, Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa are 16th and 17th, and Sebastian Vettel is in 18th with a 1.39.126s. Hamilton's timesheet-topper was a 1.34.765s.
And Webber has just run into the gravel with another Red Bull reliability issue. It looks to be a problem with the gearbox, and is almost certainly the end of the day's running for the Australian driver. The last thing Red Bull need is more broken car parts requiring analysis – is this the third piece of bad luck needed to break the cycle?
While the cameras have been focussed on the crane manoeuvring Webber's car, Rosberg has popped up in second place with a 1.35.145s. I think it's safe to say that the Mercedes intra-team battle is definitely on. It will be handbags at dawn for the rest of the session as the German teammates keep trying to out-do the other's time and win the FP2 glory crown. The pressure is certainly on for Schumacher to best his teammate this weekend, and the media have been circling all week.
Change on the timesheets as the session approaches the half-way mark. Schumacher enjoyed about 20 seconds on top with a fastest time of 1.34.674s before Lewis posted a 1.34.276s and snatched back top honours. Rosberg is in third, with Kubica behind in fourth, and Button in fifth. And as I typed that sentence Button popped up in the number two slot with a 1.34.538s, just as his teammate is lighting up the boards with purple after purple: Lewis improves his fastest time to a 1.34.175s. McLaren seem to have taken inspiration from Mercedes' intra-team battle, but your teammate is always the first man to beat, I suppose.
The four Mercs and McLarens are the only cars to be lapping in the 1.34s, with a half-second gap between Hamilton and Schuey. Rosberg's now in second place, only 0.3 seconds behind Lewis, and Button's only a tenth behind Nico. If today were any indication – and the dry weather so far means it probably won't be – the Mercedes engine is the right one for Sepang.
Sebastian Vettel has leapt up the timesheets and appeared in fifth with a 1.34.863s; he had been down in the 15-18 zone. It's a bittersweet improvement – since finishing his lap, Vettel has been on the radio complaining of problems with his power steering. The Beeb are theorising it's a bigger issue with the hydraulics, but no one's certain. Red Bull have yet to confirm the cause of Webber's earlier drift into the gravel, and the conspiracy theories are flying.
It's not looking brilliant for the RB6 – questions over the car's reliability are on the increase, which is the last thing the team needed.
What is looking good for Red Bull is Vettel's lap times. Despite problems with the power steering, the young German is now second on the timesheets with a 1.34.441s. The pit wall data didn't show any problems with the power steering, so it looks like there's some research to be done there. Christian Horner has just told the BBC that Webber's retirement was due to an engine problem, but it's too early to know anything more.
Rain clouds are approaching the track, and a deluge could hit in the last ten minutes of FP2. Drivers are pouring back onto the track, trying to make the most of what's left of this dry session.
Nothing really changed at the end of the afternoon session – teams were running on heavier fuel loads and old tyres, so flying laps weren't on the agenda. Lewis Hamilton ended the day at the top of the timesheets in both morning and afternoon, and the F-duct seems to be working well for both McLaren drivers. Jenson Button was complaining of understeer and handling difficulties as afternoon practice drew to a close, but he'd already posted a fast enough lap to secure fourth in the afternoon standings.
Sebastian Vettel hung on to his second place, and Nico Rosberg took third. Fifth-placed Michael Schumacher will not be pleased to have been beaten by his teammate yet again, but all could change between now and the end of FP3. Schuey's under a lot of pressure to perform this weekend, and he might yet get the best of young Nico.
The rest of the order was: 6th Robert Kubica, 7th Fernando Alonso, 8th Sebastian Buemi, 9th Vitaly Petrov, 10th Adrian Sutil, 11th Kamui Kobayashi, 12th Tonio Liuzzi, 13th Pedro de la Rosa, 14th Jaime Alguersuari, 15th Felipe Massa, 16th Rubens Barrichello, 17th Nico Hulkenberg, 18th Jarno Trulli, 19th Heikki Kovalainen, 20th Mark Webber, 21st Timo Glock, 22nd Lucas di Grassi, 23rd Karun Chandhok, 24th Bruno Senna.
F1 Sofa Blog – Battle of the teammates
I wonder how many UK fans looked at the BBC's online schedule for FP3 this morning and realised that the times were wrong. If you'd followed the internet without cross-checking, you will have turned on your telly at 6.55am, just in time to catch the last five minutes of practice. Go Beeb!
If you did miss it, you can watch the action all over again on iPlayer. Timings aside, the big story was the dry running at Sepang.
So far this weekend, racing has managed to avoid being caught out by the rain. Both of Friday's free practice sessions were run in the dry, despite constant warnings of approaching storms, and Saturday morning brought more of the same. Rain seemed to change direction whenever it got within a hair's breadth of the circuit, but the race is still expected to be at least partly affected by rainfall.
As with the two other practice sessions this weekend, any hints on form could all be swept aside by torrents of rain on Sunday. While it's safe to say that the Mercedes-powered cars have all been on strong form this weekend, heavy rainfall changes the demands on the car – aerodynamic grip becomes less important and the drivers need to rely more on mechanical grip.
Jenson Button's Melbourne performance last weekend was proof that the smoothest driver can destroy a set of tyres in the wrong weather conditions, and Sepang is likely to offer more of the same. If qualifying happens in the dry, a wet race will offer more of the thrilling driving we saw last week in Australia.
And while Friday was Lewis Hamilton's day, Saturday morning belonged to the Red Bull of Mark Webber. Hamilton spent much of the session sitting pretty at the top of the timesheets, having displaced Fernando Alonso only 25 minutes in to the morning. But in the final few minutes the two cars from Milton Keynes ran qualifying simulations. Sebastian Vettel's 1.33.587s was good enough for third on the timesheets, but Webber's 1.33.542s pushed Hamilton's 1.33.559s into second place.
Having sat out much of FP2 with engine failure on Friday afternoon, Webber will be pleased with today's result. The Australian has finally had a chance to attempt brief running on softs in Sepang, and a timesheet-topping result always puts a spring in a driver's step.
All things considered, FP3 was fairly quiet. There were a few technical glitches here and there – Renault's Vitaly Petrov did his now customary run through the gravel, while front wing gremlins attacked another new team, this time in the shape of Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus.
Hamilton's dominance of the timesheets for much of the weekend was a contributing factor to the quieter practice sessions – while other drivers were posting fast times, none seemed able to displace the boy racer from Stevange until Red Bull went for some low fuel qualifying simulations as the session was drawing to a close.
The real story, then, wasn't the timings themselves. Rather, it was the intra-team battles that will prove increasingly important as the season goes on – especially when it comes to deciding the distribution order for upgrades.
Michael Schumacher (and his legions of fans) will have been pleased to see the German seven-time champion set a faster time than Mercedes teammate and victory virgin Nico Rosberg. While Schuey has beaten his teammate in free practice sessions this season, the two German drivers aren't faced with the performance differential that many assumed would be inevitable once Michael got behind the wheel. This weekend could be the first time that Schuey out-qualifies his teammate and outperforms him in the race. We shall see.
Mark Webber scored points in Melbourne, unlike teammate Sebastian Vettel, but few would go so far as to say that the weekend belonged to the Australian. Vettel qualified on pole, and could have won the race were it not for the bad luck gremlins that have been plaguing his car. This morning's session ended well for both Red Bulls, but Webber will have been pleased to outperform Vettel.
In the Ferrari and McLaren garages this morning there weren't many surprises. Both teams' drivers performed largely as expected on Saturday morning – all four men made it in to the top ten, and Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were faster than their teammates, as has been the case all weekend. There was only a half-second gap between Lewis' 1.33.559s second-placed lap and Felipe Massa's eighth-placed 1.34.174s, so competition is as tight as ever at the front of the field.
There is cause for celebration in the William's garage this lunchtime – while none of the Cosworth-powered machines performed particularly well on Friday, Rubens Barrichello made it into ninth place with a 1.34.540s lap, only 0.3s ahead of 13th-placed teammate Nico Hulkenberg's 1.34.882s. The Grove outfit are on the hunt for a strong constructor's finish this season, but there have been questions raised over the relative competitiveness of the Cosworth engine.
Qualifying will start shortly, and is expected to be the first rain-drenched drive of the weekend. If the heavens open, we could see all manner of shake-ups on the timesheets this afternoon – the high speed corners are a very different beast on a wet track.
If you did miss it, you can watch the action all over again on iPlayer. Timings aside, the big story was the dry running at Sepang.
So far this weekend, racing has managed to avoid being caught out by the rain. Both of Friday's free practice sessions were run in the dry, despite constant warnings of approaching storms, and Saturday morning brought more of the same. Rain seemed to change direction whenever it got within a hair's breadth of the circuit, but the race is still expected to be at least partly affected by rainfall.
As with the two other practice sessions this weekend, any hints on form could all be swept aside by torrents of rain on Sunday. While it's safe to say that the Mercedes-powered cars have all been on strong form this weekend, heavy rainfall changes the demands on the car – aerodynamic grip becomes less important and the drivers need to rely more on mechanical grip.
Jenson Button's Melbourne performance last weekend was proof that the smoothest driver can destroy a set of tyres in the wrong weather conditions, and Sepang is likely to offer more of the same. If qualifying happens in the dry, a wet race will offer more of the thrilling driving we saw last week in Australia.
And while Friday was Lewis Hamilton's day, Saturday morning belonged to the Red Bull of Mark Webber. Hamilton spent much of the session sitting pretty at the top of the timesheets, having displaced Fernando Alonso only 25 minutes in to the morning. But in the final few minutes the two cars from Milton Keynes ran qualifying simulations. Sebastian Vettel's 1.33.587s was good enough for third on the timesheets, but Webber's 1.33.542s pushed Hamilton's 1.33.559s into second place.
Having sat out much of FP2 with engine failure on Friday afternoon, Webber will be pleased with today's result. The Australian has finally had a chance to attempt brief running on softs in Sepang, and a timesheet-topping result always puts a spring in a driver's step.
All things considered, FP3 was fairly quiet. There were a few technical glitches here and there – Renault's Vitaly Petrov did his now customary run through the gravel, while front wing gremlins attacked another new team, this time in the shape of Heikki Kovalainen's Lotus.
Hamilton's dominance of the timesheets for much of the weekend was a contributing factor to the quieter practice sessions – while other drivers were posting fast times, none seemed able to displace the boy racer from Stevange until Red Bull went for some low fuel qualifying simulations as the session was drawing to a close.
The real story, then, wasn't the timings themselves. Rather, it was the intra-team battles that will prove increasingly important as the season goes on – especially when it comes to deciding the distribution order for upgrades.
Michael Schumacher (and his legions of fans) will have been pleased to see the German seven-time champion set a faster time than Mercedes teammate and victory virgin Nico Rosberg. While Schuey has beaten his teammate in free practice sessions this season, the two German drivers aren't faced with the performance differential that many assumed would be inevitable once Michael got behind the wheel. This weekend could be the first time that Schuey out-qualifies his teammate and outperforms him in the race. We shall see.
Mark Webber scored points in Melbourne, unlike teammate Sebastian Vettel, but few would go so far as to say that the weekend belonged to the Australian. Vettel qualified on pole, and could have won the race were it not for the bad luck gremlins that have been plaguing his car. This morning's session ended well for both Red Bulls, but Webber will have been pleased to outperform Vettel.
In the Ferrari and McLaren garages this morning there weren't many surprises. Both teams' drivers performed largely as expected on Saturday morning – all four men made it in to the top ten, and Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were faster than their teammates, as has been the case all weekend. There was only a half-second gap between Lewis' 1.33.559s second-placed lap and Felipe Massa's eighth-placed 1.34.174s, so competition is as tight as ever at the front of the field.
There is cause for celebration in the William's garage this lunchtime – while none of the Cosworth-powered machines performed particularly well on Friday, Rubens Barrichello made it into ninth place with a 1.34.540s lap, only 0.3s ahead of 13th-placed teammate Nico Hulkenberg's 1.34.882s. The Grove outfit are on the hunt for a strong constructor's finish this season, but there have been questions raised over the relative competitiveness of the Cosworth engine.
Qualifying will start shortly, and is expected to be the first rain-drenched drive of the weekend. If the heavens open, we could see all manner of shake-ups on the timesheets this afternoon – the high speed corners are a very different beast on a wet track.
F1 Sofa Blog – Qualifying in the tropics
It hardly takes a genius to predict that a little – okay, torrential – rain will shake things up for qualifying.
Teams up and down the pitlane were caught out by the rain, and Ferrari and McLaren will be kicking themselves for misjudging the rain – Jenson Button made it through to Q2, but a Q1 spin means that the Melbourne winner will be starting from 17th on the grid.
But teammate Lewis Hamilton and the two Ferrari drivers were both out in Q1, surprising everyone. Both teams failed to put in an early lap in the relatively light rains of early qualifying. They thought the first shower was the only shower, and by the time Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Hamilton, and Button hit the track they were sliding on standing water and found the cars hard to manage.
The yellow flag was a strobe light in Q1, blinking as drivers span on track and onto gravel. Bruno Senna was the first man out for HRT, but everyone was wrestling cars round what began to look like an ice rink under standing water.
Biggest grins in the pitlane belong to Virgin and Lotus; both new teams managed to get drivers into Q2 for the first time in their careers. It all comes down to technology, or the lack of it. McLaren and Ferrari relied on high-tech radar systems to predict the weather, and made the wrong tyre calls as a result. Virgin and Lotus, on the other hand, stuck their hands out of the garage, took a look at the gathering clouds, and got quick laps in on time. Sometimes a lack of money can be a good thing.
As expected, Q2 was a rain-based lottery. Both Timo Glock and Heikki Kovalainen were knocked out, but for either car to make it through to Q1 would have required another serious error in judgement from a front-running team, and everyone learned from the mistakes of Ferrari and McLaren. Michael Schumacher put in a good performance initially, but then squeezed into Q1 in tenth when heavy rain fell towards the end of the session.
Sebastian Vettel lead the board going into Q1, but the rains worsened in the interval. Within two minutes of Q1 starting it became obvious that track conditions were dangerous and visibility appalling. The session was red-flagged, but the weather's eased and the Force Indias are preparing to leave the pitlane.
Tyre choice was everything in what felt like the shortest qualifying session in history. Mark Webber took a chance on intermediates, and posted a qualifying lap that was 1.3 seconds faster than Nico Rosberg's P2 time. Conditions on track were awful, and served as a sign of things to come. Tomorrow will probably see similar rainfall, and a safety car is nearly a certainty.
Sebastian Vettel will be lining up behind his teammate in P3, alongside Adrian Sutil who managed a P4 for Force India. Both Williams proved to be competitive in the rain – Nico Hulkenberg posted a 1.51.001 for P5, while teammate Rubens Barrichello was a second and a half slow and scored a P7 start. Robert Kubica splits the Williams in P6.
One of the many upsets came in the form of Michael Schumacher, who was unable to translate good practice times into flying wet laps for qualifying – much like Hamilton and the two Ferraris, who were out in Q1. The German made it into Q3, but was only able to get eighth on the grid, a full six places behind his teammate.
The rest of the grid was made up of: Kamui Kobayashi, Tonio Liuzzi, Vitaly Petrov, Pedro de la Rosa, Sebastian Buemi, Jaime Alguersuari, Heikki Kovalainen, Timo Glock, Jenson Button, Jarno Trulli, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Karun Chandhok, Bruno Senna, and Lucas di Grassi.
It looks like Sepang will bring fireworks tomorrow, providing the rain doesn't lead to the race being red-flagged. There will be action at the back of the grid, as the McLarens and Ferraris try to fight their way forward. Schumacher will be looking to make up as many places as possible, while Sutil will be desperate to capitalise on his best qualifying position this season.
Heikki Kovalainen is likely to attempt an early move on the Toro Rossos ahead, but he will need to be aware of Timo Glock, who will also be looking to make the most of Virgin's best grid position.
Looking further up the field, there is a likely battle between the two Saubers, Liuzzi, and Vitaly Petrov. Ordinarily this is where the tyre choice conundrum would come into play, with the men in ninth and tenth defending on their qualifying tyres while the two men immediately behind have fresh rubber. But the rain changes everything, and if tomorrow's race begins in the dry, everyone will be on new tyres,
With the right amount of rain, we could be in for another great race. With too much rain, however, Sepang could be a delayed damp squib. Only time will tell.
Teams up and down the pitlane were caught out by the rain, and Ferrari and McLaren will be kicking themselves for misjudging the rain – Jenson Button made it through to Q2, but a Q1 spin means that the Melbourne winner will be starting from 17th on the grid.
But teammate Lewis Hamilton and the two Ferrari drivers were both out in Q1, surprising everyone. Both teams failed to put in an early lap in the relatively light rains of early qualifying. They thought the first shower was the only shower, and by the time Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Hamilton, and Button hit the track they were sliding on standing water and found the cars hard to manage.
The yellow flag was a strobe light in Q1, blinking as drivers span on track and onto gravel. Bruno Senna was the first man out for HRT, but everyone was wrestling cars round what began to look like an ice rink under standing water.
Biggest grins in the pitlane belong to Virgin and Lotus; both new teams managed to get drivers into Q2 for the first time in their careers. It all comes down to technology, or the lack of it. McLaren and Ferrari relied on high-tech radar systems to predict the weather, and made the wrong tyre calls as a result. Virgin and Lotus, on the other hand, stuck their hands out of the garage, took a look at the gathering clouds, and got quick laps in on time. Sometimes a lack of money can be a good thing.
As expected, Q2 was a rain-based lottery. Both Timo Glock and Heikki Kovalainen were knocked out, but for either car to make it through to Q1 would have required another serious error in judgement from a front-running team, and everyone learned from the mistakes of Ferrari and McLaren. Michael Schumacher put in a good performance initially, but then squeezed into Q1 in tenth when heavy rain fell towards the end of the session.
Sebastian Vettel lead the board going into Q1, but the rains worsened in the interval. Within two minutes of Q1 starting it became obvious that track conditions were dangerous and visibility appalling. The session was red-flagged, but the weather's eased and the Force Indias are preparing to leave the pitlane.
Tyre choice was everything in what felt like the shortest qualifying session in history. Mark Webber took a chance on intermediates, and posted a qualifying lap that was 1.3 seconds faster than Nico Rosberg's P2 time. Conditions on track were awful, and served as a sign of things to come. Tomorrow will probably see similar rainfall, and a safety car is nearly a certainty.
Sebastian Vettel will be lining up behind his teammate in P3, alongside Adrian Sutil who managed a P4 for Force India. Both Williams proved to be competitive in the rain – Nico Hulkenberg posted a 1.51.001 for P5, while teammate Rubens Barrichello was a second and a half slow and scored a P7 start. Robert Kubica splits the Williams in P6.
One of the many upsets came in the form of Michael Schumacher, who was unable to translate good practice times into flying wet laps for qualifying – much like Hamilton and the two Ferraris, who were out in Q1. The German made it into Q3, but was only able to get eighth on the grid, a full six places behind his teammate.
The rest of the grid was made up of: Kamui Kobayashi, Tonio Liuzzi, Vitaly Petrov, Pedro de la Rosa, Sebastian Buemi, Jaime Alguersuari, Heikki Kovalainen, Timo Glock, Jenson Button, Jarno Trulli, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Karun Chandhok, Bruno Senna, and Lucas di Grassi.
It looks like Sepang will bring fireworks tomorrow, providing the rain doesn't lead to the race being red-flagged. There will be action at the back of the grid, as the McLarens and Ferraris try to fight their way forward. Schumacher will be looking to make up as many places as possible, while Sutil will be desperate to capitalise on his best qualifying position this season.
Heikki Kovalainen is likely to attempt an early move on the Toro Rossos ahead, but he will need to be aware of Timo Glock, who will also be looking to make the most of Virgin's best grid position.
Looking further up the field, there is a likely battle between the two Saubers, Liuzzi, and Vitaly Petrov. Ordinarily this is where the tyre choice conundrum would come into play, with the men in ninth and tenth defending on their qualifying tyres while the two men immediately behind have fresh rubber. But the rain changes everything, and if tomorrow's race begins in the dry, everyone will be on new tyres,
With the right amount of rain, we could be in for another great race. With too much rain, however, Sepang could be a delayed damp squib. Only time will tell.
F1 Sofa Blog – Three races, three winners
Forget Bahrain. Could there be a better start to the season than the current leaderboard? The three races thus far have delivered three very different podiums, meaning that only nine points separate first and seventh place in the drivers' standings.
The biggest shock of the Sepang weekend was the dry weather that persisted for the duration of the race. Everyone expected torrential rain of the sort that shaped a thrilling qualifying session on Saturday afternoon, but there wasn't a drop to be seen between lights out and the chequered flag.
Sepang has provided F1 fans with something of a conundrum this weekend. The on-track action was brilliant, with wheel-to-wheel manoeuvres and battles up and down the grid, and all the overtaking happened in the dry. But the qualifying order that allowed for such action came as a result of Saturday's rainfall. So can modern F1 thrill in the dry? We're still waiting for a definitive answer there...
Red Bull came out of the race with a 1-2 victory, a sign that the reliability gremlins were looking elsewhere this weekend. Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber tussled for the first four corners before Vettel got ahead of his teammate. The young German then held the lead till the chequered flag (pitstop aside).
But neither Mark nor Sebastian get my vote for driver of the day. Lewis Hamilton was the focus of some of the most exciting on-track action as he worked his way up from 20th on the grid. Hamilton had made up eight places by the end of the first lap, and tore up through the field before pitting on lap 31.
A highlight was the Briton's battle with Vitaly Petrov, which started on lap six. The McLaren overtook the Renault coming into the sixth lap, only to lose the place to the Russian in Turn 1. The two men spent most of lap six tussling, before Lewis Hamilton took the advantage going into lap seven, weaving down the pit straight and getting a warning in the process.
Lewis spent the early part of the race climbing up the field to a high of second place during the pitstop exodus. Hamilton was one of the last drivers to pit for new tyres, but despite a strong performance he was unable to build enough of a lead to leapfrog Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica, or Adrian Sutil in the pits. And it was the back end of Sutil's Force India that proved to be the British driver's biggest obstacle in Sepang. The two Mercedes-powered cars were evenly matched on speed, and Hamilton was unable to improve on sixth.
Jaime Alguersuari put in a brilliant performance to come in ninth and pick up Toro Rosso's first points of 2010. In the early part of the race the two Toro Rossos held off both Ferraris and the McLaren of Jenson Button, and by lap 31 the young Spaniard was comfortably in tenth, having overtaken the Williams of Nico Hulkenberg on the outside of Turn 5.
Fernando Alonso put in a particularly impressive performance, although his 13th place finish might make you think otherwise. The Spaniard was plagued with a downshifting problem for the duration of the race, and were it not for a massive puff of smoke on lap 55, Alonso would have finished just behind eighth-placed Jenson Button.
Alonso was the final driver to pit, coming in for new tyres on lap 37. In hindsight, the boys from Maranello kept their man out there too long – the downshifting problems meant that Alonso wasn't able to move up the field as quickly as hoped and he rejoined in ninth. While the Spaniard twice passed Button's McLaren he was not able to hold position on either occasion. An overtaking attempt on lap 55 happens just as a cylinder blows in Alonso's engine, and that's goodbye to a finish in the points.
The Ferraris and McLarens both started from the back of this weekend's grid, and it is a testament to the skill of all four that were it not for an engine failure, each would have finished in the points.
Nico Rosberg certainly blew his teammate out of the water this weekend, but it was hardly a fair fight. Rosberg, who qualified in second, finished in third and took the first podium for Mercedes GP. Michael Schumacher, who started in eighth, had worked his way up to sixth before retiring in lap 10 with only three working wheels. Schuey told the BBC that his car was missing a wheel nut – have the bad luck gremlins moved on from Red Bull?
While Red Bull will be cursing the bad luck that affected the first two races of the season, it has made for a very interesting championship as we're looking ahead to round four. The points spread at the top of the drivers' standings is tighter than a corset, and the constructors' battle is shaping up nicely.
With three races out of the way, Felipe Massa is leading the drivers' standings with 39 points. Immediately behind him on 37 are teammate Fernando Alonso and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel. A hair's breadth behind them are Jenson Button for McLaren and Nico Rosberg for Mercedes, both with 35 points. Lewis Hamilton is on 31 points for McLaren, while Renault's Robert Kubica is only a point behind, on 30. The rest of the top ten is made up of Mark Webber, on 24 points, Adrian Sutil on 10, and Michael Schumacher on 9.
Red Bull's reliability issues have given Ferrari an advantage in the constructors' standings – the Italian outfit have a 10-point lead over rivals McLaren, with the two teams on 76 and 66 points respectively. Red Bull are close behind on 61 points, and comfortably ahead of Mercedes, whose tally is 44. The other constructors to have scored points thus far are Renault on 30, Force India on 18, Williams on 6, and Toro Rosso, who are the final points scorers with 2.
A dry race gave us some excellent racing action, thanks to a rain-drenched qualifying session. Only two weeks until we'll find out what Shanghai has to offer!
The biggest shock of the Sepang weekend was the dry weather that persisted for the duration of the race. Everyone expected torrential rain of the sort that shaped a thrilling qualifying session on Saturday afternoon, but there wasn't a drop to be seen between lights out and the chequered flag.
Sepang has provided F1 fans with something of a conundrum this weekend. The on-track action was brilliant, with wheel-to-wheel manoeuvres and battles up and down the grid, and all the overtaking happened in the dry. But the qualifying order that allowed for such action came as a result of Saturday's rainfall. So can modern F1 thrill in the dry? We're still waiting for a definitive answer there...
Red Bull came out of the race with a 1-2 victory, a sign that the reliability gremlins were looking elsewhere this weekend. Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber tussled for the first four corners before Vettel got ahead of his teammate. The young German then held the lead till the chequered flag (pitstop aside).
But neither Mark nor Sebastian get my vote for driver of the day. Lewis Hamilton was the focus of some of the most exciting on-track action as he worked his way up from 20th on the grid. Hamilton had made up eight places by the end of the first lap, and tore up through the field before pitting on lap 31.
A highlight was the Briton's battle with Vitaly Petrov, which started on lap six. The McLaren overtook the Renault coming into the sixth lap, only to lose the place to the Russian in Turn 1. The two men spent most of lap six tussling, before Lewis Hamilton took the advantage going into lap seven, weaving down the pit straight and getting a warning in the process.
Lewis spent the early part of the race climbing up the field to a high of second place during the pitstop exodus. Hamilton was one of the last drivers to pit for new tyres, but despite a strong performance he was unable to build enough of a lead to leapfrog Nico Rosberg, Robert Kubica, or Adrian Sutil in the pits. And it was the back end of Sutil's Force India that proved to be the British driver's biggest obstacle in Sepang. The two Mercedes-powered cars were evenly matched on speed, and Hamilton was unable to improve on sixth.
Jaime Alguersuari put in a brilliant performance to come in ninth and pick up Toro Rosso's first points of 2010. In the early part of the race the two Toro Rossos held off both Ferraris and the McLaren of Jenson Button, and by lap 31 the young Spaniard was comfortably in tenth, having overtaken the Williams of Nico Hulkenberg on the outside of Turn 5.
Fernando Alonso put in a particularly impressive performance, although his 13th place finish might make you think otherwise. The Spaniard was plagued with a downshifting problem for the duration of the race, and were it not for a massive puff of smoke on lap 55, Alonso would have finished just behind eighth-placed Jenson Button.
Alonso was the final driver to pit, coming in for new tyres on lap 37. In hindsight, the boys from Maranello kept their man out there too long – the downshifting problems meant that Alonso wasn't able to move up the field as quickly as hoped and he rejoined in ninth. While the Spaniard twice passed Button's McLaren he was not able to hold position on either occasion. An overtaking attempt on lap 55 happens just as a cylinder blows in Alonso's engine, and that's goodbye to a finish in the points.
The Ferraris and McLarens both started from the back of this weekend's grid, and it is a testament to the skill of all four that were it not for an engine failure, each would have finished in the points.
Nico Rosberg certainly blew his teammate out of the water this weekend, but it was hardly a fair fight. Rosberg, who qualified in second, finished in third and took the first podium for Mercedes GP. Michael Schumacher, who started in eighth, had worked his way up to sixth before retiring in lap 10 with only three working wheels. Schuey told the BBC that his car was missing a wheel nut – have the bad luck gremlins moved on from Red Bull?
While Red Bull will be cursing the bad luck that affected the first two races of the season, it has made for a very interesting championship as we're looking ahead to round four. The points spread at the top of the drivers' standings is tighter than a corset, and the constructors' battle is shaping up nicely.
With three races out of the way, Felipe Massa is leading the drivers' standings with 39 points. Immediately behind him on 37 are teammate Fernando Alonso and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel. A hair's breadth behind them are Jenson Button for McLaren and Nico Rosberg for Mercedes, both with 35 points. Lewis Hamilton is on 31 points for McLaren, while Renault's Robert Kubica is only a point behind, on 30. The rest of the top ten is made up of Mark Webber, on 24 points, Adrian Sutil on 10, and Michael Schumacher on 9.
Red Bull's reliability issues have given Ferrari an advantage in the constructors' standings – the Italian outfit have a 10-point lead over rivals McLaren, with the two teams on 76 and 66 points respectively. Red Bull are close behind on 61 points, and comfortably ahead of Mercedes, whose tally is 44. The other constructors to have scored points thus far are Renault on 30, Force India on 18, Williams on 6, and Toro Rosso, who are the final points scorers with 2.
A dry race gave us some excellent racing action, thanks to a rain-drenched qualifying session. Only two weeks until we'll find out what Shanghai has to offer!