What to expect at Sepang
“A car that used to chew its tyres to shreds has, with the overhaul of engine regulations, evolved into this sleek, silver beast that threatens to emulate the dominance of Red Bull in recent years”
Race Length: 56 Laps
Tyre Compounds: Hard (Orange), Medium (White)
Track Length: 5.543 km
Lap Record: Juan Pablo Montoya (1:34.223 Williams 2004)
The second race of the season has joyfully crept up on Formula One fans and this weekend the cars will take to the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia. The first Malaysian Grand Prix took place in 1999 and this marks the fifteenth Grand Prix at the Sepang venue.
If the Australian Grand Prix has set any kind of precedent for the remainder of the season, the outcomes of this race weekend are likely to be of the utmost excitement. One words sums up the opening race weekend, unpredictability. Lewis Hamilton looked supreme in the rain during qualifying and yet he started the race with only five cylinders running in his engine and was forced to retire just a few laps in. His dejected press conference quite clearly belied his frustration at having what many perceive as the fastest car and not being able to convert that early advantage into points or even a race win. Strikingly, Nico Rosberg turned in a performance of consummate ease, beating second placed Daniel Ricciardo (later disqualified) by over twenty seconds. This mammoth gap to second exhibits the inherent pace of the Mercedes. A car that used to chew its tyres to shreds has, with the overhaul of engine regulations, evolved into this sleek, silver beast that threatens to emulate the dominance of Red Bull in recent years. Rosberg’s win conjures up interesting questions with regard to the anticipated battle between him and teammate Lewis Hamilton. Both drivers are incredibly talented and they undeniably have the best car on the grid currently. So, who will win out between the two in Sepang? This isn’t to dismiss the rest of the F1 paddock in terms of who could possibly win the race, merely, which of the Mercedes’s drivers will prove to be more effective at the wheel. Fans should anticipate a strong Hamilton showing in qualifying but a resurgent Rosberg in race trim. Moreover, with the Mercedes’s notorious tyre problems at an end and rain likely to permeate much of the race weekend, it’s difficult to envisage any car other than a Mercedes on pole, bar reliability issues and/or driver error (nobody’s perfect).
What of Red Bull’s turbulent weekend? Vettel met the same fate as Hamilton as his new highly sophisticated Renault engine faultered early in the race. However, things are not as bad as they seem for both Vettel and Ricciardo. Ricciardo’s performance across the entire race weekend was flawless. Furthermore, the fact that the Red Bull, although disqualified, was able to achieve second place marks a huge stride forward for the Milton Keynes outfit when one considers the position they found themselves in during Winter testing. The prominent genius of Adrian Newey coupled with the take no prisoners attitude of Christian Horner has worked wonders in the past and will undoubtedly drive the team forward once again. What can we expect from Red Bull at Sepang? The circuit itself is an incredibly interesting one. The pit-straight favours cars with good straight-line speed as do the sections between turns three and four as well as fourteen and fifteen. However, there are also segments of the track, which require a high amount of downforce and this could play into the hands of Red Bull and the aerodynamic genius of Adrian Newey. Depending on the weather, it good be a reasonably good weekend for Red Bull. I would predict at least one of the drivers to post themselves onto the second row of the grid. Presently, that driver is far more likely to be Ricciardo than Vettel based on the evidence of the last qualifying session.
Mclaren were a team who took many by surprise at Melbourne. I can’t profess to be one of those people as I accurately predicted Jenson Button to achieve a podium finish (albeit the disqualification of Ricciardo boosted his placing). The signs at Mclaren are beyond encouraging. A bullish Ron Dennis watched on from the pit lane, occasionally making his way over to the pit-wall where the enviable experience of Eric Boullier former team principal of Renault was guiding the team towards first position in the Constructor’s Championship. This behind the scenes pairing coupled with the power unit that Mercedes poured inestimable time into has proved rather fruitful indeed. Button proved to be his usual self, calculating and smooth; an attitude that saw him rise up the grid and achieve third place. Kevin Magnussen meanwhile turned in the best rookie performance I have witnessed since that of a rookie Lewis Hamilton at the same track in the same car. The 21-year-old Dane looked fearless but not in the way many rookies are. He didn’t feel the pressure of any more renowned driver than himself on the grid and he drove with unbelievable maturity and sereneness for a man in his first Formula One Grand Prix. There is no reason that Mclaren can’t be at the right end of the grid again this weekend and with rain forecast there could perhaps be a surprise pole sitter in rain conditions expert Jenson Button.
Elsewhere, Force India and Williams both looked to possess a significant amount of pace across the race weekend. The driver partnership of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas at Williams seems a masterstroke from team principal Claire Williams and Bottas although rather clumsily losing the back end and a rear tyre in the process, rose back through the pack to claim a creditable sixth. Bottas is certainly a driver to watch for the future. I am endlessly perplexed at the continuing saga of Nico Hülkenberg. This man can drive. He is one of the most talented men in the sport. He was linked with Ferrari and Mclaren and Renault and yet he is still to be given the opportunity to prove himself. Fortunately, the Force India looks like a reasonably well-put together car and with any luck he will replicate his underrated drive at Melbourne in this race. Sergio Perez was practically non-existent in Melbourne and the less said about him the better. Gone is the reckless, flamboyant racer who placed on the podium for Sauber and in his place is a dreary, dull sub-standard driver. With regard to Felipe Massa, his race was ended abruptly by the returning Kobayashi in the Caterham on the first lap but the pace Bottas brought out of the Williams should encourage him and he will perhaps feel Sepang can offer him a good points haul.
Fernando Alonso did what Fernando Alonso does best and picked up a reasonable fifth in the last race in what appears to be an underwhelming Ferrari. If one wanted to gauge the Ferrari’s performance, one would go straight to Kimi Raikkonen who struggled all weekend with the new increased torque levels and the twitchy back end of the car. If one were to ask Kimi they probably wouldn’t get an answer… but his frustration was clear during the race with continuous lock ups portraying his dissatisfaction with the brake bias. Sepang may not bring any further luck to the Maranello outfit unless an aggressive research and development programme is embarked on immediately. Fernando must be praying for rain, Kimi, not so much.
An analysis of the smaller teams towards the back of the grid will follow this article but for now, here is my prediction for the grid on Sunday.
Predicted Grid
Pole: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes
2nd: Nico Rosberg, Mercedes
3rd Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull
4th Kevin Magnussen, Mclaren
5th Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull
6th Jenson Button, Mclaren
7th Fernando Alonso, Ferrari
8th Nico Hülkenberg, Force India
9th Valtteri Bottas, Williams
10th Felipe Massa, Williams
11th Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari
12th Jean Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso
13th Daniel Kvyat, Toro Rosso
14th Sergio Perez, Force India
15th Adrian Sutil, Sauber
16th Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber
17th Romain Grosjean, Renault
18th Pastor Maldonado, Renault
19th Kamui Kobayashi, Caterham
20th Jules Bianchi, Marussia
21st Marcus Ericsson, Caterham
22ndMax Chilton, Marussia
Box, Box, Box. 