Red Bull to decide on using KERS in Malaysia

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Red Bull’s Christian Horner says the team will decide whether to use KERS in Malaysia after Friday practice.

Links

Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Malaysian GP – Conference 2 (FIA)

Christian Horner: “In Australia we ran the system on the Friday. We felt that there was a potential reliability risk and the benefit of KERS in Australia is arguably less than [at] other venues, so we decided not to take that risk and remove the system from both cars on Friday evening, with a view to running the system here again, which we’ve done today. The system has run well and obviously reliably, so a decision will be made on it no doubt later this evening. ”

Ferrari can be F1 champions this year – Fernando Alonso (BBC)

“In Australia we were not as quick as we expected – but there are 18 races ahead of us. We are Ferrari. People expect a lot of us, it’s good motivation but also extra pressure.”

F1 Fanatic on Twitter

“Both McLarens, Ferraris, Saubers, Toro Rossos plus D’Ambrosio will use new engines for the rest of the weekend.”

Via the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app

Mercedes-Benz “Decisions” Commercial (YouTube)

Car over a guy (YouTube)

Marshals accidentally ran over one of their colleagues while recovering Vitantonio Liuzzi’s HRT during second practice.

Nick Heidfeld on the Malaysia Grand Prix

Unusual video preview from Renault.

Q&A with Force India’s Paul di Resta (F1.com)

“The tyres don’t last as long as they did in Melbourne so a lot will depend on the strategy on Sunday. I think places can be won or lost in the pits this weekend.”

Degradation set to create Sepang thriller (Autosport)

Paul Hembery of Pirelli: “The gap between the compounds is one second, up to 1.2 seconds – which is good actually. That will lead to the qualifying question – and there is definitely a choice to be made now. Maybe Red Bull might have a different strategy because they can think in a different way, but I think everyone else would have to qualify on the soft.”

Follow F1 news as it breaks using the F1 Fanatic live Twitter app.

Comment of the day

Icthyes on the strange and seemingly arbitrary reasoning behind the 107% rule:

The best thing about it is that for the race there’s effectively a 111% rule – i.e. if you don’t finish 90% of the leader’s laps before the race is over you’re not classified.

So inherent in the rules is the notion that you can be fast enough to race but not to qualify! Given that the difference in qualifying pace is nearly always smaller in the race it seems especially ridiculous.
Icthyes

From the forum

An interesting thread on passes for the lead.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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39 comments on “Red Bull to decide on using KERS in Malaysia”

  1. I guess McLaren was close enough today to make KERS a real option this time around, but they weren’t close enough to make it a 100% done deal. If they really have no reliability issues at the moment, I guess there is nothing that coud hod them back, but a hot, humid, possibly wet race that has to be finished and not just lead until dieing in beauty may still make them think about it.

  2. There shouldn’t be a 107% Rule. It’s not fair on the fans to see less cars on the grid. Right now we have two cars who have missed the cut at one race, and who have a strong chance of missing the cut this weekend, and due to the ‘little’ teams, HRTs, Lotus, Virgins, perhaps even Torro Rosso and Force India, having less resources than those battling for pole – it could mean that worst case scenario we have 10 cars missing a race, which would be a disatser for the paying customer at the race!!

    1. Its also not fair for fans & drivers to have cars lapping around 7 seconds off the pace. This is F1 & these teams simply need to up there pace or simply move back to lower categories…

      1. Come on, what is your problem with that. If your watching on TV you only see them when they get lapped. And at the track its nice to see a car running a bit “out of sequence” and you don’t even see those 7 seconds as being slower, just see the cars sliding a bit more etc.

        It would be a lot worse to have only 20 cars going round.

    2. I guess almost nobody is in favour of the 107% rule. On the other hand, how does it improve the viewers experience to see some moving road blocks in the race (exaggerating here of course)? If for some reason a big number of cars doesn’t make it I’m sure the FIA will find a reason to let them race anyway and in regular cases I guess we will see the small teams go all out every time they go on track, because if they make the 107% at some point in the weekend they can at least try and argue to be allowed to start in case it goes wrong in Q1. Maybe the rule will be dropped again when the first team can’t affordcoming anymore if they can’t race. We will see.

    3. if you look at FP1 only HRT failed. If you look at FP2 only 1 of the HRT failed. Last year there was just a few races where HRT would NOT have meet the 107% rule if it was in affect then. In Australia I feel HRT did NOT have anything to add to the race where they only turned a few laps before Quali and then the few laps in quali. The amount of track time they did (including quali) is less then any of the other teams done as shake down laps before first test session.

      If HRT wants to race they first have to get serious and up their game and stop play around and get their car out on the track and they didn’t manage to turn a single test lap before first race weekend and they couldn’t even get their stuff together enough to even if they had the car at test for last few days of testing to get it out running laps. If they want to be taken as a serious team then they need to get their stuff together other ways they can just leave their car at home instead of putting it on the track. But with that said I hope and believe this race they should probably get one car into race and soon will be in there in every race as last year.

      1. How can they get better with minimal track time, minus the track time they should be getting on a Sunday?

        1. My theory on that would be: they can find time in a different way to the big teams. The big teams will (after a while) have everything abou ttheir cars figured out, perfect setups and everything so the only way they can improve is by getting new parts. The HRT of last year for example, they constantly found time just by finding out how to set up their car. Klien came to them near the end of the season and just by setting up the car more properly he was immediatey faster than anyone who ever drove it before.

          Thats my theory on how they could do it, but my feeling is that in practice, upgrade packages by possibly 3 to 5 times chasing eachother (and 4 of them chasing RB) will find them more time than better setups, but maybe by then the 107% rule will be gone.

      2. Malaysia was the worst track for HRT if the 107% rule had applied in Q1 last year (around 110%). So if they are under 110% then their relative performance is actually better this year.

        But the 110% from last year could be because Q1 was rain affected. It was the session where both Ferraris and Hamilton got caught out by the rain. So they might not have got the fastest laps in the right part of the session.

  3. All I’m going to say about the marshal being run over is, it could have happened with any car on the grid, but of all the teams it just had to be…. HRT. :P

    Ps hope the guy’s ok.

    1. I think the guy is ok, but what a clumsy funny thing…

      He gets “slow motioned” run over by the same the car he is trying to steer, and the rest of the crew are looking at him get run over with this look on their face saying ” What the hell is this guy doing? “

      1. They seemed to handle the situation really well though.. like its happened before.

    2. It probably HuRT him! Pretty telling, it just has to be the HRT car, doesn’t it.

  4. So Ferrari aren’t fast enough to win a race, but they are fast enough to win the championship?

    What are they putting in the water at Maranello?

    1. So Ferrari aren’t fast enough to win a race at the moment, but they will be fast enough to win the championship.

      Fixed :)

    2. In case you haven’t noticed…

      a championship consists of many races, each one held at a different circuit. The first article you linked to indicates that Maranello doesn’t think they will get pole during THIS race that will be held in MALAYSIA. The second article you linked to indicates that Maranello thinks that with consistent finishes and rapid development that they can fight for the championship.

      It’s funny how your first link is titled ‘to win a race’ when they clearly meant this race.

      1. +1. i despair

      2. I’m aware that the championship is run over many races. But every race that Ferrari doesn’t win means that someone else will get the points. Sooner or later, it will get to the point where there aren’t enough points on offer in the remaining races for Ferrari to win the championship. They can’t simply coast through the early stages of the championship – they need to try to win everything they can.

        1. I guess this is Alonso stating to his team he has confidence, that they are working 24/7 to have a winning car ASAP. In the mean time he confirms he will give his all to stay as close to the leaders as he can.

          A bit like stating they can still win it last year in Silverstone. Pushing and motivating the team to do the job and not lose hope and focus.
          They still have a chance, but need to work hard and fast to mix it in.

        2. Sometimes I think people look too deeply into things. Clearly Ferrari aren’t doing themselves any favours but they’re hardly out of the running yet! Look at how they came back last year, it was Alonso’s to lose post-Singapore.

          1. Post Korea I’d say. Up until then he was still a bit behind the bulls, but with their retirements and his win, he made up 25 points on both of them in that one race. Unfortunately for him, despite his impeccable form in the closing races, Vettel’s form was just as good if not better, in a faster car. It’s gonna be tough for him starting out with a car that’s not capable of making the front two rows. Vettel and Hamilton are both in top form, and Button and Webber both appear to be doing admirably as well. I would imagine Ferrari will have some pretty big upgrades come Turkey.

  5. hahaha the other mercedes ad with red bull is much funnier

    1. I thought so too. My girlfriend liked this one better, but the way Nico and Schumi acted towards each other in the Red Bull one just cracks me up.

  6. I love the Mercedes ad but love the footage of the Marshal getting rolled over more!
    Is that bad?

  7. Christian Horner’s comments translated:

    “If we use KERS we’ll win, and if we don’t use KERS we’ll win. It’s really a matter of what margin do we want to win by. We’ll get back to you later this evening on that.”

    1. “Both McLarens, Ferraris, Saubers, Toro Rossos plus D’Ambrosio will use new engines for the rest of the weekend.”

      …and we’re going to do it with old engines.”

      1. In 2009, Jenson Button won three straight races – Bahrain, Spain and Monaco, I think – with the same engine. So starting with an engine that has already been used for one race is not a disadvantage.

        1. Depends on the track, doesn’t it? Starting with a “used” engine could be a disadvantage on tracks with long straights and lots of heavy braking zones. Like Monza, for instance.

          1. Yeah, different tracks have different demands on the engine. Monza is the hardest on engines, so most teams usually opt for a fresh one there.

            Interesting that it’s all the Ferrari engined teams, plus McLaren. I wonder if Alonso’s engine failure here last year is in the back of Ferrari’s minds.

        2. Depends on the track, doesn’t it? Starting with a “used” engine could be a risk for engine failure on tracks with long straights and lots of heavy braking zones. Like Monza, for instance.

  8. man, i love these mercedes ads!

    1. Spectacularly funny!

  9. *blush*

    Happy Birthday Mad Eric, SLR and le neveu Jacques!

    1. +1 Happy birthday to all of you!

  10. It’s so much fun watching Schumacher in a commercial. Anybody remember the ads he did for the Fiat Palio and Seicento?

  11. Dunno if this has already been covered but I couldn’t find it anywhere:
    Abu Dhabi to modify layout.

    1. I think there was talk about a month ago that they were at least thinking about some modifications. Glad to see they’re actually going to do it!

  12. Three good videos today!

    The Mercedes advert just makes me cringe! – “Hello!” Shhhh Michael.

    Looks like running people over is becoming the common theme with HRT. Happened last year in the pit-lane. Perhaps I shouldn’t laugh, but that video above is pretty hilarious ;D

    And that person in the back of Nick’s car looks like they’ve been crammed in the boot.

    1. The pitlane incident was more serious, but I think it’s probably okay to have a laugh at this incident given that the marshal appeared to be fine. If you think about it the cars are so light that if a wheel rolled over you on soft grass like that, while it might be uncomfortable it would likely not be too dangerous. The pitlane incident was dangerous because the guy was grabbed by the spinning wheel with 750bhp backing it up. Added to that it was on concrete and not grass.

Comments are closed.