After the crazy Australian GP it looked for a while we may have another mad weekend in Malaysia. The rain and storm predictions however did not materialize (yet again ) and so we had an opportunity to see what the form of the teams is under normal conditions (if the usual heat and humidity in Sepang can be considered normal conditions).

The Ferraris took the most out of their front row starting positions. Raikkonen made a better start but did not look too eager to fight with Massa in the first corner. He cruised in safe distance behind his team mate. When Massa went in for his first pit stop Raikkonen picked up speed and emerged ahead of Massa after his own pit stop. From then on it was all about Ferrari cars lasting the race distance. Then on lap 31 Massa spun off the track chasing nobody and being threatened by no one. He blaimed the spin on something at the back of the car, the team did not seem to see anything wrong with the car …

Raikkonen did not make any Melbourne-like mistakes this time and went on to win his first race of 2008 season. This also means at least one Ferrari car made it to chequered flag after both their cars failed to finish in Australia.

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Dominant Ferarri performance in Malaysia resulted in win for Kimi Raikkonen (and retirement for Felipe Massa). Strong second place went to Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber) and third to Heikki Kovalainene (McLaren).

2008 Malaysian F1 GP Result:

1. Raikkonen - Ferrari - 1h31:18.555
2. Kubica - BMW Sauber + 19.570
3. Kovalainen - McLaren +38.450
4. Trulli - Toyota +45.832
5. Hamilton - McLaren +46.548
6. Heidfeld - BMW Sauber +49.833
7. Webber - Red Bull-Renault +1:08.130
8. Alonso - Renault +1:10.041
9. Coulthard - Red Bull-Renault +1:16.220
10. Button - Honda +1:26.214
11. Piquet - Renault +1:32.202
12. Fisichella - Force India + 1 lap
13. Barrichello - Honda +1 lap
14. Rosberg - Williams-Toyota +1 lap
15. Davidson - Super Aguri +1 lap
16. Sato - Super Aguri-Honda + 2 laps
17. Nakajima - Williams +2 laps

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All sorts of weather predictions (no rain in next 20 minutes, rain within 7 minutes, no rain for another 20 minutes) turned to early minutes of Q1 into a frenzy. All the cars (except Kovalainen and BMW Saubers) went out right away to record some times before the rain. No rain came… Fisichella, Nakajima, Bourdais, Sato, Sutil and Davidson were the unlucky 6 not to make it ot Q2. Fisi missed out by 4 tenths … Jarno Trulli was the fastest driver in Q1.

Both McLarens went out quickly in Q2, took P1 and P2 but Kimi got quickly ahead of both of them with fastest lap of the weekend. Massa was second fastest ahead of Hamilton, Heidfeld and Kovalainen. Jenson Button, David Coulthard, Nelson Piquet, Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg and Rubens Barrichello were eliminated in this session. Not the best of days for Williams today.

The rain stayed away for the Q3 too. Ferraris were clearly faster than McLarens and locked the front row. Pole position went to Felipe Massa ahead of Kimi Raikkonen. In McLaren also the number 2 got ahead of his no 1 team mate - Kovalainen will start from P3, Hamilton from P4. Jarno Trulli squeezed in ahead of BMW Saubers of Kubica and Heidfeld. Heidfeld’s final run has was however compromised by slowly moving Timo Glock (P10). Will be interesting to see if the stewards take in action here … Fernando Alonso had hard time with his not that easy to handle Renault and definitelly can’t be unhappy with starting from P9.

Update: Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen have been summoned by stewards after Fernando Alonso and Nick Heidfeld complained about being blocked on their final run.

Update 2: Both McLaren drivers have been penalized for blocking their rivals at the closing stages of Q3. Hamilton and Kovalainen were moved 5 places down the grid.

Full qualifying results inside the article

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The final practice session in Malaysia did not make us any smarter. McLarens seem to have played the same game as they did week ago in Australia. They did not get anywhere near top ten. BMW Sauber show again they are a force to be reckoned with. After pretty quiet session Heidfeld stepped on the gass towards the end and clocked the fastest time. One can expect Kubica being able to do the same should he chose to … Ferraris did better than last week in the final practice. It may be a sign of less troubled weekend for them. Massa has been quicker so far but that may have something to do with fuel loads and race strategy.

Toyotas seem well capable of Q3 and points. Button in Honda continued showing strong pace and may also hope for a place in top 10 in qualifying.

Nelson Piquet is doing much better than last week. It may have something to do with the fact that he knows the Sepang track from his A1 racing here. He outpaced Alonso by few tenths …

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There were heavy clouds around and above the Sepang track but no rain felt down during the Friday practice. The session 1 was dominated by Felipe Massa (on pole position here last year). The session 2 was all about Ferrari as well until the last few minutes when Lewis Hamilton stole the show.

The reliability problems continued for Ferrari engines - Sebastien Bourdais Ferrari engine expired … Kimi Raikkonen’s car stopped on the track during the practice one, but according to the news reports he simply run out of fuel … The action highlight of the day should probably go to David Coulthard and his suspension failure after hitting the kerbs at Turn 13 during practice 1.

Ferrari and McLaren look like the best packages for the Malaysian GP. But Vettel in Toro Rosso, Button in Honda, Rosberg in Williams, Trulli in Toyota were all impressive at least in one of the sessions. And do not forget BMW Saubers - They did not have the quickest Friday last week in Australia, but once the times started to count on Saturday afternoon, they were right there with McLarens and Ferraris. Red Bulls do not seem to be as comfortable on this track as they were in Melbourne.

Nelson Piquet must be happier than he was in Australia. He pretty much matched Alonso’s times in both sessions. Giancarlo Fisichella impressed again in session 2 with a top 10 time, let’s see if he has more luck that last week during qualifying and the race. The performance gap between him and Adrian Sutil must a bit too big for Sutil’s comfort…

The Friday practice times in the article

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The F1 news sites and blogs are still full of Australian GP reviews and comments but we are only 2 days from the start of the 10th Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend. It is time for Malaysian GP preview.

The race in Melbourne was unusually hot. In Sepang the drivers can expect the race to be as hot as usual . The tropical climate also brings the high humidity and always a possibility of sudden storm. The weather forecast for Kuala Lumpur suggests that the chances of rain for the coming weekend are not exactly low

But one never knows. The chances for rain were high last year too, it actually did rain the night before the race. On Sunday it rained all around, but not a single drop felt on the race track during the race

So there are 2 possible scenarios ahead. Sunny and hot (and humid) weekend or rainy and relatively cool (and humid) weekend.

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Several current as well as hopeful Formula 1 tracks made the news these few days, here is a recap:

Bahrain - The organizers rubbished the reports they are planning to stage the GP as a night race in the future. One wonders where these reports came from. Why would they need to run the race in the night with only 2 (or 3? ) hours time difference from most of the European tracks ?

Sepang - The Malaysian organizers however confirmed they are considering night race - Dato Mokhzani Mahatir, chairman of the Sepang circuit:

“We have actually been talking aboug a night race with Bernie Ecclestone since September 2006. Since then he has spoken with Singapore and Melbourne as he’d like to see the F1 broadcast from here in Europe at a more decent hour. Having a race in Asia at night makes sense for that. Singapore and Melbourne are temporary street circuits whereas we are a permanent facility. Putting up lighting systems would allow us to hire the circuit out more.”

Melbourne - Here it looks unlikely the night race will happen, although Mark Webber has been quoted saying this to Adelaide’s Sunday Mail:

“We should try to make night work. It could be exactly what the event needs — who knows? We should fight to have a night race.”

and on Bernie Ecclestone hard line attitude:

“You can’t constantly keep having the same toys in the sand pit. He’s (Ecclestone) certainly got his head screwed on and he will do what is best for the sport.”

In the meantime there has been slight change in the time schedule for the 2008 Australian GP - The race in Melbourne will start at 3:30pm local time.

Silverstone - This is a week old news already… Although the development plans seem to be on the right track, the negotiations over new contract with CVC and Bernie Ecclestone will not be easy. Ecclestone (in his own words) will not hesitate to cut the British GP off the F1 calendar …

St. Petersburg - While slamming Melbourne (and Sydney) and Silverstone, Bernie Ecclestone is on his way to Russia to yet again discuss possible Russian Grand Prix, this time in St. Petersburg.

Algarve - Meanwhile in Portugal … A new F1 style track is nearing completion in the south of the country. The reports say that one team has already booked the facility for testing next January. The ultimate goal however is to return Formula 1 race back to Portugal. The last one was held in Estoril back in 1996 and won by Jacques Villeneuve.

Alcaniz - Amid all the bad publicity Spain received in past week or so, there are reports about another Spanish F1 venue springing up. Barcelona (Montmelo) and Valencia (street track) will host the F1 races this year. The permanent circuits in Valencia and Jerez are popular venues for F1 test. “La Ciudad del Motor de Alcaniz” is to become yet another test facility. It is designed by Hermann Tilke with advice from Pedro de la Rosa and due for completion in 2009.

A1 Ring - The attempts to revive former F1 track in Austria seem to have come to end. The track held its last GP in 2003. It was later bought by Red Bull and set for major redevelopment. The protests from ever present Austrian enviromentalists and failed talks with local authorities lead Dietrich Mateschitz to stop the project aimed at winning back the Austrian GP.

Williams - No, this is not another city but the Williams F1 team … Williams have announced plans to establish a permanent base for its test team in Spain. This is where all the Spanish (and Portuguese) test tracks may come handy .

Continue below to see La Ciudad del Motor de Alcaniz video.

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