Massa stands by Malaysian driving

Felipe Massa has stood by his driving tactics during the Malaysian Grand Prix even though they cost him the chance of finishing third. The Ferrari driver tried to pass Hamilton at turn four on two occasions, and both times went too deep. He lost the position right back to Hamilton on the first attempt and on his next go, went off track and dropped to fifth behind Nick Heidfeld.

"Of course, what happened in Sepang was disappointing," Massa said. "It was not what we had expected. Lewis stopped on lap 20 and I refuelled on lap 17, so there was not a big difference in our fuel loads during the first stint of the race. But the only certainty I had was that, having lost position to Fernando and to Lewis, I knew that if I did not pass Lewis as soon as possible, my race was effectively over. The best I could have finished would have been third at that point."

"I would never have overtaken him in the run of pit stops and so the only course open to me was to try and pass him on the track," Massa added. "That is why I said to myself that I did not want to sit behind him, looking at the back of a McLaren for the whole race! If people accuse me of making mistake, I say, yes I did make a mistake, because otherwise I would have been ahead of him. But, I am not disappointed that I tried to pass him. You have to try in life and if tomorrow I am in the same position, I would try again."

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Raikkonen ran with a capped engine in Sepang

According what Marca found out, Kimi Raikkonen had an engined limited to 17,500 r.p.m. for all the race, whereas the rest were using 19,000 in normal conditions. This can sound Chinese, but according to the experienced engineers of the ‘F1 circus’, the loss of 100 rpm in a current Formula 1 engine means a 5 Horse Power loss.. Therefore, the Finnish pilot lost about 75 HP with respect to both McLaren and his teammate, which did not allow him to be on the pace in many phases of the race. In addition, he had to use less down force to gain top speed, which did not allow him to attack the car of ahead under braking.

The last third of the race was his best; he almost managed to catch Hamilton, although compared to Alonso his lap times were not better. “We knew that our engine was not running at one hundred percent, but we had to assure ourselves we finished. We were not perfect meaning we did not take stupid risks “, the Fin said.

The debate is also centered on knowing what would have happened if the decision to change the engine had not been taken. Many think that the position of Kimi would had been the same one in the end if had started from 13th on the grid.

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Malaysian GP Highlights video

If you are a McLaren fan you will enjoy this video because of the race result. You you are a Ferrari fan you will enjoy it because of the video’s focus. For sure, though, in the end, Raikkonen fans will enjoy it the most.It includes free practice, qualifying and the race.

Kimi- Malaysia GP Weekend Highlights '07
Uploaded by EvenstarSaima

F1 2007 Malaysia post race press conference

Alonso, Hamilton and Raikkonen do their saying:

Raikkonen disappointed with third

Kimi Raikkonen was disappointed to finish third in today's Malaysian Grand Prix and slip two points behind Fernando Alonso in the drivers' championship. Raikkonen kept his cool for the entire race, picked up a position when Massa lost his rag and went off track and applied severe pressure on rookie Lewis Hamilton in the final ten laps, but could not do better than third.

"I'm happy to get some points but a bit disappointed how the race ended up," said Raikkonen. "The whole weekend was quite difficult but I think we needed to compromise too many things and we lost too much speed because of those things, but it was one of those weekends where we needed to do what was most important and try to get as many points as we could. We just didn't have enough speed today and couldn't do much more."

"I think we did the best we could and at least we scored important points, so we need to make everything 100 percent right at the next race," he added.

"I think we know the reasons why we were not quick in this race, but unfortunately, as I said, we were in a position where we couldn't do anything else," Raikkonen went on. "Hopefully we can turn the tables in the next race and fight for a win again."

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Grand Prix Malaysia: Some videos

Alonso storms to Malaysian victory

O no wrong team!


Fernando Alonso stormed to victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix, taking the lead in the very first corner and never looking back. Lewis Hamilton resisted pressure from Ferrari all day to finish second and complete a one-two for McLaren ahead of Kimi Raikkonen.

Heavy, overnight rain had washed the track surface and made matters much more slippery for the start of the race, although by then the sun was shining and track temperature was well above 50 degrees Centigrade.

Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton rocketed off the line and both slipped down the inside of turn one to pass both Ferraris and put their McLarens first and second respectively. Massa recoiled back in third, making a tentative probe up the inside of Hamilton in turn three only for the British driver to firmly close the door. Raikkonen maintained fourth ahead of the two BMWs, Rosberg and Fisichella.

Alonso began to stretch his lead and by lap four had a four-second lead over Hamilton who was busy fending off a rampant Felipe Massa. The Brazilian caught a perfect slipstream down the pit straight but Hamilton stood his ground, forcing Massa down the outside and narrowly retained second place. Massa then rallied for a charge down the inside of turn four, passed Hamilton, but braked too late, ran wide and let the McLaren take the position again.

Massa regrouped and the next lap threw another one down the inside of turn four only to go completely off track, releasing Hamilton and letting Raikkonen take third place. Massa rejoined the race in fifth, behind Nick Heidfeld.

The excitement then settled and Alonso continued to build a lead of a second-per-lap over Hamilton with Raikkonen close behind. Heidfeld and Massa languished a further five seconds down the track.

Massa was the first front-runner to pit on lap 17 while on the McLaren pit wall there seemed to be some concern over whether Fernando Alonso knew he was expected in for fuel, but the double-champion was in no doubt and dived into the pit lane on lap 18 from a 17-second lead. Kimi Raikkonen pitted too on lap 18, but Hamilton continued on track and inherited the lead until he too made his pit stop on lap 20.

As everything shook out on lap 23, Alonso led Hamilton by 11 seconds with Raikkonen third, Heidfeld fourth, Massa fifth and Rosberg sixth. The order was maintained until the second round of pit stops, but there were also no surprises to be had then.

Alonso continued to lead, but Hamilton seemed to struggle on the harder compound Bridgestone tyre. As the British driver did all he could to cover the final twelve laps of the race holding onto second place, Nico Rosberg had a bigger problem as smoke started pouring from the back of his Williams Toyota. Rosberg was forced to retire after an extremely competitive drive in which he was easily running in sixth.

The final eight laps saw Raikkonen close right in on Lewis Hamilton for second place. By lap 52 Raikkonen was just two seconds behind the young rookie and still closing in. By the final lap, Raikkonen was less than a second behind and pressuring Hamilton hard but could not get past - Hamilton did not make any mistakes.

Fernando Alonso though cruised to victory in a dominant performance and Lewis Hamilton brought his McLaren home in second to complete an exceptional one-two finish for the Mercedes-powered team. Kimi Raikkonen collected third place ahead of Nick Heidfeld, Felipe Massa, Fisichella, Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen rounding off the top eight.

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Ferrari happy with second pole

The second race of the season and the second pole position for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, this time courtesy of Felipe Massa. It is the sixth time that a Ferrari driver will start the Malaysian Grand Prix from pole, the 188th in the history of the Prancing Horse in Formula 1. It was Felipe's fourth career pole.

Felipe Massa said: "I am very happy with this pole. On my second run I had a bit of traffic but on the last one, I got a really clean lap and I got a hundred percent out of the car. At turn 7 and in the final sector there were a few drops of rain, but luckily it did not get worse and I was able to finish my run without any bother. Obviously, tomorrow I want to finish the race in the same position in which I start it.

"We know we are up against some very strong opponents and that this is always a hard race, both from the physical point of view and in terms of the stresses on the car. In these very high temperatures, it is like racing in a sauna, and the track became very slippery, but I was able to put together my best lap right at the last minute."

Kimi Raikkonen said: "All in all, today's result is what we could have expected. The balance of my car was better than in yesterday's free practice, but still not perfect for a single timed lap. But it is very good over a long run and so I think I can be a frontrunner in tomorrow's race. The battle was very close but we saw already in Melbourne that the McLaren is competitive in qualifying. The heat? It's the same for everyone so it should not be a decisive factor tomorrow."

Ferrari team boss Jean Todt said: "Today's qualifying was very exciting, with the fight going down to the wire between us and those who seem to be our closest rivals. The changing weather, with the threat of imminent rain, rather mixed up the programme. Felipe put in an extraordinary lap and I am particularly happy for him after his troubles in Melbourne qualifying."

"Kimi did a great job to take third spot. We have taken an important step towards our targets for this weekend, but the key part comes tomorrow. The race here will be particularly tough on both the cars and drivers because of the high temperatures. As usual, reliability, strategy, team work and the performance of the drivers will be the factors that decide the final result."

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Qualifying highlights in Sepang

A lovely pole position for Felipe Massa while Raikkonen had difficulties setting up the car and ended up only third. The greatest menace to a Brazilian victory will be, it seems, the second on the grid: Fernando Alonso.

The gap between McLaren and Ferrari seems to diminish. It almost doesn’t exist anymore. In any case, Massa is a strong candidate fro victory - absolutely necessary for him if he wants to be in the title chase. For Massa the most important thing is finishing ahead of Raikkonen in order to question his `supremacy` in the team.

In brief:

-The Williams continues to surprise with Rosberg finishing sixth. `In compensation` Wurz, who had problems, was eliminated at the end of the first session.

-Toyota had another good result with Trulli finishing eight. Is he doing wonders in the Toyota?

-Honda, in turn, can start thinking about constructing a new car. Or to ask Super Aguri to borrow their car. Or maybe start racing in lower formulas.

-Renault caught everyone’s attention in practice when they were 6th. The team admitted they were on soft tires and low fuel. The reality appeared in qualifying, with Kovalainen in 11th and Fisichella in 12th. Driving a Twingo they’d probably be on the same positions.

-The white stripe on the tires was efficient in making the spectators distinguish the compounds.

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Massa grabs pole

Sorry for the folks who don't like it. Much Formula 1 news these days since it's Grand Prix weekend again. I give you the bare essentials and all the Ferrari news and an occasional extra one.

Felipe Massa stole pole for the Ferrari team for the Malaysian Grand Prix tomorrow with a 1:35.043s. He pipped McLaren's Fernando Alonso, who was running fastest through out, by three tenths of a second. Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton will make up the second row respectively.

BMW Sauber was the third strongest team as Nick Heidfeld and Robert Kubica ended up fifth and seventh respectively. Nico Rosberg was a very impressive sixth fastest in his Williams, whilst Jarno Trulli, Ralf Schumacher and Mark Webber will make up the top ten of the grid tomorrow.

In the first qualifying segment, all the cars went out on harder tyres except Jenson Button who used the softer compound and it seemed to work for him as he took his Honda to eleventh fastest. His team-mate Rubens Barrichello, however, was not so lucky and suffered a gearbox problem. The Honda team tried to put the engine in the spare car except that was even worse and Barrichello was unable to break into the top 16. Williams' Alexander Wurz succumbed to the same problem and also failed to qualify for the second segment. Renault, who won the Malaysian Grand Prix in 2005 and 2006, almost had a shock when its drivers Heikki Kovalainen and Giancarlo Fisichella only just squeezed into the top 16.

In the second segment, all the drivers opted for the softer compound as the teams started to worry as well that it would rain. At the death of the segment, it looked like both the Red Bulls would be out and that Kovalainen would sneak into the top ten, but Mark Webber changed all that and confirmed a place for his Red Bull at the expense of the Finn. As a result both Renaults went out, ending up tenth and eleventh for the grid, whilst the other victims were David Coulthard for Red Bull, Takuma Sato for Super Aguri, Jenson Button for Honda and Vitantonio Liuzzi for Toro Rosso respectively. That meant that the Toro Rossos were a solid sixteenth and seventeenth ahead of rival Anthony Davidson in his Super Aguri and both the Spykers, who start from the back row of the grid.

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Ferrari F2007 cooling system Malaysia

Translation from Italian:

“The cooling system on the Ferrari F2007 allows for solutions capable of handling the temperature loads in a selective way. The radiator placed vertically on the gearbox represents a distinctive feature of the Ferrari [F2007] . The airbox was split into two parts, to better serve the engine cooling. In the superior part a channel was designed to allow the fresh air to be directed towards the gearbox oir radiator, ensuring the correct thermic interchange. This technology that exploits the separation of the flows allows the temperature of the oil which cools the gearbox to drop. A battery of 14 injectors dedicated to each single gear ensures a good thermic exchange and an important reduction of the mechanical frictions.”



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Massa reflection

Image from a mirror of Massa's car.

Onboard cam Kimi and Felipe on the friday

Ferrari still the one to beat

Ferrari was again on top in Friday practice at Sepang for this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix. Felipe Massa finished fastest while Australian GP winner Kimi Raikkonen was fourth.

"All things considered, we can say this has been a good day," said Massa. "We tried both types of tyre available to us and also tried various set-up changes on the F2007, starting off from the basis of what we learnt in the test last week at this track. Obviously, there is still a lot to do with qualifying and the race in mind, but the weekend has got off to a positive start. I hope we can continue in that way!"

Kimi Raikkonen commented, "It's been a reasonably good day, even though I am not completely happy with the set-up of my car. We still have to find the right settings, similar to those we had last week at the test. Having said that, I still believe we can fight for first place both in qualifying and the race, although at the moment it is hard to have a clear picture of the whole situation. The difference between the two types of tyre? Not much, especially when it comes to consistency in lap times."

Team manager Luca Baldisserri added, "We already ran at this track last week, so today's programme centred mainly on checking the data we had gathered over those four days of testing. We were able to get through the planned programme without any particular technical problems arising with the F2007. The performance of both types of tyre is pretty similar over a long run and the way we use them in the race will be based on our strategy choices. From what we could see today, I think we will be competitive even if it is difficult to work out the pecking order given that, on this track, the fuel load has more of an effect on lap times than at other tracks. Tomorrow starting with free practice and as a result of carrying out several tests, we will be using the same engines that finished the Australian Grand Prix on both our cars."

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No engine change for Raikkonen

Good news for Kimi Raikkonen and the Ferrari team. The team has confirmed there is no need to change the Finn's Ferrari V8 engine. A water leak gave the team some concerns in the opening race three weeks ago in Melbourne. "We are going to keep it. There is no reason to change it," Raikkonen said.

Ferrari team boss Jean Todt furthermore said: "We made more checks than if it didn't happen, and he simulated the problem during free testing here last week, and after all that we are satisfied that nothing demonstrated that we should change our programme from Australia."

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Massa dominates on Friday

Felipe Massa was the fastest driver in both the first and second free practice session on Friday. The Brazilian was Friday's second free practice session just ahead of Renault drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Heikki Kovalainen.

The second practice got underway at 14.00 local time with temperatures going up to 35 degrees Celsius and a humidity of 47%.

This afternoon's session was stopped after 80 minutes when Christijan Albers flew off the track in turn two. The Dutchman had a difficult weekend in Melbourne, but things don't look much better yet here in Malaysia. Albers right-rear tyre blew up and the Dutchman's session finished early.

Mark Webber caused a yellow flag with a few minutes to go in the final practice session. Webber blew up his Renault engine in the Red Bull Racing car.

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Massa fastest in opening practice

Ferrari's Felipe Massa went fastest in the first practice session of the weekend at the Malaysian Grand Prix. The Brazilian set a best time of 1:34.972s, which was around two tenths of a second quicker than the fastest effort of McLaren's Fernando Alonso.

Third was Lewis Hamilton, who came within half a second of his team-mate in the other McLaren, whilst Kimi Raikkonen was tucked in behind in the other Ferrari.

Nico Rosberg was leader of the chasing pack in fifth for Williams with Red Bull's Mark Webber, Toyota's Jarno Trulli and Kazuki Nakajima in the other Williams making up the top eight respectively. Nakajima recovered well from a spin in the last corner mid-way through the session to make an impressive mark on the timesheets. The Friday test driver failed to get his car going again after the spin and brought out the only yellow flag of the session.

The other third driver running was BMW's Sebastian Vettel who was twelfth fastest, whilst regular race driver Robert Kubica was two places ahead in tenth. Unable to show any signs of pace were Renault and Honda, whose drivers were 14th and 15th and 19th and 20th respectively.

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FIA: Malaysian track in perfect condition

That sounds good :)

"FIA's race director Charlie Whiting believes the Sepang International Circuit is in perfect condition. The FIA delegate visited the track on Monday to see if the track is ready for next week's Malaysian Grand Prix. According to him, there were only a few minor things that need to be changed before the race.

"It is always a pleasure to come to a circuit that is in a perfect condition. However, I have ask them do some minor works for the race," said Whiting Sepang's track manager Kumarasamy Chellapan explained that a few minor areas had to be worked on to get the track ready for the Malaysian Grand Prix: "As you know, we occasionally used half tracks for events. It is now just a case of putting them back in their original locations as specified by the FIA. He also asked us to make sure that all the screws on the guardrails to be tightened up. Other than that he said everything else was perfect.""

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