FP1 so far has Hamilton and Vettel swapping places on the top spot. Grosjean had some issues but is now back on track and di Resta doing some 4 wheel drifting between corners (quite impressive).
Hamilton tops both Friday sessions at Sepang Räikkönen hit with 5-place grid penalty Lotus F1 driver Kimi Räikkönen has been handed a 5-place grid penalty for Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix, after being forced into a gearbox change this afternoon. The technical issue stems back to last weekend's Melbourne season opener, where an off-track excursion led to slight structural damage. As a result, it has been decided that to avoid risking a retirement, his gearbox will be switched prematurely. Vettel ‘not entirely happy’ after practice Mercedes still not expecting pole position Despite their promising form in Malaysian Grand Prix practice on Friday, Mercedes pairing Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg – who finished second and fourth – do not believe pole position is yet within their grasp. The top spot in qualifying would be the silver arrows’ first since Juan Manuel Fangio’s pole at Monza in 1955. 1 Great Britain L Hamilton 1:38.172 2 Germany M Schumacher 1:38.533 3 Great Britain J Button 1:38.535 4 Germany N Rosberg 1:38.696 5 Australia D Ricciardo 1:38.853 6 Spain F Alonso 1:38.891 7 Australia M Webber 1:39.133 8 France J Vergne 1:39.297 9 Switzerland R Grosjean 1:39.311 10 Germany S Vettel 1:39.402
Third free practice results. Rosberg quickest as rain threatens. Mercedes GP driver Nico Rosberg topped final practice in Sepang this afternoon, outpacing Sebastian Vettel by almost half a second with a time of 1:36.877. Mark Webber wound up in third place, while McLaren's Lewis Hamilton endured an off-track moment and completed just eight laps as the rain clouds loomed. The Lotus pairing of Kimi Räikkönen and Romain Grosjean also looked very comfortable in fourth and fifth, despite a fire in the team's hospitality area in the early hours of the morning due to a faulty fridge. :ymparty: Fernando Alonso led Ferrari's currently timid charge in 13th, with team-mate Felipe Massa managing no more than 18th, almost a full second behind the Spaniard. BBC Radio 5 live commentator James Allen "Something that's new for 2012 is a test at Mugello in Italy which takes place during the season. The Italian media are saying Ferrari might even test another driver there. Sergio Perez is the obvious choice as he's part of the Ferrari driver programme." 1 Germany N Rosberg Mercedes 2 Germany S Vettel Red Bull 3 Australia M Webber Red Bull 4 Finland K Raikkonen Lotus 5 Switzerland R Grosjean Lotus 6 Great Britain J Button McLaren 7 Venezuela P Maldonado Williams 8 Germany M Schumacher Mercedes 9 Great Britain L Hamilton McLaren 10 Japan K Kobayashi Sauber 11 Brazil B Senna Williams 12 Mexico S Perez Sauber 13 Spain F Alonso Ferrari 14 Germany N Hulkenberg Force India 15 Australia D Ricciardo Toro Rosso 16 France J Vergne Toro Rosso 17 Great Britain P Di Resta Force India 18 Brazil F Massa Ferrari 19 Russian Federation V Petrov Caterham 20 Finland H Kovalainen Caterham 21 France C Pic Marussia 22 Germany T Glock Marussia 23 Spain P de la Rosa HRT 24 India N Karthikeyan HRT Third practice session completed In Summary ■Rosberg fastest in final practice ■Vettel and Webber second and third ■Hamilton was fastest in both Friday sessions ■Qualifying begins at 0800 GMT
Re: The Ice Man His older brother, Rami Räikkönen, is a rally driver and a national junior-class champion, who also competes in the Finnish Formula 3 Championship; their father Matti was a road builder. Räikkönen's hobbies include snowboarding and ice hockey. During his spare time he can often be seen watching his hometown ice hockey team Espoo Blues play. He has also competed in several different kinds of motorsport events. In March 2007, while his Formula One rivals were in Australia preparing for the season opener, Räikkönen competed in a snowmobile race in Finland under the pseudonym "James Hunt", referring to the 1976 world champion whose "playboy" lifestyle has been compared with Räikkönen's own. Räikkönen won the Enduro Sprint race by over 20 seconds with his Lynx. Later in the year, he and two friends entered a powerboat race in the Finnish harbour city of Hanko while wearing gorilla suits. Again, he raced under the name "James Hunt". Raikkonen is known for his dislike of giving media interviews, and frequently answers questions in a blunt and monosyllabic manner. A notable incident occurred in the build-up to the 2006 Brazilian Grand Prix when then-ITV pundit Martin Brundle asked Raikkonen why he didn't bother to watch a ceremony where legendary footballer Pele presented Michael Schumacher with a lifetime achievement award. Raikkonen replied (on live TV) "I was having a s***". Räikkönen is the third Finnish driver to win the World Championship, after Keke Rosberg and Mika Häkkinen. He is also the most successful Finnish Formula One driver in terms of points, podium finishes and fastest laps. Räikkönen also holds the record for the most wins in a debut year with Ferrari with 6, beating Alain Prost's previous record of 5 from 1990.
Third qualifying session completed Fantastic stuff, Hamilton & Button 1-2 with Schumacher 3rd. :-? Raikkonen 5th and Vettel 6th. Problem is, Raikkonen will be starting from 10th place. As expected, Ferrari miles off the pace, RedBull struggling, McLaren dominating & Schumacher & Raikkonen really pushing the front. 0922: Everyone from sixth to 10th - so Sebastian Vettel, Romain Grosjean, Nico Rosberg, Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez - will start one place higher as Kimi Raikkonen, who qualified fifth fastest, will start 10th after his five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change is applied. 0854: Kimi Raikkonen looks like he's really fighting that Lotus. BBC F1 co-commentator David Coulthard describes it as "more rallying style rather than F1 style" in a nod to the two years he has just spent competing in the World Rally Championship. It's still a decent effort though as he clockes a 1:36.837. :-bd In Summary Front row lock-out for McLaren Hamilton first, Button second Schumacher third Webber fourth Vettel sixth on hard tyres 1 Great Britain L Hamilton McLaren 2 Great Britain J Button McLaren 3 Germany M Schumacher Mercedes 4 Australia M Webber Red Bull 5 Finland K Raikkonen Lotus 6 Germany S Vettel Red Bull 7 Switzerland R Grosjean Lotus 8 Germany N Rosberg Mercedes 9 Spain F Alonso Ferrari 10 Mexico S Perez Sauber 11 Venezuela P Maldonado Williams 12 Brazil F Massa Ferrari 13 Brazil B Senna Williams 14 Great Britain P Di Resta Force India 15 Australia D Ricciardo Toro Rosso 16 Germany N Hulkenberg Force India 17 Japan K Kobayashi Sauber 18 France J Vergne Toro Rosso 19 Finland H Kovalainen Caterham 20 Russian Federation V Petrov Caterham 21 Germany T Glock Marussia 22 France C Pic Marussia 23 Spain P de la Rosa HRT 24 India N Karthikeyan HRT
b*****..... RED FLAG - LAP NINE Lewis Hamilton's engineer tells him that this rain is expected to continue falling for the next 30 minutes. Race director Charlie Whiting obviously has similar intel because he's brought out the red flag. The cars are now filing back to the grid where they will park up in their current order until the race start. There's chaos in the pit-lane as the mechanics dash out of their garages with their trolleys and onto the grid.
Mercedes-Benz motorsport director Norbert Haug: "They were very right to stop the race - it's impossible to race under these circumstances. We'll have to wait and see because it'll get dark in about an hour's time. It was not a fanatstic start by Michael [Schumacher], but he recovered well after being hit from the back to overtake." In Summary ■Race stopped ■Torrential showers ■Hamilton leads, Button second ■Perez third, Webber fourth ■Karthikeyan in the points for HRT ■Grosjean out (Lotus)
Excellent race, shame for JB and Lewis was unlucky, shame Perez slipped up with a few laps to go as I think Alonso would have had his hands full. Indy now done, Barrichello had a reasonable race finishing 16th, Sprint Cup time now so motorsport all day today
A fantastic race again, I think this season is going to be something different. A few quotes....... 0930: While most teams pull out their golf-size umbrellas to try and protect their drivers from the rain, McLaren have gone one step further and constructed a gazebo over their two cars to keep Jenson, Lewis and the team dry. BBC Radio 5 live commentator James Allen "Red Bull chief technical officer Adrian Newey looks like he's on a camping holiday in the Lake District not a motor racing adventure." BBC Radio 5 live pit lane reporter Jennie Gow "A little anecdote for you. Jenson Button got a bit bored of waiting around so he came back to the motorhome, had a cup of tea and was half way through a bowl of pasta only to be called back to the grid." Sauber team radio for Sergio Perez: "Your are very quick, Checo [Perez's nickname] - doing very well. You are very quick." Man of the match...... Sergio Perez BBC Sport's chief F1 writer Andrew Benson "And breathe. What a race, what a result, two absolutely stunning drives and more down the field." Fastest lap: Kimi Raikkonen (lap 53): 1min 40.722 secs 1 Spain F Alonso Ferrari 2 Mexico S Perez Sauber 3 Great Britain L Hamilton McLaren 4 Australia M Webber Red Bull 5 Finland K Raikkonen Lotus 6 Brazil B Senna Williams 7 Great Britain P Di Resta Force India 8 France J Vergne Toro Rosso 9 Germany N Hulkenberg Force India 10 Germany M Schumacher Mercedes 11 Germany S Vettel Red Bull 12 Australia D Ricciardo Toro Rosso 13 Germany N Rosberg Mercedes 14 Great Britain J Button McLaren 15 Brazil F Massa Ferrari 16 Russian Federation V Petrov Caterham 17 Germany T Glock Marussia 18 Finland H Kovalainen Caterham 19 Venezuela P Maldonado (ret.) Williams 20 France C Pic Marussia 21 India N Karthikeyan HRT 22 Spain P de la Rosa HRT 23 Japan K Kobayashi (ret.) Sauber 24 Switzerland R Grosjean (ret.) Lotus
Well Malaysia did me no favours with my F1 predictions, so glad this score gets wiped clean. HT you're the only one with less points than me and I thought you'd be up there with the leaders :-o
Snoops, as you say, points get wiped, got to check out the form first, it does not matter which crew you choose, got to have to see a couple of races first.
My choices aren't likely to win the year but going to stick with them as those are the ones I want to be cheering on
