Romain Grosjean broke Article 23.6 after pit lane infringement
Lotus’s Romain Grosjean has been demoted two grid positions at the Malaysia GP for a pitlane infringement during the rain-hit qualifying session.
The Frenchman had qualified eighth but was later moved back to 10th place for Sunday’s race by the FIA stewards for a transgression while cars queued up at the end of the pitlane ahead of Q2.
With teams anticipating rain in the early stages of the second session, they sent their cars out earlier to queue at the end of the pitlane in order to gain the best track position. Lotus didn’t release their two cars until the queue stretched back beyond their pit area, however rather than join the back of the pack, Grosjean nipped in ahead of Felipe Massa’s Williams when the green light came on.
That broke Article 23.6 of the Sporting Regulations which states that “any car(s) driven to the end of the pit lane prior to the start or re-start of a practice session must form up in a line in the fast lane and leave in the order they got there”.
Grosjean was therefore issued with a two-place drip drop, a penalty which moves Williams’ Valtteri Bottas into eighth and Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson to ninth.
Speaking before the penalty was issued, Grosjean said of his qualifying: “It wasn’t an easy qualy, but the team made the right calls. It was a safe choice to go out on extremes wets first. We then went onto inters but the timing didn’t allow us to finish our lap so we had to pit. We only did one timed lap in those conditions but we made it and I think we got the best we could.
“The race is going to be interesting; we have quite a mix of cars around us but it’s a long race, it’s a hot race and even without rain, it’s quite a demanding race on the cars and on drivers. It’ll definitely be interesting!”
Sebastian Vettel reckons he has a shot at victory in the Malaysia GP, although being “realistic” he thinks that Mercedes have the measure of Ferrari in dry conditions.
The four-time champion took advantage of heavy rain during Saturday’s qualifying session to break Mercedes’ run of nine straight front-row lock-outs, splitting polesitter Lewis Hamilton and team-mate Nico Rosberg.
Vettel was just 0.074 seconds slower than Hamilton as the Sepang track dried following an earlier thunderstorm. However, the gap in Q1 was more like 0.6s.
Although that’s still closer than the 1.4s gap between the pair in Melbourne two weeks ago, Vettel suggested that he’ll need another downpour on Sunday if he’s to challenge for the win.
“I think, yes, we can [challenge],” he told Sky Sports F1. “It depends on a lot of things which I cannot tell you now. As you saw today, there’s rain in the air; if it comes and hits the track at the right moment for you that can be quite good. It can also work against you as well, so we’ll have to wait and see."
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March 29, 2015
Vettel and team-mate Kimi Raikkonen also showed strong long-run pace in Friday practice while Mercedes’ weekend – and that of Hamilton in particular – has been beset by reliability problems.
“On our own, as you said, the pace looks decent,” Vettel said. “But we also have to be realistic – Mercedes has an advantage which didn’t just disappear.
“Maybe it wasn’t that obvious until now but it is still there. I think, in the end, we have to look after ourselves and everything else we will see.”
“It would be nice obviously to give them a hard time,” a grinning Vettel added. “I think it has been a bit too chilled for them for the last couple of months, so we’ll see what we can do.”
In contrast, Raikkonen was downbeat after being caught out by the rain, which started after cars were only able to manage one flying lap in Q2.
Stuck in a train of cars behind Marcus Ericsson’s Sauber, Hamilton was lucky to progress with the eighth fastest time. Right behind, Raikkonen was only 11th.
“There’s not much that I can do," he told Sky Sports F1. "There’s always a chance to have a difficult first few corners [in the race] if you are out of place. Also it takes our chances away.”
Fernando Alonso joined McLaren after five seasons at Ferrari
Fernando Alonso has insisted that results at the start of the new F1 season have justified his decision to leave Ferrari for McLaren.
The Spaniard quit the Scuderia after five seasons in red at the end of 2014 to join forces with McLaren ahead of their reunion with Honda. The team have endured a desperate struggle so far in 2015, with both cars eliminated in Q1 in Australia and Malaysia, while a revitalised Ferrari claimed a podium finish in Melbourne and ended Mercedes’ long of front-row lock-outs at Sepang.
But with Mercedes still in a league of their own, Alonso remains adamant that rolling the dice was the logical career choice.
“When I saw Mercedes winning by half a minute [in Australia] I was so clear about my decision. To beat Mercedes at the moment you need to do something different. You need to risk somehow because if you copy you will be always behind. So I’m in the right place,” Alonso told Sky Sports F1 after qualifying just 18th for the Malaysia GP, his worst grid slot since 2010.
“It’s a very exciting challenge because we will grow up together from the bottom and when we arrive to the points, or a podium position, we will look at each other and say this has been a very exciting trip.”
Nor has Alonso’s belief in the McLaren-Honda ‘project’ been dimmed by either his infamous crash in testing or the team’s profound struggles so far this year. In the words of team boss Eric Boullier, the Spaniard conducted qualifying with ‘infectious enthusiasm’ and maintained his positive outlook even after falling at the first hurdle of Q1.
Alonso and Jensen Button were eliminated in Q1
“It was expected. It’s a tough period at the moment for us being out of Q1 but if we see the facts and the numbers it’s much better than it’s been in Australia in terms of pace and so I think we are making very big progress,” Alonso added. “If we can improve 1.5 seconds every two weeks in three or four races we’ll be in pole!
“It’s a very challenging period for us. The development rate will be very high and very steep for us at the moment because we are far behind. Every race we will improve and every race we will learn things and tomorrow is the first real test for me. It will be the very first time we do a formation lap, a start, a pitstop – things that we could not do in winter testing.”
McLaren are yet to publicly comment on Alonso’s extraordinary description of the cause of his crash in pre-season testing at Barcelona. However, despite the 33-year-old’s account being entirely at odds with the team’s explanation, chief executive Ron Dennis is believed to be ‘calm’ about the matter.
Despite remaining almost three seconds off the pace, McLaren are optimistic they are closing in on the midfield pack after a small but significant improvement in Friday practice at Sepang.
While the cause of Fernando Alonso’s crash in testing remains an ongoing mystery, there is no dispute about the extent of McLaren’s current on-track struggles following their reunion with Honda.
Slowest of all in Australia, only the two Manor cars and, following an engine failure, the Lotus of Romain Grosjean finished behind Alonso and team-mate Jenson Button in Friday practice for the Malaysia GP.
But it’s a measure of McLaren’s painstaking progress that Alonso completed almost as many laps on his comeback as he had on any day during winter testing prior to his crash at Barcelona and the two Force Indias already appear to be within McLaren’s range this weekend after Honda turned up their V6 engines.
Fernando Alonso
“It felt great, I enjoyed it so much,” enthused Alonso after edging out Button in both practice sessions. “Four weeks without driving, it doesn’t matter how much gym you do or simulation you do, it’s not the same as the car. I pushed to feel the car, it feels good. We had a few issues with braking, front locking and rear locking, but it was really the second day of testing. I had one good day of testing in Barcelona with 63 laps and today with 45 with zero problems. It’s very important."
Button finished 11th and last in the season-opening Australian GP and has called for patience as McLaren re-adapt to life with Honda. But the Englishman is now hopeful that they can catch the back of the midfield pack this weekend.
“We seem a little bit more competitive than in the last race compared to the other cars,” said Button. “I might have been wrong yesterday when I said we wouldn’t race other cars. There might be that possibility and that would be a massive step forward.”
F1 teams have agreed to increase their engine allocation from four to five power units during the 2015 season.
The proposal, inflating the allocation to last year’s level, was unanimously agreed after Friday practice in Malaysia.
However, it will still require ratification from the FIA before the sporting regulations are amended.
The change was originally made in anticipation that the sport's new power units, which were first introduced in 2014, would become more reliable with time.
However, that did not appear the case in Melbourne at least where Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo suffered a failure in practice while Kevin Magnussen's McLaren blew its engine on the way to the grid.
That would have left Fernando Alonso, who has returned to the cockpit for McLaren this weekend, having to juggle the use of just three power units for the remaining 18 races.
Although the penalty for replacement of a complete power unit - a pitlane start - no longer applies, cars still receive 10-place grid penalties the first time they cross the threshold, with five more places for each additional component used.
Renault’s Cyril Abiteboul says all options are open for the French manufacturer – including, after a tough start to the new season, a withdrawal from F1.
Speaking in the FIA’s press conference at the Malaysia GP, Abiteboul admitted that their poor performance in Australia, which came after a difficult introduction to F1's hybrid era last season, had not gone down well at head office.
Plagued by both a lack of power and poor driveability, the best finish they could manage was Daniel Ricciardo’s sixth place for Red Bull.
Speaking afterwards, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said Renault’s performance had actually gone backwards and that they were currently in “a bit of a mess”.
The pair sat side-by-side on Friday, with Abiteboul admitting that Renault’s relationship with Red Bull – contracted to run until 2016 – is under strain.
“I can confirm that we are looking at a lot of options, including getting out of Formula 1,” Abiteboul said.
“Honestly, if Formula 1 is that bad for Renault’s reputation, if we see that we struggle with the current formula; if Formula 1 is not delivering the value it costs to Renault – bearing in mind that when you have an engine supplier, you have no incentive to fund engine development – this is what we’re looking at."
Another potential option might be for Renault to buy an existing team. However, Matthew Carter, CEO of the Lotus outfit which won world titles as Renault, and Force India deputy team principal Bob Fernley both denied they’d held talks.
In contrast, Toro Rosso team boss Franz Tost fuelled rumours about his team’s future by saying a Renault buyout would be “a fantastic opportunity to take the next step forward”.
Red Bull’s Christian Horner is encouraged by the steps they and Renault have taken since their poor performance in Australia.
“We could ultimately find ourselves without an engine supplier, should Renault choose to withdraw from Formula 1,” he said. “Mercedes wouldn’t supply Red Bull with an engine and it’s unlikely we’d be in a position to take a Ferrari engine.
“You could actually find yourself forced out of the sport and I think as with any company, Red Bull reviews its return on investment. Is Formula 1 delivering for Red Bull as a brand?
“There are some worrying signs when we see races like we saw in Melbourne.”
Red Bull currently assist Renault as they try and make their hybrid competitive, although Horner again ruled out the idea that they would become an engine builder in their own right.
Daniel Ricciardo in action in Malaysia
He also admitted that frustrations had boiled over in Australia but added that progress has been made this weekend.
“I think the frustration more than anything coming into the first race is expectations were higher than what we saw in Melbourne. We appeared to have taken a retrograde step,” he said.
“But I think, having researched properly into the issues, Renault have really started to understand them now and already we’ve seen a positive step forward.”
Meanwhile, Abiteboul said quotes in which he accused Red Bull designer Adrian Newey of spreading “lies” for suggesting that their poor performance was entirely down to Renault had been taken out of context.
“It’s not what I said. Let’s leave that behind. Let’s look at the progress we’re made over these two weeks,” he added.
Mercedes are under genuine threat from Ferrari in the Malaysia GP, according to the Sky Sports F1 punditry team.
Although Lewis Hamilton topped the Friday practice timesheets after a late burst, the world champion endured a trouble-filled day at Sepang while Ferrari consistently impressed on their long-run simulations.
Tyre conservation is likely to prove critical in Sunday’s race and Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen appeared able to coax far more life out of the medium tyres which all the leading cars are expected to start the grand prix on. "It might just open up for him to enjoy this weekend," noted Sky Sports F1’s David Croft.
The SF15-T wasn’t too shabby on its qualifying-style run either as Raikkonen edged out Nico Rosberg on the medium tyres after being three-tenths slower than the German on the hards.
"Tyres look much more critical here than they were in Melbourne and the Ferrari actually looks much better on the option tyre than the Mercedes,” concluded Sky F1 analyst Mark Hughes.
“The Mercedes has three or four tenths of pace early in the stint, but subsequently the Merc is using them harder. We didn’t see a back-to-back comparison between the two cars on the hard tyre – which is going to be the preferred tyre, I think, and that will probably decide it – but just looking at how both were on the option tyre I would say it looks quite close.”
After a spate of straightforward one- and two-stint races, Pirelli are forecasting a three-stop grand prix in Malaysia due to the extreme heat and, to compound the headache of the Mercedes and Ferrari strategists, the two frontrunners appear to be running dramatically divergent set-up strategies.
While the Silver Arrows cars were far quicker than their red rivals in the twisty middle sector on Friday, they were consistently slower than the SF15-Ts along the straights.
“Mercedes could have a fight on their hands,” warned Bruno Senna. “It all depends on the Ferrari being ahead of them and it will be very tough for the Mercedes cars to overtake in the first and final sectors.”
Lewis Hamilton praised his mechanics after he set the fastest time in practice 2, despite suffering engine problems with his Mercedes.
Not, of course, that Mercedes will be losing any sleep just yet. The team are chasing their ninth successive victory and Hamilton was still able to top Friday’s timesheets despite being restricted to just 20 laps. Yet appearances can be deceptive and Hamilton’s lack of running may come back to bite him on Sunday.
“The headlines will say ‘Hamilton quickest after Day One in Malaysia’, but let’s not sugarcoat it – that was a bad day for him,” said Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz.
Nor was Hamilton disguising his concern about the growing red menace. “The Ferraris look great, they really do,” he conceded to Sky Sports News HQ.
Ferrari do, however, have a well-established habit of running relatively low fuel loads in practice, providing an inflated impression of their competitiveness on Fridays before falling away over the course of the weekend. Nor was their running without blemish as Sebastian Vettel spun out in Practice Two on his qualifying simulation.
“I think the spin was nothing to do with bad luck, it was probably to do with me pushing a bit too much! I thought I could make it stick but couldn’t. I guess if you choose a day [to spin] you choose today,” said the former world champion.
“It’s difficult to say where we are compared to Mercedes as they didn’t have a clean day. But it’s not the most important thing now, we have to look after ourselves and see what we can do.
Lewis Hamilton praised his mechanics after he set the fastest time in practice 2, despite suffering engine problems with his Mercedes.
Lewis Hamilton admits Ferrari’s strong pace relative to Mercedes in practice at Sepang came as a surprise but says he has plenty of improvements to find after a disjointed opening day.
Following a trouble-free start to his title defence in Melbourne, where Hamilton claimed pole and race victory, the Briton ran into problems inside five laps in Malaysia when an engine problem curtailed his P1 running. The team had already been running without telemetry from his W06.
The engine issue was traced to a failure on the power unit’s inlet system, although the fault resulted in lengthy repairs and Hamilton remained on the sidelines for the opening exchanges in P2. After a brief return on the hard tyres was then interrupted by further telemetry trouble, Hamilton completed a belated qualifying simulation on the medium tyres and vaulted straight to the top of the timesheets.
However, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen lapped within four tenths of the lead Mercedes and then fared well on the later race simulations as drivers elsewhere struggled with tyre degradation in the sweltering track conditions. The form of the SF15-T caught Hamilton’s eye, although he pointed out that his problematic day had allowed scant time for set-up work.
“The Ferraris look great, they really do. It’s surprising to see how good their times are, we’ll see if that continues through the weekend,” Hamilton toldSky Sports F1.
“I know my lap wasn’t spectacular. I’ve got some improvements that I can make with the balance and the settings but they were all just what we brought from the last race. I’m sure we’ll tweak and improve it a little bit.”
Hamilton thanked his crew for their work on repairing the engine as he admits it was vital to complete as many laps as possible in the testing weather conditions.
“It was an amazing job by the guys to get the engine and gearbox back on and get me back out. Particularly here where it’s so hot and difficult for the tyres it was really important to get back out and do some laps,” he added.
“It affects you quite a bit. Fortunately I got a few laps of a longer run at the end, but in terms of set-up I’ve not made any changes so I’ve driven what I have and it’s quite a bit off of where we need it.”
With his team-mate sidelined during the morning session, Nico Rosberg set the overall pace in P1, although an error on the German’s first flying lap on the medium tyres contributed to him finishing behind Raikkonen in third in the second session.
Rosberg explained that the hot conditions were challenging even by Malaysian standards and it was already clear that the more durable hard tyre was going to be the compound of choice in Sunday’s race.
Lewis Hamilton was forced out of practice 1 of the Malaysian GP, as his Mercedes suffered engine problems.
“We have different tyres this year and supposedly they suffer a bit less, but it doesn’t seem like it at the moment,” he told Sky F1.
“Then again we had record track temperatures out there, it was more than 60 degrees on the asphalt! I can feel the asphalt through the chassis and the 60 degrees comes straight through the cockpit and it’s extremely hot in the car.
“The prime is going to be the race tyre and we’ll have to see how far we can get with the soft tyre.”
After being defeated by Hamilton in Melbourne, and having only once beaten the sister Mercedes on race day since last July, Rosberg admitted on Thursday that he needed the “perfect weekend” to win at Sepang.
A day on and the 29-year-old’s mindset has not changed.
“Everything is crucial, every part of it. Qualifying is going to be very important as well.”
Sky Sports F1 will show every session from the Malaysia Grand Prix weekend live and available on the move with Sky Go. The race starts at 8am on Sunday, with comprehensive build-up underway from 6:30am
Lewis Hamilton set the pace in Friday practice at the Malaysia GP despite a truncated day's running for the world champion at Sepang.
Hamilton was sidelined during the morning's session and Mercedes' attempts to rectify the problems - affecting the inlet system on his W06's power unit - also kept him in the garage until midway through P2.
Even then it was hardly plain sailing as telemetry problems prompted another spell in the pits, while Hamilton also reported gearbox problems.
However, in between the Mercedes driver managed to lap the 5.543km track in a time of 1:39.790 to go 0.373s faster than Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen.
“It was an amazing job by the guys to get the engine and gearbox back on and get me back out. Particularly here where it’s so hot and difficult for the tyres it was really important to get back out and do some laps,” Hamilton told Sky Sports F1.
“It affects you quite a bit. Fortunately I got a few laps of a longer run at the end, but in terms of set-up I’ve not made any changes so I’ve driven what I have and it’s quite a bit off of where we need it.”
It remains to be seen whether that gap offers the suggestion that the Scuderia might pose some sort of threat this weekend. With Hamilton P1 even though he spent more time in the garage than on track, team-mate Nico Rosberg was third fastest.
Kimi Raikkonen: Second fastest
Rosberg had set the pace during the morning and was also fastest with a 1:40.282 on hard tyres early in P2. However, the German could only get to within 0.055s of Raikkonen after switching to mediums - the evidence pointing towards an understeer moment at Turn 8.
Ferrari showed impressive long-run pace later on but their session wasn't necessarily smooth either. Sebastian Vettel was second fastest behind Rosberg on the hard tyre but spoiled his qualifying practice run with a spin at the off-camber Turn 11.
“I think the spin was nothing to do with bad luck, it was probably to do with me pushing a bit too much! I thought I could make it stick but couldn’t. I guess if you choose a day [to spin] you choose today," Vettel said.
As such, he ended the session seventh fastest overall behind Daniil Kvyat's Red Bull and Williams pair Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa.
With the Toro Rosso of Max Verstappen eighth ahead of Marcus Ericsson's Sauber, Daniel Ricciardo completed the top 10, although the Australian wasn't able to set a time on medium tyres after engine problems intervened.
Fernando Alonso: P16 on Friday
Further down the order, Fernando Alonso's return to the cockpit ended with the 16th fastest time overall, 2.7 seconds slower than Hamilton but faster than McLaren team-mate Jenson Button.
Button was right behind in P17 after complaining of understeer on his McLaren MP4-30, which while running more Honda power this weekend, also has a lower downforce set-up.
In fact, a number of drivers suffered understeer as track temperatures nudged 60 degrees Celsius, although Vettel and Roberto Merhi - who brought out the red flags when he beached his Manor car in the gravel at Turn 11 just moments before Vettel performed an identical pirouette - were the only spinners.
The Mercedes drivers suffered a Practice One of sharply contrasting fortunes at the Malaysia GP as Nico Rosberg set the pace while Lewis Hamilton ran into engine problems inside four laps.
On the morning that McLaren’s Fernando Alonso returned to action for the first time since his still mysterious Barcelona testing crash 33 days ago, world champions Mercedes picked up from where they left off at the Melbourne season-opener as Rosberg set the pace from the Ferraris.
Hamilton, the race winner in Australia, would almost certainly have joined his team-mate at the head of the order but his session was over even before the Briton had a timed lap on the board when he was told to pull off the circuit after reporting hearing a “click” at the rear of his W06.
Mercedes had sent the Briton’s car out for its early laps without the use of telemetry after problems in the garage and duly asked Hamilton to stop as a precaution. After subsequently conducting an investigation when the W06 was returned to the garage, the world champions confirmed that an engine problem had struck.
Mercedes confirmed after the session that the power unit's inlet system had failed, but that the problem wouldn't result in the loss of the engine and leave Hamilton with just three penalty-free units to complete the season. Paddy Lowe, Mercedes' Executive Director, told Sky F1 that the engine would "not necessarily" have to be changed for P2.
Lewis Hamilton was forced out of practice 1 of the Malaysian GP, as his Mercedes suffered engine problems.
“There is a hardware problem that we need to go and fix, so we don’t know exactly what we are going to do yet. We need to do some investigations in the next few minutes to decide what we are going to do for P2," Lowe told Ted Kravitz.
Hamilton was therefore sidelined for the remainder of an opening session which ended with Ferrari coming on strong in the closing stages at a typically sweltering Sepang as Kimi Raikkonen lapped within 0.3s of Rosberg at the head of the order. Team-mate Sebastian Vettel was four tenths further back in third place.
After their early double retirement in Melbourne, Lotus enjoyed an early boost here as Romain Grosjean finished fourth, ahead of the respective Renault-engined Toro Rosso and Red Bull of Carlos Sainz and Daniel Ricciardo.
At the start of the session all eyes had been on Fernando Alonso as the Spaniard returned to the track in the McLaren-Honda for the first time since his Barcelona testing crash on the final day of the second winter test.
As promised by the man himself, the former world champion showed no ill effects from the accident as he put 20 laps on the board to finish as the faster of the two McLaren drivers. However, that was still only good enough for 14th place on the times as the MP4-30 lapped 2.7 seconds off the leading pace - although that was a smaller deficit than in Melbourne.
Lewis Hamilton's car is recovered to the pits
On a morning of welcome returns, Valtteri Bottas was also back in his Williams after being sidelined from race day in Melbourne, while at the second attempt Manor's cars finally turned their first wheels of 2015.
New signings Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi were over six-and-a-half seconds off the pace but the 16 laps they completed between them in P1 will give the team valuable data as they continue their recovery after coming out of administration last month.
