Monday, April 6, 2009

Malaysia Sunday quotes: McLaren

Lewis Hamilton - 7th: "When the rain came down, it was impossible to drive. I was aquaplaning everywhere - these were the most dangerous conditions I've ever raced in. All I could do was try and keep the car on the track. It was the correct decision to stop the race because it was just too dangerous for everyone. I love it when it rains, but this was just too much."

Heikki Kovalainen - DNF: "My start was okay. I was taking it quite carefully and was trying to slot in behind Lewis, then I just lost the rear and spun out. It was my mistake. Game over."

Martin Whitmarsh – team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: "The extremely changeable dry-wet conditions made today's race a very challenging one for all competitors – but, as ever, Lewis's ability shone brightly in the gathering gloom and the race brought another really impressive performance from him. He kept his head throughout, and the result was a hard-earned point for seventh place. That may not sound like a great deal by our usually high standards – but, given where he started, it's a step in the right direction. Overall, then, in testing conditions the team did a great job – as did Lewis."

Norbert Haug – vice-president, Mercedes-Benz Motorsport: "A race like a battle. Despite starting from the sixth row on the grid, Lewis was in good shape – and everybody who kept his car on the track in these conditions was a hero today. Congratulations to Jenson Button and Brawn GP on the second consecutive win with Mercedes power; which he both achieved from pole position."



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  • Last-second call pays off for Heidfeld

    Last-second call pays off for Heidfeld

    Nick Heidfeld admitted he had made the wrong tyre choice during the Malaysian Grand Prix, despite being the only driver to pit just once in today's chaotic event.

    The BMW-Sauber driver finished in second position after the race was suspended because of the poor weather conditions.

    Heidfeld had started from 10th place and pitted for extremes when the rain began to fall. The track, however, was not sufficiently wet and most drivers pitted again for intermediates before a downpour hit the track.

    Heidfeld admitted he came within seconds of pitting again, but the German made a last-second call and stayed on track, a decision that paid off in the end.

    "It was a very difficult choice in these conditions," said Heidfeld. "We didn't do perfect tyre choice - I went straight to extremes as normally it's heavy rainfall here.

    "Then the team told me heavy rain was expected, and I told them inters would be a lot quicker now. Just as they told me to pit, it started to rain heavier.

    "I was actually just 200 metres from the pit area and I said 'no, no, I'll stay out, it's starting to rain more heavily'. As I'd tried to preserve my tyres in the beginning, some other guys were quicker than me on the extreme wets, but I knew if the rain started then hopefully I could stay out.

    "That worked, but still my rear tyres were destroyed completely and were basically slicks, and when it started to rain I just tried to stay on the circuit."



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  • Glock delighted with podium finish

    Glock delighted with podium finish

    Timo Glock was delighted with his performance at the Malaysian Grand Prix after scoring his second podium finish in Formula 1.

    Toyota driver Glock finished in third position in the shortened race after deciding to pit for intermediates rather than full wets when the rain began to fall at Sepang.

    While the rest of the field was struggling on extremes, Glock lapped up to 10 seconds quicker than his rivals and soon moved up the order, even taking the lead from Jenson Button.

    In the end, Glock was overtaken by the Briton and, despite being second when the race was stopped, he had to settle for third due to the countback results.

    "It was a tricky race, I have to say, but at the end one of the best races I could ever do," said Glock.

    "I struggled a bit at the start, I don't know why we lost so many places. Fernando and Kimi were in front of me in the first corner and I didn't know where they'd come from. I think I was only P8 after the first lap.

    "In the traffic it was really difficult. After five or six laps I already saw the clouds were coming and I kept asking 'when is the rain coming?'. They said it should come in the next couple of the minutes.

    "Then I thought when it takes so long and we were so close to the first pitstop, I thought I'd take the risk and go to inters because I saw a Ferrari on heavy wets very early and knew they would be destroyed.

    "So I said 'come on, go for inters and take the risk', and in the end it paid off."

    The Toyota driver admitted he wasn't even sure about his position when the race was suspended.

    "In the last two laps with the safety car it was so confusing because my engineer told me when I made the pitstop that I was leading the race, so I thought I wouldn't push because I wanted to save the tyres.

    "Then I saw Jenson come out in front of me so I was P2, then I jumped out of the car and everyone said I was P2, and then when I came up here they said I was P3. Hopefully I will now stay in P3, that's what I'm hoping for."



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  • Heidfeld blames traffic for missing Q3

    Heidfeld blames traffic for missing Q3

    Nick Heidfeld blamed traffic during his final run in Q2 for failing to make it into the top ten shoot-out in qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix.

    For the second race in a row, the BMW Sauber driver was unable to reach Q3 and admitted he was very unhappy with the result.

    Heidfeld qualified in 11th, but will start from 10th thanks to a penalty to Sebastian Vettel.

    "Of course I'm very disappointed," said Heidfeld. "I looked fairly safe in Q2 when I was seventh, but on my second quick run I had traffic on the out lap.

    "Two cars in front of me and one behind meant that I couldn't go at the pace needed to heat the tyres up, and then the important lap wasn't good enough.

    "After we did the comparison yesterday I was using the KERS today and it helped, especially in sector one where I was the fastest car for most of the time."

    Team-mate Robert Kubica, eighth quickest, said he was pleased with his performance considering how hard the car was to drive.

    "I'm satisfied with what I was able to achieve today," he said. "Although we didn't make any major changes after free practice the car was bottoming quite a lot, which made it unstable and therefore not easy to drive.

    "I did what I could in the corners, but the straights are long here and give the drivers who are using a KERS a major advantage. I have to start on the dirty side of the track plus I have some cars with a KERS behind me, which will make the start very interesting."



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  • Brawn upbeat about race chances

    Brawn upbeat about race chances

    Ross Brawn believes Jenson Button is in very good shape for tomorrow's Malaysian Grand Prix following his second consecutive pole position.

    Button held off Toyota rival Jarno Trulli to clinch his second pole in a row following his dominance at the Australian Grand Prix.

    Brawn said his team had been cautious about its prospects because they weren't sure about the pace of the competition.

    But the Briton reckons now that the picture is clearer, Button is in good form for tomorrow.

    "We have been running fuel for the last couple of days so we didn't know where the opposition were," Brawn told the BBC. "Really Q2 was the first time we could make a judgement.

    "We've managed to save some tyres with Jenson, running him on the hard tyre for most of qualifying to the end, so he's in good shape for the race now. But it is tough, particularly Jarno looked very quick.

    "Jenson has looked very strong. Once we got the reference time in Q1, he looked very strong. We don't want to take any chances but the fact that we have now got two new sets of tyres for the race is great."

    He also admitted he was relieved none of the cars near Button will be using KERS tomorrow.

    "There is no one around us with KERS at the start which is a help, because we were dreading that. They certainly have a gain here," he added.

    "I think Jarno looks in reasonable shape if you look at his long runs and the Red Bulls look strong, so I think it will be a great race tomorrow."



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  • Malaysia Saturday quotes: Force India

    Adrian Sutil - 19th: We did a good job today, we had no problems and this was our pace - we couldn't really have done better. We just need to find some downforce. For tomorrow, I want to have a good race and to get to the finish. We are very quick down the straights and there is some potential for overtaking so let's see - we had an exciting race in Melbourne and anything can happen. I am still positive.

    Giancarlo Fisichella - 18th: I had a problem with the throttle pedal on the first run so we changed it and I lost the chance to do three runs, which was very important. The lap I did was clean and the car is well balanced. Again the field is very mixed and with the chance of some rain we should look to keep up with the field and take any chance we can.'

    Dominic Harlow, chief race engineer: It was a tense session today with a constant threat of heavy showers, but they didn't materialise. Giancarlo lost some track time with a throttle pedal problem, but recovered well to place a time just 0.05s faster than Adrian. We're expecting an interesting race tomorrow and we know from last weekend that our race pace coupled with strong straightline speed and a creative strategy could be good enough to score points.



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  • Sunday, April 5, 2009

    Malaysia Friday quotes: Williams

    Nico Rosberg - 4th: We had a very good day and made a lot of set-up changes, and made good progress in finding a way forward. We also completed a good tyre test which is important as I think we now have a good idea of what is going on with the tyres for this circuit. Everything worked out well today and of course we all had our first sessions driving in the heat, but I think my fitness preparation over the winter has helped a lot.

    Kazuki Nakajima – 8th: Today was a very positive day and we have carried over our competitiveness from the last race. Whether we are as quick relatively as we were in Melbourne remains to be seen, but certainly we are far further ahead than we were here last year and we'll keep pushing on tomorrow and see what more we can find.



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