The Sepang circuit delivered a thrilling qualifying session this afternoon, although the result for Scuderia Toro Rosso did not elicit the smiling faces that were the dominant feature last Saturday in Albert Park. There we were 10th and 11th and today, we were 15th and 18th, with Daniel Ricciardo making it to Q2 but Jean-Eric Vergne failing to get out of the bottom seven in Q1.
The Frenchman spoilt his chances of getting a good lap once he’d switched to the softer Pirelli compound, as he ended up flat-spotting a front tyre: flat-spotting means what it says, so with a less than circular tyre the vibration coming through the whole car was too much of a handicap to allow a quick lap time. Every cloud has a silver lining and the Frenchman’s comes in the form of an extra set of new Option tyres for tomorrow’s 56 laps of one of the most demanding tracks on the calendar. Of course, one of the reasons Sepang can be so tough is the high chance of a rain storm, when no amount of new slick tyres will be any use whatsoever. But a wet track would certainly add some more unknowns into the equation which can sometimes prove useful if you are not so near the front end of the grid.
As for Daniel, he failed to make the cut to Q3 by around four tenths, but the gap from 15th to 12th, for example, was only around one tenth of a second, showing just how close this mid-field battle is looking, at least for the next few races, until technical developments start kicking in on these still relatively new 2012 cars. Although we have been coming here since 1999, you would think the Sepang track layout had been designed specifically to suit the more recently introduced Holy Trinity of overtaking aids, namely KERS, DRS and tyre wear, so tomorrow’s race looks like being another thriller.
The excitement is certainly not limited to the midfield, because the front of the grid looks equally interesting. Clearly the hot team (well, they’re all hot in Malaysia actually) of the moment has to be McLaren, as the front row of the grid is a repeat of Albert Park last week, with Lewis Hamilton on pole and Jenson Button alongside him. Michael Schumacher is in the third place, the Mercedes driver securing his best grid position since the start of his F1 comeback and alongside him is Mark Webber, fourth in the Red Bull. Kimi Raikkonen’s comeback proceeds apace and he as fifth fastest, but the need to change his gearbox means he takes a penalty, which promotes reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel to fifth in the other Red Bull, with Kimi’s Lotus team-mate Romain Grosjean alongside him in sixth.
Cold comfort in Malaysian heat
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Cold comfort in Malaysian heat