#046 - Formula 1 Malaysia, Qualifying Session (04/04/2009)
If there is one thing this qualifying session has brought to people’s attention it has to be the impact of diffusers. A number of the teams have added this to their car to improve the aerodynamics at the back of the car a bit. The interesting thing is that the top six cars in qualifying make use of a diffuser. It’s like they’re in a totally different league.
Unfortunately for me, Fernando Alonso has gotten sick on Thursday and is suffering from an ear infection and high fever. He drove as little as possible on the Friday practices and the one this morning to prevent his situation from getting worse. That is why as soon as he entered Q3 he thought it was enough. He didn’t want to risk getting sicker by fighter for a higher position, so he settled for tenth place. I’m sure he’ll gain a couple positions in the race tomorrow.
Something pretty funny - yet very sad: Felipe Massa and his engineer, Rob Smedley, were under the impression that Massa had a safe time to get into Q2 so they entered the pits to stop driving. Too bad they were mistaken, so Massa couldn't go onto Q2 and has to settle for P16 now.
A few penalties have been given out recently, as you know, which will cause some changes on the grid tomorrow. Sebastian Vettel’s penalty will cause him to start the race from P13. Rubens Barrichello has also received a penalty yesterday afternoon: Brawn GP’s Rubens Barrichello has been handed a penalty by the Sepang race stewards after his car needed a new gearbox following Friday practice for this weekend’s Malaysian Grand Prix. Barrichello will drop five places on the grid as a result of the change. [..] This season the regulations state that gearboxes must last four race weekends. (
www.formula1.com)
After factoring in these penalties, the grid will be as follows (per row):
Jenson Button, Jarno Trulli;
Timo Glock, Nico Rosberg;
Mark Webber, Rober Kubica;
Kimi Raikkonen, Rubens Barrichello;
Fernando Alonso, Nick Heidfeld;
Kazuki Nakajima, Lewis Hamilton;
Sebastian Vettel, Heikki Kovalainen;
Sebastien Bourdais, Felipe Massa;
Nelsinho Piquet, Giancarlo Fisichella;
Adrian Sutil, Sebastien Buemi.