Malaysia Qualifying

[Panther_99FS]

It's looking more and more like Toro Rosso/Honda in 2018 will be in the catbird's seat!

1	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:31.605	1:30.977	1:30.076	18
2	7	Kimi Räikkönen	FERRARI	1:32.259	1:30.926	1:30.121	14
3	33	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER	1:31.920	1:30.931	1:30.541	12
4	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RED BULL RACING TAG HEUER	1:32.416	1:31.061	1:30.595	16
5	77	Valtteri Bottas	MERCEDES	1:32.254	1:30.803	1:30.758	17
6	31	Esteban Ocon	FORCE INDIA MERCEDES	1:32.527	1:31.651	1:31.478	17
7	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	MCLAREN HONDA	1:32.838	1:31.848	1:31.582	18
8	27	Nico Hulkenberg	RENAULT	1:32.586	1:31.778	1:31.607	17
9	11	Sergio Perez	FORCE INDIA MERCEDES	1:32.768	1:31.484	1:31.658	18
10	14	Fernando Alonso	MCLAREN HONDA	1:33.049	1:32.010	1:31.704	17
11	19	Felipe Massa	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:32.267	1:32.034		12
12	30	Jolyon Palmer	RENAULT	1:32.576	1:32.100		14
13	18	Lance Stroll	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:33.000	1:32.307		14
14	55	Carlos Sainz	TORO ROSSO	1:32.650	1:32.402		14
15	10	Pierre Gasly	TORO ROSSO	1:32.547	1:32.558		14
16	8	Romain Grosjean	HAAS FERRARI	1:33.308			8
17	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	1:33.434			6

[Roxane-21]

Cool, STR/Renault has been able to be faster than Sauber (which has been deadly slow all year long) and Haas (which is struggling here for some reason).

They are still 1.5 sec slower than Red Bull using the same engine. Next year STR will have two rookie drivers and an engine which has been the worst F1 engine three years in a row. I don't see them in Q2 quite often...

[Panther_99FS]

Cool, STR/Renault has been able to be faster than Sauber (which has been deadly slow all year long) and Haas (which is struggling here for some reason).

They are still 1.5 sec slower than Red Bull using the same engine. Next year STR will have two rookie drivers and an engine which has been the worst F1 engine three years in a row. I don't see them in Q2 quite often...

i thought Torro Rosso had detuned customer engine whereas Red Bull had the factory one???

[Roxane-21]

i thought Torro Rosso had detuned customer engine whereas Red Bull had the factory one???

There is no difference between Renault's, Red Bull's and Toro Rosso's engines. Renault designed their engine for their own chassis, and then Red Bull and Toro Rosso have to deal with it. Same deal with McLaren next year.

[huub vink]

i thought Torro Rosso had detuned customer engine whereas Red Bull had the factory one???

Both team are using the Renault RE17 engine. Although I don't know whether both team do receive the updates at the same time.

Cheers,
Huub

[Panther_99FS]

Makes me wonder what the "x-factor" is between the 2 teams - chassis or drivers?

[Roxane-21]

Makes me wonder what the "x-factor" is between the 2 teams - chassis or drivers?

Both actually. Red Bull uses STR as a developping team for drivers and engineers. As soon as they gain experience enough (and prove themselves to be good enough) they join the main team. This, plus STR has a lower budget since they are not supposed (or allowed by Red Bull) to be a top-team.

[Roxane-21]

Now waiting for Huub's comments on how great Verstappen is.

[Ferry_vO]

Now we could finally see what he's capable of if the car doesn't break down.

But no doubt Hamilton was thinking of the championship, although his team mate clearly showed that the team was off the pace this weekend.

[Roxane-21]

Now we could finally see what he's capable of if the car doesn't break down. 

Or if he doesn't loose his brain on the first lap. This was what I feared before the start, but he finally managed to be patient enough.

Hamilton didn't resist much, and Verstappen was lucky both Ferrari suffered failures before the race. BTW it was a good race and a well deserved win.

[Panther_99FS]

Congrats to Huub and Ferry on a good win by Max

[huub vink]

Thanks Panther

It was definitely an interesting race. Before the race Mercedes power seemed to be an advantage, on this circuit with its long straights. But although 6 of the first 10 cars to finish were powered by a Mercedes engine, the Mercedes factory team seemed to struggle all weekend. And Bottas wasn't even able to keep up with the top 4.

The Red Bulls seemed to have gained speed, but all other teams equipped with the exactly same Renault engine were slower compared with the rest. And failed to finish inside the points. So Red Bull must have found another way to gain speed. Ferrari has found a lot more speed as well, but have obviously lost on reliability. Nevertheless Vettel did a great job.

The young Belgian driver Stoffel Vandoorne did a good job, bringing the Maclaren home in 7th place. And the weekend must have been good for Honda in general, because both cars were competitive and they both finished. And quite remarkable, both Honda powered cars finished in front of the remaining Renault powered cars. Obviously Honda is currently doing a better job than Renault.

As Suzuka is a typical "down force circuit" this will be interesting again.

Cheers,
Huub

[Panther_99FS]

Huub,
2018 will be interesting to see how the factory Renault team performs....

[huub vink]

Huub,
2018 will be interesting to see how the factory Renault team performs....

And how the relationship between Renault and MacLaren develops! In reaction on Chris Horner's comments that Renault was performing under par, I heard Cyril Abiteboul say in an interview that Red Bull was "just a customer". Technically he is right, but I don't think Renault wouldn't have been able to develop the engine without a competitive chassis (before they took over Lotus) and without the money Red Bull has put in this engine.

I don't know whether MacLaren will like this attitude and I assume the Renault factory team will always have priority (officially not, but in practice?), whether MacLaren likes it or not.

Cheers,
Huub