*MH*

RAY OF LIGHT FOR KIMI AT SEPANG
Last Updated: Friday, 19 March , 2004, 11:30

Kimi Raikkonen gave McLaren an unexpected boost by topping second practice at Malaysia on Friday.

The Finn, so disappointing at Melbourne a fortnight ago, set the fastest time as first-session pacesetters Ferrari slumped into the midfield.

Michael Schumacher was fourth fastest while Rubens Barrichello ended the day in 10th place.

The world champions had been extremely impressive in the first session but, as the track temperature rose to in excess of 50 degrees Celsius, there was a suggestion that the Michelin teams still have an edge in hot conditions.

But the oppressive weather can cause problems for engines as well as tyres. Raikkonen and team-mate David Coulthard in ninth completed just 30 laps between them as they again endeavoured to limit the running of the troublesome new Mercedes V10.

The Finn's closest competition came from Ralf Schumacher's Williams, with Mark Webber third for Jaguar. Juan Pablo Montoya was fifth fastest.

The Renaults were safely inside the top 10 with Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso sandwiching the Sauber of Felipe Massa. The Brazilian again got the better of highly-rated team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella.

Sauber were the only one of the bottom six teams not to field a test driver. Minardi gave a debut to Bas Leinders, fresh from securing his super-license only a week ago. The Belgian ended the day 25th and last.

Coulthard and Barrichello both had spins but were able to continue. Unfortunately the same was not true of Cristiano da Matta, who had to abandon his Toyota after it got marooned in the gravel at turn 14.

Takuma Sato hit the turn four barriers on his first lap out of the pits and ripped the front wing off his car. It is not clear whether the shunt was precipitated by a failure at the back of the car or whether he simply lost it under braking.

Friday second practice times from Sepang
1 RAIKKONEN McLaren 1m34.395s
2 R.SCHUMACHER Williams 1m34.693s
3 WEBBER Jaguar 1m35.054s
4 M.SCHUMACHER Ferrari 1m35.094s
5 MONTOYA Williams 1m35.100s
6 TRULLI Renault 1m35.115s
7 MASSA Sauber 1m35.288s
8 ALONSO Renault 1m35.300s
9 COULTHARD McLaren 1m35.301s
10 BARRICHELLO Ferrari 1m35.373s
11 BUTTON BAR 1m35.407s
12 PANIS Toyota 1m35.524s
13 ZONTA Toyota 1m35.850s
14 KLIEN Jaguar 1m35.996s
15 SATO BAR 1m36.292s
16 FISICHELLA Sauber 1m36.353s
17 DAVIDSON BAR 1m36.708s
18 WIRDHEIM Jaguar 1m36.883s
19 DA MATTA Toyota 1m36.907s
20 HEIDFELD Jordan 1m37.725s
21 BRUNI Minardi 1m37.818s
22 BAUMGARTNER Minardi 1m38.588s
23 GLOCK Jordan 1m38.796s
24 PANTANO Jordan 1m39.324s
25 LEINDERS Minardi 1m41.485s

KIMI'S SMILING AGAIN
Last Updated: Friday, 19 March , 2004, 10:01

Kimi Raikkonen was cautiously optimistic after topping Friday practice at Sepang.

The young Finn bounced back from his disappointing retirement in Melbourne to set the fastest time of the day.

He said: "A productive practice session, and of course it's pleasing to be fastest, but it's still early days. We went through our tyre evaluation programme, and the car feels good and is handling well, but we will see what happens tomorrow.

“It's definitely too early to say how much we have improved since Melbourne, but I'm looking forward to the rest of the weekend."

Team-mate David Coulthard was ninth fastest, but was denied a chance to go any quicker by an accelerator pedal problem.

He said: "A reasonable practice today showing that we are in better shape than a few weeks ago.

“I had a small problem which caused me to struggle with the accelerator pedal, so I was unable to go for fast times. However, where we really are performance wise we will only find out tomorrow and Sunday."

Team boss Ron Dennis said: "David's practice was hampered by a small problem which significantly reduced the accelerator pedal's travel, which of course impacted on his laptimes.

“Kimi's day was troublefree, and so far we are pleased with the consistency and pace of our Michelin tyres. But it's still early days."


RUBENS: WE'RE STILL AHEAD
Last Updated: Friday, 19 March , 2004, 09:35

Rubens Barrichello believes Ferrari still have the edge over their rivals.

The world champions blitzed the field in first practice but fell back in the second, with Michael Schumacher fourth and Barrichello 10th.

In spite of that, the Brazilian is far from worried.

He said: “We had a bigger advantage over the others in the morning session, but I am not concerned about our performance this afternoon, as we ran the whole time in race configuration and we can be happy with our work.

“I think we still have the edge over our rivals.”

Ferrari have been massively overshadowed by the Michelin runners on their past two visits to Sepang. Schumacher believes they are closer this time around, but struck a more cautious note than Barrichello.

He said: “It was an interesting Friday session, we did all the work we wanted to do. The car seems to be working well and I am quite happy with its balance, but there is still room for improvement.

“It certainly seems to be a step forward from what we have seen in the past here. But the signs are that it will be a tight competition tomorrow.”

Technical director Ross Brawn’s appraisal of the situation was closer to Schumacher’s than Barrichello’s.

He said: “It was a useful day during which we did a lot of race work. The other teams seem much closer, which is perhaps more normal and is what we expected here. We gathered plenty of information, but we are not completely happy with the car yet.

“Tonight we will study the data and make some progress tomorrow. As far as tyre choice is concerned, we did plenty of long runs in race conditions with both types of tyre, so we have all the information we need.”


RALF UNUSUALLY CHEERFUL
Last Updated: Friday, 19 March , 2004, 11:43

Ralf Schumacher was brimming with confidence after finishing second in Friday practice at Sepang.

The German, who won the Malaysian GP back in 2002, was edged out by Kimi Raikkonen late on in the session. But he remains optimistic that he is on course for a good result this weekend.

He said: “I have to say that I am very happy with the car. We focused on our homework intensely and have completed our programme without too many problems. This fact makes me very confident for tomorrow’s qualifying.

“We are still discussing about what our tyre choice will be, but I am sure we’ll find a good solution.”

Team-mate Juan Pablo Montoya ended the day down in fifth place.

The Colombian said: “There’s still room for improvement. I know there’s more to come in the car than what I could show today, so it’s just a matter of exploiting my FW26 at its best.

“I had some grip problems, so not ideal conditions for setting a fast time however, I am confident we can improve for tomorrow’s qualifying.”

Engineering boss Sam Michael concluded: “We’ve had a productive day as we went though our programme of testing tyres on both cars, and had no mechanical problems.

We are sure we have enough information to make our tyre choice.

“The pace of our cars looks reasonable in the high ambience temperature, but we won’t know until the end of Sunday what everyone’s true pace is.”

THAT WAS NO FLUKE, INSISTS WEBBER
Last Updated: Friday, 19 March , 2004, 11:44

Mark Webber said his third place in practice for the Malaysian GP did not flatter him.

The Jaguar driver again impressed on Friday at Sepang, beating a host of top drivers including Michael Schumacher and Juan Pablo Montoya.

Webber was delighted with the performance of his Jaguar R5 and insisted the result was no fluke.

He said: "We are off to a great start. The car feels very well balanced and gives a great feeling of confidence, allowing you to really push.

“It's not just the one-off lap that was good, but the consistency of the times too. That was a very hot session in terms of track temperature and I'm not sure how significant that is, but bring it on."Team-mate Christian Klien had to content himself with 14th place while test driver Bjorn Wirdheim was 18th. However all three drivers won praise from performance director Dr Mark Gillan.

He said: Christian Klien was 17th quickest after conducting further tyre test work. "All three drivers did good jobs.

"There was good pace and good positive feedback that has allowed us to establish our direction quickly and efficiently. There's more to do but we are optimistic that we're in good shape."

RENAULT DUO SATISFIED WITH START
Last Updated: Friday, 19 March , 2004, 15:47

Jarno Trulli and Fernando Alonso were confident after a solid start in practice for the Malaysian GP.

Trulli was the quicker of the two drivers in sixth spot and was pleased the team were close to the front runners.

He said: "We ran a big programme today, particularly in terms of the set-up and the tyres.

"The first positive to draw from the day is that we had no problems at all, the second that we are not far from the quickest cars on the timesheet.

"We still need to work on the general grip level as well as the handling, but we can nevertheless be pleased with the progress we made today."

Team-mate Alonso, who became the youngest driver ever to qualify in pole position at Malaysia last year, was eighth.

He said: "The main job today was to do the tyres, and we have completed a good amount of work on this point.

"The car seems quite sensitive to changes in temperature, with the handling altering significantly according to the weather conditions, and we still have a fair amount of work to do in order to get the set-up right."


BUTTON NOT PANICKED
Last Updated: Friday, 19 March , 2004, 15:48

Jenson Button is confident he can get more out of the BAR after a disappointing first day’s practice at Sepang.

The Briton impressed at the Australian GP two weeks ago after qualifying in fourth and finishing the race in sixth.

But on the first day of practice in Malaysia – a track where the BAR/Michelin package should fare well – Button and team-mate Takuma Sato found themselves in 11th and 15th respectively.

Button, however, is not concerned and is confident that the team will be able to get more out of the 005 come Saturday’s qualifying sessions.

He said: "We were able to complete our planned programme with my car, but I've struggled with to get a good balance for most of the day and we haven't been able to get on top of it yet.

"There is more to come from the car, we just have a lot of work to do in order to find it.

"We'll be spending the evening examining the data and trying to get to grips with the problem ahead of tomorrow."

Sato had an eventful day after he hit the barriers and ripped the front wing off his car on turn four during the second session.

He said: "I had a problem with the brakes which compromised my running and I ended the day having completed only 10 laps, which is quite disappointing.

"We have a lot of work to do this evening and a lot of laps to do tomorrow morning in preparation for qualifying. Generally, a tough day."


LEINDERS GETS UP AND RUNNING
Last Updated: Friday, 19 March , 2004, 12:21

Minardi test driver Bas Leinders finally got to take part in practice at Sepang.

Leinders was denied the opportunity to test for Minardi in Melbourne when his application for a super license was turned down.

But after completing the requisite mileage in the fortnight since, the Belgian was behind the wheel of the team’s third car in Malaysia.

Leinders finished a couple of seconds adrift of the rest but was still satisfied.

He said: “My first day of testing with the team has been a very positive experience. I’m very satisfied with the way things went, especially since I had to learn everything today – the track, the car, the tyres.”

Leinders’ performance also won praise from Minardi sporting director John Walton.

He said: “The team would like to thank Bas for a mature job today. He played himself in steadily, produced consistent lap times and provided useful feedback to the engineers.”

The 28-year-old wasn’t the only driver having to learn the Sepang circuit from scratch on Friday.

The one who seemed to have the most difficulty was Jordan’s Giorgio Pantano, who ended up just one place ahead of Leinders.

The Italian was disconsolate, commenting: “I have to say I'm not happy about today. We need to understand what's happening because I don't feel good with the car at the moment.

“Whether it's me or the car I don't know yet so we will look into everything and try and make sure we can be better tomorrow.”

Compatriot Giancarlo Fisichella was also disappointed after being overshadowed by sauber colleague Felipe Massa. Fisi was a full second slower than his team-mate.

He said: “We were changing things all the way through the second session, which helped, but there is a lot of work still to do before qualifying."

But most unhappy of all was Toyota’s Cristiano da Matta who made a mistake and slid off the track at the beginning of the second session.

He said: “It was completely the wrong time to make a mistake like that because I lost the remainder of the hour. I now have to rely on the information and data that Olivier (Panis) and Ricardo (Zonta) gathered today."

Fortunately for Da Matta, Panis and Zonta were very happy with the way the day had gone. The Frenchman said they had made great strides since their disappointing start to the year in Australia a fortnight ago.

The Frenchman said: "For me, it has been a highly positive Friday in Malaysia. Compared to the last race in Melbourne it feels like a different world.”

*MH*

awwwwwwww doesn't Kimi look so sweetie here!!! [img]smilies/love.gif[/img]

*MH*

I don't like to read too much in to one practise session but it is looking promising for Kimi this weekend [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] infact it's looking like as long as the weather is pretty hot then the racing will be closer.

more pictures [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] <--- hey my smilie matches Kimi's eyes







ok eta:
This is such a beautiful bright picture!! and i still adore the shape of this car


[ 03-19-2004: Message edited *MH* ]

*MH*

I've looked at the weather on both the BBC and on ITV and they don't seem to agree on the sunday weather... but as long as it's dry (which they both say) then it is the temperature which matters...

ITV
Sat: Max: 30°C Thunderstorms and sunshine
Sun: Max: 34°C Cloudy

BBC
Sat: Max: 29°C Thunderstorms and sunshine
Sun: Max 33°C Sunshine

hitzi1

Aww, poor Alonso. Having a good lap and then... whoop, off he goes. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]

*saw the last 4 drivers so can't comment that much*

But Kimi was better than last time which is always good. [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

*is on brother's computer whihc is SLOW so won't wait here until sees all of those pics. will wait for tomorrow*

L i N d $ @ y

ho-hum. ferrari again in-front. [img]smilies/yawn.gif[/img] but i was soooo happy for mark! it's gonna be nice to see a green car beside the ferarri. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

poor sato & alonso. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] they both commited the same mistake. the track was getting slippery so...there they go. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] but i'm happy for kimi. hopefully he'll do good at race day tomorrow. it'll be interesting how the race will progress...the top 6 looks very interesting. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

and is it true that ralf & montoya aren't talking to each other at the paddock? cos i heard the commentator say that while ralf did his first lap at the first qualifying hour. [img]smilies/look.gif[/img]

Saturday Qualifying Results:

1 M. Schumacher Ferrari 1:33.074
2 M. Webber Jaguar 1:33.715
3 R. Barrichello Ferrari 1:33.756
4 JP. Montoya Williams 1:34.054
5 K. Räikkönen McLaren 1:34.164
6 J. Button BAR 1:34.221
7 R. Schumacher Williams 1:34.235
8 J. Trulli Renault 1:34.413
9 D. Coulthard McLaren 1:34.602
10 C. Da Matta Toyota 1:34.917
11 F. Massa Sauber 1:35.039
12 G. Fisichella Sauber 1:35.061
13 C. Klien Jaguar 1:35.158
14 O. Panis Toyota 1:35.617
15 N. Heidfeld Jordan 1:36.569
16 G. Bruni Minardi 1:38.577
17 Z. Baumgartner Minardi 1:39.272
18 G. Pantano Jordan 1:39.902
19 T. Sato BAR 0.000
20 F. Alonso Renault 0.000

L i N d $ @ y

marie: btw, they showed a shot of alonso talking to the guys at the pit wall on our local cable before his final run and i was literally [img]smilies/jaw_drop.gif[/img] cos he looked really yummy!

*MH*

awww at which point in quali?! i was watching the tv and quali which i had to tape because I was out. I wasn't paying make attention to where i stopped the tape when there were ad breaks as long as i saw the times coming up [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img] well anyway quali seemed add cos i watched 30 mins. then some of ant and dec. then a little more of quali, then some more ant and dec and then more quali [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img] very mixed up experience [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img]

foreva_99

[img]smilies/eek.gif[/img] I can't believe how well Mark Webber has done for this race. The only explanation would be that they are running a lighter fuel load. He is between the two Ferrari's even ahead of Williams and McLaren. Awesome job for him to be there though.

L i N d $ @ y

marie: i dunno if we get the same tv coverage here for f1. but really, he looked so hot! [img]smilies/drool.gif[/img] as hot as malaysia. [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img]

bel: maybe mclaren has too much fuel. like williams. i guess we'll never know until a few hours from now. [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img]

i have a feeling i know who's gonna win in malaysia. [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] i'm just hoping we won't find malaysia boring...

f1 starts in about an hour from now... [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

L i N d $ @ y

JENSON!!!!!!!!!!!!! [img]smilies/clap.gif[/img] FINALLY! his first podium! and a sweet one too! JPM & schumi sprayed the champagne on him like there's no tomorrow! [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img] and during the post race interview, JPM & schumi were actually looking over at him and listening to what he was saying!!! there's a BAR party in malaysia tonight!!! [img]smilies/party.gif[/img]

other race comments:
[img]smilies/star.gif[/img] KIMI - too bad, another engine failure! did you see how pissed off he was? he pushed away the marshall that was assisting him! uh-oh.
[img]smilies/star.gif[/img] RUBENS - i guess that little slip-up cost him a possible podium finish. so montoya was able to overtake.
[img]smilies/star.gif[/img] RALF - if there's one guy in williams that i want a podium, its him. again, another engine failure. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img]
[img]smilies/star.gif[/img] ALONSO - wow, good race for him! imagine from 20th he finished 7th!!! what a driver! [img]smilies/clap.gif[/img]
[img]smilies/star.gif[/img] MARK - i was sooo pissed off! he started out slow. and then spun. [img]smilies/frown.gif[/img] there's always next time, i guess...

Sunday Race Results:
1 M. Schumacher Ferrari 1:31:07.490 10pts
2 JP. Montoya Williams + 5.022 8pts
3 J. Button BAR + 11.588 6pts
4 R. Barrichello Ferrari + 13.616 5pts
5 J. Trulli Renault + 37.760 4pts
6 D. Coulthard McLaren + 53.038 3pts
7 F. Alonso Renault + 1:07.877 2pts
8 F. Massa Sauber + 1 laps 1pt
9 C. Da Matta Toyota + 1 laps
10 C. Klien Jaguar + 1 laps
11 G. Fisichella Sauber + 1 laps
12 O. Panis Toyota + 1 laps
13 G. Pantano Jordan + 2 laps
14 G. Bruni Minardi + 3 laps
15 T. Sato BAR + 4 laps
16 Z. Baumgartner Minardi + 4 laps
Not finished:
17 K. Räikkönen McLaren + 16 laps
18 N. Heidfeld Jordan + 22 laps
19 R. Schumacher Williams + 29 laps
20 M. Webber Jaguar + 33 laps

L i N d $ @ y

marie: before the actual race, our local cable showed lots of alonso! [img]smilies/drool.gif[/img] there was one of him & trulli and the renault nutritionist and they showed him eating and all that stuff! and he was so red, so flushed from the malaysian heat! he's soooo cute!!! [img]smilies/in_love.gif[/img] and he was explaining what kind of diet he & jarno are eating in malaysia. his accent is just to die for! [img]smilies/sigh.gif[/img]

and did you all notice how wet jenson looked at the post race conference? i think he still looked good! [img]smilies/drool.gif[/img]

L i N d $ @ y

some off-track pics from malaysia. [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]









sorry for the pic overload. [img]smilies/blush.gif[/img] marie can post the rest.

*MH*

OMG I WAS PUNCHING THE AIR SO MUCH DURING THAT RACE!!!!!! [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] i had to be quiet because my dad would have killed me if i had disturbed his sleep [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img] when Jense came out after that third pit stop and slotted in I knew at that moment that he was going to get P3 [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]
ITV were just overjoyed for him [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] i swear I am so taping the re-run [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img] and did he look so fine and sweaty [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]
ITV even asked DC and Fernando about Jenson getting the podium [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img]
and yes Fernando was looking nice and sweaty and damn sexy too in that interview [img]smilies/drool_spit.gif[/img]

thanx for the pics linds [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img] i'll post more later [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img] but now i gtg. i'm driving my mum somewhere [img]smilies/lol.gif[/img] [img]smilies/wave.gif[/img] enjoy your days [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img]

L i N d $ @ y

what did DC and alonso say about jenson winning? i like what he said at the post race interview that he can't wait to get back to his team to congratulate them! awww, so humble! [img]smilies/sigh.gif[/img]

i swear, i wish i was in sepang right now! i'll party with these guys tonight! [img]smilies/party.gif[/img]