Getting Ready for Malaysian GP

The 2009 Formula One season was looking like it might be a tough year for teams hoping to implement the new rules and regulations in an effective battle against Brawn GP after the Australian Grand Prix. Fans and teams were looking a little more at ease after Friday’s two practice sessions at Sepang as Ferrari and Williams took the lead and set a pace that has them moving closer to competing on an even track with Brawn. Albert Park wasn’t a track made for KERS, but the Malaysian Grand Prix will be run on a track that appears better suited to teams using KERS. The teams concentrated on tire evaluation and getting the chassis set-up effectively to run on track temperatures that will likely reach into the high 40 degree Celsius mark on race day. Here’s a quick look at each team and any changes and progress they have made for Malaysia.

Malaysia is next on the schedule

Raikkonen and Massa were at the head of the track times, dominating the second session for Ferrari, which is a good sign.
Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber ran much better, being very close in time, but Vettel did a little better, finishing with the third best time of the day.
Nico Rosberg and Kazuki Nakajima had the two fastest laps in the first session, with the German having a good afternoon on the track and Nakajima making showing positive signs after his unfortunate finish at the Australian Grand Prix.
Brawn didn’t set the pace as expected this time, as Barrichello and Button seemed to be spending more time getting familiar with their cars on a hot track.
Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton spent an uneventful morning trying new bodywork, but seemed to lack grip on the hot track, especially in the corners.
Nelson Piquet and Fernando Alonso seemed to be at odds with their Renault cars, but Piquet had a better second session and his car didn’t show any major issues.
Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock took their Toyotas spent the morning concentrating on getting their cars set properly for the Malaysian race, rather than trying to compete for the best lap times.
Sebastien Buemi and Sebastien Bourdais are driving for Toro Rosso and seemed quite content with their cars performance, so far, with both working on balancing the cars right for Malaysia.
Adrian Sutil had a problem free day for the most part, which allowed him to focus on car setup, but his car VJM02 seemed to be having problems with its understeer. Giancarlo Fisichella had an eventful day, trying to fight his cars poor grip and terrible traction, which had him crashing his expensive vehicle in the afternoon session.

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