"Cato Batista" 27/03/2015 19:03:21 ID #725

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Mercedes is ahead but not as much as anticipated. Ferrari’s new SF15-T is the real deal, RAI was able to sneak between Lewis and Nico at the top of the timesheets.

ROS was fastest in P1 when HAM had an engine problem and was sidelined for the session. Ferrari had its drivers in 2nd & 3rd about 3 tenths behind, same gap as in P2, a small difference considering the length of the lap times in Sepang (around 100 seconds). Lotus is enjoying their new Mercedes power, they had GRO in 4th in P1 (he missed most of P2). Renault has made some important improvements, their drivers are happy saying the power delivery is more predictable making the cars a lot more driveable. Toro Rosso had its 2 drivers in the top 10 in P1 and in general were as fast as their senior team Red Bull. Williams  was quiet as usual in the first session but on the option tyre in the afternoon they were showing their true speed with BOT & MAS in 5th & 6th. Sauber is proof of Ferrari’s engine huge progress by getting in the top 10 in both sessions.

P1- ROS (1.40.124) RAI VET GRO SAI RIC VER BOT KYV ERI

P2- HAM (1.30.790) RAI ROS KVY BOT MAS VET VER ERO RIC

ALO is back in action and as always was faster than his teammate. He finally shed some light into his testing accident by saying the steering wheel locked turning right sending him into the wall. McLaren was not amused by his admission. His time was 2.7 secs off the pace but at least he was able to complete 45 testing laps. Another driver back in the cockpit was BOT; Williams modify the pedals in his car and made a special seat to distribute weight evenly along his spine. He declared himself fit and ready to race. The Manor team made it to the track this time, their modified-2014 car was 6 to 7 secs behind but at least by showing up they will be able to collect the $50m they earned from their points in the Constructors Championship last year.

For the fans the best news to emerge from day 1 in Sepang was Kimi’s pace in the long stints with option tyres: the Ferrari was 1 thousandth of a second behind Mercedes. Than means, we may have the italians giving the germans a run for their money on Sunday. Let’s see.

Time to work:

Cato -HAM  ROS  RAI

Let’s see what you’ve got.

Cheers