"Cato Batista" 23/03/2012 17:15:51 ID #136
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Hamilton dominated both practice sessions today, Button had minor problems and lost valuable time and Mercedes is again flying on the straights. Red Bull was the fastest in mid-stint race simulation on control tires but can’t match McLaren’s pace particularly in sector 2 where the long high speed corners are. Lotus has shown their potential but can’t quit dial the car properly and again Grosjean is easily faster that Raikkonen. Ferrari is now the second fastest Italian team, behind Toro Rosso. Alonso was as quick as the Mercedes in hard tires and heavy on fuel but in QF trim they fell an abysmal 0.7 seconds behind.
It was a very interesting opening day in Sepang with all the teams concentrated in tire analysis. Pirelli has brought the medium and hard compounds as this layout, surface and temperature generates huge tire degradation, and depending on how each team and driver manages this issue will decide the outcome on Sunday.

As important as grid position is, most teams used Friday's dry sessions to run their race-day programs, focused in tire wear and lap time differentials between compounds for race strategy.

P1- HAM 1.38.012 VET ROS SCH GOS WEB RAI DIR BUT HUL (MAS 13, ALO 15)
P2 - HAM 1.38.172 SCH BUT ROS RIC ALO WEB VER GRO VET (RAI 15, MAS 16)



There was no rain, but Kuala Lumpur is notorious this time of the year for it's sudden monsoon showers (remember when the race was suspended in 2009?). It was sunny, humid and very hot today, track temperature was 46C!. The forecast calls for similar weather tomorrow and Sunday, with possible isolated showers for both QF and race time. QF could be a lottery, but we know who are the faster cars in single-lap performance: McLaren, Mercedes, but I wonder if Red Bull is hiding its cards...

And here we go for our second QF of the year. My picks: HAM BUT VET

Cheers
Cato