The unpredictable Malaysian weather can be relied upon to keep the teams guessing. As McLaren and Ferrari discovered to their cost in qualifying last year, it can never be taken for granted.
High temperatures and humidity are to be expected. With air temperature over 30C on all three days the teams should find the track much hotter than it was in Melbourne, potentially creating much higher tyre wear.
The energy-sapping combination of heat and humidity takes its toll on the machinery as well as the people.
Dramatic thunderstorms tend to break out in the late afternoon and early evening. As last year, the race now starts one hour earlier than it did in 2009, when the Grand Prix had to be abandoned as a heavy rain storm hit and light levels fell
The forecast for the next three days indicate a slightly higher chance of showers on Sunday. But the threat of rain is never very far away – showers can develop and change very quickly and a glance at the skies is often more useful than a weather radar in determining what’s going to happen next.
As usual if you’re in the area and can update us on the weather, please post details in the comments.
Malaysia weather radars:
2011 Malaysian Grand Prix
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Image © Williams/LAT
tony
7th April 2011, 7:34
Should be a good race.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
7th April 2011, 11:49
Hope so but don’t want a repeat of 2009.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
7th April 2011, 7:38
The threat of rain makes it even more essential that Red Bull sort out their KERS, no matter how much Horner and newey may dislike it. Rain means the DRS will be deactivated, and while the RB7’s pace is not solely dependent upon an adjustable rear wing, it does play its part. If Red Bull have no KERS, the other teams will have a weapon they don’t – and one that could be the deciding factor in the race.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
7th April 2011, 7:54
True that. Rain can close the field up also. I can’t see them not using it this weekend.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
7th April 2011, 7:57
It’s not a question of whether or not they can use it, but whether or not they can get it to work the way it’s supposed to. They clearly haven’t done too much work on their KERS device over the winter since the Powers That be aren’t particularly fussed on it. I think they’ll use it regardless of whether or not they can make it work, but if they can’t make it work, then they run the risk of retirement due to KERS failure.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
7th April 2011, 8:04
Faid point but I still see them taking the risk. But this is what they have practise sessions for so you would like to think the majority of questions are answered tomorrow. But ironically you can’t predict unreliability!
Icthyes (@icthyes)
7th April 2011, 9:40
KERS is at its least effective in the rain though.
Red bull need to sort out their KERS in case it stays dry like last year. the race will probably be dry for at least half-distance too.
If they haven’t sorted out the reliability, I can see them fitting KERS and using it only at the start. That might help them if the rain comes too, as they won’t have to0 deal with the weird braking in the rain.
Eggry (@eggry)
7th April 2011, 10:36
I agree about effectiveness of KERS in rain with you Icthyes. when it’s heavy rain, what you need is not more power but better traction. aka downforce.
Solo (@solo)
7th April 2011, 11:32
Yeah that’s it. Seriously sometimes PM comments seriously make me doubt he understands anything about F1.
If they don’t have KERS and KERS gives a big advantage to other team in Malaysia then rain will be good and not bad for them.
Of course we have no idea how cars behave in the rain and also the driver plays a big role. Everything becomes unpredictable.
Mike
7th April 2011, 21:25
Ever read the horse whisperer? Makes PM look like an F1 god… seriously.
KERS, meh. I think like in 09, it’s not nearly as effective as people suggest, in rain, I think it’s one too many buttons to be honest.
Shiro
7th April 2011, 11:39
Traction and downforce are not the same.
Eggry (@eggry)
7th April 2011, 12:06
not same. but downforce generates traction. just it doesn’t generate all of traction.
Henry
7th April 2011, 12:27
also in the rain the most important thing for these cars will be a high downforce set-up. And we know that Red Bull can achieve that pretty efficiently! Kers clearly is not optimised in Adrian Newey’s super compact aero models, which is why they have difficulty packaging it. With the heat and humidity of Sepang, we can expect some teams to struggle as they are all trying so hard to minimise the bodywork around the engine and gearbox…renault’s exhausts may be problematic also!
JustAnF1Fanatic (@justanf1fanatic)
9th April 2011, 22:41
interesting now, in hindsight, that mclaren are running more wing angle than red bull so if it rains that’ll be beneficial to mclaren
vjanik
7th April 2011, 15:48
i dont think they will have KERS this weekend.
especially in rainy conditions and the very hot climate it is just another reliability risk.
the benefits it brings are outweighed by compromised breaking, higher tyre wear and a potential failiure causing retirement. the added weight is less of an advanatage this year because the weight distribution is fixed but its still a disadvantage.
The RBR is so fast that risking all of the above just for the start is not worth it.
BasCB (@bascb)
7th April 2011, 7:40
I am curious to see what the weather has to offer this year. Some wetness would be fine, especially if it mixes up qualifying.
Sush Meerkat
7th April 2011, 11:10
should be good for pit strategies what with Malaysia’s instant thunderstorms.
Sakzf1 (@)
7th April 2011, 7:52
It will be very interesting to see a wet race, but I’d prefer to see rain after China. The teams are not fully prepared for this at this moment.
Let’s hope that we will see a great GP
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
7th April 2011, 7:58
That’s what makes it so good.
Sakzf1 (@)
7th April 2011, 8:03
You are right, but if we have a wet race, we will enjoy a fascinating GP(I hope) but we will not have very clear image about teams (especially Ferrari, Mercedes, Williams)
Greetings from Greece!
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
7th April 2011, 9:26
Which will continue to add to the intrigue. The longer it takes for a full picture to emerge of everyone’s relative performance, the more open-ended the championship will be. I’m in no hurry to assign a running order to the grid.
US_Peter (@us_peter)
7th April 2011, 23:53
Totally agree. I’d rather have a couple of exciting wet races in Malaysia and China and not know the relative pace of all teams, than to know how they all stack up against each other and have two processional races.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
7th April 2011, 9:51
Καλως ηρθες! Welcome!
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
7th April 2011, 7:57
Keith, is that not Kovalainen in the article picture? Not Nakajima :P
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
7th April 2011, 8:01
Or 2009 of course ;)
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
7th April 2011, 8:56
Actually it’s the year that’s wrong – have corrected it.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
7th April 2011, 8:08
I really hope this race throws up plenty of surprises, It’s not failed me yet. If the rain does come that will negate alot of the tyre stop imbalance we saw in Melbourne, deactivate DRS as PM pointed out and maybe put more emphasis on KERS.
VXR
7th April 2011, 8:21
What you need in the rain is downforce and only one team has plenty of that. KERS is not so much of a big deal if it’s raining. If you were sure of rain, you wouldn’t then need to use it.
Solo (@solo)
7th April 2011, 11:46
It’s not that simple. Sometimes the rain doesn’t help the team with the normally big downforce in dry weather and acts as an equalizer of cars. Haven’t you notice small teams getting good pace in the rain?
As i see it the reason that this happens is because this cars are studied to produce their downforce along with their speed. A team with good downforce uses best the fast air around the car that gets created from the speed. But when you go around with small speed all your fancy aerodynamics that fully utilize those currents of air around the car aren’t working as effectively anymore since those currents of air don’t have the speed and the pressure they would have had if your car was going full speed in dry weather.
In resold the difference from the guy at the back that was driving a shoe-box becomes less obvious.
In the rain is probably more important to get a good grip from the tyres.
Troy Alexander (@troy-alexander)
7th April 2011, 8:37
Rain should be good to spice up the race on sunday. :)
sozavele (@formula-1)
7th April 2011, 8:54
Keith there is a mistake under the article image. It’s either Nakajima, 2010 or Kovalainen, 2010. Plus a wet race at the start of the season would be great as it would show the prepared and strong teams for this season compared to the weak ones.
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
7th April 2011, 9:02
It’s started raining in Sepang at 4pm local time on Thursday:
http://twitter.com/byronf1/statuses/55902410324971520
Himmat S.
7th April 2011, 13:38
Haha. It rains here every other day. By theory of probability, it should definitely rain for at least one of the five session of the weekend!
Jay
8th April 2011, 1:30
Its been raining for the past couple days starting at around 3 to 4 pm time. However, the rain hasn’t been too heavy, its light showers by our standards here in Malaysia.
nannini
7th April 2011, 9:13
don´t think so. Just torrential halfway on Sunday
wong chin kong
7th April 2011, 11:10
I am a Malaysian, I know this climate of ours is downright freaky. If you see clear skies in the morning, and the sun shine brightly, please do not feel happy cause after a few hours, dark clouds would develop in around noon, a few drops here and there and then it pours. Let’s us see how the Pirelli tyres perform for the first time in torrential rains, if it happens.
roberttty
7th April 2011, 13:08
Hi Chin Kong, that sounds familiar as it is the same situation here in Singapore!
Luckily the night race is at night, and not in the afternoon when it almost always rains.
Mark Brookes
12th April 2011, 9:46
Hi Wong, Are you a Mechanical Eng that used to be with Kencana. Can you email me at m-brookes@velosi.com
Stephen Jones (@aus_steve)
7th April 2011, 11:42
ok stupid question.. but are there any dangers or using KERS in the wet?
i’m guessing the car will bottom off enough to ground, but a bit of water is just another something that could spell out reliability troubles eh? .. eh??
yeah not really.. but should be a great race anyway!
Solo (@solo)
7th April 2011, 11:54
There is always more danger of losing control and spinning when you press the button. As we know the wet conditions are slippery and when suddenly 80hp gets put on the back wheels it might disturb for a second the balance even more and catch the driver unprepared.
Nas-T
7th April 2011, 15:06
how about electric shock?
MattHT (@mattht)
7th April 2011, 12:28
If Sepang dlivers the kind of the rain we know it can, KERS and DRS could both be irrelevant when the casr are coasting/skidding/floating around the track :P
sato113
7th April 2011, 12:31
keith you want this link in the text-
http://www.met.gov.my/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=689&Itemid=905
this one’s Sepang (one in the text is for Kuala Lumpar)
Himmat S.
7th April 2011, 13:43
Yea…Sepang and Kuala Lumpur are a good 45 minutes apart from one another. Hence, the weather can be quite different for those two areas.
vjanik
7th April 2011, 16:05
45 minutes at the speed of light?
or i presume you mean driving.
time is not normaly a good measure of distance.
dean
7th April 2011, 12:42
You are both Wrong.If it rains Red Bull will not really miss KERS because the cars will be going that much slower, and cant afford to hit the KERS button because it will risk skidding off the track in the heavy rain.
Therefore if it rains heavily there will be no need for KERS as it will then be impossibly difficult to slow the car down in braking if the KERS are used in the rain.Think about it!!!!!
Dean
sato113
7th April 2011, 12:44
keith here’s another good radar-
http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/?lat=3.11999989&lon=101.55000305&zoom=8&pin=Kuala%20Lumpur%2c%20Malaysia&type=hyb&rad=0&wxsn=0&svr=0&cams=0&sat=1&sat.num=1&sat.spd=25&sat.opa=85&sat.gtt1=109&sat.gtt2=108&sat.type=IR4&riv=0&mm=0&hur=0
qazuhb
7th April 2011, 14:25
Anyone could give me a clue as to how much money is needed to get a license to install an ice cream kiosk in the pit lane?
Oliver
7th April 2011, 17:14
About time the FIA consider oars on the cars so we don’t have the races stopped when it rains too heavy.