Practice for Malaysia starts tomorrow, and the forecast is calling for heavy rain and thunderstorms for all practice sessions, qualifying and the race. This will be the first time we get to see the new tires do their thing in the rain. Reports have been good in testing. Who do you think's going to pull through? Vettal is usually good in the rain, but he's accident-prone. As always, Hamilton should do well if he can avoid incidental contact. Schui is still a great driver in bad conditions, but I'm not sure if his car and team are up for it. I'm excited to see how Perez does!

It did seem like like tire puncture resistance could have been improved in Australia. As for tire wear, I wonder how many teams found out Perez managed to stay fast on just one pit stop. I also wonder how everyone will react to the cat being out of the bag regarding Red Bull's lack of KERS.

My podium picks are Hamilton, Button and Alonso. I'm pulling for Petrov, and I think his background in ice racing might really help him in the wet.

Good rain drivers (not in any particular order): Hamilton, Vettel, Button, Shoe, Alonzo, Kobayashi (if he can qualify) and the GP2 rookie whose name I'm failing to recall ...

Heavy rain really, gez always rains during F1 Malay.

Vettel's maturity will get him to P1 and he's a great wet driver. Bulls walked away in Australia, so it will be interesting if Mclaren and Ferrari will be more competitive in qualifying. I hate this knock out session style qualifying - they should go back to simple 3 laps, you, track and time. Don't have to worry about anyone holding you back.

Pirelli back in the game and I'm actually surprised there wasn't more puncture issues.

1. Vettel
2. Hamilton
3. Alonso
4. Webber
5. Button

I see vettel placing well as long as he stays incident free. Alonso is good in the wet and I see Massa finally making a good showing. I wouldnt be suprised is Webber puts in a strong showing

Kers and the active spoiler are ghey, they're making waaaay to much hype about it. And from the looks of the first race it didn't make a damn bit of difference.

Practice results looks like RB and Ferrari are the only two showing up. All 4 of their cars are within 1/4 of a second. Schui and Massa were 1.25 behind them, then everyone else was another 1/2 sec+ behind them. sheesh!

It looks like the Ferrari cars are running with MUCH less downforce. They're constantly adjusting like mad through the turns, sawing at the wheel. They're still fast, and it might pay off when it comes to pit stops, assuming the drivers don't get fatigued from the extra work and make mistakes. Both redbull cars are faster, and don't have this problem. But if they need 1 more pit stop, it could be all the difference. Interesting...

btw, the official race edit car porn video is up: http://www.formula1.com/video/race_edits/
login info here if you're paranoid: http://bugmenot.com/view/f1.com

Depending on the amount of rain, this is going to be a historic race... I see a real shuffle happening with the standings

Place your bets on how many cars will be outside the 107% rule...I say 2 will not make it. I'll have a beer for however many off I am...

^^ good call, just the 2 cosworths :) too bad, no beers for you

no surprises in qualifying.

Pos No Driver Team Q1 Q2 Q3 Laps
1 1 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 1:37.468 1:35.934 1:34.870 12
2 3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:36.861 1:35.852 1:34.974 19
3 2 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 1:37.924 1:36.080 1:35.179 17
4 4 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:37.033 1:35.569 1:35.200 15
5 5 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:36.897 1:36.320 1:35.802 14
6 9 Nick Heidfeld Renault 1:37.224 1:36.811 1:36.124 9
7 6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:36.744 1:36.557 1:36.251 13
8 10 Vitaly Petrov Renault 1:37.210 1:36.642 1:36.324 9
9 8 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:37.316 1:36.388 1:36.809 17
10 16 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:36.994 1:36.691 1:36.820 13

Actually I was wrong by TWO cars! So two beers for me! Haaaa I was sort of glad everyone made it in. I hope it rains to make it interesting. Mercedes needs to get their act together. Problem with their movable rear wing element. :mad:

ah, you're right. my math was off. 1:45.791 would have been the limit. they were well within that. which is great because it equates to more beer :D

lol there's def surprises

Nick and kamui in the top 10. Where's Michael?

televised or online?

schui's starting 11th.

it's on SPEED, starts in 15 mins.

anyone else wake up for it? ;) DVR BE DAMNED I HAD TOO MUCH REDBULL AND CANT SLEEP!!!

awesome race so far! best start i can remember in a long time. wing+kers are starting to look promising. how the hell has it not started to rain yet?

petrov had the coolest DNF i've ever seen! only way it could have been better would have been if he survived and kept going for points. too bad for him, but THATS how you jump a corner!

highlights and lowlights

final qualifying, best finish in a long time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rykBBVjlEac

great clean start
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JXL97dW1wNk

petrov flying
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAEZY6JBCGc

yeah, always hated KERS and now DRS, i do miss the vagina lips on the front of mclarens a few years ago.

awesome race so far! best start i can remember in a long time. wing+kers are starting to look promising. how the hell has it not started to rain yet?

That was an amazing race, so much action throughout the whole thing. KERS and DRS made for some really good moves into turn 1, it worked out a lot better in todays race than it did in Australia. Really happy that Nick got a podium, I really do think he is underrated. Would've liked to see Jenson catch Vettel as he was only 3 seconds behind at the end. One of the best races I've seen since last year.

the first real indy race of the year is on now, too. never been a big indy fan, but im making an effort to watch since bourdais is back. he's not doing too hot, but the action is actually really good! i just cant get over the idea of running indy at barber, which is pretty much a motor cycle track

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4107/5608635338_53f2660f26_z.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4107/5608635338_53f2660f26_z.jpg

fuck, i really regret not watching this one.

heyyy..I watched this race TWICE and I sort of thought it was boring. Yes the pit stop strategy mixed them up for a bit but it was status quo towards the end. OMG poor Petrov! My friends and I like him a lot because he looks like a ZOMBIE and every time they show him sans helmet we always say "BRAAAAAINNSS!" Hell, he won Vettel the championship last year! ;) I was really looking for Heidfeld to get on the podium because I can't stop laughing when I hear him in an interview. He sounds EXACTLY what I think a gay German would sound like, even though I'm sure he has 11 girlfriends besides his wife. Sooooo is it going to be a race for 2nd this year or will the WUNDERKIND self destruct this year?

heyyy..I watched this race TWICE and I sort of thought it was boring. Yes the pit stop strategy mixed them up for a bit but it was status quo towards the end. OMG poor Petrov! My friends and I like him a lot because he looks like a ZOMBIE and every time they show him sans helmet we always say "BRAAAAAINNSS!" Hell, he won Vettel the championship last year! ;) I was really looking for Heidfeld to get on the podium because I can't stop laughing when I hear him in an interview. He sounds EXACTLY what I think a gay German would sound like, even though I'm sure he has 11 girlfriends besides his wife. Sooooo is it going to be a race for 2nd this year or will the WUNDERKIND self destruct this year?

Really?? I thought this was a really good race, there was a shitload of battles going on throughout most of the race, I think there was only one part during the middle where nothing was really happening. Haha everybody knows Heidfeld is big pimpin.

I thought it was a good race. I was surprised the incident between Lewis and Alonso. Great race for Nick, can't imagine what kubica would do in that car.

I hope the other teams can give vettel a run for his money......