FORMULA 1 - 2012

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HOW THE F1 TEAMS WILL APPROACH THE MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX:

Source: JamesallenonF1.com

This weekend F1 is straight back on track for the second round of the world championship at Sepang in Malaysia. The teams will be dealing with a different kind of track, one with high energy corners, longer straights and one that punishes the tyres far more than Melbourne.

This Briefing is designed to give you the readers a closer understanding of what the teams aim to get right when approaching the race in terms of preparation and strategy planning.

Our Race Strategy Calculator has now been reset with Malaysia settings. This includes a sophisticated tyre model based on the performance of the Pirelli medium and hard tyres being used at Sepang. Three stops were the way to go last year, so when you've read our Race Strategy Briefing, why not have a go at finding the fastest race strategy for the weekend? You can try it out by clicking HERE

Track Characteristics

Sepang International Circuit; 5.54 kilometres.

Race distance: 56 laps = 310 kilometres, 15 corners in total, a mixture of slow, medium and fast

Aerodynamic setup Medium/high downforce. Top speed 312km/h (with Drag Reduction System on rear wing) 300km/h without.

Full throttle 70% of the lap. Total fuel needed for race distance: 153 kilos.

Time spent braking: 15% of the lap. 8 braking zones. Brake wear: Medium.

Loss time for a Pit stop = 16.5 seconds

Total time needed for pit stop: 22.5 seconds.

The pit lane speed limit in Sepang is 100km/h, which means faster pit stops than Melbourne.

Fuel effect (cost in lap time per 10kg of fuel carried): 0.36 seconds (average/high)

The Sepang circuit is one of the first F1 venues to have been designed by architect Hermann Tilke and features his trademark long straights, hairpins and fast esses. It also has a distinctive first/second corner complex, which turns right and then left and always results in drivers winning or losing several positions at the start of the race.

The first and third sectors of the lap at Sepang feature long straights and hairpin bends, while sector two has some medium and high speed corners, which load up the tyres.

Form Guide

As far as drivers' form is concerned at Sepang, Michael Schumacher has won the race three times, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel have won it twice while Jenson Button has also won here.

Likely tyre performance and other considerations

Pirelli tyre choice for Sepang: Medium (Option) and Hard (Prime)

Pirelli has chosen to bring the medium and hard tyres to Sepang, so a step harder on both choices than for Melbourne. The difference in terms of lap time performance between the two compounds is projected to be around 0.8 seconds on the first lap in qualifying and 0.6secs in the race, which is more than in Melbourne

Sepang has three major differences from Melbourne, which make it more challenging from a race strategy point of view: higher track temperatures, a rougher track surface and the presence of medium and fast corners, which load up the tyre. There is also the underlying threat of rain.

Temperature is critical; Sepang experiences track temperatures of up to 45 degrees, some of the highest of the year, which is at the top end of the tyres' operating range. The opening stint with 150 kilos of fuel on board is very hard on the tyres. If it is cooler then the tyres will last longer and less stops will be needed. The pit lane time is short so that encourages more stops anyway.

The long straights at Sepang mean that the adjustable rear wing (DRS wing) is quite effective, making overtaking possible. This means strategists of leading teams will not have to be overly concerned about bringing their driver out from a pit stop into slower traffic. In qualifying the DRS is worth over a second per lap at Sepang.

Number and likely timing of pit stops

Last year Pirelli brought the soft and hard tyres to Sepang and the winning strategy was three stops by Vettel.

This year, because the tyres will be closer on performance there are a number of ways to approach the race, one of them to base a strategy on what happened last year with stops around laps 12, 23 and 40, running three stints on options and a final stint on primes (this is the default strategy in our Race Strategy Calculator). If you can get good life from the hard tyre a longer stint on that in the middle of the race could pay dividends at the end in terms of track position.

Rain can always affect the outcome at Sepang as it can come at any time and can be very intense. There must always be a degree of flexibility built into race strategy when planning for Sepang.

Teams will use the four hours of practice time to assess the fastest way to run a dry race; it will be important to establish how long the medium tyre will last in order to decide which strategy to pursue. It will be important to establish whether a pit stop might be saved by using the hard tyres earlier in the race and running long on them. This could save over 20 seconds plus help to gain track positions.

Chance of a safety car

The chance of a safety car at Sepang is incredibly low, by F1 standards, at 14% over last 7 years and an average of 0.1 safety cars per race. Where a safety car has been deployed it's usually been because of heavy rain, as in 2009.

Recent Start Performance

Start performance is hugely important to strategy, as we saw with Button taking the initiative from Hamilton in Australia at the start. At Sepang it will be influenced negatively if teams do not have KERS or choose not to run it, as the run to the first corner from the start is quite long at over 600 metres. KERS confers a minimum 7-10 metres advantage over a non KERS car.

As far as 2012 start performance is concerned drivers have gained (+) or lost (-) places off the start line this season as follows:

Gained

+10 Perez

+6 Massa, Glock

+4 Raikkonen, Alonso,

+3 Kobayashi, Pic

+2 Rosberg

+1 Button, Schumacher, Vettel, Maldonado, Kovalainen

Held Position Di Resta, Petrov

Lost

-1 Hamilton

-3 Grosjean

-4 Webber

-5 Vergne

* Senna, Ricciardo and Hulkenberg were all involved in accidents on 1st lap

Pit Stop League Table

Of course good strategy planning also requires good pit stop execution by the mechanics and we have seen tyre stops carried out in less than two and a half seconds by F1 teams.

The league table below shows the order of the pit crews based on their fastest time in Australia from the car entering the pit lane to leaving it. The 2011 league table positions are in brackets.

1. Ferrari 21.910s (5)

2. McLaren 22.837s (3)

3. Red Bull 22.915s (1=)

4. Mercedes 23.017 (1=)

5. Williams 23.166 (7)

6. Toro Rosso 23.257 (8=)

7. Lotus 23.310 (6)

8. Sauber 23.832 (8=)

9. Caterham 24.397 (8=)

10. Force India 24.579 (4)

11. Marussia 25.046 (11)

HRT No stop yet. Did not race in Australia

The Race Strategy Briefing is prepared by James Allen on F1 with input from strategists from several F1 teams

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Brawn lauds technical team

Mercedes GP chief Ross Brawn believes that the team's new technical structure is already paying dividends and will continue to do so.

The team have a number of technical gurus under one roof, with Bob Bell, Aldo Costa and Geoff Willis all having joined Brawn at Merc GP over the past year.

While some have suggested that the team will struggle to work effectively with so many different personalities and viewpoints in play, Brawn reveals that which each man specialising in a certain area the process is effectively streamlined.

"They are getting on very well, gloriously well," Brawn told Autosport of his technical team.

"Bob Bell's position was very easy. We didn't have a technical director. I was trying to cover that role, but not effectively enough.

"We have John Owen as chief designer, who is very talented, but needed some support.

"So with Aldo looking after the engineering side and Geoff looking after the aerodynamics, they are natural areas of responsibility. They are able to focus more on taking care of their areas than perhaps they were when they were just technical directors."

The Brackley outfit have already caused a stir with their unique rear wing and Brawn believes that there are even bigger and better things on the horizon as his supreme technical team prepare to tackle the regulation changes that will come into play in 2014.

"We have some key projects coming up in the next couple of years, such as the 2014 car, which is quite different from a regulatory point of view, and a completely new engine, and we need to commit resource to that," he said.

"So having the breadth we have then we can dedicate some of our engineering staff to specific projects, and that gives them some autonomy, some freedom if you like with their projects which helps them.

"We've had no ego problems so far, and I don't anticipate any because Aldo, Geoff and Bob are pretty down-to-earth guys, realistic, and they understand what we are trying to achieve and how we are trying to achieve it, and they want to be part of it."

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Neale backs FIA over Merc GP device

McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale believes that the FIA can be relied on to make the correct call when they deliver a definitive judgement on Merc GP's wing innovation.There has been an outcry from some teams over the system, which comes into play when the Drag Reduction System (DRS) is activated, stalling both the front and rear wing, believing it to contravene the FIA's rule on driver-activated devices. Mercedes maintain it is not driver activated.

Ahead of last Sunday's Australian GP, FIA technical director Charlie Whiting ruled that the innovation was legal but teams are still awaiting a definitive decision.

In a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 'Phone-In' session Neale revealed that rather than get into a row over the matter, McLaren will follow the FIA's lead.

"Mercedes were very quick during qualifying and there is enough YouTube footage of Michael [schumacher] being very defensive about photographs of the car," said Neale.

"But I think we have to rely on the FIA [to make the correct ruling].

"All the teams are going to be trying to extract the maximum within the permitted regulations, and innovation - particularly if a car is quick - certainly comes under challenge. We understand that well. But I don't understand well enough what Mercedes are actually doing, and we have to rely on our colleagues at the FIA.

"If we have anything that we think is innovative or pushing the interpretations of the regulations, we are all obliged to disclose that to Charlie Whiting and his colleagues, and I'm very confident that Mercedes will have done that and got a ruling that's OK."

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Malaysia rejects calls to stage a night race

Malaysian Grand Prix organisers have rejected calls for their event to become a night race in a bid to appease European viewing times.

Bernie Ecclestone has been pushing for the race to start later than it already does, currently 4pm local time (8am GMT), to match that of the Singapore GP which is currently the only race run wholly at night.

However, Sepang International Circuit chief executive Datuk Ahmad Razlan Ahmad Razali is happy with the event as it is, and cites the costs involved erecting floodlights as just one reason it should stick with its current time slot.

"It is very costly, especially for the lighting," Ahmed Razali is quoted as sying by the Bernama news agency. "You have to imagine the Sepang Circuit now with beautiful settings, but if we are doing the night race, then we will have light towers or concrete poles. I don't think it will look nice."

He also cited the chance of rain increases vastly during the evening and nighttime hours, of which is already a threat to the late starting race which was called off after just 31 laps due to a torrential downpour in 2009.

"The circuit is not designed for night racing and if it rains, it will be dangerous too. Frequent or heavy downpours at night could force the race to be stopped or cancelled."

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Caterham cleared of copying Force India

Caterham, Mike Gascoyne and Aerolab have been cleared of copying Force India's intellectual property, bringing an end to a long-running legal dispite.The High Court of Justice in London has ruled that claims made by Force India in 2009, that Aerolab used the outfits intellectual property to develop the Lotus Racing T127, were unfounded.

The Vijay Mallya owned outfit used Aerolab and their facilities to develop its 2010 car, but the partnership was terminated after claims of unpaid fees. Just days later, Lotus Racing teamed up with the Italian aerodynamics specialists to develop its first Formula 1 car.

A 14-day hearing took place at the High Court, with the final verdict coming on Wednesday siding with Aerolab and Caterham, clearing them of copying - though Force India has been granted £20,000 (€25,000) compensation on the grounds that some of its CAD files were copied in order for designers at Aerolab to take shortcuts.

That figure is however dwarfed by the compensation awarded to Aerolab for unpaid fees by Force India, which stand at £700,000 (€850,000).

Aerolab managing director Jean-Claude Migeot was pleased his company, Caterham and Mike Gascoyne have been cleared of any wrongdoing.

"It has taken a long time but I am extremely happy and relieved to see 1Malaysia Racing Team [Caterham] and Mike Gascoyne cleared of any wrongdoing," he said in a statement.

"I have always felt that the case was only initiated by Force India as a means to delay payment for outstanding work. With the Court having now examined the often extremely technical aspects of the evidence and come to the decision it has, my viewpoint has not altered."

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Red Bull preview the Malaysian GP

Mark Webber: "Malaysia is obviously very, very hot, so the track temperature is very hard on the tyres, which needs managing. The track is beautiful to drive on; you really get to feel the sensation of a Formula One car, particularly in the middle sector. It's a great venue and, as a track, it has different demands to the Melbourne circuit, so that's something we'll be looking to get on top of very quickly."

Sebastian Vettel: "The Malaysia Circuit is actually more difficult than it seems. It has big run off areas and a broad track, meaning it appears easy, but it's not. The heat, high humidity and weather aren't the only challenges, as the main thing is to find the ideal car set up. There are two straights of almost one kilometre, but you also need a lot of wing on the car to create enough downforce for the corners, so it requires skill to find the right compromise. It's good to go there off the back of Australia and I hope we get another strong result."

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McLaren preview the Malaysian GP

Jenson Button

Victory in Australia was the best possible way to start the season how do you feel going in to Malaysia?

"Calm, refreshed and feeling extremely positive. After the race, people asked me if we'd expected to demonstrate the pace that we did in Australia, and I tell them that it was unexpected. Of course, we'd done our sums after winter testing, but you can never be certain whether another team is running with high-fuel or hiding their true pace. So to come away from race one with such a positive result Vodafone McLaren Mercedes took pole, fastest lap and the victory is a huge relief for the organisation.

"But it's also incredibly motivating: we know we have a great car but we're not going to sit still with it. We have ambitious plans to develop the car and I know that everybody back at Woking is working hard to bring new components to the track, and that all our mechanics and engineers are flat-out to ensure that we maximise the package that we have this weekend. I think everybody knows that we are a relentless organisation; we can develop a car as well if not better than any other team. The difference this year is that we've started with a winning package; the challenge will be to maintain that, and I know that's something we're all really looking forward to doing."

You won Malaysia in 2009, and you finished second here last year is it a circuit you like?

"It is. It's more of a high-speed circuit [than Melbourne], there are some fantastic sweeping corners here and, if the car's working properly, it's a real joy to drive. It's one of the toughest circuits on the calendar because there's a real range of corners, cambers, a couple of blind apexes and a little bit of gradient. If the car's working against you, then it becomes painful, but when it's all switched on, it's just a great, great circuit to drive.

"I think we've got a car that really works well in the high-speed stuff we saw that throughout winter testing. So I think the challenge this weekend will be to find the right balance at this stage in the year, you're still learning about the car and how to get the best from it. But I think the engineers understand how our car is strong I know they're really looking forward to extracting the maximum from it in Sepang this weekend."

Your victory in Australia was relatively unflustered, are you expecting a stronger challenge this weekend?

"As we said repeatedly throughout last year, and we saw time and again with Sebastian [Vettel], if you can qualify strongly and get away cleanly then it's much easier to control the field, to race cleanly and to get a representative result.

"I think the race showed that there are several top teams in Formula 1, and I think we can expect them to be fighting for victory in Malaysia. Both Red Bull drivers were very quick in the race, and I think we can expect further strong challenges from Mercedes AMG and Lotus this weekend.

"Of course, we're not relaxing and we go to Malaysia ready for a strong fight."

Lewis Hamilton

After Australia, you said you weren't sure how you'd lost pace relative to Jenson: do you now understand that, and does that put you in a good position for Malaysia?

"Yeah, after the race in Australia, it was difficult to understand exactly what happened. I was generally happy with the car all weekend, but just lacked a bit of pace compared to Jenson in the race. Afterwards, I sat down with my engineers and we went through all the data. There was a small issue with the clutch at the start: it wasn't my fault, but we now understand and know how to improve in the future. My race pace was pretty much identical to Jenson's, but he was able to switch the tyres on extremely well, which explains how he was able to pull a gap so quickly at the start and also after the restart.

"It's encouraging and reassuring to understand the reasons for our race pace in Australia, and it puts me in a really positive frame of mind for the race in Malaysia. Plus, it always helps to be back in the car only five days after the last grand prix you move on so quickly."

You've never won in Malaysia does that make you more intent to tick it off your list?

"It's never really something you're particularly conscious of during the race weekend, but I've made no secret of the fact that I'd love to win a grand prix at every circuit I race at. You're right, I've not won at Sepang before, but I've had some good races here and I'd like to put the record straight with a victory this weekend.

"I think we go into the weekend feeling pretty optimistic because Sepang is quite a high-speed circuit and our car has usually gone well in the high-speed stuff during winter testing. Sepang will also be a test because of the high temperatures, but we've traditionally been able to manage the cooling on our car quite well, so I don't think that will be too much of a concern.

"Physically, it's always a tough race, but we're improving the organisation in every area, and I think we've taken some interesting steps this year to ensure the whole team will be better prepared for the heat and humidity."

Will we get a clearer picture of overall pace this weekend?

"Clearly, we're very encouraged by our pace, both in qualifying and in the race, and I'd like to think we can continue that at Malaysia this weekend. I think both Mercedes AMG and Red Bull Racing have performance up their sleeves, and they'll both be very fast in qualifying and the race. As far as Vodafone McLaren Mercedes is concerned, it's nice to be the hunted rather than the hunter, which has been the case in the past few seasons.

"But I know how well our team can respond the result in Australia will only double everyone's resolve. The development race has already started and we'll be pushing like crazy to stay at the front. I think Malaysia will add detail to the overall picture, but it's the pace of development between ourselves, Red Bull, Mercedes, Lotus and Ferrari that will define the course of the season."

Martin Whitmarsh, Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes: "Everybody within Vodafone McLaren Mercedes was tremendously buoyed by our performance in Melbourne last weekend. As we all know, a Formula 1 winter is incredibly tense as it's almost impossible to know if the targets you've set internally will set the standard or leave you wanting.

"Happily, we were delighted to discover that MP4-27 has been successfully developed into a race-winning package and that's a source of huge pleasure, and huge relief, for the whole team.

"Of course, nobody sits still in Formula 1 and we head to Malaysia mindful that we'll once again receive a stern challenge from our closest rivals most notably Red Bull Racing and Mercedes AMG, both of whom will have points to prove this weekend.

"Sepang was one of the original 'new world' Formula 1 circuits and one that triggered the sport's global expansion into Asia at the start of the millennium. I'm pleased that it remains a mainstay of the calendar, but also that it has developed a character and history of its own. It's an extremely demanding circuit on both the cars and the drivers and a real challenge. "We've enjoyed some highs and lows here, but I think we're all looking forward to understanding how this unique season will continue to unwind this weekend."

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Alonso says Ferrari will have to race defensively again in Malaysia

Fernando Alonso is not expecting the Malaysian Grand Prix to be any easier for his Ferrari team, saying the Italian squad will have to race defensively again.

The Maranello outfit endured a difficult start to the season in Australia last weekend, with both Alonso and team-mate Felipe Massa qualifying outside the top ten.

Alonso recovered well in the race to finish in fifth, but the Spaniard's pace was no match to that of the leading outfits.

With just one week between the Melbourne and the Sepang races, Alonso is aware that he can't expect things to be easier for Ferrari.

"In Malaysia, we will once again be racing on the defensive," Alonso said on Ferrari's website. "There's no other way we can go about it, given that the F2012 is practically identical to what we ran in Australia. We will have to try and adapt it as well as possible, knowing it won't be easy."

He added: "There are two points we will have to work on with great attention: finding the right compromise in terms of the aerodynamic balance and the tyre degradation.

"Sepang has two real straights where, because they are very long, a lack of top speed carries a higher price than in Melbourne, where the two straights on which you could use DRS were reasonably short."

Alonso also said he is not putting much faith in the forecast for the weekend, which suggests rain will hit the track both on Saturday and Sunday.

"There is no other place in the world, the Formula 1 world that is, where it can go from sunshine to torrential rain in the space of a few minutes," he said. "Not even at Spa is the variability so acute. Those on the pitwall will have to keep their eyes peeled and look at the radar carefully to be ready for any possible change in the weather.

"At the moment, the forecast is for a high chance of rain, both for qualifying and the race, but honestly, I don't have much faith in the forecast. The important thing is to react promptly and grab every opportunity. The only thing you can be absolutely certain of is that it will be hot, very hot."

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PETRONAS COMMERCIAL: RACE ENDS, WORK...NEVER:

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F1 DRIVERS REMEMBER SIMONCELLI ON OPENING DAY AT SAPANG:

As the paddock went about its usual work on the opening day of a grand prix weekend at Sepang on Thursday, there was also time for reflection as several drivers made poignant trips to the circuit's turn 11 to pay tribute to Italian rider Marco Simoncelli, who was killed at the corner during the MotoGP race there last October.

The Italian was considered one of the most exciting and charismatic riders on two wheels but his life was tragically cut short at the age of 24 when during the penultimate round of the MotoGP season in Malaysia he died following a horrific accident in which he fell from his bike and was hit by two other riders, which knocked his crash helmet off.

As an iconic star of Italian motorsport, his death was felt deeply at Ferrari and on Thursday Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa went down to turn 11 to pay their respects to Simoncelli, while Red Bull's Mark Webber also made his own private trip to the corner.

The two Ferrari drivers and their respective team members posed for a picture with a pit board displaying the number 58 the Italian carried on his Honda and the message 'sempre con noi' which translates as 'forever with us'.

Speaking in the Thursday press conference, Alonso said: "We did one picture this afternoon, Felipe and me and members of the team in Turn 11, where the accident happened and I think that will be the memory for him, and the whole Ferrari family and the Italian people will remember him always and that's the most important thing." Some of the Spaniard's key career milestones have come at Sepang first pole and podium finish in 2003 and he has twice won the race, but he admits that "at the same time, after the accident of Marco last year racing here will be always sad, a little bit, knowing that one of our colleagues died here. It will be always difficult to race."

Massa is hoping he can deliver a good performance this weekend in order to pay a fitting tribute to Simoncelli: "What happened last October was a tragic accident and I think around the world, not just in Italy, his loss was felt," stated Felipe. "However, we are here to race and to do our job and this is not the only race track where bad things have happened. If possible it would be nice to think that, on Sunday, I could have a good race in his memory."

MIKA: Thats a nice sentiment from Massa, BUT... What if he has another bad race?

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F1: Sauber denies Ferrari moving to poach Perez

Peter Sauber has added his own denial to rumours Sergio Perez could be imminently headed to Ferrari.The Mexican driver played down the speculation at Sepang on Thursday, as did Ferrari, amid reports the famous Italian team is contemplating replacing the struggling Massa with its development driver.

But a flaw in the rumours is that Perez, 22, is under contract to Sauber for 2012.

"No one has spoken to us," team boss Sauber, when asked about the Perez/Massa switch, told Germany's Auto Motor und Sport.

All eyes will be on Massa this weekend in Malaysia, after Ferrari agreed to change his chassis following a dire performance a week ago in Melbourne.

Michael Schumacher backed his former Ferrari teammate.

"If you look at all the winter testing I think it was very clear that the two drivers (Massa and Fernando) were very close together," he said.

"So to see the big difference that we saw in Melbourne, I can only assume there must have been something not right for him."

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F1: Hamilton leads Malaysian GP practice one on Sepang circuit

Lewis Hamilton set the pace in what proved to be very standard first practice in Malaysia, lacking in both drama and excitement.

The McLaren driver had a brief tussle with Sebastian Vettel for the P1 slot midway through the session with duo swapping places four times.

But, in the end, it was Hamilton who was quickest with a 1:38.021, which put him half a second ahead of the reigning World Champion.

Nico Rosberg was third quickest with Michael Schumacher fourth as Mercedes put their innovative DRS-activated F-duct to good use on the long Sepang straights. However, the duo were still eight-tenths adrift of Hamilton's best.

Romain Grosjean continued his impressive run with Lotus as he claimed fifth place ahead of Mark Webbber and his more illustrious team-mate Kimi Raikkonen while Paul di Resta was eighth.

Jenson Button was in ninth place after an oil leak meant he was not able to see out the session, completing just 15 laps.

It was another worrying session for Ferrari with Felipe Massa 13th, 1.875s off the pace, and Fernando Alonso down in 15th place. The Spaniard spent a good part of the session in the pits and only set a lap time in the latter half of practice.

HRT were again at the very back of the pack, over seven seconds off the pace. Narain Karthikeyan also ran into reliability issues and stopped his car out on track after just eight laps.

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Massa: I don't care about rumours

Felipe Massa is adamant he won't let rumours about his pending sacking get to him.After a dismal run last season that saw him claim the dubious honour of being the first Ferrari driver in almost two decades to finish a season without a single podium result, Massa was in desperate need of a good result to kick off this year's campaign.

That did not happen.

Instead of shining in Australia, the Brazilian faltered, qualifying down in 16th place and failing to finish the grand prix after an incident with Bruno Senna.

This prompted speculation in the Italian media that Massa could become the first Ferrari driver in almost two decades to be axed before the season is over while other rumours have linked Sergio Perez to his race-seat.

Massa, though, is adamant he won't let the rumours get to him as this is not the first time in his Ferrari career that his job has reportedly been on the line.

"I really don't care," the Brazilian said in the Sepang paddock on Thursday.

"I don't drive thinking about what others are thinking or saying about me.

"I'm doing my job, thinking about doing my best in the car, which is not what happened in Australia."

Ferrari has brought an entirely new chassis to the Sepang circuit for Massa in the hope that it may improve his performance.

"The only thing I care about is the car. To have the car I know [from testing], not the one I had in Australia. [Changing chassis] is the right thing to do.

"I really don't care [about criticism in the media], I have a job. The only thing I am working for is to drive the car and get out of the car 100 percent convinced that I did the best."

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Alonso warns against expecting miracles

Fernando Alonso says Ferrari should not expect a sudden leap to the front of the field in Malaysia and could in fact finish even worse than they did in Australia.Ferrari had a disappointing start to their campaign with neither Alonso nor his team-mate Felipe Massa making it into the final top-ten shoot-out in qualifying.

And although they showed better race-pace on the Sunday in Melbourne, they were still nowhere near fighting for a podium finish with Alonso down in fifth place. Massa failed to finish after crashing out.

Alonso has warned that the problem last time out was not the track, it was Ferrari's lack of competitiveness, which he expects will continue in Malaysia.

"I don't think the change of circuit will make much difference to us. We have tested at Jerez, Barcelona and then we went to Australia and I think, for all teams, the cars here are pretty much identical to the first race, so there will not be any surprises here," he said.

"We will try and adapt the car to the circuit. In pure performance, we are not as competitive as we would like, but in the race anything can happen: if you make a good start and have a good pit stop strategy you can put yourself in a decent place.

"We will try and do the same again and score as many points as possible even if we cannot expect any miracles here.

"In Australia no one thought we could finish fifth as there were many people quicker than us, but in the race, with events that happened to others that helped us to finish fifth.

"So here, with a normal race, we might finish further behind, but if it's a crazy race, maybe with rain, then maybe we can finish in front."

And although the situation at Ferrari may appear dire at present, Alonso is confident his team has what it takes to turn their fortunes around.

"We need to work hard day and night to try and catch up people. But you all now that the experience for me at Ferrari has been fantastic; fighting for the World Championship in my first year with the team and then last year having one win and ten podiums.

"The target is always to win the World Championship, which we could not do for the last two year and for this year we are convinced we will be in the fight for it.

"We need to work more than the others as we are a little behind now. But this is a long Championship and the team is very united and determined."

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Schumi: Wing boost is not that big

Michael Schumacher has downplayed the impact of Ross Brawn's latest innovation, saying the performance boost is not that huge.

This season Brawn's Mercedes team have introduced the DRS-activated F-duct, which uses the activation of the car's DRS to stall both its front and rear wings in an effort to reduce drag.

Although cleared by the FIA's Charlie Whiting in Australia, the wing was once again scrutinised in Malaysia after Lotus and Red Bull had voiced concerns. And once again the FIA gave it the go-ahead.

Schumacher, though, has downplayed the impact of the device, saying it is the not the only reason for Mercedes's improved pace this season.

"There's no doubt that we have an innovation that gives us some performance but I don't think that it is a huge performance and that we only live from this," said Schumacher.

"You're probably talking in terms of nature of the track that it will give another slight advantage but I think some get a little bit too excited about this compared to reality. But that's the usual story."

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Vettel: Just fine tuning needed

Sebastian Vettel is adamant there is nothing "weak" about his RB8, the car just needs a bit of "fine tuning" to hit the front of the pack.

After a dominant display last season especially in qualifying, Vettel's 2012 campaign kicked off with a sixth place on the Melbourne grid.

And although he recovered to finish the grand prix second, the German at no staged threatened Jenson Button's victory.

Vettel, however, insists this is not cause for concern as Australia did not hint at something that was fundamentally wrong with their RB8, they just need more time on the track to fine tune the car.

"I think we need track time to really understand what is going on in the car," Vettel told Autosport.

"I don't think we have a problem in the car as in we don't understand what is going on, or the front end is weak or the rear is a disaster.

"It is fine tuning here and there.

"We have seen it in previous years that fine-tuning can make quite a difference if you know exactly what your car needs, to fine-tune it towards the race or qualifying or whatever you may need.

"You get quite a lot of performance out of that so on top of that it is not a secret that if you feel comfortable in the car you allow yourself to be pushed to the limit."

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Whiting happy with Renault engine trickery

The FIA's Charlie Whiting says he is happy with Renault's engine 'trick' which cuts individual cylinders, causing the engine to backfire which in-turn creates extra exhaust gases.

Whilst the effect isn't as beneficial is it would have been last season, now that exhaust-blown diffusers have been banned, such a concept remains beneficial.

Mercedes presented recorded audio of the Renault engine used in Red Bull's RB8 to the FIA from the Australian Grand Prix, which it believes contravenes the technical regulations.

"There is no official protest by us," said Mercedes competition vice-president Norbert Haug. "But there are some questions that we are asking the FIA."

However Whiting has defended Renault and Red Bull, explaining that the regulations stipulate no more than four of the eight cylinders are cut, which is the case according to the FIA.

"Mercedes has presented us with some audio analysis," confirmed Whiting in Sepang. "It's quite complex but the upshot is, they say it shows that Red Bull are cutting more than four cylinders, which you are not allowed to do.

"Actually, the cut pattern is not determined, so you can cut as many cylinders in whatever order you like. We've got the data and we can see quite clearly that there are four cylinders being injected, four cylinders firing and they are timed at the right time, so there's every reason to suppose that there's combustion going on.

"Moreover, the throttle opening at that point is not any more than it is normally, so if they are doing anything funny they are not opening the throttle any more, so it negates the arguments a lot. As far as we are concerned it's entirely legal because they are not cutting more than four cylinders, which is what the contention is."

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De la Rosa confident HRT will qualify

Pedro de la Rosa is confident that HRT will meet the mandatory 107% regulation to qualify in Malaysia after improvements to its car.

The Spanish team were pushed for time in Australia and that, coupled with some additional issues, meant that both cars failed to meet the minimum requirements to qualify to race the next day.

De la Rosa however, believes the addition of DRS - which didn't work in Melbourne, and the solutions to its power steering problems will give the team the necessary time deficit to qualify.

"It is not only the fact that we will have DRS here, which we didn't in Australia [but] we seem to have found the issues with the power steering, which is massively important," he explained.

"The whole team has had one more week to build the cars with more attention to detail really, so I am more confident than Australia."

The veteran is hopeful that the DRS will provide up to a second of laptime around Sepang which features many long straights.

"DRS itself is approximately nine tenths to one second, so it is quite a big help especially where we are, and what we need to qualify. That extra second could make a difference."

MIKA: Now HRT just need to find the other 5.879 seconds to meet the required time!

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Michael and Nico take the Silver Arrow W196 around the Nordschleife

Michael and Nico drove the classic W196 Silver Arrow around the Nordschleife

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Kimi Raikkonen still seeking power steering improvements for Malaysia

Kimi Raikkonen will continue to work on improving his Lotus E20's power steering in Malaysia, as he is still not happy with the feedback he is getting in the cockpit on his Formula 1 return.

The Finn missed out on track time in free practice in Australia last weekend as his team worked to give him a steering system that suited him.

In the end it could not find a solution better than the original set-up on the car, so the 2007 world champion had to get through his first weekend back without being totally comfortable.

"We have some things [to try]," Raikkonen told reporters in the Sepang paddock. "It is just a matter of getting it right.

"It is many things. It is not as I have been used to in the past, and it is not as perfect as it should be.

"The team is working hard since we knew about the issue, but it is not the easiest thing to fix. But we have a new one to try and hopefully it will be OK."

The Finn added that overall he was happy with his Lotus, and now he has a race under his belt he doesn't feel much has changed with the performance of Formula 1 cars since he left the sport at the end of 2009.

"The feeling is the same," he said. "The downforce is more or less the same as it was at that time. Maybe we have more now, but handling wise it is very similar.

"In the race it was good. There are areas you want to improve, but it is never going to be perfect. You always want something better."

Raikkonen also said he was surprised at how comfortable he felt with Pirelli's tyres during his first race with the Italian firm's rubber.

"The tyres were really good," he said. "I took it easy, and probably I expected to have more problems with them.

"I didn't have any knowledge, so I was surprised how well it went. The second set [in the race], I think we could have run the whole race with them."

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ALONSO TURNS FORM BOOK ON IT'S HEAD TO WIN RAIN-HIT MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX:

Fernando Alonso produced a scintillating performance today, with the Ferrari strategists and pits crew making all the right moves, to win a rain hit Malaysian Grand Prix. The track has always been good to the Spaniard; he took his first pole position and podium here and has won the race twice before.

But even he had to admit that he was lucky not to lose the victory in the closing stages to 22 year old Sergio Perez, who was challenging for the lead with seven laps to go but made a mistake, losing four seconds and giving Alonso breathing space to win the race. It was the 28th victory of Alonso's career and moves him ahead of Jackie Stewart in the all time winners' list.

Perez finished second, the first Mexican to stand on an F1 podium for 41 years, with Hamilton again finishing third after starting on pole position; the same result as Australia.

It was classic Alonso; the weather conditions offered an opportunity to level the playing field and Alonso snatched it gratefully. The turning point of the race was the second round of pit stops on lap 14 when the drivers moved from full wet to intermediate tyres. Alonso came in behind Hamilton, but fast pit work by Ferrari got him moving and then McLaren had to hold Hamilton in his pit box as Massa swept into the next door Ferrari box. This meant Alonso left the pits ahead of Hamilton. Perez had stayed out but when he stopped a lap later he took second place ahead of Hamilton. The order stayed that way to the end.

The track was wet at the start and most drivers started on intermediate tyres, but Perez the rain intensified as the cars made their way around the opening lap. Sauber pitted Perez for full wets from 11th place and it proved an inspired call as it took him to third place when everyone else followed suit.

The race had to be suspended after just nine laps due to a heavy rain down pour and up until that point it seemed as though the McLarens were going to match their qualifying dominance as they navigated their way through the familiar puddles at Sepang. An opening lap tangle between Romain Grosjean and Michael Schumacher, dropping them out of third and fourth places allowed the Red Bulls to take their positions as the rain began to fall harder.

By the time the red-flag was dropped the whole grid had changed to the full wet apart from Narain Karthikeyan, who began the race on them and, Jean Eric Vergne who had managed to stay on-track with the intermediates. The rules state that all cars must restart the race on the full wet tyre, which gave Vergne a free set of tyres with no lost time in the pits. This put him in 7th place.

After the re-start Alonso stayed out a lap longer than the McLarens and inherited the lead, which was then passed on to Perez as the Mexican pulled one more fast lap out of the full wet tyre. After the decisive stops on lap 14, Alonso and Perez pulled away from Hamilton and the rest of the field. Hamilton had no response for the pace of the leading two cars in either intermediate or dry conditions.

The top three remained unchanged until the end of the race, however Perez found incredible pace as his ever-degrading intermediates became torn up slicks and began to catch Alonso at around a second a lap, setting continuous fastest laps in the process. The track was looking ready for slicks and this point was proven when Daniel Ricciardo took the medium compound slick on lap 37 and set the timing screens alight, dropping the fastest lap mark by three seconds. Once again Sauber made a bold call and put hard compound tyres on Perez's car for the remaining fourteen laps, a call that proved to be inspired as it warmed up more quickly than the medium on Alonso's Ferrari.

Perez moved ever closer to the rear of the Ferrari. However a small mistake saw him touch a wet kerb and run wide at turn fourteen, losing the majority of his hard work.

Jenson Button and Sebastian Vettel both made uncharacteristic errors when passing the HRT of Narain Karthikeyan. Button misjudged his braking as he looked to lap the Indian down the inside and slid into

him, breaking off one end of his front wing. He could not recover enough to get back into the points.

Vettel was running fourth when he sliced his left rear tyre on the HRT's front wing as he moved back onto the racing line after lapping it, the tyre shredded and after it was changed there was some confusion as he was told to pit and retire, then the order was overturned, then reinstated.

Further back there were also tremendous drives from Mark Webber, Kimi Raikkonen and Bruno Senna who completed the top six, with Raikkonen having the final say on fastest lap whilst producing another strong points finish in fifth place for Lotus who once again saw Romain Grosjean exit the race early with a trip into the gravel.

Mark Webber also showed once again that the Red Bull has reasonable race pace, coming home in fourth place.

It was Senna's highest race finish to date but it could have been a different story when he came together with team-mate Pastor Maldonado on the first lap. Senna was forced to pit for a new nose and managed his recovery well with tyre stops at the right moments. Maldonado's poor luck in races continued as an engine problem put him out of tenth place with only one lap remaining.

Force India also had another points scoring Sunday as Paul di Resta in seventh and Nico Hulkenberg ninth were split by the Toro Rosso of Vergne, claiming his first points in Formula One after narrowly missing out in Melbourne. Michael Schumacher claimed the final point in another very forgettable race day for Mercedes, Schumacher having spun on lap one and Nico Rosberg not being able to keep up his early fourth place pace as he rapidly dropped down the field to thirteenth.

It was another disappointing afternoon for Mercedes; Rosberg came home 13th, ahead of Button, as his unscheduled pit-stop and slow race pace were not reflective of the Mercedes' qualifying speed and potential.

Felipe Massa had another weekend to forget, finishing 15th, despite battling with Di Resta at one point. It's hard to escape the feeling that today was an audition for Perez to take Massa's seat sooner or later. Ferrari don't like firing drivers mid season, but Perez is a Ferrari Academy driver and the pressure is building for the team to take some action. The Mugello test on May 1st is the obvious place to give Perez a chance in the Ferrari, so China is a critical race for Massa.

MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX, Sepang, 56 laps

1. Alonso Ferrari

2. Perez Sauber

3. Hamilton McLaren

4. Webber Red Bull

5. Raikkonen Lotus

6. Senna Williams

7. Di Resta Force India

8. Vergne Toro Rosso

9. Hulkenberg Force India

10. Schumacher Mercedes

11. Vettel Red Bull

12. Ricciardo Toro Rosso

13. Rosberg Mercedes

14. Button McLaren

15. Massa Ferrari

16. Petrov Caterham

17. Glock Marussia

18. Kovalainen Caterham

19. Maldonado Williams

20. Pic Marussia

21. Karthikeyan HRT

22. De la Rosa HRT

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Seb critical of Karthikeyan

Sebastian Vettel was none too pleased with Narain Karthikeyan in Malayasia on Sunday after the HRT driver cost him a possible P4 finish.

The World Champion had a difficult afternoon at the Sepang circuit, but he still managed to put himself on course for a points haul of 12.

Well, that was until he crossed paths with backmarker Karthikeyan on lap 47. The two made contact and Vettel was forced to pit with a puncture. He dropped out of the top 10 positions and eventually finished the race in 11th place.

Needless to say, the German wasn't very happy with Karthikeyan after the race.

"We did our maximum to get up to fourth, but to then lose the race how I did is very frustrating," he said.

"Some people (Karthikeyan) need to look more where they are going.

"There were then problems with the car after the incident, but I wanted to see the chequered flag, even though there were no points for me.

"Before the incident with HRT the way the race unfolded was good for us, so it's frustrating to lose it like that."

Vettel also had some problems with his in-car radio throughout the race.

"Crucially we lost radio communication and that makes it very difficult in these conditions to know what's going on," said Red Bull driver.

"Today it was crucial to come in at the right time. Having no radio meant we were delayed getting the messages, and I didn't hear anything from the team at the end."

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Grosjean: Schumacher hit me

Romain Grosjean has blamed Michael Schumacher for their Malaysian GP accident, saying it was the Mercedes driver who hit him.Fighting over third place at the start of the grand prix, Grosjean and Schumacher made contract at Turn Four, which put both drivers into a spin.

"I was there, I was careful and unfortunately I think it was Schumacher came to hit me and in Turn Four I spun," he told Reuters.

"From that point the race was really bad."

But it quickly went from bad to worse, as with the rain intensifying Grosjean spun off the track on lap 3 and was beached in the gravel.

"The rain came too hard, Kimi (Raikkonen) was pitting so we couldn't put both cars into the pit and I had to stay out with inters but it was just... I couldn't drive it," he said.

"There was no visibility. It was very difficult. (I'm) very disappointed because I think we could have had a good result here."

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Schumacher: A real shame

Michael Schumacher may have scored his first point of the season in Malaysia but the German admits it was not even close to what he was hoping for.

Starting third on the Sepang grid, his best qualifying performance since returning to Formula One with Mercedes, there was a great deal of anticipation surrounding Schumacher.

But, once again, it was not to be.

The German was spun around by Romain Grosjean in the tricky wet conditions and dropped well down the order. 56 laps later, he was P10 which earned him a single World Championship point.

"From where I started the race, it's a real shame to grab just one point at the end today, and of course I would have wished for a better finish for our team after their hard work," Schumacher said.

"However I was touched at the back soon after the start and the car spun which really decided my afternoon."

Schumacher said he supported FIA race director Charlie Whiting's decision to suspend the grand prix as the conditions were too dangerous. The race was red flagged for 51 minutes.

"During the first part of the race, I just tried to stay on track as you couldn't see anything, and it was the right decision to halt the race," he continued.

"After the re-start, the pace wasn't that far off but it was the same for a lot of teams so there was no way to gain positions."

Schumacher's single point on Sunday was in sharp contrast to his third place on the Sepang grid and brought into sharp relief the fact that Mercedes still have work to do to improve their long-distance showing.

"It's clear from today that there is still a lot of work for us to do to take our pace from qualifying into the race, and I am sure the guys are already thinking very hard about finding a solution.

"But this will not be done from one race to another, it will take some time, and we need to give it that time. Still it is a fact that we have improved, so I can fly home now being sure about this and looking forward to fighting in the races to come."

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Whitmarsh adds fuel to Perez rumours

It is just a matter of time before Sergio Perez replaces Felipe Massa at Ferrari, according to Martin Whitmarsh.

Perez, who is on the books of Ferrari as an academy driver, has been linked with the Italian outfit since he made the step up to Formula One last year and the rumours will no doubt intensify over the next couple of weeks after his impressive display at Sepang.

The young Mexican came from P9 on the grid to finish second behind Fernando Alonso at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

With Massa struggling to make to make much of an impact so far this year, a lot people believe Ferrari will axe the Brazilian and bring Perez in, and Whitmarsh believes it could happen before the Chinese GP on April 15.

"He was a revelation, I imagine he has put a bit of pressure on Mr Massa," the McLaren team principal said.

"I don't know what the odds are on him switching teams before China, but there must be consideration."

Ferrari, meanwhile, have dismissed the reports as speculation with team boss Stefano Domenicali telling Sky Sports F1's Ted Kravitz that it is "just not true".