

The Sepang circuit, on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur, presents teams with a unique set of conditions to deal with. Many of the teams say that it is akin to racing in a sauna, the combination of fast and slow corners, long straights, high temperatures and potential torrential rain can push both man and machine to the limit. The circuit will be one of the most severe test of the braking systems so far and high ambient temperatures could see teams already marginal on tyres struggling.

Track Data



Located 85 kilometres from Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, the SIC was purpose-built over 18 months from 1998-99 to bring Formula One to the country and to create a ‘landmark’ F1 venue. The design and construction of the circuit on a former 260-hectare oil palm plantation was overseen by German architect Hermann Tilke, who has since gone on to construct a number of state-of-the-art Formula One tracks. From the first edition of the race in 1999, the Malaysian Grand Prix has always provided drama and incident and the 2012 event is not expected to be any different.

Circuit Length: 5.543 km

Race Distance: 310.408 km

Number of Laps: 56

Full Throttle: 65%

Brake Wear: Medium

Tyre Compounds: –

Downforce Level: Medium/High 8/10

Tyre Usage: Medium/Hard

Average Speed: 205kph (127mph)

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Tyres

Sepang is one of the toughest tracks of the year for the tyres, because of the both the weather and track conditions. Pirelli is bringing the P Zero Silver hard and P Zero White medium tyre to the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Track temperatures in Malaysia can exceed 50 degrees centigrade during the hottest part of the day. The higher track temperatures and rougher surface should lead to a significantly higher wear rate than Melbourne, meaning that degradation is more severe. This is the thinking behind the nomination of the hard and medium tyres for the first time.

The other key point is the high lateral demands imposed by the circuit, with the most challenging sequence of corners being turns five to seven and turns 12 to 13 – as we can see when we look at the track from a tyre’s point of view.

During the entry to turn one, 460 metres after the start-finish line, the front tyres have to provide both braking and steering – which becomes critical in the middle of the corner due to the low speed and consequent lack of aerodynamic downforce. Traction is particularly important for turn two, as it leads into a high-speed section so a good exit is required.

Through the fast corners of the circuit (two of them are taken at speeds higher than 250kph) the tyres have to cope with lateral forces of up to 4G that place heavy demands on the shoulder: the part of the tyre where the most heat tends to build up. A driver needs plenty of stability from the tyres throughout turn three in particular.

Turns five and six are also fast: the car can be run low with a stiff suspension set-up as there are no big kerbs in Sepang. As always, the tyres form a vital part of the car’s suspension, absorbing any bumps and imperfections on the track.

The final corner – turn 15 – takes in a deceleration of 5.3G. All the braking is done in a straight line to maximise braking efficiency. Then the driver turns into the corner at speed, with the external tyre absorbing all the force of both the lateral and longitudinal accelerations. The entry to this corner usually provides a good opportunity for overtaking, thanks also to the use of KERS and DRS, and drivers often take a variety of lines here.

The Cinturato wet weather tyres in Malaysia:

The Malaysian Grand Prix is one of the hottest and most demanding events of the year for the tyres, which is why Pirelli has nominated the hard and medium slick tyres for Sepang – but this is only half the story.

The 80% humidity that is a constant feature of the area frequently results in heavy rain, although unusually all the on-track running was dry last year. So Pirelli’s new Cinturato Green intermediate and Cinturato Blue full wet tyre – seen for the first time on Friday in Australia – is likely to play an important role this weekend.

The 2012-specification Cinturato rear wet-weather tyres are an evolution of the rain tyres seen last year, with a new profile, while the compounds and tread patterns remain largely the same. The effect of these changes has been to enhance both performance and safety in wet conditions.

Both the intermediate and full wet tyres continue to offer high levels of protection against aquaplaning, with the intermediate capable of dispersing around 25 litres of water per second at full speed, while the full wet can disperse up to 60 litres of water.

When it comes to the slick tyres, the new ‘squarer’ profile distributes all the forces more evenly across the whole surface of the tyre. This provides another important advantage in terms of safety. On the straights, the contact patch now measures 300 centimetres squared – providing the grip, traction and turn-in that is essential for a driver to maintain perfect control even at the limit of performance.

The levels of lateral energy that the tyres have to cope with in Malaysia is the second highest of the year after Barcelona – with the rear tyres coming under particular stress – and that applies equally to the wet and the dry compounds.

Whenever it rains in Sepang, the track tends to dry up quite quickly but it does not drain particularly well. This leads to plenty of standing water that can catch drivers out even when there appears to be a dry line.

Sepang is relatively severe on tyres as it has many different corner types and two heavy braking zones after long straights. This means the energy going through the tyres over a lap is considerable. Drivers will have to be careful not to lock their brakes, especially when they have heavy fuel loads and cool tyres in the early laps. The section between turns seven and eleven are very important at this track as they give a very good illustration of a good overall car set-up. Being strong here is crucial for a good performance at Sepang. High temperatures are usually a factor in Malaysia and this could mean more tyre degradation.

Engines

Cosworth’s perspective: There are two main tests for the engine around the demanding Sepang International Circuit: the track and the weather conditions. The most notable circuit characteristics are the two long straights, interlinked by a tight hairpin, that form the end of one lap and start of the next.

Each straight is close to 1km in length and allows drivers to really open the throttle for an extended period of time. Outright power down the back straight and good stability under braking can allow drivers to use the width of the track to overtake heading through the final corner of the lap. However, plenty of torque and grip are needed to make the pass “stick” as the cars head back up the main start-finish straight. A quick lap time also relies on the engine delivering effective acceleration on the exits to turns 4 and 9 in order to build up speed quickly through the medium corners that follow. The second big test for both man and machine is the oppressive heat and humidity that is typical of the Malaysian climate.

As Cosworth’s on-track support teams are placed in almost saunalike working conditions, the CA engine will too have to cope with the higher ambient and track temperatures which negate cooling. The extreme humidity compromises available power in the normally aspirated engine but somewhat lessens the challenge in terms of fuel economy, an important factor for the long race distance. The later starting time for last year’s event saw drivers and teams face a torrential monsoon downpour which ended the 56-lap race early. A slightly earlier start time for this year’s race may not alleviate the risk of a downpour entirely, but wet weather conditions, even in hot temperatures, would place the engine under fewer demands.

RACE REPORT

Tyres

The fastest lap of the race was set on the P Zero Silver hard tyre by Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen with three laps to go. The longest stints of the race were all 27 laps on the Cinturato Green intermediate tyre, run by Lewis Hamilton (McLaren), Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus) and Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber).

Pirelli’s motorsport director Paul Hembery commented: “This race had echoes of Canada last year, which was also suspended due to rain. Once more, that created an intriguing set of circumstances and some stand-out performances, such as Alonso and Perez at the front, who were the class of the field. After the re-start, it was important for the drivers to look after the intermediates – which showed great versatility in very mixed conditions – in order to keep them within their operating temperature range. The top two finishers adopted a completely different tyre strategy, with Alonso on the medium tyre and Perez on the hard tyre in the final stint, which shows how our decision to close up the performance gaps between the compounds has led to even closer racing.”

TEAM BY TEAM

McLaren

Car 3: MP4-27A-02

Position: 14th

Driver: Jenson Button

Car 4: MP4-27A-03

Position: 3rd

Driver: Lewis Hamilton

McLaren made some small changes around the rear of the MP4-27. Additional cooling gills were added, and a small turning vane was added to the car floor.



Further forward the MP4-27 was again fitted with its centre line cooling gills first seen at Barcelona. Also the additional cooling slots on top of the sidepods were opened (below).



Red Bull

Car 1: Chassis (not disclosed)

Position: 11th

Driver: Sebastian Vettel

Car 2: Chassis (not disclosed)

Position: 4th

Driver: Mark Webber

The RB8 features a naca duct style cut out in its under nose spaniel ears, one of many tiny aero details on this complex car. Nose duct also visible



A good look at the RB8’s front bulkhead shows very clearly the location of the lower duct. Its purpose is not yet clear, rather like the upper duct, claimed to be for driver cooling. It appears in a section of the tub which appears to be binded ontop of the main structure. It is not clear if this feeds into the cockpit or elsewhere.



Ferrari

Car 5: 295

Position: 1st

Driver: Fernando Alonso

Car 6: 294

Position: 15th

Driver: Felipe Massa

Felipe Massa switched chassis following the Australian Grand Prix, in an attempt to improve performance. It didn’t work. In Qualifying chassis 295 (Alonso) suffered some kind of KERS problem not uncommon at Sepang with its very high ambient temperatures. To deal with those temperatures, the F2012 was fitted with additional cooling gills



A look at the cake tin of the F2012 reveals some nice sculpted ducting and the well integrated brake caliper.



On winning the race Fernando Alonso celebrated by showing the assembled photographers his steering wheel. Here it is.



Sauber

Car 14: Chassis 01

Position: 6th

Driver: Kamui Kobayashi

Car 15: Chassis 03

Position: 8th

Driver: Sergio Perez

WRi2 supplied us with this very nice close up of the Sauber C31 brake set up. Thr caliper is mounted at the back of the disc. The disc has three interlinked drillings but this design is likely to change depending on the demands of each track.



Looking under the skin of the C31 you can immediately see some of the car layout, the upper impact structure above the sidepod cooler. The exhaust layout is curious coming forward from the collector before turning back on itself and exiting into the distinctive sidepod channels.



The rear end of the C31 features the Ferrari tansmission, the brake calipers are mounted at the bottom of the discs at the rear instead of at the rear as at the front.



The rear end of the C31 was modified for additional cooling in the very high ambient temperatures at Sepang. Additional gills were added alongside the exhaust exits, the bodywork ahead of the rear wheel is of interest.

Lotus

Car 9: E20-03

Position: 5th

Driver: Kimi Raikkonen

Car 10: E20-01

Position: DNF (off track)

Driver: Romain Grosjean

A new steering rack set-up for Kimi was tried out in both free practice sessions helping the Finn get more comfortable in the E20. Grosjean had an issue with an incorrectly seated rear wheel nut in FP1, the E20 uses nuts that are an integral part of the wheel.

In high temperatures KERS was not operating perfectly on one of the two E20’s.

Kimi Raikkonen was hit with a five place grid drop after needing a new gearbox before the race after its cooler was blocked by debris in Melbourne and it overheated.



Looking along sidepod of the E20 some of the electronic components are clearly visible under the cooler exit. The brake duct arrangement is interesting.

Toro Rosso

Car 16: Toro Rosso STR7-01

Position: 12th

Driver: Daniel Ricciardo

Car 17: Toro Rosso STR7-03

Position: 8th

Driver: Jean Eric Vergne

In free practice the team evaluated some new aerodynamic parts on the STR7 as well as some tyre compound testing. Flow vis paint was applied to the areas of interest around the front of the car and in case you were wondering how it is applied – they use a brush.



Force India

Car 11: VJM05/02

Position: 7th

Driver: Paul di Resta

Car 11: VJM05/03

Position: 9th

Driver: Nico Hulkenberg

In free practice VJM05/02 suffered a brake problem which was resolved with a change of friction material.

A look at the VJM05 reveals some more information about its underbody. The upper impact structure is clear to see.



With the floor removed (below) it appears as though the VJM05 is drawing air from under the splitter into the base of the tub – this could be for KERS cooling or it could just be a very substantial support shaped like the head of a vacuum cleaner. The upper duct is almost certainly for driver cooling.



Mercedes

Car 7: F1 W03/05

Position: 10th

Driver: Michael Schumacher

Car 8: F1 W03/03

Position: 13th

Driver: Nico Rosberg

Much interest is still being paid to the Mercedes wing stalling devices, and they are certainly hard to see in images. A look at the front bulkhead reveals little. With a cover fitted inside the nose blocking most of what may be seen. On top of the nose at Malaysia a large driver cooling duct was added, suggesting that the duct on the tip of the nose has more functionality than the traditional driver cooling that it would normally supply.



A look at the front brake ducts used in Malaysia reveals a very simple design, some teams use lots of turning vanes in this area.



Williams

Car 18: FW34-02

Position: DNF (Engine)

Driver: Pastor Maldonado

Car 19: FW34-03

Position: DNF (Collision)

Driver: Bruno Senna

FP1 Driver: Valtteri Bottas

Renault RS27-5322/2 was overheated in Melbourne and failed not long before the end of the race at Sepang. The two are likely to be related. The FW34 featured larger cooling exits on the side pods extending downward from the exhaust outlet. In the image below the car appears to have damage behind the exhaust outlet.



Williams tested something on its rear wing endplate which involved using a hydraulic line running up towards the main plane. It is likely that this is part of an updated DRS mechanism, during the race the car also ran with a rather hastily updated line taped to the rear wing end plate



Caterham

Car 20: Caterham CT01-3

Position: 18th

Driver: Heikki Kovalainen

Car 21: Caterham CT01-2

Position: 16th

Driver: Vitaly Petrov

Caterham reverted to the smaller cooler outlet at Sepang instead of the very large engine cover version used in testing.



Marusssia

Car 24: Chassis (Not disclosed)

Position: 17th

Driver: Timo Glock

Car 25: Chassis (Not disclosed)

Position: 20th

Driver: Charles Pic

HRT

Car 22: HRT F112-001

Position: 21st

Driver: Pedro De La Rosa

Car 23: HRT F112-002

Position: 22nd

Driver: Narain Karthikeyan

The team carried out its first tests with the DRS and hard compound tyres and with every stint Pedro de la Rosa’s and Narain Karthikeyan’s sensations at the wheel of the F112 improved. However, the Indian driver’s car stopped halfway through the session due to a hydraulic issue which was fixed in time for the second session. In the afternoon, both de la Rosa and Karthikeyan worked on short stints to continue accumulating data with different set-ups and tyre compounds besides trying to optimize cooling, which is key at such a tough event as Malaysia. It was found that the F112 does indeed suffer from cooling issues

FIA TECHNICAL REPORT

By Jo Bauer, FIA Formula 1 Technical Delegate

Before the race:

A symmetric front wing deflection test was carried out on car numbers 07 and 15.

The following parts were replaced

Williams:

Car 18: LHS rear brake disc IR sensor, LHS rear upright adapter harness for brake disc IR sensor

A fuel sample was taken from car numbers 08, 15 and 16 and analysed during the race.

On the grid it was checked that all cars had fitted their tyres when the 3-Minutes board was shown.

After the race:

The following cars were weighed:1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16, 17, 18.

The steering wheel of all classified cars has been checked.

Car numbers 02, 04, 05, 07, 09, 11, 12, 15, 17 and 19 were checked for the following:

1) Bodywork around the front wheels

2) Front wing height and overhang

3) Rear wing height and overhang

4) Front and rear wing width

5) Rear wing configuration

6) Rear bodywork area

7) Rear winglet height

8) Skidblock thickness

9) Stepped bottom

10) Diffuser height

11) Diffuser area

12) Overall height

13) Overall width

It was confirmed for car numbers 02, 04, 05, 07, 09, 11, 12, 15, 17 and 19 that any vertical cross section of bodywork normal to the car centre line and situated in the volumes defined in Article 3.8.4 form one tangent continuous curve on its external surface with a radius no less than 75mm.

The concave radius of sections of the three rear wing elements which are in contact with the external air stream was checked on car numbers 02, 04, 05, 07, 09, 11, 12, 15, 17 and 19.

It was checked that no cars exceeded 100kph when leaving the formation grid for the race start.

The units locking status was checked on all cars.

The session type has been confirmed for all cars.

Software version checks have been carried out on all cars.

Chassis and Bios FIA checksums were checked on all cars taking part in the race.

The logger usage was checked on car numbers 02, 04 and 15.

The start data of car numbers 02 and 04 have been checked.

Engine protections were checked on car numbers 02, 04 and 15.

The KERS control was checked for car numbers 02, 06, 09, 14, 15 and 19.

It was checked that car numbers 04, 05 and 15 did not exceed 18000 rpm during the race.

The fuel pressure of car numbers 04, 05 and 15 during the race was checked.

The logged pressure within the engine cooling system during the race was checked on car numbers 04, 05 and 15.

The tyres used by all drivers during the sessions today have been checked.

A fuel sample was taken from car numbers 04 and 19.

The fuel samples have been checked for density and analysed by gas chromatography. The results of all the fuel analyses show that the fuels were the same as ones, which had been approved for use by the relevant competitors prior to the Event.

All car weights and the items checked were found to be in conformity with the 2012 FIA Formula One Technical Regulations.