2014 Malaysian Grand Prix Saturday - Qualifying
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If the rain returns now, this could be terrible for championship leader McLaren, with both its cars outside the cut-off.
Grosjean is informed that the rain is getting heavier over the radio.
Around the drop-zone:
14 Vergne, 15 Maldonado, 16 Sutil, 17 Button, 18 Bianchi, 19 Kobayashi, 20 Chilton, 21 Ericsson, 22 Magnussen (no time)
14 Vergne, 15 Maldonado, 16 Sutil, 17 Button, 18 Bianchi, 19 Kobayashi, 20 Chilton, 21 Ericsson, 22 Magnussen (no time)
Lead order: 1 Rosberg, 2 Hamilton, 3 Ricciardo, 4 Hulkenberg, 5 Perez, 6 Grosjean, 7 Raikkonen, 8 Alonso, 9 Vettel, 10 Bottas.
Everyone has got a time on the board bar Ericsson and Magnussen.
"Box Sebastian. Issue with car". Ominous call to Vettel from the Red Bull pitwall.
Ricciardo goes to third place, 1.8s off Rosberg's pace.
Rosberg improves by just 0.006s with a 1m57.183s.
Hamilton improves but stays second on a 1m57.202s.
Massa into third, then Hulkenberg takes third, 2.2s off the Mercs.
Kevin Magnussen has been called back to the pits for inters. "We think inters is the right tyre, so box this lap" was the message.
Alonso goes third but he's 3.2s off Rosberg.
The Mercedes are 4s quicker than early laps from Bottas, Maldonado, Button and the Marussias.
Stopwatch
Rosberg immediately beats him with 1m57.189s.
Stopwatch
Hamilton sets our benchmark at 1m57.309s.
Jenson Button gets some advice from the pitwall: "These are good conditions for this tyre, let's set a time on this tyre."
Marcus Ericsson stalls on his way out of pitlane. Cars behind him weave their way past.
Lewis Hamilton is told that rain is expected in the session, and that he should make his early laps "representative".
Green flag
We're underway, lots of drivers straight onto intermediates.
EDD STRAW: "You'd expect everyone to try and get out early on and get a time on the board, given that there is a chance that the rain will return. Particularly for the quick cars, Q1 is largely a chance to trip up, so keep it simple is the logical approach."
No more delays. Qualifying will get underway in five minutes.
EDD STRAW: "Sensible that the FIA has now moved to five-minute delays. Getting towards conditions where they could run and with the risk of rain returning, it's essential to get the cars on track as soon as it's possible to do so."
Start of qualifying has been delayed by a further 5 minutes. Now due to start at 10 to the hour.
Kimi Raikkonen is getting belted into his Ferrari. If he thought qualifying wasn't going to happen today, you know he'd be cracking out a Cornetto, so this has to be a good omen.
In the meantime, there is ample blow-drying activity in the pitlane as teams try to dry their pit areas.
EDD STRAW: "Does seem, however, that while the rain has been slowly easing, there's a good chance it will intensify again."
Air Titan
As the Sepang rain eases, the focus will be on how quickly the standing water clears. Ironically yesterday at Martinsville NASCAR was unveiling the 2.0 iteration of its Air Titan track-drying contraption.
The second-generation unit "more than triples the blade capacity of the original version and delivers 2.6 times more air volume at a speed of 568 mph, while raising the air temperature by 70 degrees over ambient. With the combination of water removal and accelerated evaporation, the ultimate goal is to reduce track-drying time by 80 per cent," according to NASCAR.
All good stuff for fans and journalists who tire of NASCAR rain delays. AUTOSPORT would like to underline that while Air Titan is a good call for ovals, it is not needed for Watkins Glen or Sonoma, thank you.
EDD STRAW: "The rain is gradually easing off. But it's slow progress and there's still plenty coming down here."
It is not just a question of the rain that the FIA will have to keep an eye out for. Sunset in Kuala Lumpur today is 7.22 pm - but it will probably be too dark just before then to get qualifying going.
That means a cut-off time of around 6pm to get things going properly.
It's 4.25pm local time now.
That means a cut-off time of around 6pm to get things going properly.
It's 4.25pm local time now.
BEN ANDERSON: "Safety car doing a reconnaissance lap of the track to check conditions. The Merc looks a bit of a handful!"
Unsurprisingly, qualifying has been delayed by another 15 minutes to a quarter-to the hour because of the conditions.
One man who may like this deluge will be Sebastian Vettel - who knows the rain offers a better opportunity for Red Bull to shine.
When asked on Friday about whether or not he felt he could fight for pole, he said: "Always! If it rains, everything is possible – if it is dry then a bit more difficult."
When asked on Friday about whether or not he felt he could fight for pole, he said: "Always! If it rains, everything is possible – if it is dry then a bit more difficult."
While nothing much happens in F1 qualifying (for now), here's a round-up of what's going on elsewhere in world motorsport on a very busy weekend.
The new Porsche 919 Hybrid went head to head with its Le Mans/WEC LMP1 rivals Audi and Toyota for the first time at Paul Ricard yesterday - and came out on top. That test continues today.
IndyCar has begun in St Petersburg, with Takuma Sato fastest on Friday and Juan Pablo Montoya playing himself back in gently as he tackles a street course for the first time since the 2006 Monaco GP. It's definitely not Talladega...
And we've just had two V8 Supercars races at Symmons Plains in Tasmania. Jamie Whincup winning is nothing unusual, but doing so after shunting team-mate Craig Lowndes off the road was a bit more surprising...
The big excitement today apart from Sepang is surely happening at Brands Hatch, where the 2014 British Touring Car Championship kicks off with 31 cars on the grid and seven champions among the field. Here's our guide to what to look out for:
BTCC 2014: The big storylines
The new Porsche 919 Hybrid went head to head with its Le Mans/WEC LMP1 rivals Audi and Toyota for the first time at Paul Ricard yesterday - and came out on top. That test continues today.
IndyCar has begun in St Petersburg, with Takuma Sato fastest on Friday and Juan Pablo Montoya playing himself back in gently as he tackles a street course for the first time since the 2006 Monaco GP. It's definitely not Talladega...
And we've just had two V8 Supercars races at Symmons Plains in Tasmania. Jamie Whincup winning is nothing unusual, but doing so after shunting team-mate Craig Lowndes off the road was a bit more surprising...
The big excitement today apart from Sepang is surely happening at Brands Hatch, where the 2014 British Touring Car Championship kicks off with 31 cars on the grid and seven champions among the field. Here's our guide to what to look out for:
BTCC 2014: The big storylines
EDD STRAW: "Next track inspection will be in 5 minutes. There's no significant change in the rain so I imagine there will be another 15 minute delay."
Qualifying has been delayed by a further 15 minutes because of the rain. It is now not due to start until at least half-past the hour.
EDD STRAW: "With the start of qualifying delayed by rain, it's easy to complain that the best drivers in the world should be able to deal with any conditions. But the problem isn't the drivers, it's the cars.
"Looking at the track, there is a huge amount of standing water, which makes it not just difficult to drive, but impossible. Even at very low speeds, aquaplaning is unavoidable and it would be farcical for the cars to go out.
"The important thing is that the restart is not delayed any longer than necessary."
"Looking at the track, there is a huge amount of standing water, which makes it not just difficult to drive, but impossible. Even at very low speeds, aquaplaning is unavoidable and it would be farcical for the cars to go out.
"The important thing is that the restart is not delayed any longer than necessary."
Qualifying start has been delayed by 15 minutes. Now due to start at a quarter-past the hour.
Breaking news
Fuel flow press conference
There were more developments in the ongoing Red Bull fuel flow controversy yesterday, as the FIA gave a detailed briefing to the media on how exactly it measures fuel flow under the new regulations.
F1 race director Charlie Whiting was adamant the rules are clear-cut, while Fabrice Lom, the FIA's head of powertrain, dismissed Red Bull boss Christian Horner's suggestion of scrapping the 100kg/h fuel flow limit on safety grounds.
EDD STRAW: "Problem with rain in this part of the world is that there tend to be two levels and nothing in between, so it's either no rain, or enormous amounts of rain. Looking at the amount of standing water on the main straight, if it is still like this in 20 or so minutes expect a delayed start to qualifying.
"Then again, the track drains and dries extremely quickly here, so things could certainly change. If, that is, it stops raining."
"Then again, the track drains and dries extremely quickly here, so things could certainly change. If, that is, it stops raining."
Twitter
Rain in Malaysia automatically brings up memories of the truncated 2009 race and of course Kimi Raikkonen heading off for an ice cream during the red flag before it was official that the race was over.
Lotus certainly remembers that incident, tweeting this along with a picture of its ice cream fridge:
"Hey @InsideFerrari - we have plenty of these if either of your drivers has a craving if qualifying is delayed..."
Lotus certainly remembers that incident, tweeting this along with a picture of its ice cream fridge:
"Hey @InsideFerrari - we have plenty of these if either of your drivers has a craving if qualifying is delayed..."
By: Scott Mitchell, Edd Straw, Ben Anderson, Andrew van Leeuwen, Jonathan Noble, Pablo Elizalde
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