Friday, April 3, 2009 12:18 PM
Rosberg quickest in Malaysian practice
The Associated Press , Kuala Lumpur | Fri, 04/03/2009 11:31 AM | Sports
Nico Rosberg of Williams set the fastest time in Friday's first practice session ahead of Sunday's Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix.
It was the fourth straight practice session in which Rosberg had topped the time sheets after the three at last weekend's season-opening Australian GP.
Rosberg's time of 1 minute, 36.260 seconds was just four hundredths of a second quicker than his teammate Kazuki Nakajima.
Brawn's Jenson Button, winner in Australia, was third fastest, ahead of teammate Rubens Barrichello.
The two Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were fifth and sixth in official timing, ahead of McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull's Mark Webber.
Raikkonen looked on course for the fastest time late in the session, when smoke or steam began billowing into the cockpit and streaming from the rear of the car. He managed to get the car back to the pits.
Both Renault's ran off the track late in the session. Nelson Piquet had what appeared to be a mechanical or tire failure that sent him into a spin, while Fernando Alonso ran wide, narrowly pulling up short of a tire wall.
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One-two finish for Renault at Sepang
The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Mon, 03/20/2006 8:30 AM
After failing to finish the race in Bahrain a week ago, Giancarlo Fisichella dominated the Formula One Grand Prix in Malaysia on Sunday, finishing ahead of teammate and world champion Fernando Alonso to lead a one-two finish for Renault.
Jenson Button of Honda finished third at the Sepang circuit.
Fisichella, who started in pole position for only the third time in his F1 career, completed the 56-lap race in a winning time of 1:30:40.52, finishing 4.5 seconds ahead of Alonso and 9.6 seconds in front of Button.
McLaren's Pablo Montoya came in fourth 39.3 seconds behind the winner, while Felipe Massa and former world champion Michael Schumacher, both driving for Ferrari, finished fifth and six, respectively.
The 2005 Formula One runner-up, Kimi Raikkonen, crashed out of the race after his McLaren was clipped by Christian Klien driving for Red Bull.
Seven other drivers -- Nick Heidfeld of Sauber BMW, Scott Speed of STR-Cosworth, Yuji Ide of Super Aguri-Honda, Christian Klien of RBR-Ferarri, Mark Webber of Williams-Cosworth, David Coulthard of RBR-Ferrari and Nico Rosberg of Williams-Cosworth -- also failed to finish the race.
The 33-year-old Fisichella of Italy led the race almost from start to finish.
""It was a perfect race for me, but it was very tough physically and mentally. It was really, really hot out there and I began to feel it from mid-race onward. I knew it would be hard but there was no choice but to push all the way to the end,"" he said in a post-race press conference.
""So I did. I didn't want to lose concentration in the last laps, and everything went well, the car and engine were perfect, too. I am really so happy for this win,"" he said.
Alonso still leads the overall standings with 18 points, followed by Schumacher and Button with 11 points each. The next F1 race will be in Melbourne, Australia, on April 2. (Moch. N. Kurniawan from Sepang, Malaysia)
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Malaysia drops F1 night race plans due to cost
The Associated Press , Kuala Lumpur | Fri, 02/20/2009 11:27 AM | Sports
Malaysia will not hold a Formula 1 night race over the remaining years of its contract because of the high costs, electing instead to continue the twilight race model to begin this season.
The Malaysian Grand Prix will be held two hours later at 5 p.m. local time (0900GMT) on Apr. 5, making it easier for European viewers to watch the race and cooler for spectators in this tropical Southeast Asian country, said Irwan Rahman, a spokesman for organizer Sepang International Circuit.
"The benefit should still be there... There are no contracts that we have to do night races," he said.
The Malaysian government, encouraged by F1 organizers, considered a night race. Rahman said installing a lighting system to illuminate the circuit, at a cost estimated at 20 million ringgit ($5.77 million), was too expensive, and there was no guarantee that it would increase the revenue.
Sepang still hopes to attract the maximum 130,000 viewers to the circuit through package offers for the 2009 season's second race, following another twilight event in Melbourne, Australia, on Mar. 29.
The current contract for Malaysia to hold a grand prix runs until 2015. The country first hosted Formula 1 in 1999.
Neighboring Singapore held the first ever F1 night race last year, putting pressure on other grands prix in the region to do the same.
The addition of Singapore, two races in the United Arab Emirates and the eagerness to return to the United States means many races are under pressure to lift viewing figures and maintain their place on the season calendar.
Source: The Jakarta Post
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