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Time variable may again influence the outcome of Ferrari and McLaren will go head to Malaysia on Easter Sunday in the Grand Prix.

The season is already shaping up to be a battle between Ferrari and McLaren in the Grand Prix circus heads to Sepang and the Malaysian GP on Easter Sunday (April 4, 2010).

After the tedium of Bahrain is the wheel to wheel racing in changing conditions in Melbourne, which saw the reigning world champion Jenson Button to show their tactical skills by requiring a change of tires at the right time and ahead of the competition when the storm their first win of the season. There was also need for a technical error by the Red Bull driven by Sebastien Vettel, who had pole position, lead to spin off and let the button through.

Unfortunately for tactical excellence McLaren same does not apply to other driver Lewis Hamilton, who was called to change a tire other unnecessary cost him his career never recovered items and frustration finally collided with local driver Mark Webber the second Red Bull on the penultimate lap to take them both down on the ground. Hamilton managed sixth and Webbber, who was forced to pit, dropped to ninth. So there are only two points for Red Bull after the holding of the first row.

Michael Schumacher continued his poor start to the season after the derivation of the first corner forced him to pit and struggled for most of the race to get past Jamie Alguersuari in Toro Rossi. Finally he and I just had a championship point as a reward.

Ferrari was strong again with Fernando Alonso Felipe Massa take third and fourth is to ensure both the constructors and drivers championship. The second race was impressive by Renault, Robert Kubica, who held off the Ferrari Challenge and take second place.

Malaysian Grand Prix
Like Melbourne, tire wear will be critical in Malaysia as high temperatures combined with fast corners. The atmosphere will be missed by the audience will be low, interest in motor racing is not as high in Malaysia. The country also has a weather system that is bright warm sunlight one minute and then torrential rain a few minutes and returned to the sun. This has created havoc in the past and probably will do so again.

Jenson Button won the race from pole position last year.

Lotus and 3CX
As the Lotus team funded by the Malaysian currency, the drivers will be extra keen to do well on Sunday. And the contest will be closely watched in the team’s headquarters in Norfolk, England, thanks to telecommunications 3CX, who have installed their phone system at a technical center and mobile operations racetrack. This means that the race team can contact each other wherever they are on the way to Norfolk. Cars can not win the race yet, but at least have a unified communications system that ensures everyone knows what happens.

Table After two Grand Prix
Makes: Ferrari (70) McLaren (54), Mercedes (29), Red Bull (18), Renault (18), Force India (8), Williams (5).

Drivers: Alonso (37), Massa (33), Button (31), Hamilton (23), Rosberg (20), Kubica (18), Vettel (12), Schumacher (9), Liuzzi (8), Webber (6 ), Baric Hello (5).

Approval and Grid Positions
Information on approved and grid positions shown here after Saturday’s final qualifying. If not, try to beat fresh.

There are have been five Chinese Grand Prix to date and Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro can claim to have a good record in this relatively new fixture, as it has won three of them. These victories have undoubtedly contributed to the Prancing Horse’s reputation in China, which is an important market for Ferrari and even in these difficult economic times, the Maranello marquee is expanding here, with a growth in sales of 20% last year. Rubens Barrichello won the inaugural race in 2004, Michael Schumacher was victorious in 2006, followed a year later by Kimi Räikkönen, the Finn having made two previous visits to the Shanghai podium with third place in 2004 and a second in 2005. Felipe Massa finished third in 2007 and second last year, so it would be a logical progression if he made it to the top step of the podium this weekend. While this success means that walking into the Shanghai International Circuit brings back happy memories for the team, it is clear that there is no room for sentiment in Formula 1 and this year’s form book is currently radically different to anything we have seen in the recent past.

Apart from the form book, the other element that has changed for China this year is its position on the calendar. In the past, it has always been held towards the end of the season and while this is of little significance, more importantly, the new date means the race no longer takes place at the end of summer and one can expect cooler temperatures this weekend, which means that data concerning track conditions and their effect on the car package, could be slightly wide of the mark. However, current forecasts are for the temperatures to rise through the week, peaking in the low 20s on Sunday. If it is cooler this will impact on the tyres and here in Shanghai, Bridgestone is supplying the teams with the same specifications seen in Melbourne; the super-soft and the mediums. While this combination and specifically the super-softs, caught the majority of teams by surprise in Australia, this time they will be used on a track surface offering far more grip. It is possible that it will be the medium specification that might be harder to manage if lower temperatures mean it struggles to reach optimum operating temperatures.

The circuit itself presents a tough challenge for the cars, with a very long straight and a mix of fast and slow corners, with the very long banked turn leading onto the back straight, putting a lot of stress onto the left hand side tyres, while the opening two corners are very tricky slow tightening turns that can lose a driver a lot of time and can be the deciding factor in setting a quick qualifying lap. The circuit is also demanding on brakes, with heavy braking required at the approach to the first two and last two turns. Using the adjustable front wing flap might well come into its own, rebalancing the car to deal with these slow turns. Additionally, those cars fitted with KERS should be able to defend themselves well from coming under attack at the end of the straights.

Although there has been a break since the Malaysian race and what was a difficult start to the season for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, there has been no testing. Nevertheless, the team has worked hard to address the problems it encountered, particularly the reliability issues. The problem with the KERS in Sepang has been fully understood and in terms of performance, putting to one side the diffuser issue, Ferrari accelerated its development programme on the F60, with test driver Marc Gene carrying out an aero test at Vairano last week, evaluating some new components. This means there will be some aero updates on the car for the third round of the championship, including modifications to the front wing, the front wheel flanges and the turning vanes.

In order to achieve this accelerated development, Ferrari has set up a specific task force back at the factory, coordinated by Aldo Costa with a major contribution coming from Luca Baldisserri, who provides the link between the race track and the design office. While remaining in the role of team manager, for the time being, Baldisserri will work out of Maranello and his responsibilities at the races will be taken on by Chris Dyer, Head of Race Engineering. Assessing the tyres will be the main target for this new task force during Friday’s practice.

Source: Ferrari F1