Malaysian GP Review

Last Sunday the Sepang race was completely CRAZY! Lewis Hamilton and Button started again from the front of the grid but this is pretty much everything that the Malaysian GP weekend had in common with the Australian Grand Prix from the previous week. The huge difference - the TROPICAL RAIN.

The Winners

Fernando Alonso

Image Copyrights: Daily Mail

After starting from P8 on the grid in an unlikely turn of events Fernando Alonso won the Malaysian Grand Prix. My post qualification talk was full of praise for Mercedes but the BIG surprise is Ferrari. The uncompetitive in qualifying car behaves pretty well when it counts - during the race. The great applause for this victory, however, goes to the pit crew of Ferrari. Their brilliant decision to get Felipe and Fernando inside the pit at the same time prevented Lewis Hamilton from leaving the pit lane ahead of Alonso. Alonso took the lead after that glorious pit and after that his experience allowed him to bring the win home. 

Regretfully, Massa is still more than a second slower than his teammate. There is something going on there - lack of motivation, fear, discontent, you name it. Alonso called the first two races "damage limitation" as the red team was trying to lose as little points as possible. It turned out, however, that after two races Alonso is the championship leader with 35 points (5 ahead of Lewis). The season promises to be heated.

Sergio Perez

Image Copyrights: Daily Mail

Perez managed to claim an impressive career-best performance by finishing second at Sepang. Besides Alonso there were five other former champions on the grid but it was only the brave Mexican that poised a challenge to the Spaniard. The tire management work of Perez was so amazing that some pundits claimed that the young Cico was supposed to pay from his own pocket for every pair of used tires. If it was not for an accident a couple of laps before the end of the race, Sauber's young star could have captured the victory as the car was obviously faster than Ferrari in the last third of the race. The rumors that connect Perez with a Ferrari move after the (seemingly inevitable) departure of Felipe just got a little more heated after Sergio's terrific performance in Malaysia.

The Losers

Red Bull

Image Copyrights: Daily Mail

Two races into the championship Red Bull are still without a win. They were not even close to fighting for one either during both races. And as if starting from P5 and P6 was not miserable enough, Vettel  punctured a tire when lapping Karthikeyan HRT and managed to finish in the dismal 11 place after running at fourth for the most of the race. He also was without radio communication for most of the race. During the meeting with the press after the race Vettel managed to make a fool of himself by calling Karthikeyan "an idiot" and "a cucumber."

Mercedes

Image Copyrights: Motorsport@Petronas

Despite a great position on the grid at P3, Michael Schumacher could finish only tenth, while Rosberg was outside the top ten. Therefore, the F-duct powered speed in the qualification still does not translate to a stable race performance for the German giants. They should get back to the drawing board as one point from two races does not compare well even against teams like Force India, Williams, Toro Rosso, and Sauber.

Formula 1: Malaysian GP Qualification

The Winners

McLaren

Image Copyrights: F1 Fanatic

The British team is still the fastest on the field. They did not seem particularly troubled during the qualification on Sepang and managed an easy 1-2 for the race tomorrow. Considering that the cars have not changed from last weekend, I expect they will also snatch the win on Sunday. It will be interesting to see how Hamilton will take it, if Button outperforms him again tomorrow. The balance of power seems to be shifting within the Silver Arrows/Team GB. 

Mercedes

Image Copyrights: Formula 1 Official Website

The F-duct (in the picture above) seems to be working quite well for Mercedes AMG Petronas. They are really fast during the practices and the qualification sessions when DRS is allowed everywhere. The problem is that last time the pace in the race was not as good. I think they can get in the mix between Red Bull and McLaren but I'm not sure if it will be her or later in the season. A great time from Michael - less than 0.2 off the pace of Hamilton who will be on pole tomorrow. I hope the King still has the great start reaction that one him so many positions last year. It will definitely be heated with the two McLarens in the front and the two Red Bulls at his back.

The Losers

Red Bull

Image Copyrights: Red Bull Racing Official Websites

The Red Bulls are definitely not quite there yet. They did not even try putting up a fight for the pole. Webber outperformed last years' record maker Vettel (P5) and will start from forth on the grid. Webber was, however, disturbingly close to not making it out of Q1 in the qualification. I think every time a team has such a great year as they had in 2011, there is inevitably a feeling of relaxation and overconfidence that causes a loss in pace the year after that. I hope Newey still has some aces up his sleeves for the next races.

Qualification Results*

Image Copyrights: Official F1 Website

*Kovalainen and Raikkonen have 5 place grid penalties

Tributes to F1 Champions

Fernando Alonso

This tribute to Fernando Alonso includes the Abba classic "Fernando:" very clever! In part of the video, Alonso features in a Ferrari rodeo-style commercial. It is quite impressive, if it was actually Nando doing the stunts with the horse.

Michael Schumacher

This video has no real horses or music: just the engines of F1 cars and the brilliance of the undisputed King of Formula 1. I hope that soon Michael will find it within himself and the Mercedes AMG Petronas W03 car whatever it takes to became this driver again. Ferrari and Michael Schumacher from the beginning of the millennium are without a doubt the best racing team to have ever been in Formula 1. However, since the Champion left, the legendary Italian team seems lost.

Sebastian Vettel

The video features Sebastian Vettel, winning his first title (2010) and first Grand Prix (Monza 2008). Those were also the maiden title and victory for Red Bull and Toro Rosso, respectively. Seb is really giving wings to the bulls in F1. Midway through the video, there is a short clip with Vettel as a child in his room. There we can see that a picture with Schumacher from a cart  race was obviously among Seb's most prized possession. This boy is not only a great talent but also has a very good taste. I wonder how it feels like when he actually gets to race Michael.

F1 Themed Haiku, Part Deux

This is part two of my series of F1 inspired haiku posts, check also Part 1. 

Schumi & Kimi, Monza 2006

The father, the heir:

two kings in the dawn of Fall

and the end of hope.

Image Copyrights: Sisi's Blog

Schumi in 2003

A black horse on fire:

the power of the west wind,

the orphan horseman.

Image Copyrights: BBC

Vettel

Fiery bull with wings: 

silver cup and a rainbow

in a teardrop.

Image Copyrights: BBC 

Australian GP: Button Wins

The Year of the Champions is under way with a Button win in Albert Park, Melbourne. Vettel and Hamilton joined him on the podium with Webber a close fourth.

Image Copyright: Yahoo! Sports

The Winners

Jenson Button

Image Copyright: Yahoo! Sports  

Great win for the 2009 world champion. The dynamics in the McLaren team seem to have stayed the same. Button is obviously in a very good place mentally, Hamilton - not so much. Button managed to snatch the lead even before the first corner. After that, besides a brief spell behind the safety car, no car was even close to him in the race. Jenson leads the champtionship for the first time in two years. 

Sebastian Vettel

Image Copyright: Yahoo! Sports 

Sebastian had a pretty bad (especially for his standards) qualification yesterday and managed only a six place on the start. A good start and pitting immediately after the safety car went out (to allow the stewards to remove Petrov's Catheram that was parked on the start lane) helped Sebastian to gain a second place in the race. Sebastian could not really challenge Button for the victory but he did a great job to stay ahead of Hamilton in the final 15 laps.  Vettel was obviously very happy to get on the podium, despite not winning.

Fernando Alonso

Image Copyright: Yahoo! Sports  

Nothing seems to have changed in Ferrari as well. Nando is again driving the car 1 second and 5 positions further than it should have been. Still not enought for a podium but finishing 5th from 12th in qualification is almost a victory with this Ferrari car. Alonso did a great job at the start to launch himself in the front but at the end of the race was struggling to keep Maldonaldo before the Scot smashed his Williams in a spectacular fashion in the last lap.

Kimi Raikkonen

Image Copyright: Yahoo! Sports

Great return for the "eloquent" Finn. After starting from P17, Maldonaldo + Perez + Rosberg's accidents in the last lap saw him finish in 7. While teammate Grosjean outperformed Kimi on Saturday, the champion for 2007 showed that he still has the intensity to be a factor in Formula 1. I take back my words from yesterday - Kimi is definitely at a better place now. He seems somewhat cooler. If this is even possible for a driver called Iceman.

The Losers

Lewis Hamilton

Image Copyright: Yahoo! Sports 

Lewis is back with Nicole but the 2008 Hamilton is still MIA. He started the Melbourn race from the pole but managed only third at the end. His body language on the podium was very negative in contrast with Button's and Vettel's. It feels that Lewis is mentally still in the last season. Regretfully, he could not really launch an attack on Button once Jenson got the better of him on the race towards the first corner. It also seems that the good friendly atmosphere from 2010-2011 in McLaren might be vanishing as Jenson regularly outperforms the not-so-young-anymore prodigy.

Mercedes AMG

Image Copyright: Yahoo! Sports 

After the great qualification yesterday, the silver arrows could not even snatch a point in Melbourne. Despite a great start that saw Michael and Nico launch themselves into third and fourth, respectively, Mercedes underpeformed in the opening race of the season. Schumacher retired early after a gear box problem, while Rosberg lost a position in the points because of a last lap accident with Perez. Very unlucky but it was also evident at the beginning of the race that Brawn's team still does not have the pace to really compete with McLaren and Red Bull.

What is your take on the first race of the F1 season? Please post in the comments below.

If you liked this post, you might also appreciate my review of the Australian GP qualification, my season 2012 preview, and my review of the new motorsport show The Grid.

Here are the final results of the race:

Copyright: Formula 1: Official Website

Vettel and Schumi

Image Copyright: Quizlexic

If somebody still wonders why Vettel is called Baby Schumi - this is why! I cannot wait to see how the race tomorrow plays out. 

If you liked this, check also Australian GP Qualification, 2012 Season Preview, and The Grid. 

Vettel Wins in Korea

Sebastian Vettel won the Korean GP with a very comfortable margin. He had a great first lap in which he overtook Hamilton (who started from P1 today) and he did not loosen the grip on the victory even for a second after that. But I was really impressed how happy Seb was at the end of the race that he finally managed to get the fastest lap in the race this year. I mean: he has 10 victories, he is already a double world champion even though he is only 23, he guided Red Bull to their second constructor's title. Why would he need the fastest lap so badly? Because this is who Vettel is. Yes, he is a very nice and polite lad but underneath he is a real champion and a fighter.

Watching the post race interview, I remembered why I like the guy so much. At some moments he reminds me of Schumi a LOT but there is also something else - his attitude - he really seems so nice to everybody around the grid. And he is really positive. Schumi always had a little bit of an attitude - when he was younger, he was just too much into the race and too invested in winning. He is different now; he seems to be genuinely happy just being on the track. When he was still fighting for the world championship, just participating was never enough. It seems for Vettel, however, even a small opportunity to prove himself and make the fans happy means a lot.


This also takes me back to the game last night - Ajax's reserve goalie had the same attitude - he was just satisfied to be out there, in front of the fans. It is really great to see that it is not only business, that these certainly well-paid champions are driven by something deeper than money: by a real love for the sport. Those are one of those moments that make every tear, every time your heart stopped during a game or a race totally worth it. Thank you for the smile Seb and keep it always :)