Malaysian GP Report
April 14th 2011 00:33
Sepang’s familiar dark clouds loomed over the Malaysian circuit leading to anticipation of a thrilling rain-affected race. The downpour never came, but it wasn’t needed to add any excitement to an intriguing, eventful race where Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel romped away to make it two from two in 2011.
THE GLORIOUS
Seb was once again an invincible force at Sepang. He snatched pole and sank Webber’s (who had been quicker in practice) buoyant hopes. The defending champ beat the field to the first corner and after that , it was game over. He built an insurmountable lead, and coasted to the end. Both McLarens made ground on Seb at different points in the race, but with a healthy gap, Vettel was never under serious pressure.
Jenson wasn’t quite up to the pace of the sister McLaren in qualifying, but his trademark smoothness gave him an upper hand in the race, getting more life from tyres. By the end of the race, he was the fastest man on the road, and was able to easily shoot past Hamilton, who was floundering on worn rubber. Button was closing in on Vettel in the closing laps, but the gap was too vast to launch a meaningful assault. A very strong second place.
Quick Nick brushed aside a horrendous debut for Renault in Australia, and ended the weekend with a bottle of champagne in his hands. Nick shone in qualifying, nabbing sixth and then deftly worked his way into second place off the start line. A poor pitstop dropped the German down the order, but he recovered and fought off a much-faster Webber in the final laps to hold onto a much-needed and thoroughly deserved podium place.
THE WORTHY
Webber’s disappointment in Melbourne was not quite atoned for in Sepang. Third again on the grid, Webber’s new KERS system failed before the race had even started. He was swamped off the line, and his high tyre wear required him to pit four times instead of three. To his credit. The Aussie showed some true pace in the latter stages, including setting the fastest race lap. But he couldn’t catch and pass Heidfeld for the podium and once again had to gaze up at his teammate standing atop the podium
It was a solid, if unspectacular race for the Brazilian, but importantly he notched up more points than teammate Alonso. Massa showed some flashes of raw pace on the option tyres but was pretty soggy on the hard tyres – defenceless against Webber.
Quite an eventful race for Nando – fighting hard to a podium position, despite his 150 suffering a problem with its moveable rear wing. The Spaniard’s tough battle with a slower Lewis Hamilton cost him his nosecone – and later, a 20 second penalty, meaning sixth place was the best he could manage.
Every time the camera cut to Kamui he was overtaking somebody – so it’s surprising he only managed to finish seventh. But seriously, the Sauber man was tremendously exciting around Sepang, battling, and beating Schumacher for a well-deserved seventh place.
Hamilton shone in qualifying, but couldn’t hold it all together for the race. He chewed his tyres up relentlessly and was penalised for it late in the race when he was sent tumbling down the order by cars with better kept rubber. He defended hard against Alonso, culminating in contact and a post-race penalty that dropped the 2008 champ down to 8th. Then came the whinging…
Schumacher was unlucky to miss out on Q3 due to a malfunctioning DRS flap, but in the race the billion-times world champion displayed some of his experienced racecraft and battled long and hard to earn some points. All that’s needed is for that Mercedes to deliver and we may finally see the Schu on the podium again.
Another excellent performance from the rookie Scot – he’s fast establishing himself as the cream of the new crop. He outqualified Sutil again and outraced him to earn another point.
THE POINTLESS
11. Adrian Sutil. Force India (grid: 17)
A poor qualifying lef the German with an uphill battle for points. He managed to gain some positions, but not enough.
12. Nico Rosberg. Mercedes (grid: 9)
Dreamboat Rosberg got off the line like a caterpillar in golden syrup – by the first corner he was well and truly out of contention and could not fight back.
13. Sebastian Buemi. Toro Rosso (grid: 12)
Toro Rosso struggled for pace at Sepang, and Buemi’s 13th was probably the best they could manage.
14. Jaime Alguesuari. Toro Rosso (grid: 13)
Kept at the heels of his teammate – but ultimately a mediocre performance.
15: Heikki Kovalainen. Lotus (gird: 19)
Heikki’s laps were getting nearer and nearer that hallowed midfield mark Lotus are gunning for – if they can keep focused, we may see the green cars mixing it in Q2.
16: Timo Glock. Virgin (grid: 21)
Timo must either be the most patient man in the world or a masochist, the Virgin is too slow for a man of his talent.
THE FALLEN
DNF: Vitaly Petrov. Renault (grid: 8)
Cause of Death: Kerb of Death 1 -Crash landing. The Russian must have had Dukes of Hazzard on TV in his hotel room, he sent his Renault sky high off a kerb and came down with the grace of a dropped watermelon.
DNF: Tonio Liuzzi. HRT (grid: 23)
Cause of Death: Rear Wing. HRT turned their Melbourne disappointment around by getting both cars well inside the 107% cutoff time. Liuzzi was the quicker of the two and was only 10 laps from home until his wing buggered up.
DNF: Jerome D’Ambrosio. Virgin (grid: 22)
Cause of Death: Kerb of Death 2 – Immobiliser. The rookie struggled to match Glock’s pace and was sent for an early bath when he banged into a kerb that cut off his engine.
DNF: Jarno Trulli. Lotus (grid: 20)
Cause of Death: Clutch. The winemaker was upbeat about his performance, but a clutch problem prevented him from exploring the car’s increasing potential.
DNF: Sergio Perez. Sauber (grid: 16)
Cause of Death: Achille’s Undertray. While battling with Buemi, a piece of the Toro Rosso flew off and hit Perez’s car, instantly killing it. A shame for the rookie who shone in Melbourne.
DNF: Rubens Barrichello. Williams (grid: 15)
Cause of Death: Transmission. Hydraulics. Bad qualifying – bad race… no Samba for Rubens.
DNF: Narain Karthikeyan. HRT (grid: 24)
Cause of Death: Hydraulics. Managed to line up for his first start since 2005, but was only able to last 14 laps.
DNF: Pastor Maldonado. Williams (grid: 18)
Cause of Death: Misfire: The Venezuelan had an even worse weekend than Rubens. Williams’ start to 2011 has been a shocker.
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