Malaysian GP Review (Round 2)
April 9th 2007 09:31
McLaren:
McLaren hit back at Ferrari in the most perfect of ways at Malaysia, with Fernando Alonso leading teammate Lewis Hamilton home for a one-two finish. Whatever was said about Kimi Raikkonen’s performance in Australia could be said of Fernando Alonso’s victory in Malaysia. After a great start from both McLarens, Alonso (from P2) led, and with his teammate (from P4) holding up the Ferraris he was able to nail consecutive quick laps with the consistency of a metronome. Even though Fernando was advantaged early on by the buffer Hamilton had created, the overall pace of the leading McLaren, in the hands of the reigning world champion, was overwhelming. Hamilton, meanwhile put in another stellar rookie performance, under immense pressure from Ferrari for almost the entire race. Hamilton was precise and flawless, holding off wild attacks from Massa with veteran-like composure, and stayed in front of Raikkonen to finish second, with fastest lap.
Ferrari:
Malaysia didn’t quite deliver the race result that Ferrari would have been hoping for. Felipe Massa stuck his car on pole, and Kimi Raikkonen lined up third, which led many to speculate that this would be a Ferrari cakewalk. However, all hopes of that were dashed some 20 seconds into the Grand Prix. Both Ferraris were beaten off the line, which left Massa and Raikkonen queued up behind a heavy Lewis Hamilton, while Alonso scampered off into the distance. Massa threw some sloppy overtaking attempts at Hamilton at turn four, but on the second attempt found himself in the grass, and behind Nick Heidfeld in fifth place, where he eventually finished. Raikkonen was more levelheaded than his Brazilian teammate, and continued to pressure Hamilton. However, despite a strong run to the finish line, Kimi was unable to do any better than third place.
BMW:
BMW finished the Malaysian Grand Prix in pretty much the same way they finished the Australian GP a few weeks ago. Nick Heidfeld was again the best of the rest, finishing a brilliant fourth after capitalising on Massa’s mistake early on. The German managed to keep the Ferrari at bay for the remainder of the race, despite often running heavier fuel. Massa was never more than a few seconds away from Heidfeld’s rear wing, but Nick drove a faultless race in the face of constant pressure. Robert Kubica, meanwhile, suffered problems right from the get go. After he touched his teammate going into the first corner, The Polish driver suffered a collection of troubles during the race, from punctures, to gearbox issues, to front wing damage. He eventually finished dead last, after several mistakes.
Renault:
Renault will be considerably happier after Sunday than they were on Saturday. Lining up 11th (Kovalainen) and 12th (Fisichella) was not the ideal qualifying result for the team who finished one-two last year. However, the race was a bit better for Renault; Giancarlo Fisichella was able to fight his way up to sixth place, while Heikki Kovalainen shook his Melbourne demons to secure his first ever point in eight. That said, retirements from Rosberg and Kubica kept Renault in the points, and questions must be asked as to why the defending world champions are so, painfully, slow.
Toyota:
Toyota again managed to hoist both cars into the third qualifying session, with Jarno Trulli lining up eight and Ralf Schumacher ninth. From there, Trulli ran a trouble-free race in seventh, never quite at the pace of those in front, but quick enough to keep Kovalainen at bay. Schumacher meanwhile, disappeared to the back of the grid, reportedly after a puncture forced him into an extra pitstop. Ralf spent the rest of the race scrapping with the Hondas, Toro Rossos and Super Aguris, not once looking like having the pace of his point-scoring teammate.
Williams
Williams started off with a promising sixth on the grid for Nico Rosberg, while Wurz experienced issues in qualifying which left him down in 20th. The race produced an equally mixed result, which saw Wurz carve his way through he field, pulling off some breathtaking overtaking manoeuvres, most notably on David Coulthard, the man who almost decapitated him in Australia. Wurz climbed all over the back of Coulthard’s Red Bull going into turn four, and powered fearlessly around the outside despite the Scot’s best efforts to keep him at bay. Wurz eventually finished just outside the points in ninth place. Rosberg however, raced hard and was looking set for a fantastic sixth place, until hydraulic failure relegated his Williams-Toyota to the retirement list.
Red Bull
A promising result for Red Bull this weekend, but still not convincing enough to threaten points. Mark Webber again dragged his car into the third qualifying session, griding up 10th, while David Coulthard launched his race from 13th. Both cars opted to start on the unpopular harder tyre, which compromised their early pace. Webber struggled early on, and ran two stints on the harder option, which cost him a couple of places. However, his third stint on soft rubber allowed him to catch up to Wurz’s Williams and thanks to some attrition, finished 10th. Coulthard had an eventful race, fighting with Toyota’s and Wurz’s Williams, until an unusual problem, which had his brake pedal rubbing on his steering column, forced the Scot into retirement on safety grounds.
Honda.
Honda continued to wallow in the depths of F1’s midfield at Malaysia. Rubens Barrichello failed to escape the first session of qualifying and lined up 19th, Jenson Button fared a bit better, but could only manage 15th. Neither car was impressive during the race, but Barrichello, again, seemed to be the quicker driver. On the positive side, both cars finished, and ahead of their younger siblings, Super Aguri. Barrichello came in 11th and Button 12th, but there are still monumental advances needed for Honda to find themselves amongst the points.
Super Aguri:
Super Aguri didn’t quite enjoy the same success in which they basked at Melbourne, but it was still a decent showing from the small Japanese outfit. Sato did well in qualifying again, grabbing 14th on the grid, ahead of both Hondas. Anthony Davidson meanwhile, lined up in 18th. During the race, Sato fought valiantly in the midfield, until a Toro Rosso bumped him off the circuit, forcing the Japanese driver to claw his way back. He eventually finished a highly credible 13th. Davidson meanwhile, after suffering from the flu all weekend, managed to finish 16th, securing another double-finish for the team.
Scuderia Toro Rosso:
Toro Rosso experienced another anonymous race, with neither Scott Speed nor Tonio Liuzzi displaying any glimpses of inspiration. Qualifying saw Liuzzi break into the second session, where he wound up 16th on the grid, while Speed lined up behind his Italian teammate in 17th. It was a difficult race for the Faenza squad, Liuzzi suffered contact with Sato and was forced to pit several times, finishing 17th. Speed meanwhile, put in a decent performance to bring it home in 14th place, ahead of Ralf Schumacher’s Toyota and Anthony Davidson’s Super Aguri.
Spyker:
Spyker’s race was over as quickly as it started. Adrian Sutil wound up in the gravel before the end of lap one, and Christjian Albers’ race ended with an engine blow-up in the pits only a few laps later. No amount of protesting will save them from results like this, so perhaps its time for Spyker to forget about their competitors and concentrate on getting their cars home in one piece.
McLaren hit back at Ferrari in the most perfect of ways at Malaysia, with Fernando Alonso leading teammate Lewis Hamilton home for a one-two finish. Whatever was said about Kimi Raikkonen’s performance in Australia could be said of Fernando Alonso’s victory in Malaysia. After a great start from both McLarens, Alonso (from P2) led, and with his teammate (from P4) holding up the Ferraris he was able to nail consecutive quick laps with the consistency of a metronome. Even though Fernando was advantaged early on by the buffer Hamilton had created, the overall pace of the leading McLaren, in the hands of the reigning world champion, was overwhelming. Hamilton, meanwhile put in another stellar rookie performance, under immense pressure from Ferrari for almost the entire race. Hamilton was precise and flawless, holding off wild attacks from Massa with veteran-like composure, and stayed in front of Raikkonen to finish second, with fastest lap.
Ferrari:
Malaysia didn’t quite deliver the race result that Ferrari would have been hoping for. Felipe Massa stuck his car on pole, and Kimi Raikkonen lined up third, which led many to speculate that this would be a Ferrari cakewalk. However, all hopes of that were dashed some 20 seconds into the Grand Prix. Both Ferraris were beaten off the line, which left Massa and Raikkonen queued up behind a heavy Lewis Hamilton, while Alonso scampered off into the distance. Massa threw some sloppy overtaking attempts at Hamilton at turn four, but on the second attempt found himself in the grass, and behind Nick Heidfeld in fifth place, where he eventually finished. Raikkonen was more levelheaded than his Brazilian teammate, and continued to pressure Hamilton. However, despite a strong run to the finish line, Kimi was unable to do any better than third place.
BMW:
BMW finished the Malaysian Grand Prix in pretty much the same way they finished the Australian GP a few weeks ago. Nick Heidfeld was again the best of the rest, finishing a brilliant fourth after capitalising on Massa’s mistake early on. The German managed to keep the Ferrari at bay for the remainder of the race, despite often running heavier fuel. Massa was never more than a few seconds away from Heidfeld’s rear wing, but Nick drove a faultless race in the face of constant pressure. Robert Kubica, meanwhile, suffered problems right from the get go. After he touched his teammate going into the first corner, The Polish driver suffered a collection of troubles during the race, from punctures, to gearbox issues, to front wing damage. He eventually finished dead last, after several mistakes.
Renault:
Renault will be considerably happier after Sunday than they were on Saturday. Lining up 11th (Kovalainen) and 12th (Fisichella) was not the ideal qualifying result for the team who finished one-two last year. However, the race was a bit better for Renault; Giancarlo Fisichella was able to fight his way up to sixth place, while Heikki Kovalainen shook his Melbourne demons to secure his first ever point in eight. That said, retirements from Rosberg and Kubica kept Renault in the points, and questions must be asked as to why the defending world champions are so, painfully, slow.
Toyota:
Toyota again managed to hoist both cars into the third qualifying session, with Jarno Trulli lining up eight and Ralf Schumacher ninth. From there, Trulli ran a trouble-free race in seventh, never quite at the pace of those in front, but quick enough to keep Kovalainen at bay. Schumacher meanwhile, disappeared to the back of the grid, reportedly after a puncture forced him into an extra pitstop. Ralf spent the rest of the race scrapping with the Hondas, Toro Rossos and Super Aguris, not once looking like having the pace of his point-scoring teammate.
Williams
Williams started off with a promising sixth on the grid for Nico Rosberg, while Wurz experienced issues in qualifying which left him down in 20th. The race produced an equally mixed result, which saw Wurz carve his way through he field, pulling off some breathtaking overtaking manoeuvres, most notably on David Coulthard, the man who almost decapitated him in Australia. Wurz climbed all over the back of Coulthard’s Red Bull going into turn four, and powered fearlessly around the outside despite the Scot’s best efforts to keep him at bay. Wurz eventually finished just outside the points in ninth place. Rosberg however, raced hard and was looking set for a fantastic sixth place, until hydraulic failure relegated his Williams-Toyota to the retirement list.
Red Bull
A promising result for Red Bull this weekend, but still not convincing enough to threaten points. Mark Webber again dragged his car into the third qualifying session, griding up 10th, while David Coulthard launched his race from 13th. Both cars opted to start on the unpopular harder tyre, which compromised their early pace. Webber struggled early on, and ran two stints on the harder option, which cost him a couple of places. However, his third stint on soft rubber allowed him to catch up to Wurz’s Williams and thanks to some attrition, finished 10th. Coulthard had an eventful race, fighting with Toyota’s and Wurz’s Williams, until an unusual problem, which had his brake pedal rubbing on his steering column, forced the Scot into retirement on safety grounds.
Honda.
Honda continued to wallow in the depths of F1’s midfield at Malaysia. Rubens Barrichello failed to escape the first session of qualifying and lined up 19th, Jenson Button fared a bit better, but could only manage 15th. Neither car was impressive during the race, but Barrichello, again, seemed to be the quicker driver. On the positive side, both cars finished, and ahead of their younger siblings, Super Aguri. Barrichello came in 11th and Button 12th, but there are still monumental advances needed for Honda to find themselves amongst the points.
Super Aguri:
Super Aguri didn’t quite enjoy the same success in which they basked at Melbourne, but it was still a decent showing from the small Japanese outfit. Sato did well in qualifying again, grabbing 14th on the grid, ahead of both Hondas. Anthony Davidson meanwhile, lined up in 18th. During the race, Sato fought valiantly in the midfield, until a Toro Rosso bumped him off the circuit, forcing the Japanese driver to claw his way back. He eventually finished a highly credible 13th. Davidson meanwhile, after suffering from the flu all weekend, managed to finish 16th, securing another double-finish for the team.
Scuderia Toro Rosso:
Toro Rosso experienced another anonymous race, with neither Scott Speed nor Tonio Liuzzi displaying any glimpses of inspiration. Qualifying saw Liuzzi break into the second session, where he wound up 16th on the grid, while Speed lined up behind his Italian teammate in 17th. It was a difficult race for the Faenza squad, Liuzzi suffered contact with Sato and was forced to pit several times, finishing 17th. Speed meanwhile, put in a decent performance to bring it home in 14th place, ahead of Ralf Schumacher’s Toyota and Anthony Davidson’s Super Aguri.
Spyker:
Spyker’s race was over as quickly as it started. Adrian Sutil wound up in the gravel before the end of lap one, and Christjian Albers’ race ended with an engine blow-up in the pits only a few laps later. No amount of protesting will save them from results like this, so perhaps its time for Spyker to forget about their competitors and concentrate on getting their cars home in one piece.
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