The weekend is now over and done with - in F1 terms anyway and as the sun sets on the Sepang raceway the teams are stripping down the garages and packing all the supplies away before shipping everything out up the road to China for next week. The unpredictable Malaysian weather only paid a passing visit and the field got off very lightly considering the amount of rain that fell in the day before the weekend sessions began.
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| Image from ITV F1 |
So how did things play out for the second race of the season.
As with Australia everything got underway in an unnaturally civilized fashion with the field managing not to hit each other and no wheels or wings were removed in the vehicular soup that becomes turn 2. One thing that was abundantly clear is that the off-the-line pace of the Renault demonstrated in Australia was not a fluke, both Petrov and Heidfeld made exceptional starts. Most efficiently in the case of Heidfeld who managed to shuffle his Renault from 6th to 2nd squeezing past Hamilton on the entry into the second apex.
At the other end of the scale Webber had an abysmal start as a consequence of his KERS breaking before making it onto the grid as a result he as enveloped by the field on the run down to the first corner, dropping down behind Schumacher at the bottom reaches of the top ten. Of course aside from all the other changes for position Vettel managed to stay ahead of the field and now with Heidfeld as a buffer to Hamilton pulled out in front. Other drivers were having a difficult opening segment Sutil and Barrichello made contact in the early laps damaging Sutil's wing and puncturing Rubens' tyre.
Once things began to settle down certain battle groups emerged the most active of which was between the out of position Red Bull of Webber and Kobayashi. Webber's car was obviously faster but without KERS and with Kobayashi's tendency for passing people the position changed several times. I think Kamui must have gone past the Red Bull at least a billion times. The drivers further up the grid held position, with the Ferraris looking to improve as they cam up on Alonso's best friend Petrov, Massa was the first to get through when Vitaly ran wide at turn 14 (or 13 based on the video). Fernando was not too far behind in making the manouvre which this time was possible unlike Abu Dhabi last year.
The race stabilised with the Webber/Kobayashi battle raging on - but elsewhere in the field relability was beginning to wear thin a little with Maldonado retiring with transmission problems. And within a few laps Karthikeyan also joined the list of retirements with more technical difficulties. But as predicted the Malaysian weather swept in but somehow by some miracle the storm missed the circuit by two miles and only mild drizzle reached the tarmac. Because of the high track temperatures the moisture only had a minimal impact on laptimes and overall grip, there was no need to switch tyres or cancel the DRS.
The middle phase of the race was fairly settled with Kobayashi finding a new battle partner in the form of the old geezer Michael Schumacher whom over the course of the race he passed on at least three occasions including a brilliant move round the outside into turn one. The tyre strategies were taking shape at the front which saw Heidfeld shuffled down behind Alonso and the McLarens after a slow tyre change stop, outlap traffic switched the position within the Mclaren team putting button up front.
Webber was making a recovery charge after the dilemma at the start cutting back through the field after escaping the attentions of Kamui he was under in the early stages. The middle of the pack was beginning to thin out with the retirement of Barrichello with mechanical issues, this was not long followed by the stopping of one-stop Perez after being hit by some debris falling off Buemi's Torro Rosso. Hamilton continued dealing with traffic which then resulted in going three wide down the back straight with Schumacher and Buemi with Michael being surrounded.
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| Image from ITV F1 |
The next car in Webber's sights was Massa's Ferrari who in in possession of the widest car on the grid so for after defending from Button in Albert Park. The battle lingered on because of Webber's lack of KERS functionality stopping him making an impression but his DRS was available once Mark was in position using the extra speed to get alongside the Ferrari and in a carbon copy of what Kamui did to Michael and launched around the outside of Massa in turn one.
Fernando Vs Hamilton.
Tyre degradation had dropped Hamilton's pace and had dropped him into the clutches of former team-mate and mortal enemy Alonso. He held the Spaniard at bay for a a couple of laps on the account that Alonso's DRS had failed and was eliminating the front stretch from the list of overtaking opportunities. After being stuck in the draft for a while Fernando got a good run out of two and pulled right up beyond the McLaren. However both cars inched to the inside occupying the same piece of tarmac as a result Alonso hits the back of Hamilton's car truncating his front wing and knocking some aero pieces off lewis. For some apparent reason both drivers have been penalised for what can easily be described as a racing incident but the stewards were displeased.
Anyway...
With Alonso pitting for a new wing and Hamilton losing time through tyres and damage, that brought Heidfeld and Webber back into play for a podium finish and eased the pressure on Button in second. Within laps Heidfeld caught and rounded up the ailing McLaren, Hamilton then ran wide on the exit of Turn 7 allowing a charging Webber through onto the back of Nick's Renault.
Further back, down the field through strategy Michael who was encountering the same DRS problems he saw in qualifying, had been re-united with partner in battle Kobayashi and the change of position resumed with the Japanese driver asserting superiority and defeated the Mercedes.
Since the opening lap things had been quite quiet for Petrov since he'd lost sight of Massa and pulled a gap over the Micheal/Kamui pairing. And because he'd become a little bored he decided to see what else could be done with this years car. And on the exit of turn 8 he found and answer to the limitations of the vehicle - running wide over the astroturf and onto the grass where he encountered a bit of a bump. At this point Petrov rejected the force of gravity and made for the sky in an impressive leap, alas the force of coming back down to terra firma removed the steering column and not doubt would have been rather painful.
Up front Vettel still in the lead - with a smaller gap then Australia as with his KERS being intermittent and tyre degradation condensing the field. Button was clear in second with a gap back to Heidfeld in third, whose place was severely under threat from a resurgent Webber but without a functioning boost system all Heidfeld needed to do was use his advantage strategically to maintain position and that's how things concluded.
The Official Bonus Points
The winners of today bonus points are as follows
10 - Heidfeld - for a very strong performance scoring a podium and a brilliant start moving from 6th to 2nd
8 - Kobayashi - For completing several passes on Michael Schumacher and Mark Webber
6 - Webber - Very strong recovery drive after a KERS free start dropping down to 9th but ending 4th
5 - Vettel - Suppose winning again deserves some points - especially with his KERS being offline too
4 - HRT - After failing to even start in Australia to get car to the end of the race here deserves points
3 - Button - Gets some points for a solid consistent performance and lapping in times not too dissimilar to Vettel
2 - Petrov - Points awarded for his aerial antics - would have scored more if he made the landing better.
1- Buemi - Gets the final point for that moment when Webber and Schumacher were racing he decided to make it three wide in replica of the Hakkinen pass at Spa.
The Penalty Points Championship
This week penalties were given to three competitors
Buemi - stop/go for speeding in pit lane
Hamilton - for 'weaving'
Alonso - for being red... or was it the mini contact with the McLaren who knows.
Dodgy dealings
I think it will take some days for things to be revealed, with little accusations floating about for example Button saying Petrov was up to no good in the DRS zone but it wasn't seen so I can't take sides on that. But for now I'm going to put the Race Stewards into the bin for the call on the Hamilton/Alonso racing incident.
The full standings will be amended in due time
That concludes this weekends action - but only seven days before the Grand Prix of China, see you all then.
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