Well, once again a little water on the track has unleashed a little bit of madness and confusion which at the end of 56 laps spewed out a rather unusual result which contradicts the run of form of the early season, now I know why the formbook was thrown out of the nearest window. Because it was thoroughly torn up and re-arranged and got a little soggy as the monsoon tropical storms washed away any trace of the hierarchy that was demonstrated in Australia. It was a race worth waking up at an unimpressive hour, especially with the adjustment the clocks went through as we emerged into the concept of summer time... which given the British climate will contain very limited 'summer'.
Today's race saw a vast array of circumstances ranging from being perfectly dry, to impossibly wet - normally it can be considered that the FIA throw the safety car too early in the rain with these modern cars, as we saw in Canada. But today the decision was a valid one, as there was an impassible puddle developing in the turn 13-14 area which could drown the cars never mind cause a problem for the grid. Yet they didn't match that level of timing in the area of the restart, where the inordinate amount of red and safety car running almost lasted long enough to invalidated the regulations involved in the process. All in all this event has lead to a rather skewed initial look to the bonus points championship, so lets see how the Malaysian GP unfolded and all the craziness took place.
The Race
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| Target practice Karthekeyan credit to F1fanatic.co.uk |
Off the line Lewis didn't make a mess of it and left the grid in formation with the other McLaren of Jenson on the outside, despite coming close in turn one the two silver machines were away in grid order. The key mover off the start was Romain Grosjean who exactly replicated the 2011 start of Squadron Leader Heidfeld jumping from 6th - 3rd. A situation which didn't last long as Schumacher took the place back on the run to turn three before the frechman clipped the Mercedes and the pair spun to the inside miraculously avoiding being taken out by the oncoming field.
The increasing rainfall caused more problems in the middle of turn seven when the two Williams cars came together as Senna crashed into the back of Maldonado and span of minus his front wing and dropped to the back. At the end of the lap One-Stop Perez stopped making the early jump onto the full wet tyres pre-empting the incoming storm as the rest of the field continued on the intermediates, something that was to catch Lotus driver Grosjean out as he span into the gravel as the rain got even heavier. So far this season Romain has completed a grand total of seven laps this season from two top five starts, very contrasting weekends.
A typical Malaysian GP, storm fully unloaded at this point and on by one all of the drivers took to the pits for the full wets as the track became flooded in places a rather large river was forming across the track in turns 12 and 13.A river which sent several drivers wide, the likes of Vettel, Maldonado and most spectacularly One-Stop Perez benefiting from the large run-off area on the exit. But the conditions were too wet to continue at racing speeds and the safety car was deployed, and the weather continued to get significantly worse as the SLS couldn't run fast enough to maintain any form of tyre temperature in the race cars behind and there was no solution but to throw the red flag and the waiting began...
There was a lot of waiting, along with a lot of rain - when something interesting came to the front, Torro Rosso driver Jean-Eric Vergne had been driving in the monsoon on intermediate tyres without crashing. Considering the amount of rain that fell, Vergne has clearly gained some super-powers to keep it on the road. In this suspended zone there was interesting collection of gazebos appearing on the grid, turning the start grid into a series of very expensive street market scene. One car that didn't have a gazebo was the HRT of Karthekeyan who was 10th under the red flag having started on the wets. Surprisingly in the wet here we had a Malaysian rain stoppage - someone get Kimi an Ice Cream once more - so the best interval plan fell to Jenson who went for a very British cup of tea in the interval.
Almost an hour later, it was time for a restart, a McLaren one-two lead One-Stop Perez and Fernando Alonso, and after three laps under the safety car - which was clearly too much as the cars were all ready to dump the full wets at the end of the first green lap. The stops had cycled the two McLarens very close to each other but they both managed to end up behind Alonso and Perez - almost resulting in some in house contact in turn three. McLarens running close, in the wet, shadows of Canada were coming back - and contact there was in the slippery conditions. This time it was Button who had an incident, forgetting that an HRT car is not going to move at the same pace as everyone and Jenson ended up going into the back of Karthekeyan damaging his wing and dropping way down the field.
The majority of the field had now pitted leaving Perez hunting down Alonso for the lead, and through virtue of staying out longer the Sauber took the lead as Hamilton had a slow stop through pit lane traffic. Yet the Ferrari quickly re-took the position through the exit of the horrific turn1/2 complex and edged into the distance. A little further back following a spin and damage on the first start, Bruno Senna was mounting a major charge - from running last to now competing in the points with Force India. In a day of black skies and monsoon storms sun was starting to beam through the clouds and in the heat the track was beginning to dry very quickly indeed and there was a merest idea of moving onto slicks.
On a drying track the outside of turn five was oddly turning into a key overtaking spot, first exploited by Ricciardo claiming a position from a recovering Bruno Senna, the drying track is causing problems for Mercedes as their race pace was falling apart. Encountering high tyre degradation and falling into the cars behind - Rosberg becoming victim to a challenge from both Red Bulls and the Lotus of Kimi Raikkonen. Things also started to get quite strange, with different drivers performing anomalously - Button was slower after the collision on newer tyres, odd considering the conditions being reminiscent of his epic win in Canada. More oddities were brewing in Sauber as two extremes were emerging, Perez was going faster than his car should be while Kobayashi was perpetually sideways and plumetting down the order.
The teams were staring at the radar screens as fear of more rain was forecast so the drivers were trying to make their intermediates last as long as possible to wait until the threat had passed. As the intermediates were slowly turning into overheated slicks which would be useless if it did rain again anyway, the gap out front was closing - One-Stop Perez was catching Alonso - and very quickly. Here we had a mid-field car catching the most historic team on the grid - the gap shrunk dramatically to the point where the teams were all forced to move onto the slicks as the rain was too far away. Perez's speed fed more fuel to the fire burning the rumors of Massa being replaced, which was enhanced by Massa having a much worse day than his team-mate Felipe was running wide and being passed quite a lot as he fell well out of the points to where Button was having an equally bad time.
It was Ricciardo who went to the slicks first and started setting better times, the quicker teams were remaining more cautious but eventually they all had to pit. Strangely Sauber left Perez out for a lap longer than the Ferrari they were racing for the win which cost the Mexican five seconds to Alonso - but Perez went for the harder tyres a clever plan seemingly. Hamilton was given a rather interesting radio call - claiming he could catch Sergio - ha, there was no chance of that happening - they were losing ground to the Red Bulls behind them. And Perez was mounting another charge towards the Ferrari eroding the damage done by the pit strategy very quickly.
Senna was still on a charge a little furher back as he scythed past the Torro Rossos and doing battle with Paul Di Resta's Force India, Maldonado in the second Williams was also having a strong race duelling with Hulkenberg for the final championship point. A battle which was to become rather futile as more problems were afoot further forward and Karthekeyan was in for more fun as Vettel cut across his wing creating a puncture problem for the Red Bull. Sebastien was shedding rubber all over the place, in America that would have been enough for a safety car, and dropped down the grid where Massa, Button and the Mercedes had slipped also.
The laps were running out as was the advantage Alonso had over Perez, as the Sauber was sitting on the rear wing of the Ferrari - a pass looked inevitable along with the prospect of a mesmerising Sauber win. But the team gave One-Stop a call to tell him to be a little careful, emphasising the importance of scoring the points and not taking unnecessary risks to pass Fernado. The last car chasing the Ferrari down in the final laps ended up in the wall as he isn't the easiest of cars to pass, and Perez also made a mistake on some curbing but the run-off kept him in the game - but out of contention for the win. Which sealed the podium positions with Hamilton running by himself since Vettel fell away.
To think things were going to calm down to the end, well no... reflections of Australia were repeating themselves at the far end of the race in the Williams camp as an engine failure cut down another points run for Maldonado two laps from home this time. Then Red Bull decided to play a game of radio hokey kokey with Sebastien Vettel - telling to pit and retire the car - which was then followed by a call to stay out and complete the race, and then came a message commanding Sebastien to stop the car that an emergency situation had developed. Turns out some damage from the flailing tyre had effected the rear braking system - which could have caused a failure at any point, a problem which is never good. But Vettel finished the race anyway.
Back out front Fernando sneaked a victory in changing conditions from a vastly quicker One-Stop Perez who should have taken the maximum score. Hamilton rounded out the podium again from third with Webber fourth again, and a Ice Cream free Raikkonen taking 5th place. Senna managed to pass Di Resta for 6th in an almost Button-esque last place to points drive, Vergne and his infinite intermediates finished 8th ahead of the second Force India of Nico Hulkenberg. Taking the final points position was Michael Schumacher after Maldonado was forced into retirement.
The Bonus Points Championship
Even in the early Sunday morning there is time for some bonus points, and in a race of so many different strong performances picking out the winners was going to be challenging but here goes.
25pts - One-Stop Perez - needs no justification, epic race performance
18pts - Bruno Senna - last at the restart to claim the mid-field victory is quite an acheivement
15pts - Fernando Alonso - to wrestle a poor Ferrari car to victory and hold off Perez good job
12pts - Jean Eric Vergne - how he kept that car on the track on inters in the monsoon is insane
10pts - Narain Karthekeyan - in the worst car on the grid running 10th at the restart albeit on strategy, and proving the other drivers didn't recognise an HRT and kept running into his
8pts - Rain - Turned an often annoying track into a very impressive race today
6pts - Grosjean - It may have been another short race but a very impressive start
4pts - HRT - for making the grid and starting the cars on an interesting but clever tyre strategy
2pts - Jenson Button - It may not be shorts and Ice Cream but having tea in the red flag session is ingenious and here at blog HQ I approve of this choice.
1pt - Angela - bringing Ice Cream was a brilliant coincidence on a day reminiscent of Kimi's magnum moment in pit lane 2009
The Penalties Points Championship
Even though the race was generally well behaved, the only disciplinary action was taken against team personnel although De La Rosa took the penalty for having crew on the grid at the restart time I think that handling the weather could have been a little better. Yes the call for the initial safety car and the red was right , it was too wet to continue but not so much on the restart. The rule is that teams must restart on the full wets as the idea of using the safety car means it is too wet for any other tyre, yet on the restart today cars were pitting at the end of the first lap for inters, demonstrating it was dry enough and coming close to invalidating the regulations. It's more health and safety racing - I know we want no-one to get hurt but there is such a thing as being over cautious. So therefore one penalty point for health and safety.
Driving standards penalties
As mentioned before, there was only one penalty handed to HRT's Pedro De La Rosa on account of the team having not left the grid before the final warning when building up to the restart. As the drive through was not issued on account of anything Pedro did wrong it won't be included in the final table as that is reserved for drivers making fools of themselves on track.
Looking now to China
Strangely there is a three week break now before the season moves on to Shanghai, which in terms of track layout and style is very similar to Malaysia - to the point where the first half of the lap follows an almost identical format. Introducing yet another crazed opening sequence of corners designed in what can only be a spate of complete lunacy, but we have to get these things out of the way earlier on, at least the rest of the track is quite good-ish.
The climate should be much more calm in China but rain has played a part regularly in recent years, at least the race has been able to keep running sadly preventing ice cream breaks for Kimi and tea for Jenson. It should be in this third race that we should be able to start building a brand new formbook for this season after the last one was thrown very far away. Additionally it was this point last season where the strategies and regulations really started to kick in and demonstrate how we expected things to run for the rest of the season. Where Red Bull were dominant but it was tyre strategy that conquered all handing the win to McLaren. So the next race in Shanghai the pattern of the season could be unveiled and it could be a pivotal point in this years championship. Until next time - this is farewell from me here at Blog HQ.
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