Round 2: Malaysia 2013: Race

Greetings Internet,

Well, that was... interesting, we ended up with a race where we technically shouldn't have had on and a little further back we didn't have a race where perhaps we should have done. Last race we finished off with the mythical Kimi Happy Face, this time there was a wall of a mixture of grumpy faces, guilty faces, and uneasy faces up on the podium and some rather displeased radio transmissions from all down the field. Conflicts on the track, over the radio, on the podium and in the pit-lane. We might not have had a mass feast of racing action and were spared the bulk of the rain and monsoon conditions only drowning the opening sector of the warm-up lap to the grid. This is one race that will not be remembered specifically for it's content or the action it contained, but for the damming repercussions that will reverberate through the world of F1 for quite a long time. There was a time when these sorts of things were deservingly banned, but the defiance of the teams, determined to circumvent and disrupt any form of sporting agreements, concealing intentions inside coded communications ruined that. To find it taking such a dominating role at this exceptionally early age of the season is exceptionally irritating, Force India played that card last weekend, and it didn't make it onto the TV or into any post race analysis but the internet finds these things. Today, there is not need to dig up the hidden stories of the race, because everything was played out very publicly at the front of the field...

Credit to F1Fanatic.co.uk

The Race

The rain had begun to fall during the pre-race build up, but only during one sector of the track specifically through turn three which was causing all manner of hassle as drivers tried to get round to the grid. It became a long list of visitors to the gravel in that particular corner, started by Ricciardo but Chilton, Webber, Maldonado were among those going off, Bottas went closest to making the wall dislodging his front wing in the process. Another race where front wings were to be an endangered species, both Bottas and Ricciardo replaced theirs before the start.

With conditions virtually identical to the start of 2012, where part of the track was wet and the rest completely dry everyone started on the intermediate tyres. A start that went well for Webber this race and less well for Massa off the front row, allowing Fernando to challenge Vettel through the first corner. Unfortunately Alonso didn't notice that Sebastian wasn't obligated to move out of the way at the apex of turn two and bumped the rear of Vettel's Red Bull breaking another front wing in the process. The Ferrari dragged the car round fending off Webber while unleashing a shower of sparks from the damaged wing. Unfortunately Alonso preferred racing the Australian instead of pitting to fix the damage, as a result the wing folded underneath the car after Webber passed him at the start of the second lap sending the Spaniard off into the gravel and out of the race. Leaving a Red Bull one-two, something that should be safe and manageable because team-mates should be friends...

The opening laps were tentative as the intermediate tyres were useless for the majority of the lap, but slicks would put anyone in the fence through turn three, Raikkonen was not having a good time at the bottom of the top ten behind Hulkenberg and Grosjean - running off track at turn 12 as the tyres began to wear. Of the top contenders it was the leader Vettel who pitted first for slicks, and found himself in all kinds of traffic when rejoining, falling behind Sutil, Perez and Grosjean on the wettest part of the track. Hamilton tried pitting but forgot that he had moved to Mercedes over the winter and pulled into the McLaren pit stall... but things were even worse for Force India who staked cars in the lane only to have a delay on Sutils car removing both cars from the points positions. Further back Torro Rosso released Vergne into the side of Charles Pic's Caterham - more front wings ruined. Interestingly Webber stayed out setting quick laps so he cycled through to the lead... the concept of friend ship wasa stating to fade.

Formation flying for the top four in the middle section of the race, Red Bull followed by Mercedes, two sets of happy team-mates what could possibly go wrong there... With that sorted out the majority of the action was at the other end of the points where Lotus were reliving the days of being the Renault Squadron flanking Ricciardo through turn one/two and up through three, Grosjean made the pass and Kimi followed a few laps later. Because everyone was simply racing from one pit-stop to the next there was not too much going on trackside, so the TV crews actually picked up a battle between Van Der Garde and Chilton at the back of the field so it turns out they are part of the race. The Lotus train had caught up with Hulkenberg - not too much a problem for Grosjean but Kimi had more of a problem, running off at 12 again, and then spent a while shouting at the team about the German's defensive approach. On the exit of turn four Hulkenberg eased Kimi slightly towards the edge of the track. Following this the pair drove two wide down the pit-lane of which the Sauber came out on top of proceedings.

By the half way point there was some dissent brewing in the ranks up front, because the Mercedes pair were closing in Vettel was getting a little cross at being second, calling the team to demand that Webber move over... "Get him out of the way" were the terms used. He was reminded that is was only half way and to be patient, not sure Germans do patience... Elsewhere Force India were having a more torrid time in the pitlane - taking forever to change the front left wheels, I would not be surprised if Di Resta is not waiting in the pitbox now, several hours later. Neither car was safe from the tyre issues and were ultimately forced to retire due to a combination of overheating issues due to sitting in the pit for ages. Other pit lane problems affected McLaren, after almost adopting Hamilton again, they didn't quite fit a front wheel securely on Jenson's car dropping him out of the points and into a convenient retirement later on in the race. 

Front wings were in for a beating down at Williams as Malonado ran wide at turn 11 knocking half the wing off in the gravel. The team dutifully replaced the damaged section of the car, and to repay their hard work Pastor somehow managed to put the car in a different gravel trap, which might have been turn one. How the car got there is a complete mystery but it wasn't coming back out again. Before those at the top of the order became less friendly Hamilton managed to get his Mercedes between the two Red Bull drivers through the pit stops, of which there had been a few during the race once the track dried out. But sitting behind the McLaren seemed to make Vettel even more cross, and made it his mission to take the place back from Lewis and made the pass as the tyres on the Mercedes began to wear out and Lewis couldn't defend the attack from the Red Bull. 

Things were getting a little fractured at the front of the field following the final batch of pit-stops because Vettel emerged virtually alongside Webber, duelling through the opening sequence of corners by Webber held off the German bloke and defended a second attack in turn four. At this point the dreaded words 'team orders' came into effect as Horner instructed both drivers to stay in position, a call that Vettel must have missed out on... Strangely behind them a virtually identical situation was developing. Both Mercedes' were also in formation, but Hamilton was short on fuel so had to slow down to make it home, but that brought Rosberg right into position behind him. Nico repeatedly drafted past Lewis on the back straight with DRS but was repassed on the main straight, the German made several calls to HQ to be allowed to stay ahead of Hamilton but was severely instructed not to. It was becoming very, very silly...

With only a few laps remaining Vettel decided that team orders are only recommendations, so while Webber had turned his car down to conserve components Sebastian went on the attack, on the inside of the main straight right up against the wall, centimetres from the team car. The battle raged trough the first two corners with Webber retaking the spot and blocking Vettel through turn three, but the German Bloke went would not take no for an answer and went round the outside of turn four. Rather than risk knocking wheels off in the fight with an angry German, Webber let him go. More anger seething through Rosbergs helmet who despite virtually having to avoid running into the back of Lewis due to the speed disparity was not allowed to pass the other Mercedes. More calls went to Ross Brawn, all of which were declined. Team mates rapidly not becoming buddies at the front of the field.

At the end Vettel crossed the line first, ahead of a very cross Mr Webber, Hamilton was allowed a podium followed by an equally angry Nico Rosberg. Of the people who were not especially angry was the remaining Ferrari of Massa who had a fairly dull, uneventful day, in front of the two Lotus cars including the moderately displeased Kimi Raikkonen. Despite duelling in the pit-lane and making Kimi a little cross in the process, Nico Hulkenberg finished his first race in the points in 8th, with One-Stop Perez (who stopped four times) finishing the race in 9th. Claiming the final point was Jean-Eric Vergne after recovering from ramming Pic in the opening round of stops, for which the team have been fined 10,000EUR for the shunt.

The Bonus Points Championship Winners

In a race where the negatives and anger have dominated it is time to hand out the positive side of todays events..

• 25pts -  Romain Grosjean - Passed people without hitting anyone, beat Kimi on pace in a car which is less developed good job all round - and pass of the day on Hulkenberg
• 18pts - Sebastian Vettel - Despite being a whiny prat, rejecting the irritating concept of team orders is a worth cause
• 15pts - Mark Webber - Lead most of the race until the team told him he was allowed to win wasn't going to win, but shoulnd't have been promised otherwise
• 12pts - Lewis Hamilton - Keeping up with Red Bull and was very accepting of the corrupting orders that kept Nico off the podium
• 10pts - Nico Hulkenberg - First race he has been able to start and finished as the lead mid-field runners with Force India eliminated
• 8pts - Nico Rosberg - Should have easily been on the podium but the powers that be down at Mercedes are placing all the eggs in Hamilton's basket already.
• 6pts - Jules Bianchi - Dominating the bottom division once more, with Chilton in the other car a lap down on the entire division... oh dear 
• 4pts - Jenson Button - Finally found some pace in the McLaren before things went completely pear shaped.
• 2pts - Valtteri Bottas - When Maldonado binned the car again, Bottas almost made the points and didnt ruin the car.. after the grid lap at least
• 1pts - James Hinchcliffe - for winning the opening race of the Indycar series in St Petersberg Florida

The Penalties Championship

Only the team fine handed to Torro Rosso for the unsafe release into Pic's Caterham of 10,000EUR

The Penalty Points Championship

Here we go...

• Mercedes - For utterly meaningless team orders, you can trust the cars not to hit each other, and forcing Nico to stay behind a car that was clearly struggling with fuel shortages 
• Red Bull - More team orders a foot here, delaring a race over before the end at this early stage of the season is silly, both drivers want to win - trying to force a manufactured result is not cool
• Sebastian Vettel - Yes disobeying stupid team orders is rebellious, but blatantly demanding the team to move one car ahead of another is unacceptable arrogance - you want past get on with it  yourself as in the final phase.
• Force India - Systematically managed to ruin both drivers days at every single pit stop
• Rain - delivered so little today, and only really took Alonso out of the race
• Fernando Alonso - Staying out on the damaged wing, not entirely an act of genius there

Looking ahead to China 

Another early start, but the first one on the BBC this season which is always so much more of a relief, Sky are improving but it is still forced and about as awkward as the podium was today. Things might be significantly more temperamental in Shanghai because the team order debarcle will have had a fortnight to ferment and stew behind closed doors. The outpourings from this will flood the media and the internet for days to come, there are claims that team orders are a necessary evil in the sport... that doesn't sit all too well at Blog HQ hence penalty points. As for the actual race in China, there are many similarities with Malaysia in the configuration of the track, with a virtually identical flow of corners for the first half of the lap. It is another Tilke creation meaning it is part lunacy with the odd redeeming feature if you look hard enough for it, it takes a little more effort in China to find any. 

The main difference lies in the climate, as it is expected to be a lot cooler than the tropical heat of Sepang - which cars will that play to - Lotus perhaps who were quick in a colder Australia last weekend. Last season it was Mercedes and Rosberg, when he was allowed to be faster than his team-mate, who took a dominant victory in the colder conditions - and if the folk at Red Bull beat each other up Mercedes might be on course to repeat that. Not discounting Ferrari of course who didn't have the best of races today, so until next time this is farewell from me here at blog HQ.