Grand Prix 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix Practice, Qualifying & Race Discussion

Someone other than Vettel is leading the Championship!

It may be strange to see, but for the first time since Abu Dhabi 2010 someone other than Sebastian Vettel is top of the Championship after Jenson Button won the Australian Grand Prix in commanding fashion with Vettel second and a folorn Hamilton falling foul of a safety car which allowed the German through.

Going into Malaysia it seems apparent that Mclaren have the strongest car as they were far and away the strongest team in Australia and it was only after having to fuel save for 90% of the race that let Red Bull get within distance, when Button and Hamilton were at full throttle for the first 8 laps, they pulled away at over a second a lap which provided a comfortable cushion even though it was wiped out by a safety car due to Vitaly Petrov breaking down on the main straight.

But the Australian Grand Prix raised more questions than it did provide answers, the only thing that we learned was that the not quite so new teams are still as bad as they were last season and Mclaren and Red Bull are the two fastest teams. Ferrari had a shocking qualifying but Fernando Alonso managed to drag it kicking and screaming into 5th place which suggests a better race pace compared to qualifying pace while beleaguered Felipe Massa trundled around in midfield like he was on a Sunday drive in the Australian parks.

lotus are the only team where a question mark still remains about the general competitiveness. Roman Grosjean qualified a remarkable third but was taken out early on by Maldando while returning champion Kimi Raikkonnen failed to get out of first qualifying but managed to fight through the field to finish a very strong seventh which suggests that they do have a strong car but need to ally qualifying with race pace if they are to take the fight to the top teams.

In 2011 Malaysia was a race full of pit stops due to the high degradation of the Pirelli tyres, and while the tyres this year are more conservative and stable, high degradation is still to be expecting and several pit stops are going to be the norm with an unpredictable weekend to come. The only thing to expect is the likelihood of a massive shower at some point during the weekend which would no doubt spice things up.

For Galahad's excellent circuit write up, see here http://cliptheapex.com/pages/sepang-international-circuit/

 

[Bill Boddy]

nope,the first call was good as he kept the lead.but he didnt choose slow pistops did he?
also how do you know he choose when to pit each time.

Because it is McLaren's strategy that their leading driver has first choice of when to pit. The second driver has to work around this, but it does give him the chance to pit earlier.

 

[riskitall]

also his team can see exactly whats going on and the times everyones doing.so they have to make the calls sometimes too.
this is one of the reasons why they are there,to help the drivers with strategy during the race.
otherwise what are they there for?
but yeah after the first pitstop for some reason lewis all of a sudden didnt have enough pace.
and for some strange reason jenson wore his tyres out very quickly.

 

[ramilas1]

Just finished watching race so don't really understand all this (as usual) McLaren/Hamilton complaining.

Slow pitstop, yes, but not exactly sure why yet! ...... and his pace was well off the Sauber when he was running 3rd.

 

[mjo]

It's fantastic how there are 9 constructors in the top ten, just goes to show how competitive the field is.

 

[Il_leone]

well

Hamilton - same problem as last week where was the race pace then failed to make the right judgement to pit tyres

Button - this was his race until he got overexcited and crashed impatiently - very unlike him and wasted opportunity

Alonso - the man who always is there to pick up the pieces that is why he is so formidable...the weather helped and a bit of luck with Perez's mistake.... still a lot of work for Ferrari to do

Vettel - oh dear not so hot when not leading with a clear track

Webber - good late race pace and will be happy he is matching Seb and ahead of him for now

Raikkonen - the Lotus could be a potential thorn in the side for the other 3 if they can keep up the development

Grosjean - another rookie mistake wasting his quali

Schumacher - poor start and race ruined by Grosjean. The car was awful in the wet probably due to its minimal wing set up. 10th was not what he expected

Rosberg - another tough race for him when the wets started going off and he began to slide



Perez - great drive and put himself on the Ferrari door step for 2013 although Alonso may want to ensure Perez is No 2 not a threat to his status
He could have won the race but can't complain




Others

Senna - great come back after his last weekend to claim a brilliant 6th

Di Resta - solid drive

Vergne - good drive

Hulkenberg - good drive


Massa - must be dead man walking seeing his teammate win and his potential replacement nearly win for his old team !

 

[F1ang-o]

Why are there so many moaning about McLaren. Twice in the race Hamilton has made a bad choice on when to come in. Don't blame anyone else.

I think it was the seond pitstop...
LH was held up by Lollipop bloke...Because a Ferrari....Massa I think coming up pit lane, it could have been an unsafe release into pit.lane....Also I heard that a piece of debris had been removed from LH brake duct?
At the time.........JB had already had his coming together with Karthi

 

[Wombcat]

I think it was the seond pitstop...
Also I heard that a piece of debris had been removed from LH brake duct?

They were removing something from the front brake ducts.

 

[tranquility2k9]

Because it is McLaren's strategy that their leading driver has first choice of when to pit. The second driver has to work around this, but it does give him the chance to pit earlier.

See I don't quite understand this because when Hamilton was behind Button in Australia - you're essentially saying on any given lap Button has first option to pit, but if he doesn't want to then Hamilton could choose to pit? Well that didn't happen even though Hamilton wanted to pit - they forced him to stay out. Yet with this race Button just got to choose when to come in - OK there were wet weather conditions, but I'd like to know exactly what the wording of this supposed rule that they have is.

I have looked at McLaren's pit wall commentary and the decision to come in for slicks was not made by Button, his engineers told him to come in because cars were 5 seconds a lap quicker. Yet for Hamilton this information was not given. I'm not suggesting any conspiracy im just saying it is a botch up.

In that kind of situation it's not so much down to the driver, such as a switch onto intermediates when it's raining when the driver has to say when they feel they are actually able to drive in those conditions on the other tyres. The intermediates had almost turned into slicks and the drivers were doing competitive lap times. Therefore it was much more the teams responsibility to tell the driver how much faster people were going and if nessecary make them come into change. If cars are going 5 seconds faster don't you think the pit wall should just say, Lewis you need to come in!

 

[Kewee]

That pesky Fernando. Not many singing his praises so I will. He deserves it. The only good fortune was a better pit stop than Lewis and McLaren. Everyone else that should have beaten him either made errors or were simply unable to hold him off. He past both Red Bulls on track, Jenson made a mistake etc. On the day he was stunning in the wet and managed to hold on when his tyres were past there best. Flawless drive.

 

[Vortex]

Wish Perez had won!

 

[Wombcat]

See I don't quite understand this because when Hamilton was behind Button in Australia - you're essentially saying on any given lap Button has first option to pit, but if he doesn't want to then Hamilton could choose to pit? Well that didn't happen even though Hamilton wanted to pit - they forced him to stay out. Yet with this race Button just got to choose when to come in - OK there were wet weather conditions, but I'd like to know exactly what the wording of this supposed rule that they have is.

I have looked at McLaren's pit wall commentary and the decision to come in for slicks was not made by Button, his engineers told him to come in because cars were 5 seconds a lap quicker. Yet for Hamilton this information was not given. I'm not suggesting any conspiracy im just saying it is a botch up.

In that kind of situation it's not so much down to the driver, such as a switch onto intermediates when it's raining when the driver has to say when they feel they are actually able to drive in those conditions on the other tyres. The intermediates had almost turned into slicks and the drivers were doing competitive lap times. Therefore it was much more the teams responsibility to tell the driver how much faster people were going and if nessecary make them come into change. If cars are going 5 seconds faster don't you think the pit wall should just say, Lewis you need to come in!

The pitcrew should given Hamilton info about the other drivers.

On the other hand a short time before the pitstop there was a slomo of Hamiltons front tyres and they were already turning into slicks. Hamilton should have told the pit he needed new tyres. Somehow Hamilton always seems to rely 100% on the info from the pitwall and doesn't show initiative.

 

[riskitall]

the thing ive noticed alot is if there is a chance button can catch lewis they tend to mess up hamiltons pitstop.
today tho it backfired because unusually button made a mistake,which allowed lewis to get back ahead of him.
but normally button wouldnt have made that mistake,and so lewis would have been hung out to dry again.
mclaren need to sort it out.

 

[riskitall]

The pitcrew should given Hamilton info about the other drivers.

On the other hand a short time before the pitstop there was a slomo of Hamiltons front tyres and they were already turning into slicks. Hamilton should have told the pit he needed new tyres. Somehow Hamilton always seems to rely 100% on the info from the pitwall and doesn't show initiative.

well thats not true is it,because when asked if he wants to pit the first time he decided not too.
that was his decision.but he cant always make the decisions especially in conditions like that.

 

[Bullet190]

What is going on with Hamilton's race pace ? That's twice he has got pole then been not up there with the fastest in the race. Perhaps he needs to work on a different set up for race day because it just doesn't make sense.
Would be interested to know if Hamilton got the same info. Button did about cars going faster on slicks, if Hamilton did and choose to stay out then it's his own making but if he didn't ???

 

[ExtremeNinja]

What is going on with Hamilton's race pace ? That's twice he has got pole then been not up there with the fastest in the race. Perhaps he needs to work on a different set up for race day because it just doesn't make sense.

Hamilton was going faster than Alonso for most of the race. His pace wasn't that bad at all. Sergio was just exceptionally quick.

 

[Kewee]

I've been waiting to see how Vettel would perform with a more level playing field. Two GP's and he's made a mistake in both. In Australia he ran off the track though it didn't cost him anything, in Malaysia he turned in on the car he had overtaken before he had cleared it giving himself a puncture. To me that's an error you would expect from a rookie, not a double world champion.

 

[Brogan]

An unsatisfying race, as is usual in Malaysia where the rain dictates the state of play.

A bad error by Button hitting Karthikeyan, likewise for Vettel.
Quite surprised neither of them were investigated for causing a colllision - I thought that was mandatory now if you damage someone else's car?

A great drive from Pérez - such a shame he was told to back off*.
Hamilton unlucky with a slow pit stop and being brought in 1 lap too late, although arguably he possibly wouldn't have been able to stay with Pérez and Alonso.

Another poor race from Grosjean - unlucky for anyone who had him in their FF1 (snigger).

A great result for Alonso and Ferrari - considering how poor the car is, Alonso's not doing too badly leading the championship.

Webber must be grinning ear to ear.


* Only (half) joking.

 

[Il_leone]

Hamilton was going faster than Alonso for most of the race. His pace wast that bad at all. Sergio was just exceptionally quick.

it was the stint out of the pits where Hamilton got up to Perez and then dropped back.. not sure if he had the same problem as Button with tyre pressure

 

[ExtremeNinja]

it was the stint out of the pits where Hamilton got up to Perez and then dropped back.. not sure if he had the same problem as Button with tyre pressure

The live timing showed Perez constantly catching Alonso whilst pulling away from Hamilton. The combined gap between Alonso and Hamilton was constantly decreasing too. This was consistently true, especially in the middle and later part of the race.

 

[racecub]

What is going on with Hamilton's race pace ? That's twice he has got pole then been not up there with the fastest in the race. Perhaps he needs to work on a different set up for race day because it just doesn't make sense.
Would be interested to know if Hamilton got the same info. Button did about cars going faster on slicks, if Hamilton did and choose to stay out then it's his own making but if he didn't ???

If he got the info that cars on slicks were going 5 sec faster than cars on inters, I cant see him deciding to stay out on inters. If he didnt get that information why not? Because Button did.