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/

 

[Josh]

Woo Perez

It was a pretty boring race but a second place for Perez and Sauber more than made up for it!

Too bad Mclaren screwed up their pitstops today and I thought it was Karthikeyan who drove into Vettel - and I guess that's true because the stewards have access to more camera angles than we do.

Alonso was really exceptional today tbh, easily the driver of the day imo.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Well considering he was the fastest driver of anyone near the end, it seems clear to me he was was pushing for the win. Each to their own opinion

Sure. So long as it's noted as opinion. I've made a correction to your post to reflect this.

 

[Il_leone]

That doesn't explain why Karthikeyan has been penalised.

I meant thats the quote DC uses when two drivers have a crash

Narain penalised maybe they responded to the hand gesture of Vettel afterwards to do action and because it was the world champion he took out !

 

[Mephistopheles]

I would agree with that, unless a different camera angle shows NK moving over into Vettel.
From what I saw that it was Vettel's fault.

I need to check if that 20 seconds drops him a place or not.

But unlike Jenson, Vettel would never hold his hands up.and say "it was my fault"

 

[Il_leone]

Peter Sauber has already denied claims of conspiracy by ordering PErez to slow down and deny him a win

 

[Brogan]

Well he's hardly going to say anything else, is he?

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Peter Sauber has already denied claims of conspiracy by ordering PErez to slow down and deny him a win

That solves that then.

 

[FB]

Just watched it again - from the rear view it looks like Vettel turned into Narain but from the front view you can see Vettel takes the racing line and Narain moves across into him. Doesn't deserve a penalty to me, bit of a telling off for NK perhaps.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

Did anyone else think Massa's defending against Button might have got him a penalty had Button not got out of there?

If his surname had started with an 'H' it might have.

 

[FB]

Radio message very much "make sure you bring it home" as well - they were warning him about the possibility of rain on parts of the track. You lot and your conspiracies

Just to keep you all happy, here's a picture of the grassy knoll where the other gunman stood to shoot at JFK

 

[Il_leone]

well when you've got a driver backed by Ferrari in Perez who will drive for Ferrari one day possibly and Ferrari also supported your team with an engine as well its easy to see where the conspiracy might come in

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

Radio message very much "make sure you bring it home" as well - they were warning him about the possibility of rain on parts of the track. You lot and your conspiracies

Just to keep you all happy, here's a picture of the grassy knoll where the other gunman stood to shoot at JFK

Did you take that one yourself?

 

[FB]

Not quite that old

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Radio message very much "make sure you bring it home" as well - they were warning him about the possibility of rain on parts of the track. You lot and your conspiracies

Just to keep you all happy, here's a picture of the grassy knoll where the other gunman stood to shoot at JFK

I think there is a difference between a conspiracy theory and a seemingly obvious team order.

Your use of the term "conspiracy theory" appears an attempt to win your argument through ridicule and diversion rather than case-making.

 

[Josh]

It was an obvious team order - a team order to bring it home and not do a Maldonado.

 

[landogeorgelewis1]

Tell you what if your Kamui Kobayashi at this moment in time you'll be wondering why the hell didn't i get that far up the pecking order before retiring.

 

[GermanF1]

For probably the first time ever I was happy that the gravel trap was moved a few metres away from the track

 

[FB]

Not at all - I just listened to the team radio on the BBC highlights and they clearly tell Perez to be careful as they want the points, not that they are telling him to keep behind

Chico, be careful, we need this position, we need this position. Possible light rain corners 1,2,3.

I can see nothing more in that they don't want the youngster to cock things up. Maybe the team radio put him off. I'm more inclined to believe he got too excited as he got close to Alonso and simply made a mistake. If he hadn't I believe he could and would have won the race.

 

[ExtremeNinja]

Not at all - I just listened to the team radio on the BBC highlights and they clearly tell Perez to be careful as they want the points, not that they are telling him to keep behind

Perhaps the majority of us or more cynical. I doubt we'll ever know who is most insightful.

 

[FB]

Very true - I try to see the positive in F1 unless the alternative can be proven. Although the way F1 sometimes works I can understand people being cynical.