Malaysian Grand Prix, Round 2; 23/03/08

[MikeLane]

Malaysian Grand Prix

Fortunes change as McLaren struggles and Ferrari take the win.

Sepang, Kuala Lumpar – Mar 23, 2008 – Round 2

By

Mike Lane

F1 Correspondent.

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After last weekends performance Ferrari needed to reassert their position on this championship and their front row start for this Malaysian Grand Prix was just what they needed.
The two McLaren drivers had been demoted five places on the grid for blocking during the final phase of qualifying yesterday and were starting 8th and 9th instead of 3rd and 4th. It was going to be an uphill struggle from there and so it was to prove.

The grid order was:-

1. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)................. 2. Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari).
3. Jarno Trulli (Toyota).................. 4. Robert Kubica (BMW Sauber).
5. Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber)........ 6. Mark Webber (Red Bull).
7. Fernando Alonso (Renault).......... 8. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren).
9. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)........... 10. Timo Glock (Toyota).
11. Jenson Button (Honda)............... 12. David Coultard (Red Bull).
13. Nelsinho Piquet (Renault)............ 14. Rubens Barrichello (Honda).
15. Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso)..... 16. Nico Rosberg (Williams).
17. Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India).... 18. Sebastien Bourdais (ToroRosso).
19. Takuma Sato (Super Aguri).......... 20. Adrian Sutil (Force India).
21. Anthony Davidson (Super Aguri)..... 22. Kazuki Nakajima (Williams).


With the McLarens out of position and with this Sepang circuit having a long run down to the first turn, it was always going to a challenge for the field to make it through the first two turns.

Despite the lack of traction control and launch aides the start was a good one and as the cars accelerated towards the first turn there were winners and losers.

Bourdais in the Toro Rosso lost control and spun off into the gravel trap to end his race on the first lap. Meanwhile Rosberg in the Williams touched the back of Glock’s Toyota breaking the latter’s suspension and his race was also finished. Rosberg immediately pitted and had the nose-cone replaced before rejoining the race.

In a frantic battle and one might say inspired driving by all concerned, Hamilton in the McLaren was caught in the middle of a sandwich of competitors as they all safely negotiated the first two turns, but emerged in 5th place behind Webber.

By lap 4 the order was Massa, Raikkonen, Kubica, Webber, Hamilton, Trulli, Kovalainen, Coultard, Alonso and Heidfeld, with Trulli and Heidfeld being the biggest losers.

The next lap both Heidfeld and Alonso got past Coultard for 8th and 9th places respectively.

Despite losing out initially, Trulli began chasing Hamilton hard and clearly had good race pace at this stage. So often in the past Toyota has shown good qualifying performance, particularly at the hands of Trulli who is renowned as a one lap specialist, but then has disappointed in the race.

At the front of the field the Ferraris were in a class of their own with only Kubica seemingly able to live with them. Meanwhile all through the field there were good battles taking place.

On the 6th lap Sutil in the Force India car drove off the track in trouble and came to a halt, so ending his race.

Two laps later Nakajima in 14th place was attacking the Toro Rosso driven by Vettel and succeeded in passing him for 13th.

The Ferraris at the front were maintaining about a two second gap with Kubica some 10 seconds behind. To underline their pace on lap 16, Raikkonen put in a fastest lap of 1:35.8 minutes and both Ferraris lapped Rosberg in the Williams.

The next lap Webber made his pit stop and rejoined in 12th place behind Piquet in the Renault.

On lap 18 Massa, Trulli and Heidfeld made their pit stops whilst Raikkonen who stayed out was flying. He put in another fastest lap of 1:35.679 mins and in the first two sectors of the next lap went faster again before making his pitstop.

Each lap is divided into three sectors over which the drivers are timed. Raikkonen could not go fastest in the final sector because he came into the pits but he was charging right up to his stop.

When he emerged from his pit stop Raikkonen was infront of Massa in the sister Ferrari and I am sure no-one was more surprised than Massa. He had got pole position and led the race thus far but Raikkonen had got the job done when he needed to.

Now it was Hamilton’s turn to make his pit stop and normally the McLaren team are flawless in their stops but this time disaster struck when the right front wheel nut and spinner would not release. The resulting pit stop was 19 seconds long, costing Hamilton about 12 seconds and meant he emerged behind Webber. This was to further compromise his race and add to the problems he seemed to be having with pace.

Oddly, having watched his struggle in the first section of the race on the softer option tyre, it was surprising to see him elect to stay with that compound. Each driver has to use both tyre compounds issued to the teams during each race but other drivers seemed to be having better performance with the harder compound. Ultimately the softer compound should yield more pace, but sometimes drivers derive more confidence in the harder compounds as the feel they can ‘lean’ on them more predictably.

By lap 27 everyone had made a pit stop and the race order was Raikkonen, Massa, Kubica, Kovalainen, Trulli, Webber, Hamilton, Heidfeld, Alonso, Coultard.

The trio of Webber, Hamilton and Heidfeld were having a very close battle with Webber doing a great job to hold off the McLaren and BMW Sauber.

At the front Raikkonen led Massa by 4.9 secs, who in turn led Kubica by 21.019 secs.

Now in the second half of the Grand Prix the two Ferraris looked set to dominate this race as they had from the start. But just when things looked settled, inexplicably Massa lost the rear of the car in the middle of turns 7 and 8, leaving the track to find himself beached in the gravel trap and out of the race.

Whether it was a lapse in concentration or not I don’t know at this stage but nothing appeared to have broken. In previous seasons, traction control would almost certainly have helped the driver in this situation but now drivers have to drive every corner throughout the race to maintain control and it appears to be catching them out.

Whatever the reason, Kubica now found himself in second place some 22 secs behind Raikkonen.

Race order at this stage was Raikkonen, Kubica, Kovalainen, Trulli, Webber, Hamilton, Heidfeld, Alonso and Button.

On lap 39 Raikkonen came in for his second pit stop and rejoined behind Kubica.

The contest between Webber and Hamilton was closer still with only 0.7 secs between them and then Webber took his pit stop to leave Hamilton with some clear air.

Webber rejoined behind Piquet for 11th place as Vettel’s Toro Rosso left the track with smoke coming from the engine.

Over the next four laps several drivers made their pit stops whilst Webber found himself held up by the Super Aguri of Sato, losing the Australian valuable time.
As a result, Heidfeld in the BMW Sauber got past the Red Bull driver.

On lap 45 Hamilton made his last pit stop and this time without incident. When he re-emerged he was 5th ahead of Heidfeld and set about chasing Trulli.

Hamilton was now on the harder tyre compound and his lap times improved. He was now lapping one second faster than Trulli in the Toyota, who was 4.189 secs ahead.

With 8 laps to go he was surely going to catch the French driver, but catching is one thing, overtaking quite another.

At the same time, Alonso in the Renault was chasing down Webber in the closing stages of this race and with 4 laps to go was only half a second behind.

In the end, despite the exciting climax, neither Hamilton nor Alonso were able to gain a place.

Kimi Raikkonen won the race in commanding style whilst McLaren could only manage 3rd and 5th with Kovalainen taking the 3rd spot.

The final race order was:-

1st Raikkonen in 1hr31:18.555 at an average speed of 203.971 km/h (125.54mph).
2nd Kubica +19.57s
3rd Kovalainen +38.45s
4th Trulli +45.832s
5th Hamilton +46.548s
6th Heidfeld +49.833s
7th Webber +68.13s
8th Alonso +70.041s
9th Coultard +76.22s
10th Button +86.214s
11th Piquet +92.202s
12th Fisichella +1 lap
13th Barrichello +1 lap
14th Rosberg +1 lap
15th Davidson +1 lap
16th Sato +2 laps
17th Nakajima +2 laps
18th Vettel +17 laps
19th Massa +26 laps
20th Sutil +51 laps
21st Glock +55 laps
22nd Bourdais +56 laps.


After two rounds the Driver’s championship looks like this:-

Hamilton 14 points
Raikkonen 11
Heidfeld 11
Kovalainen 10
Kubica 8
Rosberg 6
Alonso 6
Trulli 5
Nakajima 3
Bourdais 2
Webber 2
Coultard 0
Button 0
Piquet 0
Fisichella 0
Barrichella 0

The Constructor’s championship looks like this:-

McLaren 24 points
BMW Sauber 19
Ferrari 11
Williams 9
Renault 6
Toyota 5
Red Bull 2
Toro Rosso 2
Honda 0
Force India 0
Super Aguri 0


Well this was certainly not Melbourne and Ferrari, after that dismal showing, dominated here as their winter testing had promised.

McLaren could not build on their last race and was not helped by the penalising of both their drivers. It will be fascinating to see who comes out on top in the rest of the season.

BMW Sauber again showed they were on the pace with Kubica having a great race for 2nd place.

Toyota surprised everyone with their strong race pace and Webber came good for Red Bull with his 7th place.

Honda must be delighted with their 10th and 13th places after their dismal winter programme and Jenson Button certainly seemed more upbeat.

Finally, Force India had a strong showing with Fisichella’s 12th place and it augers well for the future of this new team.

We can now look forward to Bahrain in two weeks time where perhaps the variety will continue.

Mike Lane
F1 Correspondent – Home Base - England