Sunday 4th April 2010 - PlanetF1.com Malaysian GP: Winners and Losers Vettel and Webber may have got the plaudits, but it was another Red Bull talent that came of age in Sepang... Star of the Race Jaime Alguersuari, Toro Rosso, 9th Michelle Foster has predicted the Star of the Race for each GP this season - all the way through to Abu Dhabi. Looking down the list it seems to be the name Michael Schumacher written 19 times. She's had to cross out three already and for this race she's scribbled in the name Jaime Alguersuari instead and with very good reason. Something has happened to Alguersuari since he tussled with Schumi in Melbourne last week. It's like he's become a new confident, aggressive driver. Before he was very much following in the wake of Sebastien Buemi, but now we have seen him as a contender. His epic three-corner passing move on Nico Hulkenberg was one of the highlights of a race that failed to live up to its billing. The 'Schumi Effect' seems to have worked its magic on Lucas di Grassi, too. A week after overtaking him he finished a race for Virgin. Overtaking Move of the Race Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, 6th Hamilton started where he left off in Melbourne with a scintillating drive overtaking more cars than anyone else again - forcing the issue rather than letting strategy play out. He needed to make up places quickly and on Lap 2 he made an audacious pass around Buemi on the outside of Turn 5. For those who maintained he Schu-weaved down the straight after overtaking Petrov, from a scholarly point of view "The Schu-weave" is only practiced when a following car makes a move to overtake and the car in front reacts and moves across. You're not defending if the guy behind isn't attacking. You're just arsing about. Maybe we should get that Melbourne PC back to charge him for hooning down the main straight. If Petrov had held his line, then Lewis would have been obliged to make one move out and one move back, but he didn't. As for the result, Lewis is making that all-important sixth place his own. Winners Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull, 1st Both Red Bulls looked in a different class today and weren't pushed at all by Nico Rosberg. You kind of got the feeling that they could have been thirty seconds up on Rosberg at the end if they didn't have to make the engines last four races. The result is ominous for the rest of the field because they had an easy time of it in the hottest race of the year. The only reason that Vettel doesn't have 75 points and 3 race victories out of 3 tonight is reliability and if that gets ironed out then everyone else is going to be fighting for scraps from Shanghai onwards. Mark Webber, Red Bull, 2nd Mark was a bit of a gent going into Turn 1, he left Vettel a lot of room to overrun the apex which the German duly did. Had that been a Ferrari or a McLaren turning in sharper then there might have been a lot of tears and fractured bargeboard, plus a lot of avoiding action from the field behind. I don't think it was a mistake by Webber, it was more like Mark could see what might unfold and he played the team game. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 3rd A fantastic qualifying effort from Rosberg, partly undone by a poor start. He was never going to beat a healthy Red Bull, though; third was as good as it was going to get. The more Nico keeps beating Michael Schumacher, the more journalists will hammer on at Michael about whether coming back was a good thing and the more irritated he will become. So Rosberg's in a very good position right now. Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov, Renault, 4th and DNF Is the reason that Red Bull and Renault are so quick this season because the Renault engine has been given an overly hefty 'equalisation' boost? For an under-funded team, Renault have come on strong, and whereas Kubica's individual skill could be explained as the reason for the team's great result in Australia, that has nothing to do with Petrov sticking to the rear end of Hamilton's f-flap equipped McLaren on the straight at Sepang. Kubica drove another confident, if under-observed, race and is rapidly attaching himself to the group of eight drivers most likely to be in Q3, providing they don't pay too much attention to the weather radar. Petrov looked much stronger in qualifying this time round and very feisty in the race. His snatching back of a place from Hamilton is certainly the highpoint of his season. Adrian Sutil, Force India, 5th A great result for Sutil. The McLaren looks very well-balanced on full tanks (and it could be slightly lighter). Thus Hamilton can make a lot of quick moves at the start of races, but later on, as the fuel empties out and the weights equalise, there's less and less of an advantage. Thus Sutil was able to keep his great friend back and hang on to a well-deserved fifth place. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, 7th Unlike the McLarens, the Ferraris look to get noticeably racier as the fuel load goes down. Massa had a great start, glueing his Ferrari F10 to the back of Lewis's car and letting him poke holes in the midfield for him to follow through. His overtaking move on Jenson Button should have been better defended, but Massa looked like he had the resolve to get through - and what a way to take the lead in the World Championship. Jenson Button, McLaren, 8th Button managed to hang on stubbornly to 8th place without having to make his car extra-wide on the straight or trying any kind of blocking move - well, maybe a couple - to keep Alonso behind. Fernando paid the price for running too close for too long. Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, DNF If what Alonso says is true - that his Ferrari had no clutch for the entire race and he had to change gear by pushing the lever and stamping the throttle, then to keep your car in a fight for 8th place - setting some fastest laps along the way - is nothing short of miraculous. So even though he got no points for it all, you can hardly describe him as a loser. No doubt all those laps that he was following Jenson Button he was enjoying the McLaren's precise driving style. It's what F1's all about. Losers Sauber, DNF Failing to get a car to the grid is embarrassing for an experienced team like Sauber who didn't even have the opportunity to start Pedro de la Rosa from the pitlane. Kobayashi retired. The qualifying performance was there, but nine completed laps between two cars, with no accidents to blame, is the kind of thing you'd expect from one of the newbies. Rubens Barrichello, Williams, 12th Now had this been last season Barrichello would probably have blamed his poor start on the team because they wanted Button to do beat him - "somethings not right, I don't know what". Now that excuse has been taken out of the equation we can see that actually, he's a poor starter Michael Schumacher, Mercedes, DNF Michael looked on the brink of outqualifying Rosberg for once, but Kubica (legitimately) got in the way. Thus in conditions on Saturday that should have suited Der Regenmeister, he blew his chances. Such is Nico's motivation/desperation to stay in front of Schumi that he happily put in Personal Best sector times during practice under waved yellows, when marshals were out on track recovering a car. On the surface it's all happy families, but it looks like there might be a lot more to it. In the race Schumi suffered mechanical problems, but he will probably be pleased to see that the Mercedes is capable of getting a podium, even if it had the wrong driver in it. Weather Forecasting Never has a race been so over-hyped as this one. "It's rained every day this week, it's not a question of if it rains, it's a question of when it's going to rain." Thus we got unvarying dryness of biblical proportions. Arf. Eddie Jordan's Shirt Remember that film 'Airplane' where the air traffic controller gets comically sweaty as he tries to talk a plane down. Or maybe the Lynx anti-perspirant advert where the guy lifts up his armpit and every time a torrent rushes out. This was Eddie Jordan in qualifying. Qualifying was a treat not just because of the changeable conditions, but because EJ had chosen to wear a light blue shirt which he was rapidly sweating up like he'd been 12 rounds at Cruiserweight. Rather than make a joke out of it at the time, the BBC continued on, pretending to ignore it, till right at the end EJ was handed a dark blue polo shirt which he put on between takes. Thus if you hadn't seen the qualifying programme and heard Christian Horner say, when asked if he thought it would rain, "If you look at Eddie, it looks like it's raining already." You missed the full rich timbre of the joke. Jake Humphry does very well, but there's no 'lad points' for making jokes about it the day after it's happened, you have to do it at the time. It was creasingly funny from the moment qualifying went 'live'. Basically Eddie needs to look at his wet set-up. Andrew Davies
Just one quibble: the weave down the straight was a Senna move. Schumacher took his legal "one move" very aggressively at starts, but he never weaved down the straight a la Senna. Carry on.
When did Senna do this, enlighten me? If you mean San Marino 89 vs Prost he never weaved the way Lewis did. Senna squeezed Prost to the wall. Furthermore there were no rules against it like there are now. I don't think I've ever seen anyone weave at least three times from one side of the road to the other like Lewis did.
Sorry for the ignorant question, but I'm new to F1.... Why was this a "dirty" move? Wasn't clear why he was issued the warning and not sure what rule is broken by that. Is it simply a dangerous maneuver with other drivers around? Also... Why did the other driver match his weaving and thus stay in "dirty air"? Wouldn't it have been better for him to just stay in the racing line and cleaner air? Still trying to figure out some of this sports subtleties.
There's a rule in F1 that says you can make one move to protect your position. Lewis made around 3, lol. Petrov stayed behind Lewis in order to gain an advantage by slip streaming or drafting, in NASCAR speak.
BS. Senna never did this weave thing. I NEVER recall him doing this. I do remember, though, how it was perfected by Schumacher.
