F1: Malaysian GP Winners and Losers

[Rory Phoulorie]

Sunday 8th April 2007

Star of the Race

Lewis Hamilton, McLaren, P2
If his debut was impressive then his follow-up race was even more so, Hamilton withstood a lot of pressure from Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen and in the end made Massa look foolish and Raikkonen unfit.

First of all his start was either blinding or Massa was severely at fault to let him creep through to second from fourth on the grid. Having got there he managed to cover his lines into corners when he needed and challenged Massa to an outbraking contest twice into Turn 4.

When the hapless Ferrari driver came skeetering past each time he nipped through on the inside.

In the closing stages, he lost a lot of time to a very determined-looking Raikkonen, but gradually improved his pace on the harder tyre and made no errors under pressure. In the post-race debrief he revealed his water bottle had packed up, but he kept his concentration throughout.


Overtaking Move of the Race

Alex Wurz, Williams-Toyota, Lap 12
Alex Wurz showed Felipe Massa how to overtake a car cleanly at Turn 4 - pitched against his Melbourne nemesis, David Coulthard, he had a clear speed advantage. As both cars approached Turn 4, DC went to cover the inside line.

Wurz, who'd been expecting it, simply drove round the outside forcing Coulthard to amend his line at the exit of the turn.

Nico Rosberg executed a similarly neat move on Robert Kubica at the same corner.


Winners

Fernando Alonso, Mclaren, P1
Alonso clearly was very surprised to have come away from Malaysia with ten points in the bag. He edged past Massa into Turn 1 and from there wasn't challenged. From Laps 9 to 14 he began to show that familiar metronomic lapping ability, shaving tenths and hundredths off the Fastest Lap time on each subsequent lap (bar Lap 13).

Though the environment is not an easy one to drive in, the Malaysian GP of 2007 must count for one of his easiest victories, insulated as it was from any fight with the Ferraris by the feisty Hamilton.


Kimi Raikkonen, Renault P3
Kimi Raikkonen looked thoroughly knackered after the Malaysian GP and performed one of the most half-hearted sprays of champagne of all time. He got jumped by Hamilton at the start and had to follow him around for a long time. Then at the close, he drove like the clappers, but didn't get in a position to mount a challenge and had to settle for P3.

Yet it wasn't all bad.

He was closing on Hamilton at the end with faster lap times than team-mate Felipe Massa was putting in to try and peg back Nick Heidfeld. He didn't make an arse of himself trying to pass Hamilton, and he put more distance between himself and his team-mate in the World Championship.

At the end of the day his engine looked strong (no apparent cooling problems here) and he goes away just two points behind Alonso.


Nick Heidfeld, BMW, P4
With far more fuel than those in front of him on the grid Heidfeld's Saturday qualifying performance was better than we realised at the time. He had a steady race, resisting any pressure from Felipe Massa, who was never more than about three seconds behind him, except during the pit-stops.

He also managed to put the hammer down and beat Felipe when it counted during the second round of pit-stops. Though it was very tight.


Giancarlo Fisichella, Heikki Kovalainen Renault, P6 and P8
A great start from Fisichella who jumped to 8th and then lucked into 6th after Kubica and Rosberg disappeared with reliability problems. He'll be happy (or "appy") to have beaten his team-mate.

Kovalainen kept his car in one piece, though he did run wide in various corners on his way to his first World Championship point.

Renault's horizon doesn't look as bleak as it did on Saturday, but the tightening of the rules on flexible floors has clearly affected them more than any other team.


Jarno Trulli, Toyota, P7
A largely unseen Trulli kept his car in one piece - and most importantly, beat the Williams-Toyota.


Losers

Felipe Massa, Ferrari, P5
Psychologically, this result could be quite crushing for Massa. After the first GP where he lost out through no fault of his own in Qualifying he must have been expecting to get a podium at the very least - if not P2 or the win. This was his turn for the Ferrari win.

The fact that it didn't happen is down to the pace of the car and some fairly basic motor-racing faults. It's hard to think of a potential World Champion failing to brake in time for the same corner and duffing up two overtaking moves.

Michael Schumacher, back in the comfort of Vufflens Le Chateau must have been burying his face in a pillow.

After that Massa had trouble even getting on terms with the BMW of Nick Heidfeld. He really does need a result in Bahrain.


Nico Rosberg, Williams-Toyota, DNF
Rosberg did all the hard work only for his engine - sorry, make that hydraulics - to fail. Nico said it was the hydraulics, but it's rare you get the team asking their driver to "switch to Mode 4" because the hydraulics are overheating.

It was yet another impress turn of pace from the German, far above the kind of performance Wurz is getting from the car.


Robert Kubica, BMW, P18
Kubica is becoming the Rubens Barrichello of the BMW team (the driver whose car always falls to bits, while the team leader's never gets a puncture). His failing traction control dropped him down the field -presumably because the extra wheel spin absolutely shagged his tyres.

In a way he was just interpreting the 2008 rule - the ban of TC - a little bit early.

He's going to have to practice...


Mark Webber, Red Bull, P10
Webbo's races would improve so much if he could end Lap 1 in the position he qualified. Another race of going gently backwards for the Aussie, only mitigated by problems for cars in front of him.


David Coulthard, Red Bull, DNF
This is almost certainly going to be David Coulthard's last season in F1. At the Chinese GP last year he didn't want to drive his Red Bull in the wet and wanted to bring in a healthy car and retire.

In Malaysia he got on the radio and said very much the same thing, only this time his brake pedal was fouling the steering column. None of the "I'll try and drive round this" DC wanted in.

Though it's a legitimate reason for stopping, not being able to brake your car with confidence, it's symptomatic of a driver who is highly aware of his own mortality.


Honda, 13 and 14th
As the current BBC2 programme title says: It's Not Easy Being Green.


Ralf Schumacher, Toyota, P15
Ralf had a basket of miseries thrown at him - he had to avoid Trulli at the start and then both Toyotas got jumped by a fast-starting Fisichella. He got stuck in traffic, had a slow puncture etc etc. Unlike his brother Ralf doesn't see adversity as a challenge, he sees it as a reason to sulk.


Those Mark "Git orf me barra" Moments
Following a wonderful debut in Australia, where his sentences stretched out into the far distance like a view across the desert from Ayers Rock, Mark Blundell had been practicing. Just as the teams had been testing in Sepang so Mark had been practicing with some short, sharp sentences.


A real loss to the ITV viewer, but there were still some gems in there.


Mark's view about Renault's dominance:
"It's not no longer happening."


Mark's view on the conditions.
"It's just immensely humidity."


Mark's view on Alonso's prospects.
"He's up in the mix and I think he could pull something out of the bag."


Mark's view on DC mounting Alex Wurz in Australia.
"It could have been a lot worse, Steve. Gratefully nothing happened."



Mark, would you send something by FedEx or Felipe Massa...?
"We said Massa was the fastest package."

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