Great races for Heidfeld and Webber I thought, after all the doubters following Melbourne. Alonso will be well annoyed, he could have the podium we were all writing him off for.
I don’t think it was a good race from Heidfeld. I mean, he had a fantastic start and later a solid drive, but made plenty of errors. I am happy he got the podium, but I would say it was mainly luck, not skills. Let’s hope he will understand the car better in the next races and reach for the podiums regularly.
The start from both the Renault cars were awesome, just like in the old days of Alonso time when they used to get some great start for having huge amount of Torque relative to other teams.
The man ran in the top ten all weekend. He’s proven his pace from Melbourne was genuine. He just made a mistake. I don’t see you swamping Alonso for that foolish error that cost him a podium.
In a car that has podium capabilities you would expect him to be in the top ten. But running wide and coming back onto the track in a ridiculous place shows how average he still is.
Perhaps I should have added a :( on the end. Petrov is actually one of my favourite drivers. And since you mentioned it: yes, Alonso made a silly mistake as well. But not disappointing for me because I don’t like him.
I must say I am holding my judgement for now. He was running very good right until that moment, but last year he had some strong showings as well, only to lose it in the end.
Curious what happened, he looked like sailing off on the Marbles, but didn’t he see the gutter there? Or maybe something was damaged already?
I think Brundle’s “Rudderless Russian” was a bit harsh on him.
I think it was same or similar place Schumacher went off. Yes, Petrov made a mistake, but he wasn’t the only one in this race. Lots of mistakes all over the place, by some very experienced drivers as well.
People seem to love making sweeping conclusions on the back of tiny instances.
If by lucky you mean that others weren’t as fast as they could be, maybe. I don’t think there was any luck involved in Australia. He was fast, full stop.
In Malaysia, I think, the cars’ differences were more pronounced
I was always anti-Petrov, but in this season I started to appreciate his work and progress. Sure, that mistake was silly, but he showed us some talent on the track today. The beggining of the race and the way he fighted for his position was brilliant and mature. No more mr Kamikaze as in 2010. So congrats Vitaly, you are doing it right, finally.
Well, even if Petrov’s accident was entirely his fault, the on-board camera shows him being launched into the air as soon as he runs out of run-off. Petrov simply never saw it coming because he was trying to get back onto the circuit. If it weren’t for that, he would have picked up points and be ahead of Alonso overall. The FIA is going to want to take a look at that – a ditch of water channel or whatever it was that close to a high-speed corner is bloody unsafe.
if you look carefully, he even shifting to 4th gear just before he hit the bump/ditch. he should lift off the throttle. he must have a very sore bum-bum tonight.:)
I agree PM it was his fault, he should have had backed off a bit & joined on the track instead he carried his momentum & never realize that there was a huge bump on the track, that was a nasty for the back-bone.
wow! This was up quick! I only followed the race by live timing and twitter but it seemed like a very good fight. So glad Button was able to secure 2nd. Seemed he had his fourth stop in hand if had needed it. What happened to Hamilton? Button not only was faster but Lewis really seemed to struggle on the hard tyres. Button matching and catching Vettel towards the end made for a tense final few laps for me. Westcountry boy comes good! Go Somerset!
Hamilton dropped off as soon as he put the prime tyres on. I think it was due to him trying to make them last about 18 laps. Too conservative I reckon. And once Alonso damaged the rear of the car I think that was it for him.
I think the philosophy that Jenson is easier on the tyres than Lewis was clearly shown here.
I was really struggling to see why McLaren did that. At first I thought they were trying to to the end but that would have been impossible, then I thought they were gambling on Vettel having to stop an extra time. That strategy was never going to work and arguably cost Hamilton 4th, especially when they ballsed up his last (well, last two really) stint. I feel Jenson could have been a lot closer to Vettel on merit (rather than Seb slowing down) if they hadn’t put him on the strange strategy too.
Yeh McLaren are dropping the ball too often for a top team when it comes to strategy. Not pitting Hamilton before Vettel in Australia could have been costly had Hamilton’s tray fixing not failed (so he wouldn’t have won anyway) and today their decisions definitely cost them some points in both championship.
Interesting that Button said something about a danger both of overcooking the tyres, and of going too slow on them, thus losing downforce (from EBD?) and subsequently having them also fall away. Maybe that’s a hint as to what happened with Hamilton?
Great race. Vettel was devastating and Button did a great drive. Heidfield deserves his place so much, awesome start and kept up with the McLarens. Hamilton was unlucky again with the Alonso incident and finished high on the results board.
The championship looks good, but yet the RBRs are very hard to be matched. I think things will start looking more clear after China.
I’m willing to bet the FIA is going to take a close look at the circuit after Petrov’s accident. Nobody’s ever really been out there, and if Petrov’s steering was already loose when he went off the circuit, he had no chance of getting back on before he hit the thing that launched him into the air.
Not really. Even after checking out the video link you just posted, it looks as if the car understeered just a tad (probably because of the wear on the tyres), and it wasn’t until after the airborne movement that the steerig column just broke.
Keith, quick as always. The race was thrilling, though the result wasn’t quite what I would’ve liked. As an ex BMW Sauber fan, Im happy for quik Nick. He made a phenomenal start and did really well, as did Paul DiResta. Thank goodness for back to back weekends. My withdrawal is somewhat lessened thankfully.
I think the new strategy guru at Ferrari is doing a quite decent job actually.
He made it a narrow 5th for Alonso after a blunder at the start and he (or someone else) did oversee the durability of the primes today. Then they desginated pit stops for Fernando at the exact perfect moments for him to make the most out of a three stop strategy (which was a problem for Webber and Hamilton at the very least) and move him up to 3rd from 7th again after a blunder.
Only for Alonso to smash it out of reach in the end… Sad.
Ferrari result not indictative of their race pace or how well their drivers were doing (obviously Alono’s crash hurt them). Three bad pit stops in one race just isn’t acceptable. I know the pit crews are under so much pressure with all their stops but they’ve really got to work on this. They haven’t got a quick enough car in qualifying so they have to make the most of their races until they get some decent upgrades.
Gotta agree with you on Ferrari’s race pace. Fernando looked really quick during the race in Melbourne as well as Sepang, and today if it wasn’t for that error, he could have finished in 2nd. I think Ferrari need to sort out their pit stops out.. and also find that factor that is destroying their quali, as it just seems that Fernando cannot get off to a good start when he is on the 3rd row of the grid.
As I said in the comments, I think the one team failing with their strategies the most in this race, was Sauber.
It looked like they had decided on 2 stops before the race and very stubbornly hung on to that decision in the race. And I think it cost Kobayashi a decent chance to have a go at Hamilton later on as he was having to be too careful with his tyres while losing time for several laps while they’re dropping off.
Best moment of the race for me, was (I think) Hamilton and Buemi catching up with Rosberg at the same time on the short back straight. A very Schumacher/Hakkinen/Zonta moment :)
It was a great race, plenty of things to watch and keep track of! It didn’t feel artificial, and certainly not because of DRS, but because of the very large gap in performance between tyre compound and freshness. But it’s absolutely normal, and it tends to fade late in the race when positions are a little bit more defined. Quality of the battle between the drivers actually improved over the race.
And, FINALLY, welcome back three-way-side-by-side battle and counter-overtakes. It’s been a while.
RIISE (@riise)
10th April 2011, 10:46
It was a great race.
All of the Heidfeld doubters after Melbourne, take that!! Brilliant drive from him.
I was so disappointed by Alonso though…he just didn’t anticipate how slow Lewis was. But still finished ahead of him so all in all still good points.
Oh and gold medal acrobatics for Petrov.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
10th April 2011, 10:48
Great races for Heidfeld and Webber I thought, after all the doubters following Melbourne. Alonso will be well annoyed, he could have the podium we were all writing him off for.
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
10th April 2011, 11:26
It certainly was a great race, plenty of action and battles.
summers (@summers)
10th April 2011, 13:41
I don’t think it was a good race from Heidfeld. I mean, he had a fantastic start and later a solid drive, but made plenty of errors. I am happy he got the podium, but I would say it was mainly luck, not skills. Let’s hope he will understand the car better in the next races and reach for the podiums regularly.
infy (@infy)
10th April 2011, 14:46
A bit of luck… but its the same for everyone.
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
11th April 2011, 3:11
The start from both the Renault cars were awesome, just like in the old days of Alonso time when they used to get some great start for having huge amount of Torque relative to other teams.
TFLB
10th April 2011, 10:46
Petrov back down to earth with a bump in more ways than one.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
10th April 2011, 10:51
The man ran in the top ten all weekend. He’s proven his pace from Melbourne was genuine. He just made a mistake. I don’t see you swamping Alonso for that foolish error that cost him a podium.
RIISE (@riise)
10th April 2011, 11:14
In a car that has podium capabilities you would expect him to be in the top ten. But running wide and coming back onto the track in a ridiculous place shows how average he still is.
Randy (@randy)
10th April 2011, 14:57
I’m sure You would’ve done better.
TFLB
10th April 2011, 11:25
Perhaps I should have added a :( on the end. Petrov is actually one of my favourite drivers. And since you mentioned it: yes, Alonso made a silly mistake as well. But not disappointing for me because I don’t like him.
BasCB (@bascb)
10th April 2011, 11:26
I must say I am holding my judgement for now. He was running very good right until that moment, but last year he had some strong showings as well, only to lose it in the end.
Curious what happened, he looked like sailing off on the Marbles, but didn’t he see the gutter there? Or maybe something was damaged already?
I think Brundle’s “Rudderless Russian” was a bit harsh on him.
Ral (@)
10th April 2011, 11:43
I think it was same or similar place Schumacher went off. Yes, Petrov made a mistake, but he wasn’t the only one in this race. Lots of mistakes all over the place, by some very experienced drivers as well.
People seem to love making sweeping conclusions on the back of tiny instances.
butterdori (@butterdori)
10th April 2011, 11:03
Yep, he wasn’t as fast as he was in Australia, but I think he has genuine pace
BBT (@bbt)
10th April 2011, 11:08
He wasn’t as lucky as he was in OZ you mean. Normal service resumed. He does have decent pace but not very consistent. He shows potential.
butterdori (@butterdori)
10th April 2011, 11:13
If by lucky you mean that others weren’t as fast as they could be, maybe.
I don’t think there was any luck involved in Australia. He was fast, full stop.
In Malaysia, I think, the cars’ differences were more pronounced
summers (@summers)
10th April 2011, 13:47
I was always anti-Petrov, but in this season I started to appreciate his work and progress. Sure, that mistake was silly, but he showed us some talent on the track today. The beggining of the race and the way he fighted for his position was brilliant and mature. No more mr Kamikaze as in 2010. So congrats Vitaly, you are doing it right, finally.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
10th April 2011, 10:49
That was a weird accident from Petrov. I wouln’t be surprised if the steering column was already loose when he went off.
jsw11984 (@jarred-walmsley)
10th April 2011, 11:24
Yes, that did seem to be a very weird accident, i’ve never seen a steering column come lose in anything other than my Bburego models before.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
10th April 2011, 11:35
Well, even if Petrov’s accident was entirely his fault, the on-board camera shows him being launched into the air as soon as he runs out of run-off. Petrov simply never saw it coming because he was trying to get back onto the circuit. If it weren’t for that, he would have picked up points and be ahead of Alonso overall. The FIA is going to want to take a look at that – a ditch of water channel or whatever it was that close to a high-speed corner is bloody unsafe.
mas-T
10th April 2011, 12:04
if you look carefully, he even shifting to 4th gear just before he hit the bump/ditch. he should lift off the throttle. he must have a very sore bum-bum tonight.:)
wasiF1 (@wasif1)
11th April 2011, 3:14
I agree PM it was his fault, he should have had backed off a bit & joined on the track instead he carried his momentum & never realize that there was a huge bump on the track, that was a nasty for the back-bone.
graigchq
10th April 2011, 10:51
wow! This was up quick!
I only followed the race by live timing and twitter but it seemed like a very good fight. So glad Button was able to secure 2nd. Seemed he had his fourth stop in hand if had needed it. What happened to Hamilton? Button not only was faster but Lewis really seemed to struggle on the hard tyres. Button matching and catching Vettel towards the end made for a tense final few laps for me.
Westcountry boy comes good! Go Somerset!
RIISE (@riise)
10th April 2011, 10:57
Hamilton dropped off as soon as he put the prime tyres on. I think it was due to him trying to make them last about 18 laps. Too conservative I reckon. And once Alonso damaged the rear of the car I think that was it for him.
I think the philosophy that Jenson is easier on the tyres than Lewis was clearly shown here.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
10th April 2011, 11:05
I was really struggling to see why McLaren did that. At first I thought they were trying to to the end but that would have been impossible, then I thought they were gambling on Vettel having to stop an extra time. That strategy was never going to work and arguably cost Hamilton 4th, especially when they ballsed up his last (well, last two really) stint. I feel Jenson could have been a lot closer to Vettel on merit (rather than Seb slowing down) if they hadn’t put him on the strange strategy too.
BBT (@bbt)
10th April 2011, 11:11
A big strategic failure from Mclaren for the second time this year
Icthyes (@icthyes)
10th April 2011, 11:15
Yeh McLaren are dropping the ball too often for a top team when it comes to strategy. Not pitting Hamilton before Vettel in Australia could have been costly had Hamilton’s tray fixing not failed (so he wouldn’t have won anyway) and today their decisions definitely cost them some points in both championship.
bananarama (@bananarama)
10th April 2011, 14:23
Button made it stick though.
bosyber (@bosyber)
10th April 2011, 14:25
Interesting that Button said something about a danger both of overcooking the tyres, and of going too slow on them, thus losing downforce (from EBD?) and subsequently having them also fall away. Maybe that’s a hint as to what happened with Hamilton?
Aris (@aris)
10th April 2011, 10:57
Great race. Vettel was devastating and Button did a great drive. Heidfield deserves his place so much, awesome start and kept up with the McLarens. Hamilton was unlucky again with the Alonso incident and finished high on the results board.
The championship looks good, but yet the RBRs are very hard to be matched. I think things will start looking more clear after China.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
10th April 2011, 11:00
I’m willing to bet the FIA is going to take a close look at the circuit after Petrov’s accident. Nobody’s ever really been out there, and if Petrov’s steering was already loose when he went off the circuit, he had no chance of getting back on before he hit the thing that launched him into the air.
Todfod (@todfod)
10th April 2011, 12:13
Not really. Even after checking out the video link you just posted, it looks as if the car understeered just a tad (probably because of the wear on the tyres), and it wasn’t until after the airborne movement that the steerig column just broke.
butterdori (@butterdori)
10th April 2011, 11:05
Really difficult to keep track of everyone’s genuine positions because of all the pit stops…
Anyway, happy to see Renault’s consecutive podium. Huge shame for Petrov.
Also, only 1 week to the next GP!!
Malibu_GP
10th April 2011, 11:05
Keith, quick as always. The race was thrilling, though the result wasn’t quite what I would’ve liked. As an ex BMW Sauber fan, Im happy for quik Nick. He made a phenomenal start and did really well, as did Paul DiResta. Thank goodness for back to back weekends. My withdrawal is somewhat lessened thankfully.
Younger Hamii(Formerly Younger Hamilton)
10th April 2011, 11:07
Three Words- Stupid McLaren Strategy!!!
Icthyes (@icthyes)
10th April 2011, 11:12
Alonso to the stewards – hope they don’t punish him, he took enough from his mistake.
RIISE (@riise)
10th April 2011, 11:20
They won’t punish him for that, if they do it will be a foolish move from the stewards.
poshus
10th April 2011, 11:13
The last F1 driver to win the first two races and LOSE the world championship was Alain Prost in 1982. Its over already…
poshus
10th April 2011, 11:18
And its been done 9 times since then. (Button 09, Schu 04, 01, 00, Hakk 98, Hill 96, Schu 94, Mansell 92, Senna 91)
HxCas (@hxcas)
10th April 2011, 12:03
Cheer up, did you judge last year from Bahrain? It’s a long season, all it takes is 1 DNF from Vettel and it will be close in terms of points again
Atticus
10th April 2011, 11:14
I think the new strategy guru at Ferrari is doing a quite decent job actually.
He made it a narrow 5th for Alonso after a blunder at the start and he (or someone else) did oversee the durability of the primes today. Then they desginated pit stops for Fernando at the exact perfect moments for him to make the most out of a three stop strategy (which was a problem for Webber and Hamilton at the very least) and move him up to 3rd from 7th again after a blunder.
Only for Alonso to smash it out of reach in the end… Sad.
Atticus
10th April 2011, 11:15
Well the narrow 5th – I meant it for Australia.
Ivan Vinitskyy
10th April 2011, 11:15
Can’t wait to see the pictures of Petrov’s flight.
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
10th April 2011, 11:26
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggJaNN9Ysd0&feature=player_embedded
There’s defiantely something going on with Petrov’s steering. He’s moving his hands, but the wheels don’t appear to be turning.
Steph (@)
10th April 2011, 11:38
Yeah I think you’re right. However, Petrov’s jump would put fellow Russian Novikov’s to shame http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FppNQYN3cBo
dj
10th April 2011, 14:42
Well anything more then a big Go kart track,an these F1 cars fall apart
Steph (@)
10th April 2011, 11:30
Ferrari result not indictative of their race pace or how well their drivers were doing (obviously Alono’s crash hurt them). Three bad pit stops in one race just isn’t acceptable. I know the pit crews are under so much pressure with all their stops but they’ve really got to work on this. They haven’t got a quick enough car in qualifying so they have to make the most of their races until they get some decent upgrades.
Todfod (@todfod)
10th April 2011, 11:49
Gotta agree with you on Ferrari’s race pace. Fernando looked really quick during the race in Melbourne as well as Sepang, and today if it wasn’t for that error, he could have finished in 2nd. I think Ferrari need to sort out their pit stops out.. and also find that factor that is destroying their quali, as it just seems that Fernando cannot get off to a good start when he is on the 3rd row of the grid.
Fixy (@)
10th April 2011, 11:46
Massa’s result is poor, sadly he lost time in a stop, but in the end I was very happy to see him defending from Alonso and beating him!!
Ral (@)
10th April 2011, 11:51
As I said in the comments, I think the one team failing with their strategies the most in this race, was Sauber.
It looked like they had decided on 2 stops before the race and very stubbornly hung on to that decision in the race. And I think it cost Kobayashi a decent chance to have a go at Hamilton later on as he was having to be too careful with his tyres while losing time for several laps while they’re dropping off.
Best moment of the race for me, was (I think) Hamilton and Buemi catching up with Rosberg at the same time on the short back straight. A very Schumacher/Hakkinen/Zonta moment :)
Stefanauss (@stefanauss)
10th April 2011, 11:56
That was Michael, wasn’t he?
Ral (@)
10th April 2011, 12:07
Don’t quite remember who was involved except Buemi and unfortunately the BBC didn’t repeat that bit, or haven’t yet anyway.
Icthyes (@icthyes)
10th April 2011, 12:26
It was
Stefanauss (@stefanauss)
10th April 2011, 11:51
It was a great race, plenty of things to watch and keep track of!
It didn’t feel artificial, and certainly not because of DRS, but because of the very large gap in performance between tyre compound and freshness. But it’s absolutely normal, and it tends to fade late in the race when positions are a little bit more defined. Quality of the battle between the drivers actually improved over the race.
And, FINALLY, welcome back three-way-side-by-side battle and counter-overtakes. It’s been a while.
Abuelo Paul (@abuello-paul)
10th April 2011, 13:00
20 second penalty for Hamilton? Interesting to see the transcript as to why…
Steph (@)
10th April 2011, 13:02
It was moving more than once when defending apparently.
derfel
11th April 2011, 9:24
Is there any chance of getting fastest race laps for each driver? Or maybe it’s up there somewhere already?