Rate the race: 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix

2012 Malaysian Grand Prix

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What did you think of the Malaysian Grand Prix? Share your verdict on today’s race.

F1 Fanatic holds polls on each race to find out which fans thought were the best and worst races during a season.

Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.

Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix out of ten

  • 10 (18%)
  • 9 (40%)
  • 8 (26%)
  • 7 (9%)
  • 6 (3%)
  • 5 (1%)
  • 4 (1%)
  • 3 (0%)
  • 2 (0%)
  • 1 (1%)

Total Voters: 905

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1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’

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See the results for past seasons here:

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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210 comments on “Rate the race: 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix”

  1. Travis Humphery (@)
    25th March 2012, 11:50

    Great race, my only hope was that Sauber could have got that P1…..

    1. I agree. A combination of Sauber waiting one lap too long to bring Pérez in, an instruction from them to hold back, and Pérez’s own mistake combined to rob us of a fantastic battle for first place and the prospect of a wholly unexpected winner. Though having said that, I doubt many people expected Alonso to win!

      I gave it eight out of ten. Lots of unpredictability, but still no real battle for the lead, as I described above. Also, a long and boring period under the red flag, many laps behind the safety car, and too much DRS passing for my liking stop it from getting the highest marks.

      1. For me it was like a classic old wet race. pretty great!

    2. So happy for Sergio and Fernando…but those HRT’s are boiling my blood.

      Seriously, frankly, truthfully, are they even F1 level? We should compare HRT’s cars to the GP2 cars. A better race will happen if we put those HRT’s in the GP2 races. Those HRT’s have made sicken me for the past years.

      1. They’ve paid their dues and they’re under the 107% mark with two respectable drivers. They have as much right to be in F1 as anyone else.

        And anyway, in both cases they were minding their own business when they were needlessly hit by other cars. Karthikeyan was in P4 on merit, and had every right to hold his line against Button. The speed of their respective cars has no bearing on that.

        1. Indeed @lin1876, I really think both Button and Vettel should take at least half of the blame (and I read on twitter that Button did). Absolutely silly that Karthikayan got a penalty for the incident with Vettel.

          1. Button did accept the blame for hitting Karthikayan. However I thought Vettels reaction was disappointing. Not only did he stick his finger up at him during the race, in his post race interview on the BBC he called Karthikayan an idiot and suggested he shouldn’t be in F1. I think both those things show a lack of respect to a driver, who at the end of the day, is trying just as hard to be successful as he is.

          2. Maybe Vettel needed another saftey car to show him the way through the crowd…poor Dr. Helmut’s baby.

      2. McLaren fans: was Jensons fault :)

        1. jenson’s fault & vettel’s misjudgment and arrogance

      3. Narain should be minding his own business if he is racing with other drivers (RE: Button, after the restart). That incident is Jenson’s to blame, no questions about it. If some of you thinks Narain is at fault for Jenson’s incident, you’ve might need to rethink. On the other hand, Seb’s incident was totally different from Jenson’s. Narain was lapped for heaven’s sake, in (MODERN) formula 1, if you are a driver being lapped, its your responsibility to let the leaders through safely. I see Narain have failed in that aspect. He tried to get back under Seb a bit too soon, bad judgement from Narain. Who knows what those 12pts can do for Seb at the end of the year. Costly incident for Seb, so I can totally understand why he said and do what he did to express his emotions. I enjoy seeing drivers expressing their emotions.

        1. Narain did mention after the race that he put his rear wheel on a white line which caused him some wheel spin, he was just trying to catch the car, unfortunately for Vettel, he got caught.

          A lot of drivers ( or sportsmen/women in general) say lots of things in the heat of the moment, its not secret how much pressure these guys are under. Vettel was out of line in his post race interview and should apologize out of professional courtesy.

          I think we should ease of on HRT. I admire their passion and efforts, but they have to get their act together. We had Mark Gallagher of Cosworth on Star Sports for the Oz GP, and he mentioned that the stark difference between HRT and the likes of Caterham and Marussia is their infrastructure, not so much cash. The fact that they havent settle on a head quarters is surely affecting how the team operates. This is something that Luis Perez Sala needs to sort out soon.

          Im not a Narain fan boy, but people do easily dismiss him as a rubbish driver. His did fairly ok at Jordan, and I remember even Martin Brundle talking him up at one point.

        2. It was Vettel’s fault – he cut in too soon. He isn’t exempt from blame just because he’s a double World Champion.

          1. @dev_iant Agree’d, he cut in far too early.

            I thought giving him the finger was very entertaining though and it was nice see the childish side is still there in Mr Vettel.

      4. It’s always funny when I read comments like this, unless you truly know how hard it is to start up and run a race team, let alone an F1 team, you should not condescend these teams. It’s amazing that they have so much motivation to come in year after year, for being nothing more than back-markers.

    3. Same here, I meam Alonso has won a lot of respect back from me since last year but i would have liked to see that Sauber to raw past him on that straight and somehow i think Perez just might have won himself a Ferrari drive!

  2. Alonso didn’t win that race. Perez lost it.

    1. We’ve seen yet again why Maclaren under Whitmarsh may not win any Championship. What in god’s name was happening at the pits 2 times that Hamilton went it?

      1. Could not agree more!

        1. kenneth Ntulume
          25th March 2012, 14:38

          Like Fernado said…..
          THIS is getting “LUDIKULOUS”….
          Its mind boggling how Mclaren continuously mess up Hamilton for whichever reasons it is, its worth noting.
          Last week they told us the lead driver pits first this week the lead driver pitted second……
          i dont understand…….or is it me?

          1. i dont understand…….or is it me?

            There’s an explanation here:

            2012 Malaysian Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops

      2. At the first round of pit stops Hamilton overshot his mark, causing the rear jack operator to struggle to lift the car up. At the second round the mechanics couldn’t peel off some tape that was covering the brake ducts, which is permitted during wet weather.

        I don’t see how either set of pit stops could be conceived to be the fault of Martin Whitmarsh! I do think Hamilton should have switched to slicks one lap earlier though.

        1. He overshot his mark by a couple of inches, Brundle has just lost his marbles. Seriously, look again.

          Yet _another_ race where McLaren robbed Lewis of a race win. The good thing is that Hamilton is keeping his focus and finishing consistently.

          1. How can you say Lewis was robbed of win in either race this season? Hamilton failed to show race winning pace in both races, thus why he finished third in both.

        2. ”At the first round of pit stops Hamilton overshot his mark…”

          So no driver in F1 history, has ever done what you claim Hamilton did. Well, those pit guys don’t have to sit for hours, sweating under the most uncomfortable conditions that F1 drivers undergo. All they are required to do is to be prepared for their drivers. Unfortunately, Maclaren and her pit guys have not only messed up Hamilton’s races but also BUtton’s. This is definitely incompetence under the management of Whitmarsh. Today’s race was Maclaren’s to loose and Hamilton was leading the race…… until he went into the pits.

          1. Exactly.

            Well driven by Alonso and Perez, but the Mclaren strategists and pit crew cost them the win today. They know they have the best car and so far they are not capitalising on that.

          2. N, fair enough, I was just going by what Brundle said and I haven’t had a chance to look at it again. I still don’t see how either pit stop was Martin Whitmarsh’s fault though. It’s not like he was operating the rear jack. Those pit stop mechanics receive extensive training, and I have no reason to believe that McLaren train their guys any less than any other team. Humans make mistakes sometimes.

          3. @Estesark

            Agreed completely.

          4. Everyone that is thinking MClaren messed up one of Hamiltons stops, if you get a chance to watch it again, you’ll notice that the pitstop was complete but Hamilton sat there and he did that because the “RED/GREEN” Car Release indicator light (not sure what the actual name is) was RED, meaning he coldnt leave his pit yet and you’ll see on the Mclarens roll hoop camera, a Ferrari pull in the pit in front of Hamilitons car. Only then did Hamiltom leave his pit. Had Hamilton left as soon as the stp was complete, he would have slammed into the side of a ferrari. Having to sit for a few seonds because if another car entering the pits was just some bad luck. I think it was Hamiltons pit stop on lap 15 or 16 that this happened.

        3. Speaking of pitstops, when Red Bull and Mercedes both did a double-stop on the same lap, THAT was awesome.

        4. herowassenna
          26th March 2012, 2:24

          estesark, At the second round the mechanics couldn’t peel off some tape that was covering the brake ducts, which is permitted during wet weather.

          Tape is allowed on brake ducts whenever the team wants it, not just wet weather races.
          The reason is to heat up the brakes to operating temperature quickly, because the wet tends to cool them down quickly which would result in practically no brake effect. Once the track dries, they remove the tape.

    2. I wouldn’t take anything away from the pure brilliance of Fernando. For a simple fan of the sport, one just can’t help but warm to him. I care nothing for Ferrari, really, but absolutely loved the emotion in the radio message after the race.
      Race itself was a 9/10.

    3. @demos12 Perfectly put. Couldn’t agree more.

    4. your favorite driver is Sebastian Vettel i am 100% sure

      1. Look how Whitmarsh did everything make sure Button would come ontop of Hamilton, did not one of these McLaren chiefs (or Whitmarsh himself, can’t remeber) said last week in Australia that the leading driver will be pitted first ?, but what did we could see today ?, the team pitted Button before Hamilton and let Hamilton drove longer on worn out tires, not 1 time the team did it but twice!. And then look how Hamiltons pit stop went ? a complete mess, the reason why Buttons second pit stop was messed up is simple because KARMA (no hard feelings for Button) look how nicely Hamilton did manage his tires, there was totally no speed in the car, that’s why it looks like Button is al that good but he is not consider the fact how the team messes up Hamiltons race/stratigy/pit stop

        1. @concalvez00 In dry conditions, the team rather than the driver generally makes the call on when to pit. It’s in this situation that teams generally give the preferred slot to the leading driver, to prevent the driver behind him using the undercut to come out ahead if they’re running close together on the track.

          In wet conditions, what tyres the driver thinks is suitable for the track plays a much bigger role in determining strategy. The question of the undercut is, obviously, not a consideration.

          So if Hamilton comes around and wants to stay on his intermediates, he stays on them. And if Button, running behind him, think it’s time to change, he changes.

          1. but they withheld information from lewis when it came to putting slicks on eventhough they knew drivers on slicks were alot quicker,but they did tell jenson and told him to pit.also if it wasnt for button making a mistake he would have ended up ahead of lewis again after a poorly timed messed up pitstop.its happened so many times.and its funny how button pitted first everysingle time in the race.
            its a shame some ppl cant see whats going on at mclaren.they seem to care more about buttons strategy than lewis’s.

          2. withheld information from lewis

            did tell jenson and told him to pit

            This is a claim, now back it up with evidence. Please demonstrate that this is true,

          3. MercedesBeanz
            26th March 2012, 1:39

            @mathew….well said

        2. Why is everyone so delusional. Why would any team want to ‘hold’ back their best opportunity of winning anything.

          I think the issue here is Alonsoism on the part of the fans believing in reality that their favourite driver be given biased treatment instead of equal.

          All I have seen is the Mclaren drivers doing their talking on the track. In the case of Button, having the balls to admit he made a mistake which cost him chances of a win and showing how Massa is passed without tears!!!!

          1. There’s a separate article on the Perez radio message (if that is what you’re referring to) here:

            Was Sauber’s radio message to Perez a team order to help Ferrari?

    5. Mc Laren lost it. Then Perez didn’t win it.

    6. Perez lost it. But before that, Hamilton lost it. Schumacher lost it too…and Button lost it by that incident with the HRT. ok thats it: McLaren and Schumacher lost it. One of them shouldve won it lol

    7. I disagree. Perez had two laps, I think, to try and pass Alonso down the straight before he made his mistake. He was nowhere near passing Fernando. It would’ve been close, but I think Alonso would’ve still won in the end. Catching is one thing, passing quite another.

  3. 10/10, Brilliant race! 2012 season rocks!

    1. Yesss 2012 season is fantastic

      1. +1
        one of the best seasons for a long time/ever?

        1. how can ou say that? we’ve only had TWO races!!!

  4. That Sauber engineer really should have kept his mouth shut. Gutted Perez didn’t win.

    1. Totally right about that. Can’t help but to feel there was a “Ferrari hand” in that.

      1. +1 – very disappointing to see that impression given even if there was nothing in it – very strange message to say the least.

        1. Yeah, not saying Alonso didn’t deserve that victory (he did something I think only he can do – work his way up, never making a mistake, pushing the car far off it’s own limits) but to Alonso haters and casual F1 adepts this can be read as a “free” victory to Alonso, which is certainly far from the truth.

        2. Yeah right, nobody remembers maldonado in Australia? …

          1. A fair point, but Perez was almost assured the win provided no mistakes were made. It was a terrible idea to plant the seeds of doubt in his mind.

        3. Why exactly was peter giving instructions when it is usually the driver’s engineer? This is more fishy than a rick stein menu

        4. whats so strange about that message? Didnt WILLIAMS give a similar message to MALDONADO at the Aussie GP when he threw 6th away on the last lasp?? when was the last time Sauber came second????

        1. Glad to see so far only a small minority believe it was dodgy @keithcollantine. Thanks for putting up the article/poll , so other threads can just consider the rest of the race :)

          1. so other threads can just consider the rest of the race

            Thanks for getting it :-)

    2. +1 clearly Perez was faster, but he seemed pretty happy with second in the end.

      1. He tried to pass Alonso and couln’t. He gamble on the 1st stop and paid off otherwise he wouln’t have finished on the points.he made two mistakes where he got out of the track. The sauber is faster than the Ferrari and it take care of the tires better than the Ferrari and still coiln’t pass him even if he had the advantage of the drs. Alonso did not make a single mistake, the Ferrari is a dog and you could see how Maldonado and Peres are the ones making mistakes when is the car in front Alonso the one that should be making thrm

    3. I posted elsewhere that this is a classic beginners error – they gave Sergio too much information, disrupted his flow, broke his concentration… Hopefully Sauber’s pit crew have learnt a lesson from this.

    4. @novotny I think it would be fair to say that Sauber made the right call. 2nd place to Sauber is a great deal considering the healthy points haul. By the time Perez caught Alonso, he was reporting his fronts we going off and was experiencing understeer, which he duly demonstrated running off track.

      Asking him to take it easy and be careful was the most sensible thing to do given the conditions. We all so what happened to Maldonando at Albert Park. Perez is fairly inexperienced, with Alonso being one of the more difficult people to pass on the grid, why put 2nd place at risk? I think it was a good call from the team, I would have done the same thing. This result could potentially be key for Sauber if they are aiming to finish as Best of the Rest.

  5. If Sergio had passed Alonso I would have had to think hard about that being a 10 even with my drivers not doing too well. As it is, even my girlfriend was so interested she didn’t go to bed, which quite frankly makes it a very special race!

  6. 9/10

    Oustandingly, crazy race. Overtaking, drama, underdogs. Would’ve been a 10 if Perez had been able to fight Fernando at the end.

    1. well summed up. bit anticlimatic with perez but a crazy race is always a good one! 8/10.

    2. I’ll slot in here with the other 9 out of 10s, the interval spoiled it for me. Fantastic to see Perez chase down twice and get within DRS, as well as a resurgant Williams and many overtaking manouvers.

  7. If it weren’t for the SC/red flag it might have been a ten, especially if Perez actually launched an attack on Alonso. What a drive from both of them – I would have loved Perez to win.

    May I just say, what a season we have ahead of us!

    1. I got so excited I forgot what grammar is! And if I were Massa I would hide in a corner and cry.

      1. Good Question. Should Massa be replaced midseason? I say he should be replaced immediately. I can’t remember a sadder driver in F1.

        1. Looks like the 2nd chassis just took all of Massa’s excuses away. Alonso finished FIRST, and Massa finished LAST . (I’ve taken the Caterham, Marussia and HRT out of the equation as their drivers wouldn’t have finished any higher even if they had brilliant races)

        2. And as Button finished 2nd last, then he too should be replaced?

          1. He did win the previous one ! :D

  8. Wow, Mercedes car seems to be only good in qualy, their race pace is so bad. They fell down the order so much, especially Rosberg.

    1. yeah, fighting for poles and then slipping waaaaaay down. C’mon Ross,Aldo,Bell,Wills..

      HRT – 0
      Marrussia – 0
      Catheram – 0
      Mercedes – 1

      Disaster

  9. 9/10 – if Perez had taken the win, it’d have been a definite 10. Great race!

    1. @bpacman

      Don’t rate the result… However, I kind of agree. I rated it a 9 as well, it would have been a 10 if we had seen an actual infight between Alonso and Perez, no matter who would have come out as a winner.

  10. Brilliant race, 9/10. Can only be a matter of time before Perez is driving the same car that won! Button, though, what a disappointment. I love the way both he AND Vettel hit the same HRT!

    1. Surely Perez should take Mark Webber’s seat when he retires at the end of the year. It would make a mockery of the RB young drivers thing but here’s a guy who can win in the right machinery.

  11. I’m so disappointed – Perez deserved to win that race. He should have won that race.

    1. Aleksandr Nausedas (@)
      25th March 2012, 12:28

      +1

    2. I dont think Parez deserved it anymore than Alonso. They were equally as quick, just at different times. Alonso deserved it more IMO because Perez made a mistake…

  12. 10/10

    Entertaining througout the entire race! Great driving by ALO in a not so great car. The rain delay wasn’t enough to ruin this race!

    1. yes yes yes 10/10. Perez is the feel good story of F1. Love it

  13. 9/10.

    Sauber win obviously would have made for a 10. But wow, what a start to the season! It’s like 2010 with some of the unpredictability and fun of 2009 thrown in!

  14. 9/10 for me. Great result for Perez, but could have been better. Grosjean had the audacity to say Schumacher hit him, incredulous.

    1. 9/10 for me for the reason of Perez podium and MSC ahead of Britney. :)A bit disappointed about Schumi hit by Grosjean ruin his chances..

  15. Pointless red flags and too much safety car laps decreases the possible 10 points race to 7 points

    1. I think red flag was a right call, better than watching cars cruising behind the safety car.

      1. IMO the conditions weren’t too bad. There’s a lot of space for drivers to recover if they run a corner wide. It wasn’t too dangerous to drive there. F1 drivers are pretty much the most talented race drivers out there, so they should handle difficult track conditions.

        Moreover, the crowd has paid expensive tickets to see some racing, and then they only get to see some cruising behind the safety car?!? Luckily they decided to continue racing. But still it was postponed for way too long time without a good enough reason.

        1. no one can drive a car when the tires are not making contact with the track,
          the right decision was made, which by the way was the drivers call, they where the ones complaining.
          even i dont like Red Flags but sometimes and in this case it was right.
          complain about money bags “Bernie” it is his fault for bending over to Eruo fans hence the time slot so he can make more money..

      2. I feel like i could have given it a 1 simply because the sky coverage is so bad that i was within seconds of switching off during the red flag period.

        1. I too don’t like their coverage, although having people from BBC makes it good and show isn’t that bad. Although, I still don’t get why when analysing a race they have to show them touching a screen and me watching them watching a TV monitor.

          1. I hate the cheesy looking up from the ground shots the drivers all have been made to do when they are running through the grid order before the race.

    2. Button had a different opinion: “It is like a lake!”

  16. 9/10. If Perez put up more of a fight, would’ve been 10/10, such a shame. Can’t stop feeling happy for Ferrari even though I have never liked them.

  17. Races like these don’t come often. Right up there in the league of Canada 2011, Suzuka 2005 and Interlagos 2008. Brilliant stuff. A 10!!

  18. Easily a 9! Overall it was better than Canada 2011.

  19. Soon, Checo. Soon.

  20. Great race but massively dissapointed with the result. It was Perez and Sauber’s race. They lost it…

    There will be another chance for Perez, that’s for sure. But I’m not so sure about Sauber. It was now or never, really.

    So so soooo sad. But the race was great, and Alonso’s drive in the wet was on a class of its own.

  21. Had to give it a 9/10, despite the Ferrari win. As seems to be theme, would have been 10/10 had Sauber not lost the race for Perez.

  22. I have to admit I’m slightly disappointed with Sergio at the end, but nevertheless a brilliant drive. I gave it 9/10 for thrills and spills throughout the race

  23. Sauber engineer is a moron, should have been a 10.

  24. Such a disappointment for Perez, obviously Ferrari couldn’t have caused his off but it’s so ugly that that engineer came over and said what he said when he did.

    It’s a fickle old sport is this. These fairytales so rarely come to pass, and when they seem destined, you’re always just waiting for something to go wrong… and it usually does.

  25. Not the result I wanted, but a good race. 8/10

  26. sid_prasher (@)
    25th March 2012, 12:02

    What a result! Ecstatic for Ferrari and Sauber. Ferrari have been able to make some good point even while their car is struggling and that should really push them to better the car as we go along. Perhaps they gambled on a more wet weather setup today and it paid off.

    I think the race time needs to be pushed back…fans don’t deserve a washout. Also perhaps the race could have been restarted a bit earlier.

  27. i voted 10 but i should’ve gone with a 9. Perez could’ve done it.

  28. Gave it a 10, even though Perez didn’t quite make it the grandstand finale. It was a gripping race start to finish, drama all the way and quite simply astounding drives by Alonso and Perez. Best race since China last year.

  29. Big congrats to Perez on an outstanding drive! Would have won it if the team didnt get cold feet.
    Main question is – How did McLaren manage to mess up their race so much??

  30. 6 for me. Sure it was nice to see Perez up on the podium, but the middle part was really boring. There were huge gaps betweens drivers, drivers who fell to the back never mounted a comeback. Most of the race was plain boring.

  31. Sergio Perez drove the wheels off his Sauber-Ferrari. Props to him and his team for a much deserved P2. I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets the call to replace Massa soon. I like Felipe but his lack of performance is hard to explain, particularly now with Fernando’s win (despite not having the quickest car).

  32. I feel so sorry for Grosjean He’s had a lot of bad luck.
    I hope his luck changes next race.

  33. Gutted that Pérez didn’t win! But what a race and what a season we will have (As long as Vettel doesn’t win)

  34. I gave it an 8. didn’t want to go higher because i’m sure there would be more exciting race to come. wow i duff my hat to Perez.. what a drive. He could have won that race easily had the team pitted him a lap earlier. Great drive from Alonzo as well.

    What the hell is going in Mclaren’s garade. One race, they say the driver in the lead gets the first pit stop then other races its not… Their pit stops were horrible as well.. and their race pace was clearly not excellent. Shocker!
    Definitely a good race with a few surprises so i’m looking forward to an exciting season

  35. Honestly, apart from the pecking order reshuffle, i didn’t feel it was that exciting (not that it was boring, of course). Particularly, the only gap which was shriking was ALO-PER, the rest pretty much kept positions and gaps. The race pretty much ended when the switch to the medium tyres was made.
    Nice battles to watch here and there.
    7.

  36. 10. except what?

  37. The race deserves a 9, but I really get annoyed with safety cars and red flags due to wet weather, so I give it an 8. So happy for Alonso and Perez, I rarely feel emotional watching sports, but this was special.

  38. Mikkel Sørensen (@)
    25th March 2012, 12:18

    Did Vettel ignore his team? It sounded like the engineer told him to retire more than once but Vettel yelled “stay out, stay out”?

  39. 10 imo, the race was an absolute classic. There’s no judging the result, certainly Perez fighting Alonso at the end would’ve been nice though.

    1. HardcoreTiffosa
      25th March 2012, 16:23

      I was hoping for a neck-to-neck battle. Perez was faster but FA is a great defender. But without Perez’s mistake we probably would have seen an easy-does-it DRS pass, it is ruining the fun.

  40. I would have rooted for Perez even if my favourite driver was running first at that moment. A pity he lost it for a split second, after that the only hope was some gremlin in Alonso’s Ferrari.

    The “Giantslayer of the Day” title surely goes to Kartikheiyan. I wonder whether he’s got a weapons permit for that HRT of his.

  41. !0 for me. Not particular for the Alonso win, or the great drive by Perez. More because, help me out statistic nerds, when was the last time there were 9 teams represented in the top ten, and only Force India had both cars there. Brilliant use of tactics and mis-use of pit-stops. McL need to look at pits, 2 fumbles for the Ham. Good to see some middle teams getting in the mix. Loved it. Worth the wait.

  42. I am not a great believer in conspiracies, but the Sauber-Ferrari engineer message to Checo might as well have been “Fernando must be faster than you”

  43. 10 – A hectic race, with battles up and down the field and great racing all round. Checo should have won it, but it was still a great feel good result which F1 needs right now.

    The red flag was the right call for me as the rain was so heavy. You saw several cars fly off the road and it was correct to try and keep as many cars on the road as possible. Sure, the Safety Car was out for a bit too long, but we didn’t have the ridiculous wait we had in Canada. If we see a better race than this this year I will be very pleasantly surprised.

  44. 10.
    When was last time there were 9 teams represented in the top ten, and the only team to have both cars there was Force India. That for me made it racing. McL need to look into why the Ham had 2 pitstop fumbles, and why JB couldn’t see the HRT. Grosjain, too anxious. Rest: good racing with very interesting and varied strategies made for an entertaining race, eventually.

  45. Decent race, rain delay was a bit much, I think, thing’s just seemed to be getting exciting and then they stopped the race.
    6/10

  46. I’m really gutted about what happened in the pits with Hamilton. But still, I was up and jumping and cheering for Perez, it’s just a shame he wasn’t in P1. But still, I loved the hug Hamilton gave him up on the podium.

  47. Hmmm I’m really surprised people are rating this race so highly to be honest; we lost about 10 laps behind the safety car, then at least a third of the race was driven at about 75% pace, two of the front runners both made silly mistakes by colliding with a back-marker, then to top it all off when it looked like Perez was going to challenge Alonso he gets a ‘be careful’ radio message and then makes a mistake.
    This was worth 5/10 max in my opinion.

    1. I agree with you on all points. The race was too chaotic and later quite processional despite the circumstances. Too many drivers’ errors – I expected much more from the ‘Regenmeisters’ (Button, Vettel, Schumacher et consortes). Mercedes pace was disastrous. So was Massa’s performance. Grosjean still can’t get himself together. Too few strategy gambles from the top drivers given the unpredictable weather. And Maldonado’s engine blew up just when he was having one of his most decent races.
      And we lost the most exciting time thanks to SC.
      Congratulations to Alonso (can’t believe I write that but he was perfect in the rain), Perez and Senna.
      6/10

    2. I s’pose ya think that Oz was super exciting then seeing as how JB led from the first lap and passing was reduced to some backmarkers, but it at least was hell for leather without weather or safety cars involved.
      I repeat my earlier comments, when was the last time that 9 teams were represented in the top ten?
      THAT my dears is what makes F1 exciting, not the cream running away at the start. Vettell, from Button, from Alonso, from Webber from Hamilton, arrange in your preferred order, but it gets quite dreary. Now we have unpredictability, and new blood, well. Thats interesting again.
      I watch F1 for the racing, I don’t have a “favourite” team or driver, so I can enjoy the sport for what it si.

      1. @AbueloPaul – My comment hasn’t got anything in it to suggest who I may or may not follow/support. My rating was based on how I felt the race developed, the laps we lost behind the SC, followed by the tentative period on inters made it less interesting in my opinion.
        Melbourne was a good race, but not because Button just drove off into the sunset (which he didn’t) there was plenty of other action up and down the grid; the last lap for example.
        I do have a favourite team, the team I’ve followed since I started watching F1 as a kid, and my profile picture gives that away. But before you start telling people how they should and should not appreciate F1, just have a think about some of the points they’ve made rather than just insisting the way you enjoy the sport is better for not supporting one driver/team over another.

  48. I gave the race a 9/10. In the beginning, I was fearing the SC would ruin the race, but the board did a good job for once. Further on, Perez and Alonso drove an amazing race. Alonso had a bit of luck to get in 1st place and to keep off Perez, who made a fault. Biggest disappointment was Mercedes, who weren’t able to catch up with the top and struggled a bit to keep up with the mid-field even. I hope this will change in the following races. And Massa… I hope they’ll fire him straight away. The car is not incredible, but not bad as well because Alonso can manage some top-positions. New chassis for him and he finishes 16th (or 17th, not sure), getting passed by a lot of mid-field teams. He’s bad and doesn’t deserve to be in that red champion-car anymore. Hoping for some trades in the further weeks…

  49. 9. It would have been a 10 had Perez and Sauber won. But they didn’t, so it’s not,

  50. 10/10, loved it!

  51. Good to see webber fighting back and beating his team mate in quail and race. Alonso was fantastic in an average car.9/10.

  52. What a drive from Perez. If not for that ridiculous message on the radio to put him off on his natural driving instincts we would have been in for a nail biting finish.
    Alonso, what a god though in that dog of a car!!!
    *** with Lewis Pit Stops????? Last week Jenson was in front and pitted first, now with Lewis they pit him a lap later on the inferior tyre!
    I did not want to believe it when critics said there was no favor towards Button, bot now a seed of doubt has been sawn in my mind. Whitmarsh is not proving to be a natural successor to Ron dennis IMO!!!

    1. Just looked like logical race management and strategy. Explanation here:

      2012 Malaysian Grand Prix tyre strategies and pit stops

  53. Brilliant! I’d say even better than Canada last year. I think it’s also fair to say no one expected to see Alonso and Perez fighting for the win, as no one expected to see 9 different teams in points. Is that a record by the way?

    Seeing Peter Sauber in tears of happiness – priceless. :)

    Good consistent race by Webber as well, alongside a determined Raikkonen. Loved watching the midfield teams delivering steady performances and staying out of trouble to score valuable points.

    Also, haven’t seen this many top drivers fading in the race for quite some time.
    Feeling sorry for Mercedes. A single point in two races is so far below expectations for this season.
    Maldonado and Grosjean – trying too much to prove something. Too careless. Grosjean seriously needs to calm down and find a steady pace, learn to handle the Lotus before starting to think about results. Otherwise I’m afraid we’ll keep seeing him taking up space in the gravel this season.

    Can’t really believe there was a conspiracy with the purpose of keeping Perez in place, behind Alonso.
    If you believe that, watch the replay of his trip off track. Looked too much like a simple mistake to me.

    However I would love to know what the whole point behind the contradictory comm on Vettel’s radio in the last lap was. Weird, to say the least. He crossed the finish line…I think, despite what the team were requesting. So I’m guessing the car being in a critical condition was not the actual meaning of that radio comm.

    HRTs – moving obstacles on the track once again. This season seems to be much worse than 2011 for them. Even the last bit of motivation seems to be gone with that team…

    Scored a 9 for me. P1 for Perez would have made it an absolute 10. However, very entertaining thing to watch on a Sunday morning. I just hope China won’t seem too dull after this one. :)

  54. Great race! Woke up at 4am here on the US east coast to watch on Speed TV. Great to see the usual pecking order shaken up. Not sure about the Ferrari/Sauber conspiracy. I think Peter was desperate for points and didn’t want Perez taking any crazy chances to try to win. It’s still the beginning of the season after all. Being a long time Raikkonen fan it was great to see him in the points. He’ll be winning soon enough!

  55. 9/10, only spoilt by Perez not winning.

  56. 9/10, only spoilt by Perez not winning. Loving the absence of a Red Bull on the podium.

  57. 9 from me. It would’ve been a perfect 10 if Perez won.
    What a drive from Alonso though, that guy is unbelievably consistent and delivers what almost no one else can!

  58. Ferrari powered cars of Alonso and Perez seemed to have a race between their engines and speed.
    The race was bulit on Button’s faulty driving and Lewis’ pitstop mistake
    Nevertheless,it was great driving from both the drivers (Alo & Per) and Raikkonen was frustrated as he said about the weather conditions.

  59. Points deduction for the SC and Sauber and Ferrari shaking hands for a easy finish.

    8.

  60. It was a fantastic race, not happy that Hamilton once again didn’t win, however its not about winning all the time, it is also about getting the points and not doing what Button did today, which Hamilton did way too much of last year. The race was great from the start and it showed because I had no idea what was going on and it happend to fast, that shows pure speed and racing! Great stuff.

  61. 10. Easy 10. fantastic race.

  62. Great race, great showing from Alonso and fantastic performance from Perez. If i was Alonso i would start doing the rain dance before each race because it´s the only way he might have a chance to do something in the championship, that Ferrari simply isn´t competitive in dry conditions.

  63. Epic race , gave it 10.
    Great battles all around the field , mistakes , collisions , pit stop drama , apocalyptic rain.

    That was fantastic.

    1. Apocalyptic rain…are you kidding?

      That was nothing compared to the 2009 shower, and by the way it rains like that every two days in Malaysia.

  64. One of the most exciting races I’ve seen in a long time.

    The Alonso-Perez chase was just sublime. Honestly, I’d written Perez off after the pit stop, I was seriously impressed with how he came back at Alonso.

    Whether anything was going on with that Sauber pit message we’ll probably never know definitively. But I doubt it made a difference to the result. Perez’s off was just that: an inexperienced driver asking a bit too much of his tyres.

    But what a marker he’s laid down for the future. For Perez today, see Alonso at his home race in 2003.

    There was plenty going on elsewhere in the field – some goofs, some great passes and some superb drives. The extended wet running meant we didn’t see too much DRSing too.

    I was glad to see Senna get in the points after a tough start to the year for him.

    And I think we should also give Charlie Whiting some credit. These aren’t easy choices he has to make, but it seemed to me there was a lot less time wasted behind the safety car than there was in, say, Canada last year.

    Had we seen some actual racing between Alonso and Perez, and fewer slam-dunk DRS passes, it’d be a ten for me. As it is, nine.

    1. Agreed on all points, Keith. Such an enjoyable race, and hopefully – though a lot of chaos was obviously caused by all that rain – a sign of a much more shaken up season ahead.

  65. Fairly disappointed with McClaren for helping Button get ahead of Hamilton and almost helping Vettel do the same (that’s what happened) if we are harsh with drivers when they make mistakes… was there a rule today about who is in the first place decides who goes first? great race for Perez the kid shows a good pace in almost every race and today he was just in the right place and got a bit more out of the car. Senna for the first time looked like a racing driver. Rosberg, a serious disappointment once again. Well done Alonso for doing the impossible today. I would give a 10! Very entertaining race!

  66. 10 from me. There’s nothing like changing weather for making sure every driver has to really give it 100%. Perez is man of the race for me! Outstanding!

  67. Perez 2nd place, and Alonso 1st. Wow! Who would’ve predict that! Raikkonen 2 years out of F1, but he’s still in a great shape. Schumacher not challenging for the podium kinda disappoint me tbh (although I’m a big macca fan). Vettel out from the points zone amuses me, and what pleases me more is that finally somebody isn’t dominating like what Seb did in the past 2 years or what Michael did back in the early 2000’s period. 9 different cars in the top 10 spot proves that

    But, unfortunately we lost about 10 laps behind the sc period, not to mention having the red flags which cost me about an hour just to wait for the restart. Also, Perez not challenging Alonso for the win disappoints me cause I’m hoping for a “grand finale”. And there are certainly better races in the past than this, like Belgium 1998 or Monaco 1984 for example if you wanna talk about one of the best unpredictable races. So dunno why some people rate this race as a 10, cause 10 stands for perfect and this race IMHO isn’t perfect.

    But nonetheless this race is quite good for me and better than the last race we had, If it wasn’t for the SC period and the stupid long period of red flag, I would rate this race 9. But for me it’s a solid 8

  68. Button has integrated himself into the McLaren team and made sure to build around him the team he needs. They build a car around Button.McLaren and Martin whitmarsh play the game to make Hamilton look like a rubish and , so they let Hamilton car setup Friday and Saturday, the pre-qualifying, because Button will use Hamilton’s race setup as a team and engineering changes and mess Hamilton’s setup and poke it, so that Button can use Hamilton date and setup to win race, that’s what happens Mclaren team.

    1. astonished (@)
      25th March 2012, 18:33

      would love to see retrospective statistics from keith on the bloggers possitions about the 2007 controversy within MxLaren and the one ongoing….(ham-alo / but-ham and macca is always neutral to their drivers…)

  69. 6/10 from me.
    Not that it wasn’t a good race, but I just think that the Perez vs Alonso chase and Vettel catching up on Hamilton promised a lot and then suddenly within a few laps it was all down the drain. A huge anticlimax.
    Not that it wasn’t a good race, It just promised more then it could deliver.

  70. 1 for race fixing, I wanted to watch that scrap but politics meant it wasn’t to be. Politics and sport don’t go well together.

    1. @shrieker I don’t get why people are so obsessed with stupid conspiracy theories. The team wanted him to save the car, because as they aren’t the richest team on the grid they don’t want him to smash it up and lose the constructors points, which could mean extra prize money for them at the end of the year. I wish people would just accept that it was a good race, and Perez had a great drive but just made a simple mistake. Even if the radio message was some sort of “team orders” message, they are delayed in the broadcast, meaning Sergio had continued to catch Alonso even after the message was sent. Not exactly the kind of behaviour you’d expect from somebody handing the leading driver the win…

      1. Good for me that your questions have already been answered.

        “Odd how with less than 10 laps left, Sauber tell Perez over the radio that Alonsos tyres are older than his (a bit of a come-on..?), Perez then closes within a second of Alonso, only to be told to hold ‘we need this position…’”

        “A lot of the responses shooting down the theory (and, that’s all it is at this time) very much remind me of the responses around the time of ‘Crashgate’ in Singapore…”

        Sweet dreams.

  71. 8/10. Great race. Only Perez making a balls-up stopped it being a 9 for me.

  72. Congrats Ferrari!
    Sauber car is actually fast!
    Kimi fine drive! His first experience with wet tires in two years!
    Williams well done!
    Merc is super big question mark *** are they gonna make that system wlrk or not

  73. I first thought : gosh another boring one.
    False, a great race full of interesting moments, I am happy for Alonso & the SF, but not less for Sergio Perez & the small Sauber team – Never give up ! Gave an 8.

  74. I thought it was a really good race and congrats to Sauber…however,
    1. Why did the safety car stay out so long definitely one lap too long which completely altered the strategies being employed.
    2. Please please get a TV director who knows about motor racing or bring in split screens, to watch cars on jacks in the pits when Button was bearing down on Lewis was extremely frustrating.
    Can’t wait for China!

  75. Ferrari contacted the bmw sauber and ask them to slow down their driver, and let alonso win in return they will give sauber a free engine that was the deal , otherwise perez whould have won this race.

    1. There’s a separate article on the Perez radio message hereL

      Was Sauber’s radio message to Perez a team order to help Ferrari?

    2. Good job the libel laws don’t apply to comments, unless you know this for true, it’s rubbish! He missed a corner and lost 4-5 seconds, that’s why he didn’t win.

  76. I really enjoyed the race but I only gave it a 7 as for on track action there wasn’t a massive amount towards the front. There was some great mixed results and it was fantastic to see a Sauber in P2 and a Williams in P6 with some of the top drivers down the order like Vettel and Button but I think the weather stopped it from being a great battle that I was looking forward to.

    With wet races you get unexpected results but as for wheel to wheel action, it is normally one driver defenseless with no grip against a driver on the right tyres which I don’t find particularly enthralling.

    Nonetheless, good to see so far this year the results are all over the place. Good for F1, not good if you support a specific driver.

  77. I gave it a 9.

    Lots of entertainment and action throughout the race, an unexpected people in the points.

    Having brought the safety car out the red flag was the right call to avoid wasting laps.

    However I couldn’t give it a 10 as the safety car was out for too long after the red flag evidenced by half the field pitting for inters as soon as the safety car came in. If the cars aren’t able to race on full wet tyres what the point in having them?

    Also the last stint could have benefited from a closer battle between the front runners. Not necessarily Perez/Alonso though a close wheel to wheel battle for any of the podium / high points scoring positions would have given the grand prix a great finish.

  78. 8 from me, same as last week. It was a very good race with a great mixed bag of results. Two different winners, one of which was totally unexpected is just going to make crunch time in this season even better than we thought.

    Can’t wait to see what China will bring us.

  79. I wonder what those ppl who gave Australia a 10 gave this race, 11 or 12 I suppose? Maybe they didn’t think it was a better race or maybe they just didn’t think full stop.

  80. I wonder what those ppl who gave Australia a 10 gave this race, 11 or 12 I suppose? Maybe they didn’t think it was a better race or maybe they just didn’t think full stop.
    Is anyone else having probs connecting with this site it’s really slow today and has been for a while, but other sites seem ok?

  81. 9/10 Really a fantastic race, love to see Alonso and Ferrari win, but I really wish they hadn’t called out the SC. I saw another comment a few weeks ago saying that inters and full wets are becoming obsolete and this is just more evidence to support that.

  82. I rate it a 10!! Master drive by the podium finishers!! It sucked seeing Schumi get hit by Grosjean!
    At least Button was a MAN and had the b@lls to accept his mistake…. I´m sorry I can´t say the same for another certain someone which called Karthikeyan an Idiot and said he shouldn´t be in F1… The nerve on that guy!! Seriously…. Who the heck does he think he is saying some dumb poo like that?? I think he must´ve confused the HRT with the Toro Rosso… Seriously… what an attitude… Oh, BTW that´s 1-1 against Webber and Webber didn´t make mistakes!
    It´s a shame Perez made that mistake… We would´ve had an epic battle at the end! I must say I wish they would swap drivers NOW with Sauber… Let Massa go back to Sauber and call Perez up to Ferrari!
    All in all a great race!! AVANTI FER!!!! AVANTI!!!!!!!!!!!!

  83. Something needs to be sorted out about the length of the DRS zone/s at circuits !. The DRS is for me personally, spoiling the races because it is too effective. Why can’t they just make the DRS zone/s shorter ?. Why can’t the FIA see that the DRS is too effective!, at more than 80% of the circuits, it’s getting ridiculous. Gave the race an 8/10.

  84. Although Perez provided us with a marvelous performance, lets not forget that Alonso again had a very good start and drove flawlessly through out the entire race. Button’s incident was very disappointing as I was looking forward to see a nice battle between him and Hamilton. Happy to see Kimi back in good shape. 8/10

  85. Trenthamfolk (@)
    25th March 2012, 20:57

    I thought this was a great race, and just goes that show that the F1 field can be blown right open by the weather.

    Alonso did an amazing job in the red pony, to bring it home and hold off Perez. However twice now, we’ve seen him using KERS to hold off a challenger… one a Williams, one a Sauber… that says something about the Ferrari for me. Massa’s pace is where the Ferrari is at, without Monobrow at the wheel. The ego massaging on the radio after the win was appallingly bad!

    I take nothing from Hammy, with a solid, if uninspiring 3rd. Man of the race, Perez. I was a bit upset by the ‘don’t **** off the engine supplier’ call, but that’s how Ferrari work I’m afriad. It’s a free market economy, but Ferrari know where they’re at. Disappointed by Button (my man). He should know better… and does! 8/10 more of the same please.

  86. Perez was really, really, really perfect, apart from the mistake at the end of the race… and he was unlucky. I knew he’d have jumped everyone pitting early, and when the red flag was shown I wished the race was definitively stopped: Perez P3, Karthikeyan P10. Then luckily it wasn’t, as Checo was even faster as the track dried out…
    Not once, not twice but thrice did he eat away Alonso’s 5-second lead. The first time, then the second time after pitting one lap later than the Spaniard and then again after making his only mistake.
    But when you have this year’s Ferrari and Sauber in the first two positions, it can only mean the race was all but boring.
    What a great race. A deserved 9/10. I’d have given it 10 probably if Perez had won, as I was focussed only on the leading drivers, but I think the race at the back didn’t deserve a 10/10.

    1. @fixy I expected he would have similar fate to Kobayashi in Canada last year, as he was 2nd before the red flag. I thought he’d lose a few places but still score some strong points, but he went upwards! A big shame he didn’t win, it would have been a perfect story for formula one.

      Still a fantastic result. I love him at Sauber – I just hope that if and when he goes to Ferrari, he’s not the second driver there.

  87. Almost perfect. Vettel’s attitude annoys me – whether or not he was in the right, he should not act like that – and I was disappointed by Kovalainen. However, these things are almost completely swamped by the amazing pace of Sergio Perez that had me desperately watching live timing whilst listening to 5 live. I went absolutely crazy when they were on slicks before Perez’s mistake and live timing froze! It must have been about 20 laps the chase went on for and it was brilliant! We saw sparks of what Perez can do last year, even from Melbourne, and this year his ability has been proven. Cannot wait to see him win his first race. Hope it’s this year!

  88. 9/10
    Really great race, unexpected podium finishers.
    Always nice to watch Alonso, great work with this car and have to say I didn´t believe even hi can do that so early in the season, talent of this guy is always surprise for me. It´s just terrifying how big is gap between him and Massa from race to race.
    What a great race from Perez, few laps before the end I wish he would win, what would it be for him to beat one like Alonso. Even though Sauber looks pretty good, who knows when will be next chance like this.
    Maybe it´s just me but I still feel like something is holding Hamilton from performing his best or it´s just these little unfortunate things that are happening in Mclaren ?
    And then there are these 2 stupid accidents with Karthikeyan. I hate it so much when top drivers are out of the fight after situations like these. I would be angry if Button and Vettel retired after touching each other but much more satisfied in the same time because they´s be fighting for something. Don´t wanna judge whose fault was it as I might be slightly biased as a Vettel-fan but I honestly think HRT isn´t bringing any good for F1. I know they are in 107% rule but it´s been little too much from them even in FP in 2 races. I could bear them if they were starting team for rookies but De la Rossa didn´t even get off the grid for installation lap and then a team member on the grid! Where are we?!
    And wouldn´t take Vettel´s words that hard, there´s been much worse in past and at least it´s his own, not PR stuff.
    All in all really enjoyed it but not happy with all the results :)

  89. I was stuck between 9 and 10–I’d have loved to see Perez win the race. But he and Alonso were fairly evenly matched in the corners, so Perez would probably have passed on the DRS straight and what’s the fun in that? Anyway, the race kept me awake and enthralled from 3 to 6 in the morning, I’ve had a blinding headache and no regrets all day. So it gets a 10.

  90. 9 for me, really enjoyed it. Some disappointments (Jenson, Romain, Michael), but also some nice surprises (Sergio, Bruno). Would have been a 10 but I’m hopeful we’ll have an even better race later in the season!

    I wasn’t that excited about Kimi coming back but now I’m really pleased he has, he’s really adding something. Was beginning to warm to Vettel but he showed a real lack of class today.

  91. I gave an 8. I was thouruoghly entertained.
    But the safetycar and red flag spoiled it a bit. I think the timing is wrong, this race should be moved to an earlier time again.
    However, maybe I should’ve only subtracted one point for that, because we did have sort of à battle for the lead. Then again, there was no real overtaking attempt from Perez. Let’s say 8,5 then.

  92. 10 from me (very neutral viewer, don’t root for any team/driver), something I’ve never done, but I’ve never been so excited during a race (watching since 2008). Apart from a huge amount of quality action on track – Perez had be on the edge of my seat during both stints he was reeling in Alonso – up until he made his one error on lap 50, that was gut wrenching. Alonso showing Perez how any mistake is one too many when playing at the front, and driving a fantastic race for Ferrari that so badly needed some good win.

    Great podium. Perez giving props to Alonso in the BBC interview, Hamilton acknowledging the quality of their drives. Best F1 race I’ve yet watched.

  93. 10 for me. Nobody expected alo to be infront followed by perez. I may agree with others here, perez could have won given he has faster car however he made mistakes and alo did the opposite hence his team messaged him not to make silly moves. Perez was the happiest person on the podium so I gave it 10.

  94. Congratulations to Checo Pérez !! what strategy and what another fantastic run! Move over Massa,.

  95. 10 for me…love sergio perez playing catchup with alonso….he was so fast till that dumb engineer spoiled his momentum

  96. This being by and large a McLaren/Button fansite, I am not surprised by the sour grapes. But for those saying McLaren or Perez lost, rather than Fernando won, I ask you one simple question: What has happened to BOTH of the “faster” drivers who attempted to get by Alonso in the first two races of the year? Alonso has kept his slower car on the track and in the lead. For all of those people here who have taken every chance to takes digs at Alonso, this one was for you.

    1. This being by and large a McLaren/Button fansite

      Complete rubbish. This is a Formula 1 website for all F1 fans, regardless of who they support.

      I am not surprised by the sour grapes

      What sour grapes? At the moment 85% of people have given it eight out of ten or higher.

  97. I gave the race a 9/10 for two reason, even though I can
    1. There was a diferent driver in the podium Sergio Perez drove brilliantly other than the usual.
    2. I was really happy seeing Webber pushing hard to beat Vettel, I really enjoyed it.

    Outstanding race from Alonso and I hope this will change Ferrari fortune for the next races.

  98. I haven’t been that emotionally invested in a sporting event in a long time. I desperately wanted Checo to pull through and felt extremely disappointed with the end result. Although, an Italian team winning on the track Super Sic passed away on just a few months ago does seem appropriate.
    I do not believe in the conspiracy theories over the “we need this position” call but I felt sick the second it was played on tv. There are unwritten rules in sports when dealing with an athlete doing that well, driving/playing totally unconscious and the top thing on that list is DON’T JINX THEM. Obviously sporting behavior is rare in F1 but to say something that stupid to your own teammate in the dying minutes of the game is beyond comprehension.

  99. I am sorry, but I really can’t see why this race got so high ratings. For me it is a 7 out of ten.

    The first eight laps, before the red flag, where very, very entertaining. Everyone was struggling for grip, the visibility was poor. Nail-biting stuff to see how everyone copes with the downpour.

    I was hoping that after the restart we’d get to see a great recovery drive from someone, or a real challenge in the top of the field… Yes, Perez was sublime until his blunder with just under 5 or 6 laps to go, and kudos to Senna, who really made a tremendous drive and was probably the most interesting person on track for me, but other than that we didn’t get to see that much nerve-wrecking action (I really am not a DRS-cruise-by fan). Rosberg slipped quickly off the pace and the top 7 never looked like challenging each other, excluding Perez and Alonso.

    I am not saying that I wasn’t entertained, but the wet Sepang really didn’t live up to my expectations this year.

    1. Other than that it was down to who made the least number of mistakes, or whose team called the pit stops on time.

  100. Adrian (@adrian_debian)
    26th March 2012, 9:30

    I gave it a 8/10, that’s just because i didn’t like the chaos generated by the rain and because we didn’t saw a duel between sergio and fernando.

    But there where some individual performances that shined:
    1. Fernando was again amazing, he ushed the car to 110%, extreme performance to keep everything in line.
    2. Sergio Perez had a fantastic race, but im not as sure as others that it would have been that easy to just pass Alonso, even if it had a better pace.
    3. Good qual for Hamilton, some bad luck for race, but at least he seems to keep it cool.
    4. Vettel was disappointing, he should apologize immediately for his comment on NK, if other pilots (ie: Massa/Ham last year) started to go off like that at every incident they would have ended up fighting at the end of the year. He should learn that not everything is about him and in racing a lot of stuff can happen no matter how hard you try. I suppose in his place Button or Schumi should start trowing punches.

  101. Clearly I’m alone in this, but I thought the race was a bit dull. Considering the weather – wet and then drying – is the sort that usually produces fantastic action (Hungary last year?), it all went a bit samey.

    When it rained the pack was shuffled as you’d expect, Alonso and Perez ended up at the front due to a couple of errors by other runners. So far so good. But they might as well have parked up then. Cars that were put out of position largely didn’t fight back up through the field, drivers who could have got historic results didn’t, and overall it just felt like everyone was just cruising around to the finish trying not to fall off the track.

    Yawn.

  102. I would rate this race as 8, there was some craziness for sure under the rain, which often makes F1 more of a lottery than a sport, still there were some great performances from underdogs and a great suspense towards the end, only to end a bit too soon with Sergio’s error.

    I do not rate, however, the decisions made by Race Control very highly. Perhaps, the race did need to be stopped, but it could have been resumed sooner. Safety car definitely stayed out for too long. All this quest for safety almost negates the need for a proper wet rubber, as well as robs us of some great drives of those who can master such conditions. Sepang is no Monaco and does not punish off-road excursions too severely. On a safe track they must allow drivers to race with full wets; as it is it’s a tyre for SC-period only.

    Now, I do realize that Vettel has very few fans here, but seriously! You have to ease off with the bias here. When Mark speaks his mind being rather harsh – he’s an honest and no-******** guy, when Lewis calls stewards names – it is ok, but when Seb tells it how it is – he’s a tantrum-prone monster! Perhaps, he should’ve done without an ‘idiot’ word, but Narain was clearly in the wrong (unlike vs Button, where Jenson was a culprit). He made rather stupid error and was justly penalized by the stewards. He may be a nice guy and great person, but he does tend to block a lot of people when on track and often seems unaware of what’s around.

    In the post-race interviews, Coulthard was particularly appaling. When talking to Narain he claimed that he thought Narain did nothing wrong (no less!). Then, when Horner argued that NK was 7 secs per lap slower and it was his responsibility to get out of the way (though I would say it would’ve been enough for him not to move to the right) and told Coulthard that he of all people should back him on this, because in his time DK was one of the most avid complainers about the backmarkers, David momentarily steered off the incident with Vettel towards the one involving Button. Such a sad lack of honesty.

    1. I do realise that Vettel has very few fans here

      Actually at the last count he was in the top ten so he’s more popular than most:

      https://www.racefans.net/2012/02/24/popular-driver-start-2012-f1-season/

      I see he has 334 supporters at the moment:

      https://www.racefans.net/members/?s=Sebastian%20Vettel

  103. Second race of the season, first FERARI dirty underground maneuver…

    Sergio Perez should have won this race! Everybody who is not an Italian Ferrari fanatic stood still with the mouth opened, with Sauber told Perez to stand down – every commentator – Portuguese, English, German…

    Everybody remembered Ferrari connections to Sauber… Engines and more… Perez is a Ferrari Academy driver… Remember Fisichella in Force India at SPA – could take Raikkonen in Ferrari, but was told to stay down, next race, was replacing Massa with no success, might I had – the cars Ferrari build can only be driven by handicapped drivers… We see changes in other teams and no problem – Ferrari that year had Massa, Badoer, Fisichella… and whatever…

    Really, this is a joke… to see that guy at first place in the drivers’ championship, but of course at the constructor’s championship, not even with everything handed out to them, could they be first, because at Ferrari, since the times of Berger/Alesi partnership, there’s one is one ‘real’ driver for season… and the other guy (the other guy – has included drivers as Morbidelli, Salo, Irvine, Barrichello, Massa…)

    I’m but worried a bit about Perez (which I think is and will be even more, a great driver) switch Sauber by Ferrari, because Alonso’s contract has there written somewhere that he will be the only ‘real’ driver in the team and that the team and the second driver will work for him.

    When Perez moves to Ferrari, will be to REPLACE Alonso, NOT he his PARTNER…

    GO KIMI, GO JENSON, GO LEWIS, GO BRUNO !!!!

  104. Great race, Something that got into my head during the race is that I was watching shades of Monaco 84, Perez is not the next Senna, no-one can be the next Senna but to see a rookie drive a mid-feild car like that to a podium was absolutely fantastic.

  105. I gave it an 8

    If Perez had managed to catch Alonso and have a battle for the lead it would have been a 9.

    As is the norm now the safety car and then the red flag were brought out way before they would have been in years gone by. I don’t know if I missed it on the BBC highlights show but it appeared that there had been no crashes in the laps before the safety car was deployed.

    When Button ran into Karthikeyan I didn’t see which McLaren it was at first and immediately thought it was Hamilton as it was just like Hamilton from 2011, in fact the Vettel and Karthikeyan coming together was a bit like Hamilton and Kobayashi from Spa last year as well.

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