2009 Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix

[shailf1]

Felipe Massa - 9th
“It was a chaotic race and it’s easy in these conditions to take decisions, which later in hindsight, turn out to be wrong. When we fitted the rain tyres, we expected heavy rain to come soon and unfortunately it was just a light shower. Therefore, I came back in to fit intermediates and immediately after that, the downpour arrived. It’s a shame, as I could have managed to get into the points. We definitely need to analyse our mistakes and understand how they can be avoided, but I don’t think it needs a revolution which the always emotional onlookers demand: it would be wrong because it’s not a case of us suddenly becoming stupid. It’s the playing field that has changed. We must be aware of that and tackle the situation with a different approach.”

Kimi Raikkonen - DNF
“We were in a good position at the time of the first pit stop and then we made a mistake, fitting the rain tyres when the rain had yet to fall. And that was where my race was pretty much over. When the race was halted, the conditions were very difficult. There was so much water on the track and I was struggling to drive the car even in second gear. Clearly we cannot be happy with our start to the season: in Melbourne, I was the one to make a mistake and today it was the team, the result being we find ourselves without any points.”

Stefano Domenicali
“We are very disappointed because once again today, we leave a circuit empty handed. With hindsight, it’s clear that we took some wrong decisions, especially in Kimi’s case at his first pit stop: the information we had at the time was that the storm was due to hit in a very short time, when in fact it took a few more minutes for the rain to come. Felipe was very unlucky: another forty seconds or so and he could have stayed on track with the extreme wet tyres, finishing in a good position at the end of the race. Clearly we have to extricate ourselves from this situation, without panicking, but with every one of us taking on our responsibilities: we have to dig deep and react, starting immediately. We have to change our mentality and accept that we are in a different situation to the past and that therefore we have to tackle it with a different approach, both on track and in Maranello.

[kimi and mika]

Just want to say that Kimi drove a good race...5th before the pit stop, so at least 7th at the end of the race without a crazy decision for wet tryes. Kimi didn't spin once (from what I saw) but others like Vettel, Heidfeld and Hamilton spun, so a good race by him, but a race to forget for Ferrari.

I think McLaren are not THAT bad, race pace is alright, In think it will have to be 8th places in a normal race though. Ferrari are not that good either, they will improve by Europe but by then there is no chance of them winning a championship.

[HandoZiZle]

All drivers that won their first two race always clinch the championship that season. Hmmmmmm...i guess another title for Great Britain.

[JoostLamers]

Fastest Lap times:

Glock on a wet setup in my opinion, like Nakajima I think

[TwistedArmco]

All drivers that won their first two race always clinch the championship that season. Hmmmmmm...i guess another title for Great Britain.

Prost 1982?
Laffite 1979?

Just two examples from the top of my head. Although I admit it, this season looks all Button.

[Sanredrose]

Does anyone think McLaren/Ferrari will win a race this year seeing as Brawn/Toyota/Red Bull are very strong

Copying of diffuser design underway. So Mclaren / Ferrari should mount a challenge to Brawn in Spain. Second half of the season will belong to Mclaren. Ferrari & BMW.

[Sanredrose]

All drivers that won their first two race always clinch the championship that season. Hmmmmmm...i guess another title for Great Britain.

Prost 1982?
Laffite 1979?

Just two examples from the top of my head. Although I admit it, this season looks all Button.

Add Mika 1998, Schumi 2004 ( shouldn't say that .. he pretty much won everything that year )

[swca92]

Add Mansell in 92, Senna in 91, Schumi in 94 and Hill in 96,though they all won more than the first 2... Button looks good for the title, though I don't think he'll be quickest at season's end. But the Brawn is awesome atm, Button was a second faster than anyone else in clear air today. Barring unreliability he should win the title, and he'll regret it for the rest of his life if he don't.

[HandoZiZle]

Ok i'm sorry, i guess not everyone becomes a champion. Although a big part, I don't think it's all about the diffuser though. Barrichelo was hit from the side and behind in OZ but yet his car is still very good. I think they have just the best of everything right now. Red Bull doesn't have the diffuser and they're also fast.

[AzShadow]

Hmm, just read that the reason it took 50 mins for the race control to announce that the race had been discontinued was because by extending the TV coverage to two hours Ecclestone guaranteed that no company could demand their money back. It sure was fun for the drivers to sit there in rain for nothing...

All drivers that won their first two race always clinch the championship that season. Hmmmmmm...i guess another title for Great Britain.

These ones didn't:
Fittipaldi 1973
Lauda 1976
Laffite 1979
Prost 1982

Besides, statistics are always statistics, they're meant to be broken.

As for Ferrari's misery, this is the 8th time they've been without points after the first two races
1969, 1970, 1980, 1981, 1984, 1986, 1992 and 2009

In 1969 and 1970 Ferrari didn't get their first points until at the fourth GP of the season.

[harrisv48]

I think Kimi today have chance to pick up sum points but the team blow out evrythink!

[Fern]

Hmm, just read that the reason it took 50 mins for the race control to announce that the race had been discontinued was because by extending the TV coverage to two hours Ecclestone guaranteed that no company could demand their money back. It sure was fun for the drivers to sit there in rain for nothing...

Well, that´s a good point...

[lealjaime]

I think the whole idea of make gp a 5 pm its getting everything mess up, in aaustralia shadows in malasya big rain.

i think all races must be a 1 or 2 pm local time. besides f1 its a world sport not a europe sport, thats why f1 race in many country outside europe right.

[anewman13]

Agreed lealjaime. It was a stupid decision for both Melbourne and Malaysia to be starting so late, tweak it and push it back to maybe a 4pm race start but much later and you are asking for troubl.

[syafiqa]

I think the whole idea of make gp a 5 pm its getting everything mess up, in aaustralia shadows in malasya big rain.

i think all races must be a 1 or 2 pm local time. besides f1 its a world sport not a europe sport, thats why f1 race in many country outside europe right.

Totally agreed with u