2012 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix

[Vorull]

Not a happy German



Turns out @alo_oficial's car lost telemetry in race - so he had to read fuel levels to team, manage Kers etc. even more impressive

[phil1993]

Good interview with Karthikeyan in this (UK only)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/17504555

[iceman1]

Good interview with Karthikeyan in this (UK only)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/17504555

[tderias]

I understand Vettel's frustration, albeit his reaction is a bit hostile. I agree with Christian Horner, it does appear that Narain tucked in too soon behind Seb.

[iceman1]

Skysports: Malaysia post-race

[François]

Thank you iceman.

What a race! I almost felt spoiled.

Alonso's position now reminds me of that of Ayrton Senna after the chaotic Donington race in 1993: through sheer brilliance, he finds himself leading the championship standings in spite of his underpowered machinery. Perez delivered a splendid drive, that of a rather likely future race winner; but Alonso showed the kind of class that wins you multiple championships.

What I found very surprising was that nobody had the pace to give them a fight (not even Hamilton), neither on inters nor on dry tyres. All signs point to a closely-matched midfield and no particular dominance at the front which could result in quite an open championship where sheer driving skills might end up making the difference. This, I like.

Grosjean: clearly not quite the complete package, second time he's gone from hero to zero in a matter of a few kilometers. Brilliant on Saturday again but in F1 it is Sunday drivers that collect the spoils. France's hero yesterday was actually Vergne, who drove a good race to claim his first points and deal a revenge blow to his teammate after Australia; that's a 1-1 so far!

I have to say a word about Massa: lollerskates. That is all.

Peace!

[KevC]

Sniffpetrol race tweets

Those people aren't pushing the HRT; they're just running after it as it makes a full bore start.

"I don't think we'll be long with these tyres Felipe. I repeat, I don't think you'll be long with this team... oh, s***"

"Okay Jenson, don't overtake Lewis unless you want him to be in a right piss at dinner tonight, AGAIN."

Red flag! Lotus are already unboxing the choc ices.

Massa's doing well. Only four places behind one of the people who might replace him.

Every time Ricciardo pits, a mechanic leans into the cockpit and brushes his teeth.

Malaysian GP result: 1. Ay ay ay! 2. Ay ay AY AY AY! 3. Aye, better than nowt.

[dacer]

from rate thread:

1 - Best Driver
hard to choose between Alonso and Perez. I will give it to Alonso because he had the slower car and Perez made a little error. After last year I thought that Vettel is already as good as Alonso but when I look at Fernando's stunning performance today, I have to admit that Vettel needs much more experience to reach that level.

Last year I said sometimes that for me, Vettel is not as good driver as Alonso. For me, for some reason.

Compare this race with last year Canada. Vettel was first and even was first on championship. But when he suffered a little preassure from Button, he fail. This race, Alonso didn't fail under Perez preassure. Vettel has an excellent hands, but his brain it's not a champion. Others drivers as Hamilton and Webber had same "problem". Button I think is not as faster as Vettel/Hamilton, but as Alonso, can win races with his brain.

Also, Alonso is good to squeeze his car peformance, while Vettel need best car to win. This year he had the second best car, and he get a nice result on Australia, but a bit lucky cause Hamilton + SC issue.

Lastly, Alonso builds confidence to all team members, remember two years ago, Ferrari seemed out of championship, and Alonso pushed hard his team, and got to fight until last race for win. I think, that Vettel and Hamilton, are unable to build that confident, even they need their team push them.

Vettel and Hamilton are faster than Alonso, but they lack some virtues than make a great driver, as an exceptional one. Maybe you can call these as "experience".

Bye

[Ether]

I think Alonso is as fast as Hamilton. You can see that clearly in 2007. They were so close to each other and win on races one on another. But yes, Alonso has more complete package, Fast, Intelligent, Cunning (this doesn't always be a negative issue), and Motivational.

Like probably Alonso said, if Hamilton and Alonso were not in Mclaren together, they might be both the best driver package in a team.. I don't know but Mclaren doesn't seem to be a very good team in managing their drivers. It's good to see both of them fights on tracks, but I think they sometimes not letting them to fight (always) in equal way or maybe "too" equally. Like for example in this race, while Lewis is the leader why they pit Button first? as to the next lap for sure will be more cars pit. As everybody can see that already cost Hamilton to lose on his own teammate. Well I think this kind of thing need some priorities.. Someone in front should be in priority, not a total freedom. Maybe this kind of thing was Alonso really annoyed about... And maybe at that time, Alonso was not yet able to accept that Hamilton is as fast as him in his first season.

[sportingcp]

Alonso is the best driver at the moment. And more than that I honestly think that he is one of the 10 best drivers all time. He is the 5th with more victories. He always destructs his teammates (except 2007), is capable of winning in many conditions, many cars. That year in 2007, things went bad to him and the team was not with him. Of course Hamilton was really good but we didn´t saw the best Alonso. Back at that time I didn´t like Fernando, but I started to appreciate what he does besides that because now I can clearly see that he can do things the others can´t (even the other champions). In the past, he always complained about everything. From my point of view, he growned up after leaving McLaren, he learned his lesson and started working really, really hard. Look at what he said after this winning this doesn´t change anything. He says he is gonna continue work hard because things are not like he wanted. And I know for sure that he will keep his word. Hamilton, for example still can get better I think (and I think he is starting to get better, being more patient this here, focusing in his work, less in rivalries). But I don´t think he will reach Alonso level.

One thing i´m seeing nowadays is that most of the people don´t like Vettel, at least at the moment. I´m not the biggest fan of him, even if I don´t dislike him also. Some people don´t like him because they want to see others winning, others because prefer Alonso, and others for being British and so they support their drivers and McLaren. That´s okay, but I think everyone as to admit this, Seb lacks experience, and sometimes does some dumb things but his potential and natural pace, capacity of leading and auto-motivational is tremendous and he will be te better in the future. Actually, Vettel really has the brain of a champion (if there is a Schumacher sucessor it´s him) what he really lacks is the experience, and some qualities Alonso has.

[Vorull]

I know this is offtopic, but it has been 2 races now and there's still no race edit or onboard lap. Does anyone know if F~0~M are planning to release any this year?

[François]

I don't see why they would stop; bear in mind, though, that there was only a week between Australia and Malaysia, and that they usually take a bit longer than that to release the highlights. I'd guesstimate they'll come up sometime later this week.

[Ether]

I think every driver has the chance to be ripe and a worthy among best drivers like Alonso. Let's see Button, he was quite nobody before 2009. He was quite shining in 2004, but I feel he is lack of speed. But now he is ripe enough to be amongst best driver even he is not fast enough like alonso, hamilton and vettel.

What I'm going to say, hamilton and vettel may improve a lot, and can be much more better than all of the successor like Schumacher or Alonso. They can be as ripe as Button, and when that happens, they will be better than Alonso. This is my opinion, and that is not right now of course, probably later, 3-4 years later.. But what to remember now, vettel and hamilton is in the different character... Hamilton has the character of Alonso, meanwhile Vettel has the character of Schumi. Alonso is quite an attacker, such a fighting spirit, not just being quick but aggresion too. Schumi is fast, consistent, some may say he is an attacker but I don't really think so if we remember back then in 2005-6 while Alonso beating him fair and square.

I think Hamilton and Vettel couldn't yet be compare to Alonso and Schumi (OF COURSE he got whole chunk of experiences before), but when that happens, both will be better than Alonso and Schumi. This of course a benchmark of this time of performance. We must remember that Alonso is still improving too... So 3-4 years later, Alonso might be getting stronger and stronger.. He is the best it is true and I agree.. Because he is still growing too.

But at the basic (starting point), Hamilton is faster and better than Alonso, so if you judge as a person, I can say Hamilton and Vettel is better than Alonso. But in the meantime, Alonso of course is still better.

[alex1369]

I know this is offtopic, but it has been 2 races now and there's still no race edit or onboard lap. Does anyone know if F~0~M are planning to release any this year?

Yes they will, they released the onboard lap from Australia.... so race edits will follow soon..

[cheng.damien]

Thank you iceman.

What a race! I almost felt spoiled.

Alonso's position now reminds me of that of Ayrton Senna after the chaotic Donington race in 1993: through sheer brilliance, he finds himself leading the championship standings in spite of his underpowered machinery. Perez delivered a splendid drive, that of a rather likely future race winner; but Alonso showed the kind of class that wins you multiple championships.

What I found very surprising was that nobody had the pace to give them a fight (not even Hamilton), neither on inters nor on dry tyres. All signs point to a closely-matched midfield and no particular dominance at the front which could result in quite an open championship where sheer driving skills might end up making the difference. This, I like.

Grosjean: clearly not quite the complete package, second time he's gone from hero to zero in a matter of a few kilometers. Brilliant on Saturday again but in F1 it is Sunday drivers that collect the spoils. France's hero yesterday was actually Vergne, who drove a good race to claim his first points and deal a revenge blow to his teammate after Australia; that's a 1-1 so far!

I have to say a word about Massa: lollerskates. That is all.

Peace!

Race pace is quite evenly matched even though qualifying pace is quite different.
You are right in saying there is no particular dominance (which might be proved wrong at the next race).

The onboard videos might give a clue as to the race pace of both Alonso and Perez, along with favourable car setup possibly?