2015 Malaysian GP review

The finger boy is back.

The 2nd race is now behind us and in two weeks it's time for the Chinese Grand Prix. Before that we will go through yesterday's race and see how it went..

There was a pretty clean start from my point of view. Nothing bad really happened at the start but still on the first lap Kimi Räikkönen got hit THREE TIMES from behind by different drivers. One of them was Felipe Nasr who also hit him in Melbourne. This time Kimi got a puncture at the main straight and had to do a full lap with only three tyres. He dropped to the back and was almost a lap behind the rest after his pitstop.

After this Pastor Maldonado also got a puncture, but he got to the pits much faster because he had almost completed the second lap when it happened. He was the first one to pit.

When Kimi and Pastor had made their pitstop Marcus Ericsson made the most stupid mistake and went slowly off track to the red gravel. He got stuck and couldn't continue. The safety car was deployed and most of the drivers pitted. Pastor and Kimi didn't gain any advantages because they were so far behind.

Sebastian Vettel stayed out and took the lead. This was a surprise for Mercedes but they were sure that they would overtake him during his next pitstop.

Williams had problems in the pits once again and this time it was Valtteri Bottas who was the unlucky driver. They trained for a day (just pitstops) in Barcelona but they still can't do things right?! They really screwed up! Well actually they didn't screw Bottas' back tyre on fast enough and he lost a lot of time... AGAIN. Team Williams have great drivers and a great car so why are they throwing it all away by messing things up in the pits?! That's just STUPID!! It doesn't make any sense! Get a better pit crew or something! Those guys aren't even the most valuable workers you have! I mean even I can screw a wheel on but I can't design a racing car!! Everybody's doing their job except the pit crew obviously. So much money and valuable points down the drain. If this wasn't the first time I would let it go but come on! How many times did they mess things up last year? They could have beaten Red Bull for sure if it wasn't for the screw ups in the pits.

Sorry I got a little carried away there... but let's move on :D

Kimi got stuck behind Roberto Merhi who couldn't even catch the safety car. Kimi was a bit angry and asked on the radio if he could pass the cars in front but he was not allowed. That must have been frustrating for him.
When the safety car came in they were still 6 seconds behind the rest. THAT'S JUST CRAZY!

The race was on again with Vettel in the lead and most of the other fast cars were at the back. Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Kimi Räikkönen, Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa were just flying overtaking car after car. Then after a few laps Kimi pitted again and dropped to the back once more...

Kimi Räikkönen continued to overtake car after car and the Mercs were already at the front battling with Vettel. After the German's first pitstop the Mercs were in front of him, but then he showed us what this year's Ferrari can do: he overtook Nico Rosberg's Mercedes! Last year only Bottas and Ricciardo managed to overtake a Mercedes once or twice. It seems that Ferrari's pace is much better than we all had expected.

After everybody had made their last pitstop Sebastian Vettel was leading, Lewis Hamilton was 2nd and Nico Rosberg was 3rd.

On the last laps we saw some great battle between teammates. First of all Max Verstappen overtook Carlos Sainz and showed him that even though he is only 17 years old he is somebody to take seriously. Then Felipe Massa had a lot of work keeping Valtteri Bottas behind him and in the end he couldn't hold him any longer. Bottas was too quick for him. Last year Williams asked Massa to let Bottas pass and he refused. This year there was no need for team orders.

The drivers of the day were definitely Vettel and Kimi. Sebastian won the race and Kimi managed to take 4th after all the problems he had. Great result!

One more thing I have to say before I go to my predictions. Have you guys noticed that Toro Rosso is doing better than Red Bull? Christian Horner has been moaning about the engine and that the car is perfect but the problems are with the engine. OK Horner... but why is Toro Rosso doing better than you guys if you have the same engine? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!!! :D That's all I have to say about the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Now let's see my predictions and the results!

Pole Position: Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - CORRECT

The race:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 2nd and Sebastian Vettel won!
2. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes - WRONG. He was 3rd.
3. Valtteri Bottas, Williams - WRONG. He was 5th.

Fastest lap: Kimi Räikkönen, Ferrari - WRONG. Nico Rosberg was fastest.

First to pit: Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull - WRONG. Pastor Maldonado pitted first.

Surprise: Carlos Sainz Jr. is going to show us some more of his speed - Maybe.. but it was Max Verstappen who showed more of his speed if you ask me!

POINTS: 1st - 3
2nd - 5
3rd - 10

+ possible bonus points

HOW IT WORKS: the aim of the game is simply predict who comes where in the race (top3). A total of 18 points can be won on a race day. For example if you get winner and and 3rd place right but 2nd wrong you get 13 points.

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR PREDICTIONS: send an email to f14lifeblog@gmail.com or message the Facebook page to submit your predictions. You have until lights out to make them. If you submit them when the race has started they won't count. So be quick!

THE PRIZE: the winner of the league will win themselves a admin place on the F1 4 LIFE page along side AE, JT, MW & MH. If you don't want to be an admin you are welcome to participate anyway.

2014 Malaysian Grand Prix review

The three guys on the podium: Rosberg, Hamilton and Vettel.

Mercedes has proved that this is their season and nobody can stop them! Right now it seems that the only way for somebody else to win the championship this year is to wait in third and watch Lewis and Nico take points away from each other. Kimi won Alonso and Hamilton like that in 2007.

But what about the race? What happened?

Right in the start Sebastian Vettel tried very aggressively to push Nico Rosberg into the pit wall but he didn't get in front of him though. Rosberg said after the race that he almost had a heart attack because there was a lot of speed already at that point.

Hulkenberg overtook Alonso again and stayed in front of him most of the race. He did that also in Australia which made me wonder if Force India is better than Ferrari this year? Maybe Hulkenberg is just over performing in that car. He is phenomenal!

Lap 2 Räikkönen got hit in the rear again! This time by Kevin Magnussen which ruined both of their races. Mostly Räikkönen's.. It was so fast that Kimi didn't even know what hit him. Magnussen took the blame for that one.

It was a pity because Räikkönen had been best of the rest (only the Mercs in front) on dry the whole weekend. He could have scored some valuable points for the team yesterday.

Another guy who was phenomenal the whole weekend was Kamui Kobayashi! Did you realize that he was 10th at one point with a Caterham. He was fighting against Romain Grosjean very hard and it wasn't easy to pass him at all.

Another guy who was proud of being hard to overtake was Grosjean. He said that he was happy that Räikkönen couldn't overtake him in the end of the race.

Räikkönen was asked about it and he said "I was surprised when Grosjean hit me when I tried to overtake him. I don't know what he was doing". Dirty driving or not but if he didn't get penalized then there's nothing to say about it anymore. Lotus could at least be happy that they got a lot of new data from the race and they finished for the first time this year with one car.

Williams was an interesting thing to keep an eye on. First they got terrible starting positions because they chose the wrong tyres for both of the drivers in qualifying.

In the race Williams was fast as lighting and had their first drama between the drivers. Felipe Massa was angry on the radio screaming that Valtteri Bottas tried to overtake him and almost hit him doing that. The team told Bottas to back off but the finn answered calmly "I have more pace than him". The team told Massa to let Valtteri pass him and answered to Bottas "you are faster! overtake him!". Massa was not ready to be somebodies bitch again so he didn't obey.

Bottas and Massa

Many people thought that it was the right thing to do but when you think about it then it wasn't a very good idea after all...

The deal inside the team was that if Bottas could not have overtaken Button with the better tyres he would have given his position back to Massa before the finish line.

Massa thought that if Bottas can't pass him then he couldn't pass Button either. It sounds pretty reasonable but the fact is that Massa is hard to overtake and Button is more of a gentleman which makes him easier to overtake. 

Remember last season when Ferrari asked Felipe again to let Alonso pass and he didn't? It took a long time for him to get pass and he is a two time world champion. Bottas is just a newbie.

Button on the other hand respects the lines, the track and the drivers to much. Most of the drivers play dirty when they want a position badly but Button doesn't play like that which is in my opinion his weakness even though he is a great driver. Sometimes you must do what you gotta do to win even if it's not the best thing to do. Button is the Stirling Moss of our time because he was also too nice on the track.

Let's get back to subject: Williams. If Massa would have let Bottas pass it would have been a clear deal that Bottas would have to do the same thing for Massa in the future. But now I don't see a reason that Bottas would help Massa at all. So that may have been a big mistake from Massa I hate to tell you.

What else? Daniel Ricciardo! What is going on? "MARK WEBBER MODE ACTIVATED!" Aussies must hate Red Bull!

Daniel Ricciardo

It all started when Red Bull told Ricciardo the same thing Williams told Bottas. They told him to back off. Ricciardo answered very calmly that if he has pace and something happens he wants to be a part of it. If he would be 2 seconds behind it could be critical in some scenarios. Red Bull answered "OK" and then it all started happening!

First they asked him to the pits at a very funny time if you ask me. Then they sent him off with a loose wheel, pushed him back in the box and did it properly. Then his front wing broke very easily and he got a stop and go penalty because of the unsafe release from the pits. Later he had to retire. 
I can't wait for Ricciardo to win a race and show everybody where he is supposed to be.

After all of this that I have talked about Hamilton won the race and dedicated the win for the lost plane "MH370" which was a very nice thing to do.

The last thing of the review as always - what did I guess in my preview and what was the actual result?

My guesses:

Pole Position: Kevin Magnussen - WRONG! He was only 8th because McLaren had a lot of problems.

The race:

1. Jenson Button - WRONG. McLaren had problems almost the whole weekend.
2. Lewis Hamilton - WRONG. One spot higher.
3. Valtteri Bottas - WRONG. Got hold up behind Massa but it would have been difficult anyways.

Fastest lap: Nico Rosberg - WRONG! It was the other Mercedes. Nico had the 2nd fastest time of the race.

Surprise: Ferrari - They will be much better this weekend! -RIGHT! Räikkönen was right behind the Mercs the whole weekend but when the rain came out it showed that Ferrari isn't that good in those conditions. In the race Räikkönen had the accident (which ruined his race) and Alonso passed Hulkenberg in the end for 4th which seemed to be impossible in Australia.

Tomorrow I will finally post the pictures that I promised earlier on the facebook page. Pictures of all of the Formula One stuff that I got from the 2013 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

FIA post-race press conference - Malaysia

Drivers: 1 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes); 2 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes); 3 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull Racing)

Podium Interviews
(Conducted by Benedict Cumberbatch) 

Q: Well Lewis, congratulations, your first win this year and you got the hat trick - pole position, the best lap time, on lap 54 I think, and now you’re here. How does it feel?
Lewis Hamilton: Incredible, incredible. After such a difficult weekend and such a long winter. We have a great crowd here today. For Petronas, who worked so hard with Mercedes to give us this win, I just feel so grateful, particularly after such a tragedy three weeks ago. I’d really like to dedicate this to those people and their families.

Q: Quite right. Tell us a bit about what it’s like to drive in Malaysia. You’re covered in Champagne now rather than sweat but as one wily commentator pointed out to me on the grid earlier it’s incredibly hot here. It’s in the mid-50s in terms of humidity and we hit 35 degrees Celsius on the track. What do you have to consider when you’re driving? 
LH: Yeah, you’re sweating even before you get in the car. It’s trying to keep your body as cool as possible and then just keep you focus. Fortunately, the team were just spot on with all the pit stops and the calling, the timing. Also the info I was getting was just spot on.

Q: It seems much clearer these days. You can hear the radio a bit more. Is that to do with the cars being a little bit quieter? 
LH: It is. The cars are quieter. The most noise is the wind, the buffeting. Otherwise, what a great car, what a great job from everyone.

Q: You did a fantastic job, congratulations once again. Now, Nico, congratulations to you too, well done, sir. That was a fantastically exciting moment just there [at the start]. Did you feel Sebastian on your shoulder? Because you took such a hard line on the right, you were like less than a foot away from the side.
Nico Rosberg: Thanks to my engineer we worked together well and we got a great start and that allowed me to go into second place. It was a bit ‘iffy’, Turn Three I got a bit sideways, saw plenty of action there but it worked out well and from then on I was trying to chase Lewis but he was a bit too quick today.

Q: Well, you did fantastically well, it was a superb run. 
NR: Just one more thing. Malaysia you can be proud because your company Petronas has taken us to the front of F1, so you can be really proud of that. Petronas has given us the best oil and fuel in F1, it’s brilliant.

Q: Sebastian, congratulations, your first time on the podium this year. You won here last year in the rain and that was an interesting race to say the least. How did it work this time being in the dry and the heat rather than the wet? 
Sebastian Vettel: It was dry last year as well.

Q: It was dry; there you go.
SV: It was a really good race. The start was not very good. I was quite surprised when I saw Nico on my right. 

Q: Tell us about that.
SV: I don't know. I thought I had a good start but then I focused on getting in the tow of Lewis to maybe attack him going into the first corner. Then Nico was there on the right and it was quite tight. Daniel was coming as well as I was trying to get past Nico. So I lost a place but fortunately I got it back and then later on I was trying to get as close as I could to Nico. At some stage it looked like we are pretty similar, pretty evenly matched but then it’s like he found another gear, he was pulling away. In the end I was just trying to get the car home. Obviously Daniel didn't make it for a couple of reasons. All in all it’s good to get another podium after Daniel has been on the podium in Australia. But we still have a long way [to go] these guys are bloody quick, congratulations to them, they did a good but we are trying to catch-up.

PRESS CONFERENCE

Q: Lewis, congratulations, the 23rd win of your career. The first 1-2 for Mercedes of the modern era, your first win in Malaysia. You weren’t wanting to celebrate yesterday after that pole but I guess you will allow yourself a celebration tonight. 
LH: Yeah. Definitely. Incredibly happy. My first time. It’s my eighth year here and finally got that win. I really just owe it all to the team. Did a fantastic job, the guys back at the factory pushing non-stop to get the car to where it is, and of course to do it on Petronas… on our home ground… almost, to get a one-two, I mean it’s quite special when you get a one-two. I’ve not had many in my career and so that makes it even more special. I’m really grateful for all the work that’s done and… yeah, great day.

Q: Nico, I guess you’re looking on your mobile there at the points position because you’re not only leading the World Championship but you’ve extended your lead today in the World Championship. But to take you back to earlier in the race, you seemed to have a few problems with the rear tyres, we were hearing over the radio, maybe you could tell us a bit about that - and also maybe a bit about the start as well.…
NR: First of all the start, I had a really good start, so I was happy about that because it’s not so easy this year. The rear tyres are harder and we have more torque. So it’s very difficult to get it right - but it felt great and got away well and then Sebastian, I thought he was going to put me right into the wall, but he stopped just before - so thank you for that!
SV: I had a similar experience last year…
NR: …that doesn’t make it right to do it again! My heartbeat skipped a beat a little bit but I kept right on it, it was OK anyway, it wasn’t that bad. Then I had a bit of a moment in Turn Three, a bit of a tail, tank-slapper and that allowed them all to get another run on me, but it all worked out. And then I was just trying to chase Lewis but he was a bit too quick today. It was a bit difficult out there because the track was really poor, it seemed, sliding so much, and just struggling with the rear tyres especially. That made it a bit difficult out there.

Q: Sebastian, coming to you, you said over the radio at the end there that you’re pretty pleased, that you’ve got some work to do still but you were on the whole pleased with the outcome - but you were 24.5s behind Lewis at the finish, and that’s a pretty big number still, isn’t it?
SV: Yes, it is - but I don’t think that’s… probably Lewis could have gone faster, I think we could have gone faster at the end of the race but our priority at the end was to make sure we secure the podium. So, I think probably to see the reality, I don’t know where the gaps were, probably 10, 15 laps to the end but no doubt, congratulations to them, they did a very good job, they looked nearly seamless already in winter testing, they are bloody quick, the package they have is very, very strong, we know that but I think, y’know, for us there’s mostly positives that remain. After Australia, Daniel did a fantastic job here again. I think the car was very competitive, it’s a completely different track, different conditions but yeah, we are there and that’s the most important… I think it’s much better than what we expected at some stage during the winter. We know that there’s a lot we can do better - because it doesn’t feel great when we are out there racing. Just if you go out on track and listen and look at how the cars behave, on power I think there’s a big difference, so yeah, we know that. I think it’s a question of time, how soon we manage to catch up. And then we try to give them a harder time.

QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR

Q: (Frederic Ferret - L’Equipe) Lewis, was there any difficulty during the race for you or was it an easy trip?
LH: I don’t think any race is ever easy. Obviously there are opportunities that are presented in front of you and obviously you have to take them with both hands and today that’s what I did but no, looking after the car, looking after fuel, not making any mistakes, it was a massive challenge in that sense. The time... I would hear that Nico had stepped up the speed, reacting to those things without damaging your tyres, so without doubt it was still a great challenge, but one that I was able to do well because the car was spectacular this weekend, so really really happy with just a great performance by the team.

Q: (Frederic Ferret - L’Equipe) For the three of you, do you think that the three contenders for the title are sitting up there today?
LH: I would like to think that us, as Mercedes, are the title... at least, at the moment, but there’s such a long way to go. We’ve got a lot of competition out there so I’m sure everyone’s going to be pushing and so we need to stay on it.

Q: And the championship leader? 
NR: That sounds very good already as it is but there’s a long way to go. I’m not thinking about that at the moment, I’m really just taking it race by race, just enjoying the moment, making the most of it, keeping on it, keeping to push. The best example is now Red Bull. The last day of testing was four weeks ago or something or three weeks ago and they were absolutely nowhere and now he (Vettel) was right in the back of me, pushing me. OK, I had some pace in hand so I could beat him in the end clearly but still, the way they’ve ramped up their pace, very impressive, so we need to keep on it to keep our advantage.
SV: Well, I think Fernando is missing, Daniel, Kimi and probably one other guy that we don’t know yet. Still early days, but that’s what I would say.

Q: (Kate Walker - Crash.net) For all three of you: we’ve heard an awful lot about some extreme measures that drivers have taken to stay below weight this season with the car. Now Malaysia is always a punishing race because of the heat. Was it more difficult this year, especially as we had no rain, just the physical challenge? 
LH: It’s always a great challenge here and today wasn’t as hot as it has been in the past, i would say. Generally, this year, with a lot less downforce, it’s a lot less physical - still really physical but it’s not as much as years and years ago when we had so much downforce and particularly last year when we had a lot of downforce, but it’s still a serious workout. Fortunately I’m just grateful my drink machine worked, even though it’s like drinking hot tea, it did the job. I think the team has done a great job in terms of weight this year. We know we’re not having to cut things off to get to the weight.
NR: Yeah, it’s not nice that everything weight-wise is on the edge but that’s the way it is. It’s always a compromise between being light but still being able to perform at the highest of my abilities and I found my compromise and so I felt absolutely fine today. But of course, it is tough out there always. Malaysia is very, very hot.
SV: It’s always hot, it’s not a walk in the park but I think we’re going slower, tyres are harder, cars are slower, less downforce as Lewis touched on, so it’s probably a little less hard than it was. The fact that we all try to save weight for this year... next year the weight goes up anyway which is good for the heavy drivers but for this year it’s a pain for them. Doesn’t help, because you’re a bit more on the edge but this is probably one of the worst races. I think the most difficult one is probably Singapore later this year.

Q: (Michael Schmidt - Auto, Motor und Sport) Sebastian, Red Bull made big progress between Bahrain and Melbourne, again progress between Melbourne and here. Are you happy with the speed of development, is that the speed you need in order to catch the Mercedes, let’s say, when the European season starts? 
SV: Yeah, we need to make big steps because they are quite far ahead but I’m quite happy with the steps we’re currently making. It’s the first race distance I’ve done this year, since Brazil, it’s the first race distance I’ve done so that’s a big step. Obviously, at some stage during testing, we didn’t expect to finish the first couple of races so well done to all the guys in the team on the reliability front. It’s not a big secret, we know there’s still a lot to do. In terms of driveability we’re not yet there where we want to be. In terms of power, it’s not a big secret without giving a hammering but the guys at Viry are flat out to work on that front. Renault is pushing very, very hard but at this stage we have to summarise and say that Mercedes did a better job, they’re quicker than us so we know that there’s a lot of things we have to do better but it’s still a bloody good result today, finishing on the podium, right behind them. That’s what we need to do, as long as we can, up to the point where we’re even and we can challenge them and give them a harder time.

Q: (Ajit Devadason - Sify.com) Lewis, this is to do with your helmet design: the words that you have chosen for this season on the back of your helmet, Still I Rise, are you thrilled that it’s working your way and it’s matching belief? 
LH: It’s what I have tattooed on my back so I just added it to the helmet design and I think the metaphor is just that regardless of what difficulties you go through, you still rise above it. That’s really something my Dad has always enforced in me. We’ve had so many ups and downs throughout our lives and our careers, as everyone has, but he would always ‘say just rise above it’ and do your talking on track. I had a difficult time in the last race and that’s what I did today, so I feel quite good about it.

(source: f1.com)

2014 FORMULA 1 PETRONAS MALAYSIA GRAND PRIX - Race

1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	56	1:40:25.974	1	25
2	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	56	+17.3 secs	3	18
3	1	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing-Renault	56	+24.5 secs	2	15
4	14	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	56	+35.9 secs	4	12
5	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	56	+47.1 secs	7	10
6	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Mercedes	56	+83.6 secs	10	8
7	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	56	+85.0 secs	13	6
8	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	56	+85.5 secs	18	4
9	20	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren-Mercedes	55	+1 Lap	8	2
10	26	Daniil Kvyat	STR-Renault	55	+1 Lap	11	1
11	8	Romain Grosjean	Lotus-Renault	55	+1 Lap	15
12	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	55	+1 Lap	6
13	10	Kamui Kobayashi	Caterham-Renault	55	+1 Lap	20
14	9	Marcus Ericsson	Caterham-Renault	54	+2 Lap	22
15	4	Max Chilton	Marussia-Ferrari	54	+2 Lap	21
Ret	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing-Renault	49	+7 Lap	5
Ret	21	Esteban Gutierrez	Sauber-Ferrari	35	+21 Laps	12
Ret	99	Adrian Sutil	Sauber-Ferrari	32	+24 Laps	17
Ret	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	STR-Renault	18	+38 Laps	9
Ret	17	Jules Bianchi	Marussia-Ferrari	8	+48 Laps	19
Ret	13	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus-Renault	7	+49 Laps	16
DNS	11	Sergio Perez	Force India-Mercedes	0	+56 Laps	14