2012 Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix

[Péter Bártfai]

I watched Melbourne live too. It's a not a bit too early for me, I always wake up between 5-6 am.

This was an excellent race, I cheered for Perez at the end, would have loved to see a Sauber win. Still the 2nd place is a very strong result for them! And Alonso, man he surprised me as well, I knew that the Ferrari is better in racing circumstances but to win the race with it is beyond everything I thought. True the conditions were special, but still. Even at the end Hamilton couldn't really get closer to them, which was quite surprising as well. I thought he'll eat them for breakfast after the safety car goes out. (though I hoped he won't)

Raikkönen was doing fine, and I'm also happy to see Williams again proving their racing speed, this time with Senna. That guy convinced me this time, coming up to 6th from 22nd(I think?) after the restart, awesome. Maldonado, I'm sure he'll have a few great results this year, this kind of bad luck just can't stay forever. Overall I think they might cause a few surprises this season, and I hope so.

 

[Jordi Casademunt]

Really fun race here in Malaysia.

-Fernando Alonso shows again that he's really that good. Got a bit lucky with Pérez going off though, or he'd been second. First in the Championship, although as Hampus says, a fake first since in normal conditions he shouldn't be able to keep it.
-Sergio Pérez did a fantastic race, and would have won the race but he made a mistake. And for the conspiracionists, remember the track was half-wet, overtaking was a big risk so they wanted Pérez to keep his head cool and go for a pass in the right place. Still, his first podium and an overall great race. The Sauber also seems to be fast, and might give a few surprises if they keep developing the car.
-Lewis Hamilton is probably dissapointed that he couldn't capitalize on his pole position again, although being second on the Championship should be good for his motivation.
-Great job by Räikkönen, got back to 5th. Would be interesting to see what he can do if he gets a normal qualifying without penalties and stuff.
-Bruno Senna was great in the last laps, he gained a few positions and ended in a 6th position which will make Williams pretty happy. Great driving, hopefully he keeps the good job in China.
-Jean-Eric Vergne saved the weekend pretty nicely, going from 18th to 8th.
-Michael Schumacher did well after being spun by Grosjean, but it wasn't enough. The Mercedes works very well in qualifying but it's dissapointingly slow in race, which is a shame.
-What happened to Vettel? That was really weird, last lap and the crew telling him to go to pit, then continue, then whatever. I don't understand. Bad luck when lapping Karthikeyan.
-Jenson Button had a very unlucky race, but unlike last year (where it seemed the unluckiest he got, the biggest the chance he would win) this time he only managed a 14th. Also, a very uncharacteristic mistake by him trying to overtake Karthikeyan in a hard spot, when he would have eaten him alive in the straight 2 corners ahead.
-Felipe Massa needs to retire soon. Yesterday I actually thought he might have improved, having closed the gap with Fernando, but today he showed that he's no longer a top driver. Ferrari will probably keep him at least until the middle of the season or so, but I doubt he will do anything.
-Petrov beats Kovalainen. Maybe he isn't such a bad driver as some people think.
-Maldonado was unlucky today and lost a 10th position because of an engine problem. Shame for him.
-The two HRT ended the race! That's surprising, although they are clearly the last backmarkers. Karthikeyan being 10th for a while was probably the most surprising thing this weekend. He's not a safe driver to lap though. And de la Rosa getting a penalty was kind of ridiculous.
-They didn't show Kobayashi retiring so I was surprised to see him as a DNF at the end. I hope he has better luck in the following races.
-Romain Grosjean was...dissapoiting. I expected more from him, maybe he'll do better next race.

As an interesting note, 8 different teams in the top 8, with 9 different cars in the top 10.


This was a fun race, although this "Oh it rains too much, lets stop it and wait" stuff is ridiculous.


PD: Wild theory. Fernando Alonso set up his car for wet conditions.

 

[Diego Lopez]

For me all races are in reasonable time. The earliest one is Australia at 8:00 AM and the latest one is Canada 9:00PM

reasonable for me is 830AM on most European rounds and 3am on others

im so jealous :oops:

 

[Chicane500]

The race was hardly restarted and the drivers were already discussing intermediate tyres with their teams. Pirelli should be asked to dump wet tyres and bring back monsoon tyres, so they can drive in any condition, instead of having a BBQ without meat on the grid. Why bring in wet tyres if the SC comes out anyway?

Massa, don't know what to think. One hand hand the gap wasn't that big and he did an extra stop. Also the field is really close this year, so if you're slightly slower, you're already a lot of places behind. On the other hand, he was still slower than Alonso on his new intermediate tyres. Ferrari has 3 weeks before next race to talk Sauber into exchanging 2 drivers
I think Ferrari will wait to see if Perez shows consistency and if he can stay away from stupid mistakes. If Perez shows both, then an exchange is more than likely.

 

[Diego Lopez]

The race was hardly restarted and the drivers were already discussing intermediate tyres with their teams. Pirelli should be asked to dump wet tyres and bring back monsoon tyres, so they can drive in any condition, instead of having a BBQ without meat on the grid. Why bring in wet tyres if the SC comes out anyway?

Massa, don't know what to think. One hand hand the gap wasn't that big and he did an extra stop. Also the field is really close this year, so if you're slightly slower, you're already a lot of places behind. On the other hand, he was still slower than Alonso on his new intermediate tyres. Ferrari has 3 weeks before next race to talk Sauber into exchanging 2 drivers
I think Ferrari will wait to see if Perez shows consistency and if he can stay away from stupid mistakes. If Perez shows both, then an exchange is more than likely.

well if you followed Ferrari upclose...the car this year was designed mostly to Alonso's driving and style....the car is garbage...i hardly doubt is Massa not being able to race. Yes he has lost pace but we should all know by now how undrivable that Ferrari is. So we should not blame Massa's performance towards his driving much, is a total design flaw in this years cars. slow and unstable. give the guy a chance...after all he gave us some good racing in 07 and 08. as for Perez, i doubt they will grab h im right away. unless he can start ending on the top 10s. but face it...Ferraris car this year is terrible, is just up to Alonso to somehow put it on the grid other than that every other driver on the grid will have a difficult time driving that red cow.

 

[My993C2]

Congrats to Alonso. I don't recall seeing him make any mistakes. Also a great drive from Sergio. Too bad he didn't win his first race because a win was within his grasps. Why did he stay out that extra lap? Big mistake from him and his race engineer? or orders from his engine supplier? LOL ... nevertheless, as I said, I do not recall seeing Alonso make a mistake while plenty of other drivers did.

Next up China.

 

[Lenard Schaeffler]

Sorry, a little late to the party, being on the west coast of the united states means I had to DVR it.

Probably one of the best races I have seen so far. I dont have a whole lot of love for ferarri but Alonzo deserved that one, like a machine. He and Perez seemed to find speed today that nobody else could. Perez in my opinion had the best show of the day, overshadowing Alonzo even while finishing behind him, though I may be a bit biased, I have a soft spot for Sauber after racing for them in F1 2010.

Red Bull just seems off balance, I dont know if its their car, almost seems like they have forgotten how to fight, I give it another race for Vettel to get some fire in his belly and we will see him back toward the top, at this point I hope to see them competitive again just to watch Diego rage

McLaren's crew was killing me today, Button seemed sloppier than I have ever seen him, Hamilton had good pace but he got let down in pit stops twice, first with the rear jack issue, then with the extra 4 second on pit stop removing tape from the brake ducts.

Mercedes I just dont understand, they are like a beautiful well spoken woman who turns into a country bumpkin that wears too much makeup once you get involved with her. They show so well then end up a major disappointment. Good from far, but far from good so to speak

The biggest issues for me that this race highlighted were

1) Massa, Ferarri needs to put him out to pasture as of now. Admittedly I dont know too much about Italian culture, but judging from the amount of mob movies I have seen, I expect the Ferarri Don to have him buried in a field in no time. One can hope, it was one thing when neither driver could do anything with their "bad" car, but to have two driver in the same car, one wins, the other ends up at the back of the pack with no incidents other than poor racing putting him there, its time to go

2) I hate to kick someone when they are down, but HRT is more of a hindrance than benefit to the sport, Karthikeyan managed to cause major issues with two front runners today. Reminds me of the guy on the hockey rink that is out there for no other reason than to hurt someone. Not helpful when showcasing the skill and beauty of the game

 

[Lenard Schaeffler]

well if you followed Ferrari upclose...the car this year was designed mostly to Alonso's driving and style....the car is garbage...i hardly doubt is Massa not being able to race. Yes he has lost pace but we should all know by now how undrivable that Ferrari is. So we should not blame Massa's performance towards his driving much, is a total design flaw in this years cars. slow and unstable. give the guy a chance...after all he gave us some good racing in 07 and 08. as for Perez, i doubt they will grab h im right away. unless he can start ending on the top 10s. but face it...Ferraris car this year is terrible, is just up to Alonso to somehow put it on the grid other than that every other driver on the grid will have a difficult time driving that red cow.

The car may not be an RB7 but you don't show dominance like Alonzo did today in a "terrible" car, Massa at this point has shown nothing in quite a while, and is getting worse. Give him a decision making leave, something to the effect of "why dont you take some time off to figure out your place in the organization"

 

[My993C2]

Sorry, a little late to the party, being on the west coast of the united states means I had to DVR it.

I also DVRed the race except that I loaded up on some coffee and stayed up and watched it live. I am one hour ahead of you in the Mountain Time Zone. The DVR helps in that I start watching the race 10 or so minutes after it's actual start and fast forward through all the TV commercials. But unless you knew to record extra extra time, I would have missed the end of the race had I just set the normal recording time and spent my time counting sheep and sawing logs in the middle of the night. So kudos to you if you knew to record extra time and well I am just a sleep deprived zombie today. LOL

I hate to kick someone when they are down, but HRT is more of a hindrance than benefit to the sport, Karthikeyan managed to cause major issues with two front runners today. Reminds me of the guy on the hockey rink that is out there for no other reason than to hurt someone. Not helpful when showcasing the skill and beauty of the game

I don't think Karthikeyan was trying hurt anyone's race on purpose. It's just that they are too slow compared to everyone else. There is bound to be issues when you close in on a much slower car on a wet track. Alonso lost some time trying to pass Karthikeyan. Then Perez lost time trying to pass. And of course Button and Vettel were sent to the pits thanks to their encounters.

 

[Lenard Schaeffler]

I also DVRed the race except that I loaded up on some coffee and stayed up and watched it live. I am one hour ahead of you in the Mountain Time Zone. The DVR helps in that I start watching the race 10 or so minutes after it's actual start and fast forward through all the TV commercials. But unless you knew to record extra extra time, I would have missed the end of the race had I just set the normal recording time and spent my time counting sheep and sawing logs in the middle of the night. So kudos to you if you knew to record extra time and well I am just a sleep deprived zombie today. LOL

I always set my DVR to record 2hrs past the scheduled end, made the mistake once last season and only had half the race, irritated the crap out of me, and made my 4 year old cry, for some reason my son crying is traumatic to me. Now every time I set up a recording for us I have PTSD style flashbacks LOL

I don't think Karthikeyan was trying hurt anyone's race on purpose. It's just that they are too slow compared to everyone else. There is bound to be issues when you close in on a much slower car on a wet track. Alonso lost some time trying to pass Karthikeyan. Then Perez lost time trying to pass. And of course Button and Vettel were sent to the pits thanks to their encounters.

I dont think he is trying to hurt anyone either, was just the best example I could come up with. Fact of the matter is, if you are so slow as to be dangerous and impede faster cars to such a degree. Its time to go

 

[Gareth Jones]

A telling thing for me watching the BBC coverage was when the camera caught Alonso coming over the line, Massa was in the foreground of the shot, almost lapped. Shocking.

 

[Jordi Casademunt]

Btw, something my dad noticed. What controls wether the blinking rain lights in the rear are on or off? Because the Ferrari's seemed to keep them on the whole race.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Narain does not know what the H he is doing.

He looked like he tried to race some of the guys, it´s not really a question about being slow as he wasn´t the only one getting lapped.
Blue flag means "get the hell out of the way" and he obviously did not get that memo.

He did however only make one big mistake and that was against Vettel.
Button drove right into Narain so that was 100% Button´s mistake.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

About the race times being pro-europe. Here´s China´s schedule in CET European time.

And here´s the Chinese times.

Hmm....

 

[Jordi Casademunt]

Well, in the hit between Button and Karthikeyan, he wasn't being lapped was he?

But yeah, he needs to go back to backmarker school.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Well, in the hit between Button and Karthikeyan, he wasn't being lapped was he?

But yeah, he needs to go back to backmarker school.

No he was on the same lap there. I don´t think Narain did anything wrong there.
It was when he was getting lapped that he tried to race with cars lightyears faster then him.

 

[Ivo Simons]

The incident with Button. Button said it was his fault. Locked his rears to much.
Incident with Vettel. Was racing incident imo. Vettel moved to fast to the left and Karthikeyan to fast to the right.

 

[Ivo Simons]

Btw he got a new finger i see.

 

[Ole Marius Myrvold]

What a race. HRT high up for a while. Senna racing good. And rain masters? Not being real masters. And still, not a random race. Amazing!

 

[Victor Ivanov]

When he wins is Iiii finger, when he doesn't win it's this iIii finger
Hahahahahahah I like this guy and he's funny comments and stuff