2012 Formula One Malaysian Grand Prix

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I don´t know what you are watching if you can´t see the excellence of Hamilton´s wet weather skills.

It might be that any driver, who takes less points in wet races in a period of 2 years than Felipe Massa is able to. Isn't a rain master. (Massa scored most points of any driver in wet races in 07-08 combined)
And that fits quite well into my view of the grid today, that there ain't no rain masters. There are guys that are quick in rain, but no rain masters. Personally this is also down to the fact that we have parc ferme rules, and when rain is a big possibility, some gambles on wet setup, some on a hybrid setup, and some gambles on dry. Vettel at Monza is a good example of that.

Oh, and HRT looks great!! :D
 
He did do sort of well in Silverstone last year, but it also wasn't that wet; the track was damp and I believe they only made it on inters for the start and switched to slicks later on.

I take it you did not see the video? It was full on wet in some corners and full dry in some. That´s why you run intermediates as they provide the best time overall compared to slicks or full wets.
 
It might be that any driver, who takes less points in wet races in a period of 2 years than Felipe Massa is able to. Isn't a rain master. (Massa scored most points of any driver in wet races in 07-08 combined)
And that fits quite well into my view of the grid today, that there ain't no rain masters. There are guys that are quick in rain, but no rain masters. Personally this is also down to the fact that we have parc ferme rules, and when rain is a big possibility, some gambles on wet setup, some on a hybrid setup, and some gambles on dry. Vettel at Monza is a good example of that.

Oh, and HRT looks great!! :D

07 traction control was still in effect. Not exactly a showing off driver skills in the wet.

Monza GP is a great way to compare Hamilton and Massa.

Qualifying
6th - Massa
15th - Hamilton
(Kubica, Hamilton, Raikkonen all failed to set a laptime in Q3, due to team mistake.)

Race
6th - Massa
7th - Hamilton

So while Massa got nowhere, Hamilton went on a charge through the field and ended up the race just 1 second behind Massa.
Monza was no question it was a rain race, everyone set up their cars for rain.
All three practice sessions was affected by rain, Qualifying was dripping wet. Race was dripping wet.

So you have to ask yourself here.. what was Massa doing during the race?
While Hamilton had to navigate traffic, fight with Kimi and still go 2 seconds faster then Vettel in the wet and then finished the race just 1 second behind Massa you have to ask yourself what would happen if Massa and Hamilton had started right next to each other?
I think you know the answer to that question.

Monaco GP, Massa starts first on a wet track, ends the race in 3rd place.
Hamilton starts the race in 3rd but ends in 1st.

British GP, let´s remind ourselves what Massa did in 2009, he broke the world record of most spins on a wet track ever.

but let´s jump back to Silverstone 2008, race was semi-wet, people started on Inters.
Hamilton qualified 4th, won the race in the wet.
Massa qualified 9th due to slow pitstop, ended the race 13th because he spun his car in the wet.

SPA GP
Hamilton qualified 1st
Massa 2nd
(should be noted that Hamilton put 4 tenths between him and Massa despite making a massive mistake in La Source)

Hamilton won the race but got penalized because of a stupid assesment that Hamilton cut a corner even though he fully gave back the spot right after.
Raikkonen was leading the race in front of Hamilton. But when rained started to fall heavily, Hamilton catched right up to him.
And eventually passed him after their epic battle.

Massa finished the race second. But on paper, after the 25 sec penalty Hamilton got it ment Massa won the race while Hamilton finished 3rd.
So who did the best wet race there? Hamilton without a doubt but because of the penalty, points were in favor of Massa.

Brazil GP was a race that started damp, dry tires coming on at lap 11, then massive showers hit at lap 66.
Massa did great there no doubt.

French GP, Not really a wet race. Some very light rain that did not affect the drivers.
Massa won the race because Kimi´s right exhaust pipe was damaged.

Maybe we should count the full on wet races?

Monaco - Silverstone - Monza

Monaco Qualifying
1st - Massa
3rd - Hamilton
-----------------------------
Monaco Race
1st - Hamilton
3rd - Massa
-
Silverstone Qualifying
4th - Hamilton
9th - Massa (due to mistake)
--------------------------------
Silverstone Race
1st - Hamilton
13th - Massa
-
Monza Qualifying
15th - Hamilton (due to mistake)
6th - Massa
--------------------------
Monza Race
6th - Massa
7th - Hamilton

SPA Hamilton really won, Brazil Massa won. Both started and ended in rain.
It´s crystal clear Hamilton is the better wet weather driver of the two. crystal clear.
 
Should also mention that i´m not a fanboy of Hamilton. the guy i hold the highest out of any F1 driver is Alonso.
To me he is the best without a doubt. He is the most complete, he is the most driven, he is the most well-rounded driver on the grid.

But just watching what Hamilton does when it starts to rain it´s no question he is a rainmaster.
 
It´s crystal clear Hamilton is the better wet weather driver of the two. crystal clear.

Not going to debate that. But I still won't call him a rain master, because of that fact i brought up last post. As I said, there are drivers that are good in rain, but there ain't no rain master in the field today.
Regarding Monza 08. It rained the whole weekend, but it was a surprise that it was so wet on raceday. I clearly remember the talk about "Top teams using forecasts and radars, while Torro Rosso jsut stuck their hand out, and felt the rain". As far as I remember, Torro Rosso had a full wet, while others didn't. It might've been a difference on Massa and Hamiltons setup as well.
If they had a warm-up, like in the "old" days, and could freely change the setup on Sunday morning, things would've been different. But I still think, with the parc-ferme rules, that we can't always be sure if a driver is good, or the setup is good.
But, to make it clear. There are a difference between drivers. But rain masters? Nah, not in this field.
 
Not going to debate that. But I still won't call him a rain master, because of that fact i brought up last post. As I said, there are drivers that are good in rain, but there ain't no rain master in the field today.
Regarding Monza 08. It rained the whole weekend, but it was a surprise that it was so wet on raceday. I clearly remember the talk about "Top teams using forecasts and radars, while Torro Rosso jsut stuck their hand out, and felt the rain". As far as I remember, Torro Rosso had a full wet, while others didn't. It might've been a difference on Massa and Hamiltons setup as well.
If they had a warm-up, like in the "old" days, and could freely change the setup on Sunday morning, things would've been different. But I still think, with the parc-ferme rules, that we can't always be sure if a driver is good, or the setup is good.
But, to make it clear. There are a difference between drivers. But rain masters? Nah, not in this field.

I disagree, put Schumacher Senna and Hamilton on a rainy track in equal cars and it would be very close.

Something to be noted on Senna´s Monaco drive. He was not the fastest on track in the closing stages of the race.
 
He really can't qualify lower, than in Australia, where he still did pretty well in the race, so I wouldn't worry about it too much.
 
You never know, Sepang is different then Australia. Car might not be Top3 or Top5 even in the pecking order here.
If we take in Maldonado, Schumacher, Massa, Rosberg into the equation with no troubles it will be a hard for him to make the same kind of charge through the field if he were to qualify lower down with the 5-place grid penalty.

If you have a 5-place grid penalty you must up your game to try and deficit as much of that penalty as possible.
Taking pole is bad enough by starting 5th as i´m sure he wants to win the world championship, not fight his way through fields.
 
I believe it was Ross Braun who came over the radio and said that others are facing tyre degridation around lap 12 or 13, while Shumi was out there 16 laps on his tyres so they must be doing something right. I doubt they'd tell everyone what they changed to improve though :p

Hamilton may storm through the field, but that's only because he is a more aggressive driver and that's cost him a few times... He wrecked in Montreal trying to pass a teammate, and he spun in Hungary which cost him a drive through when he spun back around to get going again. He also couldn't figure out what tyres he wanted to use last year during the Hungary GP xD

Also I checked, China wasn't a wet race last year. He did do sort of well in Silverstone last year, but it also wasn't that wet; the track was damp and I believe they only made it on inters for the start and switched to slicks later on.

He's a great driver don't get me wrong, but I don't see him in that elite group with Senna and Schumacher just yet, but hey he's got plenty of time to prove me wrong ;)

Well Schumacher retired on lap 13. And by then he was clearly struggling compared to the others in the top 6, so I don't believe he was 'doing something right'. Although it wasn't really his fault - the car is a tyre eater.
 
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