2012 Malaysian Grand Prix Thread ***SPOILERS***

To be surprised that Alonso is leading the championship is a tiny little bit foolish.

So okay, the Ferrari isn't as good a car as they were clearly intending and in most respects it's lagging behind the McLaren and Red Bull for instance yet it's not exactly an HRT and we're only 2 races into the championship 1 of which had changeable weather conditions which is traditionally seen as the great leveller in motor sports. Furthermore Alonso is widely considered to be the best driver currently in F1, you will note that his relentless consistency in 2010 kept him in the championship until the very end.

So it's no real shockwave that Alonso should be leading this championship. Flashback to 1993 and Alain Prost is in a Williams Renault which is far superior to the rest of the field, Ayrton Senna is in a McLaren Ford which is underpowered even compared to the similarly powered Benetton. By far the most likely result was for Prost to simply scanter off into the distance. Yet some weather happened and out of the first 3 races Senna won 2 and finished 2nd in the other which saw him leading the championship whilst the championship was still young. Whilst no one would be surprised that Senna would excel it certainly wasn't on the form book, the Williams had a far greater advantage over the McLaren than today's McLaren does over the Ferrari.

Adam Parr has just left Williams.

Unexpected, thought he was in line for bigger things.


Jenson drives it like he owns it; Lewis drives it like he stole it

Unexpected yes... but at least the technical line-up responsible for the car is in place (for now).

If they had still used the old system of aggregate times Alonso would not have won this race, but it is what it is now days. Lewis would have won from Perez then Alonso.

Someone was saying Lewis was about 20 seconds ahead of him before the saftey car/red flag.

Why did they change that, I know it was complicated but it is sort of more fair for a race stopage.

Is it?

It's not drastically different to a safety car period and the result is very similar gaps between cars are eradicated. I think it's better like it is now.. the aggregate system was a real headache.

Massa and Button were the early title leaders in 2010 yet they were the ones who finished further back from the eventual winner.

Alonso collecting points now means when he does have the car, he will be in the fight later still

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL

Its rather funny seeing Perez having more points than Vettel lol.

Its far far far to early for anyone to be talking about the championship.

Sundays results were a one off, maybe in China we will see who is where etc.

Me wanting to see Vettel kicked when down, so if you dont like it, don't read further...

Why did he not get a penalty when he was released in the pitlane, and Kimi on a damp track had to brake to avoid him? Kimi had to slow, sure it could have been closer but IMO I think another day, another driver and a penalty would have been dished out.

On to Button again, his race was awful, but you have to say since 2009 (even not in 2009!) he usually has 1 bad race a year. You can be sure Button will 99% finish in the points for every remaining race, bar technical faults. Button's f*ck ups seem to accumulate into 1 race. Races that spring to mind are Korea 2010 and Canada 2011 (despite the win!).

EDIT - Also nice to see Vettel also looking like a spoilt child after a bad run. Lewis got bashed pretty bad for his child like behaviour. Vettel proving that really, they both still are kids. Interviews and public perception of them... Another place where Alonso (and Button) put's both to sleep . This is the problem with driver's getting amazing cars before they've grown up IMO. Although Lewis, and more so Vettel have produced the results with the good cars, to me it looks like they think they deserve those cars, so when they end up with a car capable of only top 6's then they revert back to the 5 year old selves . Lewis did and does it and Vettel has proved to be no more mature than him .

I guess everything's easy when you're winning, even being mature. Another reason why it's probably more enjoyable to watch Alonso win. He and Button (even more so!) have appreciated the bad times, the bad cars, the tough years and when they win or do bad you can tell.

Lewis stepped into WDC capable car, Vettel stepped into a customer car quicker than it's factory sister. A car which was capable of strong points to then be launched into a winning car in 2009. Both had ZERO pressure for the first few years.

This might be me being jealous that Button/Alonso never got that opportunity, at least not to the same extent. As much of a fan I am of Lewis, I do get more enjoyment when I see Alonso win.

/rant.

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"Trulli was slowing down like he wanted to have a picnic" LOL



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/26/2012 04:29PM by chet.

J i m Wrote:
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If they had still used the old system of aggregate times Alonso would not have won this race, but it is what it is now days. Lewis would have won from Perez then Alonso.

Someone was saying Lewis was about 20 seconds ahead of him before the saftey car/red flag.

Why did they change that, I know it was complicated but it is sort of more fair for a race stopage.

> Is it?
>
> It's not drastically different to a safety car
> period and the result is very similar gaps between
> cars are eradicated. I think it's better like it
> is now.. the aggregate system was a real headache.

Although the aggregate system is more of a headache - you would find it difficult to argue that it wasn't fairer across a race distance from the start. Yes its a level playing field for all with the current regs but with current timing technology it wouldn't be that difficult to feedback actual timing even including safety cars. It might add another dimension. In Melbourne how far behind Hamilton was Vettel before the safety car? If you took the result on the two actual times before and after the safety car it could have been very interesting. It wouldn't happen of course because the general public would be as confused as hell.

Quote
marcl
If they had still used the old system of aggregate times Alonso would not have won this race, but it is what it is now days. Lewis would have won from Perez then Alonso.

Someone was saying Lewis was about 20 seconds ahead of him before the saftey car/red flag

At the point before the safety car was deployed (prior the red flag) Hamilton was 2 seconds ahead of Button, 7 seconds ahead of Perez, 8 seconds ahead of Webber and 11 seconds ahead of Alonso.

I know everyone is raving on about Perez after that race; but not many people are recognising the surprising talent in Maldonado.

Yes, he has made some ridiculous mistakes that will improve with experience, but that guy races aggressively and seems pretty decent.

Anyone else feel he is underestimated?


Jenson drives it like he owns it; Lewis drives it like he stole it

I think I unfairly maligned him during the Australian Grand Prix (and later backtracked on some of my comments).

He's definitely a racer with a bit of a Latin temperament and he gives it 110% at all times. He's a bit wild and in some aspects needs to wise up. This is the man who received a ban in World series by Renault for ignoring yellow flags at Monaco and for causing a accident that injured a Marshall, and his part his collision with Hamilton during qualifying at Spa last year showed that he still had much to learn in that respect

However as a pay driver you'd have to admit that he's not at all bad, he's no Alex Yoong for example and he did beat Perez to win the GP2 championship though he should have done because he was far more experienced.

Similarly with Bruno, he's a pay driver for sure and changing his surname to his uncle's definitely opened many doors to him that would be closed to mist others, however considering that he started his racing career much later than his contemporaries and has won races in F3 & GP2 and graduated to F1 he's done remarkably well. And I have to admit I couldn't envisage a Alex Yoong or an Yuji Ide driving from the back of the field to 6th even if they had a car capable.

I think people (myself included) were disappointed with the Maldonaldo / Bruno line up not so much because we believed them to be incompetent pay drivers but because they were both very inexperienced at a time when you could argue that Williams desperately needed an veteran there for The required feedback to help the engineers and to guide the young driver.

It does make me think though where about Rubens would have that car though.

Livio Oricchio Wrote:
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>A correspondent came out in defense of Brazilian Felipe Massa. "Ferrari is making a big mistake," Livio Oricchio wrote in his blog.
>Felipe is the target of criticism and numerous resignations at the moment, after failing to get closer to the pace of Fernando Alonso with the new F2012. The Italian team is publicly denying the possibility of exchanging mass by Sergio Perez, Sauber, but rumors indicate otherwise.
>The loudest voices are being heard in the Italian press, with La Stampa saying the Ferrari "has done what it can to help him (Massa), but everything is useless. Would have to find a new team with a weaker companion to him. would be the only way to save him."
>An insider told the Ferrari Auto Motor und Sport of Germany: "Since Jean Todt has left the team, they are listening to the press again."
>Oricchio argues that Ferrari is not giving a fair chance to Massa. "In some moments, Massa became a test driver - with private testing banned, it is he who has experienced new components in the two races so far."
>"And some of these tests, there was so little downforce on the car that fully explains his difficulties," added the Brazilian. "But they (Ferrari) are not making this clear, so it is a confirmation that has eroded the image of Felipe to the point of making it almost unbearable to public opinion."

now who is bad? felipe or ferrari?

PS: for those who don´t know the portuguese language, follow the link (google translator - ENG to PT - BR)

[translate.google.com]

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phantaman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Livio Oricchio Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> >A correspondent came out in defense of Brazilian
> Felipe Massa. "Ferrari is making a big mistake,"
> Livio Oricchio wrote in his blog.
> >Felipe is the target of criticism and numerous
> resignations at the moment, after failing to get
> closer to the pace of Fernando Alonso with the new
> F2012. The Italian team is publicly denying the
> possibility of exchanging mass by Sergio Perez,
> Sauber, but rumors indicate otherwise.
> >The loudest voices are being heard in the Italian
> press, with La Stampa saying the Ferrari "has done
> what it can to help him (Massa), but everything is
> useless. Would have to find a new team with a
> weaker companion to him. would be the only way to
> save him."
> >An insider told the Ferrari Auto Motor und Sport
> of Germany: "Since Jean Todt has left the team,
> they are listening to the press again."
> >Oricchio argues that Ferrari is not giving a fair
> chance to Massa. "In some moments, Massa became a
> test driver - with private testing banned, it is
> he who has experienced new components in the two
> races so far."
> >"And some of these tests, there was so little
> downforce on the car that fully explains his
> difficulties," added the Brazilian. "But they
> (Ferrari) are not making this clear, so it is a
> confirmation that has eroded the image of Felipe
> to the point of making it almost unbearable to
> public opinion."
>
> now who is bad? felipe or ferrari?
>
> PS: for those who don´t know the portuguese
> language, follow the link (google translator - ENG
> to PT - BR)
>
> [translate.google.com];
> js=n&prev=_t&hl=pt-BR&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=h
> ttp%3A%2F%2Fblogs.estadao.com.br%2Flivio-oricchio%
> 2F


Just seems like this journo guy is making excuses...

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GPGSL: S6 - TafuroGP Tester (14th) /// S7 - ART Tester (6th) /// S8 - Demon Driver (13th) /// S9 - Demon/Snake Driver (13th) /// S10 - Snake Driver (???) ///]
"My ambition is handicapped by laziness" - Charles Bukowski

Or a journo who likes to make out that he has more inside information that he actually does.

The tabloids in the uk used to blatantly copy stuff out of F1-Racing... I don't know if they still do.

i find the massa topic pretty boring altogether. domenicalli underlined that they are not thinking of a substitute driver multiple times already.

Ferrari are from the same country as Internazionale. The team who only 2 days ago backed their under-fire manager only to fire him hours later.

Make no doubt about it, Massa is fighting for his place. The question isn't whether he'll leave Ferrari, but whether it will happen before the end of the season, or in current form, before the May test.

ok, apparently no one want to talk about massa ;dd

on another note, do you think, guys, the mercedes lack speed in general during the race, or they rather "only" have this problem with the tyres in particular.

Karthikeyan has come out and called Vettel a cry baby haha. He has got a point!

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