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

Great stuff Perez.

I also couldn't beleive that Radio call...it had to be a Ferrari order.

The Merc is just a joke car designed to mix up qualy sessions. Very dissapointing.

Button...w.t.h.??

Vettal....ugh. (objects in mirror are closer than they appear sticker for his car in China?).

AWESOME RACE!!! I'M CRYING FOR THE FANTASTIC FERNANDO'S WIN!!!


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Well typical Alonso grabs any opportunity.. but this race should have been Perez's I'm thinking Ferrari basically wafted a contract in front of his nose and he succumbed to their politics. It's a shame because it was an explemtary drive by Alonso which was possibly ruined by "We must win simply because we're Ferrari" politics.

Great opening laps by Hamilton... faded somewhat after the pits but at least he did what Button didn't and held it together for a podium.

Fantastic late pace by Kimi... like he said he just needs a weekend to go normally for him without problems and then the results will be there. Shame to see the grin wiped of Grosjean's face but he was daft to level the blame at Schumacher for that.

Excellent drive by Senna (praise when it's due) Everybody was desperate to ignore it but I said his race pace was good in FP2 and he proved it today in both conditions. Fine result coming from the back after more turn one games. Bad luck for Maldonaldo.. he drove well again but nothing really went his way and then the engine going pop at the end cruelly robbed him of a well deserved point.

Good stuff by Force India, both cars in the points... mature drives by Di Resta & Hulkenberg to bring home good points when the car isn't right yet. Well done to Vergne first points so Georgie Thompson will be pleased.

Finally... Rob Smedley's message to Massa may have been *face palm*-"Felipe.... Sergio is faster than ... YOU. Do you understand this P45.. I mean message?"





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2012 01:54PM by J i m.

well, guys, you did the whole talking about alonso and perez. Lets now go in details about the 2 big questions from today- massa and merc.

1) massa was 8 at one point, namely, after the restart. However, he started falling back afterwards. I can't attribute this just to slow pace. For sake, he was only .3 behind fernando in qualy. If you take rosberg or riciardo, both were miles behind their team mates as well. Maybe the guy does not cope that good with pressure. Maybe he s just gone. I personally would keep him until bahrain, which has always proved to be a track kind to him. If he's hopeless there as well, then it will be time to say goodbye.

2) mercedes are geting criticized about their car eating tyres. However, if you look at schumacher, the guy stayed like 15 laps more than rosberg on inters. Rosberg afterwards said in an interview (for RTL) that there was no degradation problem with the last set he had on, the dry tyre compound that is. In addition, schumacher spend the whole of his race behind other cars and this, as whitmarsh pointed out defending button, really eats the tyres like hell. In my view, it would have been super interesting had the stupid grosjean not hit michael and the weather been normal. A lot of people underestimate mercedes' strength in qualy. If they are ahead, they might be able to mix it up. I honestly think schuey had pace for 5-th, both today and in melbourne. Lets not forget that vettel was .5 faster than the mclarens in australia, still he could not pass schumacher 10 laps in a row.

On another note, what do you think about the solving of this tyre problem. Is it an issue that can be resolved in a couple of weeks, or does this definately doom merc. 's whole season.

mitadumapaga Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> well, guys, you did the whole talking about alonso
> and perez. Lets now go in details about the 2 big
> questions from today- massa and merc.
>
> 1) massa was 8 at one point, namely, after the
> restart. However, he started falling back
> afterwards. I can't attribute this just to slow
> pace. For sake, he was only .3 behind fernando in
> qualy. If you take rosberg or riciardo, both were
> miles behind their team mates as well. Maybe the
> guy does not cope that good with pressure. Maybe
> he s just gone. I personally would keep him until
> bahrain, which has always proved to be a track
> kind to him. If he's hopeless there as well, then
> it will be time to say goodbye.
>
> 2) mercedes are geting criticized about their car
> eating tyres. However, if you look at schumacher,
> the guy stayed like 15 laps more than rosberg on
> inters. Rosberg afterwards said in an interview
> (for RTL) that there was no degradation problem
> with the last set he had on, the dry tyre compound
> that is. In addition, schumacher spend the whole
> of his race behind other cars and this, as
> whitmarsh pointed out defending button, really
> eats the tyres like hell. In my view, it would
> have been super interesting had the stupid
> grosjean not hit michael and the weather been
> normal. A lot of people underestimate mercedes'
> strength in qualy. If they are ahead, they might
> be able to mix it up. I honestly think schuey had
> pace for 5-th, both today and in melbourne. Lets
> not forget that vettel was .5 faster than the
> mclarens in australia, still he could not pass
> schumacher 10 laps in a row.
>
> On another note, what do you think about the
> solving of this tyre problem. Is it an issue that
> can be resolved in a couple of weeks, or does
> this definately doom merc. 's whole season.


1. Massa's days are over, he is totally slow and does mistakes, he is not the same driver he was before 2010 and it can be seen everywhere. but the problem is, who is going to replace him? if I would be Perez I wouldn't go to Ferrari because current Sauber is actually faster car than Ferrari or at least similar. 2009 Fisischella did the mistake going from Force India to slower and difficult Ferrari so hope Perez doesn't do same. Than there are options Trulli,Heidfeld or maybe Alguersuari?

2. Mercedes has had the tyre problmes now 3years and they still haven't fixed those, so don't think they will solve their problems anytime soon if at all. Schumi has more pace than results show but to be honest so have many others (Kimi, Button,Grosjean,Kobayashi etc.)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2012 02:12PM by vesuvius.

Grosjean is a right little turd. He punted Button off at Spa in 2009, then blamed Button. He pushed Schumi off today, blamed Schumi. He wouldn't yield to Maldonado in Melbourne, but blamed him 100% when it really wasn't clear cut.

He flounces about like a little rat-faced weasel, is as camp as tits and arrogant to go with it. Not wishing to sound homophobic or anything and frankly couldn't give a hoot, but I find the bloke extremely irritating.

Indeed.. occasionaly conditions might play into Mercedes's hands yet a tyre which is consistently harder on it's tyres than most other cars as the Mercedes has been now for the past couple of years points to something fundamental in the design probably something to do with the suspension set-up. It's not a next race fix... it's a next car fix and since most cars are heavily derived from their predecessors it's a trait that isn't unlikely to be carried over as we have seen.

People have been doing their utmost to pretend that Mercedes problems with tyre wear doesn't exist but the evidence is to the contrary.

As for Ferrari... Trulli, Heidfeld? No... I'm sorry but their times are over. Sure they're good drivers but they both had good cracks at establishing themselves top protagonists in F1 and ultimately did not do it. If Perez were to stick at Sauber at least for the meantime which be by far the wisest option from a continuity point of view then the best driver available is Alguersuari. He's experienced enough to not be a rookie, did well enough at STR to show that he can race strongly and consistently and is also still one of the youngest drivers in F1 (well not quite in F1), so he has long term potential.

Great race really thought Perez would win until that message about being careful then I thought game over. Why let him close in then say that?

Perez has to end up in a top car soon, question is though is the Ferrari better than the Sauber lol.

Bruno had a great race as did Kimi, in fact there were some great drives out there.

Really had enough of Martin at Mclaren bumming Button all the time, you can tell which driver he wants to be up there. Button messed up big time today yet he still spoke about him more after the race and not his driver that put it on pole and finished 3rd due to a slow pit stop. How could they not get the rear jack under the car, it was stupid. It allowed Alonso to pass and Button to pass. Not saying Mclaren had the pace to win though.

Vettel not so good without the best car is he? Silly mistake today and Webber was the faster of the 2.

Merc are really bad at the moment, they might start high up but just drop due to tyre wear. Its not going to be easy to fix that, they have had years and still not got it sorted. But Nico is getting beat easy by MS.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2012 02:48PM by marcl.

Whitmarsh perhaps needs to put an arm around Hamilton in public a bit more, but the pit problem wan't entirely the crews fault. Hamilton himself overshot his pit markings. Sill... another podium at least he's showing some maturity on the track again and this kind of consistent podium scoring will put him in good sted in the championship later on. He just needs to keep his chin up and not fall into *Boo hoo I didn't win and the worlds being mean to me* mode

marcl Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great race really thought Perez would win until
> that message about being careful then I thought
> game over. Why let him close in then say that?
>
> Perez has to end up in a top car soon, question is
> though is the Ferrari better than the Sauber lol.
>
> Bruno had a great race as did Kimi, in fact there
> were some great drives out there.
>
> Really had enough of Martin at Mclaren bumming
> Button all the time, you can tell which driver he
> wants to be up there. Button messed up big time
> today yet he still spoke about him more after the
> race and not his driver that put it on pole and
> finished 3rd due to a slow pit stop. How could
> they not get the rear jack under the car, it was
> stupid. It allowed Alonso to pass and Button to
> pass. Not saying Mclaren had the pace to win
> though.
>
> Vettel not so good without the best car is he?
> Silly mistake today and Webber was the faster of
> the 2.
>
> Merc are really bad at the moment, they might
> start high up but just drop due to tyre wear. Its
> not going to be easy to fix that, they have had
> years and still not got it sorted. But Nico is
> getting beat easy by MS.


how was Webber faster than Vettel? in my mind Vettel was in front of Webber and faster...also not 100% sure it was only Vettel's mistake.

Epic stuff from Alonso and Perez. That's pretty much all there is to say. How the @#$%& did McLaren and Red Bull be so soundly beaten by that shocker of a Ferrari and a midfield team?

Why are people criticising Vettel for Karthikeyan driving into him? Look from the head on shot.

vesuvius Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> marcl Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Great race really thought Perez would win until
> > that message about being careful then I thought
> > game over. Why let him close in then say that?
> >
> > Perez has to end up in a top car soon, question
> is
> > though is the Ferrari better than the Sauber
> lol.
> >
> > Bruno had a great race as did Kimi, in fact
> there
> > were some great drives out there.
> >
> > Really had enough of Martin at Mclaren bumming
> > Button all the time, you can tell which driver
> he
> > wants to be up there. Button messed up big
> time
> > today yet he still spoke about him more after
> the
> > race and not his driver that put it on pole and
> > finished 3rd due to a slow pit stop. How could
> > they not get the rear jack under the car, it
> was
> > stupid. It allowed Alonso to pass and Button
> to
> > pass. Not saying Mclaren had the pace to win
> > though.
> >
> > Vettel not so good without the best car is he?
> > Silly mistake today and Webber was the faster
> of
> > the 2.
> >
> > Merc are really bad at the moment, they might
> > start high up but just drop due to tyre wear.
> Its
> > not going to be easy to fix that, they have had
> > years and still not got it sorted. But Nico is
> > getting beat easy by MS.
>
>
> how was Webber faster than Vettel? in my mind
> Vettel was in front of Webber and faster...also
> not 100% sure it was only Vettel's mistake.

I think Mark was a tad faster at the end before the puncture, he was closing Vettel who was closing Hamilton? Don't quite see how Seb got ahead of Webber at the early etreme to inter stops. Stayed out a couple of laps on wets and jumped two cars I think? Difficult to read a great deal into a race like this really. I was surprised that Lewis in a clear 3rd could not at any stage close Perez or Alonso, either on wets or slicks. I thought Michael was better relatively once on slicks, the problem was on the wets.

gav schrieb:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Why are people criticising Vettel for Karthikeyan
> driving into him? Look from the head on shot.

+1

---

used to be GPGSL's Nick Heidfeld

I would say they share the blame. From the first camera angle I would say Vettel went too quick back to the racing line, but the next shot shows Karthikeyan turning into Vettel as well.

I don't really care who's to blame for the incident. This is racing and these things happen in a race, so move on and get over it. More interesting to me is the way Vettel reacted in interviews afterwards. It really looks like he's turned into a primadonna and now is showing nerves. He ougtha be careful in this respect.

---

REHAB IS FOR QUITTERS

gav Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> How the @#$%& did
> McLaren and Red Bull be so soundly beaten by that
> shocker of a Ferrari and a midfield team?

I'd say it was a combination of the awesomeness of Alonso and Perez and also a much closer field this year than we've had in recent seasons.

---

Vader Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I don't really care who's to blame for the
> incident. This is racing and these things happen
> in a race, so move on and get over it. More
> interesting to me is the way Vettel reacted in
> interviews afterwards. It really looks like he's
> turned into a primadonna and now is showing
> nerves. He ougtha be careful in this respect.


totally, i would like to see how he behaves if RedBull fails to give him a car capable of fighting

During the race it looked like Vettel gave him no room, but seeing replays after I take back back I said but I still think he should have given more room.

Webber started ahead of Vettel and yes Vettel was ahead on the road but Webber was setting the faster lap times so for me that equals faster

Also what I did not get today was Massa. When people were passing him it was easy, until it was a mclaren and it was a tad bit ott. Maybe he thought Button was Lewis lol.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/25/2012 11:15PM by marcl.

Indeed, it was as if Jenson and Lewis swapped cars and helmets for this race - a complete changearound from what we've come to expect.

---

i still can't believe Alonso is leading the championship.. how?, must be hard for other drivers in better machinery to see him on the top