After Malaysia I asked four of our team – Lita and James, and new boys on the block Dylan and Braden, for their opinion on the race, on the drivers, and on the teams at Sepang, and here is what they had to say:
Steve: So, a surprise result. I have to say that my man of the race must be Hamilton- brilliant under pressure and just so assured and confident in only his second Grand Prix. Rosberg and Wurz both drove well, too. Comments?
Braden: My drive of the race goes to Fisichella. He wasn’t noticeable but he managed to work his way up from 12th to 5th quite easily and without doing anything stupid.
Dylan: Best drive would have to go to Alonso. That was a masterful effort.
Lita: Good drives from Wurz, Rosberg and Hamilton. I honestly can't believe Massa made that mistake.
Dylan: I'll make honourable mention of the performances of Barrichello and Wurz though who both came from the back of the field to beat their respective team-mate.
Braden: Rosberg is a star in the making – he was the true star of qualifying. I’d love to say it was Mark Webber for getting the RBR into the top ten again, but his Q3 was a disappointment.
Steve: It was a fine effort from Nico, and we will re-visit the ‘Massa incident’ in a moment. James, best drive of the race?
James: Hamilton. Drove like a veteran and stood up to the kind of pressure a lot of drivers would have folded under. Held the car together well in the opening stint with a very unstable back end, another fantastic start. Didn't panic or try to overdrive the race and made the car the width of the track when it needed to be, reminded me of a guy who used to race in F1 with a yellow helmet!
Steve: Ok, now back to that Massa move…
Lita: Massa had the inside line, he should have braked just a bit earlier and Hamilton wouldn't have been able to get around him.
Braden: He made two stupid amateur moves on a rookie, and showed that he is more of a rookie than Hamilton. It also showed why people will never rate him as a serious threat to the WDC.
Lita: Barrichello did a similar move on Button and made the turn and it was about the same distance when the pass happened. Wurz also made a good pass on DC at the same turn as well.
Steve: Couldn’t agree more – an impetuous move from a driver who is often typically so. Any other points worthy of mention?
Dylan: Ralf Schumacher gets the dishonourable mention this race for his complete lack of anything resembling competitiveness for no apparent reason.
Braden: Rosberg’s DNF. He was having a great weekend and showing what a talent he is, but then his car had to die like the Williams of last year.
Dylan: The Red Bull team does not escape my wrath either, they at least tried to be different by using a reverse pit strategy, with a long opening stint on the harder compound tyre and 2 shorter stints on the softer tyre. The loss of track position in the opening stint was never regained.
Steve: This is something I want to go into in more detail as the season rolls on – so far we’ve seen BMW, in Australia, and Red Bull in Malaysia try something ‘different’ with the tyre strategy, and both times it has failed to pay off. I still maintain that the two compound rules brings nothing to the proceedings. What about relative team performances – it appeared that Ferrari faltered while McLaren capitalised.
Dylan: Renault seem to have regained a little ground, but at the same time, Spyker seem to be more occupied with what everyone else is doing with each other's cars rather then spending time improving their own!
Steve: It certainly looks that way! Well thanks for sparing me a few minutes of your time everyone and we’ll follow this up with a post Bahrain analysis in more depth.
BRADES GRADES:
Also to be featured here regularly are the now legendary ‘Brades Grades’, first seen on the forum following the Australian Grand Prix. For those of you not ‘in the know’ our very own Braden Earl will patiently, and controversially, ‘grade’ each driver and team on his, and their, performance in the race gone by.
You are invited to participate in lively discussion on the forum as to what you agree with, disagree with, or think is downright ridiculous about these comments but, please remember, these are Braden’s opinions, he is entitled to them, and he will likely defend them to the hilt. Also remember, the Editor is not necessarily in agreement with the comments that follow!
Driver Grades for Malaysia
Fernando Alonso – A
After the Australian Grand Prix, most were expecting Ferrari to take the next few Grand Prix while McLaren played catch up. Well Alonso showed, with the help of Hamilton, that McLaren had already caught up to Ferrari. It was a clinical drive from the champion, in which his grade was only hampered by a couple of disappointing practice and qualifying results.
Lewis Hamilton – A
With the impressive performance of Melbourne still in peoples heads, Hamilton went about making sure people kept remembering him for the rest of the year and not just his team mate. His bold passing move into turn one up the inside of two Ferraris epitomized his courage and tenacity. However he did struggle with his balance and tyres at the start, which helped Fernando get away, but he did manage to set the fastest lap, the last Rookie to do that in their first year was Rosberg last year.
Kimi Raikkonen – B
In the practice sessions and qualifying Kimi was always behind his team mate, even after he smashed him three weeks ago in Melbourne. Supposedly he was having set up troubles, but he should have been able to work this out by the time the race came around. However he wasn’t and was outshone by his biggest rival and by a rookie, who he managed to catch at the end. The only solace for him was that he beat his team mate home and took valuable points.
Nick Heidfeld – A-
Unspectacular and unnoticeable are two regular ways to some up Heidfeld, but however unspectacular he may be, he always gets the job done. His qualifying pace was down on Melbourne when compared to the Ferraris and McLarens, but he was well clear on his team mate. His race was excellent, he did not step a foot wrong and managed to grab yet another fourth place. The only thing dropping him from a straight A is his qualifying pace and his inability to challenge Raikkonen in the race.
Felipe Massa – C
Well most people who know me know I do not rate Massa one bit. I have always seen him as impatient and too rough to sit in a Ferrari or to even be a world champion. Well it seems I was right. After being the fastest man all weekend and even taking pole, people were starting to laugh at what I was saying, but Felipe made it all worth while when he blew the race like no one else can. On the start line he inexplicably went to the outside and gave Fernando acres of space to throw it up the inside and then he forgot to close the door and allowed the rookie up the inside. Then he made two mistakes in the same corner trying to over take Hamilton. While Hamilton looked cool and collected, Massa looked restless and angry and in the end this cost him not only a top two finish, but a podium as well.
Giancarlo Fisichella – B
Although he was out qualified by his team mate and qualified outside the top ten, Fisichella had an ok weekend in the car. The pace of the Renault is really holding him back as it was seen outside the top ten all weekend in practice apart from the second practice on Friday. In the race he was never shown by the TV directors and slowly crept his way up the leader board after taking four positions at the start. In the end he beat home his team mate easily and grabbed three vital points.
Jarno Trulli – B-
Jarno was another unspectacular and unnoticed driver. He was able to surprisingly make it into the top ten in qualifying with his team mate and beat him in that session, which shows that Toyota are improving. He also was steady in the race till the end with the only disappointment being that he finished behind a Renault when he started four positions ahead of them. He also beat his team mate quite comfortably which would have satisfied him after losing in Melbourne.
Heikki Kovalainen – B-
An improved performance was needed by Heikki this weekend if he wanted to keep his boss happy. Last weekend Flavio Briatore called Heikki’s race as a “load of rubbish”, which was quite true. However this weekend was a lot better as he was able to keep tabs on his very experienced team mate in practices and qualifying. His race was also good, although there were mistakes prevalent in it yet again, he did manage to bring it home and get his first point in Formula One. This is good for his confidence, but to know that he is still being outshone by the other rookie in Hamilton will still hurt him.
Alex Wurz – A-
This may be a surprising grade, but I feel he deserved it this weekend. As usual with Wurz he was fast in practice two on the Friday, however his qualifying was hampered in the first session by the gearbox packing up on him. At first it was unclear as to why he had missed the top sixteen, but when the director went to his on board footage, you could hear that it was stuck in the one gear. Using this as fuel for the fire, he was able to storm his way through the field passing drivers at will, but his storming was halted in ninth position as by the time he reached this position, the top eight were well up the road. Nevertheless it was still a great drive and an inspiration to other drivers.
Mark Webber – B-
Yet again Mark Webber was best in qualifying, questioning whether he is really a good race driver or just a one lap flier. It is well known that his car lacks pace and this severely hampered him in the race. One problem was that his car was only able to use one set of soft tyres as they had run out, this clearly hurt his progress and probably kept him out of at least ninth position, maybe higher. His determination was good, even till the end he was still fighting for ninth position with Wurz. Webber was also able to show up his more experienced team mate throughout the weekend, which will do his confidence some good.
Rubens Barrichello – B-
Sunday was a good drive from Rubens after starting from pit lane. His qualifying was hampered after the team decided to switch his engine to the spare car before qualifying. Even with taking the setup across, the car was different and he was unable to get anything out of his car, qualifying just nineteenth. But it was in the race where he shone, he was able to pass cars that were a match for his speed, until he reached a point to where his car was unable to compete with the better cars. He was again able to beat his team mate home and after getting completely embarrassed last year, he will be incredibly happy with the result and finishing eleventh after starting from the pits was as best he could hope for in his cardboard box on wheels.
Jenson Button – C
The Honda is one of the worst cars on the grid and for Jenson Button that must hurt a lot. After taking his maiden Grand Prix win last year, he must have thought he would have a chance the following year. Instead at the latest GP, he was left in the dust by most cars even his team mate who outshone him. Button’s qualifying was poor and his race pace lacked anything stunning which allowed his team mate to come from pit lane and beat him. This is the second time he has been beaten by his team mate so it is about time he did something about it before he becomes a perennial also ran.
Takuma Sato – C+
Sato was another quiet achiever throughout the weekend. He performed more solidly than his highly fancied team mate in both qualifying and the race. The most surprising thing was his ability to out qualify both factory Hondas quite comfortably. His race however was compromised in the concertina effect at the first few corners. The nose was pushed and damaged and then he found himself with nowhere to go and lost places as he tripped into the grass, however he managed to fight back strongly.
Scott Speed – D+
This was yet another disappointing weekend for Scott Speed in comparison to his team mate. He was soundly beaten in qualifying and was forced to an early exit thanks to Liuzzi. In the race, he managed to beat him but only after Liuzzi was required to take an early stop and nose cone replacement due to Sato’s move in turn four. His race pace was lacking which meant he was unable to challenge Sato later in the race.
Ralf Schumacher – E
This was probably the worst race that Ralf has experienced as a Formula One driver. His qualifying performance was on par with his team mate in Trulli and was able to make the top ten once again like Melbourne, proving there is life in that Toyota. However he was on a backwards slide from there in the race, He lost positions on the start and kept going backwards. He then had a slow puncture after his first stint which caused him to come in early and do a long last stint, but even still his race was rather pathetic.
Anthony Davidson – D+
Suffered from the flu earlier in the week and in a hot environment during the race would have struggled to keep composure. Qualifying was relatively poor in comparison to Sato and did not make it into the top sixteen. His race was ok but even then failed to stay in front of the slow Ralf Schumacher after he had balance problems.
Vitantonio Liuzzi – C-
Liuzzi’s race was compromised early on by what he called a “crazy move” by Sato. His qualifying and practice pace earlier in the weekend and was comfortably ahead of his team mate. However after his incident with Sato he was never impressive with his pace and struggled to even keep up with Davidson.
Robert Kubica – C+
Kubica tried out the 2008 rules a year early as he lost his traction control early on. After making a very slow qualifying time in comparison to Heidfeld, he made a slow start and was losing ground on Heidfeld each lap until his traction control died on him. After this he was always drifting backwards in the field and doing laps that were 2 seconds slower than his team mate, as well as making a few amateur mistakes. He seems to be having a lot of bad luck lately and will be hoping it turns around so BMW-Sauber can start to catch up in the constructors.
Nico Rosberg – A
Other than the front two, Nico was probably the most impressive driver of the weekend. He was outpacing Wurz most of the weekend and had a great qualifying performance by beating the works Toyotas. His race pace was impressive and he was managing to hang on for a good result and some more points after his good first race but unfortunately he had to pull out of the race due to a hydraulics failure.
David Coulthard – C
DC had a mixed weekend. His pace in practice was up to and equal of his team mate, his qualifying pace was down on his team mate and his race pace was of equal to his team mate. He started on the hard tyres and was on fat fuel but managed to stay around 15 seconds behind Webber, but his race was over when the brake pedal started touching the steering column, meaning he lost some steering and braking ability, which is not what you want at a fast turning circuit with heavy braking.
Christijan Albers – E
Was beaten quite easily in all practice sessions by his inexperienced team mate but managed to salvage a better qualifying position, all be it in second last. His race was ok from the start, but we cannot compare it to an equal car after his team mate went off on the first lap. However he lacked much needed pace (Whether it was the car or him, we do not know) and then the car failed on him and then the engine died at the first stop.
Adrian Sutil – B
A surprising grade I know, but do not forget he is a rookie. He was easily better than his seasoned team mate in the first 3 practice sessions but he was unable to find a groove in qualifying to out qualify Albers. His race was over very early through no fault of his own when something “snapped” at the back and he was unable to slow down for turn four and ended up hitting Button and spearing off into the gravel. Thank god no one was hurt in that incident.
Team Grades for Malaysia
McLaren – A+
After finding out they were comfortably behind Ferrari at the first race, they would have put everything they could into finding some pace for Malaysia. Although Alonso was helped out by Massa being foolish, Hamilton holding people up and Raikkonen with a small engine problem he was able to still show he was the best and most consistent driver. Along with Hamilton the car showed terrific pace and may just be the car to beat from now on.
Ferrari – A
The car was good and reliable unlike Melbourne and showed some pace on Friday and Saturday, however the race pace was lacking in comparison to the McLaren. It was not helped by Kimi’s supposed engine problem or Massa’s stupid move on Hamilton and they would not be happy with losing more points to McLaren early on in the season
BMW – C
Although they showed some pace with Heidfeld, they looked as if they had actually lost some pace since Melbourne and were unable to challenge the front two, but were comfortably the third best car. However they still lack that reliability factor which won Renault the last two Constructors titles. Kubica’s second failure in two races hurts their standings and is allowing Toyota and Renault to catch.
Renault – D
Lost even more pace and was behind the customer team in Red Bull in the practice sessions. Only in the final standings did they show any remnants of pace but even then Fisichella was along way behind the top 5 cars. Improved performance from Kovalainen helped though, but they are still missing something since Alonso left.
Toyota – C+
A top ten qualifying performance and one driver in the points is a remarkable change from the winter testing when it seemed all was lost for Toyota. Although Ralf struggled with the tyre issue, he was good earlier in the weekend and there is some promise for them as long as they can develop faster than their rivals.
Williams – D+
An improved performance in pace from Williams gives them a good ranking, but they lose a lot of it when they fail to produce reliable cars. Wurz was struck in practice by a stuck gearbox and was unable to make it through the first session of qualifying and then Rosberg was left to park his car on the side of the road when the hydraulics gave up, ruining his great race at the time and handing more valuable points to Toyota and Renault.
Red Bull – C-
Another performance to be proud of for Red Bull considering that the car is very new. Webber showed the car had pace by yet again putting it into the top ten in qualifying, but he struggled on the harder compound tyres at the start and middle stints but was able to show its pace in the final stint. However the reliability of Coulthards car was the only disappointment in the weekend after Webber finally got through a race with no reliability issues.
Honda – E
Apart from Spyker, this could perhaps be the worst car on the grid. Yet again it struggled to show any pace at all on the weekend and both drivers would have been supremely frustrated none more than Barrichello who had to start from pit lane after his car performed badly in qualifying. Overall they should scrap this car, take the rest of the season off and build a better car for 2008.
Super Aguri – C
A decent weekend, but nothing as good as Melbourne where they took some decent positions on the grid. It did not help having Davidson getting over the flu and Sato with some damage, but they still out performed the factory team with the Honda engines and they should be very proud of what they have achieved in just 20 races.
Toro Rosso – D
STR showed no pace what so ever throw the weekend and were over shadowed by the improved Super Aguri. They were left to squabble with Honda for the lower positions but were not helped with Sato’s move on Liuzzi. They will struggle again next race and look forward to Europe to start moving up the grid, if possible at all, but very disappointing compared to Melbourne.
Spyker – F
I know Spyker are a young team with not as much cash to spend as the front runners, but to have two cars DNF is awful. You want to finish just so you get to showcase reliability and sponsors, but to have something mystical break on Sutil’s car and then the gearbox pack up on Albers is quite poor and they will be very unhappy that they did not get to show improvements in pace and will have to wait for Bahrain.
Written by 3 on Tue, 10 Apr 2007 13:44:00
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