2008 Malaysian Grand Prix - Race Analysis

For the entire week prior to the Malaysian Grand Prix, talks were about the rain that would likely fall during at least one of the sessions. Formula One does not seem to like probabilities this year, so the unlikely happened again and we ended up with a dry track for all 5 sessions, including the race.


Everything (Almost) Perfect for Ferrari

Kimi Raikkonen showed the world why he is the current world champion, with a brilliant performance that balanced raw speed and strategy. At the start, he might have passed teammate Felipe Massa going into the first corner, but opted to stay behind since he knew he had fuel for one more lap before the first pit stop. For the next 17 laps he shadowed Massa. Both were pretty quick at this point, but later Kimi would mention at the press conference that they had already reduced the engine's at that time. They were still faster than everybody else and, good for us fans, running in equal conditions. When Felipe came in, Kimi got some clean air and made the best of it, gaining the best part of the 2 seconds that he needed.

Some time was handed to him by the fact that Massa stayed in the pits for about 0.6s longer. I am not sure if Ferrari put more fuel on his car - which would not make any sense -, or if it was just a case of not-so-great pit work. Anyway, Kimi got P1 when he returned to the track and started to pull away from Felipe.

Then it was disaster for Massa. Mental disaster, it seems. After he was more than 4s behind Raikkonen, he should have realized that 2nd place was all he could get. Pressure has never been a factor in his career, and his pace in qualifying showed that. He is a fighter, though, and many times that hurts him more than helps. As he tried harder and harder to keep up with his teammate, he hit the kerb very hard in turn six and his car switched ends between turns 7 and 8. Usually cars understeer going around those corners, so it is very likely that hitting that kerb caused some suspension damage. To make matters worse, he got stuck in the gravel trap and had to abandon the race.


The Best of the Rest

That left the door open for Robert Kubica to finish 2nd. He quietly drove his BMW to the checkered flag, and except for some excessive wheelspin at the start, he made no major mistakes. Since the 2 McLarens had to start back in 8th and 9th - after the blocking penalty in Qualifying - and his teammate Nick Heidfeld lost a few positions going wide around the first corner, no other car that could match his pace was close enough to challenge him. His ideal position would be to finish behind the Ferrari, and luckily for him only one of the red cars made it to the end.

Heikki Kovalainen had a brilliant performance. He outpaced Lewis Hamilton in qualifying, despite having fuel for an extra lap. During the race, he was able to save his tyres, although he drove a long time in traffic, which causes major understeer in today's aerodynamically dependent F1.

Hamilton showed some carelessness with his rubber, just as he did a few times in his rookie season. He certainly needs to improve that, but the main issue for him in Malaysia was that he lost about 10 seconds during the first pit stop, due to a problem with an air gun. At the end of the race he pushed as hard as he could to catch Jarno Trulli, who had a surprisingly good performance for Toyota. As Trulli drove some of his best laps of the race, he guaranteed that Hamilton would finish behind. Those laps were so fast - for a Toyota, that is - and so important, that I must give Trulli the Star of the Race award. Hamilton is still leading the championship, so kudos for him for not trying anything stupid.


Quick Notes:
- Fernando Alonso once again showed that he is pushing Renault to better results than they would get without him. He once again had a fantastic overtake move, this time around David Coulthard. That was only overshadowed by the fact that Nick Heidfeld passed both Coulthard and Alonso as they were fighting against each other.

- Nelsinho Piquet showed a promising race pace. He still has a lot to learn, but he is showing that he can have a year as good as Kovalainen had in 2007. We cannot forget that he fought against Hamilton for the 2006 GP2. What if he drove a McLaren?

- Rubens Barrichello turned the speed limiter off too soon while leaving the pits, and got a drive-through penalty. He later stated that the pit exit was not clearly marked. That is too bad, Rubens, but for some reason the other drivers did not have trouble with that. Good for you that Massa guaranteed the Shame of the Race award with his spin, otherwise...

- Both Williams and STR never showed the same pace from Australia. Sebastian Vettel had a strong showing during the practice sections, but that was it. I wish he had a more reliable car, because he is really great. It was a double DNF for STR and a 'no-pointer' for Williams. I thought Williams was at the same level as RBR, if not better, but now I am not so sure.


Star of the Race
Jarno Trulli.

Shame of the Race
Felipe Massa.


--Andre N.

Malaysia – Race Analysis

Malaysia 2007 was not a race that will be remembered as one of the greatest in the history of Formula One, but there was some action among the boringness. Fernando Alonso, though, will keep the trophy as one of his most memorable races: a perfect drive for his first McLaren win. Ferrari – Felipe Massa at least – seemed faster all weekend long, but somehow the victory slipped out of their hands. Let's analyse how...

The start: Advantage to second place

Is it just me or the starting grid in Malaysia gave an advantage to whoever qualified on the right hand side - i.e., 2nd, 4th, and other even positions? Why does the pole sitter start on the left side? The first corner is to the right. It would only make sense for the pole sitter to start on the left side if that were the race line where cars would normally go by. The race line has tyre rubber all over it and provides more grip for acceleration, being an advantage to whoever starts on top of it.

In Malaysia, the last corner is a left hander. Therefore, drivers exit the last corner on the right side of the track and go across the straightway to take the first corner from the left side. So the race line is actually diagonally across the starting grid. Since there is no better grip on either side, the best starting position is on the right – exactly where Alonso and Hamilton started – because it is an advantage going into the first corner. It is not a surprise that both got by their same-row opponents – Massa and Raikkonen, respectively – on the first corner.

Alonso not only got first place, but also blocked the way for Massa to take the inside line. As he took the first corner from the outside, Massa got on the dirty part of the track, outside the race line. This allowed Hamilton to drive side-by-side and carry more speed out of the next left hander. Two corners after the start, McLaren had a huge advantage, just because they started from the even grid positions. Someone at the FIA must have seen this...

Clean race for Alonso

Alonso is the man who takes whichever opportunity he has and scores the most out of it. I have compared him to Emerson Fittipaldi before, and I think the comparison is suitable again. After qualifying second, Alonso would be happy to finish in that position and take 8 points. With the advantage at the start, the opportunity was to win, so he drove one flying lap after another, without making any mistakes. It was a perfect race. Even without the help from Hamilton, who held Massa and Raikkonen, he would have won.

Hamilton: Too good to be true

Is Hamilton really a rookie, racing only his second F1 race? The guy is unbelievable. He drives like a veteran. He sometimes makes minor mistakes – a lock-up or a trip off-track –, but he never lets them interfere on the race result. He held Massa like Alonso would. And I am sure that with more experience, he will be able to race like Alonso did yesterday, as well. He lacks only a little bit of speed and lap-time consistency, but he will get there by the end of the season.

Massa beyond the limit

Massa wanted the win so much that he forgot the championship is 17 races long. Had he thought about the championship, he would have been more careful. He could have finished at least third, better than the fifth he got after the off-track excursion that was the result from trying too hard to overtake Hamilton.

I cannot blame him much, though. At least he tried something. It was exciting to watch. Unfortunately he made the biggest error in a weekend in which few drivers made mistakes. I will have to call him the ‘Shame of the Race’... The fact that he allowed Heidfeld’s BMW to finish ahead of him was decisive. Ferrari is still better than BMW, he should have finished ahead.

Modest race for Raikkonen, but he gets 6 points

Raikkonen is paid a lot more than Massa – 3 to 4 times. He should be faster than Massa. He is not at this point. It was Massa who made the mistake and let Raikkonen go by. Raikkonen did nothing more than, for example, what Rubens Barrichello would have done as a Ferrari driver. I expect a lot more from him.

He later explained that Ferrari was not giving full power to his engine, trying to avoid a breakdown after the water leak in Australia. Still, he was very close to Hamilton on the first stint, he could have at least pulled the car to the side entering corners, trying to cause a mistake by Hamilton.

Malaysia’s quick notes

- Rubens Barrichello had one of the greatest races of his career, starting last after an engine failure and finishing 11th on the ridiculously slow Honda, ahead of teammate Button. No one cares about 11th, though...

- Nico Rosberg had a great race and was robbed of a second consecutive points finish as his car broke down. The cause is still unconfirmed, but the DNF is not a surprise, as Williams has been unreliable during 2006 as well.

- Williams’ speed was confirmed by the great race that Alexander Wurz drove, starting 19th and finishing 9th. Although he finished the race, we can also say that he did not score points due to lack of reliability, since he had gearbox problems in qualifying.

Star of the race:

McLaren: Both drivers were great, but the team strategy was also perfect.

Shame of the race:

Felipe Massa: At least he admitted his own mistake.

--Andre N.