14.4.11

Unlike Albert Park in Melbourne, Sepang is a bespoke racing circuit, albeit a Tilkedrome. Long straights, a grippier surface and hot weather meant DRS and tyre degradation worked according to plan and significantly influenced the outcome of the race. However the main result was the same, Vettel put it on pole and won. This time his Red Bull was fitted with KERS but about half way through the race he was instructed not to use it anymore.

As is usual in the fizzy drinks team, if there's any bad luck going about it's his team mate who cops it. Webber's KERS failed before the start and he was swamped in the long run to the first corner, falling from fourth on the grid to tenth by the first corner, the lack of 80bhp proving crucial. Despite this disadvantage and no DRS (not allowed for the first two laps) he managed to pass Kobayashi for ninth. Indeed there was a fair bit of to-ing and fro-ing in the first couple of laps, so maybe doing away with double diffusers has aided passing. Talking of diffusers, despite all the coverage I'm still not clear how the blown "Red Bull Pattern" ones work. I think the exhausts blow down the length of the vertical sides, though whether inside or out or both isn't clear.

In marked contrast to Webber, (Oxon) Lotus-Renault's Nick Heidfeld made a demon start, rocketing up from sixth to second. His team mate Petrov had a great start too, going from eighth to fifth, passing both Ferraris. Massa got him back on lap 5, using DRS to perfection and drafting past into turn 1. This was to be the first of a number of passes facilitated by the system. Opinion amongst race fans is divided, some think it's good and others think it's too false and gimmicky, but there is no doubt it allows a quicker car to get past a slower. It's not yet clear to me what effect it has when the cars are equal or whether it allows a slower car to pass a quicker.

Very soon after this the car/pit radio traffic was all about tyres. Drivers were urged to look after them as rain was expected. In the event only a few drops fell which did not affect the outcome of the race. Mark Webber stopped first, his first stop of four. Vettel went to lap 13 and managed with two more stops only on his way to another comfortable win.

The McLarens had pushed the Red Bulls reasonably hard in qualifying with Hamilton second a tenth off Vettel and Button fourth a couple of hundredths behind Webber. Both Maccas were passed by the fast-starting Heidfeld, but Hamilton passed him in the first pit stops. Hamilton was amongst the first to pit, which meant he had to pit early for the second time as his tyres were worn out. This put him out of phase with the others and necessitated a fourth stop just four laps from the end. By contrast his team-mate Button made three stops on his way to second. The Pirelli tyres suffer a sudden large drop-off in performance which the teams referred to as "the cliff".

It makes me wonder what on earth Pirelli gets out of this by way of positive marketing. The only mention of Pirelli is in a negative context - and no amount of explanation about how the FIA wanted a fast-wearing tyre will make the average road-punter desire a set of those for the road car....

Tyre wear was not to be Lewis's only woe. I didn't see Nicole there and in the last third of the race Fernando was harrying him hard but could not pass him as the 150° Italia's DRS had stopped working. Eventually a frustrated Alonso scythed out from behind and caught his front wing on the the McLaren's rear wheel, destroying the Ferrari's wing endplate. He had to stop for a new nose and was later penalized 20 seconds for causing an accident. This did not affect his sixth place. Hamilton was penalized 20 seconds for weaving and dropped from seventh on the road to be classified eighth.

Ferrari were no match for Red Bull and McLaren in qualifying but Alonso was cheered by his race pace. He set second fastest lap a couple of tenths slower than Webber. We Tifosi were cheered by his unstinting effort and aggression. Felipe had a steady race to fifth, regaining ground after losing out at the start and a poor pit stop. Heidfeld was a good third for Renault. His team mate Petrov had the most dramatic accident. He slipped off the circuit and kept his foot in. The Renault flew high into the air, crash landed and the steering column broke away! Both Toleman drivers showed good pace.

Kamui Kobayashi got his Sauber into Q3 and raced home in his normal entertaining fashion to claim seventh. Mercedes had another poor weekend but Schuey managed ninth. How much more would we like to see him leading a Ferrari campaign at Le Mans. Paul di Resta (Force India) took the final point again, this time on merit and beating his experienced team mate.

Not a bad race with a fair bit of overtaking although the many pit stops did make it hard to follow what was going on. What was noticeable was the huge amount of rubber "marbles" off the racing line.

Footnote

Alonso's comments on race pace led me to carry out the following analysis of each team's fastest race lap. From this it's clear that the four leading teams Red Bull, Ferrari, Renault and McLaren are pretty close. The second group are Mercedes and Sauber, then Toro Rosso and Force India with Lotus next. Then there's a big gap to Virgin and the shockingly bad Williams, though they only ran to 22 laps, so would have been fuel heavy. Even so, I wonder what their new shareholders think? HRT bring up the rear. It was a good effort for them to even get into the race, but how long can you keep on saying that? As for Virgin, the low budget CFD-only approach does not seem to be paying off. Wonder how much it would cost to go in a wind tunnel? Also, if you're in their corporate hospitality is it extra for a drink or a sandwich?

Click here for FIA lap chart

Stefano Domenicali: “We cannot be pleased with this result, because today, we had the possibility to finally leap up onto the podium. Two incidents, linked one to a reliability issue (a failure of the moveable rear wing on Fernando’s car) and one at a pit stop (a problem with the left front at Felipe’s first stop) cost us very dear. It’s a shame, because in terms of race pace the 150º Italia seemed much more competitive when compared to its qualifying performance, as we had already seen in Melbourne."

Fernando Alonso: “I am happy with this race: not with the result but because we were finally competitive, capable of fighting wheel to wheel for a place on the podium. This is further motivation for the forthcoming race in China. With the package we have today, we cannot fight for the win, but I hope that changes soon. In Shanghai, we realise we can expect another difficult weekend. We will have something new, but we don’t know how much progress it will see us make. Everyone knows that, at the moment, we just have to grit our teeth and that’s what we will do.”

Felipe Massa: ““We definitely have to improve the car, but it’s equally true that our race pace is very different to our performance in qualifying. That’s a positive, but we know that grid position is nevertheless very important, so we have to move forward on this front. ”