March 25, 2013

2013 Malaysian GP Executive Summary


What can you say about a race where the man on the top step of the podium says he should have been second, the guy in third says he should have been fourth, and the guy in second freely admits all the drivers have to drive the whole race slowly to conserve tires, which are made to last just a few laps? Shit show comes to mind.

Possibly the most embarrassing GP I can remember for pretty much everyone involved.

Let's go from the beginning

Ferrari:   The team took the blame after the race but I suspect Alonso made the call.  Dumb idea, maybe understandable from his point of view since he was able to keep Webber at bay with the broken wing but the team could see the state of the car from tv pictures and should have forced him to come in, period.  Certainly he would have scored points.
Massa got totally lost in the opening laps, good comeback in the end but P2 to P5 is not good enough.

Mclaren:  How a team as good as Mclaren could still botch so many pit stops is a puzzle,  too much practice?   Shame for Button who had managed to get himself well up in the points.
On the other hand, it would have been a hilarious if they had actually serviced Lewis' Mercedes.

Mercedes:  Tell me what difference it would have made if they allowed Rosberg to go through?  They would have still brought in both cars.   Huge gamble on fuel calculations on Ham's car did not pay off but I guess there is a clause in the contract somewhere, otherwise it makes no sense.

Red Bull:  We all hate to see managed races, but what Vettel did at Sepang was the ultimate douche move.  You have a deal you stick to it, you don't turn the boost up and pass the guy who had been faster but turned his engine down on order from the team.  Once you do that,  You don't celebrate like Vettel did at the finish line and you certainly don't go to the press claiming you passed "unintentionally"  and you misunderstood orders.   Vettel lost many, many fans today.   (also, he passed Webber by crossing into the pit lane exit and should probably have been penalized for it)

Pirelli/F1:  Seriously,  this is starting to smell bad already and we are only two races in.  You cannot have a formula 1 where drivers are forced to drive 8/10ths like in endurance of old.   If Pirelli has been briefed to engineer tires that would "improve the show"  I can guarantee you this is not the show anyone wants to see.

NBC SPORTS:   With Bob Varsha back doing commentary, it was like deja vu all over again and not in a good way.  Can you really have three "experts" who for more than half the race (the whole race for Matchett, even after he was told)  did not realize you do not have to use both tire compounds if the race starts with cars on rain tires?   Really?    New blood please,

I'm adding bullpen comments from Webber and Vettel as shown by SkySports, after the break.   Will three weeks be enough to smooth this over chez Red Bull?









PROVISIONAL RACE RESULTS

The Malaysian Grand Prix
Sepang, Malaysia;
56 laps; 310.408km;
Weather: .

Classified:

Pos  Driver               Team                    Time/Gap
 1.  Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull-Renault    1h38m56.681s
 2.  Mark Webber          Red Bull-Renault        + 4.298s
 3.  Lewis Hamilton       Mercedes               + 12.181s
 4.  Nico Rosberg         Mercedes               + 12.640s
 5.  Felipe Massa         Ferrari                + 25.648s
 6.  Romain Grosjean      Lotus-Renault          + 35.564s
 7.  Kimi Raikkonen       Lotus-Renault          + 48.479s
 8.  Nico Hulkenberg      Sauber-Ferrari         + 53.044s
 9.  Sergio Perez         McLaren-Mercedes     + 1m12.357s
10.  Jean-Eric Vergne     Toro Rosso-Ferrari   + 1m27.124s
11.  Valtteri Bottas      Williams-Renault     + 1m28.610s
12.  Esteban Gutierrez    Sauber-Ferrari           + 1 lap
13.  Jules Bianchi        Marussia-Cosworth        + 1 lap
14.  Charles Pic          Caterham-Renault         + 1 lap
15.  Giedo van der Garde  Caterham-Renault         + 1 lap
16.  Max Chilton          Marussia-Cosworth       + 2 laps
17.  Jenson Button        McLaren-Mercedes        + 3 laps
18.  Daniel Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari      + 5 laps
Fastest lap: Perez, 1m39.199s

Not classified/retirements:

Driver            Team                  On lap
Pastor Maldonado  Williams-Renault      45
Adrian Sutil      Force India-Mercedes  27
Paul di Resta     Force India-Mercedes  22
Fernando Alonso   Ferrari               1

World Championship standings, round 2:

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Vettel         40        1.  Red Bull-Renault           66
 2.  Raikkonen      31        2.  Lotus-Renault              40
 3.  Webber         26        3.  Ferrari                    40
 4.  Hamilton       25        4.  Mercedes                   37
 5.  Massa          22        5.  Force India-Mercedes       10
 6.  Alonso         18        6.  McLaren-Mercedes            4
 7.  Rosberg        12        7.  Sauber-Ferrari              4
 8.  Grosjean        9        8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          1
 9.  Sutil           6
10.  Di Resta        4
11.  Hulkenberg      4
12.  Button          2
13.  Perez           2
14.  Vergne          1

All timing unofficial

24 comments:

  1. What happened to NBC Sports in a week's time?

    Last weekend everyone was praising their coverage for being more like the European networks and they were putting on a decent show. This weekend it was SPEED all over again. It must've been nice to get Varsha on loan, but he brings absolutely nothing to the broadcast. Diffy is not an expert by any means, but at least he injects a bit of excitement into the commentating.

    On top of the tire misinformation, I lost count how many times Hobbs and Matchett screwed up which driver was in which car. Buxton was reduced to his usual role of an opening and closing thought, the only guy actually at the race.

    Send Varsha back to FOX where he came from, give Buxton more airtime and for gods sake enough with the pre-school levels of technical explanation. The only people watching the races at 3 AM are actual fans of the sport. NBC needs to cater their broadcast accordingly. Really disappointed this week after a pretty excellent opening in Melbourne.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Spot on. Varsha is pure ear fungus and seems to induce stupiditiy in Matchett and Hobbs also. At least, Leigh Diffy keeps them on their toes.
      It is ultimately annoying to hear their idiotic giggling at whatever is happening on track.
      Ditch Varsha permanently and give Buxton more time.

      Delete
  2. I don't buy Seb's apology. How did he not know the team strategy? He should have just owned up to it. Total shit show. Well said.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Absolutely agree, I'd say rookie mistake. Mark is humble about it, I don't see the necessity in Seb's part... As for show, it sure was shit.

      Delete
    2. He is no rookie. He knew exactly what he was doing. He is only apologising for PR sake.

      Delete
    3. first I've heard "rookie" to describe a 3-time WDC, but his attitude/maturity level certainly suggests one...

      Delete
    4. I dont think the guy is saying he is a rookie, he is saying it was a rookie mistake. There is a difference.

      Delete
  3. For all the fans that Vettel lost, Webber surely gained as many. What a drive from Maq Quebbah.

    ReplyDelete
  4. RE: The pass on Webber, it's perfectly legal to cross the pit exit line if you are not coming out of the pits.

    That said, Vettel seems to have regressed in his maturity this season. He seems to be acting like he deserves every win, like a spoiled brat.

    Take a look a look at the post-race parking from last weekend. Kimi parks in first place, Fernando in second; Vettel arrives and parks behind Kimi.

    Childish right?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's well known that F1 cars do not have the turning radius to make that corner into the P3 spot. It happens every year in Australia.

      Delete
  5. Let me put forth the idea that this whole Vettel disobeying team orders scenario is one massive HOAX. Kinda like Danica Patrick getting pole at Daytona a few weeks back(by the way, I know this site is frequented by F1 fans and probably not Nascar fans, but have you noticed how since Nascar's attendance and tv rating are down the drivers are getting into fights what seems like almost on a weekly basis). Team orders all along were that Vettel would take the lead if he and Mark were 1-2. Its just been over dramatized to help the public sympathize with Webber. Everyone saw how Ferrari got booed that year Rubens moved over for Schumi in where was it, Austria I think. I say....GIVE THESE GUYS OSCARS! Like Horner said, "Lets just move on." :o) Come on Seb! Keep kickin' their ass! Get that fourth title!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Agree with all of the above except the Varsha comment. I know I am not alone here.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Better not hear another peep from Horner complaining about Ferrari, McLaren, etc. Vettel, Marko, and that entire soft drink sham are hypocrites of the highest order.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Alonso basically pulls some dangerous BS and you pretty much give him a pass. Vettel ignores team orders and you cruficy him....

    When will you take Alonso and Ferrari's cocks out of your mouth?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. when you take Vettel's out of your mouth and Marko's out of your bum...

      Delete
    2. When I tried to picture that in my mind, all I could come with is the image of Christian Horner.

      Delete
    3. They both acted like assholes. Better?

      Delete
  9. I think they indeed had to use both tire components, because the race wasn't declared as wet race.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Correct... actually at the beginning of the race this was the discussion and the decision was that it was this is not a WET race.


      Regarding the TV show... well what I can say. I live in the third world. I have to be happy to have the F1 being aired lived. I would pay to have a lived internet feed like the one in the other post.

      Delete
    2. Regardless they had to use both compounds because they just didn't have enough tires. Those tires were absolute shit and F1 is lucky they had rain before the race to cool the track. If it was a perfectly sunny near 100 degree day there would have been easily 5 pit stops and teams would have been running out of tires. That track was shredding those tires almost immediately. Then what would the FIA have to say?

      Delete
  10. I've liked Vettel ever since he entered F1 as a reserve driver for BMW. But after his deplorable action and unsportmanlike move I now choose to loathe this 3 time champion. His ego gets more massive with every victory and his arrogance is now measureable by his self entitlement. His vague answer for defying team orders were comparable with any surreptitious politician. Vettel, what a c*ck! If he's as sorry as his own words suggest, I wonder if he gave Webber his 1st place trophy?

    ReplyDelete
  11. I suggest liking Webber's page https://www.facebook.com/aussiegrit
    And liking the Vettel Hater's page https://www.facebook.com/pages/I-hate-Sebastian-Vettel/164513166922060

    ReplyDelete
  12. Sebastian Vettel is a little bitch.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Still nice to see that the moving roadblock teams still doesn't know how to do the basics. Like releasing the car in the right time..

    That move on raikkonen by hulkenberg should not be ok.

    ReplyDelete

nRelate Posts Only