Malaysian GP 2008

[axle]

It was a fantastic race. Good for Kimi to win. Well done to BMW now that they have a better car than Mclaren. Funny to see the drawings of the Ferrari rim shields did not get through the copy machine in total as mclaren struggled with their version . Toyota also has impressive pace. Red bull is almost ready to also beat mclaren. Alonso had a difficult race but it will only aid his character building and im sure Renault will end up fighting with Ferrari and BMW for podiums and wins.
A real shame about Williams though. Id seriously thought they was the next best after Ferrari. Lets hope this was just a fluke weekend for them.

BMW don't have a better car than McLaren, they had a better race and less stupid drivers in qualifying but the car is not suddenly better.
Redbull only managed to hold up the McLarens it wasn't like Lewis and Heikki didn't steam off given the chance.
Renault will compete for 6th all season, but that's it.

[DaveKillens]

It's still Ferrari and McLaren at the top. But it's amazing to see how the rest have closed up. BMW is arguably as good as McLaren in certain circumstances. And Toyota.. wow. Now I didn't see that burst of pace coming. Trulli sure earned his money in Malaysia. Poor Massa, two races, two DNF's. He's got problems, but most likely will solve them soon. Massa's a good driver, it's much too early to write him off.
In the end we saw three fresh faces on the podium, which is pretty cool. I now wonder about those little points, and how they will probably come back to haunt some drivers. Kimi picked up a precious point in Australia, thanks to "Colorblind" Reubens. And Hamilton's problems with the right front on the first pit stop most likely moved him down two places, and a loss of two points. At the end of this season those three points may be very important.
Well done Robert, a very goood second place. Earned every bit of it, and well deserved. BMW is now poised to win a race anytime now.

[jaslfc]

Greetings from Malaysia..
Was a great 10 yr anniversary race. Almost full house in the grandstands..
During the race i was almost certain it would have rained.Should have.. as it was a straight forward win for kimi.
I was in the grandstand facing the back straight. saw massa spin!!

[DaveKillens]

One notable technical change was the difference in mirrors for Red Bull. Lately, they have been trying out mirrors that are mounted on the sidepods, and on long stalks. But after David Coulthard's "incident" with Massa in Australia, they have now moved the mirrors, to where they are much closer to the driver, and mounted to the tub. Amazingly, the STR did not follow suit.

[RedMaple]

Well done Robert, a very goood second place. Earned every bit of it, and well deserved. BMW is now poised to win a race anytime now.

He is an amazing Q3 qualifier but the car seems to lose a bit of speed in the race. If Robert is able to grab pole in Monaco or Hungary with a decent amount of fuel, BMW will surely get their first win. BMW is definitely knocking on the door.

[Conceptual]

Well done Robert, a very goood second place. Earned every bit of it, and well deserved. BMW is now poised to win a race anytime now.

He is an amazing Q3 qualifier but the car seems to lose a bit of speed in the race. If Robert is able to grab pole in Monaco or Hungary with a decent amount of fuel, BMW will surely get their first win. BMW is definitely knocking on the door.

I feel the same way about the BMW losing something between quali and the race. I wonder if they are turning down the revs slightly for engine care, or if they just have great 1-2 lap times, but drop off with the tyres.

Good race, rain would ahve made it more fun, but it is good to something other than Scarlet and Silver on the podium...

Chris

[P_O_L]

Kubica said in the press conference the BMW lacks a bit of topspeed vs the Ferrari. Kimi turned down the revs before the first pitstop and so his best racelap wasnt even the maximum. food for thought for the mclaren camp me thinks.

But it would be very strange if BMW doesnt win at least one race this year. Kubica put what, 18 seconds on heikki? Heidfeld easely could follow hamilton. IM convinced the BMW is the better car now.

Also strange, Lewis said because of the botched pit stop, he was robbed of a podium. Heres me thinking it was more due to his qualifying behaviour wich resulted in a penalty.

And while the toyota has improved by miles. im not convinced by trullis race abilitys. Very good qualifier, bad racer. They should put Mark Webber in that car.

[DaveKillens]

Kubica said in the press conference the BMW lacks a bit of topspeed vs the Ferrari. Kimi turned down the revs before the first pitstop and so his best racelap wasnt even the maximum. food for thought for the mclaren camp me thinks.

According to this quote from Kimi Raikkonen: "I am very happy with this win, for me and for the team. It's a shame that Felipe was unable to let us bring home a result that was within our grasp. At the start I came alongside Felipe, but I did not take any risks, knowing I was stopping one lap later than him at the end of the first stint. When that time came, I pushed to the maximum and I managed to come out of my pit stop ahead of him. From then on, with a clear track ahead of me, the car was perfect I was able to control the situation without having to stress the car or the tyres. We are struggling a little bit in qualifying, but in the race we have a very high potential. We have had a very complicated start to the season, but I have certainly not lost faith in the team: we can still do better."

My interpretation is that Kimi was going balls-out during the period you described him as taking it easy. It doesn't make sense to be just behind the leader, see him pit, and you would not want to put in a quick lap to gain time and position so that when you do your own pitstop, you wind up first.

[P_O_L]

Lol, well he certainly gives mixed signals i agree with that.


Q: Kimi, what a fantastic bounce back for the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team after that weekend in Australia?
KR: For sure we had quite a difficult weekend in Australia. We didn’t really expect to have such difficulties and we were 100 per cent sure that it was going to be different here. Speed-wise we knew that we were going to be fine once we were in the right place. Even in Australia the speed should have been okay in the race. Everything worked perfectly here and we took it quite easy in the race to make sure nothing went wrong. We still have a second race with the same engine, so we saved the engine quite well here.

[mx_tifoso]

IM convinced the BMW is the better car now.

Don't be fooled by the results so far, the true order of the grid will be established within the next few GP's, you can be sure of that.

Underestimating McLaren, or even any team, is a mistake since each team has a few weekends throughout the season of which they would like to forget. Remember, theres 18 GP's total, with only two gone so far. And every team will have the opportunity to progress and make improvements from now until Bahrein, and even then, we will most likely have to wait for the Spanish GP in order to have a clear view of reality.

Besides, one of the obvious reasons for McLarens not-so-great weekend was the restult of the 5 place grid penalties recieved by each driver. So that alone contributed to them having to fight mainly with the midfield cars. Which restulted in giving BMW enough space to fight for second place on the podium. Things simply played into BMW's(Kubica's) hands (Massa spinning out, Hamilton having qualy and pitstop problems during the race).

Be patient and let the dust settle...

[P_O_L]

Ha, im not saying mclaren is a midfield team, im saying BMW catched them and is a better car. Only a mistake robbed them from a pole position in Melbourne. Kubica would still have had a podium even if massa was still there in Malaysia. Hamilton was flat out locking wheels trying to catch trulli but heidfeld could easely follow and even had the fastest racelap. The omen is there and if i was mclaren, i wouldnt sleep so good at night. The BMW looked problematic out of the box but look what they achieve in just 2 months time. Amazing. The former sauber team has grown up. Its very praisworthy. Reminds me to 1999, when JOrdan suddenly stepped up and challenged the big four. Frentzen was still a contender for the championship when the Italian GP came on.

[mx_tifoso]

I understand

But the MP4-23's potential in Malaysia was hindered and thus did not show it's full strength, thats my main point. So that dismisses any subjective opinions considering the F1.08 better than the MP4-23.

And I have a feeling that Kubica would have been robbed of a podium finish had Massa and Hamilton faired better (i.e no spins, sanctions, pit issues).

[P_O_L]

True, Kubica wouldnt have gotten a podium, heidfeld would have. He was blocked on his way to a certain 3rd position by 2 drivers from a certain team

By the way, massa had his engine running..why didnt the malaysian gp directors send a crane to his rescue alla hamiltons beach party @ the european gp?

[Giblet]

Mclaren slamming constant.... ears closing.... P_O_L's opinions impacts diminishing....

Listen... Not being a Hammie praiser, but a realist, and a long time Mclaren fan since the Prost/Senna days, the crane thing was very unusual. It wasn't some big conspiracy, but he did have the wherewithall to keep his engine running until the volunteer corner workers moved him. It wasn't a bunch of race directors conspiring from some bunker to make him win. He managed to rescue something in an unusual way amongst absolute chaos.

If Massa kept his engine running, and an operating crane was on the track, and it lifted him out of the gravel, which rule would that break? Maybe none, maybe many, I don't know.

Sorry to jump on you P_O_L, but it seems every comment you have has a central anti-Mclaren tone to it.

If you change your name to "I don't like Mcleren (ESPECIALLY HAMILTON)" you would no longer need to post a body to your messages.

Your name would say it all.

[P_O_L]

Then you dont read my postings well enough. Mclaren played only a very small part in that. Im sorry ive hurt your feelings if I said bmw is a faster car. It is not my fault heikki outqualified and outraced Hamilton, it is not my fault theve gotten a penalty. Slamming mclaren is a few stations further i reckon. I think yr nitpicking. Might as well say i should stop slamming Massa in that other thread.