2013 Malaysian GP - Sepang

[beelsebob]

Sorry I jumped a few pages so this might ve been discussed but shouldnt rosberg have gone past hamilton in the 2nd DRS zone instead of the first? Hamilton got him back 3 times in the second zone. This whole stay in position thing might not have happened had he overtaken hamilton on the main straight and then pulled away if he was indeed faster.

Yep, I don't really get why Nico didn't try that.

[Unc1e_M0nty]

Great race, I don't agree with the comments about too many stops, if this had been a one or two stopper we'd have been complaining about the lack of excitement, all the stops helped keep this interesting.

I think 3rd & 4th place for Mercedes is a great effort, they have to be happy with this. I don't think Mercedes quite had the pace to worry Red Bull today, they kept them honest and made them work for it though, I feel Red Bull were driving to the pace of tyres rather than the cars true pace, Mercedes we pushing as hard as they could - as the fuel problem highlighted later.

I have NEVER seen a podium like it, all three drivers looked like they wanted to be somewhere else, and the pre-podium room was worse, frosty - more like -30 in there.

Very poor show by Vettel, I hope he thinks it was worth it because this is going to follow him round for the rest of his career.

[hollus]

Interesting race. Amazing brain fade by Alonso and Ferrari, they'll miss the 10 or so points that were there to be collected.
Why wasn't JEV given a time penalty for unsafe release? $$$ fines are no fines, the point is worth much, much more than that in price money come November.
A real pity that the top 4 came out of the last pit stop ordered by teams, had they been 1-3 and 2-4 all would have been forced to run and we would have had some nice last lap drama on shot tires.
A finish line comment: Webber actually drove away from the pit wall crossing the line!

To the fanboys: you know that YOU, personally are right and that the other side is too stupid to see it. So why waste time explaining it to morons that won't listen? Take the elegant pose, walk away! Let the other guy make a fool out of himself in public! You came to F1T because neurons have a bigger pull here than in other sites... Live up to it and stop the pissing match. Please and thanks.

[dren]

Everyone was driving to a delta. The fuel problem was more likely due to calculation issues than anything. If Mercedes was pushing as hard as it could, the tires wouldn't have lasted.

This race shows Mercedes is in the mix. We'll see if they can keep up in the development war.

[Jackuar]

My 2 cents regarding the Vettel incident; please feel free to disagree.

Firstly, team orders are ridiculous.
Secondly, I might tend to accept them if there is a clear No.1, fighting for championship towards the end of the season. This is just the second race and both drivers deserve the chance to win the race. Who knows it might prove costly at the end of the season for Seb. What if he loses by 2 or 3 points in the end?

Thirdly, it would be good for the sport if there were no team orders and breaking the rules is one way of changing the rules. If everybody starts disobeying team order (Not for the sake of doing it but to show that everybody wants a shot at the glory), only then team managements would start thinking from a driver's point of view.

I'm not a Vettel fan; in fact, I dislike him. But today, I'm completely with him.

[Juzh]

Everyone was driving to a delta. The fuel problem was more likely due to calculation issues than anything. If Mercedes was pushing as hard as it could, the tires wouldn't have lasted.

This race shows Mercedes is in the mix. We'll see if they can keep up in the development war.

Their tyres didnt last. Ham repeatedly started to fall of the cliff at the end of his stints.

[ringo]

Sorry I jumped a few pages so this might ve been discussed but shouldnt rosberg have gone past hamilton in the 2nd DRS zone instead of the first? Hamilton got him back 3 times in the second zone. This whole stay in position thing might not have happened had he overtaken hamilton on the main straight and then pulled away if he was indeed faster.

Yes and i think the pit came to a realization he would be getting nowhere repeating the same move.
I feel he was short on fuel as well, hence the frantic reaction to overtake in the first zone. Anyhow it's less controversial to hold station, than to let one overtake and then say ok hold positions. Holding station fom the outset, especiall after Nico's failed attempts, was the right and fair thing to do.
If Rosberg could have made the move stick i don't think this situation would happen and i also feel Hamilton would have no problems with it. We have seen in the past that Lewis is a good team player. He's moved aside for Button many a time when there is something wrong with car.
rosberg will get his chance. He's a quick racer and he must find himself of Lewis at least once this season.

As for Mclaren, WHAT A SHAMBLES!!!
when i saw button's wheel come off, it just reminded me of all the crap they were doing in the past years. What a relief for Hamilton to leave that team. They are embarassing, Alonso going off wasn't as bad as that poor stop.
They are the only team who consistently shoot themselves in the foot.
the car had better pace today and i feel in 3 races time the car will be fighting for front rows but right now they aren't making the best of what they have.

[JMN]

https://twitter.com/charlie_whiting/sta ... 2505359360

(...) he should have said "No, I'm not following orders, tell Mark we're racing". Instead, he left Mark with his eng turned down

I must admit this statement resonates with me, a nightmare as it may be from a team managers perspective.

[i70q7m7ghw]

My 2 cents regarding the Vettel incident; please feel free to disagree.

Firstly, team orders are ridiculous.
Secondly, I might tend to accept them if there is a clear No.1, fighting for championship towards the end of the season. This is just the second race and both drivers deserve the chance to win the race. Who knows it might prove costly at the end of the season for Seb. What if he loses by 2 or 3 points in the end?

Thirdly, it would be good for the sport if there were no team orders and breaking the rules is one way of changing the rules. If everybody starts disobeying team order (Not for the sake of doing it but to show that everybody wants a shot at the glory), only then team managements would start thinking from a driver's point of view.

I'm not a Vettel fan; in fact, I dislike him. But today, I'm completely with him.

It wasn't so much about team orders for no overtaking. Both drivers were told to save tyres and adjust the engine mix to fuel save and driver to a lap delta. Vettel did not do that when told, and used everything at his disposal to overtake his team mate, who WAS driving to a lap delta, in fuel save mode, saving tyres. Once Vettel had gapped his team mate, he then drove the lap delta his engineer gave him. As Damon Hill put it after, he took the view "possession is nine tenths of the law", steal the win from his team mate and apologise later, it's still a win.

Red Bull really should have told both drivers to just go racing. If Merc had really been hounding these guys that would have been the case, but because they were in a secure 1-2 Red Bull just wanted to bring it home.

Lets also not forget, Vettel was given the undercut on the final pit stop and failed to use it to overtake Webber. He also made the decision to switch too slicks to early and that cost him the lead at the start of the race.

[epo]

Great drive from Vettel, and good call to overtake Webber. Webber in the end just doesn't
cut it as a world championship contender. He can moan, bitch about it, but he is the second violin
of Red Bull since in speed he rarely can beat Vettel.
Funny too see the haters, though they don't mind if Alonso does this.

[dren]

Everyone was driving to a delta. The fuel problem was more likely due to calculation issues than anything. If Mercedes was pushing as hard as it could, the tires wouldn't have lasted.

This race shows Mercedes is in the mix. We'll see if they can keep up in the development war.

Their tyres didnt last. Ham repeatedly started to fall of the cliff at the end of his stints.

The tires lasted to the delta they were driving. Had they pushed harder, the tires wouldn't have lasted as long...

[myurr]

How quickly was HAM catching them and what was the gap? Don't want to call you a liar but at the time the Red Bulls had a big lead and were lapping quicker than the Mercedes behind them.

Completely wrong. Web pushed Seb into ham's drs and that's why vettel told his team to tell mark to either get out of the way or pick up the pace, which he then did.

At that time Webber was driving to a target time. That was way before Vettel decided to ignore team orders, that was whilst he was whining that Webber was going to slow, and then he couldn't respond when Webber picked up the pace.

[Jackuar]

My 2 cents regarding the Vettel incident; please feel free to disagree.

Firstly, team orders are ridiculous.
Secondly, I might tend to accept them if there is a clear No.1, fighting for championship towards the end of the season. This is just the second race and both drivers deserve the chance to win the race. Who knows it might prove costly at the end of the season for Seb. What if he loses by 2 or 3 points in the end?

Thirdly, it would be good for the sport if there were no team orders and breaking the rules is one way of changing the rules. If everybody starts disobeying team order (Not for the sake of doing it but to show that everybody wants a shot at the glory), only then team managements would start thinking from a driver's point of view.

I'm not a Vettel fan; in fact, I dislike him. But today, I'm completely with him.

It wasn't so much about team orders for no overtaking. Both drivers were told to save tyres and adjust the engine mix to fuel save and driver to a lap delta. Vettel did not do that when told, and used everything at his disposal to overtake his team mate, who WAS driving to a lap delta, in fuel save mode, saving tyres. Once Vettel had gapped his team mate, he then drove the lap delta his engineer gave him. As Damon Hill put it after, he took the view "possession is nine tenths of the law", steal the win from his team mate and apologise later, it's still a win.

Didn't he prove in the end that pushing hard for a few laps hasn't really robbed him of the win at the end? Its not like he's disobeyed to take the tires to limit all the way.

If saving tyres and fuel was the real motto behind that order, I'd say Vettel is all the more right. Well, all you want me to do is save the tires and bring the car home; and I reply, well I can do that and plus get a win for me. Win-win situation... So, what's wrong?

Edit: I do see your point (I'm late, sorry). Its like he beat his teammate when he was not pushing as well; like overtaking a handicapped car. Probably he could have replied over the radio that he wants to go for the win, alert Mark thereby of his intention and then compete on fair terms.

[fiohaa]

webber: 'obviously all the leaders are driving very slow to save the tyres'

thats the f1 you guys all love.

engineers telling drivers target laptimes.

rosberg, who could have easily overtaken hamilton safely, being told not to overtake.
absolutely ridiculous.

[JMN]

Looking at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=082KFM4zpI0 Seb's overtake on the pit straight looks exceedingly like it was initiated outside the white lines (although admittedly completed on the pit lane).