Has it ever been harder to pick a running order between teams?
This time yesterday I felt McLaren were in the pound seats for the rest of the season. The car looked as quick as the Red Bull and they had bags of momentum with the development they've brought to the first two races. Now I'm not sure.
Vettel is the form driver right now. No disputing that, he's started this season in the rampant fashion he ended the last. However, the car leaves Malaysia looking less dominant than when it arrived. There was an air of invincibility after Australia, but they look beatable now. Worth noting that both him and Button managed their tyres brilliantly today.
Button looks as if he's going to be a contender. He went the wrong way on quali set up but got faster and faster in each stint as he added front downforce. If he'd started the weekend with the setup he finished it with I think it would've been very tight between him and Vettel, both in qualifying and the race.
Hamilton has started the season well. But why was he so slow on the prime tyres? He didn't seem able to preserve the tyres whilst maintaining a competitive pace. His succes will depend on whether this is a one off which can be rectified by a simple set up change, or whether his driving style doesn't suit the tyres, or wears them out too fast.
Webber looked good today. At first I thought it was going to be one of those typical Webber races where he digs himself into a hole. But in fact the loss of KERS left him defenceless at the start. He drove a brilliant recovery on a different strategy to pull himself back into contention though. His battle with Kobayashi was thrilling.
Alonso. Seemed to be outperforming his car when he was all over the back of Hamilton, I didn't feel it would be possible for him to get a podium on merit but the pace was there in the race. An error obviously undid all his hard work, but the Ferrari looks handy in race trim. Perhaps the Ferrari is inherently light on its tyres (something they have a reputation for but didn't show in Melbourne) allowing him to push harder in the race.
The Renaults. They seem to have a car capable of mixing it with the frontrunners. I don't think either driver will challenge for the title though, which again leaves me lamenting the loss of Kubica because I think he could've been a contender.
All in all I think Vettel is favourite, but he won't have it all his own way. I think both McLarens and Alonso are in the hunt. And with Webber and the Renaults all capable of taking large amounts of points away, and the unpredictable element brought by the Pirellis championship momentum could swing very quickly. I still think we're in for a thriller.
This time yesterday I felt McLaren were in the pound seats for the rest of the season. The car looked as quick as the Red Bull and they had bags of momentum with the development they've brought to the first two races. Now I'm not sure.
Vettel is the form driver right now. No disputing that, he's started this season in the rampant fashion he ended the last. However, the car leaves Malaysia looking less dominant than when it arrived. There was an air of invincibility after Australia, but they look beatable now. Worth noting that both him and Button managed their tyres brilliantly today.
Button looks as if he's going to be a contender. He went the wrong way on quali set up but got faster and faster in each stint as he added front downforce. If he'd started the weekend with the setup he finished it with I think it would've been very tight between him and Vettel, both in qualifying and the race.
Hamilton has started the season well. But why was he so slow on the prime tyres? He didn't seem able to preserve the tyres whilst maintaining a competitive pace. His succes will depend on whether this is a one off which can be rectified by a simple set up change, or whether his driving style doesn't suit the tyres, or wears them out too fast.
Webber looked good today. At first I thought it was going to be one of those typical Webber races where he digs himself into a hole. But in fact the loss of KERS left him defenceless at the start. He drove a brilliant recovery on a different strategy to pull himself back into contention though. His battle with Kobayashi was thrilling.
Alonso. Seemed to be outperforming his car when he was all over the back of Hamilton, I didn't feel it would be possible for him to get a podium on merit but the pace was there in the race. An error obviously undid all his hard work, but the Ferrari looks handy in race trim. Perhaps the Ferrari is inherently light on its tyres (something they have a reputation for but didn't show in Melbourne) allowing him to push harder in the race.
The Renaults. They seem to have a car capable of mixing it with the frontrunners. I don't think either driver will challenge for the title though, which again leaves me lamenting the loss of Kubica because I think he could've been a contender.
All in all I think Vettel is favourite, but he won't have it all his own way. I think both McLarens and Alonso are in the hunt. And with Webber and the Renaults all capable of taking large amounts of points away, and the unpredictable element brought by the Pirellis championship momentum could swing very quickly. I still think we're in for a thriller.
).