Finally watched the race... Merc were bloody hopeless on strategy, but all credit to Vettel and the Scuderia. They won that on merit. Really good performance by them. I think it's fair to say that Vettel is back! And I somehow like him a lot more now he's in red.
Also bloody great to hear some real passion over the radio rather than Jack Horner's usual guff. Marvelous.
One other thing... That was a really good podium interview. I kinda enjoyed watching Hamilton and Vettel chit-chat while Rosberg was taking a bit of a baking. He kinda asked for that. Funny stuff. After the lousy first race, that was exactly the tonic that was needed.
On Rosberg, I agree with Fred that he looked marginally quicker than Hamilton in clean air yesterday, it's not his raw pace which is drawing criticism from me, it's everything else that went with it. He was awful in traffic, most of his passes were as a result of mistakes in front, and he lost out to Vettel, what, three times? Then there's all his **** on the radio, "are others using the dry line?", "tell me about the race", "give me simpler instructions". Jeez. And then there was his block on Hamilton in Q3, I suspect it was intentional, but even if it wasn't it was inattentive and he's lucky it was his team mate behind him or he would've had a penalty. And his qualifying performance sucked in general, he was nowhere near Hamilton. As for Alonso, I think it was the right move. I don't know whether he was pushed or jumped, but it wasn't working out at Ferrari for him and the team. There needed to be a restructuring and Vettel's been a part of that. I imagine if Alonso was there he'd have resisted change to maintain his status within the team, and I don't think they'd be where they are now if he was still there. Obviously it's the engineers who design the car, but if you look at the vibes coming off the team last year, and compare it to this year where it's so much more positive, I think the drivers have helped cultivate that dynamic within the team by pulling in the same direction, in terms of driving style, the fact they get along well and that they seem to be putting the team first. McLaren were the best option available to Alonso really. The only other option would've been a sabbatical in the hope of landing a Mercedes drive, but that was optimistic and would've ended his career if it didn't work out.
McLaren are going to be a fascinating watch. Alonso's move right now, with Ferrari's sudden leap looks like a disaster, but if McLaren had started in Australia at the same speed as Malaysia, i don't think too many people would be too worried and realise that they were just a long way short of development time rather than potential. Said in the other thread that this race would be the first showing of how much trouble McLaren are really in, and yes, they didn't finish, but the leap in performance and fuel consumption etc was promising. Another leap of a similar size and they are suddenly in and around (or at very least on the tail of) the likes of Williams. It'll be interesting to see if it was track conditions or a genuine leap of that size. If it was genuine and they can do another step, suddenly all that talk of challenging Mercedes won't look at all stupid when they aren't too far back, with a car that is still 18 months behind in its maturity. It has pretty much already been proven their issue in Aus was most the power unit being turned off and they are slowly switching things on and even with stuff running on low settings, they are already almost on the back of the midfield in pure pace and them in race pace. Depending on the development potential of all the cars, It may, may turn out that actually, Alonso isn't in too bad a place after all when they actually able to turn the car up and those laughing at such a stupid move will look daft
Great race! What a surprise – to most, except perhaps Silver who I should congratulate! . Well done, Herr Vettel; that was one of your most important victories. Ferrari did a fantastic job and have – for the moment at least – extricated F1 from the doldrums, temporarily side-lining Bernie's ludicrous threats (to anyone passionate about motorsport) of sprinklers and a return to the massively unpopular gimmick of double-points. With quick cars relatively easy on tyres, the red team grabbed Lady Luck's early safety Car with both hands and completely out-manoeuvred the apparently complacent Mercedes team. This was matched by a superb drive from both Ferrari drivers, but especially Vettel. What a shame Räikkönen started so far back, eh? Rosberg's lucklustre performance (despite being consistently quick in clean air) suggested that his podium finish was merely by default. I found the race itself hugely entertaining and feel that Mercedes are more than a little shell-shocked. They cannot afford to sit on previous advantage or to be blasé about tyre choices (for instance) in the early stages of qualifying. Whilst Melbourne should not be considered a properly reliable indicator of relative performance, Mercedes advantage had appeared huge but the heat of Sepang and cleverness within a resurgent Ferrari camp has highlighted a real weakness for the championship favourites. There were many other interesting aspects and discussion-worthy incidents to this race, but for now, this is all I want to say: Game on !
Mclaren have said the first races will be tough. They don't anticipate getting on the pace till Europe. That is the time to judge. I will form my opinion come Silverstone. The championship won't be on for them and they clearly look like they will eat the engine allocation. Fingers crossed for an entertaining next race and let's see another step in Mclaren that can give us and their drivers hope.
Im so glad Hamilton has a better challenger this year. Rosberg is not up to snuff Im afraid. and hey... Imagine what Ricciardo could have done in that Ferrari please log in to view this image
At pains to be another one to jump on Rosberg but he did himself so favours this weekend, was a big opportunity for him. When the safety car came in he was 2s behind Hamilton, by the time they cleared traffic he was 9s behind. He was what, just under 4s behind by the end? I was expecting him to beat Hamilton if I'm honest, at a track where tyre management is so important one was able to get in the practice laps whilst the other couldn't (Ros - 59, Ham - 30). Would be fairly cheeky to mention that this race probably helped Hamiltons camp with the contract negotiations! It's a long season, I don't know how much I believe both Ham and Ros can maintain their outward perceptions. Just at the moment one seems a lot more relaxed than the other. please log in to view this image
Was it my imagination or did Bernie make sure Manor received zero tv coverage during the race? He seems unbelievable annoyed by them. Docking them $3million for not running in Australia. It does seem like he is punishing them at every opportunity. I wonder if it has anything to do with Mr King's involvement?
If Ferrari's competitiveness (compared to Merc) is genuine and not purely tyre related, we might actually see the Mercs race on more aggressive strategy.
Interesting read: @f1fanatic_co_uk: 2015 Malaysian GP interactive data: Lap times: http://t.co/NDpj5gS17b Lap charts: http://t.co/IHFEwTuZXf Strategies: http://t.co/KehKyGh1gQ
Well it's fair enough, how dare Manor disobey Bernie and not just die. We're just fortunate that those in the press who toe the paddock pass line have got the message to not mention them at all
http://www.f1today.net/en/news/200760/manor-appears-to-have-lost-the-backing-of-ecclestone "This shows you what that Justin King is," he told The Independent newspaper. "King is the genius businessman. The guy that was going to do all these things," Ecclestone was quoted by business journalists Christian Sylt and Caroline Reid. "It's bloody disgusting, to be honest with you," he charged. "They never had anything (in Australia) which could let them run." I would say... Probably
I hope that Manor are playing him, letting the evidence build up before making their retort. Docking them 1/19th of their prize money... money they won last season... for something that happened this season... which in no way effects why prize money is even give... yup, doesn't add up even if you really really squint. Bernie wildly attacking Manor at a personal level, punishing them when the FIA back them. Oh the irony if the smallest team is finally the one to topple him
Maybe a fairer distribution of the prize pot would have sorted that out in the first place, eh Bernie?
Just had a thought about Merc. I wonder if there is some sort of a deal where the team will not 'disadvantage' one driver by strategy. So they had to pit both cars at once. It does seem stupid that with Ferrari showing good pace, they would put all their eggs in one basket and pit both cars at same time after safety car.
