Malaysian Grand Prix Review

By the end of qualifying, it was clear that this round would be all about who could survive the attrition - and more to the point, whose engine could last one whole weekend, let alone two. Fisichella, Christijan Albers, Yuji Ide and Jacques Villeneuve had all changed engines before the weekend started, without penalty. Both Michael Schumacher and Felipe Massa (twice) joined the list of engine changers, but with grid penalties, when Ferrari discovered a potential piston defect in their V8s.

David Coulthard had had the misfortune to fall foul of the rules by suffering an engine failure after the flag in Bahrain, and so he too would suffer a ten-place drop on the grid, as would Rubens Barrichello in the Honda, and finally Ralf Schumacher, after his Toyota motor blew up in the middle of qualifying 2. Eventually, come race day, Nico Rosberg and Nick Heidfeld would retire with more spectacular engine detonations, and Ide would have more Honda trouble in his Super Aguri.

Now this is getting silly. The likes of Fisichella and Villeneuve (who ended up 7th after a fine drive) were in a sense advantaged by the fact that their engines couldn’t last two races and had already given up the ghost in Bahrain, in that fresh engines in the sapping Malaysian heat were a definite bonus, plus they would face no grid penalties. Conversely Rosberg, whose Cosworth had made the distance at Sakhir, arguably found himself disadvantaged as a result, because he ended up slugged with a tired engine at Sepang.

We have never been a fan of the two-race engine rule. In previous seasons, long-life engines only promoted super-reliability and races without attrition. Now, with the new V8s somewhat brittle, the flip side is that the penalties and rules are arbitrary and don’t treat everyone with some kind of equality. In addition, with so much having been spent on developing V8s in the first place, and with engine failures aplenty at the moment, how the two-race rule can be said to save costs is beyond us.

Perhaps in the current climate, with the V8s as fragile as they are, even if the FIA doesn’t want teams changing engines every session, a one-race engine rule would suffice. Grid penalties for changing an engine during the weekend would remain, but perhaps with an alternative to a draconian ten-place drop. But you’d get rid of the race-to-race carry-over advantages and disadvantages that do not properly reward whether or not you had successfully managed to make your powerplant last a full race distance.

In the end, the teams that didn’t suffer any major notable engine problems throughout the weekend were Renault, McLaren, MF1 and Toro Rosso with their rev-limited, strong-as-a-bull (pardon the pun) V10s, although all but Renault continued to encounter a series of niggling problems. So it was left to the Regie to claim the 1-2, but their weekend had not been trouble-free either, for example the refuelling problem in Q3 that overloaded Alonso’s car and warped his pre-planned race strategy.

Giancarlo also dedicated his victory to his long-time friend who had passed away last weekend. In F1, examples abound where the heavens seem to smile on the grieving. Last year, Jarno Trulli dedicated Toyota’s first podium to a late friend of his. Michael Schumacher won the 2003 San Marino GP the day after his mother had passed away. Gerhard Berger won the 1997 German GP, his first race after his father had died. You can’t help but delight in such very human moments in a seemingly dehumanised sport.

Alonso will rue the fact that his fuel load made him run heavy and long in his first stint having already dropped him down the grid, and that his first stop ended up being in a no-man’s-land window where a two-stopper would be ineffective but a one-stopper was still slightly unfeasible. He made up for his grid position disadvantage by storming past the two McLarens and then sweeping majestically across the bows of the squabbling Williams into turn 1, but he could do nothing about his less-than-optimal strategy.

That said, he had the fastest package on the track, holding off the lighter Mark Webber in the early stages, and inexorably making time on both Jenson Button and Fisichella around the time of the pit stops. Once clear of the Honda, he made his point by starting to eat into his team-mate’s lead in the final stages before settling for second, the first 1-2 for Renault since the French GP of 1982. Nevertheless, 18 points on the board, 7 clear of Schumi and Button, and 12 clear of Raikkonen, is a healthy start to his title defence.

The contrast with Bahrain though was that he couldn’t find a way past the Colombian, which is understandable considering that at those moments the Honda was fuelled heavy and the McLaren near the end of its run. But one has to wonder, what is up with the brains trust on the Honda pit wall, or amongst the pit crew, such that they can’t seem to slot Jenson back onto the track in clean air? Or is it just that Button or the RA106 can’t put in rapid laps on demand? That was BAR’s problem in 2004, after all ...

At their best, you don’t see the likes of Pat Symonds or Ross Brawn calling Alonso or Schumacher in without knowing that they will feed back out on a clear track. Alternatively, when the need arises, Fernando or Michael or Kimi can put in those banzai laps that make the difference. They rarely find themselves getting held up. In current-era F1 where so much depends on what happens around the time of the pit stops, it seems to be an area in which Honda and Button need to devote more work.

Meanwhile, Barrichello’s performance in the other Honda is getting more embarrassing by the minute. OK, so he has had Honda’s reliability issues, but the reality is that he can’t get near Button’s pace despite pre-season predictions. He claims that the Honda traction control is tailored to Jenson’s smoother driving style, whereas he has been more used to flooring the gas pedal and letting the TC do the work. Fair enough, but as a professional he needs to quickly adapt. That kind of excuse has only a limited life span.

That was especially since Williams was actually more confident about their pace on longer runs than in qualifying - a remarkable turnaround, given that Bridgestone’s Achilles heel in testing had been sustained pace over long runs. Credit for Bridgestone’s massive improvement, and Williams’ form, must go not to Ferrari and Schumacher but to the hard-working, intelligent Alexander Wurz, a real coup for Williams, and able to run in a third car on Fridays whereas Ferrari and Toyota don’t have that luxury.

Some may have thought it strange that we saw fit to pour some cold water over Rosberg’s performance in Bahrain, but his qualifying effort in Malaysia was truly sensational. Sepang is a tough track with difficult braking points, and in free practice Nico had done no more than 20 laps. To out-qualify Webber in qualifying 3 (although Mark had outpaced him in qualifying 2 on low tanks) was a terrific achievement, given that the Australian tends to qualify extremely well at this track.

Webber of course had planted a Jaguar on the front row here in 2004. Although undoubtedly stung by being out-qualified by Rosberg the rookie, he asserted himself in the race, muscling past his team-mate, although their in-fighting probably took their eyes off from Alonso flying past on the outside. Nico’s inexperience also told as he dropped further positions on the first lap. The point is, however impressive Rosberg may be right now, Webber is certainly not beaten and he sure isn’t a spent force.

REJECT OF THE RACE
Williams Cosworth
As they say, pride comes before a fall

Williams Cosworth weren’t the only team to fall foul of their own mouth. Before the race, an upbeat Schumi had said that he and Ferrari were confident of leaving Malaysia happy on Sunday evening. The 248 F1 had been surprisingly reliable in Bahrain, but the reliability issues raised their ugly heads again here, piston problems causing a second engine change for Massa and one for Michael himself. Then the controversy over Ferrari’s flexing wings exploded as well.

Maybe this is just cynical, but why are questions raised over the legality of the Ferraris just when they are getting competitive again? Having said that, the on-board shots near the nosecone definitely showed the front wing element becoming detached from the nose. Whether it flexes or not, whether that provides an advantage, and whether it is permitted by the FIA or not, no doubt this will be one of the stories in the lead-up to Australia. For the moment, let’s be thankful that the Sepang results weren’t protested.

Massa’s one-stop drive from the back of the field was tremendous, eventually netting 5th place, in the kind of consistent lapping that he needs to show more often. On the other hand, Schumacher’s two-stopper from 14th proved ineffective, and he ended up trailing his team-mate. What the?!? Tellingly, Massa was not asked to move over and let Michael by. I wouldn’t believe that Massa was asked but refused. Ferrari have always believed that every point for Schumi counts, after all.

Williams and Ferrari’s failure to capitalise on their speed left it to McLaren to pick up the pieces, but the men in chrome (these days) would not have left Malaysia all that satisfied. We never got to see Kimi Raikkonen’s true pace, after he was taken off on the first lap by Christian Klien. It was believed that he would have started on loaded tanks, having utilised a heavy strategy to such good effect seven days ago. He may well have thrown a cat amongst the Renault and Button pigeons.

Still, as we all know, ifs buts and maybes count for zero in F1, and the reality is that if Raikkonen continues to run these kinds of strategies, where he qualifies heavy and starts a few rows back, he leaves himself susceptible to these sorts of incidents. Twelve points behind Alonso after only two races is a sizeable gap already. The Iceman will want to ensure that he pegs back a few points in Australia, or else the championship is in danger of slipping away from him yet again way too early in the season.

Especially when it still seems like the McLaren is not quite a match for the best on outright speed, unlike last year. That’s certainly the case if Montoya’s performance is anything to go by. Once again the Colombian proved a nonentity during the race as he drove to 4th. How much of that is the car not equalling the fastest, and how much of it is JPM not quite at his peak, remains to be seen. If it’s a case of Montoya still being in a slumber, then that should be a major concern.

BMW are tending to get fired up in the wrong sort of way right now. After Villeneuve’s engine blew up in Bahrain, it was Heidfeld’s turn here to put on a pyrotechnics display whilst running in a quiet but extremely strong 5th place. Having said that, there is much to like about BMW’s performance. They seem to lack qualifying speed, but in the race the F1.06 can hold the pace and pick up positions. Heidfeld was impressively close to Montoya when his engine gave way.

For all that we have criticised him in the past, it is a rejuvenated Villeneuve, and that is a joy to see. In complete contrast to his horror start to the 2005 season, he has put in two plucky performances so far, and by holding off Ralf for 7th scored BMW’s first points. Munich are probably ahead of where pundits - and perhaps even they themselves - expected them to be at the start of the year. With more financial clout and engineering improvement to come, that first podium may come sooner rather than later.

Toyota are also due some kudos, after their shocker in Bahrain. Although there is still a long way to go, they made good strides in the last seven days. Some reliability bugbears remain, but it was a really strong drive from Ralf from the back of the grid, and he fully deserved his point for 8th. In contrast, once again Trulli was left in the shade. Including the last four races of 2005, that’s six scoreless events in a row for him, and worst still, in his last five GPs he’s looked like he doesn’t particularly want to be there.

Despite their surprisingly good reliability at Sakhir, Red Bull struggled in Malaysia, which was always going to test their pre-season cooling woes and the overall fragility of the RB02. Nevertheless, Klien continued to show a dramatic turn of speed which is presently putting a somewhat listless Coulthard into the shade. His clash with Raikkonen, which replays didn’t show but it’s clear enough what happened, is a reminder that he’s still a rough diamond, but there’s no reason why he can’t outscore DC this year.

The Scot was in giant-killing form last year, but has not seemed particularly on-song this year, especially in qualifying. A vocal opponent of the one-lap shoot-out system, a return to free-for-all qualifying should have suited him, but thus far he has missed out on the top ten twice whereas Klien has made it twice. Although he wants to drive a Newey-designed Red Bull next year, if this keeps up and the young Austrian gets the better of him, and Montoya really does make the switch, where will that leave DC?

After meddling in the midfield in Bahrain, Toro Rosso was back to where they probably ought to be in Malaysia. Along with the MF1s and the Super Aguris, they were the first cars knocked out of qualifying, but they still hold something of an edge over the other two teams. Scott Speed held off Barrichello early, whilst Vitantonio Liuzzi had to fight back from an early stop, getting himself involved in two good dices, firstly with Takuma Sato and then with Albers’ Midland.

Having said that, MF1 could also do with getting their own house in order first. Their two cars (which from front-on increasingly look like McLarens) continued to be plagued by reliability issues in practice, although both made the finish in the race. Tiago Monteiro has been particularly affected, but like Montoya, Trulli and Coulthard, he has made a very slow start to the season. He needed to carry over momentum from his efforts in 2005. Instead, the edge Albers has over him right now is something of a surprise.

Indeed, Monteiro was fortunate not to be beaten home by Sato’s Super Aguri. For all his wildness, Taku had a superb weekend in Malaysia. Though pushing all the way, he stayed on the track, and the four-year-old Arrows held together - a credit to both Sato and to Aguri Suzuki’s men. Compared to all the lean and mean machines from everyone else, the SA05 looks like a venerable tank, but Sato had it mixing with the MF1s and Toro Rossos, when on paper it has no right to do so.

Indeed, Sato’s move to retake position from Liuzzi was one of the highlight moves of the whole race. Sadly, Ide in the other car appears woefully out of his depth. In Bahrain that was understandable, but he has seen Sepang before. Admittedly, right now Super Aguri probably only has the time and manpower to prepare one car well, but that doesn’t totally account for Ide’s lack of performance. At any rate, Sato’s performance will hopefully give the whole team a great fillip in the lead-up to the Australian GP.