The Malaysian Grand Prix played out in the wee hours of Sunday morning…at least here in the States. It was late evening for the European audience and mid-afternoon for those actually at the event.
The race itself was a mixture of excitement and tension for two teams, a mixture of disappointment and pride for a third team, and just a general mixed bag for the others. Let’s work backwards…
Ferrari saw Felipe Massa out-qualify teammate, and supposed #1 for the Scuderia, Fernando Alonso, for the second straight race this season. Given that it was just the second race overall, you get the picture that Massa has been better on Saturdays than Alonso. Alonso, though, got the better start and outpaced Mark Webber into turn two, taking second place in the process. Alonso, though, quite literally ran into trouble, as he clipped the slowing Sebastian Vettel in turn two. The light tough was damaging enough, breaking Alonso’s front wing.
For reasons unknown to pretty much everyone, Alonso stayed out on track and drove right by the pit entrance to start lap two. That’s when disaster struck. The wing didn’t so much break off the car as explode off the car. The remnants of the wing lodged under the skid plate and lifted the front end of Alonso’s car off the track. He speared off into the gravel trap and came to a stop. His race was over after little more than one lap.
The Mercedes factory team saw a little more tension on the day, as Lewis Hamilton held third place for a long time, but Nico Rosberg was catching him up quickly. Rosberg’s annoyance shined through in his radio chats with Ross Brawn. Nico wanted to pass, claiming he was faster than Lewis. Brawn replied very calmly, “Lewis’s pace is what we’re asking him to do. He’s being controlled as well. He could go a lot faster as well.” After Rosberg implored Brawn to speed up their pace, the team boss stated “Nico, please drop back – there is a massive gap behind. We want to bring both cars home.” Rosberg complied with his team bosses orders and the result was Mercedes finishing three-four. That’s pretty solid for a team that wasn’t given much chance at season’s start. Rosberg even met Lewis after the race and the drivers congratulated each other. Lewis has even said he’ll have to pay Nico back. It’s a sign of positive teamwork from the Merc pilots.
The same cannot be said for the Red Bull drivers. Mark Webber was controlling the race pace and his teammate was slotted in second. Like the Mercedes team, the Red Bull pit wall thought they could bring both cars home in the order they ran and maximize points on the day. After the last round of pit-stops, Webber still held first, and the team issued orders for the drivers to stay where they were and bring the race home.
It was then that Sebastian Vettel remembered what a jerk he is. With about ten laps or so remaining, Vettel took the fight to his teammate. It was almost a replay of Istanbul 2010, when the Red Bulls took each other out just a few laps from the end, allowing McLaren-Mercedes to snatch away victory. This time, it would’ve given the Mercedes factory team the win. But the cars did not touch, and Vettel got by to win the race.
The tension and anger was palpable after the race. Mark Webber entered the green room before going to the podium and refused to shake Vettel’s hand. Once on the podium, after trophies had been given out and the champagne showers had ended, Webber refused to put his arm around Vettel for the podium picture. It was, without a doubt, the most somber podium I’ve seen since I started following the sport.
Speaking of the podium, I got two out of three drivers right, with one of those drivers in the exact spot I predicted. Hamilton brought home third, which I correctly called. Vettel took the win. I called Alonso to win, which may have happened if not for him running up under Vettel. The funny thing is, Alonso is trying to blame Vettel for Alonso hitting Vettel.
We’re off this weekend, but play resumes in China the first weekend in April.
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