DrTagnian

After seeing the race this morning, we all could see Ferrari has made a mistake by using the old car. Their times are extremely poor and Renault drove about 2 seconds faster every lap!

It will be good for the Red Ones when the 2005 car is introduced. Hopefully the F1 will stay as surprising as it is now though. It would be boring to go back to Schumacher winning all the time.

Webber should have never been out of the race. It was a stupid action from Fisichella.

I thought you were the expert on that.

ForeverInLoveWithJus

Using the Bridgestone tyres aren't helping either.

PastyHusty

Another fine race!

This years Malaysian GP seemed to unfold in 3 different parts. There was the start and first 15-20 laps, where we had the usual fighting for psoition over the first lap, but largely a follow-the-leader routine until after the first pit stop.

The middle of the race was fantastic! - plenty of battles. The one between Fisichella, Webber, Heidfeld and R.Schumacher was the most interesting one for me. If you had to pin blame on just one driver for the incident that took Fischella dn Webber out, I'd be unable to do it. Fisichella seemed like the driver who caused it, but IMO it looked like he was losing control of his car just before the corner. Obviously, the incident wouldn't have happened had he been on the racing line, but I think he can't be blamed too much. Heidfeld was very much the driver who gained the advantage out of that incident. He most likely would have finished 4th behind Webber if both Fisichella and Webber had finished the race.

The last third of the race saw many drivers slowing down a bit to make sure their engines didn't give out and to make sure their tyres lasted to the end of the race. Raikkonen's impressive drive up to the back of Klien and M.Schumacher during this period was the best part! If he hadn't had a puncture right after the first pit stop then I believe he would have been on the podium. His fight back and fastest lap time proved he had the pace to score high this weekend. Alas, he's still one of the unluckiest drivers in F1. I hope his luck changes soon.


So, another good race for Renault and Williams (taking the incident between Fisichella and Webber out) Both had pace and reliability. I think we'll see Renault up at the top all season long. Hopefully Williams will be able to challenge for race wins soon. They're consistantly fast, but it seems like they need a little bit more to translate it into race wins.

McLaren had more misfortune with Raikkonen's puncture, but I feel Montoya should have done better. Raikkonen proved his car had the pace to finish much higher up. So far it's 2-0 to Raikkonen in terms of performance, but 2-0 to Montoya in terms of position.

Toyota certainly proved that Trulli's drop from 2nd to 9th in Melbourne was due to misfortune with their tyres. Trulli had the pace throughout the day today. He looked comfortable for second place throughout the afternoon and kept the squabbling pack at a fair distance behind him, but there was an obvious performance gap between him and Alonso.

Red Bull - another solid race. Proved they can finish in the points, but not challenge for race wins just yet!
Ferrari - they really do need the 2005 car out soon.
BAR - such bad bad luck..
Sauber - Villeneuve plus a not so fantastic car. I don't think we'll see a great deal from them this season.


Malaysian Grand Prix Results
Finishers
1. F.Alonso. 56 Laps
2. J.Trulli. +24.3s
3. N.Heidfeld. +32.1s
4. J.P.Montoya. +41.6s
5. R.Schumacher. +51.8s
6. D.Coulthard. +72.5s
7. M.Schumacher. +79.9s
8. C.Klien. +80.8s
9. K.Raikkonen. +81.5s
10. F.Massa. +1 Lap
11. N.Karthikeyan. +2 Laps
12. T.Monteiro. +3 Laps
13. C.Albers. +4 Laps

Retired
R.Barrichello. 49 Laps
G.Fisichella. 36 Laps
M.Webber. 36 Laps
J.Villeneuve. 26 Laps
J.Button. 2 Laps
A.Davidson. 2 Laps
P.Friesacher. 2 Laps

Fastest Lap
K.Raikkonen. 1:35.483


Prediction League

Pole:
F.Alonso

Points Gained -

Gert-Jan - 16
Neil - 12

Table After Malaysian GP
1. Gert-Jan. 20.
2. Neil. 18.
3. Lizzy. 1.
4. Chris. 0.
=. Jeremy. 0.

If Chris and Jeremy are plagued with internet problems for much longer, then we may be looking at a three horse race again.

I saw something hilarious at another board last night! Apparently, not predicting Schumacher to finish in the top 3 is bashing..


It's definitely proving to be costly for Ferrari while they continue to use their adapted 2004 car, but we just don't know what their 2005 car will do in full race conditions. Testing has proven it to be about as good as the rest of the top teams - which I guess you could say there are 5 or 6 now!? (Renault, Toyota, Williams, McLaren, Ferrari and Red Bull) - but as we all know, race conditions can (and usually will) produce different results. I don't expect Ferrari to bring their new car to Bahrain. They'll be facing very hot conditions again, which were a definite factor to their poor performance today. The Bridgestone tyres obviously need a lot more work on, so I just think that Ferrari will lose out regardless of whether they use the old or new car in 2 weeks.

I have a little feeling that this season will keep on producing much different results to last season.


I'm supposed to be!!
Who's been teaching you!?

DrTagnian

In an interview with Webber, which took place after the incident, he wasn't very pleased with Fisichella's action. So I don't think he'll agree with you.

I'm sure you can tell me that, knowing you can read my mind.

ForeverInLoveWithJus

I found this interesting. David Coulthard believes former world champion Jacques Villeneuve could quit Formula One unless his situation at Sauber improves.

"Jacques is having a difficult time so far," said Coulthard, a friend of Villeneuve, in Scotland's Daily Record.

"Two races in and already the media are questioning if he will keep his seat. I know he is capable of great things but unless we see a big improvement by Imola it wouldn't surprise me to see him walk away or be encouraged to."

PastyHusty

The Sauber car isn't exactly very fast either. On overall results they're 7th so far this season and haven't scored a single point. They don't seem to have reliability problkems, just a distinct lack of pace! I wouldn't be surprised if Villeneuve didn't last the whole season though.. He simply doesn't seem to be cut out for F1 racing anymore, at least not right now. Maybe he'll adjust after a while, but will it be too late for him by then!?


Ferrari are going to use their 2005 car in Bahrain. They expect the car to improve their lap times by about 1 - 1.5 seconds. That should be enough to put them in amongst Renault, McLaren, Williams and Toyota - instead of trailing behind them all - but not enough to put them in a dominant position. There's no guaruntee that their Bridgestone tyres will be more effective though. The Ferraris might still struggle to some degree.

.. but you've developed a mind-reading block technique! I can't hear your thoughts at all..

ForeverInLoveWithJus

I am hoping the new Ferrari will work well, so far Michael is happy with it.

PastyHusty

From the drivers comments in testing, it should work well. It's just a matter of how well.

ForeverInLoveWithJus

and how the tyres perform.

PastyHusty

Yes, the tyres will be key. Considering it's likely to be hot in Bahrain, Ferrari might not get the best impression of how their 2005 car can perform in race conditions. I think we'll most likely see a good performance, for the first time this season, from Ferrari in Imola. They have a tendency to do well there.