08/04/2007
NEWS STORY
 |
A quick trawl of the web, several hours after yesterday's qualifying session, revealed a thread on a well-known forum: "Is Hamilton overrated?"
We talk of the reigning GP2 Series Champion, who, having led his illustrious teammate in Melbourne, has qualified fourth in only his second Grand Prix.
There are times when one wonder what exactly races fans expect of drivers.
The fact is that Hamilton is one of several drivers who could find himself standing atop the podium at Sepang later this afternoon.
Whilst attention is focussed on Massa, Alonso and Raikkonen, let's not forget Lewis - and please, don't for an instant think that Pitpass is about to follow the same route as all the other (British-based) media. The fact is that the young Englishman is one of the 'gang of four' that looks to set F1 this season, at least in the early races.
While BMW qualified fifth and seventh, split by Nico Rosberg, with the Toyotas (and Webber) also making it into the top ten, let's not forget the time difference between the best and the rest.
While we are fully aware of the different strategies regarding fuel loads and tyres, the fact is that at this point in the season Ferrari and McLaren rule.
Behind the 'gang of four', we have the BMWs, Williams, Toyotas and Red Bull. However, the two teams that will be worth watching this afternoon are Renault and Honda.
The Japanese team, despite whatever else might be said, is in crisis, and it is not a quick fix solution. Regular readers will be aware that Pitpass has been warning of this for some time. Those of you who are not regular readers, should check out a couple of recent articles from 'Helios' - that's after you've done some sort of penance for your sins (not visiting Pitpass regularly).
As for Renault, it's hard to know where it's going wrong. We've heard some stories, and sadly, based on what we've seen (thus far) this weekend we're beginning to believe them.
As ever, there is the threat of a sudden tropical storm this afternoon, which should add to the mix, plus of course there is the intriguing battle between the Super Aguris and Toro Rossos, who could well have Honda joining in the fun. We haven't included Spyker because the Dutch team is clearly struggling at this stage in the season. Perhaps missing the recent test here wasn't such a good idea after all.
As the cars make their way to the grid we can confirm that contrary to previous reports David Coulthard will not suffer a grid penalty. Yes, he did have an engine change, and yes it was before qualifying, however, it was the direct result of his retirement in Australia. Fact is, the statement regarding the (engine) changes to the Scot's car was misinterpreted.
The other interesting thing ahead of this afternoon's race is that Kimi Raikkonen appears to think he has a problem with his car. As he made his way to the grid he was repeatedly told (over the radio): "You do not have a gearbox problem, your gearbox is fine". The emphasis on the word 'not' indicating that the Finn think otherwise.
Now, although weather conditions for the start are ideal, we can still expect some argy-bargy at the first corner. Indeed, should their be any silliness - and F1 drivers are prone to be silly - the race could be turned on its head within just a few hundred yards of the start.
With five minutes before the race gets underway, the air temperature is 34 degrees (C), while the track temperature is 56 degrees. Humidity is 59%.
Rubens Barrichello, who qualified a lowly nineteenth, is starting from the pitlane, having opted to change his engine in the (vain?) hope that things will improve.
Massa is starting on soft, as are Alonso and most of the other front-runners. Indeed, only Trulli appears to be on the hard compound.
They head off on the warm up lap. As they make their way to the grid, Hamilton is told to warm his brakes, and engage lau8nch control.
They're away. Massa and Alonso go head to head, but approaching the first corner it's the World Champion that gets the edge. The Brazilian's misery worsens as Hamilton makes a move and gets through to take second. However, further back Sutil has been involved in an incident.
At the end of lap one, it's: Alonso, Hamilton, Massa, Raikkonen, Heidfeld, Kubica, Rosberg, Fisichella, Trulli and Webber. Great starts from Hamilton and Fisichella.
Massa is all over Hamilton, trying to make up for the fact that he lost out to the youngster in the first complex of corners. Elsewhere, Liuzzi pits, appearing to have a problem, possibly having been involved in the Sutil incident.
As he extends his lead (2.7s), Alonso sets a new fastest lap (37.784), as Hamilton heads a train of four or five cars. At the end of the pit straight, at the beginning of lap 4, Massa tries to go around the outside, but Hamilton is having none of it. The Brazilian continues to hassle the McLaren driver but to no avail. The Ferrari has the speed, but Hamilton has the (track) advantage, and (clearly) the guile.
Next time around Massa tries again, but Hamilton is ready. Raikkonen keeps a watching eye, fully prepared to pick up the pieces should it all go wrong. The Hondas are running seventeenth and eighteenth.
Trulli is all over Fisichella, running eighth, while Coulthard leads a train of cars.
A small mistake by Hamilton sees Massa go thorough, but the Brazilian gores too deep and goes off, losing out to Hamilton, Raikkonen and Heidfeld. A silly mistake.
Kubica and Rosberg are having a great scrap for sixth. They also have a first class view of Massa's progress. Elsewhere, Barrichello has passed Button.
After six laps, Alonso leads by 7.5s as Raikkonen - the Ice Man - closes in on Hamilton. Massa, stuck behind Heidfeld, is losing a lot of time. Wurz passes Speed to take fourteenth.
Spyker's miserable Malaysia weekend comes to a close when Albers pulls into the pits at the end of lap 8, flames shooting from the back of his car. Sutil was out on the first lap.
Another fastest lap for Alonso (37.309), as Raikkonen shadows Hamilton and Massa continues to climb all over Heidfeld. Kubica is under intense pressure from Rosberg, while Fisichella has Trulli, Kovalainen and Webber on his tail.
A minor mistake from Kubica and Rosberg doesn't wait for an invitation, he's through. Elsewhere, Barrichello is all over Davidson, who is running in sixteenth.
Kubica pits, and at 14.3s it's a long one. Could the BMW driver have a problem?
After 12 laps, Alonso leads by 11.7s, the Spaniard posting another fastest lap (36.961). This is classic stuff, the Spaniard leads as his McLaren teammate rides shotgun. Hamilton doing a sterling, professional job.
Wurz passes Coulthard to take eleventh, the Austrian setting off after the other Red Bull (Webber) 6s up the road. Elsewhere, Kubica clearly does have a problem, he's losing heaps of time and running eighteenth.
Other than Alonso - who posts another fastest lap (36.921) - the fastest men on track are Rosberg and Wurz.
After 16 laps Alonso leads by 15s, as Raikkonen and Massa both continue to hold formation behind Hamilton and Heidfeld respectively. Rosberg is sixth, 10s ahead of Fisichella, who leads Trulli, Kovalainen, Webber, Wurz and Coulthard.
As the Ferrari pit readies for a stop, Ron Dennis hangs out the pit board for Alonso - a radio problem?
It's Massa that stops for Ferrari, Wurz, Speed and Button also stop.
At the end of the next lap it's the race leader who pits, re-emerging in third, behind Hamilton and Heidfeld, Raikkonen and Trulli also pit.
As Rosberg pits (lap 19), it's worth noting that obviously Hamilton qualified on a heavier load, which puts his performance in perspective. Is Hamilton overrated - we think not!.
At the end of lap 20 Hamilton pits, handing the lead to Heidfeld in the BMW. The Englishman emerges in third, ahead of both Ferraris. In addition to tyres the McLaren driver had his front wing adjusted.
After 21 laps, Heidfeld leads Alonso, Hamilton, Fisichella, Raikkonen, Kovalainen, Webber, Rosberg and Coulthard. However, the BMW driver, and the Renault duo, has yet to stop. Elsewhere, Schumacher is having a great scrap with Barrichello, for fifteenth.
At the end of lap 22 Heidfeld pits, thus giving McLaren a 1-2. The German rejoins in fifth, splitting Raikkonen and Massa - bad news for Ferrari.
Hamilton posts a new fastest lap (36.701), the Englishman clearly happier with the car following the tyre change and wing adjustment. Elsewhere, Barrichello is told by Jock clear that he needs to get into a rhythm. A Scot telling a Brazilian about rhythm?
After 24 laps, everyone bar Coulthard has pitted. With Liuzzi having stopped twice. The Spykers remain the only retirements.
Alonso leads Hamilton by 10s, with Raikkonen a similar distance behind the second McLaren. Heidfeld continues in fourth, 3.1s ahead of Massa who heads Rosberg, Coulthard, Fisichella, Trulli and Kovalainen.
After the activity of the first few laps, the race has now settled into what Jock Clear might describe as a rhythm, and what others might describe as a rut. Other than Kubica, who is being hounded by Barrichello, Schumacher, Button and speed, nothing appears to be happening.
Coulthard (finally) pits on lap 27, as does Kubica, who has a new nose fitted. No jokes please.
Although he hasn't improved on his previous best time, Hamilton is closing in on his McLaren teammate. Less than 9s now separates them. Could Ron be orchestrating a grandstand finish, even though we're only at the halfway point? Raikkonen is a further 12s down the road.
Wurz is hard on the heels of Kovalainen, who is 2.1s down on Trulli, last of the (current) points runners.
Schumacher must (surely) have a problem. He's running in nineteenth, lapping over 1.5s slower than his teammate, who is eighth. Elsewhere, the two Honda are running together, lapping consistently, but thirteenth and fourteenth. That said, they're ahead of the two Super Aguris, unlike earlier in the race.
Coulthard gets out of shape, the Scot running in twelfth place, 8s ahead of the Hondas. "I'm not comfortable, I'm not comfortable guys," he tells his crew. "I think we should retire the car."
At the end of lap 35, Barrichello, Speed and Davidson all pit.
As they close in on the back markers, Massa ups the pressure on Heidfeld. However, is it too little too late? An error at Turn 1 sees the Brazilian lose ground.
At the end of lap 36 Coulthard pits, as does Liuzzi. However, while the Italian rejoins the fray, the Scot calls it quits.
At the end of lap 38, Hamilton pits, as does Button. Two Englishman, both enjoying different kinds of afternoon.
Hamilton rejoins in fifth behind Massa, who still has to stop. Rosberg and Trulli also pit.
In order to comply with the 2007 regulations, most drivers are now switching to the harder compound for the final (short) stint.
At the end of lap 39, the race leader pits, as do Sato and Massa. The World Champion rejoins behind Raikkonen, who now leads the race, albeit on a temporary basis. The Brazilian rejoins in sixth, splitting Fisichella and Rosberg.
Raikkonen pits, handing the lead back to Alonso. The Finn rejoins in fourth, ahead of Fisichella and Massa. Heidfeld still has to stop, which means Raikkonen is (almost) assured of a podium place.
Sure enough, at the end of lap 42, Heidfeld pits, rejoining ahead of Massa, whose afternoon has fallen apart. Fisichella and Webber also pitted.
Therefore, with the second round of stops out of the way, Alonso leads Hamilton, Raikkonen, Heidfeld and Massa.
Disaster for Williams as Rosberg pulls off track just as he seemed certain of adding to his points tally. A great drive from the young German.
Bad news for Rosberg is good news for Fisichella who is promoted to sixth, ahead od Trulli, Kovalainen, Wurz, Webber, Barrichello and Button.
The only real fight, with twelve laps remaining, is for ninth, with Wurz under attack from Webber.
Having got the gap down to 8s, Hamilton is now 17s behind his teammate. The youngster doesn't appear to be as happy with his car in this stint as he was in the second. This of course means that he is slipping into the clutches of Raikkonen, who is just 5.6s behind.
Kubica goes off into the gravel, but is able to continue. It's not been a great day for the Pole who was running fifteenth at that point.
Webber continues to harry Wurz, as Hamilton appears to be holding his own in terms of Raikkonen, the gap remaining steady at 5s. That said, he loses half-a-second as he gets past the Hondas. Elsewhere, Kovalainen goes cross-country running.
Raikkonen continues to close in on Hamilton, the gap down to 3.8s with 7 laps remaining. Massa is right up the exhaust pipe of Heidfeld's BMW but getting nowhere.
Raikkonen piles on the pressure, sensing that there is still time to do something about the young pretender ahead of him. Elsewhere, Liuzzi is hassling Davidson in the battle of the customer cars. Webber continues to push Wurz.
As Alonso enjoys a 'comfort zone' of over 22s, Raikkonen closes to within 1.7s of Hamilton. Massa is clearly destined to finish fifth, unable to do anything about the BMW ahead of him.
While the Finn takes 0.2s off Hamilton in the second sector of the penultimate lap, Massa gives away 0.5s.
Alonso takes the win, the sixteenth of his career, and McLaren's first since Japan 2005. Hamilton takes a fine second place which is sure to see the British media having multiple orgasms.
Raikkonen will be disappointed with third, and rightly so. While Massa will rue the silly mistake that cost him second (at least). We try hard not to be sensational, but Ferrari appears to have the best car, yet is missing something, which could be Ross Brawn.
A great performance from Nick Heidfeld and BMW, confirming that the German team - in it's second season in F1 in its own right - is establishing itself as the best of the rest.
For Renault it was about damage limitation, and though the French outfit would have preferred to be fighting for the win, after yesterday's performance sixth and eighth has to be better than expected.
A strong drive from Jarno Trulli in the Toyota, while one has to worry what happened to his teammate.
While we're praising the McLaren duo however, let's spare a thought for Nico Rosberg who surely deserved more from today than a 'dnf'.
We have the prospect of a hard fought championship, but it has to be said that much of today's race - with all due respect to the combatants - was boring. Never mind tidying up circuits and looking for gimmicks such as night races, Bernie Ecclestone and Max Mosley need to take a long hard look at F1 as it is.
Reacting to speculation that 20 races a year might dilute interest in F1, Ecclestone cites football, claiming that despite the number of matches people still follow the sport.
Whet Ecclestone needs to get his head around is the fact that for the most part football matches are not predictable. Certainly, there is happening for the full ninety minutes, not just the first few.
It's not merely about overtaking, it's about providing entertainment, a show which keeps viewers hooked for the entire race, not just the first couple of corners.
A great performance from the McLaren duo, but while the Woking team must not - and, knowing Ron, will not - become complacent, neither must Ecclestone or F1's powers that be.
It's about quality not quantity.
To check out our Malaysia GP picture gallery, click here