Malaysian GP 2004

Scuderia_Russ · Post 21 Mar 2004, 14:27

IMO that was an excellent race. MS on top form as per,Williams look like they could be closer to Ferrari than we all thought,and Jenson Button getting his first podium.It was fantastic to see him finally acheive this feat and i', sure his confidence will sky rocket! Shame to see Kimi go out,and after such an excellent qualifying session it was a shme too that Webber had a miserable day at the office. I'm starting to regret putting that bet on Raikkonen for the WDC! What happened to Fisi?! It appears his dream of a drive in a top team is unraveling before his very eyes! It's gonna be a cracking season!!

Aradea · Post 21 Mar 2004, 18:51

I think MS and Ferrari couldn't be stop this year, Unless other top teams can do a miracle and close the gap..
The Malaysian GP is the most entertaining race so far, a lot of drama & overtaking, now that is what we need in a F1 Race !
Great job for Michelin & of course Button and BAR, this surely will silence the critics who thinks winter testing results just a bunch of BS.. hahahaha...

Becker4 · Post 22 Mar 2004, 00:00

also well done to renault, they had some bad luck in qualifying but considering that certainly pulled together a good race result. i read a post race interview of trulli, in which he apologized to button for bumping him at the start, i really respected that he could take responsibilityfor that - at least some drivers still have some dignity.

mvf4sp · Post 22 Mar 2004, 00:19

Great race,and another one for Ferrari, (yeahh!!!!). Lovely to see Button in third, and the engines suffered a lot today RS, TS, KR. Lets see in Bahrein it's going to be a great race to

Aradea · Post 22 Mar 2004, 13:07

This the fastest lap for each driver and their average speed in the Malaysian GP, I got it from Planet F1. Look at the top 3, sure looks like Williams and BAR has up their game since Melbourne. Renault has a good speed too..
About the lap times, it clearly shows that Schumi isn't the fastest anymore, at least the gap is shrinking

Fastest lap times:
01 JP Montoya Williams 1:34.223 Lap 28 Ave speed 211.782
02 M Schumacher Ferrari 1:34.819 Lap 6 Ave speed 210.451
03 J Button BAR 1:34.967 Lap 28 Ave speed 210.123
04 J Trulli Renault 1:35.039 Lap 12 Ave speed 209.964
05 K Räikkönen McLaren 1:35.156 Lap 12 Ave speed 209.706
06 R Barrichello Ferrari 1:35.350 Lap 7 Ave speed 209.279
07 R Schumacher William 1:35.607 Lap 10 Ave speed 208.716
08 T Sato BAR 1:35.679 Lap 13 Ave speed 208.559
09 D Coulthard McLaren 1:35.852 Lap 26 Ave speed 208.183
10 F Alonso Renault 1:35.888 Lap 7 Ave speed 208.105
11 O Panis Toyota 1:35.951 Lap 23 Ave speed 207.968
12 C da Matta Toyota 1:36.544 Lap 22 Ave speed 206.691
13 F Massa Sauber 1:36.570 Lap 7 Ave speed 206.635
14 G Fisichella Sauber 1:36.675 Lap 54 Ave speed 206.411
15 M Webber Jaguar 1:36.922 Lap 9 Ave speed 205.885
16 C Klien Jaguar 1:37.031 Lap 12 Ave speed 205.653
17 N Heidfeld Jordan 1:37.433 Lap 15 Ave speed 204.805
18 G Pantano Jordan 1:39.527 Lap 41 Ave speed 200.496
19 G Bruni Minardi 1:39.911 Lap 11 Ave speed 199.725
20 Z Baumgartner Minardi 1:40.123 Lap 12 Ave speed 199.302

Scuderia_Russ · Post 22 Mar 2004, 18:07

Becker4 wrote: at least some drivers still have some dignity.

Here,here!

rumpelstulskin · Post 22 Mar 2004, 19:50

i think schumacher did not put the fastest lap in teh race because he did not need to... he did break the fastest pole record compfortably yesterday remember!

But yes the reliability of the ferrari engine is i believe the major reason to their comfort. i have not heard of a ferrari engine failure more than once in the last 20 races!!!

joseff · Post 23 Mar 2004, 06:27

We've gone through this over and over and over again, since schumacher/senna, schumacher/hill, schumacher/hakkinen, and now schumacher/montoya.

I never think michael is the fastest driver anyway... he is (and ferrari are) super-consistent. He's the modern Alain Prost, winning at the slowest speed possible.

I think we've seen this mentioned on another post as well... Renault has the best aero, BMW has the best engine, etc... but Ferrari and Michael are the most consistent.

FerrariManiac · Post 23 Mar 2004, 10:51

This the fastest lap for each driver and their average speed in the Malaysian GP, I got it from Planet F1. Look at the top 3, sure looks like Williams and BAR has up their game since Melbourne. Renault has a good speed too..
About the lap times, it clearly shows that Schumi isn't the fastest anymore, at least the gap is shrinking

Actually, he was the faster driver - hense he did win. He won very comfortably too if I may add, controlling the pace, not even threatened at any moment.

The amazing thing - shown by the times indeed, is that he didn't have to push his car, whereas the rest of the grid did push to the limit.

Food for mind.

Monstrobolaxa · Post 24 Mar 2004, 10:21

I really don't get it why is Minardi so happy about having both cars finishing?.....for me if I had a team like minardi....finishing in the top 10 with the number of finishers at Malasia...I would be happy....but finishing in the last 2 positions?????Well that's the same as saying....."we don't mind finishing last.....that was our objective!"

But in any case:

GO MINARDI

Guest · Post 24 Mar 2004, 14:51

Monstrobolaxa wrote:
But in any case:

GO MINARDI

Guest · Post 24 Mar 2004, 15:28

its not always the fastest who wins races. its the team who doesn't have a sudden drop off in performance. that is why michael wins. the car is quick but it doesn't lose half a second or more on some laps it runs about the same time around the track and when michael was being hunted down by montoya u could see michael pull away again. its not that the ferrari isn't the quickest its why push the car when there is no reason to. At australia the engines were put on less of a strain then in malaysia so they could push and push till the end which is why the gap from 1st to 3rd was so large

Guest · Post 24 Mar 2004, 15:32

another thing about that rubens blocking montoya..... yea no sh*t i think i'm goin to block too. because it wasn't like rubens was down a lap and has to get out of the way. rubens has every right to block because he is fightin for a position also. which is what pisses me off about montoya and his fans. they seem to think that montoya is the best and that everyone should get ouf of his way. they should get ouf of his way because he runs into people like a f**king idiot

Blix · Post 24 Mar 2004, 21:00

Well, there is a difference between BLOCKING and DEFENSE. Monty is accusing rubens of "driving in his mirrors" and reacting to stay in front of Monty. That is IMO nearly the biggest sin a racing driver can commit. Playing defense is a whole different thing....but the line is fine and blurry...

Scuderia_Russ · Post 24 Mar 2004, 23:39

Anonymous wrote:montoya and his fans. they seem to think that montoya is the best and that everyone should get ouf of his way. they should get ouf of his way because he runs into people like a f**king idiot

He,he,i thought it was just me that got that impression.Did you see his face in the press confrence? He looked like he'd just humped his mother!