Malaysian GP 2008

[Conceptual]

Well done Robert, a very goood second place. Earned every bit of it, and well deserved. BMW is now poised to win a race anytime now.

He is an amazing Q3 qualifier but the car seems to lose a bit of speed in the race. If Robert is able to grab pole in Monaco or Hungary with a decent amount of fuel, BMW will surely get their first win. BMW is definitely knocking on the door.

I feel the same way about the BMW losing something between quali and the race. I wonder if they are turning down the revs slightly for engine care, or if they just have great 1-2 lap times, but drop off with the tyres.

Good race, rain would ahve made it more fun, but it is good to something other than Scarlet and Silver on the podium...

Chris

[P_O_L]

Kubica said in the press conference the BMW lacks a bit of topspeed vs the Ferrari. Kimi turned down the revs before the first pitstop and so his best racelap wasnt even the maximum. food for thought for the mclaren camp me thinks.

But it would be very strange if BMW doesnt win at least one race this year. Kubica put what, 18 seconds on heikki? Heidfeld easely could follow hamilton. IM convinced the BMW is the better car now.

Also strange, Lewis said because of the botched pit stop, he was robbed of a podium. Heres me thinking it was more due to his qualifying behaviour wich resulted in a penalty.

And while the toyota has improved by miles. im not convinced by trullis race abilitys. Very good qualifier, bad racer. They should put Mark Webber in that car.

[DaveKillens]

Kubica said in the press conference the BMW lacks a bit of topspeed vs the Ferrari. Kimi turned down the revs before the first pitstop and so his best racelap wasnt even the maximum. food for thought for the mclaren camp me thinks.

According to this quote from Kimi Raikkonen: "I am very happy with this win, for me and for the team. It's a shame that Felipe was unable to let us bring home a result that was within our grasp. At the start I came alongside Felipe, but I did not take any risks, knowing I was stopping one lap later than him at the end of the first stint. When that time came, I pushed to the maximum and I managed to come out of my pit stop ahead of him. From then on, with a clear track ahead of me, the car was perfect I was able to control the situation without having to stress the car or the tyres. We are struggling a little bit in qualifying, but in the race we have a very high potential. We have had a very complicated start to the season, but I have certainly not lost faith in the team: we can still do better."

My interpretation is that Kimi was going balls-out during the period you described him as taking it easy. It doesn't make sense to be just behind the leader, see him pit, and you would not want to put in a quick lap to gain time and position so that when you do your own pitstop, you wind up first.

[P_O_L]

Lol, well he certainly gives mixed signals i agree with that.


Q: Kimi, what a fantastic bounce back for the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team after that weekend in Australia?
KR: For sure we had quite a difficult weekend in Australia. We didn’t really expect to have such difficulties and we were 100 per cent sure that it was going to be different here. Speed-wise we knew that we were going to be fine once we were in the right place. Even in Australia the speed should have been okay in the race. Everything worked perfectly here and we took it quite easy in the race to make sure nothing went wrong. We still have a second race with the same engine, so we saved the engine quite well here.

[mx_tifoso]

IM convinced the BMW is the better car now.

Don't be fooled by the results so far, the true order of the grid will be established within the next few GP's, you can be sure of that.

Underestimating McLaren, or even any team, is a mistake since each team has a few weekends throughout the season of which they would like to forget. Remember, theres 18 GP's total, with only two gone so far. And every team will have the opportunity to progress and make improvements from now until Bahrein, and even then, we will most likely have to wait for the Spanish GP in order to have a clear view of reality.

Besides, one of the obvious reasons for McLarens not-so-great weekend was the restult of the 5 place grid penalties recieved by each driver. So that alone contributed to them having to fight mainly with the midfield cars. Which restulted in giving BMW enough space to fight for second place on the podium. Things simply played into BMW's(Kubica's) hands (Massa spinning out, Hamilton having qualy and pitstop problems during the race).

Be patient and let the dust settle...

[P_O_L]

Ha, im not saying mclaren is a midfield team, im saying BMW catched them and is a better car. Only a mistake robbed them from a pole position in Melbourne. Kubica would still have had a podium even if massa was still there in Malaysia. Hamilton was flat out locking wheels trying to catch trulli but heidfeld could easely follow and even had the fastest racelap. The omen is there and if i was mclaren, i wouldnt sleep so good at night. The BMW looked problematic out of the box but look what they achieve in just 2 months time. Amazing. The former sauber team has grown up. Its very praisworthy. Reminds me to 1999, when JOrdan suddenly stepped up and challenged the big four. Frentzen was still a contender for the championship when the Italian GP came on.

[mx_tifoso]

I understand

But the MP4-23's potential in Malaysia was hindered and thus did not show it's full strength, thats my main point. So that dismisses any subjective opinions considering the F1.08 better than the MP4-23.

And I have a feeling that Kubica would have been robbed of a podium finish had Massa and Hamilton faired better (i.e no spins, sanctions, pit issues).

[P_O_L]

True, Kubica wouldnt have gotten a podium, heidfeld would have. He was blocked on his way to a certain 3rd position by 2 drivers from a certain team

By the way, massa had his engine running..why didnt the malaysian gp directors send a crane to his rescue alla hamiltons beach party @ the european gp?

[Giblet]

Mclaren slamming constant.... ears closing.... P_O_L's opinions impacts diminishing....

Listen... Not being a Hammie praiser, but a realist, and a long time Mclaren fan since the Prost/Senna days, the crane thing was very unusual. It wasn't some big conspiracy, but he did have the wherewithall to keep his engine running until the volunteer corner workers moved him. It wasn't a bunch of race directors conspiring from some bunker to make him win. He managed to rescue something in an unusual way amongst absolute chaos.

If Massa kept his engine running, and an operating crane was on the track, and it lifted him out of the gravel, which rule would that break? Maybe none, maybe many, I don't know.

Sorry to jump on you P_O_L, but it seems every comment you have has a central anti-Mclaren tone to it.

If you change your name to "I don't like Mcleren (ESPECIALLY HAMILTON)" you would no longer need to post a body to your messages.

Your name would say it all.

[P_O_L]

Then you dont read my postings well enough. Mclaren played only a very small part in that. Im sorry ive hurt your feelings if I said bmw is a faster car. It is not my fault heikki outqualified and outraced Hamilton, it is not my fault theve gotten a penalty. Slamming mclaren is a few stations further i reckon. I think yr nitpicking. Might as well say i should stop slamming Massa in that other thread.

[Giblet]

Everything you have said in your posts may or not be true, I don't care, all I can see is anti Macca tone frome you. I am a huge BMW fan and want them to win the title, so my feelings are far from hurt. In addition, I don't tend to get very emotional about text from strangers on the internet, as you do.

No need to respond, I think we can agree to disagree that your tone is negative.

[P_O_L]

Everything you have said in your posts may or not be true, I don't care, all I can see is anti Macca tone frome you. ve.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Like i said in some other post ud expect mclaren to keep a low profile but 2 races into 2008 they create yet another controversy. You must be wearing rose-tinted specs to see the positive in that. To blame me for bringing that up is a bit sour grape attitude. Especially considering my previous posts about Massa and Ferraris performance in the previous race and my defense of the use of mclarens ecu the accusation all you see is anti-mclaren is simply twisted reality. A self-proclaimed realist should know better.

[Spencifer_Murphy]

True, Kubica wouldnt have gotten a podium, heidfeld would have. He was blocked on his way to a certain 3rd position by 2 drivers from a certain team

By the way, massa had his engine running..why didnt the malaysian gp directors send a crane to his rescue alla hamiltons beach party @ the european gp?

New rules this year ban it mate.

I didn't like (from a sporting aspect) how Hamilton was craned back onto the track at the Nurburgring last year. But if you're going to critise anyone about it, you must look for the source...The first high profile case of this "I'm stuck gimme a push" crap was at the Nurburgring in 2003, Schumi dropped it when JPM was overtaking him at the dunlop curve. He was beached on the kurb on the outside of the corner, and was pushed back on track. I was outraged, I didn't see how he was in a particularly dangerous position, he wasn't on the racing line for instance, and a crane could quite easily recover the car.

Likewise when Hamilton did it I though the same as I did in '03, which is "Fair enough, its within the rules, so fair play to the guy for having the knowledge of the rules to exploit them, and/or their loopholes - but I don't like it at all - not one bit".

My personal opinion is that if a driver spins and beaches the car its his own damn fault and that's his race over, see Massa at Sepang this year - he spun it, and it beeched, I'm afraid that's part of racing, it may not be his fault - but neither is an engine blow-up, or a puncture. So why should he or anyother driver get such a "get-out-of-jail-free card"?

Apparently new rules this year prevent these "push-start" actions by the stewards (according to ITV's coverage of the australian GP this year), and I for one am glad about that.

[teecof1fan]

I'm trying to stay out of this melee, but to Spence, I think the second biggest reason for all the new asphalt runoffs we are seeing nowadays besides the safety reasons is that the drivers can keep going if they make a mistake. I'm pretty neutral on this, but a lot of people think that it's unfair that a driver will make the slightest of errors (maybe not in Massa's case ) and just because of that his whole weekend is over, e.g. getting beached. Now, with the runoffs, a driver can make a tiny error and not ruin the entire race. Instead they get what I think is penalty enough: they drop way down the order because of their mistake, but they aren't out of the race either.

I mean this in a general sense.

But specifically, I think Massa during the Malaysian GP spun onto the asphalt runoff and just barely ended up with the rears on the gravel, so he was unlucky with that, but it was justified of course!!

[Belatti]

Felipe Massa (DNF, Spin): "On lap 31, I clipped the kerb at the exit to Turn 6 and hit it quite hard and then I lost the rear end going into the next corner. We have to check to see if the impact with the kerb damaged the car.

Yeah, you wish the impact with the kerb damaged the car... reality says you suck without TC
Before Malaysia I thought Massa worth something... I made a mistake.
BTW, Ciro: he is not as good as any Brazilian in F1 history, maybe as good as Piquet or Barrichello, but not like the Racing God.

Note: as Manchild loves F1 but suffers with Max in it, I love this forum but suffer some(one) in it. I don´t want to fight, I know I have to stand someone, but I would like to see a bit less of subjectivity. SO STOP HATING McLAREN FOR GOD SAKE!!! WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOU? YOU DAMN TROLL