It has been hard to write a report for this weekends GP. Not just because Kimi had another disastrous result but I’m still feeling cheated out of a proper race. I totally agree they couldn’t have raced in those conditions but can’t help but think there were another 23 laps out there which could have provided much excitement with a drying track. 

Its Bernie’s fault - he should never had agreed to a late start time in Malaysia. He put pressure on the organisers to agree to a night race and this was the compromise. He knew however (from the other 9 years F1 has been at Sepang) that it always rains at that time of day at that time of year. The fact that it was dry just after the race was called off (due to the 2 hour rule) compounds this - if it wasn’t for the fading light it would have been fine to race. Another reason why a normal start time would have meant the race could have been restarted - although it would have meant an hours wait while the rain fell. 

Congratulations to Button for holding it together to take another win. He dropped down to 4th at the start but kept his head when it mattered, ran longer in the first stint and set some stunning laps before his first stop which helped him move back into the lead. 

Another great win for the Brit but I can’t help but think he’s a little disappointed that he didn’t get to over 75% race distance and secure the full 10 points. After all if the ‘diffuser’ ruling goes against Brawn (along with Toyota and Williams), or even if it doesn’t in fact,  these first two races may have been his real chance to get ahead before the usual front runners resume normal service.

He was very lucky though as on lap 30 Glock was leading the race before he pitted for full wets. A decision which cost the luckless German his first win and in fact two places in the end. It was a real pleasure to see Timo get a solid result and his second podium ever. He seems such a nice guy and his gamble on inters really deserved a reward.

Kimi and Ferrari sadly had another race to forget. Things started well and the Finn was in a solid 5th (doesn’t that sound awful - he should be fighting for wins!). Sadly the team jumped the gun with the decision to switch to full wets at his first stop, when the rain hadn’t even started to fall properly yet. This wrecked his race before it had even started but if a restart had happened he wouldn’t have been part of it as the KERS system on his car was playing up again - I’m guessing the river of water on the circuit he had to drive through might have had something to do with it. 

So with the race red flagged and aborted Kimi was placed 14th. Totally gutting to see the Kimster finish in such a low, ‘pointless’ position and it seemed the only highlight to race day was seeing him chillaxing with an ice cream and can of coke, while the rest of the field were stressing out over the possible restart!

I really feel most of all for the fans at the circuit though (especially those who travelled a long way), who waited for almost an hour in the rain not knowing if they’d see anymore racing or not . I’d have been frustrated, gutted and angry (like I was at Indy 2005) but maybe thats just me.

All in all a very bad start to the season for Raikkonen and his fans. Two races and no points. However all of the other teams/drivers you would have expected to be fighting for the title are on minimal or no points as well. So thats a bonus I guess. 

Jemela Coventry

Race Results

Pos  Driver        Team                      Time
 1.  Button        Brawn GP              (B)  55:30.622
 2.  Heidfeld      BMW Sauber            (B)  + 22.722
 3.  Glock         Toyota                (B)  + 23.513
 4.  Trulli        Toyota                (B)  + 46.173
 5.  Barrichello   Brawn GP              (B)  + 47.360
 6.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  + 52.333
 7.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes      (B)  + 60.733
 8.  Rosberg       Williams-Toyota       (B)  + 71.576
 9.  Massa         Ferrari               (B)  + 76.932
10.  Bourdais      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  + 102.164
11.  Alonso        Renault               (B)  + 109.422
12.  Nakajima      Williams-Toyota       (B)  + 116.130
13.  Piquet        Renault               (B)  + 116.731
14.  Raikkonen     Ferrari               (B)  + 142.841
15.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault      (B)  +  1 lap
16.  Buemi         Toro Rosso-Ferrari    (B)  +  1 lap
17.  Sutil         Force India-Mercedes  (B)  +  1 lap
18.  Fisichella    Force India-Mercedes  (B)  +  2 lap
Fastest lap: Button, 1:36.641

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                      On lap
Kubica        BMW Sauber            (B)     1
Kovalainen    McLaren-Mercedes      (B)     0

Read original blog post

ah i’m so mixed on this grand prix. i loved it up until there were 24 laps left and they stopped it.

great write up jemela, you’re spot on everywhere. i was with you in indy. although there, half a race would have sufficed.

i felt the same way about the shortage of race. the top three must be gutted not to get full points. there was so much parody that a flat out race to the 75% mark would have sufficed.

bernie always finds a way to screw things up, i swear! reflect a glorious light off your gleaming and balding bucket you pig and let them race!

major bum deal for kubica and kovy to be out so early.

my top dogs of the day are obviously jenson, but timo glock and nico rosberg. a lot of guys had really great races that got caught out by the weather. toyota as a whole looked great and brawn’s KER’s-less dominance spoke volumes to their hard work (or their diffusers, haha).

sucks big for kimi and ferrari. terrible idea to gamble like that. i sure hope it wasn’t on kimi. stupid move that unfortunately for kimi, ferrari deserves. of course we wouldn’t all be saying this had it started to poor instantly, or the next lap, but the tables don’t play to that type of gamble right now. who is it that runs brawn gp so well..?

luckiest guy of the day was nick heidfeld. i could be wrong but i think timo had that planned out more than he had lucked out. good to see toyota and red bull coming good, though. big (half) points for everyone that scored, but i think a lot of the drivers outside of the top three really feel as cheated as we the fans do.

but on the up, as you pointed out jemela, this bodes well for the kimster in having 15 points to attack opposed to 20. this margin will probably heat things up a bit and china should be exciting.