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Felipe Massa finished this afternoon's
Malaysian Grand Prix in fifth position one
place ahead of his Ferrari team-mate
Fernando Alonso although a slow pitstop for
the former and a mistake by the latter cost
either the chance of a podium position. |
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Felipe Massa finished
the second round of the world championship in fifth
position, one place of his Scuderia Ferrari team-mate,
Fernando Alonso. However, these bare facts hide the true
story of the race that provided plenty of excitement for
the fans, even without the much awaited Sepang storm and
in which both Ferrari men had genuine opportunities to
finish on the podium today. In the end, a malfunction of
Alonso’s adjustable rear wing meant a straightforward
passing move on Hamilton became a titanic and thrilling
struggle between two worthy opponents. It ended when the
Spaniard clipped the rear of the Englishman’s car, which
forced the Ferrari driver to make an extra unscheduled
stop for a new nose. Felipe too put in a spirited drive,
although a slow pit stop dropped him down the order and
in the end, Webber on fresher tyres was able to sneak
past the Brazilian who had battled his way back to
fourth, but had to settle for that fifth place. Eighteen
points mean the Scuderia is still third in the
Constructors’ Championship on 36 points, 14 behind
McLaren and with half the number of Red Bull Racing the
leaders on 72.
The race was won by Sebastian Vettel who thus has a full
quota of points having won for Red Bull Racing in
Melbourne a fortnight ago. Currently, the German world
champion is in a class of his own. Behind him, there
were several drivers who seemed ready to lay claim to
second place, that position eventually going to Jenson
Button for McLaren. Nick Heidfeld, who drives for
Renault this year as the replacement for Robert Kubica
took an impressive third place, which he built on by
powering into second place at the start, from sixth on
the grid.
As the lights went out Vettel led from pole, then came
the unexpected Heidfeld, followed by Hamilton, Button,
Petrov and then Felipe who passed Fernando at the
hairpin, with Schumacher and Webber just behind. By lap
6 the two Ferrari men had got by Petrov and then as
early as lap 10, Webber began the tyre changes. Three
laps later, in came Felipe to switch from old to new
soft tyres, but a problem on the left front wheel nut
meant his stop was longer than it should have been and
he dropped down the order, while Fernando, on the same
three stop strategy came in next time round.
Lap 16 saw Fernando go fourth as he passed Button and
then third as he moved ahead of Kobayashi. By lap 18,
the Spanish Ferrari man was third, about 4 seconds
behind Hamilton, while Felipe was in seventh place. From
lap 22 onwards, the three stoppers came in for their
second tyre change. Lap 30 saw Fernando fourth behind
Vettel and the two McLarens and a few laps later, the
Ferrari man began to close on Button, while Hamilton had
a slow pit stop on lap 37. Lap 40 saw Alonso briefly
second, but only because of the run of pit stops, after
which he was right with Hamilton. Unfortunately, any
chance of getting the F150º Italia ahead of the McLaren
were thwarted by the fact Alonso’s moveable rear wing
system was no longer working, but the double world
champion is not the sort to give up easily, hence began
a fantastic fight between the two men. Unfortunately, on
lap 46, with 10 to go, Fernando’s front wing just
clipped the back of his rival and he had to come in for
a new nose, which effectively ruined any chances of a
strong result. In fact, after the race, the Stewards
gave both men a 20 second penalty; the Prancing Horse
driver for causing an accident and the McLaren man for
changing too often. Fortunately, while Hamilton dropped
a place on the result sheet, Fernando’s time advantage
was such that it kept him in sixth place.
As for Felipe, who made his final pit stop on lap 38, he
found himself struggling a bit on the hard tyres and
despite his best efforts, he was unable to fight off a
recovering Webber, who on fresher tyres, eventually
passed the Brazilian on lap 50 to take fifth place off
him, after which the Australian also moved up to fourth
when Hamilton, another one struggling with tyre wear,
ran wide with three laps to go.
At the flag therefore, Vettel shared the champagne
spraying duties with Button and Heidfeld (possibly the
most delighted man in Sepang.) The other points went to
Webber fourth ahead of Felipe, then Fernando was sixth,
with Kobayashi promoted to seventh, Hamilton demoted to
eighth, Schumacher ninth and Di Resta taking the final
point for tenth spot.
For Scuderia Ferrari, the obvious conclusion, now
reached in both races so far, is that the pace of the
Maranello car is much better in the race than in
qualifying. This alone will not be enough to win races
and there has been plenty of talk all this weekend from
senior personnel in the team, indicating that the
technical battle is only just beginning,as everyone in
the factory prepares to ramp up efforts in developing
the car. Already there are updates making their way to
Shanghai where the Chinese Grand Prix takes place in
just one week’s time. After this race, Fernando and
Felipe are fifth and sixth respectively in the Drivers’
Championship, while the Scuderia is third in the
Constructors’.
Stefano Domenicali: “We cannot be
pleased with this result, because today, we had the
possibility to finally leap up onto the podium. Two
incidents, linked one to a reliability issue (a failure
of the moveable rear wing on Fernando’s car) and one at
a pit stop (a problem with the left front at Felipe’s
first stop) cost us very dear. It’s a shame, because in
terms of race pace the 150º Italia seemed much more
competitive when compared to its qualifying performance,
as we had already seen in Melbourne. Once again today
one driver, Vettel, was probably uncatchable but we were
capable of fighting with all the others. Felipe and
Fernando both drove great races: it’s up to us to give
them a better car. We find ourselves in a situation
where we need to be perfect to maximise our potential,
given that we are lagging behind in terms of
performance: we did not manage that and we must do all
in our power to avoid that situation repeating itself.
At the same time, we have to seriously ramp up the
development of our car to make up the lost ground
compared to the best. We will try and complete an
analysis of the aerodynamics of the car as quickly as
possible and introduce some developments as soon as we
can, maybe right from the next race in China.”
Fernando Alonso: “I am happy with this
race: not with the result but because we were finally
competitive, capable of fighting wheel to wheel for a
place on the podium. This is further motivation for the
forthcoming race in China. We were not lucky: if the
moveable rear wing had worked all the time, I could
easily have passed Hamilton down the straight, but
instead we had to fight hard. He defended very well and,
unfortunately, we touched: that broke my wing and I had
to come back into the pits to change it, thus losing any
chance of getting to the podium. These things happen:
today went badly for me, but another time we will have
better luck. Here, the car seemed capable of managing
the tyres really well which meant I could fight with the
others. With the package we have today, we cannot fight
for the win, but I hope that changes soon. In Shanghai,
we realise we can expect another difficult weekend. We
will have something new, but we don’t know how much
progress it will see us make. Everyone knows that, at
the moment, we just have to grit our teeth and that’s
what we will do. There is still a long way to go in the
championship and we must leave nothing to chance.”
Felipe Massa: “We definitely have to
improve the car, but it’s equally true that our race
pace is very different to our performance in qualifying.
That’s a positive, but we know that grid position is
nevertheless very important, so we have to move forward
on this front. As for my race, it was a shame to have
lost valuable seconds at my first pit stop: but for that
problem, I could have fought my way to a podium place.
With the soft tyres my pace was very good, less so on
the hards, to such an extent that Webber, who in
addition had made one more stop, managed to pass me.”
Pat Fry: “Today we had the potential to
pick up rather more than these 18 points, but we didn’t
manage it, which leaves a slightly bitter taste in the
mouth. Fernando could have made it to the podium, but
the coming together with Hamilton, which led to the
front wing breaking, meant he had to make an additional
pit stop. Unfortunately, the Spaniard had to tackle the
duel with his former team-mate at a disadvantage, as he
was unable to use the DRS which failed after a few laps
because of a mechanical problem. Felipe lost valuable
position at his first pit stop because of a problem with
the wheel nut on the left front wheel, otherwise he too
could have been fighting for a podium place. From a
strategic point of view, we scheduled three stops and
that proved to be correct. Today, tyre degradation was
less than what we had seen on Friday afternoon. The 150º
Italia showed it had a good race pace, as indeed was the
case in Melbourne. We leave Malaysia aware that we have
a lot of work to do to raise our performance level and
there can be no doubt about that, but it is also the
case that, in the race, the gaps are not as big as in
qualifying.”
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