Thoughts on the Malaysian Grand Prix

[Tim]

So what did you think of the second race of the season. A few surprises!

Alonso led from start to finish. Trulli finishing in the same position as his start giving Toyota their best result. Heidfeld finishing on the podium for Williams. Red Bull finished both cars in the points again!

What about McLaren, Montoya did make up a few places and Raikkonen had that tyre blow and he still almost made it into the points.

Ferrari, clearly their tyres weren't good enough as Barrichello demonstrated and Michael mixing it with Red Bull

Reliability was again amazing (except for BAR who actually ran new engines!).

The incident between Fisichella and Webber ?

The 3 way battle between Raf, Webber and Heidfeld ?

Thoughts ?

You can also vote on the driver of the day. Only the top 9 are showing (I've added Raikkonen for managing to nearly get back into the points despite suffuring the puncture. If you want a driver that isn't listed, send me a PM or email

[VTEC]

Good race.

Gotta hand it to Alonso although Trulli and Raikkonen would be close

Didn't expect both BAR's out that early even though they had a new engine

Bad luck to Webber and Fisichella may have been a bit silly. Now he has 0 points when he could have got 3 or 4

Better go get some sleep!

[Amaze]

Great race with a few fights

It is different with no Ferrari at the front but the others made up for it and more.

Alonso had a good race and so did Trulli. Toyota are the surrpise

BAR deserve what they got. 2 engines not lasting for 2 laps!

Hard luck to Raikkonen, even with an extra stop he almost scored. He could have finished in the top 3

We are going to have an interesting season

[K-D]

I am a huge Fernando Alonso fan, and I ma very happy to see him winning and leading the World Championship.

But...

Driver of the day:

Kimi Raikkonen despite crawling most of a lap round on a threewheeler, and having a stop more than all other drivers, he finished 2 seconds down on Michael Schumacher in 7th. I do not have the faculties to calculate how much time he was behind Michael Schumacher when he punctured, but he made a full stop which I put at 30 seconds + a slow lap (even though he really gunned that three wheeler around) which I put at 45 seconds slower than Michael Schumachers racepace, that mean he made 1:15:000 up on Michael Schumacher (and the field) in 30 laps.

With his speed I do not think it impossible that he had cought up with and passed Trulli for second.
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K-D

[JayVee]

Just finished watching the race on Ten in Australia

Good race. Alonso won as expected but Toyota were actually up there. I think neither Williams nor Fisichella would have made it on the podium if Kimi didn't have that puncture.

Fisichella and Webber both lost out and both were wrong IMHO. They both had everything to lose.

Ferrari, what pace! They were no where and even with a new car that is a second faster they won't be at the front.

Button was furious and I don't blame him. A new engine that lasts practice, qualifying and the first 2 laps of a race. A Honda of course

Red Bull in the points again but they really got the points becuase of the Fisichella-Webber tangle as did Michael.

Villenueve, well it looks like the rumours will gather pace now.

At this stage it looks like Kimi is the only driver able to take it to the Renaults.

Yes Kimi never gave up despite the puncture, Alonso drove faultlessly in qualifying and the race so he gets my vote. Poor guy was so exhausted on the podium
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I'm back and yes supporting Alonso "The Cute" in the Ferrari!

[F1greyhound]

I agree with most that has been said, picked Fernando as driver of the day for a second time of 2 GP but same credit to Kimi who lost about 1min in my calculation. By the way Jenson looked a lively candidate for driver of the day, but just for 2 laps.............

I hope everybody understands FERRARIs problem being the tyres, so of course the new F2005 alone might not solve the problem. However Melbourne was okay for the Bridgestones and now they must be motivated to perform in Bahrain. I guess now they wont and rather expect them being on par come Imola.

It was really a nice GP with some exciting action. Re.Giancarlo vs.Mark I feel its pretty easy to state that was poor driving, I mean are they poor drivers all of a sudden? I think Mark pushed with a certain degree of risk just like Nick in Melbourne. Giancarlo unlike Michael in Melbourne had a very badly balanced car and couldnt hold the fighting line he chose. To me that was, even more than Nick-Michael in AUS, a pure race accident.

This championship is going to be quite interesting and best thing about it is how competitive several teams are. We have 6 teams who can win races this year plus REDBULL who are amazingly close. Then its SAUBER who have to work hard if they want points and be better than just 8th best car.
JORDAN will be 9th and MINARDI 10th anyway.

The disappointment of the race was 100% BRIDGESTONE which was demonstrated by FERRARI. Oh, and maybe Jaques, but de drove like in the last 4 races....................
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YOURS IN SPORT

[Graham Ross]

Pretty good race!

Alonso drove a solid race but was never threatened. Trulli this time managed to look after his tyres. Fisichella didn't which is odd as we all thought he's more gentle on tyres than Alonso

Webber, well he and Ralf almost crashed so you've got to give him some blame. Fisichella was struggling that bad, he would have gotten by a bit later or via pits. I guess he was worried about Heidfeld who wasn't slower than Webber (sorry Julian where is Julian, still getting a life ?)

I am a bit dissapointed with Montoya. It looks like he can't manage his tyres. He was again lucky to finish ahead of Kimi. Speaking of whom, I consider him the driver of the day even though he scored no points. Driving almost a full lap on 3 wheels and having an extra stop yet he set the fastest time and kept going and didn't give up.

Ferrari Well the tyres did melt on Barrichello's car, again it is supposed to be Michael who is harder but what was Rubens thinking going on a soft compound in Malaysia. Now they blame a rubber stuck in the wing!!

I disagree that the problem is entirely Bridgestone. It is a big factor but it is the whole package. Anyone last year say Ferrari weren't fast but the Bridgestones were superior ?

BAR Honda must by especially that Toyota was so strong and 4 engines lasted 2 races not 2 laps
Felt sorry for Davidson but I didn't like his comment that we'll see more cars blowing

Villeneuve, I think I made a bet with JV that he'll be out by San Marino . Let me go and check

This is the best start we've had in a long time

[Woogle]

[350Z]

I'd give Raikkonen my vote too. Too bad he didn't score

I hope his bad luck stops soon!

I think Alonso, Trulli, Heidfeld and Coulthard were outstanding too

Reliability was outstanding too. It seems no matter what you throw at those teams they just take it (except for Honda that is )

Trulli and Alonso looked really tired at the end of the race while Heidfeld didn't

Don't think I'll do well in 8 'n' Pole but doubt that many will!!

Bahrain is going to be interesting whether Ferrari bring the new car or not. It shouldn't be as hot so the Bridgestones may not struggle as much.
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The Montoya/Raikkonen battle is on!

[Andre_Brasil]

Bridgestone sucked!!

Fisio and Webber must be MS fans... The accident was kind of stupid but I guess that there are a lot of people that prefer drivers who think with their feet instead with their brains. Three or four points can make all the difference at the end of the championship.

Well done, BAR!

The race deserved two laps more, and Kimi would have been rewarded. Alonso is the man to beat right now.
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Andre Bertrand
aabc01
Brasil

[alonsofan]

alonso dominated in malaysia, magnificent driving, finished far ahead of anyone else without pushing

fisichella was destroyed, webber and ralf need to learn how to overtake

raikkonen was good

before season started i said alonso will be youngest champion ever, now people are starting to say that

move over michael, salute the new champion

[Woogle]

[Byron Forbes]

I see there's as many clueless people in this thread as there were on the comentary teams covering the race. How any blame can be heaped upon Webber for either incident is incredible. He simply is minding his own business, leaving plenty of room to the inside for both Ranf and Fisi and they lose control and come up into him. The only thing he can be blamed for is expecting F1 driving skills from those 2 and kidding himself he could place any trust in their abilities.

The racing was great though. It's like something has been out to get Webber - Coulthard overtaking at T1, Lap 1 in Australia was close, Ralf got even closer and finally Giancarlo showed them how to do it properly!

What a revelation this race was though. Imagine the looks you'd have gotten this time last year if you claimed Toyota would be on the podium here and ferrari would be lucky to scrape up any points. At present Renault seem to be a marginal #1 with a host of teams almost matching them - Williams, Mclaren, Toyota. Then just a tad back seems to be BAR, Red Bull and Ferrari. It seems that any of these teams may be able to win a race this season with a lot of work and a bit of luck. This truely looks set to be the best F1 season in ages!

[Woogle]

[Down_Under_Fan]

*Everything went to plan for Alonso.
*Trulli drove a good race considering ?? marks were still hanging over his car after the 1st pit stop in melb.
The Webber,Ralf and Nick H duel was an absolute gem.I wonder what Frank Williams was thinking when both Webber and Nick nearly touched
The Webber/Fischi tangle IMO both drivers were at fault.
Webbers-A smart driver would have realised that from where fischi was coming from[on the dirty side]he would have overshot the corner in which Webber would have just had to go on the inside of him[zig zag].
Fischi,s-Should have realised his race was shot because of lack of grip and to go onto the dirty stuff was suicidal.
*Redbull so far are the suprise packetts.good performance by both Coultard and Klien.
*Worrying times for MS and Rubens.