Malaysia sets things up nicely
A couple of decades ago, Rolls Royce, a British manufacturer of luxury automobiles, was able to get away with supercilious statements like “a Rolls Royce does not break down; it fails to proceed.” If you asked Rolls Royce to provide you with performance figures, the withering response you would get would be “adequate plus 10%.”
Taking these things literally, a successful Afrikaner farmer in South Africa in the 1970s, Mr Piet van der Merwe, decided to reward himself by applying part of the proceeds of a bumper harvest towards the purchase of a brand new Rolls Royce Silver Shadow. He loved driving the car so much and, confident that the car was incapable of breaking down, chose to use it for all purposes - even ploughing his farm. The manufacturer’s boast proved to be exaggerated when the car seized up in the middle of a maize field. Mr van der Merwe was, understandably, incensed and telephoned his local Rolls Royce dealership in high dudgeon. It took the intervention of a team of mechanics specially flown in from the Rolls Royce factory in Crewe, England for Mr van der Merwe’s temperament to be restored to equilibrium. Having enabled the car to resume its ability to proceed, the Englishmen were, at length, able to persuade van der Merwe that what he owned was not merely a means of conveyance from A to B but one that did so in some style.
In yet another dramatic Grand Prix (one that surely demonstrates the ridiculousness of the season’s opener in ghastly Bahrain), my thoughts turned to Rolls Royce during the penultimate lap. Fernando Alonso found himself stuck in ninth place behind the McLaren of Jenson Button whose tyres were progressively fading after a perhaps premature tyre change on the ninth lap. No matter how hard he tried, Alonso found it impossible to get past Button lap after lap. In a sign of probable frustration, in the last but one lap, Alonso lunged at the Mclaren and slipped past Button. His joy was short lived as Button promptly took the place back and then saw a sight in his rear view mirrors which we all thought had been consigned to the Formula One history books: a puff of blue smoke blowing out of the Ferrari’s exhaust followed by huge clouds of smoke. Ferrari engines have been bullet-proof for so long that this for me was one of the significant moments of yesterday. According to received wisdom, Ferraris like Rolls Royce cars do not break down. Apparently, not so.
If Alonso was struggling in ninth place and Button was no more than eighth in the dying laps of the Malaysian Grand prix yesterday it was because both McLaren and Ferrari had made identical qualifying errors on Saturday. As the first qualifying session began, the rain was pouring down all over Sepang. Every team but the big two chose to come out and “bank” a lap so as not to find themselves having failed to set any qualifying time at all in the event that the rain became heavier before the end of the session. Both teams were relying on their state of the art gadgetry to tell them what everyone could see by stepping outside their garages and looking up. All four drivers were badly caught out and ended up forced to start Sunday’s race at the back of the grid.
If you are looking for a man who will make the most of a bad situation these days then you need look no further than Lewis Hamilton. By the end of the first lap he had overtaken eight cars and was storming his way down the field putting the fear of god in every driver who caught sight of his mustard yellow helmet in their mirrors. Hamilton had some difficulty getting past the Force India of Adrian Sutil and ultimately had to give it up and settle for sixth place.
Notwithstanding all the excitement in the absence of the rain we had all but been guaranteed, the weekend belonged to the Red Bull team. Mark Webber produced the most efficient qualifying lap on Saturday followed closely by Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel in that order. Vettel showed how much this order meant to him on Sunday when he sped past Rosberg and dived on the inside of his team-mate to take the lead. A lead he never looked in danger of giving up until the chequered flag fell to award him a much deserved win after two consecutive failures occasioned by reliability glitches in Bahrain and Australia. Vettel always looked like a future champion last season and, assuming his Red Bull stays reliable, may well be one in November 2010. His excitement as he stepped out of his car in parc ferme showed a curious mix of excitement and relief. It was a well deserved win.
If you look at the points table after Malaysia, you won’t be surprised to see that the chap at the top is a Ferrari driver but what will probably be surprising is that his name is not Fernando Alonso.
1 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 39pts
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 37
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 37
4 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 35
5 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 35
6 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 31
[I will publish the championship standings at the end of each post-race commentary in the future.]
The top six are nicely bunched up now and it is impossible to predict which one will be world champion in November. Time will tell.
I am very impressed by the tenacity and consistency of Felipe Massa. When it comes to proving his mettle, he seems the more accomplished of the two latinos in scarlet overalls. Paying for the qualifying mistakes of their team bosses, both drivers had to carve their way up through the field but Massa had less difficulty getting past than Alonso. Button was an easy target for Massa but an impossible one for Alonso. I look forward to observing how the chemistry between the pair develops as the season progresses.
I am beginning to wonder how much longer Michael Schumacher will carry on in Formula One . Being consistently outperformed by his young German team-mate must be bad enough, but to have to sit through a race after being forced to retire because his team couldn’t be bothered to screw in his wheel nuts properly must be soul-destroying. It is worth a small bet that Schumacher may do what Nigel Mansell did - after coming back to F1 as a retired ex champion in 1995- and simply walk away after a few races. He certainly does not need the money.
Shanghai in two weeks time – does anyone still want to talk about Bahrain?
Gitau
5 April 2010
World championship table:
1 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 39pts
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 37
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 37
4 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 35
5 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 35
6 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 31
7 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 30
8 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 24
9 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 10
10 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 9
11 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 8
12 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams 5
13 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 2
14 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams 1
15 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 0
16 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber 0
17 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 0
18 Karun Chandhok (Ind) HRT-F1 0
19 Lucas di Grassi (Bra) Virgin Racing 0
20 Bruno Senna (Bra) HRT-F1 0
21 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 0
22 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 0
23 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 0
24 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber 0
Taking these things literally, a successful Afrikaner farmer in South Africa in the 1970s, Mr Piet van der Merwe, decided to reward himself by applying part of the proceeds of a bumper harvest towards the purchase of a brand new Rolls Royce Silver Shadow. He loved driving the car so much and, confident that the car was incapable of breaking down, chose to use it for all purposes - even ploughing his farm. The manufacturer’s boast proved to be exaggerated when the car seized up in the middle of a maize field. Mr van der Merwe was, understandably, incensed and telephoned his local Rolls Royce dealership in high dudgeon. It took the intervention of a team of mechanics specially flown in from the Rolls Royce factory in Crewe, England for Mr van der Merwe’s temperament to be restored to equilibrium. Having enabled the car to resume its ability to proceed, the Englishmen were, at length, able to persuade van der Merwe that what he owned was not merely a means of conveyance from A to B but one that did so in some style.
In yet another dramatic Grand Prix (one that surely demonstrates the ridiculousness of the season’s opener in ghastly Bahrain), my thoughts turned to Rolls Royce during the penultimate lap. Fernando Alonso found himself stuck in ninth place behind the McLaren of Jenson Button whose tyres were progressively fading after a perhaps premature tyre change on the ninth lap. No matter how hard he tried, Alonso found it impossible to get past Button lap after lap. In a sign of probable frustration, in the last but one lap, Alonso lunged at the Mclaren and slipped past Button. His joy was short lived as Button promptly took the place back and then saw a sight in his rear view mirrors which we all thought had been consigned to the Formula One history books: a puff of blue smoke blowing out of the Ferrari’s exhaust followed by huge clouds of smoke. Ferrari engines have been bullet-proof for so long that this for me was one of the significant moments of yesterday. According to received wisdom, Ferraris like Rolls Royce cars do not break down. Apparently, not so.
If Alonso was struggling in ninth place and Button was no more than eighth in the dying laps of the Malaysian Grand prix yesterday it was because both McLaren and Ferrari had made identical qualifying errors on Saturday. As the first qualifying session began, the rain was pouring down all over Sepang. Every team but the big two chose to come out and “bank” a lap so as not to find themselves having failed to set any qualifying time at all in the event that the rain became heavier before the end of the session. Both teams were relying on their state of the art gadgetry to tell them what everyone could see by stepping outside their garages and looking up. All four drivers were badly caught out and ended up forced to start Sunday’s race at the back of the grid.
If you are looking for a man who will make the most of a bad situation these days then you need look no further than Lewis Hamilton. By the end of the first lap he had overtaken eight cars and was storming his way down the field putting the fear of god in every driver who caught sight of his mustard yellow helmet in their mirrors. Hamilton had some difficulty getting past the Force India of Adrian Sutil and ultimately had to give it up and settle for sixth place.
Notwithstanding all the excitement in the absence of the rain we had all but been guaranteed, the weekend belonged to the Red Bull team. Mark Webber produced the most efficient qualifying lap on Saturday followed closely by Nico Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel in that order. Vettel showed how much this order meant to him on Sunday when he sped past Rosberg and dived on the inside of his team-mate to take the lead. A lead he never looked in danger of giving up until the chequered flag fell to award him a much deserved win after two consecutive failures occasioned by reliability glitches in Bahrain and Australia. Vettel always looked like a future champion last season and, assuming his Red Bull stays reliable, may well be one in November 2010. His excitement as he stepped out of his car in parc ferme showed a curious mix of excitement and relief. It was a well deserved win.
If you look at the points table after Malaysia, you won’t be surprised to see that the chap at the top is a Ferrari driver but what will probably be surprising is that his name is not Fernando Alonso.
1 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 39pts
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 37
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 37
4 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 35
5 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 35
6 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 31
[I will publish the championship standings at the end of each post-race commentary in the future.]
The top six are nicely bunched up now and it is impossible to predict which one will be world champion in November. Time will tell.
I am very impressed by the tenacity and consistency of Felipe Massa. When it comes to proving his mettle, he seems the more accomplished of the two latinos in scarlet overalls. Paying for the qualifying mistakes of their team bosses, both drivers had to carve their way up through the field but Massa had less difficulty getting past than Alonso. Button was an easy target for Massa but an impossible one for Alonso. I look forward to observing how the chemistry between the pair develops as the season progresses.
I am beginning to wonder how much longer Michael Schumacher will carry on in Formula One . Being consistently outperformed by his young German team-mate must be bad enough, but to have to sit through a race after being forced to retire because his team couldn’t be bothered to screw in his wheel nuts properly must be soul-destroying. It is worth a small bet that Schumacher may do what Nigel Mansell did - after coming back to F1 as a retired ex champion in 1995- and simply walk away after a few races. He certainly does not need the money.
Shanghai in two weeks time – does anyone still want to talk about Bahrain?
Gitau
5 April 2010
World championship table:
1 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 39pts
2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 37
3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 37
4 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 35
5 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 35
6 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 31
7 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 30
8 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 24
9 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 10
10 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 9
11 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 8
12 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams 5
13 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 2
14 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams 1
15 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 0
16 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber 0
17 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 0
18 Karun Chandhok (Ind) HRT-F1 0
19 Lucas di Grassi (Bra) Virgin Racing 0
20 Bruno Senna (Bra) HRT-F1 0
21 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 0
22 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 0
23 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 0
24 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber 0
posted by Gitau at 4:58 pm
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home