Felipe Massa gives an overview of the situation a week after the next round of the World Championship in Malaysia. The Red Bulls continue to be much faster, but Ferrari is improving compared to the Australian Grand Prix. The Brazilian driver returns to talk about the race that was held in Melbourne:
"The Australian Grand Prix didn't go the way the team and I expected: we weren't competitive enough, contrary to what we thought based on the winter tests. If there is one lesson we took home after this race, it is that we have a lot of work to do. We need to understand as soon as possible what happened in Melbourne to try to collect those points at the next race that we didn't get in the first".
In the first round of the season, the reds of Maranello finished with the fourth place of Alonso and the seventh of Massa, noting the dominance of Red Bull and McLaren:
"I was asked in Australia if I had been more surprised by Red Bull or McLaren. The answer is that that's what Vettel did in qualifying was impressive. McLaren has indeed taken a step forward but Red Bull is far faster than anyone".
Massa then opens a chapter on the novelties that characterize the 2011 single-seaters talking about the duel with Button in the first part of the race:
"We didn't have to wait long to see the effect of the moving rear wing and Kers, given my duel with Button in the first part of the race. Although he was not very close to the exit of the last corner, on the straight he was practically able to flank me, thanks to the use of the Drs. During the duel, I think I did a good job using the Kers in a defensive key, aware that I have to save it as much as possible to use it only at the time of the attack: however, it is always better to be the attacker rather than the defender".
However, the Brazilian is convinced that the show offered was appreciated by the public:
"I'm sure the spectators had a good time and I'm sorry I couldn't continue the duel because I didn't have the right rhythm".
A note also on the behaviour of the rival:
"After the cut, I expected him to return the position to me because the rules are clear and Jenson is experienced enough to know, without having to wait for instructions from the team".
Finally, Massa analyzes the other duel with Buemi's Toro Rosso:
"I overcame it, thanks to the Drs but also to the fact that I had fresher tires than his. Honestly, it wasn't easy because even though the wing allowed me to get closer I couldn't pull him off, also because we didn't have a great top speed that weekend. In the end, I made it in detachment".
The Formula 1 circus is set to turn on its engines again and get back on track for the Malaysian Grand Prix. And for the weekend of Sepang, Ferrari, after its debut below expectations, has a basic goal: to improve the behaviour of the single-seater on the single lap, as confirmed by Pat Fry, deputy technical director of the Maranello team.
"After the race in Australia, we spent a lot of time analysing the data acquired in Melbourne. If there is one obvious thing, it is that our race step was certainly better than our performance in qualifying. Much is due to the way our car uses tires, so this analytical work has been dedicated to improving the car's behaviour on a single lap, comparing it with that on the distance. In addition, we worked on another key factor, aerodynamics, to try to figure out how to bring out the car's potential more effectively. As a result, we have defined an intensive programme of trials to be carried out in Malaysia".
As for the movable rear wing, the so-called Drs (Drag Reduction System), Fry believes it is an interesting tool, although its benefits are not yet entirely clear.
"After the winter tests, most teams are finding a fairly similar level of resistance reduction, with an estimated speed increase of between 20 and 25 km/h. I think overtaking is slightly easier, especially when you're in traffic and trying to get over a dubbed but, as we've seen on the main Melbourne straight, it's always hard to pass cars with similar performance to your own. You have to be about three-tenths of the car in front of you when you enter the curve before the DRS zone to have the chance to pass at the end of the straight".
The Kers, the kinetic energy recovery system, had already been successfully used by Ferrari in 2009, but now, contrary to what happened then, most teams have adopted this technology, which has changed its strategic use in the race.
"The Kers provides a very useful way to improve lap time and its use seems to vary a lot from team to team. Some only use it in qualifying and at the start, while others use it constantly. The Kers helps in overtaking because it allows you to reduce the gap from the machine in front of you and then, with the Drs, you can try. It's becoming a tactical game between the two machines: the chasing one using both tools, the chasing one defending himself using only the Kers, trying to create a sufficient gap before entering the main straight".
Starting again from Sepang: Ferrari wants to leave the Australian GP behind and to do so it must achieve an important result in Malaysia. Fernando Alonso reveals the few changes Ferrari will present over the weekend.
"We're going to have something new in the car but nothing particularly meaningful or that can make us say that this or that change is the key to leaping performance. We know that we need to improve the level of our performance but we are equally aware that the result of the race was not so disastrous".
The Spaniard outlines the difficulties, especially the climactic ones, of the Grand Prix to be held in Sepang.
"Conditions change quickly: the preparation phase of the various stages of track work becomes stressful. Suddenly you go from the sun to a very strong roar of rain, it is necessary to be prepared for any eventuality. It is not just a problem for us drivers but for the whole team: you need to have several emergency plans. There are temperatures around 30 °C and above all a lot of humidity".
Alonso stayed in Australia to prepare for the race.
"I decided to stay on this side of the world so as not to lose the habit of the time zone, it was important to get used to these weather conditions as well. I had time to re-examine the trend of the Melbourne weekend, I am convinced that we need to stay focused on our work and try to figure out how to bring out the full potential of the car which is huge. Before you succeed, it's useless to be here making predictions about how the weekend will go. We have to deal with it day after day. On this circuit I have good memories, like the first pole of my career, it was a great joy".
As mentioned, both Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa want to improve. Theirs is a positive approach, after Ferrari's grey test in Australia. Says the Brazilian:
"We can expect more speed and I look forward to a better weekend".
And adds the Spanish:
"We've completed our analyses and figured out what happened in terms of performance in Melbourne and where we need to work. We indeed need to improve the car, but we should also see how the next two or three races go, to see if the situation we experienced in Melbourne is a real problem. I hadn't gone to Melbourne expecting something special, because from the winter tests you can never be sure what the situation is like. However, we wanted to be competitive for pole and victory and that didn't happen, so we were disappointed with our performance".
There has been a lot of talk about Ferrari's lack of pace linked to tire performance, but the Spaniard rejected this hypothesis.
"I don't usually say that the car's performance was disappointing because the tires didn't work properly".
For Alonso, if there is something to improve, Melbourne's fourth place is not so bad.
"Everyone says it was a disaster, but I disagree: we finished fourth and finished ahead of Button and Webber. If we want to do better here and go to the podium, we have to do a better job".
The right recipe in Sepang is to have a good balance:
"Tomorrow we need to work on the set-up as much as possible and optimize the aerodynamics of the car".
You can't talk about Sepang without mentioning the weather and prospect of thunderstorms coinciding with qualifying and the race.
"Of course, the rain will make this weekend more stressful, there is a need to be ready for all eventualities and it would be useful if the opportunity presented itself on a Friday to try the extreme and intermediate rain tires, to see how they work in every situation, the information collected from the use of tires at high temperatures will be useful because we have never done it during the winter tests. It might be an unknown and very interesting possibility but it's not a worrying thing as it will be the same for everyone".
Because of Sepang, the Brazilian believes in the single-seater and is convinced that the Ferrari F150° Italia can offer better performance than the one provided in Albert Park, Australia:
"We've spent the last two weeks analyzing Australian data and now we know the direction to start and I hope this will serve to have a more competitive car".
In Australia during qualifying, however, there was a big difference with the two Red Bulls:
"I've been too aggressive in my set-up, so it changes for this race".
Bad news still comes from the world champion team: the two Red Bulls this time will have the kers, a system that allows them to have a power increase limited to 6-7 seconds per lap, while they did not mount it in Australia. The rainbow single-seaters are likely to become unreliable in Malaysia:
"It's a little early to kill the championship. It's hard to comment on the other teams but I know that on our car, without the Kers, we lose time on the lap".
The Brazilian Ferrari driver had finished seventh in the Australian Grand Prix after taking on a nice duel with Jenson Button's McLaren- Mercedes.
"Thanks to Kers I was able to fight hard and keep Jenson behind me. I made good use of the Kers on the straight where he was very fast, using the adjustable wing and I also used it in the curves, managing the system well. Then he overtook me on the wrong side and, to be honest, I expected to get my position back, but after Alonso overtook me it would be difficult for him to do so".
In Sepang, Massa started twice from pole position but played his best races starting from more backward positions on the grid.
"Last year for example I was almost last on the starting grid, after going out in Q1, and then I had a great race finishing seventh. So I hope we can do well this year, both in qualifying and in the race".
On Friday, April 8, 2011, the first practice session was run in humid but dry conditions, despite forecasts of heavy rain. Mark Webber was the fastest driver in the first session, over a second and a half faster than Lewis Hamilton and two seconds faster than Michael Schumacher. In the second Red Bull Racing car, Sebastian Vettel finished seventeenth overall, four seconds off Webber's pace; however, with comments from team principal Christian Horner in the build-up to the event suggesting that the unraced Kerr device would be essential, Vettel's program was focused on developing the Kers unit rather than outright pace. Overall lap times were considerably slower at the circuit than in 2010, with Webber's fastest time over two and a half seconds slower than Lewis Hamilton's time in the same session a year previously. The session was scattered with incidents; Virgin driver Jérôme d'Ambrosio suffered a mechanical fault that caused his right-front suspension to fail. The team were unable to repair the problem in time for the second practice session. Further down the pit lane, Renault experienced two similar problems, first with Nick Heidfeld, whose front-right tyre locked in place, and he was able to limp back to the garage. Vitaly Petrov was sidelined with a mechanical failure for most of the first session and spun off at turn 9 when he experienced a similar problem to Heidfeld. Both Renaults spent most of the second session in the pits while the team investigated the problems, which were discovered to have come from a material fault in the suspension uprights, but they were limited to just a handful of laps overall. Webber once again topped the second practice session, but his margin to Jenson Button was just five-thousandths of a second. Pastor Maldonado set the fastest time early in the session but damaged his Williams when he spun into a wall in the pit lane entry and slipped down the order. Vitantonio Liuzzi also encountered trouble, stopping on the circuit after bouncing over a kerb, but he was able to get his car going once more. The Hispania's new front wing worked as expected, with Liuzzi able to set times within 107% of the leader's benchmark in both practice sessions. The sky above Formula 1 is getting bluer and bluer. More and more Red Bull Racing colour. After the technical supremacy exhibited in 2010 the question circulating in the paddock was: who will be able to beat the car of Adrian Newey, the most talented designer in the circus, next year?
Now after the abysmal gaps seen on the track in Melbourne, the question has changed: how long will it take Vettel to win the championship? The answer is likely to be: little, very little. Alonso, for example, did not hide from betting much, as the main weapon for the Grand Prix, on the unpredictability of a race that will be determined by a thousand uncontrollable factors, first of all, the weather. In Sepang, it rains practically every day from 4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m... He also did this during rehearsals. Predicting a chaotic race, aggravated by the Pirelli unknown that has heralded an average of four tire changes, is quite simple. The discourse as a whole is not very reassuring for two reasons: Ferrari's latest performance in the weather field has been apocalyptic. Last year during qualifying, right here in Malaysia, to realize that it was pouring, instead of putting a hand out of the garage, the men of the Maranello team waited for the weather radar to tell them that yes, it was raining, and in doing so they delayed the whole strategy. If after all that Ferrari has gone through in recent years instead of on the car, which we remember, it had to be dominant from the beginning, someone like Alonso finds himself counting on the rain well, in short, if that's the case we are in good shape. To aggravate the situation, the fact that Red Bull relies on much more concrete arguments is confirmed by the continuous haemorrhage of news-indiscretions about its monstrous aerodynamic arsenal. Every day is enriched by a lethal weapon like that of the kers (the system that recovers energy from the brakes and makes it available to the engine). Red Bull in Melbourne did not use it, accusing a little reliability problem and that, given the performance, made it possible to believe the most sinister tactical lie. That is, to believe that the diabolical Newey had designed a phantom kers, or dependence, or miniaturized. The truth will only be known with the going of the season. For the moment, however, the whole of F1 is there going crazy in an attempt to figure out how it was screwed. Attempt that also affects the front wing of Vettel and Webber's car. Comparative photos of specialized magazines suggest that after passing the FIA tests (pressure must be rigid) the wing flexes at high speed, increasing aerodynamic efficiency and therefore performance. How this is possible, is one of the mysteries of the circus. In Sepang, an engineer who asked for anonymity confirmed:
"We understand how it works. But unfortunately, we didn't understand how it's made".
Just to add a little more anguish on the eve of Ferrari, which seems resigned after the first day of free practice in Malaysia Alonso says it clearly. The good intentions of the eve were shattered with the times of the first free time. The Spaniard finished Friday with the ninth time, more than 1.5 seconds away from Australian Mark Webber's Red Bull.
"We're not fast enough to fight for victory. Given what happened today, it will be a difficult weekend but we will do everything to get closer to the first ones. Today we were not in place and we struggled to find a good balance of the car: we will see this evening how to improve it. On a track like this, with so variable weather conditions and with the degradation of the tires that seems to be there, there will be many factors at play in the fight for the top positions and it will not be enough to be the fastest".
The only word he knows to improve is work:
"We are only at the beginning of the season: we are not fast enough to fight for victory and pole position but it does not mean that we have to let go, on the contrary, we have to multiply the energies to quickly reduce the gap that separates us from those who have worked better than us".
Felipe Massa is also disappointed, sixth after the two sessions.
"It's logical that I expected and hoped to be faster, especially towards the two teams that are ahead of us. Let's see what we can do between tonight and tomorrow to improve the car".
And he adds:
"There is not much grip and the degradation of the tires is very high, as we saw in the final part of the second session, when everyone was supposedly spinning with a lot of gasoline on board, the problem certainly does not only concern us. If there is a race on the dry, choosing the best strategy will be very complicated. The soft rubber performs better: it has much more grip and is much faster, although there is a great degradation; the hard one seems to be slower and, at the beginning, a little more constant but it does not last much longer than the other. You have to be ready for anything this weekend. In the last two days we have seen that, at the time when qualifying and race are scheduled, it always rains: if this also happens in the next few days, anything can happen".
McLaren is closer to Ferrari's Red Bull, but Hamilton doesn't have too many illusions:
"I'm sure they have at least half a second to pull out tomorrow. Are we closer? I hope so, but we have to wait and see. Today was an interesting day. We seem close to the top, I think we have made progress in choosing the set-up. We still have to find ways to improve the times, but it was a constructive day".
Despite the best time, at the Red Bull pits you keep your feet on the ground. Says Mark Webber, dribbling the predictions:
"We're just at the beginning of the weekend. We have a good step in dry track conditions, the single-seater is reliable and we have to test all the tires. So, it's not that bad".
Hamilton is convinced that Red Bull has hidden and has at least half a second available to use in qualifying.
"We're pretty close. It also depends on the traffic that is on the track, and the operation of the Kers. In general, things went pretty well for us".
Vettel, on the other hand, just says:
"We more or less did what we had planned and didn't have any big problems: we did a lot of laps and collected a lot of data. The tires don't last like in Melbourne, but I think it's the same for everyone".
Difficult, if not impossible, to analyze the performance of McLarens.
"In the afternoon the situation seemed very balanced, but it's always complicated to know what we did with the full tank".
The most curious aspect is this continuous reference to study and analysis. Ferrari has always boasted that it is the team that has done the most kilometres, during the winter tests: 12.000. Could it be that after 12.000 kilometers there is still so much to study? And can it be that so much study gives so little result? Those at McLaren, for example, made less than half of it. However in the last test, in Barcelona, they realized that their car was slow, and it took them a week to understand and solve the problem and now the car is competitive. Unlike Ferrari from Barcelona to today, one is always the same: slow, unbalanced and clumsy. It will be the same for Turkey, because in Maranello inexplicably they have nothing new ready, no idea, no solution. The difference between the two teams? A former driver explains it:
"The impression is that McLaren has still worked from the beginning on a project of its own, with a strong personality, full of ideas. And when he had a problem he knew where to get his hands on. Ferrari, on the other hand, relied on a more conventional scheme, and filled it with ideas taken here and there".
On which then he does not know how to interfere in case of need. A diabolical mechanism that risks replicating even in these hours when in Maranello they decided to copy the rake set-up (with the rear train raised) of Newey's car. On Saturday, April 9, 2011, Lewis Hamilton came first in the final practice session, ahead of Webber and Button. The session was free of incidents, aside from several spins by Paul di Resta, while Liuzzi was held up in the pits for most of the session with a mechanical fault and only took to the circuit in the last fifteen minutes. A few hours later, the qualifying session was closely fought among the Red Bull and McLaren drivers, with the difference between pole and second place just one-tenth of a second, as opposed to the eight-tenths seen in Melbourne. The first session was interrupted when Sébastien Buemi's Toro Rosso shed part of its sidepod while Buemi was on a flying lap. There was no internal damage to the car, and Buemi was able to return to the pits with the internal workings of the car showing. The session was red-flagged for several minutes while marshalls retrieved the bodywork. Buemi's car was inspected by the FIA and cleared to return to the circuit, though the exact cause of the problem remained unknown. Because of the incident involving Buemi, several teams were forced to abort flying laps, including the Ferraris of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, who had been in the process of setting flying laps on the hard compound tyres. When the session restarted, the team were forced to sacrifice one set of soft tyres for both cars. By the end of the session, both Lotuses were eliminated, a clear two seconds faster than the Virgins of Glock and d'Ambrosio. Both Hispanias were also eliminated, but comfortably made the grid as Narain Karthikeyan in the twenty-fourth position was a second inside the 107% margin. Pastor Maldonado was also eliminated, qualifying in eighteenth place. The second qualifying period saw Jenson Button top the timing sheets, the first person to set a lap time under 1'36"000 all weekend. Several teams, most notably Renault elected to do just one run late in the session, with both Petrov and Heidfeld easily advancing to the third and final session.
A late lap from Kamui Kobayashi saw him qualify for the final session at the expense of Michael Schumacher, who was demoted to eleventh place for the second race in a row. Buemi recovered from his earlier scare to qualify twelfth, with teammate Jaime Alguersuari in thirteenth. Paul di Resta out-qualified Adrian Sutil by placing fourteenth, followed by Rubens Barrichello and Sergio Pérez in the second Williams and Sauber respectively, with Sutil finishing seventeenth overall. The third period began with the remaining ten drivers divided into two distinct groups: the Red Bull and McLaren drivers, who all set two flying laps, and everyone else, only going out once, many with the hope of saving an extra set of tyres for the race. Lewis Hamilton set the early benchmark with a time of exactly 1'35"000, followed by the Red Bulls and Jenson Button. Fernando Alonso was the next driver to set a time, but he was over half a second off Hamilton's pace. The top four drivers emerged again to set their final times, with each driver getting progressively faster. Jenson Button improved on his initial time but remained fourth. Mark Webber bested him but was still two-tenths of a second off Hamilton's time. Hamilton himself improved in kind and looked as if he had secured pole position before Sebastian Vettel crossed the line, a tenth of a second faster than Hamilton. With Vettel first and Hamilton second, followed by Webber, Button and Alonso, the top five drivers lined up in the same order as they did in Melbourne. Nick Heidfeld qualified in sixth place for Renault, followed by Massa in the second Ferrari and teammate Petrov in the second Renault in eighth. Nico Rosberg and Kamui Kobayashi completed the top ten. Just like two weeks ago with Vettel in pole position and behind him all the others, more precisely Hamilton, Webber, Button and Alonso. History repeats itself, after the Australian Grand Prix, that of Malaysia confirms the overwhelming power of Red Bull and McLaren with a Ferrari forced to chase, this time with less trouble than in Melbourne. Satisfied by the World Champion who praises the excellent work of the team and the fundamental contribution of the Kers, the kinetic energy recovery system guarantees an additional thrust for about 6-7 seconds per lap.
"Without Kers, I wouldn't have won the pole position. In Australia we didn't have Kers, luckily here the team did a great job, we solved most of our problems".
The German driver talks about the performance of his Red Bull.
"We didn't have a specific problem, but not everything went as it should. A little traffic and a few mistakes did not allow us to find the right step. This track is particular, it must be interpreted well. The gap between us and McLaren has narrowed compared to the Australian Grand Prix, this shows that things can change quickly. It will be important to do well tomorrow in special conditions, as it is very hot".
Vettel at the end of qualifying was the protagonist of a tasty back-and- forth with race director Charlie Whiting. To the reporters who ask him the meaning of the umpteenth pole, the German driver responds:
"It's a bit like when you pull your pants down to see how you're put underneath".
One way to say that is that the last lap in qualifying is the moment of truth. Whiting's reply, witty, came through a Twitter post:
"The words of Vettel? We are studying telemetry".
Satisfaction also for Lewis Hamilton who hoped until the last to start in front of everyone on the Sepang circuit.
"We got closer, but Red Bull still had a slight lead. We can't be disappointed, we did a great job of getting close to Red Bull. I am proud of what we have done, we are satisfied with the results even though the pole would have been fantastic. We know that the Red Bulls are always very fast and can do something even on the last lap: they did it today too. I, perhaps, lost something on the last lap. I wasn't perfect".
Fernando Alonso, on the other hand, fails to be particularly optimistic.
"Red Bull and McLaren are still unrecoverable for us, the fifth half is a good result. Let's hope to make a good start, then anything can happen. The podium is our goal. Yesterday and this morning we were slow. We made some changes and this helped us. We worked to adapt the machine to this circuit. We still suffer a little in the curve but we are a little grown up. We hope to make a good start then in the race, anything can happen. We have the kers and we can take advantage of it at the start, maybe Red Bull won't have it. It will be a very stressful race and we will have to take advantage of every situation that arises. There will be at least three to four pit stops. The podium remains our goal".
Alonso's exercises of optimism are practically the only good news brought as a gift from the Malaysian Saturday to a stunned Ferrari, unable to react and mortified no longer only by Red Bull, as always on the pole with Vettel, but also by McLaren, which arrived in its fierce chase just one-tenth away from the Anglo-Austrian team, thanks to an amazing Hamilton and a car that seems to be improving by the hour. The Spaniard, fifth, can't smile but just like he did last year in Istanbul after a seventh place when he spoke surprisingly about the team's perfect weekend, he tries to take the team by the hand, to raise the tone, in short, to react. And he does it with the only weapons he has available right now. Awareness of one's strength and optimism.
"I am very confident that I can fight for the victory of the World Championship".
If it weren't for the credibility he won on the track, it would be almost laughable. Then he explains his plan.
"We are too slow and we have to work on this, then when things have changed we will have to be good at not missing a single opportunity. Now, however, we must remain calm and focused, and bring home as many points as possible. In my opinion, we are not in bad shape: we start from the clean side of the track. In Melbourne, we started further back and eventually left both Button and Webber behind. So there's no reason why it doesn't get any better here".
In short, after a lot of talk and many winter promises, Ferrari reverses course and returns to the dear old strategy, the same one that has distinguished its last seasons. And it doesn't matter that not even six months ago, the day after the Abu Dhabi disaster, Aldo Costa, Maranello's chief engineer, publicly declared:
"Never again defense".
The situation has changed and nothing else can be done. As Stefano Domenicali, Ferrari team principal and head of Aldo Costa, explains bluntly:
"Of course, we can't be satisfied with a one-second detachment from the first position, but right now we have to make a deadbolt, just to use a football metaphor".
In the evening, then, almost to make the situation even clearer, a tweet with a disheartening title appears on the Ferrari website, in other times unthinkable for the coat of arms of the team:
"Fifth and seventh, goal achieved".
After all, given the situation, given that the team continues to say that they have nothing in hand to spend from here to Turkey, especially given how much Red Bull and McLaren run, Ferrari has no choice and he can also be lucky to play now, in what is hoped to be the worst moment of the season, the craziest Grand Prix of all: here in Sepang it always rains during the race, It's almost a tradition. The forecast says it will rain on Sunday as well. In addition, the suffocating heat and humidity make the Pirelli quite fragile, especially the Soft tires. The two factors combined can offer Alonso and perhaps even Massa unexpected possibilities elsewhere. Then, after the race, we will have to push on the developments of the F 150°. Aldo Costa confirms his intention to bring a flexible front wing as soon as possible, similar to that of Red Bull Racing.
"We will have to be as aggressive as possible, given the detachment that separates us from the top. From this point of view, I am quite happy already today. The car has been improving all the time, the one I drove in qualifying was the best since Friday, a clear sign that we have finally taken a good road".
On Sunday, April 10, 2011, at the start of the Malaysian Grand Prix, Sebastian Vettel took a good shot and maintained the first position, followed by Nick Heidfeld who is the author of an excellent start, starting from sixth place.
The other Renault, that of Vitalij Petrov, also sprints well and is in fifth place, behind Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, but ahead of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso. It remains delayed Mark Webber who does not use Kers at the start and finds himself ninth in the first corner before losing an additional position to Kamui Kobayashi with whom he will continue to exchange overtakings in the following laps. In the fifth round, Massa passes Petrov; a mistake by the Russian also favours the overtaking of the other Ferrari Alonso. On lap 11 Webber returns to the pits while a light rain begins to descend but does not affect the condition of the track, so much so that no one mounts intermediate tires. In the following two laps, the other drivers also mount new tires; only Alonso and Petrov decide to extend the first stint, thus finding themselves at the head of the Grand Prix. On lap 15 Vitalij Petrov returns to the pits to make his stop and Sebastian Vettel returns to first position, ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Kamul Kobayashi and Jenson Button, with Nick Heidfeld standing still a few seconds too. Felipe Massa is also penalized by a technical problem that makes him lengthen the pit stop times. Two laps after Alonso passes Jenson Button and rises to fourth place, which comes third after Kobayashi's stop. Sebastian Vettel continues quietly in first position with a six-second lead over Lewis Hamilton, who in turn is followed by Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button, Nick Heidfeld, Mark Webber and Felipe Massa. In this second stint, Hamilton and Alonso score fast laps on repeat and reduce the lead that divides them from Vettel. On lap 22 it is Felipe Massa's turn to pass Mark Webber, always without Kers: the Brazilian climbs to sixth place. Then begins the second set of tire changers. Almost all drivers still mount Soft tires except Hamilton and Petrov. It is still the Ferraris that close the series of stops, which again costs the two drivers some positions. Meanwhile, Red Bull Racing engineers tell Sebastian Vettel that it is impossible to use the Kers.
The German is again, however, leading the race, ahead of the two McLarens, Alonso and Webber. On lap 32 Mark Webber makes the third pit stop and mounts Hard tires. At this stage, Vettel returns to increase his advantage over Hamilton, put under pressure by Button. Five laps later Hamilton also has to change the tires, which, despite being Hard, have a rapid decay. Lewis stands still a few seconds too much and loses the position to Button, definitely at ease in the second half of the race. Completed the last set of rubber gears, Sebastian Vettel continues to maintain the first position, ahead of Jenson Button, Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso, Nick Heidfeld, Felipe Massa and Mark Webber, who made one more stop. Throughout lap 46 Fernando Alonso attacks Lewis Hamilton (the Spaniard cannot use the moveable rear wing due to a breakdown) but in an attempt to overtake his front wing is damaged by contact. The Spaniard is forced to change his face and returns to the track in seventh position. In the rear Webber passes Massa and climbs to fifth place. During lap 52 Heidfeld passes Hamilton at the first corner, so the English decides to return to the pits again at the end of the lap to change the tires, finding himself having to chase the group starting from seventh place. With three laps to go, Vitalij Petrov, who is eighth, is the author of an off-road excursion; the Russian driver's car jumps on a depression, splashes high and in falling back violently slams to the ground so much so that he breaks the steering and has to withdraw. In the last round, Webber tries to subtract the position from Heidfeld, but to no avail. Sebastian Vettel wins for the fourth time in a row, ahead of Jenson Button and Nick Heidfeld, who gets his last podium in F1 and at the same time the number 100 for Renault. Mark Webber is fourth, followed by Felipe Massa, Fernando Alonso, Kamui Kobayashi, Lewis Hamilton, Michael Schumacher and Paul di Resta.
"It was another great day. The start was crucial, I was surprised at the first corner to see something black in the mirrors, it was Heidfeld's Lotus, but I managed to keep it behind. The first stint was positive, but it was a different Grand Prix than in Australia, especially for the tyres".
Sebastian Vettel is pleased with the second consecutive success, over two races, in the F1 World Championship.
"It's hard to choose what to do as a strategy, I had Hamilton close but then at the last stint he had a problem and I was able to control the race well with Button behind me. It was a real pleasure, I love doing what I do and I don't think I can be happier today".
The Red Bull Racing driver had problems with Kers in the race.
"It's clear that it didn't go according to plan, but in the end, I was able to use the kers on an alternating level. It was essential to use it at the start, without the kers at the start, the outcome would have been different. Standing in front he allowed me to make it. There was a problem, but we first turned it off and then reactivated it. The team reacted and did very well. The opponents are still very close, but I'm not worried, we have to keep pushing like this with the whole team".
Everything is as per the script for the Malaysian Grand Prix, but only as far as the first position is concerned: that of Vettel obviously who here is in the second consecutive success ahead of Button. For the rest, this was the Grand Prix of surprises, a bit for all the teams. For the Renault that brings Heidfeld to the podium and for the Ferrari that doesn't seem to go as bad as in the rehearsals. Alonso right at the end of the race was struggling with Hamilton for third place. The English McLaren driver was in huge tire difficulty, but on the most beautiful Alonso touched Hamilton's car with his wing, destroying half the car and then ending up in the pits again to return to the track behind Massa. Too bad. Stefano Domenicali, Ferrari's team principal, explains:
"If what happened didn't happen in the race, we were ahead. Alonso could come second easily, first I don't know, but from the race come great positive signs, too bad because they were heavy points. Even Massa if there was no problem in the tire change could come later".
Third, however, he placed as we said Heidfeld because poor Hamilton then had to stop to change the tires and again. Today was also Renault's day with a crazy start: Nick Heidfeld, who started in sixth position, snapped in second position and the Russian Vitaly Petrov, from the eighth, went to fifth position. In short, rockets that then fought well throughout the race until Petrov's incredible and chilling accident after a jump on a curb found himself literally with the steering wheel in his hand. Luckily there was still space and the driver managed to stop without crashing anywhere. For the rest, after two races, there is already talk of Vettel's dominance in the World Championship. It's a bit early, of course, but the 24 points ahead of the second, that's a lot after the Malaysian Grand Prix. In any case, the commissioners hit again this time: Alonso was punished with a 20- second penalty for colliding with Lewis Hamilton's McLaren overtaking ten laps before the end of the Malaysian Grand Prix (and it seemed to many instead that it was Hamilton's fault for an imperceptible braking). The penalty imposed on the Spaniard who finished the sixth race will not cause him to lose positions in the order of arrival. It would have been a mockery because the Spaniard damaged the face of his 150th Italy and was forced to re-enter the pits to replace the front wing, while Hamilton had no consequences. Hamilton himself, however, although he was not sanctioned for this incident, in turn, received a 20-second penalty for zigzagging on the track to prevent Alonso from overtaking him with a dozen laps left. Contrary to Alonso, who did not lose positions on the finish order, Hamilton, seventh at 18 seconds from Kamui Kobayashi's Sauber, had to give up his position to the Japanese.
"I'm leaving Malaysia much quieter than I got there".
Fernando Alonso doesn't lie. It is visibly more serene. The leg no longer wobbles nervously under the chair, the gaze is more outstretched. The car gave the first positive responses and, perhaps, is then not as far behind as it threatened to be after Melbourne and after Saturday's qualifying. Or maybe the rivals aren't that far ahead. We don't know. What is known is that had it been for the 150th Italy, the humid heat of Sepang would have given much more satisfaction and many more points to his car, which at some point found himself fighting for the podium against a very exhausted Hamilton, and which in the end had to settle for a seventh place due to a somewhat reckless manoeuvre by the Spaniard. Couldn't he wait before launching that attack? Was there a need to attack that way?
"I think so, in the tires I had at most a couple more good laps to attack. So I attacked as it is normal to do in F1, it didn't go well, I'll try again on Sunday in China".
Many have complained about the running management's decision to penalise Alonso and Hamilton with 20 seconds. It is said that it is useless to invent the kers and the moveable wing to facilitate overtaking and then punish those who try and those who resist. What do you think?
"The decision has been made and I have nothing to say. In the end, the positions in the ranking did not change: it is not a drama".
What happened to your rear moveable wing? Domenicali argues that if he had it intact he would have passed Hamilton smoothly on the straight.
"We were around lap 20. I was pushing the button and nothing was happening. It was a shame, it would have been useful".
Can you tell us about your departure?
"I didn't make a bad start, I stayed a little behind Webber who had had a problem... Then the Renaults made me some sort of sandwich after the first corner and they made me lose a couple of positions".
How do you judge the Ferrari race?
"I'm pretty happy. I didn't expect such a good performance from the car and it's nice to be fighting for the podium again. The car has been growing a lot from Friday to today".
But what has changed?
"We've worked a lot on the overall set-up, gaining balance and downforce. It's still not enough but it was much better in the race. Then we focussed on electronic issues and rubber management strategies. That we consumed less dramatically than usual".
What remains to be done to make up for the gap from Red Bull Racing?
"A lot. We need to understand what doesn't work in our project: we need important improvements especially in qualifying, while on the race pace, the situation is better".
What should we expect in China?
"There will be a climate situation more similar to that of Melbourne: I foresee a very tough race. But maybe in the end we'll take home that podium we deserved here".
Time for Ferrari budgets? Well, after two races it would be the peak but a nice hefty of positivity, as Montezemolo calls it, has arrived:
"I'm certainly not satisfied with how the season started but I have extraordinary confidence in people who, in times of difficulty, know how to react".
It does not escape that Montezemolo recognises the difficult moment and that there is a need for a reaction to get out of trouble. But on this, the same president was even clearer:
"I'm sure there will be a big reaction. I know that hard work is being done and I have great confidence in both the human and technical skills of our men. I believe the period when we can aspire to a podium to the maximum will end".
The fans hope so, but in the meantime to the president of Ferrari, and therefore to all the management of the Maranello brand, comes a new recognition, one of the important ones. Sergio Marchionne explains:
"Montezemolo has done an incredible job as a manager at Ferrari: it's a miracle for the type of cars produced, for the waiting lists and for the Germans, who launch luxury brands but can't make it to that level".
And, you know, Marchionne has always been quite taciturn about Ferrari. Either for an ancient Fiat tradition that has always had little interference in the world of Maranello (a legacy of Gianni Agnelli and Enzo Ferrari) or because in the ultra-competitive world of F1 and a work team constantly under pressure even simple declarations of ownership can have devastating consequences. In short, if both Marchionne and Montezemolo confirm the support for Domenicali, Alonso and the text of the team, something will surely happen. F1 racers are particularly sensitive to confidence injections. Especially if they are extraordinary. Meanwhile, the mystery about the Red Bull kers is thickened. Asked on the eve of the race about using the system that recovers energy from the brakes and returns it to the engine, Christian Horner, Red Bull Racing team principal, had said:
"We will use it, like the others".
But it didn't happen the fastest car continues to do without it or use it in hiccoughs and that confirms the suspicions that Newey hid some secret in that device. Conviction reinforced by the radio curtain. At one point Vettel asks the team:
"Can I use it?"
The answer:
"No, you can't".
The conversation tastes like pre-tactics: it is unthinkable that a driver does not know before the race what tools he has at his disposal. The next day, the head is still spinning. And the good thing is that everyone admits it, drivers and experts. The 2011 Formula 1, the Pirelli Formula One, is exciting but incomprehensible. The fault of a double criticality: the tires of the new Italian supplier are very difficult to manage and therefore damage the drivers who make mistakes even little (see Hamilton), and are easily degradable they impose a high number of pit stops and this breaks the narrative sense of the race, which is lost not only by the spectators but also by the protagonists. Also, as a side effect of this high degradability, the tyres shoot around the burnt rubber bullet track that many have complained about.
The Monday of mourns begins with the outburst between the desperate and the sarcastic Jaime Alguersuari. The Scuderia Toro Rosso driver in the race went slowly in every condition and the end let himself go into a sort of crisis:
"Now I will see the Grand Prix on TV again with my track engineer, so at least he explains to me what happened".
More analytical, however, Jenson Button. After a few laps, the McLaren English realised that the tire issue was becoming central, so he drove the whole race to preserve its efficiency as long as possible, eventually snatching a second place from applause. During the evening, chased by the reporters, the English driver explains:
"The new tires make everything pretty confusing, especially in strategies. I think that here in Sepang for a long time, no one managed to figure out who was in second place behind Vettel, for example. And all those pit stops didn't help".
Despite this, Button does not wish for a return to the past.
"The race was so exciting. And then I'm convinced that as the season progresses both we drivers and team managers will be able to understand something more and make them work better".
A goal that everyone is making a priority. Otherwise, Nick Heidfeld explains:
"The Grand Prix risks being incomprehensible to the public".
As if that were not enough, Pirelli is also faced with urgency another problem, attributable to the extreme degradability of the tire. That of debris, pieces of hardened rubber that come off the ruined wheels and are fired at crazy speed around the track, and that often end up hitting the drivers on the helmet, especially during overtaking, with all the risks that come with it. The first to complain about it was Paul di Resta, the newcomer to Force India. But his words had been greeted with some coldness by Paul Hembery, Pirelli Motorsport Director:
"The drivers of the top teams didn't tell me anything, but now we'll see what to do".
But then comes the confirmation of Vettel, the World Champion:
"It's true, it happened to me too. A piece of tire took me right in the centre of the visor. They are like bullets that are fired from the car in front of you and that can also be dangerous for the crowd, especially in city circuits, such as in Singapore or Munich, when this is closer to the track".
Considering that the Monte Carlo Grand Prix is less than two months away, it is appropriate that Pirelli is busy. Meanwhile, Federation technicians push Red Bull Racing's ailerons in every way, they even climb on top of them, but nothing: they look like they're made of stone. Then in the race, you see them soft, which graze the asphalt giving a crazy downforce. How is this possible? Let's go step by step: you don't need a genius to understand that Red Bull Racing takes better advantage of air pressure, just look at any race. Vettel and Webber open the moveable rear wing when they are still in the corner, a maneuver that if done by Alonso or Hamilton would turn into a safe accident.
So since the regulations are very strict the secret - or at least one of the secrets - lies all in this front wing that comes to touch the asphalt. It must be said that the FIA tests the flexibility of the front wing by applying a weight of 100 Kg to the outer sides and that in this case, the wing of Red Bull Racing has never bent (the maximum tolerance is 20 mm downwards): it is clear that there is something underneath. At first - due to a suggestion from McLaren technicians - many thought that Adrian Newey, the designer at Red Bull Racing, had used special materials that in some conditions came to flex. Then it turned out instead that on the track the wing remains unmoving (so it's regular). But the whole car is lowering. Or rather all at the front of Red Bull, while getting up at the back. This creates a kind of Venturi effect that guarantees more load and more downsurge. In summary, the car has a very low front wing, almost attached to the ground, and a higher rear. The point is that you don't know how you can get this attitude crouched forward in motion but one thing is certain, the car in the race looks like a jet in a swoop. Possible? Of course, how he does it, however, is not known. Here's the Red Bull secret that's making Ferrari and McLaren technicians lose sleep.
"We need to understand why in qualifying our performance is not up to the best".
Stefano Domenicali is working to find the problems of the single- seater.
"It's vital to react immediately because we know how things can change quickly in Formula 1. From a strategic point of view, our race in Sepang was positive: the choices made proved correct and the loot of points below potential was determined by other problems. Strategy and race pace are two items in surplus right now".
So what are the things that don't work?
"We have to work hard to anticipate developments, particularly on aerodynamics, which remains the key factor. We will try to have something already in China but we are aware that we need to understand why the wind tunnel data does not match what we saw on the track. If we don't have a clear idea, then we'll have to give a steering to the development of the machine. The other important factor is to continue to understand how tires behave to try to use them in the best way because in Malaysia we have seen that using tires the right way makes all the difference".
The Ferrari team principal, however, praises the two drivers.
"Felipe drove at a high level, showing that he was back in shape, and Fernando was always on the offence, which is always good for a rider. In the factory, we have to give acceleration to understand the reasons for our lack of performance. The Kers? It is a useful tool for performance. In competition, it can be used as both a defensive and offensive weapon: surely it is an element that makes our sport even more interesting".
Finally, an analysis of the pit stops.
"The tendency to have more stops means that the guys who have to do all the operations are always under pressure and, consequently, the chance of making mistakes is higher. Never before like this year is it important that the whole package - driver, team, car - works at its best, even at a juncture like a pit stop".