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#899 2014 Malaysian Grand Prix

2023-01-21 00:00

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#2014, Fulvio Conti, Translated by Sofia Scrigna,

#899 2014 Malaysian Grand Prix

The circus is ready to take action after the numerous controversies relating to the little noise emitted by the single-seaters. This was revealed by a

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The circus is ready to take action after the numerous controversies relating to the little noise emitted by the single-seaters. This was revealed by an authoritative source such as the president of the FIA, Jean Todt, in the past at the helm of the Scuderia Ferrari.


"It's obvious that the noise is different than in the past. The choices were made and made well with everyone's agreement. If the problem is the roar of the engine, for those who go on the circuits we will find a way, if necessary, to make the cars noisier. On TV it seems to me that this is not felt".


Furthermore, in Australia, the drivers were forced to save fuel due to the 110 kg/h fuel limit. Will the consequence be less overtaking and less entertainment on the track?


"It's not a problem with the amount of fuel but rather with the aerodynamics of the car and the circuit. Melbourne, for example, has never been a track very suitable for overtaking. I am convinced that we will soon see many of them. Rosberg didn't save on fuel at all in his Mercedes. Then maybe there will be someone who has worked better on consumption and someone else instead on the aerodynamic load of the car. It is obvious that those who win are those who have worked best. The choices made are right. The level of gasoline allowed, 100 kg/h, is a figure that has been proposed by the Formula 1 participants. If everyone agrees and wants 110 kg I have no problems. I don't want to transform Formula 1 into an economy run but I want it to always be at the top of world motorsport. I even read that Formula 1 would become a sport for taxi drivers. You have to be careful, you need great calm before reacting. There is an exaggerated emotionality going around. I remember that after the Australian Grand Prix a few years ago it was said that there was a lack of overtaking. The next Grand Prix everyone says the opposite. In short, let's wait before making judgments".

The president of Ferrari, Luca Montezemolo, fears that someone could be clever and has asked the Federation to be vigilant. Is this a shared concern?


"One of the main roles of the FIA is to supervise and make sure that the regulations are followed. Teams always try to reach the limit of the regulation and we, as a sporting power, must ensure that the same teams are within the permitted limit".


Now in Maranello there is one of his collaborators from the time, Stefano Domenicali. So much criticism after the first Grand Prix, what advice can you give him?


"I too received a lot of criticism, even when we won a lot. We must always balance the situation and opinions well. They even told us that we performed too much and made the championships boring. Domenicali, the president and the whole team are united in success but also in defeat. Ferrari has always been a protagonist in recent years, even if it hasn't won the Championships. And I am convinced that they will always do better. I just tell Domenicali to resist, to keep his feet on the ground, to have great concentration and to deal with the real problems and not with what others think".


Will Raikkonen and Alonso be a difficult duo to manage?


"They are two former World Champions. Alonso is one of the best in Formula 1 today. Raikkonen is no exception, it will definitely be a good battle, the problem is not who will be faster between the two, the problem will be being ahead of the others".

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And about Michael Schumacher?


"I feel like I'm close to him. His was a cruel, unimaginable accident, a nightmare every time I think about it and I think about it several times a day. We must hope that time will allow him to emerge from this terrible situation for him and his family. However, he is a fighter".


The World Championship has just begun but in Ferrari it is already time for a revolution. Having returned from Melbourne, the team principal Stefano Domenicali, after a week spent in close contact with the president Luca Montezemolo (who has been very close to the team in these very delicate hours, as they say), has put his hand to the internal organisation of the Sports Management, with particular reference to the motoring area. From Maranello they explain that these are normal adjustments to the organisational model, moves planned for some time which complete a strategy already underway.


"They're all promotions".


They therefore immediately point out to anyone who asks for information on the matter. However, it is difficult not to observe that these normal changes, these planned promotions, have particularly concerned the electronics area, i.e. that of KERS and Ers, the two energy recovery and reuse devices that characterise the new engine. And that the Kers and Ers are the areas in which Ferrari seems to have suffered the most from the competition from Mercedes who went a full second per lap faster in their debut GP.

"We have not hired any new technicians nor have we removed anyone. We have only strengthened and reorganised a strategic area in such a way as to redistribute responsibilities more effectively, to guarantee more coordinated and structured work".


They point out again from Maranello, where they clearly reject the theory that it is a punitive measure or, worse, a desperate attempt at recovery after the Melbourne disaster, in view of the upcoming Malaysian Grand Prix. However, the facts remain. And the facts say that the Ferrari engine in some configurations lacks quite a bit of horsepower compared to the German competition (much less than the fifty commonly desired, but unfortunately well over ten, according to the best sources); and the facts always say that such a radical reorganisation - different people will now be dealing with the most important area of the new engine - is either useless (and therefore wrong) or should have been done earlier, perhaps in the design phase. In both cases it is not good news for the fans, who have been travelling for years with patience on reserve. Meanwhile, Red Bull is threatening to withdraw. Alonso and Raikkonen are quick to vote no in the referendum called by Ferrari's official website to find out if the fans appreciate the show. Experts around the world - with the exception of those sponsored by Mercedes - are not happy. To sum up: the new F1, just born, is already struggling to convince its public. Or at least so it seems. The boss of the reigning World Champion team, Dietrich Mateschitz, the billionaire emperor of cans at the taurine and owner of two teams, in addition to Red Bull he also owns Toro Rosso.


"F1 must return to being what it has always been, that is, a competition towards excellence. It certainly cannot be a consumption formula that makes no sense. It has no appeal".


The Ferrari fans who are currently responding on the official website to the question prepared by the Scuderia are of the same opinion. The provisional outcome is overwhelming, a percentage of around 80% say they are against (and among these, apparently, also the two pilots, but the news is not official). It remains to be seen whether the coldness with which the fans (and the protagonists) welcomed the news has to do with the news themselves or whether the problem is not the results. 

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It is no coincidence that not a single criticism has been raised from Mercedes and the teams that fitted their engine. On the contrary. There's a lot of enthusiasm. At Williams, for example, they can't wait to get to Kuala Lumpur where, apparently, the humid heat typical of that circuit should favour Felipe Massa's new team which has designed a particularly effective refrigeration system. At Mercedes, however, they don't appear too worried. Neither from Williams' hopes nor from Ferrari's survey. Those from Stuttgart really like the new engines. And not just because they could finally bring a nice world title to the company's boards. But above all because given its characteristics (it is a 1.6 turbo with very low consumption) it is destined to revolutionise the road car market. And that is worth much more than a world title. Even the drivers are divided on the discussion linked to the new noise of the Formula 1 single-seaters. The roar of the V6 engine is under attack, decidedly softer than that of the old V8.


"Formula 1 has to be spectacular and sound is one of the most important things".


This is the opinion of Sebastian Vettel, who retired early in the first race in Australia due to engine problems.


"I was on the wall, there's more noise in the bar".


The German from Red Bull adds, recalling the past:


"The only thing I remember from the Grands Prix as a child was the noise, how loud it was and how the ground vibrated, and it's a shame that's not the case anymore".

Jenson Button disagrees, for whom the sound of the engine has little importance.

"When you win a Grand Prix it doesn't matter if you like the sound or not, because you know you beat the best in the world".

On the eve of the Malaysian Grand Prix, Ferrari is celebrating a strange anniversary. Five years earlier, Kimi Raikkonen's Baltic genius finally manifested itself in all its glory. Halfway through the Grand Prix, suspended due to the usual downpour, he was seen - by the cameras - intent on eating an ice cream. Kimi's photos went around the world. There was no better image to measure the distance that existed at that moment between that driver and that team and, above all, that car, the slow Ferrari of 2009. And precisely that distance materialised again on Thursday 27 March 2014, during the afternoon, even if for a moment, in the official press conference. When Kimi, almost without realizing it, admits that he was uncomfortable with Ferrari. Meant as a team. A sentence of atrocious candour and honesty, given in response to those who asked him whether or not he likes the new F1 as a driver.

"I don't think it's that terribly different from last season, from a driver point of view. Obviously there are certain little things that change though. In my opinion, the thing that makes the biggest difference is being in a different team: each team gives different sensations from the others, and makes different cars".

Not exactly positive feelings if, as Kimi always explains, in the only race held so far the F14T disappointed everyone.

"It certainly wasn't the start to the season we dreamed of, but we have a lot of very good people who are working as hard as they can".

The air of Maranello works miracles: Iceman just needed to breathe it for a couple of months to change radically. 

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Thus, on the eve of the Malaysian Grand Prix he truly appears to be a different person than the one we have seen so far: available, conciliatory, strong in teamwork and motivating everyone. In brief, the antipodes of the driver who sends the pits to hell via radio during the race, of that grumpy Nordic who is always silent and never smiling:

 

"Obviously it wasn't an ideal start to the year for the team, we didn't get what we hoped for. However, we brought home something good in terms of points, and it's positive considering all the small problems in several areas that we encountered". 


We shouldn't be surprised about Alonso, however, from this point of view he has always been a phenomenon. 


"We need to understand, based on how the next races go in terms of performance, how quickly it will be necessary to develop the car. In Australia we were not satisfied with our performance and we need to take a step of improvement as quickly as possible".

This is Fernando Alonso's analysis on the eve of the Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver motivates the team and remains optimistic about the potential of the Maranello team and explains:

"I believe we can fight for the championship, we have greater potential than we saw in Australia, we just have to manage to put all the elements together and we will certainly have a better weekend. The team has the ability and talented people to make excellent work. We can become stronger and do better, I'm sure. It wasn't a perfect start, it seemed like a repetition of what happened in recent years, but this time the rules are different as are the development potential. Our possibilities to do well are still perfectly intact".

Kimi Raikkonen, meanwhile, returns to talk about his bad seventh place on his Ferrari debut.

"It will be a long championship and I hope we will take advantage of the Melbourne race to progress. We have a great group of people working tirelessly to improve things. I'm sure we won't stop making progress".

Raikkonen later denied that the brake-by-wire system was the source of all his troubles in Melbourne:

"All I need is a set-up where the car is closer to how I want it, the team is working to achieve this and I know that once we have achieved it I will be able to drive more easily with sensations I know, however, that achieving this understanding with the car will still take some time".

As for the weekend that awaits him, the Ferrari driver does not intend to venture any predictions:

"This circuit is very different from Albert Park, it is very hot and humid here and for the first time we find ourselves working with a different tyre. For this reason I have no idea what to expect, but even in the past there have been periods in which it was difficult to predict what would happen from race to race. I hope to have better sensations with the car and I'm hoping, also based on the experience gained in the first race, that things will go more smoothly for me, thus being able to aim for a better result".

Okay, but how do you drive these very silent F1s? Raikkonen returns to the old style here and doesn't go too far:

"From the driver's point of view, I don't think things have changed for the worse, apart from a few small details. For me the biggest difference is the fact of being in a different team than last year, because every team builds a different car".

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As for his relationship with teammate Fernando Alonso, he clarifies: 


"It's good and always has been. Our common goal is to work together to improve things and bring the team to the level we believe it deserves".


His colleague, Fernando Alonso, is decidedly more optimistic. With the F14T he certainly found himself better than the Finn, even though he also had to acknowledge the overwhelming superiority of the Mercedes.

"In my opinion the car has more potential, it's just a matter of bringing it out. Here in Malaysia we already have a first chance. For the title that we will also be there".

Regardless of the words, the Spaniard's tone is still cautious. The Mercedes seen in Australia is terrifying. But not only for that:

"We are in an early stage and this is not the time to go too far. It's too early, we need kilometres and races to be able to judge. Be patient".

Very wise advice which, however, was not followed by his number one opponent until last season, Sebastian Vettel. The four-time World Champion goes straight:

"The sound of these new engines is shit, in Melbourne I had to follow the race from the pit lane, and I assure you that there is more noise at the bar under my house".


Clear words, whose real intention goes far beyond their meaning. Many in the paddock are convinced that Red Bull's strategy is a clear one: faced with Mercedes' excessive power and a regulation that Renault (the engine supplier) has not interpreted to the fullest, the intent is to fire against the FIA to force her to change the rules on the run. With the kind support of Bernie Ecclestone, always available for certain things, and perhaps already starting from the appeal process on the disqualification of Daniel Ricciardo (for excessive consumption) in Australia. On Friday 28 March 2014, Mercedes was once again ahead of everyone during free practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix, but the Ferraris keep pace. In the third and final free practice, Nico Rosberg leads the session, lapping in 1'39"008, ahead of his teammate, Lewis Hamilton. Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari follows Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull (1'40"387) and Nico Hulkenberg's Force India. Fernando Alonso is seventh, behind the Australian Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull.

Nico Rosberg is the fastest, but he is also the most dissatisfied.

"For now we haven't been able to get everything out. I hope that the others also have problems, the Sepang circuit is hot and humid and the tires break down quickly. Here after a couple of laps it's all over, the conditions are different than in Melbourne".


Instead, his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, says:

 

"I don't understand why Nico isn't satisfied, he should be. But I am, we did everything we had to do in practice. Nico is in front, but from a balance point of view we are far from where we should be. The most important thing, However, it's the race".

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And Kimi Raikkonen states, satisfied:

"Without a doubt it was a positive day, with better sensations than Friday in Melbourne. Today I felt more comfortable with the F14 T and even if we didn't have any kind of problem we know that the road is long and that there is still a long time coming. The program carried out mainly focused on the setup of the car and on a test of the compounds brought by Pirelli: the behaviour proved to be good, even if, as emerged from the race simulation, we will have to pay maximum attention to degradation , particularly high here. Now we will dedicate the evening to a careful analysis of all the data collected throughout the day, trying to understand how to improve".

Fernando Alonso was right when, no later than Thursday afternoon, he launched into a statement that at the time seemed bold:

"I am sure that the potential of this F14T is greater than that shown so far".

Not even twenty-four hours later, the track proved him right. Ferrari turned on its 1.6 turbo in the middle of the jungle, and after two free practice sessions heaved a big sigh: Mercedes isn't that far away. Of course it's not even as close as the stopwatch says: between Raikkonen and Rosberg there aren't just the 0.035 seconds that can be read on the timesheet at the end of the day. But it is a fact that there is no longer even those 1.5 seconds that have frozen everyone in Australia. But how is this possible? What happened in these few days? The machines, after all, are the same. Simone Resta, one of Ferrari's designers, explains it.

"We decided to sacrifice some reliability in the direction of performance. Let's be clear. Getting to the end of the race remains the top priority. It's just that we also paid more attention to the other factor".

When asked specifically, Resta says that, no, Ferrari does not regret having been so cautious in Melbourne. That Hamilton risks paying dearly for the failure he had and that in short, given the novelty of the project it is best first of all to get to the end of the races, safe and sound. It will be like that too. The fact is that here in Malaysia Ferrari has changed strategy (modifying, apparently, both the petrol and the software settings of the power unit) and now seems much closer to the unstoppable. It seems, let's say, because on a more careful reading of the evidence, Mercedes' superiority still appears unchallenged. Especially on the race pace where the gap would always be around a second.


"All thanks to the power unit. Which the Germans manage to use to the maximum".


The machine itself, however, does not appear so superior to the others. In the sections of the circuit where the design makes the difference, both Ferrari and Red Bull keep the pace. Finally, the other news of the day is worth mentioning. Raikkonen went faster than Alonso. Which means nothing from a competitive point of view, Fridays in F1 mattters little. But from a psychological point of view it is very important. Until Thursday, the Finn had complained a lot about being a little uncomfortable on the Ferrari, a compatibility problem between the driver's sensitivity and the hardware structure of the car. The team's mechanics and electronic engineers worked like crazy on it, and yesterday's times paid off for them. In the meantime, however, the Mercedes confirmed themselves as the fastest in Saturday's session too. Nico Rosberg leads his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, by around 0.2 seconds. Third in the ranking, Kimi Räikkönen, is more than a second behind Rosberg. The Lotus have finally managed to complete some laps, while the two McLarens are subject to technical problems. A few hours later, heavy rain in the afternoon forced the organisers to postpone the start of qualifying initially by 15 minutes, then by a further quarter of an hour, and finally they started 50 minutes later than expected. In the first phase, however, the drivers do not encounter heavy rain, but only the track is so wet that they face the circuit with intermediate tyres.

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The fastest is still Nico Rosberg, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel (the latter however 1.5 seconds behind the former). The session was suspended a few moments before the end, with a red flag, due to an accident involving Marcus Ericsson, without physical consequences for the driver. In addition to the Swedish driver, Kamui Kobayashi, his partner at Caterham, the two Marussias, Adrian Sutil and Pastor Maldonado, were excluded from Q2. The return of the rain forces the riders to fit wet tyres; this choice, however, is not followed by the Ferrari drivers and Valtteri Bottas. At the start of the session Fernando Alonso, who was proceeding slowly due to the intermediate tyres, collided with the Russian from STR Daniil Kvyat: the Spaniard's car suffered a broken left front suspension. However, the mechanics of the Maranello team were able to immediately repair the damage and the Spaniard was able to qualify for Q3. In this phase the best time belongs to Hamilton, ahead of Vettel and Rosberg. Kvyat, Esteban Gutiérrez, Felipe Massa, Sergio Pérez, Valtteri Bottas and Romain Grosjean remain excluded from the decisive phase. InQ3 Lewis Hamilton takes pole position, number 33 of his career, which brings him equal to Jim Clark and Alain Prost. The worsening of the weather conditions during the session did not allow any other driver to do better than the Briton. Sebastian Vettel ranks on the front row, while the second row is occupied by Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso. The stewards penalised Valtteri Bottas by three positions for having obstructed Daniel Ricciardo during qualifying. This manoeuvre also cost Bottas the deduction of two points from his Superlicence. Lewis Hamilton strikes again: he takes pole, followed by a reborn Sebastian Vettel who slips between the two Mercedes (obviously Nico Rosberg third, a bit unlucky in qualifying) and by an amazing Fernando Alonso, fourth. Sixth position for the Ferrari of Finnish Kimi Raikkonen, on the third row with the Red Bull of Australian Daniel Ricciardo. Kim Raikkonen explains at the end of the tests:

 

"There were very difficult conditions and very little grip. In the end the result was good, it went well. The changes on the car are working, and others are yet to come".

 

Alonso, on the other hand, is speechless at what has been done by the mechanics:

 

"In three minutes they changed my suspension, crazy, the men in the pits are record-breaking phenomena. Of course I got back on track with the convergence in bad shape, but in the end I made it".

 

Ferrari optimism aside, Mercedes' dominance continues. Rosberg and Hamilton have always been ahead of everyone, in free practice, in official practice, in all the qualifying sessions, in dry, in wet, on a flooded track. All with heavy gaps towards the pursuers. In short, these silver stars seem truly unbeatable. Only Vettel managed to get in there, but with a bit of luck which always counts in practice. Lewis Hamilton says:

 

"I am very happy first of all for the team's work and for how we behaved over the weekend. It's incredible how it rained before qualifying. It was a complicated session for everyone and at the end it was almost impossible to see. You couldn't even understand where the corners were, it was impossible to create a gap, we were all too close. The last lap was terrifying but luckily I managed to close. This year I feel much more comfortable, at the top of my performance and I can still improve".

 

Valtteri Bottas was penalised with the loss of three positions on the starting grid. The Finnish Williams driver, in P15 in qualifying, was sanctioned for having obstructed the Red Bull of Australian Daniel Ricciardo in the second heat of official practice. The commissioners, however, took no action against Fernando Alonso and Daniil Kvyat. The Spanish Ferrari driver and the Russian Toro Rosso driver were involved in a contact in the second qualifying heat.

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The Red Bull boss promised it.

 

"In Formula 1 there are only technical problems. For which only technical solutions exist. And we at Red Bull have the best technicians on the market. So the result is a given, we will recover in a short time".

 

No sooner said than done. In the space of a couple of weeks, what seemed like the team most in crisis returned to the fore, coming impressively close to Mercedes. No, Ricciardo's second place (later cancelled) in Melbourne was not a coincidence. In qualifying the difference between Vettel and Hamilton was minimal, a matter of hundredths of a second. And, apparently, Vettel was also slowed down in his final chase, otherwise he could have taken pole, and sent a nice message to the whole kingdom. The king is alive, the holiday is over. Or something like that. This does not mean, of course, that Mercedes is no longer the leading force in the championship. In fact, to greatly benefit yesterday's four-time champion, there was an infinite and very heavy equatorial rain. Under water, in general, the engine matters less than in normal conditions. Furthermore, under the hot water of these latitudes, a car with a lot of downforce like the Mercedes suffers from high tire wear. Two elements - rain and tire wear - which, added together, closed the gap between first and second. But it's just an optical effect, they swear in Stuttgart. With the track dry, the Mercedes are still 0.5 seconds ahead of the competition. Ferrari included. The guys from the Maranello team, by setting the engine in a more aggressive and less prudent manner, managed to recover part of the performance shown during the winter tests and suddenly lost in Australia. And it is no coincidence that, unlike what was reported from the Melbourne track, both Williams and McLaren remained behind. In short, despite finding itself in more difficulty than it thought on the eve, Ferrari can breathe a half sigh of relief and look to the future with a little more confidence. It's one thing to be the fifth force in the championship, it's another thing to be the third, very close to the second. Also because Alonso's time in qualifying was achieved with a car whose steering was damaged by the accident with Kvyat:

 

"To turn left the steering wheel was light enough that one finger was enough, to go right I couldn't do it with two hands".

 

In short, things are starting to add up to him too:

 

"There's no longer the McLaren in front of us or the Williams, or anything we saw in Australia. So let's try to fight for the podium, even starting fourth and sixth, I think we can make this attempt and have a race without problems".

 

However, Kimi Raikkonen's situation is more complex. The Finn alternates phases in which he seems to be at ease with phases in which he works hard to send the F14T straight. In Sepang he complains a lot over the radio about the handling of his car. Problems with the rear axle, with the steering, with the tires. It is still early to talk about a crisis, but the alarm is there. On Sunday 30 March 2014 Sergio Pérez did not take part in the Malaysian Grand Prix due to a technical problem with his Force India. At the start, on a dry track, Lewis Hamilton precedes Nico Rosberg: the Mercedes duo is followed by Daniel Ricciardo, Sebastian Vettel, Fernando Alonso and Nico Hülkenberg. Immediately behind, Kimi Räikkönen punctures a tire and is forced to pit. On the fourth lap Vettel passes his teammate Ricciardo and places himself behind the two Mercedes. On lap 9 Kevin Magnussen was forced to stop in the pits to replace the nose of his McLaren, damaged by contact with Räikkönen at the start of the race. For this contact the Dane is penalised 5 seconds, to be served in the following pit stop. Two laps later Fernando Alonso returned to the pits to change tyres, followed on lap 12 by Daniel Ricciardo. The Australian, leaving the pits, is slightly ahead of the Spaniard. Between lap 13 and lap 15 the drivers in the first three positions also change tires. Lewis Hamilton returns to the track behind Hülkenberg, who has not yet changed tires, and manages to pass him after a few corners. Between lap 27 and lap 32 all the drivers in the top ten make their second stop.

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The ranking remains effectively unchanged, until a few drops of rain fall on the track which do not force the drivers to mount wet tyres. Sebastian Vettel closes in on Nico Rosberg, moving within two seconds. During lap 40 Daniel Ricciardo made his third tire change, but the team sent him back onto the track with the left front tire not properly secured, so much so that the driver immediately stopped in the pit lane and was taken back by the mechanics to his pit. stopover. The Australian thus starts again at the back. Furthermore, shortly afterwards, the front wing on his car bent, ruining the tires again. During lap 42 Fernando Alonso makes his third stop and rejoins the track behind Nico Hülkenberg. During lap 49 Sebastian Vettel also made his third tire change, and returned to the track just ahead of Nico Hülkenberg himself; in the following laps the two Mercedes drivers also changed tires. During lap 52, Fernando Alonso passes Nico Hülkenberg and rises to fourth place. Lewis Hamilton wins the Malaysian Grand Prix, obtaining his first Grand Chelem of his career (pole position, fastest lap, victory and remaining in the lead for the entire race). The British driver precedes Nico Rosberg, Sebastian Vettel and Fernando Alonso. For Mercedes it is the first double since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix. The number 44, used by Hamilton, had not achieved a victory since the 1955 Monaco Grand Prix, with Maurice Trintignant.

 

"I'm Mr. Wolff, I solve problems".

 

He's joking today. But a year ago, when he took command of operations in the most difficult team in Formula 1, many began the countdown. This one here, in Mercedes, doesn't last more than two months. And instead, Toto Wolff, Austrian from Vienna, 42 years old, Williams driver wife and smiling face of a smart boy, really solved the problems. They say you're the favourites because you have the best engine: is that true?

 

"Yes, it's true".

 

How did you do?

 

"We prepared before the others. But above all I think it rewarded the integration between the engine team and the chassis team. Whoever was designing the new power unit posed the question of what was needed by those who studied the chassis".

 

This may have made the difference with Renault not having its own team. But not with Ferrari. Isn't the Anglo-German organisation better than Maranello's?

 

"I think the key is the Brixworth factory (in England). A crazy place where a spaceship could be built. It's all so sophisticated, there are so many intelligences, so many great managers… as they say: the best or nothing today I can say that it was inevitable that our engines were the best".

 

Domenicali says that Mercedes has invested four times what Ferrari has invested in its engines.

 

"I don't know how much Ferrari spent. I know they made a massive investment. The structure I saw in Maranello is impressive. I remember it casting an immense shadow over the rest of the establishment. We certainly haven't invested much. We are suppliers of three teams who pay the leasing to have our engines and in the end the budget cost, I swear, is ridiculous (around 20 million euros, ed.)".

 

An investment also for road machinery.

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"Of course, this F1 is perfect for us. Decreasing the displacement meant that this engine is the same size as the ones we fit on road cars. A week ago we had a problem in Brixworth and we called the engineers in Stuttgart. Not only did they solve the problem for us, but they also stole some ideas from us".

He still hasn't explained the difference between you and Ferrari. Maybe it's a question of mentality?

"I don't think this type of discussion applies in F1. The Italian with spaghetti, the French with red wine and the Germans with beer. The Ferrari technicians come from all over the world, Domenicali is a great manager".


So? 


"So I think you have to go to Brixworth to understand".

Vettel is against the sound of new engines.
 

"If he had won he would have liked it very much".

Will Red Bull manage to change the rules on the flow metre?

"No, I'm sure of it. But I'm very afraid of their recovery on a technical level, it was impressive. And I also fear Ferrari, of course".

Well done, he managed to say it without laughing.

"I really mean it".

There's nothing for anyone: Lewis Hamilton literally mortified everyone today by dominating the Malaysian Grand Prix, the second round of the Formula 1 world championship. In the lead from start to finish, fast laps after fast laps: Lewis didn't, not even his teammate Nico Rosberg (second) was allowed to come close. The story of a Grand Prix without a story tells of two silver and steel machines that devour everything. Like monsters in apocalyptic films. They are the Mercedes of the hybrid era, very fast and silent infernal tools. Built to devour everything, asphalt and opponents. Behind them, nothingness. And after nothing, timidly, the World Champion Red Bull. And it is precisely from the comparison between the single-seater that has dominated far and wide the last four F1 World Championships and the new cannibals, that we understand the real dimensions of the balance of power. Hamilton and Rosberg won over Sebastian Vettel by a clear margin of half a minute. An infinity. And they send a loud and clear message to others. The World Championship is our stuff. And excluding any miracles, it is best to think about 2015.


"It's incredible, after a difficult weekend and a long winter it was beautiful. I want to dedicate this victory to the Malaysian people, after the tragedy that struck them due to the plane crash. The team executed all pit stops perfectly and the information was timely. We have a fantastic car, amazing work from everyone".

After the victory in the opening Grand Prix in Australia he had to settle for second place, giving way to teammate Lewis Hamilton.

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"I have to thank my engineer, we made an incredible start, I managed to get to second place and I congratulate Lewis who drove an extraordinary race".

 

Sebastian Vettel redeems himself after the first race in Australia, taking his Red Bull to the podium, even if there is still a gap to close on Mercedes.

"The race went very well. I thought I had a good start, I wanted to attack Lewis, but then I lost a position. In certain phases we seemed to be running similar times, but then we had a different pace and so I thought about bringing the car to the finish line and conquering the podium that was denied to us in Australia with Ricciardo's disqualification".

The Red Bull team principal, Christian Horner, comments thus on the Malaysian Grand Prix which saw Mercedes dominate with a one-two scored by Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, with the Anglo-Austrian team able to achieve the first podium of the year with Sebastian Vettel third.

"We still have a long way to go to catch up to Mercedes. As we expected, they have a very fast car, congratulations to them but also to our team who did an excellent job. I think the Mercedes have a bigger advantage than we never had in the past years, so we have to work very hard to get them back, but they are not irretrievable, so we have to push hard".

Finally, the Red Bull team principal talks about the problems of Daniel Ricciardo who retired a few laps from the end after a race at the back:

"There was a breakdown before the race, so it wasn't operational during the Grand Prix".

Behind Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull, at the end of the race, there should be that of teammate Daniel Ricciardo, but the very young Australian driver seems to be afflicted by a chronic form of bad luck which forces him to retire, after events of all kinds, they fit a wheel incorrectly, he breaks a front wing, they give him a penalty. A retirement that will be blessed by the parish priest of Maranello, whose Ferrari thanks to Alonso's fourth place (Raikkonen twelfth) can say that, despite everything, they are third in the general classification, one point behind Hamilton, 19 behind Rosberg, and unusually 9 ahead of Vettel. The problem, however, is that despite everything. Expression that covers a real disaster. The F14T is slow, far from Red Bull and very far from Mercedes. After five seasons as an eternal second, she finds herself an incredibly third force. Fighting with Force India. The Ferrari engine is the worst of the entire 2014 Formula 1. The truth is hard to accept, but Stefano Domenicali and his team must learn to deal with it as soon as possible if they want to straighten out a season that seems compromised already in the second race. The numbers leave no escape. The power units (from this year they are called that) of the Maranello team are mounted by three Formula 1 cars, one at the top (the Ferrari), one from the mid-table (the Sauber) and one from the rear (the Marussia). Well: in Sepang, both Ferrari, Sauber and Marussia were the slowest in their respective categories. Outclassed by the competition from the Mercedes-powered teams, and this was already known, but also from the Renaults, and this is the real news that emerged yesterday. Ferrari, in particular, made a monstrous effort on the straight, where the top speed was decidedly insufficient. We saw it in the overtaking phases. When Alonso on Hulkenberg (Force India-Mercedes), and Raikkonen on Ericsson (Caterham-Renault) first and Grosjean (Lotus-Renault) afterwards made a monstrous effort. But it's not enough. Because the other great news shown by the hot Sepang circuit is that, contrary to the good intentions announced during the winter, the engines produced in Maranello are not even to be considered reliable. On the contrary. 

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Of the fifteenth power units that reached the end of the race, there were seven designed by Mercedes (out of a total of eight at the start), five Renaults (out of a total of six at the start), and only three Ferraris (out of six), of which one, that of Chilton's Marussia, finished last behind the two Caterham Renaults of Ericsson and Kobayashi. Asked directly about these data, Stefano Domenicali understandably prefers to dribble the question:

 

"I can't answer for the other teams, we supply our engine, then they manage it as they see fit with their chassis and their settings".

However, the team principal cannot avoid answering the part that concerns his team, making the situation worse, if possible, with the usual intellectual honesty.

"I don't think it's correct to point to just one area as problematic. Today our drivers were also complaining about a lack of traction, general driving problems. The world championship is far from over, there is still time to recover. A first important step is planned for China, between two matches, a second for Barcelona. We must remain calm and work to recover, but do it quickly".

Before the situation definitively gets out of hand, as has happened in recent years. The good thing is that Alonso, for the moment, seems patient and in his own way also optimistic:

"I was slow the whole race. Not competitive. At the beginning I wasn't comfortable with either the balance or the brakes, in short, it was a bit of a nightmare. Then the situation improved slightly. But I was never happy with the car throughout the race. There is still a lot of work to do".

Fernando Alonso explains that with such a busy calendar there really isn't time to modify the car. As a result, in Bahrain, Ferrari is condemned to chase - from afar - Mercedes and, probably, Red Bull. The Spanish driver is fresh from fourth place in the Malaysian Grand Prix, in a race dominated by the two Anglo-German single-seaters.


"The traction wasn't enough, we lost ground when exiting corners. Let's compare our performance to the single-seater that has the best traction, the Red Bull: the gap was probably more or less what we expected. As far as top speed is concerned, we can't compare ourselves with the Mercedes, it's no secret. They were the fastest in Australia, Malaysia and also in the tests in Bahrain".


So no technical revolution.


"There's not much we can do, because we'll be back on track straight away. But we're very clear about how we need to intervene on the car in view of the Chinese and Spanish Grands Prix. And we will do it. It's not the ideal position to start the season , but the team is making enormous efforts to improve. I would like to fight to win, but as long as you are ahead of your teammate you are doing something extra compared to people's expectations".


Added Alonso, referring to the two internal duels won so far with Raikkonen.


"We will improve, there is no doubt. We only have two races under our belt, we are analysing the situation in depth. We will do our utmost to get to the level of Mercedes and Red Bull in the shortest time possible. Hopes are intact".

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After two fourth places and some controversy, Fernando Alonso tries to keep morale high within the Maranello team.

 

"We must aim high to close the gap".


On Sunday 6 April 2014 the race will take place in Bahrain and the Spanish Ferrari driver is looking for precious points after the fourth places obtained in Australia and Malaysia. At the moment, it seems impossible to worry about Mercedes and it is also complicated to fight wheel to wheel with the Red Bull. However, Alonso shows optimism.

"Compared to the last test in Bahrain we have made great progress regarding the management of electric and thermal power in the power unit. Everyone now understands the rules better, even we drivers know how to adapt our driving style and how to behave with these new Formula 1 cars. Therefore we can say that we come to this race with a much more solid basis of awareness compared to this winter's tests. The most difficult aspect to manage on the Sakhir track is undoubtedly that of braking: there are very long straights followed by sharp braking which are followed by low speed corners and then other straights. For this reason the performance of the brakes is fundamental: a correct balance allows you to feel very comfortable in the car and achieve better times. on the brakes there is another necessity here in Bahrain: having a good top speed".


And he adds:


"Up to this point we have seen two different types of racing in the first Grands Prix of the season. In Australia it was important to save fuel, in Malaysia we had to focus more on tire management because there was pronounced degradation due to the high temperatures. I believe that Bahrain could be a combination of the first two races. We will probably have to be more careful about consumption than Malaysia but the tires will also be affected by the high temperatures of the Bahrain desert. We expect a tough race, we know that some of our rivals are very strong but we must aim high to close the gap on them as soon as possible".


The other Ferrari driver, Kimi Raikkonen, also expressed his opinion on Ferrari's moment and the next Grand Prix:


"There is still a lot of work to do but everyone in the team is giving their all to optimise our potential as quickly as possible".

The Finn Ferrari driver is coming off a disappointing twelfth place in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

"We return to Bahrain after the winter tests with the experience that comes from the first two races of the season. In Sakhir we have to make good use of what we have learned so far. There are not many corners on the Sakhir track but it is always quite difficult to obtain a perfect lap because it is complicated to reconcile the fast sectors with the corners to be taken at low speed. You might think that with just a few corners it would be easy to get a clean lap, but once in the car you discover that this is not the case. The key is to find the right set-up as soon as possible: if you succeed, as the weekend progresses the car constantly improves".


And he adds:


"Each circuit is different in terms of fuel and tire management. In Bahrain I think that saving fuel could be a more important element than in the first two races. However, it shouldn't be an insurmountable problem because as we saw in Melbourne it had an impact less than everyone expected. As for the tyres, once we find the right set-up for the car, the situation should be simpler than in Malaysia". 

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Ferrari must change gear, according to Stefano Domenicali:

 

"We have to improve in all areas and we have to do it quickly. Mercedes' advantage was clear already after the tests, so the ranking is not a surprise. But if Mercedes maintains this pace it will be very difficult to catch them. It's a question of time. Mercedes was certainly the best in terms of performance and this is our objective. But let's not forget that we are only in the second race, so be careful with your judgements. Just look back: after the first tests people thought Red Bull was finished. We need to stay calm".


However, there is no shortage of weak points to work on:


"In which areas? Basically everywhere. We need to work to have a more efficient car and a better engine, to make the most of the balance between electric and traditional engine power".


But whoever asks if Ferrari would need a new car in a few words, Domenicali replies:


"No, no. That's a bit extreme. I don't think so. My only concern is to give Alonso and Raikkonen the best car possible. This is our most pressing need and it has to happen very soon. So far Fernando has shown that he is fast straight away, Kimi needs some time to understand the car. But I'm sure there won't be any problems from the drivers".


There is also talk again of Sebastian Vettel's possible future at Ferrari, a rumor fueled by the long chat between Domenicali and the Red Bull champion shortly before the race in Malaysia. But the Ferrari team principal slows down:

"Sebastian is a fantastic driver, four times world champion. We at Ferrari are happy with what we have and I'm sure that Sebastian is also satisfied with his situation because he seems able to fight again".


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