2011 Malaysian Grand Prix

[Barra333]

Should be some great youtube videos to come out if people can get their hands on the onboard footage.

Until the FOM get to them and have them removed. Surprised I haven't seen a gif of Petrov yet

 

[Mike Rotch]

On the alonso/ LH penalty: How on earth did they get penalised, but Rubens got away scott free after demolishing Rosberg's race in Melbourne.

Pirro should go back to be a mediocre touring car driver and leave the stewarding to others.

 

[Rossticles]

I've almost had enough of these penalties for failed overtakes. I mean what driver knows, for sure, that his overtaking maneuver is going to work. It's racing. Racing is always uncertain.

 

[The Outlaw]

On the alonso/ LH penalty: How on earth did they get penalised, but Rubens got away scott free after demolishing Rosberg's race in Melbourne..

Yea it doesn't make sense to me. I guess DNF'ing means you escape punishment

I've almost had enough of these penalties for failed overtakes. I mean what driver knows, for sure, that his overtaking maneuver is going to work. It's racing. Racing is always uncertain.

+1...especially for such a small, minuscule mistake...which only hurt Alonso's race.

 

[juniordee]

How on earth did they get penalised, but Rubens got away scott free after demolishing Rosberg's race in Melbourne.
.

Didn't he get a Drive-through for that (iirc)?

 

[The Outlaw]

I just rewatched part of the Melbourne race, and in fact he did serve a drive thru penalty. So scratch that whole argument It's worth noting that a drive thru (particularly at Melbourne) cost you less than 20 seconds worth the time though.

 

[juniordee]

I just rewatched part of the Melbourne race, and in fact he did serve a drive thru penalty. So scratch that whole argument It's worth noting that a drive thru (particularly at Melbourne) cost you less than 20 seconds worth the time though.

That's debatable, I'm pretty sure a drive through at Melbourne costs approx. 20 seconds. If I'm not mistaken, the pit there is longer than Malaysia's. Not to mention the time lost entering and leaving the pit plays a big factor too.

 

[The Outlaw]

Actually you are right again. Total time lost in the pits is ~20 seconds using Button's drive thru as the basis, and how much time he lost to Vettel once he returned on track and hit the first sector split.

 

[juniordee]

Back on topic, I definitely think the penalties for last race were too harsh. Alonso and Hamilton were having a great entertaining battle, something unfortunate happened, and that should be enough penalty for both of them (Alonso damaging his front wing and Hamilton having other issues). Buemi's stop-and-go penalty was also too harsh IMO, but I didn't see how much he sped in the pits. From what I read after the race though, it couldn't have been that bad. A drive through would've been enough I think. Stop and go just pours salt on the wound.

 

[Rossticles]

Speeding in the pits in inexcusable. There's no question Buemi deserved a penalty for it. It doesn't matter how much faster than the speed limit you're going. It could be as little as 1kmh over to get a penalty.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Alonso and Hamilton were having a great entertaining battle, something unfortunate happened, and that should be enough penalty for both of them (Alonso damaging his front wing and Hamilton having other issues).

Oh, it was entertaining. Well then, of course they should be let off. Never mind the fact that Lewis Hamilton has been cautioned plenty of times for excessive weaving. Or the fact that Alonso touching him was completely avoidable and could have easily ended in the same way as Webber's backflip in Valencia.

 

[Ardius]

I don't know what to think about DRS. It worked a bit too well this race.


It won't matter anyway since we're in for a season of Vettel domination.

Did it? Webber demonstrated quite plainly that KERS helps too. Alonso couldn't quite get past Hamilton using his DRS. I'm pretty sure I remember several other drivers struggling to complete passes with DRS.
It wasn't successful all the time - which as i said is how it should be. It should only make it possible to pass, not make it a 100% successful pass everytime. We don't want to get into a situation where we know if the driver behind is close, he will always get past. The driver in front should always have a chance to defend his position too.
What DRS should be doing is putting two cars alongside each other into the braking zone. It shouldn't be putting cars well in front of one another so that the defending car has little chance to defend.

We got plenty of passing through the rest of the track, I'd say that DRS helped setup some of the battles into turn 4. The Pirelli's also helped a lot with the action.

 

[Hun200kmh]

Oh, it was entertaining. Well then, of course they should be let off. Never mind the fact that Lewis Hamilton has been cautioned plenty of times for excessive weaving. Or the fact that Alonso touching him was completely avoidable and could have easily ended in the same way as Webber's backflip in Valencia.

I don't know ... racing incident is racing incident, it's not like Schumacher throwing his car towards the sidepod of Villeneuve's

By these "no contact" standards, each and every divebomb made last year by Kamui Kobayashi at Suzuka's hairpin would award him a penalty.

I'm not sure I like that.

 

[LewyOs]

 

[Anghammarad]

Alonso couldn't quite get past Hamilton using his DRS.

Alonso's DRS had stopped working by the time he caught up with Hamilton. That was the reason he didn't just wait until the straight to pass.

 

[lmanion]

That picture is absolutely awesome haha

 

[Ardius]

Alonso's DRS had stopped working by the time he caught up with Hamilton. That was the reason he didn't just wait until the straight to pass.

There were (I'm fairly sure I remember seeing anyway) a few laps where he was using it behind Lewis. (and I don't mean because of the graphic, I mean because I could see the flap moving).
I remember one Ferrari using the flap and not making any moves stick with it. Might have been Massa then.

There was too much happening in that race to keep track of everything(!).

 

[Anghammarad]

Alonso radioed quite early that it did not work. I think it didn't work much more than half the race.

Edit: Not even that long it seems.

“Unfortunately, the Spaniard had to tackle the duel with his former teammate at a disadvantage, as he was unable to use the DRS which failed after a few laps because of a mechanical problem.” Pat Fry
http://ndtv.f1pulse.com/news/Podium...2011-april-news_20110410_44/news_article.aspx

 

[Ingram]

Oh, it was entertaining. Well then, of course they should be let off. Never mind the fact that Lewis Hamilton has been cautioned plenty of times for excessive weaving. Or the fact that Alonso touching him was completely avoidable and could have easily ended in the same way as Webber's backflip in Valencia.

I agree that Lewis was weaving excessively (though more so in other instances during the race, and he completely got away with it last year at Sepang vs Petrov) and he should have been penalised at some stage.

My issue with Alonso's penalty was that he made such a minor error. Yes, it could have been avoided, but minor collisions are so commonplace in these situations that it seems unfair to penalise him for a tiny misjudgement. I really think drivers should only be penalised for malicious or very clumsy moves, of which, in my opinion, this was neither. As you mention it, and as I can't remember, was Webber penalised for his Valencia crash last year?

 

[Bigbazz]

If Hamilton was to get a penalty for his defending then Massa would certaintly have to get one for Melbourne. I think the penalty given to the both drivers was pointless, racing incidents are just that and that particular one was really quite small.

 

[Pupik]

My issue with Alonso's penalty was that he made such a minor error. Yes, it could have been avoided, but minor collisions are so commonplace in these situations that it seems unfair to penalise him for a tiny misjudgement. I really think drivers should only be penalised for malicious or very clumsy moves, of which, in my opinion, this was neither.

Exactly my sentiments, I'd like to think two world champions can both chalk it up as a racing accident, for which the blame and entire effect essentially rests on the one who made the mistake.

Just because you could penalize, doesn't mean its necessary in this case.

 

[homeforsummer]

Would have been much funnier had I not already posted it about 15 hours before you

 

[Tornado]

Oh, it was entertaining. Well then, of course they should be let off.

To an extent, yes. It would certainly be nice if drivers know that they won't get hammered with a penalty simply because they were attempting to overtake each other and one of them made a mistake. The immediate negative effect such a precedent would set should be obvious.

Or the fact that Alonso touching him was completely avoidable and could have easily ended in the same way as Webber's backflip in Valencia.

Why does this change anything? It looked like minor contact to me. And it didn't look like it was done on purpose. So what is penalizing Alonso going to achieve, exactly?

 

[BlacqueJacques]

Surprised by the penalties; I thought it was a good race; with good battles for position 👍

Hooray only a week till the next race 👍

 

[Rich S]

Certainly weird that Webber's car hasnt been up to snuff. He's still finishing high enough to earn lots of points for constructor's, but not enough to be close to Vettel.

I didnt see the Alonso incident, but whatever.

 

[ADEuk]

 

[new_soul]

I don't know ... racing incident is racing incident, it's not like Schumacher throwing his car towards the sidepod of Villeneuve's

By these "no contact" standards, each and every divebomb made last year by Kamui Kobayashi at Suzuka's hairpin would award him a penalty.

I'm not sure I like that.

Kamui did much cleaner overtaking in Suzuka 2010 than This years Rubens in Australia and Alonso in Malaysia!


The contact there was not his fault, I remember the other car searing in to Kamui's Sauber.

 

[Tired Tyres]

This was a good race with plenty of action. It's a shame Heidfeld made such a great start, it prevented Hamilton from having a go at Vettel, but that's how it goes.

I'm not a fan of Heidfeld, I've always thought of him as a journeyman driver rather than someone who deserves a top drive, but he put in a great performance in this race - so credit where it's due.

The penalties for Alonso and Hamilton I don' t agree with. They where racing hard and things like that happen.

One final note. The TV cameras don't spend anywhere near enough time on Kobayashi. He is totally brilliant.

 

[juniordee]

The contact there was not his fault, I remember the other car searing in to Kamui's Sauber.

I don't think Alguersuari got a penalty for that. I agree with a comment above, penalties should be given for stupid and *facepalm* worthy moves. I'd hate to see good racing go away just because they're scared to overtake and get a penalty.

Off-topic: Did anybody see this? Made me laugh.

 

[happycorey]

Surprising to see the pace of the Lotus' but it's going to be a good season. China should be a good decider if RBR is going to dominate hopefully