Malaysia wasn’t a patch on the mayhem of Australia, and all in all, pretty damn boring. There are some interesting points though, least of all the performance of Toyota and BMW. Here is my team-by-team analysis on who I think is where after the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Ferrari - Ferrari had a clear advantage over all of their competitors this weekend. Raikkonen drove the race he should of last weekend, despite being unhappy with the setup after qualifying. It was clear after the first corner that Raikkonen was going to wait and pass Massa via the pits and indeed he did with a very quick in-lap. On the other hand, Massa seemed to be aiming for a repeat of Melbourne. I’m quite disappointed with him so far this season, as last year he showed the potential to fight for championships with a top team. There is already much speculation that he will be replace with Alonso or Vettel next year, so he will really have to step up his game if he wants to continue at Ferrari. Ferrari fans are claiming that the engine woes at Australia have been solved, but I don’t think it is possible to completely fix it within the 4 day gap the teams got. If I was Raikkonen or Massa, I’d be a little worried about a failure on the engine’s second race at Bahrain.
McLaren - Some people are already writing off McLaren and saying they are behind Toyota and BMW. A week ago though, the same people were writing Ferrari off. It is also worth remembering that McLaren did qualify 3rd and 4th before their penalties, and they did run a longer first stint than most, so I don’t think they were that far behind Ferrari overall. Kovalainen did very well and is already looking like a serious title contender. Hamilton also did very well, making up four places off the line and putting in some good laps before getting stuck behind Webber. If it wasn’t for the disastrous pit stop (and subsequently being stuck behind Webber again with additional balance issues) I think he would have come 2nd or 3rd, with Kovalainen just behind. Overall Hamilton made the best of a problem filled race.
BMW - BMW had another great race, proving Australia was no fluke and that they have the pace to fight for the championship. Both Kubica and Heidfeld drove a very impressive race without any incidents. It will definitely be interesting to see what BMW can do in future races. Could we see their first win this season?
Williams - A definite disappointment after their fantastic race in Australia, Williams didn’t seem to be as quick as they were at Australia. Rosberg’s cause was not helped by losing his nose on the first lap, but even after that, he didn’t seem to have the pace to catch-up. Nakajima failed to make much impression either, but I didn’t expect much from him here. Hopefully Williams will have more pace in Bahrain and are not doomed to spend the season fighting Super Aguri.
Renault - Alonso showed that Melbourne wasn’t total luck and drove a good race, putting Webber under some pressure in the closing laps. There is talk of a move to Ferrari for 2009, but I’d rather see him work with Renault and return them to the front. Piquet Jnr also seemed to have a better race in Malaysia, but he is still far from what I expected. I think Renault are capable of getting the last of the points positions on a regular basis and could fight Red Bull for higher points. Talk of Renault fighting for this year’s championship is pointless without some major improvements on the car at Barcelona.
Toyota - The biggest surprise at Malaysia was Toyota. I thought after qualifying it was the usual qualifying performance from Trulli, but he pace showed in qualifying continued into the race. Trulli drove very well and even managed to find some extra pace to keep Hamilton at bay in the closing stages. We didn’t see much of Glock due to a collision at the start, but starting from 10th I think he was capable of points. Providing the pace wasn’t a fluke, I think Toyota are set to be the “best of the rest”, behind Ferrari, McLaren and BMW.
Red Bull - Webber did very well and Coulthard missed out on a point by one place. Webber kept his cool with Hamilton behind and kept the pace-up enough to prevent him from getting a decent look at overtaking. Currently it looks like Red Bull will be spending the season fighting with Renault for the last few points, but most importantly (so far at least) they don’t seem to have the major reliability issues of last year.
Toro Rosso - With Bourdais retiring near the start there is nothing we can conclude about him from this weekend. His qualifying was not great, but neither was it at Australia. The most interesting point of Toro Rosso’s weekend was Vettels retirement. Vettel’s retirement shows there may still be some issues with the Ferrari engines, but we will have to wait and see what happens at Bahrain. Toro Rosso may be able to spring a surprise at some races, but I doubt they will be regular point contenders.
Honda - Like Toro Rosso, I think Honda aren’t capable of regular points finishes. They have definitely made an improvement over last years car and it shows. Both Button and Barrichello had a decent race. Honda are already focusing their efforts on the 2009 car so I think we will have to wait until next year before we see any major improvements from them.
Super Aguri - As uninspiring as they were in Australia. Super Aguri have little chance of being anywhere but the back this year, especially considering their budget problems. If they start now and can get the budget for it, there is a chance for them to do better next year.
Force India - Fisichella showed that Force India have some decent race pace. I think with the help of a chaotic race, they could be looking at a point or two. In usual conditions, I think they will at best be clearly faster than Super Aguri while still being some way behind the others. Give it a year or two and they could regularly be in the points.
Overall - With the exception of the start, Malaysia was disappointing. Nothing has changed there. There was a distinct lack of overtaking with only a couple of scraps. I think this was a cobmination of the lack of traction control and the difficulties with following others cars closely through fast corners. Some drivers and teams are still hard to judge, but hopefully all will be revealed at Bahrain, which I hope will be a more interesting race.
