Malaysian GP - Alonso Magico!
Sepang, 25 March
“Magico” was the word displayed on Fernando Alonso’s pit board as he crossed the line to take a brilliant victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix. Incredibly, after all the talk of crisis within the Prancing Horse camp, the Spaniard now leads the Drivers’ World Championship after two rounds, while Scuderia Ferrari is in third place behind leaders McLaren and Red Bull. “If it’s a crazy race, maybe with rain, then maybe we can finish in front,” said Fernando on Thursday in the FIA Press Conference and it seems that, apart from a talent for driving, perhaps he also has the talent to predict the future!
Having had a mainly dry weekend since Thursday, somehow the rain chose the moments leading up to the start to arrive over the Sepang circuit. It was light enough for everyone to fit the Pirelli intermediate tyres, but heavy enough to cause plenty of spray off the open-wheeled cars. As the lights went out, Hamilton and Button maintained their first and second grid positions, followed by Webber, Grosjean briefly, Vettel with Fernando up one to seventh. Having started third, Schumacher spun, while Felipe went up two places to tenth. Fernando was fifth on the second lap and on lap 3, as the rain intensified, Felipe was the first to pit for Extreme rain tyres and on the following lap, Grosjean parked his Lotus in the gravel in the treacherous conditions. Lap 4 and Fernando, Button, Hulkenberg, Ricciardo, Petrov and Kovalainen switched to the rain tyre. On lap 5 it was the turn of Hamilton, Webber and Vettel doing a double stop, Rosberg, Maldonaldo, Raikkonen, Kobayashi and Schumacher.
The conditions were getting worse and at first the information on the monitor said the race had been Red Flagged. However, a few seconds later the red band came off to be replaced with the message that the Safety Car was deployed. But as the track was virtually a river, the Red Flag did come out on lap 9. The cars formed up on the grid in the order, Hamilton and Button first and second for McLaren, then Perez (Sauber,) Webber (Red Bull) Fernando fifth for Ferrari, Vettel (Red Bull) Vergne (Toro Rosso) the only one of the lead group not to have changed to extreme tyres, then Felipe eighth in the second F2012, with Rosberg ninth for Mercedes, followed by another non-stopper Karthikeyan who had moved up 13 places in the Hispania!
As the restart took place behind the Safety Car, after a stop of almost an hour, the rules demanded that all cars had to be on Extreme rain tyres. Button pitted immediately for Intermediates and that saw him get ahead of his team-mate, who was also passed by Fernando and although Perez, who had made up a lot of ground when Sauber were the first to put him on extremes after the first start, got ahead of the Ferrari man, Fernando immediately got ahead of him again. With Button having dropped back after a collision with Karthikeyan, Fernando was now leading, with a comfortable margin of around six seconds over Perez. However, the situation changed when the track became dry enough for slicks to be fitted for the first time in the race. The Sauber proved to be much faster than the F2012 and the Mexican was able to close right up to Fernando. However, the pressure eased when Perez ran wide onto the back straight, the gap growing to at last five seconds again. The Mexican did fight back, but by this stage there were not enough laps remaining for him to get ahead, so a delighted Fernando punched the air as he crossed the line to take a brilliant and frankly unexpected victory; a victory that puts him in the lead in the Drivers’ World Championship, 5 points ahead of Hamilton and 10 in front of Button.
Felipe’s afternoon was less successful: after an early stop for extreme tyres, he had moved up from twelfth on the grid to eighth at the restart. He battled with Vergne in the Toro Rosso but then ran wide losing several places, dropping as low as eighteenth at one point before eventually taking the chequered flag in fifteenth place.
“Magico” was the word displayed on Fernando Alonso’s pit board as he crossed the line to take a brilliant victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix. Incredibly, after all the talk of crisis within the Prancing Horse camp, the Spaniard now leads the Drivers’ World Championship after two rounds, while Scuderia Ferrari is in third place behind leaders McLaren and Red Bull. “If it’s a crazy race, maybe with rain, then maybe we can finish in front,” said Fernando on Thursday in the FIA Press Conference and it seems that, apart from a talent for driving, perhaps he also has the talent to predict the future!
Having had a mainly dry weekend since Thursday, somehow the rain chose the moments leading up to the start to arrive over the Sepang circuit. It was light enough for everyone to fit the Pirelli intermediate tyres, but heavy enough to cause plenty of spray off the open-wheeled cars. As the lights went out, Hamilton and Button maintained their first and second grid positions, followed by Webber, Grosjean briefly, Vettel with Fernando up one to seventh. Having started third, Schumacher spun, while Felipe went up two places to tenth. Fernando was fifth on the second lap and on lap 3, as the rain intensified, Felipe was the first to pit for Extreme rain tyres and on the following lap, Grosjean parked his Lotus in the gravel in the treacherous conditions. Lap 4 and Fernando, Button, Hulkenberg, Ricciardo, Petrov and Kovalainen switched to the rain tyre. On lap 5 it was the turn of Hamilton, Webber and Vettel doing a double stop, Rosberg, Maldonaldo, Raikkonen, Kobayashi and Schumacher.
The conditions were getting worse and at first the information on the monitor said the race had been Red Flagged. However, a few seconds later the red band came off to be replaced with the message that the Safety Car was deployed. But as the track was virtually a river, the Red Flag did come out on lap 9. The cars formed up on the grid in the order, Hamilton and Button first and second for McLaren, then Perez (Sauber,) Webber (Red Bull) Fernando fifth for Ferrari, Vettel (Red Bull) Vergne (Toro Rosso) the only one of the lead group not to have changed to extreme tyres, then Felipe eighth in the second F2012, with Rosberg ninth for Mercedes, followed by another non-stopper Karthikeyan who had moved up 13 places in the Hispania!
As the restart took place behind the Safety Car, after a stop of almost an hour, the rules demanded that all cars had to be on Extreme rain tyres. Button pitted immediately for Intermediates and that saw him get ahead of his team-mate, who was also passed by Fernando and although Perez, who had made up a lot of ground when Sauber were the first to put him on extremes after the first start, got ahead of the Ferrari man, Fernando immediately got ahead of him again. With Button having dropped back after a collision with Karthikeyan, Fernando was now leading, with a comfortable margin of around six seconds over Perez. However, the situation changed when the track became dry enough for slicks to be fitted for the first time in the race. The Sauber proved to be much faster than the F2012 and the Mexican was able to close right up to Fernando. However, the pressure eased when Perez ran wide onto the back straight, the gap growing to at last five seconds again. The Mexican did fight back, but by this stage there were not enough laps remaining for him to get ahead, so a delighted Fernando punched the air as he crossed the line to take a brilliant and frankly unexpected victory; a victory that puts him in the lead in the Drivers’ World Championship, 5 points ahead of Hamilton and 10 in front of Button.
Felipe’s afternoon was less successful: after an early stop for extreme tyres, he had moved up from twelfth on the grid to eighth at the restart. He battled with Vergne in the Toro Rosso but then ran wide losing several places, dropping as low as eighteenth at one point before eventually taking the chequered flag in fifteenth place.
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