Hamilton beats Vettel to Pole in Wet Malaysia

Lewis Hamilton beats Vettel to Pole in wet Malaysia

The Qualifying for the F1 Grand Prix in Malaysia started on a wet note and as a result the cars were more closer to each other. Ferrari surprised others by its pace and Sebastian Vettel pushed Nico Rosberg to third place as Lewis Hamilton took the pole for the second time this season.

Lewis Hamilton in his Mercedes scored a 1m:49.834 seconds to secure the pole position and beat Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari by 0.074 seconds. Vettel scored 1m 49.908. Nico Rosberg's Mercedes came third with a time of 1m 50.299 seconds. After the previous race Nico Rosberg had joked that he wants Ferrari to be closer, as he wanted someone to take away points from Lewis Hamilton. However, it appears that Sebastian Vettel may take away points from Nico Rosberg in the race tomorrow.

The Rain Gods came down at full force at the middle of the Q2 completely spoiling the plans of various teams. It all boiled down to whether the cars were able to get clear path infront of them to score a good time or not. Unfortunately, Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari didn't not get it and was stuck behind a Sauber and hence could only score P11 and not qualify for the top ten shoot out.

The Red Bull cars of Daniel Ricciardo and Daniil Kvyat qualified at 4th and 5th with times of 1m: 51.541s and 1m: 51.951 seconds.

They were followed by the youngest driver on the grid Max Verstappen of Toro Rosso at 6th. Felipe Massa of Williams was 7th at 1m: 52.473 seconds. Romain Grosjean of Lotus was 8th.

Valtteri Bottas of Williams was declared fit to race in this race and he clocked a qualifying time of 1m: 53.179 to qualify at 9th position. Marcus Ericsson of Sauber was 10th at 153.261 seconds.

Kimi Raikkonen will start tomorrow at 11th, followed by Pastor Maldonado of Lotus at 12. The 13th and 14th positions were taken by the two Force India cars of Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez.

Carlos Sainz of Toro Rosso and Felipe Nasr of Sauber were 15th and 16th. Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso of McLaren qualified last at 17th and 18th positions.

The Two Manor Racing cars of finished outside the 107% qualifying time of 1:46.217 and can race if they are allowed by the Stewards. One of them, Will Stevens had set a time in the FP2 on friday which was better than the 107% time. Stevens didn't race today due to a fuel pressure problem. We will soon know the verdict of the stewards.

Narain Blasts Vettel calls him Cry baby

Narain and Vettel were involved in an incident in Malaysia where Vettel's rear left tyre got punctured while overtaking Narain. Stewards penalised Narain with a 20 second penalty, though many experts believed Vettel moved back too quickly. During the post race interaction with Media, Vettel had showered choicest of abuses on Narain saying he is a "cucumber" and "idiot".

Narain has blasted Vettel while talking with Hindustan Times. Narain said "For a world champion to say things like that is shameful". Calling Vettel unprofessional, Narain further added "For a driver who has achieved so much to take out his frustrations on me just because he is having a difficult year is really sad. One does not expect a professional sportsperson to be such a cry baby.

Nico Hulkenberg of Force India said that "I have seen the incident and it wasn't Narain's fault." Hulkenberg further added "It was a bad day for him. He had no points. He is emotional."

After watching the incident, it came as a surprise that Narain was penalised for the incident because Vettel had slightly moved towards Narain. The drivers of leading teams are known to try and bulldoze the drivers in slower cars. However, the stewards penalising Narain and going by the version of Vettel was surprising. Many commentators blamed Vettel for the incident and others like David Coulthard had said it is a racing incident. Narain expressing his unhappiness about the Stewards not listening to him said "They didn't care about what I had to say because Mr. Vettel told them God knows what when he went and talked to them."

The details of the incident and revised positions for Malaysia can be found here:
http://www.arjunaubacha.blogspot.in/2012/03/revised-classification-for-malaysia.html

Sebastien Vettel showed a finger to Narain Karthikeyan after the incident.

It is shocking that past world champions can be so rude and unprofessional. This kind of action immediately invites action in sports like Cricket and Footbal. Unfortunately, in Formula 1, this is accepted.

Revised Classification for Malaysia

Narain Karthikeyan of HRT team was slapped a post match penalty of 20 seconds due to the collision with Vettel. Though many analysts and commentators were of the view that the collision happened when Vettel moved aside too soon before fully overtaking Narain Karthikeyan, the stewards felt otherwise. So they handed over the penalty to Karthikeyan. This has resulted in Narain Karthikeyan dropping down to 22nd in the classification behind his team mate Pedro de la Rosa.

The revised classification for the Malaysia race is as follows:

Pos	Driver	Team	Laps	Race Time	Delay
1	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	56	2:44'51.812
2	Sergion Perez	Sauber	56	2:44'54.075	2.263
3	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	56	2:45'06.403	14.591
4	Mark Webber	Red Bull	56	2:45'09.500	17.688
5	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus	56	2:45'21.268	29.456
6	Bruno Senna	Williams	56	2:45'29.479	37.667
7	Paul di Resta	Force India	56	2:45'36.224	44.412
8	J. Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	56	2:45'38.797	46.985
9	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	56	2:45'39.704	47.892
10	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	56	2:45'41.808	49.996
11	Sebastien Vettel	Red Bull	56	2:46'07.339	+1'15.527
12	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	56	2:46'08.640	+1'16.828
13	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	56	2:46'10.405	+1'18.593
14	Jenson Button	McLaren	56	2:46'11.531	+1'19.719
15	Felipe Massa	Ferrari	56	2:46'29.131	+1'37.319
16	Vitaly Petrov	Caterham	55		+1 lap
17	Timo Glock	Marussia	55		+1 lap
18	Heikki Kovalainen	Caterham	55		+1 lap
19	Pastor Maldonado	Williams	54		+2 laps
20	Charles Pic	Marussia	55		+1 lap
21	Pedro de la Rosa	HRT	54		+2 laps
22	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	54		+2 laps

Wet Malaysia GP gives surprise win to Alonso

A wet Malaysia GP threw many surprises. Alonso came as the winner, though the Ferrari is no where among the top cars this year. He was followed by Sergio Perez in second place. Sergio Perez was within 2.2 seconds of Alonso and could have closed the gap if he didnt go wide.

The third place was taken up by Lewis Hamilton, who despite starting from the Pole again had the bad luck of losing out. He had a bad pit stop. His team mate and winner in Australia, Jenson Button banged into Narain Karthikeyan and had to change the nose of his car. That pushed him down the grid and out of the points paying position.

Just before the race started, the Rain Gods started pouring. All the cars were on intermediates, except for the full wet of a few cars. Narain Karthikeyan, due to this inspired choice of tyre was as high as 10th postion in the 8th lap. However, as we know that this HRT is far slower in pace than the other cars, it was never going to be a points giving finish even in such inclement weather. And Jenson Button's mistake and the resultant accident with Narain ensured that both of them had to have a pit stop.

Michael Schumacher who started in 3rd position spinned as he was hit from behind by Grosjean. And from that point onwards it was sure that he would remain in the midfield. However, he could score 10th position and his first points for the season. It was the first points for the Mercedes team as well, as Nico Rosberg finished in 13th position.

Narain Karthikeyan finished his race at 21st position, albeit 2 laps down. His team mate Pedro de la Rosa was 22nd.

Pos	Driver	Team	Laps	Race Time	Delay
1	Fernando Alonso	Ferrari	56	2:44'51.812
2	Sergion Perez	Sauber	56	2:44'54.075	2.263
3	Lewis Hamilton	McLaren	56	2:45'06.403	14.591
4	Mark Webber	Red Bull	56	2:45'09.500	17.688
5	Kimi Raikkonen	Lotus	56	2:45'21.268	29.456
6	Bruno Senna	Williams	56	2:45'29.479	37.667
7	Paul di Resta	Force India	56	2:45'36.224	44.412
8	J. Eric Vergne	Toro Rosso	56	2:45'38.797	46.985
9	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India	56	2:45'39.704	47.892
10	Michael Schumacher	Mercedes	56	2:45'41.808	49.996
11	Sebastien Vettel	Red Bull	56	2:46'07.339	+1'15.527
12	Daniel Ricciardo	Toro Rosso	56	2:46'08.640	+1'16.828
13	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	56	2:46'10.405	+1'18.593
14	Jenson Button	McLaren	56	2:46'11.531	+1'19.719
15	Felipe Massa	Caterham	56	2:46'29.131	+1'37.319
16	Vitaly Petrov	Marussia	55		+1 lap
17	Timo Glock	Caterham	55		+1 lap
18	Heikki Kovalainen	Williams	55		+1 lap
19	Pastor Maldonado	Marussia	54		+2 laps
20	Charles Pic	HRT	55		+1 lap
21	Narain Karthikeyan	HRT	54		+2 laps
22	Pedro de la Rosa		54		+2 laps

Third Practice in Sepang Malaysia

Nico Rosberg stole the show from his illustrious team mate Michael Schumacher and the front running McLaren by setting the fastest laptime in the Third and Final Practice in Sepang Malaysia in 2012. 

He was followed by Sebastien Vettel, Mark Webber, Kimi Raikkonen, Grosjean, Button, Maldonado, Schumacher. 

Narain Karthikeyan of India was leading his team mate as well as one of the Marussia cars of C. Pic till the last moments when both of them overtook his timing. The good news is that both the HRT cars are within the 107% qualifying times and give hope that there will be a full grid of 24 cars on Sunday's race.

The Final Times:

01 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:36.877 16 laps
02 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:37.320 0.443 15 laps
03 Mark Webber Red Bull 1:37.338 0.461 12 laps
04 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1:37.356 0.479 13 laps
05 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:37.382 0.505 13 laps
06 Jenson Button McLaren 1:37.404 0.527 12 laps
07 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:37.455 0.578 13 laps
08 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:37.663 0.786 15 laps
09 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:37.776 0.899 8 laps
10 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1:37.977 1.100 17 laps
11 Bruno Senna Williams 1:38.091 1.214 20 laps
12 Sergio Perez Sauber 1:38.178 1.301 15 laps
13 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:38.246 1.369 17 laps
14 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:38.285 1.408 16 laps
15 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:38.423 1.546 13 laps
16 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:38.640 1.763 11 laps
17 Paul di Resta Force India 1:38.794 1.917 18 laps
18 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:39.209 2.332 16 laps
19 Vitaly Petrov Caterham 1:39.704 2.827 15 laps
20 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 1:40.189 3.312 14 laps
21 Charles Pic Marussia 1:41.901 5.024 14 laps
22 Timo Glock Marussia 1:42.007 5.130 14 laps
23 Pedro de la Rosa HRT 1:42.464 5.587 14 laps
24 Narain Karthikeyan HRT 1:43.378 6.501 17 laps 

Sepang Malaysia GP Practice 2012

Hamilton came up tops in Practice 1 and 2.
Both the HRT cars came within the 107% qualifying time. In the Practice 2 Lewis Hamilton clocked 1:38.172 and accordingly the qualifying time was 1:45.044

Narain Karthikeyan was faster than his team mate in both the sessions despite clocking less number of laps. My estimation, he will consistently be faster than his teammate.

Michel Schumacher was 2nd in the 2nd Practice. This year the Mercedes has got a good speed in one lap distances. Hope it translates into good race pace as well.

The detailed times for both the practices are given below.

Practice 1 Times:
Times
01 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:38.021 19 laps
02 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:38.535 0.514 21 laps
03 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:38.813 0.792 21 laps
04 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:38.826 0.805 19 laps
05 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:38.919 0.898 17 laps
06 Mark Webber Red Bull 1:39.092 1.071 20 laps
07 Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1:39.128 1.107 22 laps
08 Paul di Resta Force India 1:39.298 1.277 23 laps
09 Jenson Button McLaren 1:39.323 1.302 15 laps
10 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:39.440 1.419 19 laps
11 Valtteri Bottas Williams 1:39.724 1.703 23 laps
12 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:39.783 1.762 23 laps
13 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:39.896 1.875 16 laps
14 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1:39.910 1.889 21 laps
15 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:39.980 1.959 23 laps
16 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:40.099 2.078 23 laps
17 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 1:40.247 2.226 19 laps
18 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:40.469 2.448 23 laps
19 Vitaly Petrov Caterham 1:40.857 2.836 25 laps
20 Sergio Perez Sauber 1:41.085 3.064 23 laps
21 Timo Glock Marussia 1:43.170 5.149 18 laps
22 Charles Pic Marussia 1:44.580 6.559 14 laps
23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT 1:45.360 7.339 8 laps
24 Pedro de la Rosa HRT 1:45.528 7.507 18 laps


Practice 2 Times:
01 Lewis Hamilton McLaren 1:38.172 28 laps
02 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:38.533 0.361 34 laps
03 Jenson Button McLaren 1:38.535 0.363 30 laps
04 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:38.696 0.524 34 laps
05 Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso 1:38.853 0.681 33 laps
06 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:38.891 0.719 27 laps
07 Mark Webber 1:39.133 0.961 29 laps
08 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 1:39.297 1.125 33 laps
09 Romain Grosjean Lotus 1:39.311 1.139 22 laps10 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 1:39.402 0.514 25 laps
11 Pastor Maldonado Williams 1:39.444 1.272 35 laps
12 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 1:39.464 1.292 26 laps
13 Paul di Resta Force India 1:39.625 1.453 20 laps
14 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber 1:39.687 1.515 16 laps
15  Kimi Raikkonen Lotus 1:39.696 1.524 29 laps
16 Felipe Masa Ferrari 1:40.271 2.099 28 laps
17 Bruno Senna Williams 1:40.678 2.506 34 laps
18 Sergio Perez Sauber 1:40.947 2.775 33 laps
19 Vitali Petrov Caterham 1:41.464 3.292 25 laps
20 Timo Glock Marusia 1:41.681 3.509 20 laps
21 Heikki Kovalainen Caterham 1:42.594 4.422 18 laps
22 Charles Pic Marussia 1:42.874 4.702 24 laps
23 Narain Karthikeyan HRT 1:43.658 5.486 18 laps
24 Pedro de la Rosa HRT 1:43.823 5.651 22 laps