F1, Malay flavour.

Before I say anything else, I want to express my delight at the official confirmation that India will host a F1 race next year ! The track is said to be near Delhi (apparently in Noida, read more here.) and the race will no doubt generate even more interest for the sport amongst the masses and revenue for the organisers and politicians ! I wonder what difference would it do to the average man’s driving; as it is,  everyone on the Indian roads seems to be in a race against another. Hmm, they might actually give the F1 drivers a few tips, for all we know !

Now that the main news is out of the way, I shall move on to my monologue. Malaysia has for years been my favourite circuit on the calendar. It has a wide track, two great straights and many corners that provide for overtaking and therefore great racing. Today was no different. We saw a really good start, great first corner moves, a fantastic opening lap and some great scraps throughout the race. The Petrov-Hamilton fight was as absolute classic. They jostled against each other, leapt, snarled, hissed and pushed their cars to the limit in an effort to go one better than the other. Hamilton had done well to finish where he did after qualifying so low down the order. I wonder who made the decision to release him so late for the qualifying, I am sure there is a conspiracy going on at McLaren so that they take decisions that prove detrimental to his chances of winning the race. But being the modest guy that he is, he didn't complain, took it in his stride and kept going until he saw the rear end of Sutil’s car. It was perhaps then that he decided to go a bit easy and cruise behind Sutil, seeing that the Force India car has such a beautiful livery and a sexy rear wing and diffuser.

No doubt Vettel was jubilant at the end, he had after all achieved what he had set out to do. He took Webber by surprise at the start and then maintained his lead throughout, helped significantly by the mechanics who kept him stationary in the pit lane for a mere 3.9 seconds! However, I personally feel that Chandhok would have been the most elated of the lot today. He has arguably the poorest team on the grid, an underperforming car to drive, the nephew of one of the greatest drivers as a team mate and the expectations of a billion people (not literally of course) to deal with. Under such circumstances, he not only finished but also lapped Trulli and Bruno Senna. Now that is what calls for a huge celebration. If he manages to pull it off again, he will no doubt have achieved something that Karthikeyan never managed. Does that make Chandhok a better driver than Karthikeyan? I don’t believe so, just as finishing above Schumi doesn’t make Rosberg a better driver than him. Schumi’s poor run continues, although this time it was due to a mechanical problem. He seemed better today, had the pace and did well to jump a few positions after the start. However, a good finish eludes him. The season is not yet over and he will bounce back, of that I am sure.

Malaysia is also a race of attrition as was evident with quite a few mechanical failures. It is hard to say whether the cars were carrying little niggles prior to the race or whether they developed so along the course. Whatever the case, Alonso certainly felt the pinch. He had done well to nurse an ailing car almost till the end. He stayed subdued, maintained race position, picked up speed later and did a daring move on Button in the penultimate lap. Sadly his engine soon breathed a last smoky sigh. I dont know what is wrong with the Ferraris, but they seemed to lack pace for most of the race, just as they did in the previous GP.

Despite a good spectacle that we had today, one must remember that it was so because the rain mixed up the grid nicely yesterday. I still dream of a race where most teams are comparable in performance, do not suffer any mechanical failures and where they don’t end up in a procession from start to finish. Least of all, I hope they don’t all look similar !

(image courtesy IJsselstein)