Although Sebastian Vettel admittedly won the Malaysian Grand Prix on merit, the event served as a timely reminder to seasoned F1 campaigners that although there are no points at stake during a qualifying session, a lack of judgment on grand prix Saturday usually translates into a lack of success on the following afternoon.
Mark Webber must be gravely concerned after his majestic performance during the rain-affected qualifying session at Sepang was effectively nullified by team-mate Vettel’s daring charge into the lead during the opening seconds of the grand prix. The German hotshoe easily held Webber at bay for the entire race and, in an ominous sign to the rest of the championship hopefuls, seemed in pretty dominant mood. Even though there are still sixteen rounds to go and Felipe Massa technically tops the drivers’ standings, Vettel is unofficially the driver to beat this year.
But then, apart from the heat and humidity, Vettel did have things comparatively easy at Sepang courtesy of the casual “wait-and-see” approach adopted by the Ferrari and McLaren teams during the first part of the qualifying session. Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso and Massa started at the back of the field because they and their teams guessed that the rain shower would ease off, and got it horribly wrong. It was so ironic that Button, who had made an inspired choice to stop early for slicks during the Australian Grand Prix, was left to start the next race from a compromised position because the boys from Woking were napping.
It is entirely possible to win a race despite starting from a low grid position, but then drivers require considerable advantages, as in superior cars, or unexpected interventions, such as safety car periods or rain, to progress to the head of the field. To their credit, most of the fancied drivers managed to graduate to point-scoring positions by the end of the race, but they never had any hopes of winning it.
Consider this… In the current Formula One environment, a) the aerodynamic properties of the cars make it virtually impossible for drivers to follow each other closely, b) tyre compounds are evenly-matched and the rubber seems particularly durable when managed properly and c) there is isn’t such a big difference in performance between leading and mid-field cars. All of those factors underline the importance of turning in a strong performance during a qualifying hour.
As much as it pains me to say this, Monaco, Hungaroring and Valencia aren’t the only tracks at which it is disastrous to qualify poorly. That statement now applies to every single circuit because of what I mentioned above. With due respect to Nico Rosberg and his ever-improving ‘Benz, a Red Bull victory was always a fait accompli following the conclusion of the qualifying session at Sepang on Saturday.
In fact, Red Bull’s sponsors might feel short changed by their team’s victory, because Formula One fans rarely saw footage of the rampant front-runners on Sunday. Instead we witnessed world champions past and present struggle in the mid field. Hamilton again dished up some heroics, mixed in with dubious driving tactics (ahem, wiggling his McLaren’s rear diffusor at Petrov in the pursuing Renault, for example). Alonso, meanwhile, must be irritated that he hasn’t been able to see Massa in his mirrors since Bahrain and when his crippled Ferrari eventually crept past Button, the engine blew!
Congratulations to cheery young Sebastian, though… He could have won all three of this season’s grands prix had it not been for the suspect reliability of his car. The reality is that if his vaunted rivals continue to tread on their wickets as they did in Malaysia, the driver’s championship title will be Seb’s sooner rather than later.
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