2010 Malaysia Thoughts
THE BIG PICTURE: Contrary to what Niki Lauda said (in fact, has Lauda ever said anything worthwhile in his life?), the championship battle is far from over for Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull. Far from over.
EVENT: The monsoons held off for the race. But the late starts, even moving up an hour, is still playing with fate as qualifying showed.
QUALIFYING: A pair of brilliant laps by Webber. As for Ferrari and McLaren, well they're proof money can't buy you brains.
RACE: This is why many say the grid should be flipped before every race.
TRACK: Any track looks good when the top drivers start from the back.
START: Vettel gives the classic in your face to his teammate.
VETTEL: If his car holds together, he is definitely the favorite. Got that Lauda?
WEBBER: Let's face it, Mark cannot keep pace with his teammate, but he will be there whenever Vettel stumbles.
RED BULL: The best combination of chassis and driver on the grid. Right back in the hunt. Got that Lauda?
ROSBERG: Nico keeps getting better and gaining more confidence. And keeping in front of his teammate, who is supposed to be some famous champion or something...
KUBICA: While all the headlines are going to his competitors, Robert quietly gets another top finish.
SUTIL: Adrian continues to be the shining light for Force India.
HAMILTON: His excessive weaving was bush league. Pure bush league.
MASSA: Did what he needed to do to maintain the points lead.
BUTTON: The problem with luck, is it isn't always good.
ALGUERSUARI: Give credit where credit is due. Jaime's best performance of his career. Very solid.
ALONSO: Driving a broken car as fast and competitively as he did once again shows why Fernando may be the best driver on the grid today. Imagine him in a Red Bull. Or, if the Ferrari gets stronger.
PETROV: An aggressive, but extremely strong performance for Vitaly. While it lasted.
SCHUMACHER: A crew error on Michael's car and not his teammate's? That's got to be a first.
HRT F1 Team: Both cars finished, albeit three and four laps down, respectively. But they both finished. Maybe having team in your name twice helped...
VIRGIN: Fuel to the end.
WORD OF THE WEEKEND: Lobotomy.
STAT OF THE WEEKEND: Q1 -- Three World Champions (including Button who was unable to run Q2) and a Vice World Champion never made it out of the first qualifying session.
HISTORICAL STAT OF THE WEEKEND: The Malaysian Grand Prix has now been won by Germany more than any other country -- five times. However, with only two drivers as Michael Schumacher won four of those times (2000, 2001. 2002. and 2004).
QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND: More like the understatement of the weekend when Jenson Button said after qualifying, "We made the wrong call as did Ferrari."
QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND RUNNERUP: Making sure he didn't throw his team under the bus this time, Lewis Hamilton was a bit more circumspect after the horrid qualifying decisions, "It's a great thing -- hindsight."
SCHEDULE: China -- wonder if the teams will be able to look up information using Google...
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