http://sg.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/fit...054222557.html
Watch out for Jenson Button
The 1st race is always highly anticipated as it sets the tone 4 the rest of the season & every1 is curious abt the performance of each team & how they stack up against each other.
1. McLaren domination
The dual-champion British outfit of Jenson Button & Lewis Hamilton @ McLaren were relentless all weekend — 1st Hamilton took the pole position & then Button jumped 2 a good lead @ the start b4 charging 2 take the chequered flag. Hamilton was in 2nd place until the safety car was called out thanks 2 Vitaly Petrov & reigning champion Sebastian Vettel stole tat position fr him. Maybe avoiding the ducked-bill platypus nose design like the rest of the grid was a good decision fr McLaren...
2. Red Bull Racing settles for 2nd best
While Button & Hamilton claimed 1st & 3rd place, the boys fr defending champion team Red Bull Racing took 2nd & 4th place — Vettel & Mark Webber respectively. Expectations were high 4 the Bulls who unusually only managed 2 qualify in the 3rd row (Webber qualified 5th while Vettel qualified 6th). They probably just needed a little more time 2 warm up.
3. Mercedes GP controversy
Michael Schumacher's 4th place qualifying result was a nice surprise; then the controversy kicked in when other teams started calling 4 investigations abt the Mercedes W03 cars' inlets @ the top of the rear wing which activate when the DRS system is open. Tis probably gave the team an edge in qualifying, but clearly they hv other problems 2 deal with as seen during the race. Schumacher was up 2 P3 @ some point b4 his gearbox failed him. His team-mate Nico Rosberg qualified in 7th but suffered a rear puncture aft a racing incident with Sergio Perez on the last lap.
4. Decent return of the Iceman
Kimi Raikkonen was putting in good practice times, but an error on his part during qualifying sent him down 2 17th on the starting grid. He managed 2 fight his way up the order 2 finish in the points in 7th. It was reported tat he is aiming 4 a podium finish tis weekend.
5. Brazilian bull fight
The 2 Brazilians on the grid, Felipe Massa & Bruno Senna, made contact @ Turn 3 late in the race & both were subsequently forced 2 retire. The Ferrari had a broken suspension, while the Williams had a puncture. Both drivers however, agreed that the collision was a pure racing incident & no 1 in particular was 2 be blamed.
6. Ferrari failure
While Massa took himself out of the competition when he collided with fellow countryman Senna, Fernando Alonso's weekend started off wrongly when he ate grass & spun out into the sand during qualifying. Fr 12th place on the grid, he managed 2 fight 2o 5th place.
7. Promising starts from midfielders
The guys fr Lotus Renault, Toro Rosso, Sauber, Force India & Williams teams produced impressive results — while the top 4 teams took up the 1st 5 places, the remaining 5 places with championship points were grabbed by Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber), Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus Renault), Sergio Perez (Sauber), Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) & Paul di Resta (Force India). Romain Grosjean of Lotus Renault qualified in a shocking 3rd place, but lost his front right suspension within the 1st few corners of the 2nd lap & went crashing out of the race. Pastor Maldonado of Williams was headed 4 a 6th place finish when he lost control of his car on the last lap of the race.
Now tat the 2012 Formula 1 season has officially begun, every1 is looking forward 2 seeing how the months ahead would unfold. The Malaysian Grand Prix takes place tis weekend @ the Sepang International Circuit, which is known 4 its extreme temperatures of soaring heat or pouring rain.
Completed in 1999, which was the inaugural year of the Malaysian Grand Prix, Sepang has large run-off areas & features a 15-turn 5.543-kilometre layout. There is a good combination of long high-speed straights & tight twists, & also ample space 4 overtaking with its wide track.
With the exception of Hamilton, the other 5 world champions on the grid hv won the Malaysian Grand Prix b4. Here r the past winners of the Malaysian Grand Prix:
2011 Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing
2010 Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull Racing
2009 Jenson Button, Brawn
2008 Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari
2007 Fernando Alonso, McLaren
2006 Giancarlo Fisichella, Renault
2005 Fernando Alonso, Renault
2004 Michael Schumacher, Ferrari
2003 Kimi Raikkonen, McLaren
2002 Ralf Schumacher, Williams
2001 Michael Schumacher, Ferrari
2000 Michael Schumacher, Ferrari
1999 Eddie Irvine, Ferrari
In the last 13 years of tis Grand Prix, the driver who scores pole position usually does quite well — 7 out of the past 13 race winners won fr pole. The worst result was when Massa finished 19th in 2008 aft securing pole position.
Aft winning the last 2 years, Vettel is eager 2 make it a hat trick, but the others r just as hungry 2.