Sunday, March 19, 2006
# posted by Rich @ 8:38 AM
Malaysia: race report
Fisichella menang! Fisichella wins! In a reversal of fortunes from the start of the 2005 F1 season, Giancarlo Fisichella took a superb victory at the Malaysian Grand Prix. Leading from pole position as the lights went out, Fisichella went essentially unchallenged the whole race, to finish 4.5 seconds ahead of team mate Alonso. Jenson button came home third, a further five seconds down the road. The rest of the top eight finishers were Montoya, Massa, M Schumacher, Villeneuve, and R Schumacher.
As the lights went out, Fisichella seamlessly took off into the lead. Alongside him, Button again made a lacklustre start, despite the fact that he was on the cleaner side of the race track. Behind them, though, Alonso rocketed off the line in 7th place, arriving at the first corner in 3rd, passing the Williams of Rosberg and Webber around the outside of turn 1. Just behind them, the McLarens of Montoya and Raikkonen briefly tussled for position before, in turn 4, Raikkonen was hit from behind by Klein, damaging the Finn's suspension, and pitching him into a high speed spin, that inevitably ended in the gravel trap. Klein's front left suspension was totally deranged in the collision, and he limped back to the pits with the front left wheel hanging off at a 45 degree angle. He would rejoin later, 6 laps down, but ultimately retired. Meanwhile, Fisichella strolled off into the lead, crossing the line at the end of lap 1 almost a second ahead of Button.
The fist signs of engine attrition came on lap 7 when Rosberg's engine expired in spectacular fashion, showering tiny pieces of engine out the rear of the car before leaving a giant plume of smoke trailing out the back of the Williams - a shame because it would have been nice to see where Rosberg would have finished given his stunning drive in Bahrain.
The closest batle in the first part of the race was between Alonso and Webber. Webber was crawling all over the back of Alonso's gearbox, but he was just a little too fast for Webber to find a way past. Webber, it turns out, was on a three-stopper, and pitted on lap 14. Unfortunately for Webber, his race didn't last much longer - his car went the way of his team-mate Rosberg's, and expired on lap 17 (although not as spectacularly).
Fisichella's pace seemed to indicate that he was on a three-stop strategy - he pulled out a lead of over 7 seconds over Button before pitting on lap 17. However, a long stop for fuel - 11 seconds - taking on another 28 laps worth of fuel laid Renault's cards on the table: Fisichella would 2-stop, with a long second stint. After rejoining the race in 3rd place, the team came on the radio to tell him that this was a critical part of the race, and that if he wanted to stay in front of Fernando Alonso, that he had to go blindingly quick. Fisichella did not disappoint, setting several fastest sector times straight out of the pits with a large amount of fuel on board.
Button, on a lighter fuel load, had the opportunity to make inroads into Fisichella's lead. He failed. Not only was Button simply not quick enough on track, but the Honda team failed to respond to Renault's tactics, pitting Button on lap 19, and taking on "only" another 17 laps worth of fuel, when the tactic should have been to fill him further and run him longer on his second stint. Button rejoined the race in 4th, and was badly held up by Montoya for 4 laps.
It was in this stint that the race was won and lost - Fisichella had the fight in him, and Renault had the superior tactics. Alonso started to stretch his legs, setting personal best laps as his fuel load came down. However, Button failed to rise to the challenge. This, coupled with poor tactics by the Honda team that led to poor track position, consigned Button to a third place finish. If Honda want to be serious contenders, then they have to learn how to be creative with their tactics and they have to learn how to change tactics on the fly. Moreover, Button needs to up his game.
On lap 21 a few drops of rain began to fall, but didn't amount to anything. Soon after, on lap 23 both Montoya and M Schumacher pitted, Schumacher taking on a large amount of fuel, indicating that he was going to do a long second stint also. Montoya pitting left Button in 3rd place, 7.5 seconds behind Fisichella, who was in turn 5.9 seconds behind Alonso. On lap 26 Alonso had a quick pitstop - the first of 2. It had been expected that he would only 1-stop. He rejoined the race in 3rd, and began to fly. By lap 30, he was just 5 seconds behind Button.
Fisichella continued to push, and on lap 38, he and Button pitted. Alonso inherited the lead, and pushed to make sure he leapt in front of Button. Button, meanwhile, was badly balked on his in lap by Scott Speed, and rejoined the race behind Montoya, again getting held up. Alonso pitted on lap 43, rejoining in second place, comfortably ahead of Button.
Lap 48 saw another spectacular engine failure, this time from Heidfeld's BMW. This brought the total number of engine failures for the weekend to 8 (Rosberg, Webber, Heidfeld, R Schumacher, Barrichello, M Schumacher and Massa x 2).
Despite some scorching laps by Alonso, the top 3 held station until the end of the race, and Fisichella celebrated a superb victory - a victory that was won by his superb driving in the second stint.
Further down the field, Montoya put in a solid, if somewhat anonymous, race to come home in 4th - a standard 2 stop race seemed to be his tactics. Massa came home an impressive 5th - starting from the back of the field, he 1-stopped his way to the end, finishing ahead of M Schumacher, who started 14th and 2-stopped. Villeneuve held on to finish in 7th, less than a second ahead of R Schumacher, who made a 3-stopper to come home 8th and earn Toyota's first points of the season, after their disastrous season opener.
So, with the second race of 2006 in the books, the pattern seems familliar - the Renaults on top. Although some of the teams are quicker in practice and qualifying, the superior tactics and pit work of Renault is what wins them the races. Particularly, making sure that they had track position at the start of the race kept them out of midfield trouble - trouble that destroyed Raikkonen's race on lap 1. I feel pretty confident that McLaren will not resort to those tactics again.
As the lights went out, Fisichella seamlessly took off into the lead. Alongside him, Button again made a lacklustre start, despite the fact that he was on the cleaner side of the race track. Behind them, though, Alonso rocketed off the line in 7th place, arriving at the first corner in 3rd, passing the Williams of Rosberg and Webber around the outside of turn 1. Just behind them, the McLarens of Montoya and Raikkonen briefly tussled for position before, in turn 4, Raikkonen was hit from behind by Klein, damaging the Finn's suspension, and pitching him into a high speed spin, that inevitably ended in the gravel trap. Klein's front left suspension was totally deranged in the collision, and he limped back to the pits with the front left wheel hanging off at a 45 degree angle. He would rejoin later, 6 laps down, but ultimately retired. Meanwhile, Fisichella strolled off into the lead, crossing the line at the end of lap 1 almost a second ahead of Button.
The fist signs of engine attrition came on lap 7 when Rosberg's engine expired in spectacular fashion, showering tiny pieces of engine out the rear of the car before leaving a giant plume of smoke trailing out the back of the Williams - a shame because it would have been nice to see where Rosberg would have finished given his stunning drive in Bahrain.
The closest batle in the first part of the race was between Alonso and Webber. Webber was crawling all over the back of Alonso's gearbox, but he was just a little too fast for Webber to find a way past. Webber, it turns out, was on a three-stopper, and pitted on lap 14. Unfortunately for Webber, his race didn't last much longer - his car went the way of his team-mate Rosberg's, and expired on lap 17 (although not as spectacularly).
Fisichella's pace seemed to indicate that he was on a three-stop strategy - he pulled out a lead of over 7 seconds over Button before pitting on lap 17. However, a long stop for fuel - 11 seconds - taking on another 28 laps worth of fuel laid Renault's cards on the table: Fisichella would 2-stop, with a long second stint. After rejoining the race in 3rd place, the team came on the radio to tell him that this was a critical part of the race, and that if he wanted to stay in front of Fernando Alonso, that he had to go blindingly quick. Fisichella did not disappoint, setting several fastest sector times straight out of the pits with a large amount of fuel on board.
Button, on a lighter fuel load, had the opportunity to make inroads into Fisichella's lead. He failed. Not only was Button simply not quick enough on track, but the Honda team failed to respond to Renault's tactics, pitting Button on lap 19, and taking on "only" another 17 laps worth of fuel, when the tactic should have been to fill him further and run him longer on his second stint. Button rejoined the race in 4th, and was badly held up by Montoya for 4 laps.
It was in this stint that the race was won and lost - Fisichella had the fight in him, and Renault had the superior tactics. Alonso started to stretch his legs, setting personal best laps as his fuel load came down. However, Button failed to rise to the challenge. This, coupled with poor tactics by the Honda team that led to poor track position, consigned Button to a third place finish. If Honda want to be serious contenders, then they have to learn how to be creative with their tactics and they have to learn how to change tactics on the fly. Moreover, Button needs to up his game.
On lap 21 a few drops of rain began to fall, but didn't amount to anything. Soon after, on lap 23 both Montoya and M Schumacher pitted, Schumacher taking on a large amount of fuel, indicating that he was going to do a long second stint also. Montoya pitting left Button in 3rd place, 7.5 seconds behind Fisichella, who was in turn 5.9 seconds behind Alonso. On lap 26 Alonso had a quick pitstop - the first of 2. It had been expected that he would only 1-stop. He rejoined the race in 3rd, and began to fly. By lap 30, he was just 5 seconds behind Button.
Fisichella continued to push, and on lap 38, he and Button pitted. Alonso inherited the lead, and pushed to make sure he leapt in front of Button. Button, meanwhile, was badly balked on his in lap by Scott Speed, and rejoined the race behind Montoya, again getting held up. Alonso pitted on lap 43, rejoining in second place, comfortably ahead of Button.
Lap 48 saw another spectacular engine failure, this time from Heidfeld's BMW. This brought the total number of engine failures for the weekend to 8 (Rosberg, Webber, Heidfeld, R Schumacher, Barrichello, M Schumacher and Massa x 2).
Despite some scorching laps by Alonso, the top 3 held station until the end of the race, and Fisichella celebrated a superb victory - a victory that was won by his superb driving in the second stint.
Further down the field, Montoya put in a solid, if somewhat anonymous, race to come home in 4th - a standard 2 stop race seemed to be his tactics. Massa came home an impressive 5th - starting from the back of the field, he 1-stopped his way to the end, finishing ahead of M Schumacher, who started 14th and 2-stopped. Villeneuve held on to finish in 7th, less than a second ahead of R Schumacher, who made a 3-stopper to come home 8th and earn Toyota's first points of the season, after their disastrous season opener.
So, with the second race of 2006 in the books, the pattern seems familliar - the Renaults on top. Although some of the teams are quicker in practice and qualifying, the superior tactics and pit work of Renault is what wins them the races. Particularly, making sure that they had track position at the start of the race kept them out of midfield trouble - trouble that destroyed Raikkonen's race on lap 1. I feel pretty confident that McLaren will not resort to those tactics again.
Labels: Formula 1, Grand Prix, Malaysia
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