Hero's and zero's at Malaysia

[Dare]

sorry to say I missed the race so I'd like to
hear what happened

[Ian]

You missed a darned good race Dare, one of the best I've seen for a long time, loads of wheel to wheel and nose to tail.

[Dare]

You missed a darned good race Dare, one of the best I've seen for a long time, loads of wheel to wheel and nose to tail.

I had to work this morning and the 4 am race didn't appeal

did the movable wings make for better racing?

[Williamsfan]

Heroes:

Red Bull- Vettel will get the headlines and rightly so, but Mark had a great drive given his lack of KERS with a top drive to finish 4th.

Button- A great drive today and did brilliantly to finish 2nd.

Heidfeld- Showed why he shouldn't just have been on the grid to cover the injured Kubica.  Nick had a good race and pushed well at the first corner.

Di Resta- A points finish on his second race, a nice achievement for him! 

Zeroes:

Hamilton- What happened today?  Blaming strategy is a bit of an easy way out in my opinion, one that he brings out often when things go wrong for him.  He should take more responsibility for strategy.

Alonso- Weird move on Hamilton, not the smartest of moves, had he done it against Petrov last year it would have made more sense, but not today.

Williams- Why oh why is the car so unreliable.  Sort of thing that should have been sorted before the season got under way.  I think I should change my name to Buttonfan 

[Scott]

Right on WF

Heroes

Webber Heidfeld and Button who drove fantastic races.  No drama, just solid, clean races.

Kobiyashi - Another exciting race (hope he keeps his points this time).  He only shows respect for the other car (by not crashing into it) - he couldn't care a less who is driving it. 

Massa - Quietly stayed out of trouble and mostly ahead of Alonso

Zeroes

Alonso - drove a good race, but got in WAY too hot behind Hammy and blew off his chances for a podium along with his front wing (glad he didn't damage Hamilton's car or tire).

Williams - wish it wasn't so, but they really shouldn't be the first cars to retire mechanically.  Where is Head???

[Jericoke]

You missed a darned good race Dare, one of the best I've seen for a long time, loads of wheel to wheel and nose to tail.

I had to work this morning and the 4 am race didn't appeal

did the movable wings make for better racing?

The the FRW did allow for some passing.... both on the straight, and in terms of keeping cars close for passes later in the lap.

Schumacher and Kobayashi had an epic battle for 9th... they passed each other  a half dozen times, but as Scott said, with complete respect to the sport and the cars.  I believe that it was Coulthard who mentioned that the best thing about Kamui is that he's willing to take chances, but doesn't really take stupid chances.

I taped the race, and only just finished watching myself.

[Jericoke]

Heroes:

Heidfeld - we've all known he's a top racer, it's about time he showed it again!

Pirelli - I think they've got the tires going pretty well in terms of providing spectacle for viewers.

Zeroes:

FIA - 20 second penalty for letting a Ferrari crash into you?  Really?  What could Hamilton possibly have said at the hearing to earn a penalty equal to Alonso's (and, in effect, far worse)?

Petrov - The Renault is NOT the General Lee.

Massa - He had a professional drive for sure, but he's lost his edge.  Whenever the chips are down, he doesn't seem to be able to hold a position, or make a pass that he should.  I hope he can get back to his 2008 form.

[Dare]

Jeri,do you think the way Ferrari favors Alonso may be
causing Massa to look lost out on the track?

[cosworth151]

Heroes:

Webber - He dropped from 2nd to 9th at the start due to the loss of KERS. They had him do 4 pit stops, when most other cars did 3. Cars with functional KERS could blow right past him on the straights. Still, he fought buck to P4 and was challenging Heidfeld for P3 at the end.

Heidfeld - A fine race to the podium

Perez - Gave a good account of himself before the shunt

Zeroes:

Hamilton and Alonso - No call for all that. They deserved the 20 seconds.

Williams - Way too fragile.

[Canada Darrell™]

Wait, what??? Did F1 Scott give a Hero nod to Massa? You better cut back on that dark chocolate my friend! LOLOL 

Heroes

- HDTV baby....that replay of the start from the various on-board HD cameras was breathtaking wasn't it?

- Webber, great recovery from a disastrous start

- Koby and MS for putting on a show

Zeros

- Tire wear makes for too many marbles. Those without HD could not see the incredible amount of debris in detail. If this keeps up the benefits of flappy wings will be diminished due to drivers not wanting to get into the marble traps.

[Jericoke]

Jeri,do you think the way Ferrari favors Alonso may be
causing Massa to look lost out on the track?

I don't know what's getting to Massa.  He doesn't seem to have confidence.  Being a professional second fiddle might be the problem.

[John S]

Zeros

- Tire wear makes for too many marbles. Those without HD could not see the incredible amount of debris in detail. If this keeps up the benefits of flappy wings will be diminished due to drivers not wanting to get into the marble traps.

Time was when drivers had to clean the track off line when following another car that was hard to pass, so setting up a better chance of nailing the car ahead when they put the move in.
I, for one, still want it to be a hard task to pass someone and don't want the Flappy thing and KERS to just be easy 'push to pass' systems.

If it's not kept difficult they could save everyone money on the tech and just blue flag any driver, with someone up his tailpipe, at a selected point on the track. 

[Williamsfan]

I agree John, overtaking shouldn't be too easy.  I think, at least from yesterday's race, that there is still a challenge in overtaking and having DRS activated doesn't make a pass a foregone conclusion.  It did mean though that drivers were kept a bit closer together which was exciting.  I couldn't believe how quickly the race went yesterday! 

Still undecided about the Pirelli's and their benefit.  It is good that tyre wear is up but I am not sure if it is adding to the excitement other than having a few more 4 second pit-stops. 

[Wats-on]

HEROs
- Heidfeld for sure - start from 6 to 2 and finishing 3rd is good, should be better in a few races, though! 
-. HRT for showing a pace that is not quite as slow as some might have feared (GP2-level, i.e.) 
- Button, for taking best of the rest with a strategy that wasn't the best (called in after a personal best laptime) 
- Di Resta for finishing and qualifying ahead of (the overrated?) Sutil.

ZEROs
- Mercedes GP for showing a pace not representing the history of Mercedes 
- Williams for lack of relyability (how do I write that?)
- Sutil for not being able to beat his rookie teammate 
- Hamilton for trying the same as last year (with Petrov). What is he thinking, a reprimande again?  Not to mention blaming his team for the wrong strategy - better try to keep the tires alive a lap longer...

[John S]

- Williams for lack of relyability (how do I write that?)

The y becomes an i, so reliability, Wats-on.

Just one of our many little quirks in English to keep the rest of you on your toes.       

Your English is 100% better than my Dutch, all power to you. 

Mind you no one should need to write that sentence about Williams,   just what are Williams up to this season?