Malaysia GP

[Scott]

My guess is that it was luck, but as you well know and have recently quoted Jeri, he knows what he's doing!

I even have a mug that says that. 

[Jericoke]

I find it interesting that Kimi is doing better in the Ferrari than both his former team and RBR, which he ws rumoured to join.

I wonder if he knew to stay away from Renaults for 2014, or if he's just lucky.

Heh yes what a prescient move he made. A bit like Hammy going to Merc last year, and McLaren having their worst season for decades (although McLaren may bounce back some this year).

My guess is that it was luck, but as you well know and have recently quoted Jeri, he knows what he's doing!

Yes... he does know what he's doing.

What was I thinking? 

The irony of the team jumping is of course his 2007 championship.  If he'd stayed at McLaren, he would have had a championship car, and probably been given the 'preferential treatment' that neither Hamilton nor Alonso received.  But he didn't, and they didn't, and he won the championship anyway.

[batman01]

(although McLaren may bounce back some this year)

It does look promising so far that they could have a good season, given last year's disappointment. Also, what's happened to Lotus?!          
Maybe that "double nose" wasn't the best idea after all (although I know you can't put all the blame, if any, on that)

[Jericoke]

(although McLaren may bounce back some this year)

It does look promising so far that they could have a good season, given last year's disappointment. Also, what's happened to Lotus?!          
Maybe that "double nose" wasn't the best idea after all (although I know you can't put all the blame, if any, on that)

While Lotus has numerous issues, I do believe their main problem is that they are running their outfit like a strong midfield team, but with the budget of around 0.

On one hand, their results in the Post Renault Ownership era are downright heroic.  On the other hand, there's only so far the best people in F1 can push a team before they give up and decide to go elsewhere and get paid.

I don't know why they can't attract better sponsorship.  I think that Enstone really does provide plenty of results for the level of money they spend.  Lotus may not be as recognisable a name as Ferrari, but it's got some cachet.  They're a winning organisation, and a solid long term sponsor would definitely elevate them to being a team that will be in the hunt when the double points race comes around.

[Scott]

@autosportlive: That's it, here's the order:

1 Hamilton
2 Vettel
3 Rosberg
4 Alonso
5 Ricciardo
6 Raikkonen
7 Hulkenberg
8 Magnussen
9 Vergne
10 Button

[J.Clark]

1. Hamilton   Mercedes   1m 59.431s
2. Vettel   Red Bull   1m 59.486s
3. Rosberg     Mercedes   2m 00.050s
4. Alonso   Ferrari   2m 00.175s
5. Ricciardo   Red Bull   2m 00.541s
6. Raikkonen   Ferrari   2m 01.218s
7. Hulkenberg   Force India   2m 01.712s
8. Magnussen   McLaren   2m 02.213s
9. Vergne   Toro Rosso   2m 03.078s
10. Button    McLaren   2m 04.053s

11. Kvyat   Toro Rosso   2m 02.351s
12. Gutierrez   Sauber   1m 02.369s
13. Massa   Williams   1m 02.460s
14. Perez   Force India   1m 02.511s
15. Bottas    Williams   1m 02.756s
16. Romain Grosjean   France Lotus-Renault   1m 02.885s
17. Maldonado   Lotus     2m 02.074s
18. Sutil   Sauber   2m 02.131s
19. Bianchi    Marussia   2m 02.702s
20. Kobayashi   Caterham   2m 03.595s
21. Chilton     Marussia   2m 04.388s
22. Ericsson   Caterham   2m 04.407s
Top to bottom - the whole of it.

Not too many true surprises.  Weather was definitely a factor.  I hope the race is in better conditions.

[J.Clark]

Aside from it being a Lewis Hamilton lead flag-to-flag event, I was very pleased with the action.  Fantastic battles going on in the points positions behind the front three.

Too bad Kimi had that puncture early on and then had more troubles.  I don't think the stewards were right in penalizing Magnussen though.  It was avoidable, but . . .

Kudos to the Hulk, Kvyat and Bottas for their performances. 

I know that the Bottas fans will take issue with this, but I stand with Massa on not letting him by.  I don't know that he was actually faster either, as Massa had chased down Button (pulling away from Bottas) over the few laps preceding the team telling him to not hold up Bottas.  The difference of two points would not at this point matter in the big scheme of things to Bottas' hopes and it does at this point make a great deal of difference to Massa.  Add to that the fact that the team's point total was not affected by it either way and it quickly becomes a mute point.  Long-term effect on Massa will pay dividends to Williams on the whole in my opinion.

It was interesting to note the new graphic this year - fuel consumption.  I like it.  I do miss the graphic of RPM/Gear/G-force.  The fuel consumption was revealing.  Williams was the most fuel efficient car out there and it may well be that with this race in the rear-view mirror, they will dial up a bit more flow in the future.  I learned from discussion by Hobbs and Matchett last race that with the turbos, increased fuel flow can give as much as an extra 100 or more horse power, which is why Red Bull's not using the settings outlined by the FIA was so critical in Australia.

[cosworth151]

The FIA fuel flow gadget meter on Ricciardo's car konked out again. I wondered if the fuel consumption graphic was based on readings from those highly flawed units. I also wondered if the FIA found them in a close-out bin at Pep Boys.

Good on Massa for holding his ground. Also, good on the crew at Sky for taking Williams to task for telling him to do it.

Bottas, Magnussen and Kvyat continue to impress. Good job by Hulk, too.

I, too, miss the the RPM/gear/G-force display. I think the fact that it has been replaced by a fuel flow display speaks volumes. F1 is no longer about ultimate performance. It's just a rehash of the old Mobil Economy Run.

[vintly]

Enjoyed what I saw, some good driving especially at the start, but felt a bit underwhelmed by the general spectacle, not sure why. Maybe my poor predictions had something to do with it...

Fuel data for me was massively dull. If one car uses a bit more fuel than another, that may have ramifications that pique my interest, but showing it as numbers on a screen like that made me think, 'Is that what I'm watching now, numbers relating to whether a car has to go slower?' Boring.

I miss the thermal cam they brought in last year. Would the extra heat of the power trains show anything up using this? I wanna see.

[Scott]

I liked the race until about the 2/3 point, and then got a bit boring with hardly any track action.

Bummer for Kimi.  I think he would have been with Alonso for the whole race if he hadn't had the puncture.  Must have been some damage on his way around the track with the tire whacking the aero or floor that slowed him down after that.  Otherwise I'm sure he could have charged through at least into the points.

No discussion about the Ricciardo pit stop?  Whoever is controlling the lights messed up.  The front left wheel man was clearly struggling and not happy that the jack was pulled away.  Team needs to apologize for that one.  But when they rolled him back to the box, the front jack-man was still struggling to get his helmet back on and at one point dropped the front of the car.  Either that damaged the wing, or maybe he bashed the wing with the jack because he couldn't see well enough.  I know it's hot in Malaysia, but I think RBR may just insist the crew keep at the ready until the car has left the pit lane, not just the box.  Such a shame for Ricciardo.  I loved it when they told him to stay at least 2 seconds back and he answered 'Thanks, but I'd rather be in it in case something happens'...haha.  No, I don't think Daniel will be paying any attention to team orders, at least not until his chances are nil.  I did find it shall I say 'unusual' that Horner came on the radio to tell Ricciardo to use a certain setting and that it will be better for energy recovery or some other slop.  I've never heard Horner on the radio before the end of the race.  Just sayin'...

On the BBC feed, they said the fuel graphic was based on the FIA meters.  I think it must be measuring allowed fuel, as opposed to actual fuel, because the FIA won't necessarily know how much fuel is in the car.  Williams for example could either dial it up as has been said, or maybe they can put less fuel in the car next races and have a few kilo advantage that way.  I liked the fuel graphic, and find it interesting for the first few races, but I would think that ideally the team would be using exactly the amount of fuel based on where they are in the race.  It's interesting to see who is saving more fuel than they have to, and who is going to be on fumes if they even finish.

Not a fan of Perez, but it was a shame he didn't even get to start, especially after seeing how well Hulk did with the FI.

By the way, although it gave me a chuckle during the race, Massa showed Bottas and the team that there was no reason for him to move over...with 2 laps remaining.  Who cares at that point.  Bottas was on Massa most of the race, if they wanted to change the order and let Bottas free to pounce up the field, they should have done it at the last pit stop, not wait until 2-3 laps left.  By that time Bottas tires weren't all that much better than Massa's, and Massa showed everyone that.  Button would have been even more difficult than Massa to pass, so I don't know what Williams was even thinking.  Good job Felipe...and no, I still don't like you.

Great job from Kvyat and Hulk, except I didn't pick them!    Bottas did at least as much as was expected, and Magnussen is the man at Mclaren. 

No bloody rain.  That could have saved the last 1/3 of the race for me.  Too bad.

[Jericoke]

I have to say that the FIA has met their goals with the new 'power units' (hold all griping to the end please*).  The new cars are certainly proving to be a handful for the drivers, and we're seeing plenty of non DRS pass attempts, enough that the DRS seems redundant.

(*As for the griping, I get that one of their goals should have been to maintain the visceral experience of 'power' that F1 cars are known for.)

[lkjohnson1950]

I was surprised Rosberg was so far off Lewis pace. Kudos to Lewis, he went faster, got longer stints out of his tires and if the graphic was accurate, used less fuel than any of his nearest rivals. That is a masterful performance. I thought the Williams would be faster. Vettel will be very dangerous if Renault get their engine systems sorted, he seemed very close to Nice for all the problems R/B has had.

[Irisado]

It wasn't overly exciting in my opinion.  It started off quite well, but petered out as the race went on.  There were too many big gaps between the front runners to make the second half of the race interesting.

Also, so much for all the pre-season unreliability, while finishing rates are down 2013, there's hardly mass mechanical carnage, and Malaysia is one of the most punishing circuits for engines, because of the heat.

The whole Williams team orders thing was a bit odd.  Williams has since admitted that they basically made a mistake with that this early in the season and won't be doing it again.  It was a strange call.  There was no guarantee that Bottas could have caught and passed Button, so why make the call?

The only surprise for me was that a Lotus finished the race.

Finally, does anyone know why Ricciardo stopped?  The official F1 website just stated 'retired', but I thought that teams had to have a genuine reason to retire a car.