After Race 2: Malaysia

Three things in brief before we get going… 1) It was fantastic to see Petronas earn a 1-2 finish at their home race. In a similar way to Red Bull, they have invested heavily into Formula 1 over the past two decades, even through the tumultuous global recession. This is nothing less than they deserve. 2) We saw the first penalty points handed out this weekend and the first use of the five-second penalty. Generally, I felt the stewards called most decisions correctly and I enjoyed the use of the time penalty. However, I did feel that the awarding of penalty points seemed a tad harsh for the incidents in question. 3) It was incredibly hard to split the midfield in this week’s F1 Power Rankings, especially between eleventh and fifteenth.

All smiles as Mercedes AMG Petronas delivered on their potential
Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas Facebook

1. Lewis Hamilton (up one spot)

With his Melbourne woes behind him, Lewis Hamilton roared to his first career Grand Chelem in his 131^st race (it was also the 100^th time he finished in the points). It was a dominant performance from the 29-year-old who was unchallenged on raceday, completing his first race distance in the 2014 car in the process.

 

We hadn't seen a smile on the Malaysian podium since 2012
Source: F1 Fanatic

2. Nico Rosberg (down one spot)

The world championship leader completed the Silver Arrows’ first 1-2 finish since 1955 as he enjoyed a second straight trouble-free weekend to start the new season. However, it will have not escaped his attention that in the three main sessions in which both Mercedes have completed (two qualifying sessions and one race), he has yet to beat his team-mate.

3. Daniil Kvyat (up one spot)

Kvyat continued his mightily impressive start to his F1 career with a second consecutive points finish. He also made it two-for-two in the ‘need a new front wing in qualifying’ after his contact with Fernando Alonso – which was correctly ruled as a racing incident. It has been a dream start for the Russian teenager. 

Kvyat continued his impressive start to the season
Source: Scuderia Toro Rosso Facebook

4. Nico Hülkenberg (up seven spots)

The Hulk is the big gainer this week after a superb top-five finish. I mentioned last week how his 11^th-placed ranking was probably a tad harsh (which was probably due to Force India being the weakest of the Merc teams) but he bounced back to finish well over half-a-minute ahead of any other non-works Mercedes-powered car. He was also the only driver other than Lewis Hamilton lead part of the race (even if it was for only a couple of miles and not over the start/finish line – hence the Grand Chelem stands). 

The Hulk had a fantastic weekend
Source: Sahara Force India Facebook

5. Sebastian Vettel (up seven spots)

I had initially placed Seb in P7 but felt he was ultimately in better shape than those he edged out; Vettel almost stole pole position before taking a solid podium finish – even if his feathers were ruffled on the opening lap by his team-mate! He will have gained satisfaction at re-asserting his status in the team as he comfortably ran ahead of Daniel Ricciardo thereafter, not to mention the immense progress Red Bull have made since testing.

6. Fernando Alonso (up three spots)

I’ve been watching F1 for the best part of two decades and never have I been so flabbergasted by the repairing of a car: the Ferrari mechanics did an unbelievable job fixing the broken suspension on Alonso’s car in qualifying after the Kvyat tangle. Even taking into account the red flag, such a speedy repair is simply unheard of! A rather lonely race ensued on Sunday as he cruised to fourth place; Maranello still have lots of work to do. 

The Ferrari mechanics service Alonso on Sunday - one day after completing a stunning suspension repair
Source: Scuderia Ferrari Facebook

7. Daniel Ricciardo (down one spot)

It was almost a case of déjà-vu for the Aussie as happiness once again turned to despair on raceday. As mentioned earlier, he made a terrifically bold start to overtake his team-mate before he eventually gave way and settled into a comfortable fourth position until one catastrophe after another befell him as he made his final pit-stop, culminating in a ten-place grid penalty for Bahrain – which I felt was somewhat harsh. Some people criticized the stop/go penalty as they felt Ricciardo himself should not have been penalized. Frankly, you win as a team and you lose as a team and that penalty was correct – no-one wants to see a repeat of Mark Webber’s wheel flying down the pit lane.

8. Valtteri Bottas (down three spots)

Another mixed weekend for Bottas, who again needed to fight his way through the field to score points. I initially had him pegged to stay in P5 but, ultimately, his horrific blocking on Daniel Ricciardo rightly earned him a grid penalty and he also became the first driver to receive penalty points on his license. His Sunday performance was excellent, however, and only the disobedience of team orders prevented him from finishing even higher (more on that later).

9. Kevin Magnussen (down six spots)

It was always going to be a tall order for K-Mag to repeat his Melbourne heroics and he takes a bit of a tumble down the F1 Power Rankings. However, he once again outqualified his team-mate and recovered strongly after his early contact with Kimi Räikkönen (another penalty the stewards called correctly). Rookie mistakes will happen but Magnussen showed fantastic resilience.

*His five-second penalty was deserved, the penalty points maybe not so much 

Seconds from disaster...
Source: ESPN/Sutton

10. Jenson Button (no change)

 No change for JB as his solid start to the season continued. He’ll be happy to have overtaken his rookie team-mate in the standings although the 2009 champion will be disheartened at just how far behind the top five he finished.

11. Romain Grosjean (up six spots) & Jean-Éric Vergne (down three spots)

It was fantastic to see Lotus finally complete a race distance after their disastrous pre-season. There’ll be a mixture of agony and ecstasy as they ran competitively in the midfield all afternoon but also came up just short of scoring an astonishing point – despite having a multitude of problems on Friday. Given how far they are behind the rest of the field in terms of mileage and understanding of setups etc, there is reason to believe that this car is a podium-contender once they iron out all the issues (which included an inexplicable diffuser problem in the closing stages). It will have also given the team immense satisfaction to have halted Räikkönen’s charge through the field.

JEV again made Q3 before his race was effectively over within a few metres. His Renault power unit struggled to get going and he was then caught up in the turn 4 incident before his eventual (and expected) early exit.

13. Kamui Kobayashi (up three spots)

A fine weekend for KK as he put the disappointment of his first-corner Melbourne exit behind him with a strong run to 13^th. Kobayashi will need to lead the team this season and he did an excellent job of keeping his nose clean and maximizing the car’s potential. However, I still feel that both Caterham and Marussia should be closer to the rest of the field and not simply guaranteed weekly Q1 exits. Given how 2014 was very much a ‘start from scratch’ situation, the opportunity was there but, ultimately, the costs of implementing the changes was arguably greater than ever – neutralizing the chance they had to gain ground.

14. Felipe Massa (down seven spots)

Williams again will be disappointed at not having maximized their potential as another rain-affected quali set the tone for their weekend. Both drivers methodically rose through the field but one driver was quicker than the other. Bottas repeatedly pleaded his case to the team and Massa was told to move over but nothing happened. Massa has spent the majority of his career playing second fiddle and he was not about to let a sophomore driver gain a critical mental advantage. Just like Vettel last year, Massa ignored the orders (although, funnily enough, they didn’t cause quite as much fuss). He needs to thrash Bottas in Bahrain.

 

Team orders were again disobeyed in Malaysia as Felipe stood firm
Source: Williams Martini Racing

15. Kimi Räikkönen (down three spots)

The Iceman’s dismal start to the season continues although he was at least significantly more competitive in Sepang than he was in Melbourne. However, despite some promising practice times, he was outqualified by Alonso and then had his race ruined by Magnussen. On the bright side, Ferrari have shown good reliability so far.

16. Pastor Maldonado (up one spot)

A short and not-so-sweet race for Maldonado but he does manage to gain a spot in the F1 Power Rankings. He was the innocent victim in the JEV/Bianchi turn 4 crash before his power unit encountered problems early on. As mentioned earlier, there is still reason for optimism at Lotus and they will continue to work their way up the field.

17. Max Chilton (down three spots)

21 races in F1, 21 finishes for Max Chilton: sums him up perfectly, generally keeps his nose clean and reaches the end of the race. A race-long battle with Marcus Ericsson saw him finish an agonizing 0.1secs behind the Swede.

18. Adrian Sutil (down three spots) & 19. Esteban Gutiérrez (up three spots)

Sauber’s shaky start to the season is reminiscent of last season and they can only hope that they manage to once again turn it around. They admitted their car is overweight and, unlike Australia where they got both cars to the finish, the gremlins reared the heads today as neither Sauber finished a race for the first time since Monza 2011. Credit Gutiérrez for his fine job in quali but both drivers had rather anonymous races in the lower midfield. 

Sauber have endured a tough start to the new season
Source: Sauber F1 Team Facebook

20. Jules Bianchi (no change)

Another difficult weekend for young Jules; while he did manage to outqualify his perennial backmarker rivals, his race ended at turn 4. The stewards handed JB two penalty points which was perhaps a tad harsh. He crashed into Maldonado as a result of a puncture earned from contact with JEV. However, the opposing argument is that Bianchi wandered across into Vergne’s path far too prematurely.

21. Marcus Ericsson (no change)

Ericsson recovered well after his qualifying crash and edged out Chilton in the battle to avoid last place on Sunday; job well done.

 

Ericsson's crash brought Q1 to an early end
Source: BBC

22. Sergio Pérez (down three spots)

Checo’s anonymous start to the season continued although we did see more of him on Sunday than we did in Melbourne – unfortunately it was just shots of him in his civvies as his Force India conked out before the race. Thrashed by Hülkenberg in quali again, things can only get better.

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