As the saying goes, you can’t judge a book by its cover. Likewise, you can’t predict the outcome of a race until the chequered flag drops.
Judging both from the first grand prix of the year, as well as Saturday’s qualifying practice at Sepang, the prime contenders for the top spot were the two McLarens, followed by Michal Schumacher in his Mercedes and, perhaps, Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus.
Of course, no one in his right mind would not count Red Bull Racing’s duo – or bet a dime on Ferrari winning the race. Well, if anyone had that inspiration, he must have quite a lot of cash right now, because Fernando Alonso won the 2012 Malaysian Formula 1 grand prix.
You see, in every race there’s always one factor that can change everything: the weather and how each team’s strategy changes according to the track condition.
Just 10 minutes before the start, rain started to fall. Choosing the right tire was tricky, as the circuit was very wet in certain places, and almost dry in others. All teams except for HRT opted for intermediate tires.
It seemed the right choice at that moment, with poleman Lewis Hamilton leading the race from Jenson Button. Unfortunately for Mercedes, Michael Schumacher, who started from third place, came into contact with Romain Grosjean’s Lotus and both drivers headed to the pits.
With conditions worsening, all drivers dived into the pits to switch to rain tires. The sole exception was Sergio Perez who stayed out for one more lap, rising to third place behind the two McLarens.
The deployment of the safety car on lap nine meant that they all held positions, and after two laps the stewards decided to pull out the red flag because the track was deemed too dangerous.
Eventually, the rain stopped and the race restarted behind the safety car. When it pulled in the pits and the race commenced, Button was the first to hit the pits. His contact with Narain Karthikeyan’s HRT diminished his advantage since he returned to the pits for a new front wing.
After the frenzy of the pit stops, Alonso came out leading the race with the Sauber of Sergio Perez in second place followed by Hamilton, Vettel, Raikkonen and Mark Webber.
Surprisingly, Perez started to close in on the Ferrari. When Alonso made another pit stop to put on slicks, the Mexican once again stayed out for another lap running on intermediates.
This time his gamble didn’t pay off, as he lost time in the drying track. Nevertheless, after changing tires he started to close the seven-second gap to Alonso again.
“I should have won the race”, said Perez who, after making an error on Turn 13, had to be content with second place. “I was catching Fernando towards the end of the race, but then I ran wide in the left handed quick corner, went to the dirty side, and probably lost the win.”
We’ll never know if Perez could have won, even though second place is a superb result both for him and Sauber. Alonso, however, thanks both to his driving and the Scuderia’s strategy, grabbed the win. The double world champion may consider pursuing a career as a psychic when he retires from racing after his prediction at the Thursday FIA press conference.
“If it’s a crazy race, maybe with rain, then maybe we can finish in front”, he said. And that’s exactly what happened. Even if the F2012 is not competitive and there’s been much talk about Maranello designing a revised car, the Spaniard currently leads the drivers’ championship!
As for the reigning champion, he was pushing hard to pass Hamilton but came in contact with Karthikeyan when he was behind and had to pit in order to change his car’s punctured left rear tire.
Alonso and Perez were not the only ones to impress with their performance in Malaysia.
In 1993, the late Ayrton Senna had said: “If you think I’m fast, wait until you see my nephew Bruno” who at the time was just 10 years old.
On Sepang, Bruno Senna proved his uncle right. He drove brilliantly and overtook many of his rivals to claim sixth place.
History is not without a sense of irony: Bruno is currently racing for Williams, the team his uncle had switched to for the 1994 season and in its car hit the wall at the Tamburello turn in Imola on May 1, 18 years ago…
