Malaysian Grand Prix 2011: Raceday - Formula One Highlights (Part 2)
The five red lights illuminated, and when they went out, the Malaysian Grand Prix was underway!
Sebastian Vettel made a great start. Importantly for the Red Bull, blocking off Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren heading into turn 1, the holding champion was able to retain first place. Nick Heidfeld made impressive start as he slingshot his way up to 2nd by passing a clump of cars on the outside going into the first corner. Michael Schumacher was quick off the line himself. The seven time world champion was up in 8th from his 11th starting position.
At the end of lap 1, it appeared to be a contrasting tale between the two Red Bulls. While Sebastian Vettel was capitalizing on his excellent start by opening up some breathing space between him and the rest of the field, Mark Webber had dropped down to P10! It appeared that the Australian was experiencing some problems with his KERS. Rosberg had fallen all the way down to 13th after starting 9th.
Moments later, Maldonado and Perez were on the verge of making contact – No, it’s a not a story between a driver and his team radio – The Sauber and Williams headed into turn 1 side by side. Schumacher maintained P8 while his former Ferrari teammate, Rubens Barrichello, appeared to have developed a puncture in his left rear tyre.
Lap 4: Sebastian Vettel extended his lead to 2.8 seconds and set the fastest lap – Evidently the Red Bull was in a class of its own. Adrian Sutil headed into the pits followed by Barrichello. Williams opted for another set of soft tyres; either vesting their faith in the veteran’s capabilities to claw back some places or their lack of faith in the Pirelli tyres as opting for a set of mandatory hard compounds meant having to stop much later than usual.
The Red Bull radio sprang into life moments later as Vettel’s race engineer informed him that light rain was expected shortly. The start of the lap also legalized the use of the Drag Reduction System ensuring higher speeds on the start-finish straight. With rain expected to proportionally decrease grip, were we in for some off the track incidents? Meanwhile, Schumacher’s team were on the same page as they advised the German to save his tyres.
The 2011 season was about to witness its first battle against the elements. Were the cars, and more importantly, the new Pirellis ready?
Continued in Part 3
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