Malaysian Grand Prix 2011: Raceday - Formula One highlights (part 4)
Sepang was in for some pit-lane poker as the race headed to lap 14. Vettel dived into the pits and took on a set of soft compound tyres. Heidfeld, Button and Massa also followed suit. Efficient work from the McLaren pit crew enabled Jenson Button to come
ahead of Heidfeld’s Renault.
Meanwhile, Schumacher, Buemi and Hamilton found themselves in a 3 wide formation going into the last turn. Schumacher dived into the pits and took on a set of soft compound tyres. Petrov effectively assumed race lead since he was yet to make a pit stop.
Jarno Trulli brought his Lotus to a standstill in front of his team garage for a routine pit stop. However, it appeared that the Italian was losing front grip on cold tyres exiting the pits and ran wide in Turn 1. Petrov made his first stop of the day and
took on a fresh set of soft compound tyres.
Karthikeyan stopped his HRT in Turn 5; signaling the end of his race – Disappointment for team Hispania. Meanwhile, Perez made a brilliant move on Alguersuari to take over P 11. Looking further up the pack, Alonso managed to dispose of Button for P 3 going
into Turn 1. Button tried to fight back but was unsuccessful. Both the Virgin dived into the pits.
Buemi was being investigated by Race Control, apparently for speeding in the pit lane. Kobayashi made a pit stop and took on a set of soft Pirellis. His teammate, Perez, also followed suit and dived into the pits.
Turning our attention back on track, Lewis Hamilton was effectively running on par with Vettel’s pace and had just set the fastest lap for lap 19. It appears that this season McLaren Mercedes is clearly the team that is ‘equipped’ enough to challenge the
might of the Red Bulls.
Barrichello made a pit stop. Perez was up in P 9, a good run developing for the Mexican rookie. Alonso on the other hand, looked to match the McLaren in front as the Spaniard upped his pace; closing in on the car ahead.
21 laps into the race, Vettel’s lead over Hamilton was 5.2 seconds and shrinking – Were we in for a dogfight for the podium positions? Meanwhile, pieces of bodywork flew of Petrov’s Renault as he went into Turn 1. Buemi made his second stop of the day.
35 laps to go… Stay tuned!
Continued on part 5
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