Malaysian Grand Prix 2011: Raceday - Formula One highlights (part 6)
The race headed to lap 28 and one could see the tension building. Felipe Massa made his 2nd pit stop and his team put on another set of soft tyres. Petrov also made his second pit stop. Michael Schumacher and Kobayashi were dueling over P-8 going
into turn 1 and the Japanese came on top at the end of the turn.
Meanwhile, Alonso was reporting to his team that he was experiencing problems with the Drag Reduction System as Jenson Button’s McLaren went around him for the 3rd position.
Moments later, Michael Schumacher gave up 9th position to make a pit stop for a new set of soft tyres. Perhaps here it would be relevant reminding our readers that the seven-time world champion started the race in 11th position and
despite starting off well, still wasn’t able to go further.
This gives us a somewhat accurate account of how Formula 1 has evolved during the past couple of years. It is no longer the ‘perceived monopoly’ that saw teams like Ferrari, McLaren Mercedes and Williams BMW dictate results. Presently, you could be one of
the most decorated drivers in the sport and yet have to slug it out for a mere point.
However, sticking to the Michael Schumacher debate, the 42-year-old veteran has been under consorted pressure since making his comeback to the motor sport. Joining Mercedes in hopes to be reunited with Ross Brawn has yet to pay off as the German is still
to record a podium finish in the past two years since making his comeback after hanging his driving gloves back in 2006.
Turning our attention back on the on-track action, while a former world champion was having consistent performance issues in his Mercedes, Lewis Hamilton of McLaren was piling on the pressure on the Red Bull in front. The British driver had closed up to
4.5 seconds behind Vettel as the German continued to experience Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS) woes.
The track in Sepang was obviously taking its toll on the cars involved. The race had already seen a lot of retirements while the front runners were having KERS and DRS issues respectively. The Pirellis were losing grip with every passing lap which further
made going the distance a tall order – The question, who would withstand the pressure?
Continued in Part 7…
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