Malaysian Grand Prix 2011: Raceday - Formula One highlights (part 9)
After the 3rd and final round of pit stops for most of the front runners, it appeared that the fate of the race was effectively down to on-track overtaking.
Meanwhile, Michael Schumacher ran wide to run through the grass but was able to get back on track without doing much damage to his car or on-track position. Shortly afterwards, the German steered his car under the pit lane speed limit, brought his Mercedes
to a standstill in front of the team garage and slapped on a set of hard compound tyres.
Elsewhere on track, Petrov and Heidfeld battled for 6th position. Heidfeld out-braked his teammate Petrov going into the last corner and passed him for 6th. Massa also managed to capitalize on the Renault battle and got past the Russian
for P-7 going into turn 1.
Fernando Alonso tried to pull off an overtaking manoeuvre of his own by getting a run on Hamilton into turn 1 and the duo continued to have a stirring side by side battle for the rest of the Sector 1. The two drivers, teammates in the past for Team McLaren,
and noted for their ‘healthy’ rivalry that saw the Spaniard make a move for Renault after only his first season with the British based constructors, looked too close for comfort. Hamilton looked to be soaking the pressure reasonably well as he held onto P-2
for then.
While the crowd in Malaysia was entertained by an exciting on-track tussle, Jerome D'Ambrosio parked his Virgin at the side of the track and retired – So near and yet so far, the Belgian would’ve definitely been disappointed after what looked like a fruitful
outing in his quest to gain more experience after replacing Lucas di Grassi.
The Ferrari team radio sprang to life as the Italian team told Fernando Alonso that the rear wing adjustment was not working. Despite the obvious handicap in straight line speed, as the rear wing tweaks the amount of down force on the car, the Spaniard got
a run on Hamilton as he pulled out of his slipstream to attempt a pass. However, gambling on braking late and due to a block from the Brit, the Ferrari made contact with the McLaren’s right rear tyre whilst damaging its own front wing in the process – A few
seconds behind the duo, Mark Webber set the fastest lap of the race with a 1 minute 40.571 seconds.
Continued in part 10...
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