Cucumbers At Dawn

RACE TRACK: Fernando - Abba (Sorry, couldn't resist!)

First things first: CHECO YOU LITTLE LEGEND!

For those baffled by this picture, it is merely a comparison that my warped mind made last year ('Dull Down Under'). In Melbourne, Perez amazed us by climbing from 22nd on the grid to finish in a closely-fought 8th, and only a week later we find him in an incredible second place, giving double world champion Fernando Alonso a run for his money in the final few laps. I genuinely think Sergio could've pressured him into a mistake in the closing stages... if it wasn't for his own minor wobble. I was not jumping to join the conspiracy theorists who claimed that, as a future Ferrari driver (potentially as early as the next round in China), Perez was obliged to acknowledge "Fernando is faster than you." No, Perez was gunning like hell for that first place and made a small mistake, like most drivers would under that amount of pressure (look at Sebastian 'Flawless' Vettel in Canada '11). And if I was Sergio's race engineer, I'd almost certainly be holding my breath and begging him to be careful! But enough of the conspiracy crap: Perez can be added to the long list of drivers who are showing Hamilton how you're supposed to look when you make it onto the podium...

On the left: an appropriate face to pull if you've retired after 1 lap. On the right: an appropriate face to pull if you're on the podium. As ever Lewis, despite being the envy of most of the world by earning millions doing one of the coolest jobs in existence, you manage to have a face like a slapped arse. If you were in your teammate's position, trundling miserably around in 14th, I'd understand your frustration. Here's Jenson looking hugely disappointed:

The miserable bastard. But seriously, Button gave a great and honest post-race interview. He didn't moan, he didn't blame anybody else, he just said, "I can't do anything but laugh really because it was such a horrendous race!" The only time Lewis' comments made me laugh this weekend was when he managed to say "I can't complain" about three times in one short interview. Looks like all the time the McLaren PR people have spent beating that concept into him (probably since Monaco '11) has finally paid off!

Another man in stark contrast to the diplomatic Mr Button was Sebastian 'Eternally-Cheerful' Vettel. After his wing-flinging moment with Button, poor old Karthikeyan was observing the blue flags (no Kimi, not for you) and moving out of the way of Vettel when he unfortunately clipped the Red Bull's rear tyre. The tyre disintegrated, as did Seb's race... and his patience:

I know Vettel is famous for his finger, but really. His troubles then continued with a series of baffling and contradictory team radio messages from his race engineer: "Box, box, box, we're going to retire the car, retire the car, retire the car... stay out, stay out, stay out, stay out... stop the car, stop the car, emergency, stop the car." So when he did eventually stop the car and was shoved in front of the microphones, his usual happy grin was nowhere to be seen. About the coming together with Karthikeyan he said, "As in real life, there are a few cucumbers on the road." First of all, what is Formula 1 if not real life (for him anyway)? Secondly, cucumbers?? When interviewed shortly afterwards by the BBC, he went for the word "idiots" instead, but I definitely prefer the mad imagery of his first answer. Unfortunately for Seb, #CUCUMBERGATE rumbles on, with Narain calling him "unprofessional" and a "crybaby". To add insult to injury, he's also apparently in trouble with his team for ignoring their order to stop the car, and with the FIA for the use of his other finger. I like and support Vettel, but this has not been a good weekend for him; this has been a Hamilton-at-Monaco kind of meltdown. Nicht gut, Wunderkind.


What else? I realise I'm going about this in entirely the wrong order but that's clearly how I roll. The red flag period had a fair few fun moments, as ever. Gratuitous picture number 1: hands up who wants to high-five me!

That face just screams "where's my Magnum?" (If you can bear to hear more Kimi-five/Magnum ramblings, check out my shenanigans at Top Gear here.) While the drivers conferred and stretched and scowled, the teams were busy hosting the 1st Annual B&Q Malaysian Gazebo Grand Prix, competing for titles including 'Quickest Gazebo Assembly', 'Driest Chassis' and the prestigious 'Largest And Most Compensatory Gazebo'. Some unfortunate teams had obviously spent their funding elsewhere and had to make do with a rather forlorn collection of brollies and what looked like clingfilm. And here's gratuitous picture number 2: a surly, soggy Rob Smedley (or R. Smedley if you're saying it out loud), again for absolutely no reason whatsoever.

Aside from Seb's rather unfortunate tantrum, the other thing from Malaysia that really grinds my gears is the curse that appears to be following Maldonado and Grosjean around. Two weekends in a row now, Pastor has been driving well inside the top ten, when his race comes to an abrupt end in the final stages of the race. Admittedly the first time it was a driver error whilst hounding Alonso, but an engine blow out? In 2012? That's just cruel, fate. At least this time Bruno Senna was on hand to score Williams 8 points, making up 7 places to finish 6th. And as for poor Romain, he qualifies well, he starts well and then, only a few laps in, ends up in the gravel. Here's Grosjean's reaction after his incident:

Pauvre bébé. Right, that's enough rambling and teasing from me now. Late post is late but I'm still not as slow as FOM are with their race edits - success! Feel free to comment below or tweet me @F1_Obsessive - ooh, and don't forget to vote in the poll on the right: this week, your bet for the championship leader after Round 3 in China. Until then my lovelies!

Going Goldilocks Over Overtaking

RACE TRACK: One Way Or Another - Blondie

(One way, or another, Kobi's gonna getcha getcha getcha getcha...)

We'll start backwards today. How miniscule were those trophies?! First time in 2 years that Nick Heidfeld has gotten anywhere near a trophy and gets a fun size one? Here's Seb on the podium if you didn't see it:

Note that he isn't doing his signature finger. It must be the trophy disappointment getting him down. I mean, I know 'Baby Schumi' is only 23 but there was really no need for the toy trophy. And of course Nico Rosberg was nowhere near the podium this weekend but if he had been, it would've looked like this:

That might be the second gratuitous Rosberg insult of this fairly young blog, but never mind.

To continue in an even more backwards fashion: the post-race penalties for Alonso and Hamilton. I'm nowhere near being a Hamilton sympathiser but I couldn't really understand what the stewards were complaining about. So apparently Hamilton made more than one move across the track to defend from Alonso, but I saw no such thing and neither did the commentators. But hey, this doesn't exactly grind my gears, I'm pretty delighted that Hamilton lost 2 points from his 20 second penalty (and that Kobayashi gained them)! But Alonso gets the same penalty for "causing a collision"? What? The only damage he did was to himself; he made a mistake and was punished sufficiently with a lengthy pitstop to change the front wing. So why punish him again? If they're using this kind of rule then should Petrov get a penalty for "causing a collision" with a braking point marker?

On that note, what fun, Vitaly strikes again! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a Mark Webber? No, it's a Petrov!

Now for the overtaking discussion. Yet again we could all enjoy Kamui Kobasmashi Kobayashi being a fearless ninja, overtaking time and time again - particularly fun when Schumacher's his victim we've got to admit. But for some reason the world is still not happy. The "fans" moan that there's not enough overtaking (to be fair, apparently there were 5.93 overtakes per race in 1990, and 20 years later with aaaall the technological advancement there were only 1.15 in 2010 - tragic) and now that the FIA have introduced rules to make overtaking easier, apparently there's now too much. Or "unrealistic" overtakes. I'm sorry, but what is the problem? The phrase "procession" became synonymous with the Plague, so we've solved that problem and the races are increasingly entertaining. I'd like to think that any F1 fan would rather watch a seven-time world champion repeatedly do battle with a near-rookie, or the majestically-bearded Heidfeld snatch the podium from Princess Hamilton, than just watch Vettel cruise around at the front lap after lap. First there's not enough overtaking, now there's too much - when will it be juuust right Goldilocks?

Jenson was saying in the F1 forum after the race that the drivers can make strategic decisions using the drag reduction system (DRS), like deliberately not lapping someone in the DRS zone so that they then can't use DRS to unlap themselves immediately. Strategy is just as important to the sport as anything (I mean there have been several races in the past where all the action has been found in the pitlane rather than on the racetrack), so I can't see why people are calling for DRS to be removed because the overtakes don't feel "real". If for next season it's decided that the technology that aids drivers in races should be taken away, then 2012 is just going to be 24 guys running around in circles - or 22 if Liuzzi and Karthikeyan get a bit worn out and take 7% more time - and I can safely assume that no one wants that.

That concludes my rant for the Malaysian Grand Prix, but only a few short days until the action resumes in China - woo and yay! And as I've sung his praises yet again, to play us out, an excellent Kobayashi montage: