Preview: 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix

UPDATE 10/04/13: The track preview would not load so I inserted a new one.

After the icy conditions on the top of the podium after round one in Australia, Kimi Raikkonen leads the driver's championship ahead of Fernando Alonso and world champion Sebastian Vettel. After the dominance of the Red Bulls in free practice and qualifying, we were shocked to see Vettel being caught by Felipe Massa of all people. The Sepang circuit hopefully will work out to be as exciting as last year, maybe even more so.

Track profile courtesy of Viva F1

The circuit is of Herman Tilke design and unlike his other anti-great-racing tracks, Sepang is surprisingly a great watch even with his signature run off areas. The wide track runs for 3.4 miles and features 15 great turns with a signature double hairpin double straight. The rules this year state each track must have two DRS zones where feasible, but for some reasons the organisers and FIA couldn't find a place to set a second one. I can see 5 places for another one but whatever.

This track debuts the orange walled hard compound tyres which will partner the option medium tyre. This will come as a relief especially to Jenson Button in his struggling McLaren who's tyres fell off after lap 4. Downforce levels are quite high along with high tyre wear, but the demand on brakes is not that hard so tyre management may play a background role this time around.

One of the worst features about the circuit is that the race takes place during monsoon season. This means I could almost guarantee you a wet race but I was wrong last week!

Last year, Fernando Alonso shocked us all in his supposedly off pace Ferrari by winning in the wet however what no one could have predicted was Sergio Perez getting his first F1 podium, from a position where he could have won hadn't he went off track. 

Preview

McLaren won't be praying for a wet race, they'll be praying for no one to show up, that's the only chance they'll get for a strong race, and even then I reckon some of the GP2 machines could challenge them.

Red Bull became the complete package last week as they showed they can finally challenge in the race, and with long straights there's a very good chance for a trademark Vettel run away, although if the right person is chasing him i.e. Kimi or Fernando, he'll not get it as easy as he used to. 

For me, last week showed none of the midfield teams made any real leaps forward, bar Force India who showed that both Adrian Sutil (to my disdain, he had a great race) and Paul di Resta can challenge the points pack. The other surprise came from Mercedes who I thought would not do as well, Nico Rosberg's retirement was bad luck nothing to do with performance. Expect effort from all these drivers.

Qualifying

A Red Bull lockout two sessions in a row? Probably, and in the wet I can't see it being any different. If Raikkonen can win from P7 though, anything can be achieved from all the guys.

The Race

If it throws up a wet one (which I hope) it'll be hard to imagine what is possible. Because of McLaren's shambles of a car, Button is out of the wet game, leaving Alonso the only expert. That being said Vettel seems to have pretty good running pace so he won't have it all his own way.

After a very quiet first round, Romain Grosjean will hope to remain incident free and will be searching for more points. Nico Hulkenberg will have his first race here after he failed to make the Aussie grid, playing catchup is never a good season starter but if any man can pull it off, it's him.

Nobody ever wants a wet race, but I think we need to see an early on in order to get an idea of how these cars perform in the race under wet conditions.

Still Unacceptable

My love letter to the Sebastian Vettel fans 

"Every Vettel fan is still so far up their arse with lies they can practically taste their brain."

After I cooled down from the weekend's events and taken a step back to look at my previous blog, I've come to the conclusion: that I'm still right and every Vettel fan is still so far up their arse with lies they can practically taste their brain. The fact that you're stilll defending this event that has put the sport in an awful light shows you're an absolute joke of a supporter.

The response to the situation has been absolutely staggering. The drivers are appalled, the media are surprisingly one sided, commentators are disgusted, one even wants Vettel banned! The response I got to my blog as overwhelming and Twitter was fuming too, I'd personally like to thank all those who got in touch. The fact that you're as passionate about this as I am, and that you're willing to be as open and as honest about it as I am is absolutely amazing. It really goes to show how many real fans there still are. Don't get me wrong, there's still the odd arsehole on Twitter and Instagram who cannot admit that they are wrong, or see the issue here, and it's these arseholes I'm aiming today's blow at.

Any 'fan' who has supported Vettel are quite keen on giving what I like to call; a politicians answer. This means in their messed up head, they think they've answered the question when in reality they have completely avoided it. So from now on, any Vettel 'fan' will now be called a patient, as you must have suffered some severe trauma to still miss the big picture.

Guys, it's nothing to do with getting points, or having the hunger. I'm not pro team orders or against them. It barely has anything to do with racing, it has to do with ETHICS. In the working world, if your boss tells you to do something, you bloody well do it. It's a case of them saying "jump" and you saying "how high?" But Vettel thought himself above his team principle Christian Horner, and thought he knew best.

So you can put away your silly points about wanting it more, or that Mark Webber was too slow, Sebastian was told to stay behind by his authority, and he didn't.

The point that really irritates me about the patients, is one of their favourite people to quote. Bare this in mind, I love Ayrton Senna. He is the greatest driver in the history of Formula 1, and I don't appreciate his name being used, but these patients are low enough like their idol Vettel to drag his name through the dirt. If you're not familiar with the famous Senna quote, here it is:

"And you [Jackie Stewart] know a lot about racing. And you should know that by being a racing driver, you are under risks all the time. By being a racing driver means you are racing with other people. And if you no longer go for a gap that exists, you're no longer a racing driver, because we are competing. We are competing to win, and the main motivation to all of us is to compete for victory; it's not to come 3rd, 4th, 5th or 6th"

Senna lived his life by this, and his career, which has inspired a lot of drivers including Vettel obviously. It brought the Brazilian lots of success, 41 race wins and 3 world championships, so I can see why it's a great quote to use in an argument, and let's be honest, it instilled him as a legend forever.

Here comes the controversial point and the one the Vettel patients are missing. Alain Prost, Senna's rival for years lived by a completely different philosophy. He believed that if you only need so many points or a certain finish, then that's all that you need to do. He's a smart, well educated man, nicknamed 'The Professor' for a reason. You could say this makes him the polar opposite to Senna.

Now, do you want to know why his philosophy is better than Senna's, and why in the argument's case it renders Senna's quote moot? Because Prost was more successful than Senna. It's not a matter of talent (Senna was far more talented and the better driver), it's a matter of statistics and unless you are severely brain damaged and in the case of the hardcore Vettel fans, a total brain dead rabbit, you'll know statistics are a huge part of F1. Prost won 51 races and 4 world championships, all of which came before Senna's death. Not that I hope anyone would use that as an excuse.

I can see why pushing the limit is attractive, it gets results. But Prost's way, adopted by drivers like Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen, gets the results more fairly. The only reason Vettel has won more championships is because of his car. 

The other point I absoutely adored was the whole "it has nothing to do with the car" or "Newey has nothing to do with it." It made me realise just how desperately pathetic some Vettel patients are and instead of arguing with you, I'm going to pity you. Because like your driver, you are a lost cause and a waste of my time.

Vettel and Webber have never had the same car. They've never had the same backing or resources. There's very simply the Red Bull corner, and the Webber corner. There is a car designed for Mark Webber, then there is the car designed to win the championship, all because of Adrian Newey. Vettel has nothing to do with it, if the roles were reversed, Webber would be a triple world champion, and maybe I'd be supporting the German. This should hopefully answer why Webber hasn't been champion yet. Not because of his (perceived) lack of ability, but because he has been oppressed by his team. Anybody denying this should really get themselves checked out for criminal levels of insanity.

The other arguments that have surfaced from the rats are the fact that Vettel is in it for himself, and the team are lucky to have him. When I challenged one, he tried to tell me that if Vettel was still in a Toro Rosso, he would still be a triple world champion. Well, I'll let you guess among yourselves what my response was.

The big issue with these people, is that you cannot cure stupidity. Vettel patients will always defend their boy because they cannot see beyond the bigger picture. The pity I have for you guys is astronomical, but I have no time for idiots.

Unacceptable

"The sports fan in me feels quite numb."

Right I don't know where to begin so off the bat I'm just going to say this; I've never liked Sebastian Vettel. He's not a real driver, he was gifted three world championships on a silver platter, he's had the easy route his whole career and has been protected by some people who are deemed untouchable. He is the puppet boy controlled by the puppet masters. Furthermore, on a Sunday or, race day, for most of them I am working which generally means I can only catch highlights, which is fine because I'm out earning a living to keep me afloat at university.

So I work hard for roughly ten hours on a Sunday 7-5 kind of job, long days work which I do enjoy, but come 5 o'clock I'm tired. I generally want to come home, have a nice dinner and relax watching some Grand Prix action and then I come on here and do my thing. So how does it feel knowing that I find out prematurely that one of only nineteen races this year has been tarnished in controversy by a driver who I despise more than any human being on the planet? Revolting.

I've not watched the race. I'm not going to. Read autosport, BBC, eurosport, Sky if you have too, it's all the same but it has to be sugar coated in order to remain "partial." Well, bias is a luxury I can afford, except it's not called bias and it means something completely different. It's called honesty, and here is what those websites all want to say:

Sebastian Vettel disgraces everything F1 by deifying team orders.

Yes, "disgraces". He is a disgrace to his team, to his country, to his fellow drivers but worst of all, he has had a total lack of respect for his team mate and us the fans. I don't want to hear any of this "racing" bollocks. he was told to stand down by his boss, and he refused. He has thought himself a better mind than his team principle, his arrogance sickens me.

There is no further doubt in my head, and I am not ashamed to say: Sebastian Vettel is utter scum. Any die hard Vettel fans who are reading this and thinking of commenting, don't bother your opinion is now and forever invalid (I will still publish just to let the world see how fickle you are). 

"Mark is too slow get him out of the way." Piss off you immature excuse of a human being. How can anybody criticise their team mate like that? Mark Webber has nothing to show for it because of Vettel being easily played, but he is the better racing driver and character of the two. It's him today I feel so sorry for because I can't see him wanting to be at Red Bull any more. If you gave him a drive in a Marussia he'd be happy to get away from that sly piece of work. Christian Horner and Adrian Newey need to handle this correctly. Who am I kidding, no they won't. 

Sad thing is, nothing will get done. As Webber says, "he is protected." The FIA can't do anything, it wasn't illegal. Red Bull can do something, but they won't. What they can actually do, is flag up something to do with the FIA, even something made up about Seb's car that deems it illegal, thus disqualifying Vettel and giving Mark his rightful place. The team are going to win the championship any way, they can afford to give up the points. But they won't for fear of upsetting their cry baby "world champion."  

This is how soccer-ball fans must feel every week, complete and utter jokes and mugs for actually watching nonsense events such as this. I'm not proud to be a fan of F1 today. I will be tomorrow again when I clear my head and realise there is still a long way to go, but right now the sports fan in me feels quite numb.

No Malaysian GP Reviews!

Those of you outside the UK may be unaware that we have been hit by a wonderwall of snow storms, Northern Ireland (where I live) has been hit pretty bad and as a result, I've decided to help work by doing a few shifts for people who have been snowed in.

Unfortunately I have come to the conclusion that I will be unable to provide, and even watch any live or highlight coverage of the Malaysian Grand Prix meaning I am unable to provide any type of a review.

However all is not lost, if you click on this link, you will be directed to a site where comprehensive and perfect articles about Formula 1 are posted. This is a great review of qualifying and if you check back tomorrow you'll find a great race review, I know I will!

Thank you for reading My Formula 1, I will be bringing my thoughts on the first rounds of the season so far later on in the week. Keep it here for some great coverage! I'm away to cook me up some steak!