2014 Malaysian GP Thread

[Ranger]

I can see where Williams were coming from, but I disagree with their reason.

What if Bottas didn't catch Button anyway? Then Felipe would have just p*ssed away a position for no good reason.

Very unlucky for Ricciardo, who has a 10 second stop/go penalty AND a 10-place grid penalty in Bahrain for the same thing. :/

[Valve Bounce]

I can see that Ricciardo has inherited the Redbull anti-kangaroo bugs from Mark Webber. Car starts to slow, wheel not put on right and has to be pushed back to pits (what a joke), and then engine issues.
If this keeps up, Mark will be laughing all the way to the Porsche Racing Team after each F1 GP.

[Storm]

Doesn't seem to have the same issue with race starts though does he?

[COD]

I can see where Williams were coming from, but I disagree with their reason.

What if Bottas didn't catch Button anyway? Then Felipe would have just p*ssed away a position for no :/

Well, at least they would have given the chance to the faster driver. No they will never no, because Bo77as was not even given the chance to try to pass Button

[Koz]

Huh, there are some pretty clear gaps between teams this year, so it reminds me some of the faraway past year. 1998, 2002, 2011 are just some examples of seasons, where drivers in races were often running in positions next-to-each-other. And for one driver to be many places behind his team-mate - well, he really had to underperform for that to happen. Currently only Pérez seems far behind Hülkenberg, the rest are running close.

Based on what exactly? A quali session that Kimi binned, from which even the might Seb suffered? Or the one in changing conditions? And a race he didn't start?

You are being very unfair.

[AndyL]

Yes, 100% yes!
If Bottas had made some moves on Massa, was on much fresher tyres and clearly much quicker I'd probably back the team order but telling Fellipe to move over because Bottas had fresher tyres (only 2 laps worth!) did not cut it for me.
I think Massa did the right thing. I feel Bottas only deserved to take Massas place if he overtook him fair and square on this occasion.

Yes exactly right. They were on the same strategy - as you say only 2 laps difference between their tyres, and they were on the more durable tyre as well if I recall correctly, so those 2 laps would make minimal difference. To me it looks like weak leadership on the Williams pit wall: they told Massa to pull over because Bottas had complained so much.

[AndyL]

Well, at least they would have given the chance to the faster driver. No they will never no, because Bo77as was not even given the chance to try to pass Button

That's assuming Bottas was in fact faster at that point, which is far from certain.
When he complained about having more pace earlier in the race, it turned out not to be true: once Magnussen got out of the way, Massa pulled out a gap on Bottas.

[Storm]

Nobody should be "given" a chance to pass Button or anybody else..if he was that much quicker he would have passed Massa on his own wihout whining to his team to make the call.

Also for some reason I completely missed why Perez wasn't even on the grid...

[Tazio]

Yes exactly right. They were on the same strategy - as you say only 2 laps difference between their tyres, and they were on the more durable tyre as well if I recall correctly, so those 2 laps would make minimal difference. To me it looks like weak leadership on the Williams pit wall: they told Massa to pull over because Bottas had complained so much.

I have to agree Andy. I read in James Allen’s article that Massa was also running hot, and that if Buttas couldn't pass Button they were going to switch the places back, that IMO is micro managing their races which I don't like or even want to hear about TBH. Massa was ahead in the closing stages of probably the most physically demanding race of the season and was asked to give it up like a punk, not cool IMO

[COD]

That's assuming Bottas was in fact faster at that point, which is far from certain.
When he complained about having more pace earlier in the race, it turned out not to be true: once Magnussen got out of the way, Massa pulled out a gap on Bottas.

Were we watchin the same race? Bottas was 7secs behind Massa and caught him. If that is not faster, what is? Ok, he wasn't able to pass Massa, but wouldn't the most stupid thing be to make a risky move on your teammate and possibly ruin the race for both?