F1 Teams In The Midst Of Uncertainty
Two races gone but F1 teams still dont have any idea whos going to bag the title this season. Does this mean F1 has revived its competitive nature after Schumis out of the big picture?
Scarlet Scuderias Kimi Raikkonens return to the top in the muchconcluded Malaysian Grand Prix is expected. But Ferrari third in the constructors championship had trouble elsewhere. The Finns teammate Felipe Massa suffered retirement on lap 31 injuring Ferraris onetwo finish goal.
After winning in Malaysia Raikkonen was cautiously upbeat. “We never lost confidence in our team. Of course we had quite a difficult race in Australia both cars had engine trouble but the whole winter the car has been working well. It’s been quick … we didn’t have any issues in Malaysia but you never know we’re still not 100 percent happy with things” Raikkonen told CNN.
Undeniably Ferrari have the fastest cars at the Sepang circuit. But the fastest lap went to Nick Heidfeld from Sauber the team sponsored by the maker of BMW parts. At Sundays race Heidfeld finished sixth. Polish teammate Robert Kubica finished second. Currently BMW Sauber is second in the constructors championship.
“We are very pleased with the early days of the season two podiums in two races 19 points to our account and 11 points one go is a new record for us. That’s all very positive and good basis for the next races” said BMW Motorsports Director Mario Theissen. “It Malaysia was another fantastic race for us. Only the Ferrari was faster than Robert Kubica… we had no technical problems on either car. The performance was again very strong. Now highly motivated we… look forward to the coming races.”
Notwithstanding grid penalties McLaren Mercedes Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen finished third and fifth making Woking team stay atop both the constructors and drivers tables.
McLaren boss Ron Dennis said Hamilton and Kovalainen had put in strong performances despite an “eventful weekend.” “Heikki had a great race dealing well with the traffic and achieving a welldeserved first podium position with the team … the true pace of our cars was masked by the inherent understeer that comes when driving in traffic. We now look forward to the Bahrain Grand Prix he added.
Toyota and Red Bull also gathered points. Renaults Fernando Alonso battled hard to finish eighth. Williams meanwhile suffered when Nico Rosberg collided with Toyota’s Timo Glock and Kazuki Nakajima.
So far predictability is elusive in 2008 F1.
About the writer: Anthony Fontanelle is a 35yearold automotive buff who grew up in the Windy City. He does freelance work for an automotive magazine when he is not busy customizing cars in his shop.
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