Immediately after the 2012 season opener in Australia, the Formula 1 circus moved to Malaysia for the second race of the year. In contrast to Albert Park, which uses public roads that are closed in order for the Grand Prix to take place and is a relatively easy track, the Sepang Circuit features an unusual layout, with a tight hairpin leading from the very long back straight to the pits. In Australia, we got a first taste of each team’s pace during tge race. Apparently, the Malaysian GP qualifying session proved that the picture it painted was an accurate one.
Both McLarens will once again start from the front row of the grid, with Lewis Hamilton beating his teammate to claim his second pole position in as many races.
Jenson Button, however, commented that Hamilton is not his only concern for Sunday’s race. That’s because a resurgent Michael Schumacher brought his Mercedes in third place, the best result since his 2010 return. “The Mercedes is renowned, especially Michael, for getting good starts so it’s going to be a fun Turn One I think”, said Button.
For the second race in a row, Lotus was also very strong. This time it wasn’t Romain Grosjean but Kimi Raikkonen who looked like he never left the F1 tracks.
In fact, the “Iceman” said that even though he made a couple of mistakes on his fastest lap, it was good enough for fifth place: “Without that, we were in with a shout for pole today”, he added. Unfortunately for him, a gearbox replacement meant that he got a five-place penalty, so he’ll start from 10th place.
That was good news for Sebastian Vettel. The 2010 and 2011 world champion complained that he was “struggling to find a balance” with either the medium or the harder compound tires, but after Raikkonen’s penalty he gained one place on the grid and will start fifth, right behind the other Red Bull of Mark Webber.
Ferrari’s qualifying session was a mixed bag. The F2012 is clearly inferior to the front-runners, struggling to beat both Williams and Sauber, and Felipe Massa didn’t even make it to Q3. Fernando Alonso will start from eighth place after Raikkonen’s penalty.
The Scuderia’s technical director Pat Fry was full of praise for Alonso, despite his lap time being 1.34 seconds slower than Hamilton’s pole. “As usual, he squeezed every drop of performance out of the F2012”, said Fry. “We had a KERS problem right in the final stages of the session, when Fernando set out for his last timed lap in Q3, but I don’t think without it he would have got a different position on the grid.”
