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vro0m · 2 years ago

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vro0m’s rewatch - 131/310

2014 Malaysian GP

Oh so it's been a dramatic weekend it seems. The weather was so bad qualifying was delayed and there's still a 70% chance of rain. Oh dear. But also that's when the Malaysian Airline flight 370 disappeared… there will be a minute of silence.

(also soooo many gifs again so grateful tumblr upped their limit because otherwise it’d have been a mess)

Unfortunately, skysports has now decided to hire fucking Bruno Senna as a consultant, which doesn't really add anything to the broadcast.

Quali report. So it was delayed for no less than 50 minutes. You can imagine the absolute downpour it was. Q1 began and immediately, Seb was called in because of an issue. He was still able to go back out and make it into Q2, during which Alonso ran into Kvyat. Alonso had to box, but he was out again only 8 minutes later and into Q3. The Williams struggled about equally on inters and wets. In Q3, wets were still required. Lewis set the first fastest lap but only 0.05 ahead of Seb. Then he made a mistake on his final lap, giving Seb an opportunity he couldn't take, as he was too late to go for a last lap. Rosberg was able to make it past the line in time and qualified in 3rd ahead of Alonso. So that's Lewis on pole again!

Lewis drove a V8 (?). He talks about it with utter excitement. He calls it aggressive, a beast, and violent. He says he missed it. He went to his first GP in 1996, that's what really got him. The vibration he felt in his heart. He says he's in a good place this year, he's happy in the team. Of course disappointed he had to retire in the first race, he wishes people could see how he felt in his heart at that time but on the surface you have to have a thick skin and turn that negativity into positivity. He says he doesn't know what to expect this week because of the heat. It's going to be hard on the tyres and hard on the drivers. He's happy to see all the work the team put in and to see the team grow. He's proud to be a part of it, he hopes he can bring them some results. He's never won in Malaysia.

In the drivers parade, he's grateful for the work the team has done to enable him to get pole but he wants to win, he wants the points. He came here for 8 years but never won there. He got pole a couple of times but he was unfortunate. And he wants to get racing and try and get miles behind himself and see what the fuel saving is all about etc.

Apparently the drivers are still massively struggling to manage the new cars.

Oh wait what?! Daniel got disqualified back in Australia?! An issue with fuel flow??? He was P2 poor boy. Apparently his car was exceeding the authorised fuel flow rate, and the FIA could see that from a live readout. The FIA told the Redbull pitwall and said that if they slowed Daniel down to be within the limits, it would be fine and they wouldn't talk about it further. For some reason, they refused?! How fucking stupid? Oh so the reason was the RBR decided that it must have been because the FIA's sensor was faulty, and they refused to fuck up Daniel's race by abiding. Daniel would have finished P5, which is still great points. RBR said their data would prove everything was legal. They also said (Ted says "Redbull's other excuse is") that "strictly speaking" the tech reg don't refer to how the FIA sensor is used. It's only explained in a TD which they claim isn't an enforceable rule. Now they're battling for Daniel to be reinstated. Horner says they will be able to show that they didn't exceed the legal fuel flow but whatever happens what matters is to find a better way to measure it anyway. The court of appeal will hear the case two weeks after this GP. So I'll update you in a future review. (I’m not sure I did update in a further review in the end so as I’m posting this let me clarify that RBR’s appeal was dismissed and the disqualification maintained. RBR was also at the time investigated for an unauthorised method of measuring the fuel flow.)

For some reason we get a second quali report.

We now see Lewis explaining his pole lap. First he joins Brundle under the downpour and makes him move to get to the side of the screen that's less exposed to the rain.

They laugh about it.

He also jokes about Brundle's make up from the last time they did this. He seems so happy and relaxed, honestly I love it, he feels so light compared to some other seasons. I hope it stays this way (I know it won't) (added note now that I’ve watched the whole season : yeah it fucking doesn’t). Lewis is now ahead of Nigel Mansell as top scoring Englishman for pole positions and tied with Jim Clark for the record.

He says it's incredible but he has some catching up to do when it comes to the wins. He critiques himself throughout his lap. He didn't think he was on pole. He wasn't giving 110% on it. It wasn't supposed to be THE lap in his quali. He was gutted when he was told he couldn't do another lap after his mistake in the next one, he thought he'd fucked it up.

Brundle asks about his instinct when it comes to choosing braking points, as you don't know how much grip you're gonna get. He says "it's crazy, yeah I mean, I don't know, I guess that's just where the talent comes in, you know, it's all instinct." And lap by lap you learn. If you lock up then you brake earlier. But you do it by the feeling. He says again he really wanna race. Nico had more chances to do long runs during testing for some reason I don't know about and he didn't finish the race in Australia. Lewis says he has about 3 or 4 race distances on him. He's really eager to finally get one done and see how much you can push in the different stints, how much fuel you need to use and not use and everything.

Formation lap

And they're racing!

Good start from Rosberg but Lewis covers him as Seb joins the fight. Daniel gets ahead of Alonso. Rosberg struggles with grip! He almost lost it. Lewis is ahead already, the pressure is on Nico who had to defend aggressively against the two Redbulls. There's contact at the back. It's Bianchi and Maldonado. At the end of the first lap, Lewis is 2 seconds ahead of Rosberg, then it's actually Daniel in front of Seb, Alonso is 5th, Hulkenberg overtook Raikkonen for 6th, Magnussen in 8th ahead of his team-mate Jenson, and Massa completes the top 10.

Alonso is under attack from Hulkenberg and Magnussen overtakes Raikkonen. There was contact though and Raikkonen has a puncture. He falls back, he's far away from the pits. Bianchi pits after his own incident. The Redbulls are racing each other. The McLarens as well, Jenson overtakes Magnussen. Perez seems to have DNFd at some point? Raikkonen is finally in. Massa overtakes Magnussen, and Seb overtakes Daniel. But Magnussen gets back at Massa! And Bottas is also close. Bono tells Lewis Nico is struggling with the rear tyres and to look after them. But he's flying ahead. 5 laps in, he's 4 seconds ahead of Rosberg. Then it's now Seb ahead of Daniel, Alonso is still 5th, it's Hulkenberg in 6th, followed by Jenson now ahead of Magnussen, Massa up in 9th and it's Bottas in 10th.

Magnussen is seriously struggling after his contact with Raikkonen though, there's a train behind him. Lewis sets the fastest lap. He's in his happy place clearly lol, I really needed to see that. I missed it. Bianchi gets a 5 second stop and go penalty for the contact with Maldonado. Massa on the radio. I think he says : "did you see what he did?! He passed me!" He's angry. Bottas is told to not attack Massa, not be aggressive to Massa, "we need to let him go through Magnussen and then we'll just follow through." Valtteri answers, completely stolid : "well tell him to go through." Love it. Maldonado is told he needs to retire.

That's 10 laps. Magnussen is called in. The pit stops are gonna start. Lewis is 5.7 seconds clear of Rosberg. Then it's still Seb, Daniel, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Jenson now ahead of Massa as Magnussen pitted (they're changing his damaged nose), Bottas obediently behind him, and it's then Kvyat in P10. And Magnussen now also gets a 5 seconds stop and go penalty. He could've served it during that stop, so that's not good. Alonso pits. Bono : "So Lewis, two tenths faster last lap, we're just waiting for the window to open." Daniel pits. They're trying to undercut Seb? Oh he comes out very VERY close to Alonso, who gets ahead but Daniel overtakes him in the next corner, Alonso defends, it's heated, a bit clumsy, flirting with the limits of the track, but Ricciardo is ahead. Seb is called in, of course. Let's see! Jenson also in… but Seb is still ahead of his team-mate! They both overtake Bottas. Rosberg is called in. Alonso attacks Bottas and gets ahead. Bono tells Lewis he's good on fuel and needs to push. "It won't be long!" he concludes, almost singsongy. Then he calls him in. We get a graphic showing us the % of fuel used, and Lewis has used less than most of the current top 10 except from Valtteri, Kobayashi and Massa, who are not threats for the podium as far as I know. Lewis pits. It's a good one. He's now P2 but still virtually in the lead, 8 seconds ahead of Rosberg. We see Toto winking to the camera and smiling.

And Lewis attacks Hulkenberg for the actual lead. And overtakes him with perfect ease. Hulkenberg then pits. Daniel's engineer tells him he suggests dropping back a little more to save the tyres, "aim for 2 seconds to Vettel." But Daniel answers that those behind him are getting closer, if I understand correctly? Then he says "if something goes on I wanna be a part of it." The engineer says understood.

Oh L. M. A. O. They ask Horner if Daniel's fuel flow sensor is working and he says "I'm afraid it's dead, so… yeah no, it's failed." Crofty says "so what do you do now?" and he says they're following the FIA's advice now. (Remember that Daniel got disqualified after the first GP and Horner was claiming that the FIA’s sensor was faulty and that they would prove their fuel flow was good etc.)

Then on lap 20, Daniel's engineer tells him about settings that are better for energy savings. Rosberg's engineer says they want to increase the gap to Seb and then they can go into fuel saving strategy. He picks up the pace. An engineer, not Bono I think, tells Lewis that they're gonna turn something down a little bit (can't understand what) and specifies a setting he has to use. He adds "that's for both cars". We see the % of fuel used again. Lewis' still lower than most of the top 10, except Massa and Bottas. Their cars seem quite efficient. Rosberg widened the gap to Seb by 1 second. His engineer wants him 1.5 seconds further though. Lewis is now lapping people left and right. Pit stops, pit stops. Alonso pitted which triggered Daniel's pit which is gonna trigger Seb's and Rosberg's surely?

On lap 30, Rosberg's engineer says there's rain in the area but it's not imminent. Bono explains the same thing to Lewis. Possible rain towards the end of the race. Seb pits. Lewis is told to try and stretch this stint as long as he can in case it rains. I'm getting nervous. Rosberg pits. Lewis is called in at the end of the lap, so he actually didn't stretch that stint much. It's not a great stop but it's okay. He's still in the lead so whatever lol. It's Hulkenberg P2 at the moment, but 8 seconds away and only because he hasn't pitted yet. Oop. Sutil is parked on the track in his Sauber. Raikkonen says it's raining a little bit on some parts of the circuit. Daniel is told to hit the beeps? But fuel is okay just hit the beeps? Oh. Crofty explains the drivers are getting beeps in their helmets to tell them when to start to lift and coast I guess

So Ted explains that it's the FIA sensor that failed and they're now running a prearranged backup, pre-made calculation that they agreed on with the FIA and that's the beeps. Complicated.

In the midst of this explanation, Bono says there's light rain on the back of the track on the radar, nothing to worry about, but Lewis should keep them updated. Oh. Seb says Rosberg looks like he's been losing either oil or water for a couple of laps. His engineer says it's raining on some parts of the circuit and maybe that's what he's seen? Which seems like. I mean. Surely Seb would be able to tell if that's what it was?

It's lap 40. Seb is closing little by little on Rosberg. Oh. Ricciardo pits. It's a bit of a struggle. They tell him to stop immediately. In the pitlane. The front left is not on properly. He's shaking his head. They sprint to him, roll him back in the box. He's losing insane amounts of time. The poor mechanic is drilling but it's still not good. They hoist him back up. Then down. He doesn't leave immediately. It's absolutely catastrophic. He's still shaking his head as he leaves the pitlane. Alonso pits. OH! And now Daniel is seen with a crooked front wing touching the ground! What happened? How did it go to shit THAT much? He asks what he should do. They say the pressure still looks okay but if he thinks there's a puncture he should come in. He says it's a big cut. There's indeed a long black line all around his tyre, right in the middle of it, caused by the front wing rubbing against it I believe. He lost a bit of his front wing now. We don't quite understand what happened. Did they damage it in the pit stop? He pits. He goes again. Mercedes says there's nothing in the telemetry suggesting Rosberg is losing any type of liquid as Seb claims. And of course, Daniel gets a 10 second stop and go penalty for unsafe release. When it rains it pours.

There's 10 laps to go. Jenson and Massa are racing beautifully over P6. Jenson wins. It's lap 50. Seb is called in. Rosberg is called in. Lewis is called in. 5 laps to go. Ricciardo retires. His body language is very defeated, unsurprisingly. Drama at Williams again. To Massa : "Okay Felipe, Valtteri is faster than you, do not hold him up." To Bottas : "you're faster than Massa, overtake him." Alonso overtakes Hulkenberg for P4, then loses it, then gets it back, then loses it again, and then gets it again. Meanwhile, Massa is not letting Bottas through. 3 laps to go. To Massa : "okay Felipe Valtteri has got better tyres we need to let him go, don't hold him up." Brundle points out Massa's are only 2 laps older. 2 laps to go. Ted says a lot of different voices over the radio talking to Massa, now arguing they have to cool the car down. All the journalists agree that Massa has been a second driver for most of his career and it's understandable he doesn't want to fold. Bono tells Lewis he's the fastest man on track, "we can back the pace up a little bit, just look after the car". "Okay man, I hear you" he answers. Massa and Bottas are really close now. It's the final lap. Valtteri attacks but can't do it. Bono : "Okay Lewis you're on your final lap, final lap, take no risks." This team is STRESSED.

But it's the end of the race!

And Lewis wins! It's a Mercedes 1-2, and Seb is third. Massa ended up ahead of Bottas, in 7th.

"Awesome race Lewis, awesome race!" says Bono with his shaky voice. "Faultless weekend! You've done the job there, pal."

"Rrreally grateful for the job guys!" Lewis answers. "Thank you so much!"

Lewis hugs the whole team, he hugs Nico, Lauda hugs the pit wall, they're all so happy. So happy!

(you could say things about their body language there though)

In the cool down room, he hugs Shov, and again Nico, and he shakes Seb's hand.

Seb asks how many laps he did on his first stint but he doesn't remember. Seb and Nico speak in German then lol. Not very nice to Lewis.

Lewis is super happy on the podium which is great to see. (Also again his hair looks better than in 2013.)

He keeps pointing at people in the crowd and giving them thumbs up during the anthems lol he's not focused.

Of course Shov gets drowned in champagne, Seb sprays the podium girls which… mh. They drink. They get blinded by the spray. They take the photo.

It's all great. They get ready to leave but they forgot there's an interview happening

For some reason it's Benedict Cumberbatch interviewing them??? Lewis is elated. He's grateful, he dedicates the win to the victims of the flight 370 and their families. Nico is juggling with his mic.

Lewis says everything was spot on from the team, all the info they gave him was perfect.

That makes it Lewis' 23rd win. He's now ahead of Damon Hill which seems to be the natural order of things to me tbh.

In the media pen, Lewis is all smiles.

He jokes around with Pinkham. He's very happy, it's been a fantastic weekend, the team is doing a great job. They're very happy about the 1-2. And it's his step mom Linda's birthday the next day so he also wants to dedicate it to her.

He wasn't too worried about the rain. First of all it happens every time they race here, you can always see a black cloud coming. He would have prayed for it to stay away another year but this time he was calm about it, he was ahead, with a good gap, he had qualified first in the wet. Natalie asks if that's the car for the whole year, can it cope in any climate. He says he hopes so.

The car was fantastic in the most difficult of climates, they have to keep on pushing. She says it's also his 100th points finish. Really? he asks.

He thinks about it for half a second. "I don't wanna hear about that kind of stuff," he says with a huge smile. "Because it means I'm getting old! I've been here for a long time!" He laughs.

Last few things : Daniel was handed a 10-place grid penalty for the unsafe release. Magnussen, Bianchi and Bottas all received 2 penalty points (Valtteri because he impeded Ricciardo in quali).

#f1 #lewis hamilton #vro0m's race reviews #2014 #2014 malaysian gp

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