Sunday, April 5, 2009

A rainy finish at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Still on top: a wet 1st place podium victory for Brawn GP's Jenson Button
at the Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang.
(Eurosport/AFP)

Rain, rain go away! Fans and F1 teams prayed the dark gray clouds wouldn't come. Things were just fine, or so everybody thought. Right in the middle of the race, the inevitable happened. The weather didn't cooperate thus rain started pouring in. I thought at the time it was just a slight drizzle but then again, it already turned into a storm.

I could tell the drivers didn't have clear vision of the track because of the rain, obviously. Flashing red rear fog lights were the only thing they could see. It's as if there's liquid fog all over the place. Then minutes later, the safety car was deployed with 24 laps remaining in the race. On the 32nd lap all the cars remaining stopped and positioned themselves in the grid. Then the FIA officially announced the suspension of the race.

The heavy downpour gave Brawn GP's Jenson Button another first place finish at the Malaysian Grand Prix. I was happy with the results but the fact that popular teams like Mclaren and Ferrari has yet to taste a podium finish this season. Brawn GP maybe a rookie team but it seems like they've been in the league for years. I'm now one of their fans. Oh yeah! I consider them one of the dark horse teams in F1.

I guess it didn't matter to the British driver whether he had a safety car to take credit for his wins or not. He did acknowledge the race officials of making the right decision to stop the race:

"It wasn't like it was rivers, it was a lake," said Button, who also won in Australia last weekend with the safety car deployed on the final lap.

"It was really bad conditions and you could not actually see the circuit. I mean it was that bad. We were behind the safety car and my team, who did a fantastic job, said all you have got to do is drive around and that was difficult enough.

"A few moments I was almost off the circuit...the safety car was pulling away from us.

"The race was way too wet and I think that the call was correct," he added.

"It rained so hard so quickly that I think they did the right thing. It was very difficult for them to judge how wet the circuit is and in Fuji, for me, two years ago it was too wet. But this year I think they made the right call to stop it at the right time."

BMW-Sauber's Nick Heidfeld and Toyota's Timo Glock finished at 2nd and 3rd respectively. Brazil's Rubens Barichello placed 5th behind William's Nico Rosberg at the 4th. It was a great race indeed despite watching the Malaysian GP live for the 1st time in years ending in a suspension. It's still all good though.

I guess all the brouhaha on Mclaren's Lewis Hamilton at the Australian GP last week somehow had an effect on him. I'm not sure If I'm gonna feel sorry for the dude. The thing is, I still don't like him. I still feel he didn't deserve last year's driver's championship. But then again, all the hype has gotten past him. Albeit the controversy surrounding him, he still managed to check in at 7th place in Sepang.

Nevertheless, it was Jenson Button's reckoning, so to speak. He has yet to win a Grand Prix without the aid of a safety car. I'm sure that little footnote is not gonna stop him from making a strong impact in the F1. It won't be easy but right now, Brawn GP literally, pushed the right 'button'.

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