Overall Result:
Classification: 17th
Laps: 52
Time: 1:31:40.647
Gap: DNF
KPH: 188.641
Fastest Lap: 1:41.057 (Lap 49)
Firstly let me say commiserations to Vitaly and I sincerely hope his back is ok after the incident, fortunately I haven't heard any news to suggest he was injured in any way but that can't have been a comfortable landing. And additionally, congratulations to Nick Heidfeld, obviously wanting to demonstrate that anything VP can do, he can do as well, going from 6th on the grid to a 3rd place podium.
In short, clearly this wasn't where Vitaly wanted to be at the end of Sunday. There are, however, some positives and consolations to consider after what was unquestionably an exciting and action packed Malaysian Grand Prix. Here's what he had to say at the end of it:
""First of all I am happy for the team as we got another podium, so we can consider this a great start to the season for us. It was a strong performance by the team in an unusual race. I made a small mistake which shouldn't have had the consequences it had. I went wide and the car took off on the curb, landing hard. Both cars should have been in the points today, but the good news is that we clearly have the pace needed to compete this season.""
The Start:
Unfortunately I can't find a video from the onboard camera that was shown on the coverage today. It must be out there somewhere and if I run into it I'll add it to this post later. The reason for wanting to include it in this post was it serves as yet another example of Petrov getting an amazing start, even when surrounded by arguably faster cars. Of course, the evidence points to the Renault being a flying started this year in general, Nick Heidfeld also demonstrated it's potential today.
To briefly decribe though, Webber had an awful start from 3rd allowing both Heidfeld and Alonso to get alongside him before they'd even reached the corner. It was this triple bank of cars that Vitaly soon found himself coming up on, so in order to continue making progress, he dived left to get on the outside of turn 1 and luckily, Nick was brave enough to pull alongside Hamilton in the corner and this allowed Vitaly to follow him round, giving both Renault drivers the inside line into turn 2. Unfortunately though Vitaly was squeezed out by both Hamilton and Button as they came out of the corner but 5th was a great position to be in from 8th on the grid.
Strategy and Race Pace:
Without looking at any extensive data or comparing lap times directly, just from watching the race, the impression I got was that Petrov (or the car, or both) didn't have the same pace displayed in Melbourne. With the great start he was up into 5th straight away but he never looked to challenge Button and more telling was that Massa was matching his pace and it was looking likely that he'd be able to get past. Which is what happened on lap 4, with both Massa and Alonso getting past. By the time he pitted on lap 15, his speed looked considerably off the pace, whether it was his decision or the teams to come in so late, 2 to 3 laps later than the other top ten runners, I think was definitely a mistake. From then on Petrov never looked like challenging the cars running P1 to P7 and my suspicion is that due to lack of setup time with the car, one of the tyre compounds just wasn't working for him. It was only in his last stint, as you'll see in the lap time chart later, that Petrov really picked up the pace and consistently lapped in the 1:41s.
Here are his lap times, including his pit strategy:
1:45.530
1:45.451
1:45.737
1:48.704
1:46.032
1:45.520
1:45.235
1:45.138
1:45.723
1:45.648
1:46.496
1:47.601
1:47.773
1:51.124
-Pit-
2:04.569
1:44.045
1:43.916
1:43.442
1:43.410
1:44.194
1:44.117
1:43.711
1:44.065
1:44.392
1:46.559
1:48.677
-Pit-
2:01.946
1:42.689
1:42.578
1:43.210
1:44.115
1:43.752
1:43.038
1:43.014
1:43.162
1:42.673
1:43.328
1:43.459
1:43.527
1:44.125
1:44.615
1:45.112
1:48.969
-Pit-
2:05.963
1:41.383
1:41.311
1:42.302
1:41.054
1:41.551
1:41.160
1:41.404
1:43.752
1:43.038
I should additionally point out that during his last pit stop, he lost something in the region of 5 seconds. However, nothing was broadcast as far as I could tell to show where that time went.
The consolations are there though, Vitaly's fastest lap put him third in the fastest lap charts behind Webber and Alonso and he set the fastest sector 1 time of the whole race with a 25.728. He also set the 5th and 4th fastest times through sectors 2 and 3 respectively.
Retirement:
Firstly, I think, unless any counter-evidence is provided, Vitaly will have to concede to making at least one error here. However, what I don't think is up for debate is the amount that he was 'punished' for that error. Potentially his first error was a simple case of running wide, not uncommon and certainly not a retirement-worthy mistake, he would have known before he left the track that he was going onto the run off area but he chose to try to maintain speed, presumably so that he could avoid slowing to get round the corner and almost certainly losing the place to a charging Hamilton who had come out of the pits behind him and lap or two prior.
The second potential error was keeping his foot in when rejoining the track across grass. This is a considerably greyer area than running wide, it would have come as quite a surprise to Vitaly that as he attempted to rejoin the track, he would be launched at least a foot in the air. His retirement shortly followed of course due to the other surprising thing, which was that the steering rod had seemingly become almost completely detached from the car.
Anyway, here's a video of the incident, and hopefully Vitaly can turn this weeks fortunes around next week, in China.
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