Infinite Improbability Drive of the Race - 2013 Malaysia

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 24 Mar 2013, 09:42

based on the assumption that, at any moment in time, there is a non-zero probability that even the slowest, most inexperienced and least reliable of underdogs might win the race. That under every rock, there might be a gold nugget. This is the award for that first podium that we all celebrate, for the overtake no-one was expecting, for Charles Pic's first win. This is the award, in short, for the driver or team that makes you go "Woah! Where did THAT come from?!".

Just remember: this is a feel-good award, that will focus on nothing but track action.
Usual rules: everyone gets two votes. First vote is worth 10 points, the second 6.

Post your results until 29th, I'll do the results then.

Pedestrian · Post by **Pedestrian** » 24 Mar 2013, 09:57

As bizzare as this may seem. I can't think of any recipient more deserving than Sebastian Vettel, the winner. If last week's victory was "one of the easiest" for Raikonnen, then this one must have been one of the hardest victories in his career for Vettel. After all, weren't te Red Bulls supposed to fade away in the race, and be overtaken by other cars with better race pace. And yet Vettel still won. And he won on track! Not in the pits, not by qualifying first. He was actually forced to fight and overtake for the win. And he passed Hamilton of all people! Who would have believed until now that Vettel can beat Hamilton in a "fair fight"?

As for the second nomination... I don't know. Maybe his teammate Webber for not missing the start.

Gerudo Dragon · Post by **Gerudo Dragon** » 24 Mar 2013, 09:57

Webber just for that start

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 24 Mar 2013, 10:00

You know what? I go radical.

1. Bianchi
13th place, Marussia is having a miracle in their hands.

2. Hülkenberg
Keeping Kimi at bay for a while, 8th place, Sauber's first points scored. Good job.

HM: Webber for his race

the Masked Lapwing · Post by **the Masked Lapwing** » 24 Mar 2013, 10:02

1. Bianchi
2. Webber (holy crap, he made a decent start :shock:

)

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 24 Mar 2013, 10:08

1. Jules Bianchi - what a boss
2. Mark Webber - he actually made a proper start for once

Meatwad · Post by **Meatwad** » 24 Mar 2013, 10:16

1. Vettel and Webber (shared): This is the way to race your team mate. While I can understand Mercedes' team orders, it's much more entertaining when intrateam battles aren't decided by the team. (Five points for each driver)
2. Bianchi: Based on the first two race weekends, he is easily the best rookie this year. Completely destroyed Chilton and was very close to Bottas in qualifying.

Ben Purse · Post by **Ben Purse** » 24 Mar 2013, 10:29

Grosjean. That is all

Shadaza · Post by **Shadaza** » 24 Mar 2013, 10:32

Jenson Button
Red Bull

JB had an incredible drive and easily had 5th place in the bag when Macca screwed his race up.

Red Bull didn't obliterate their tires and secured a 1-2 finish. Superb.

Ross Prawn · Post by **Ross Prawn** » 24 Mar 2013, 10:33

Rosberg - Quicker than Lewis?? Or certainly just as quick. When Nico beat Schumi, we all thought Schumi is getting old. But Nico is making a good case that he has been very underated.

WaffleCat · Post by **WaffleCat** » 24 Mar 2013, 10:37

1.Nico Hulkenburg--Drove like a mercenary on a mission to overtake anyone possible in F1 on that first stint,spent the second having an awesome duel vs Kimi.

2.Jules Bianchi--This guy deserves a top level drive.Give it to him.NAO.

johnnyCarwash · Post by **johnnyCarwash** » 24 Mar 2013, 10:39

1.Hulkenberg for storming through the field unnoticed on the inters and beating a Mclaren home! I did predict him to finish 8th but in different circumstances. Awesome duel with kimi

2.Webber nice start. Absolutely on it all race, felt a bit cheated by VETTELWINSLOL

honourable mentions
Bianchi Continues to impress though unnoticed by TV cameras...

rachel1990 · Post by **rachel1990** » 24 Mar 2013, 10:42

1st Nico Hulkenberg -Fantastic result and showing what the Sauber can do
2nd Jules Bianchi - He is proving to be one hell of a driver!

Post by **DemocalypseNow** » 24 Mar 2013, 11:44

1. Bianchi
2. Button

girry · Post by **girry** » 24 Mar 2013, 12:03

Grosjean
Button

SeedStriker · Post by **SeedStriker** » 24 Mar 2013, 12:25

Nico Hulkenberg: The Hulk muscle past everyone that cross his path.

Jules Bianchi: Taking Marussia heights never before reached

Ed24 · Post by **Ed24** » 24 Mar 2013, 12:27

1. Webber
2. Rosberg

tristan1117 · Post by **tristan1117** » 24 Mar 2013, 12:33

1. Jules Bianchi
2. Mark Webber

pablo_h · Post by **pablo_h** » 24 Mar 2013, 13:57

Bianchi was only "best of the worst teams" that actually finished, right where we expected him to be.
HM to webber, not just for a decent start, be really great overtaking moves through the first corners in the opening lap, shame that RB have no control over one of their drivers, the ~4sec gap at the end says it all, one of the drivers was still listening to their boss even after the other one ignored the team and overtook.
Guess full points to Grosjean who I thought would be DBTM to Kimi after Kimi's win last week and I thought that would be the case again. Unlucky for Kimi with traffic, but Grojean finished ahead even after starting 11th to Kimi's 7th

James1978 · Post by **James1978** » 24 Mar 2013, 14:01

1. Grosjean - after last week I certainly didn't expect him to be Lotus' lead driver.

2. Mercedes (the team as a whole) - 27 points is actually their biggest ever haul IIRC. Plus some serious Red Bull-worrying pace.

takagi_for_the_win · Post by **takagi_for_the_win** » 24 Mar 2013, 14:07

1. Bianchi (proving his doubters wrong atm, I wouldn't put it past him bagging a couple of points if he keeps up this vein of form)
2. Mercedes (3rd and 4th. Can anyone remember the last time BOTH Mercs were actually finishing races competitively?)

Post by **mario** » 24 Mar 2013, 15:52

takagi_for_the_win wrote:1. Bianchi (proving his doubters wrong atm, I wouldn't put it past him bagging a couple of points if he keeps up this vein of form)
2. Mercedes (3rd and 4th. Can anyone remember the last time BOTH Mercs were actually finishing races competitively?)

Kravitz mentioned that Marussia do seriously think that they might be able to sneak Bianchi into the points given that both Williams and Toro Rosso are struggling for form at the moment. They are certainly very optimistic about the Chinese GP given that they expected Malaysia would be one of their weaker tracks, whereas the next race should play a little more to their strengths.

As for the question of Mercedes, I think that the next most successful points finish that they had would be in the European GP last year, where, thanks to Schumacher's podium and Nico's 6th place, the team managed to rack up 23 points that day. Before that, for their next best points haul you have to go back to the 2010 Turkish GP, where the team finished 4th and 5th that day and picked up 22 points.
As James1978 points out, today is indeed the best points haul that Mercedes have had in their entire history at a single race in the modern era, and whilst they are just 4th in the WCC at the moment, they are only three points behind Lotus and Ferrari (both on 40 points to Mercedes's 37, but Lotus are ahead on count back). Now, Lotus were kind of bottled up in the earlier stages and Ferrari paid the price for ordering Alonso to stay out with that broken wing, but all in all Mercedes's performance thus far this season has been respectable enough.

Back on topic, I guess that the most surprising performance today would be that of Button - Perez's 9th place was kind of where I expected both cars to finish, but he was in a fine 5th place and putting in some very respectable lap times in the latter part of the race (he even reckons that he might have caught the two Mercedes drivers and had an outside chance of the podium given how much fuel both Mercedes drivers were having to save).
The other drivers that is probably worth mentioning is Grosjean - considering that only Kimi had the latest specification of parts, Grosjean did well to not only beat Kimi but to have had a cleaner race too (Kimi did go off track more times than normal for him, it must be said).

Post by **Londoner** » 24 Mar 2013, 16:46

1. Jenson Button - Drove like a man possessed in that awful McLaren, until the team screwed him over with their incompetance.

2. Jules Bianchi - Ladies and gentlemen, I think we're seeing a future world champion here.

Divina_Galica · Post by **Divina_Galica** » 24 Mar 2013, 17:10

1 Button - looked on for a great result until that pitstop - two stopping rather than three of everyone else (excluding switch from inters to slicks)

2 di Resta - unlucky with team calling him in Q2, started 15th, had to queue behind Sutils long pitstop for slicks, passed Sutil (IIDoR from Australia don't forget), passed a lot of others and looking for great points until final FI pitstop meltdown. Totally bathplugged over by FI this weekend

DG

DOSBoot · Post by **DOSBoot** » 24 Mar 2013, 17:40

1. Button: Great run in the subpar McLaren, untill his pitcrew messed it up for him.

2. Webber: Amazing start, lead for most of the race, and telling it like it is on the podium!

CoopsII · Post by **CoopsII** » 24 Mar 2013, 17:50

Vettel - I cheered even though another Vettel win was the last thing I wanted.

Hulkenberg - Sounding like a scene from The Avengers 2, The Hulk even managed to bash Iceman on his return to the action.

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 24 Mar 2013, 18:23

1. Hulkenberg - battled all the way in what was effectively his first race this season, and was quick to show that Lotus and Force India are not going to have it all their way in the Battle of the Midfield.

2. Mercedes - they were in contention, people. They were in contention.

About Bianchi: finished where he was supposed to finish. Beat the team with the worst car, and his pay-driver team mate. Apart from the obvious disadvantage of missing a lot of practice time during testing, I'm not sure he's done anything to warrant this award yet.

ibsey · Post by **ibsey** » 24 Mar 2013, 18:31

1. Nico Hulkenberg; Loved his on track battles. Even rattling the winner of the previous GP in the process.

2. Jules Bianchi: Brilliant performance, from a brilliant talent. Can’t wait to see what he can do in one of those scarlet cars now!

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 24 Mar 2013, 18:56

I have to agree with Carlos, I can't give Bianchi the top award, because I think he did what was expected, i.e. be the best placed of the Caterhams/Marussias. So..

1. Button
2. Bianchi

UncreativeUsername37 · Post by **UncreativeUsername37** » 24 Mar 2013, 19:04

1. Marussia
2. Button

ibsey · Post by **ibsey** » 24 Mar 2013, 19:27

CarlosFerreira wrote:About Bianchi: finished where he was supposed to finish. Beat the team with the worst car, and his pay-driver team mate. Apart from the obvious disadvantage of missing a lot of practice time during testing, I'm not sure he's done anything to warrant this award yet.

Yes ultimately you are correct in that he did only what was expected of him. But I think what is impressive (at least for me) is the manner of how convincing he outperforming his teammate. 1 lap ahead of Chilton!. I don't know if Chilton had any problems in that race, but how many other drivers finished even half a lap ahead of their teammate? I think this is particular impressive performance from Bianchi considering that Chiton had previously driven at Sepang in GP2 last year whereas Bianchi had never turned a wheel at Sepang before this weekend.

Also Bianchi doesn't seem to want to settle just to be best of the newer teams. Which other drivers in his position might easily want to do, after constantly seeing the performance gulf between a Marrusia & an established team like Williams & think "sod pushing so hard all the race in this heat, when all I can do is just finish 13th with this car!". Instead Bianchi seems to want to push on and start earning points for Marussia & beating the more established teams (Like Williams & Torro Rosso). A bit like how Hekki seemed to be trying to do with Caterham, at their height (perhaps around mid 2011 IIRC). With Bianchi apparent ability, I honestly feel this is entirely feasible this year. Whereas in previous years, I never once felt that it would be feasible for any the newer teams like Marrussia, Caterham or HRT to actually score a point.

CarlosFerreira · Post by **CarlosFerreira** » 24 Mar 2013, 19:55

ibsey wrote:
CarlosFerreira wrote:About Bianchi: finished where he was supposed to finish. Beat the team with the worst car, and his pay-driver team mate. Apart from the obvious disadvantage of missing a lot of practice time during testing, I'm not sure he's done anything to warrant this award yet.

Yes ultimately you are correct in that he did only what was expected of him. But I think what is impressive (at least for me) is the manner of how convincing he outperforming his teammate. 1 lap ahead of Chilton!. I don't know if Chilton had any problems in that race, but how many other drivers finished even half a lap ahead of their teammate? I think this is particular impressive performance from Bianchi considering that Chiton had previously driven at Sepang in GP2 last year whereas Bianchi had never turned a wheel at Sepang before this weekend.

Also Bianchi doesn't seem to want to settle just to be best of the newer teams. Which other drivers in his position might easily want to do, after constantly seeing the performance gulf between a Marrusia & an established team like Williams & think "sod pushing so hard all the race in this heat, when all I can do is just finish 13th with this car!". Instead Bianchi seems to want to push on and start earning points for Marussia & beating the more established teams (Like Williams & Torro Rosso). A bit like how Hekki seemed to be trying to do with Caterham, at their height (perhaps around mid 2011 IIRC). With Bianchi apparent ability, I honestly feel this is entirely feasible this year. Whereas in previous years, I never once felt that it would be feasible for any the newer teams like Marrussia, Caterham or HRT to actually score a point.

Point taken, I admit. If he behaves again like he's been doing in the last couple of weeks, he's en route for IIDOTY. Just not this time around. Not yet.

Divina_Galica · Post by **Divina_Galica** » 24 Mar 2013, 20:18

ibsey wrote:1 lap ahead of Chilton!.

I think 1 lap ahead probably overstates it.

I need to check the timing but he might not have been that far behind but if Bianchi was just ahead of Vettel when Seb took the flag and Chilton was behind him then he would be classified as a lap behind even though he wouldn't have been 3 1/2 miles behind

DG

ibsey · Post by **ibsey** » 24 Mar 2013, 20:35

Divina_Galica wrote:
ibsey wrote:1 lap ahead of Chilton!.

I think 1 lap ahead probably overstates it.

I need to check the timing but he might not have been that far behind but if Bianchi was just ahead of Vettel when Seb took the flag and Chilton was behind him then he would be classified as a lap behind even though he wouldn't have been 3 1/2 miles behind

DG

Good point. I was only going off the race classification listings at the end of the race (which stated Bianchi +1LAP & Chiton +2LAPS). So that could very well overstate things as you say. I don’t know what the actual gap is in reality (I did briefly try looking for it, but don’t have time to do so at the moment). However considering that Bianchi fastest lap was 0.7 seconds faster than Chilton’s. I still feel that was a pretty convincing performance by Jules.

Divina_Galica · Post by **Divina_Galica** » 24 Mar 2013, 20:52

ibsey wrote:
Divina_Galica wrote:
ibsey wrote:1 lap ahead of Chilton!.

I think 1 lap ahead probably overstates it.

I need to check the timing but he might not have been that far behind but if Bianchi was just ahead of Vettel when Seb took the flag and Chilton was behind him then he would be classified as a lap behind even though he wouldn't have been 3 1/2 miles behind

DG

Good point. I was only going off the race classification listings at the end of the race (which stated Bianchi +1LAP & Chiton +2LAPS). So that could very well overstate things as you say. I don’t know what the actual gap is in reality (I did briefly try looking for it, but don’t have time to do so at the moment). However considering that Bianchi fastest lap was 0.7 seconds faster than Chilton’s. I still feel that was a pretty convincing performance by Jules.

Just looked it up on the McLaren site, and Chilton finished about 62 seconds behind Bianchi on lap 54 for him - so about 6/10ths of a lap behind. Bianchi was about 8 sec in front after 16 laps but it looks like the in-pit-out elements cost Chilton great chunks of time and
then Max was way slower per lap in the final stint....

http://en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?page ... &dr1=Jules Bianchi&dr2=Max Chilton

...interesting stuff!

DG

Jocke1 · Post by **Jocke1** » 24 Mar 2013, 21:01

WaffleCat wrote:1.Nico Hulkenburg--Drove like a mercenary on a mission to overtake anyone possible in F1 on that first stint,spent the second having an awesome duel vs Kimi.

2.Jules Bianchi--This guy deserves a top level drive.Give it to him.NAO.

Bleu · Post by **Bleu** » 24 Mar 2013, 21:15

1. Webber
- He seemed to beat Vettel on on-track battle. Seb disobeyed the orders and the results was this.
2. Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team
- Their best two-car-result.

Barbazza · Post by **Barbazza** » 24 Mar 2013, 21:47

1) Bianchi - Starting to look more and more like Alonso in the Minardi ie proving that he's got what it takes in a not very good car. Oh Force India, you have made a MASSIVE mistake!

2) Button - For very nearly getting that car into 5th (he reckons maybe 3rd but I'm not so sure about that!)

Grosjean just missed out for not being quite spectacular enough despite outdoing Kimi.

Post by **mario** » 24 Mar 2013, 22:10

Divina_Galica wrote:Just looked it up on the McLaren site, and Chilton finished about 62 seconds behind Bianchi on lap 54 for him - so about 6/10ths of a lap behind. Bianchi was about 8 sec in front after 16 laps but it looks like the in-pit-out elements cost Chilton great chunks of time and
then Max was way slower per lap in the final stint....

http://en.mclarenf-1.com/index.php?page ... &dr1=Jules Bianchi&dr2=Max Chilton

...interesting stuff!

DG

I'm taking a look at the relative lap times of Chilton and Bianchi, and they are indeed quite interesting. Looking at the pit timing data, I'm guessing that Marussia might have queued both drivers up in the pits as they both stopped on lap 6 to switch from inters to slicks (which would explain why Chilton's first pit stop was slower than normal).
For that first stint on dry tyres, the difference in lap time between Chilton and Bianchi is relatively small, and Chilton actually seems to have been catching Bianchi by a few tenths of a second a lap towards the end of that first stint. In the next stint Bianchi does pick up his pace a bit more, but apart from one very slow lap by Chilton - perhaps due to having to let the leaders through, as Bianchi has a similarly slow lap two laps later - his pace is still generally within a few tenths of Bianchi.

It's only after the second stop for slicks, which is at about half distance, that Bianchi really starts to pull away very quickly from Chilton - and, as you say, Chilton's final stint is very strange, as he goes from lapping in the low 1m43's (by way of reference, Bianchi was doing times around the 1m42.9s mark at the same time) to 1m46's in six laps. Did Chilton have some kind of problem in the final stages of the race? The fact that he was suddenly two to three seconds a lap slower in the latter part of that stint does seem to suggest that might have been the case, because that is a lot of time to lose in such a small number of laps.

QuickYoda41 · Post by **QuickYoda41** » 24 Mar 2013, 22:58

1. Button
2. Webber