Ferrari’s trip to Malaysia was once again without incident for Kimi Raikkonen and without a podium for Fernando Alonso. Both cars finished the Grand Prix but after early trouble for Raikkonen it left him outside the points finishing 12th. Alonso was able to battle up to the fourth position where he finished behind winner Lewis Hamilton, his first in Malaysia, Hamilton’s Mercedes teammate and Australia winner Nico Rosberg, and reigning champion Sebastian Vettel who bounced back from his troubles in Australia to round out the bottom of the podium.
Lap one killed Raikkonen’s Grand Prix before it really started. Coming out of a corner he was bumped by the front wing of rookie Kevin Magnussen causing a tyre puncture for the Finn. The flailing rubber eventually came off Raikkonen’s car but the damage to the floor had already been done hurting the down force of the car and leaving the Iceman unable to beat out Magnussen, Daniil Kvyat, and Romain Grosjean who finished above him and took the last of the available points. The incident between Raikkonen and Magnussen not only ruined Raikkonen’s race and resulted in a front wing replacement for Magnussen but it was reviewed by the stewards. This resulted in a five second stop and go penalty for the rookie that he served before his second stop. I thought the penalty was a little harsh as it looked like a racing incident to me but I guess that’s why I’m writing about it and not making the calls myself.
Alonso had a hard fought race to hold onto fourth place. He also started fourth on the grid but a great start by Red Bull’s Daniel Ricciardo and great drive by Force India driver Nico Hulkenberg put Alonso back to sixth. Ricciardo’s race eventually imploded with a bad pit stop, an unsafe release penalty and ultimately ending with a retirement which took him out of Alonso’s way. Alonso was on a three stop strategy and Hulkenberg on a two stop strategy gave Hulkenberg the advantage late in the race by not stopping. Alonso was not deterred and gave chase to the Force India driver with his fresher tyres. Hulkenberg had a nine second lead with nine laps to go that Alonso was able to overcome and then overtake for his fourth place finish, but it was still no podium for Ferrari.
Via the Scuderia Ferrari website Alonso noted that the car was better this week, and the small improvements they made worked well but that they are still lacking a little bit of the performance to go along with the reliability their F14-T chassis has.
The points scored today are the result of a trouble free weekend, in which the small improvements on the car worked as we had expected and it ran very reliably. We definitely have a lot more work to do, because while we are moving forward, the others are doing the same. Everyone in our team is doing their utmost to close down the gap. There’s still a lot to learn in these early races, but it’s no secret that we definitely need to improve our top speed, as could be seen from my duel with Hulkenberg. I was able to get him thanks to fresher tyres, but we definitely need to up our performance right from the very next race.
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on Twitter – @Billman93. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
Interested in writing for LWOS? We are looking for enthusiastic, talented writers to join our Formula 1 writing team. Visit our “Write for Us” page for very easy details in how you can get started today!
Main Photo:
