Sir Jackie's view – Malaysian Grand Prix
RBS ambassador Sir Jackie Stewart heaped praise on "flawless" Malaysian Grand Prix winner Kimi Raikkonen – and claimed McLaren's pit-stop gaffe could cost Lewis Hamilton in the long run.
RBS ambassador Sir Jackie Stewart heaped praise on "flawless" Malaysian Grand Prix winner Kimi Raikkonen – and claimed McLaren's pit-stop gaffe could cost Lewis Hamilton in the long run.
"Kimi Raikkonen did the best job in Malaysia. He drove a flawless race, particularly because he did not lead at the start.
He was faster at the pit stop than Felipe Massa. I don't know if Massa had a problem there but it did seem to show the importance of both drivers getting equal attention at the pit stops. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
Although Massa was put into second after the first round of pit stops, I'm almost certain that it was human error which caused him to spin off. I think it was just one of those situations where he gave it too much power, the car got loose at the rear unexpectedly, he went into the gravel trap and got stuck there. It really should have been a Ferrari one-two.
Robert Kubica drove a very good race - he might get my vote for 'Driver of the Day' - and he certainly earned his second place. Impressive.
Heikki Kovalainen's charge to the podium scored valuable points for him and for McLaren. Third and fifth was not too bad a finish for the team.
However, Lewis Hamilton could have finished higher but for his unfortunate problem in the pits (when the McLaren team struggled to get his right-front wheel off and he lost about 12 seconds). If that hadn't happened, it might have put a different tone on the whole event. But he was very aggressive at the end and showed a lot of spunk in chasing down Jarno Trulli.
Trulli, incidentally, is one of the most difficult drivers to pass. He has considerable experience, and when he's put in that kind of pressure situation, he almost always deals with it. He did a good job too.
Williams had a bad day, with Nico Rosberg coming together with Timo Glock on the first lap and losing his nosecone. But looking at the performances of, for example, Trulli and Mark Webber, I doubt Williams had the performance to do much better.
From a strategy point of view, was there a 'Make it happen' moment in the race? I'm not sure about that, but there was certainly a 'Make it not happen' moment! That was Hamilton's pit stop. It was very important in terms of World Championship points.
Overall, though, the McLaren drivers' errors in qualifying, when they held up Nick Heidfeld and were penalised five places on the grid, took away any real opportunity they had to challenge for first or second."
