Weather forecasts are notoriously inaccurate. Doesn’t matter whether they’re long-range or short-range, even a small change in wind speed or air pressure can send a shower of rain or an entire weather system away from its predicted course. Remember last year’s barbecue summer? No, neither do I.
Which is why it beggared belief on Saturday in Malaysia when some of the most experienced teams on the grid chose to put their entire faith in a radar screen which showed showers clearing from the circuit before the end of the first qualifying session. Others put their hands out from under their pit awnings, felt the light rain and thought ‘better get a couple of laps in just in case it gets harder’.
It’s called not putting all your eggs, Easter or otherwise, in the one basket. And anyway, you don’t need a forecast – it always rains heavily at that time of day at this time of year in Malaysia.
By the time it dawned on Ferrari and McLaren that the rain wasn’t going to ease off but was in fact getting heavier, it was too late. Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton all failed to make the cut, while Jenson Button, who had set a quick enough time (just) was buried in a gravel trap and unable to take any further part.
The words shoot, foot and yourself spring to mind.
And the following day, when everyone anticipated rain at some point during the race, it failed to materialise.
All of this meant that we were treated to the sight of Hamilton storming through the field from 20th on the grid to sixth at the finish, showing that overtaking is possible in Formula One, sometimes. At the front, pole man Mark Webber messed up his start, allowing team-mate Sebastian Vettel to take a lead which, apart from during pit stops, he never relinquished. After two races flawed by unreliability, the Red Bulls came home first and second.
In fact it was the championship leader, Alonso, who suffered this time, his Ferrari engine blowing up two laps from the end after a race fraught with gearbox problems. As both Saubers, which use the same engines, also suffered similar fates, there has to be a question mark over the reliability of the Ferrari power units.
Michael Schumacher continued his miserable comeback, this time retiring with a loose rear wheel. He had been more competitive but was still behind team-mate Nico Rosberg who finished a fine third.
The shuffling of the luck and reliability order means that, with three different winners from the first three races it’s very close at the top of the championship table. Massa, who has yet to win a race this year, leads by two points from Alonso and Vettel, who are in joint second, ahead of Button and Rosberg joint fourth. Hamilton and Renault driver Robert Kubica aren’t far behind either.
The racing may not be have been inspiring in Malaysia, but the season is hotting up to possibly be one of the most intriguing for years.
