Lewis Hamilton Finishes 7th in Sepang
April 5th, 2009
Lewis Hamilton managed to finish in the points with 7th position after qualifying 12th at the Sepang Grand Prix in Malaysia.
The race was interesting with lots of action and overtaking on the track. Lewis Hamilton managed to overtake during the race with is a relatively good sign that the McLaren certainly in not at the back of the field in terms of performance. The race certainly got very interesting when drivers started coming in as the rain began to fall. Though it was raining lightly at the beginning when drivers started going on the full-wet tyres. Big mistake as Kimi found out. The rain was too light for the wet weather tyres and they were destroyed within a few laps.
Then it really stated to rain and the drivers were all on extreme wet tyres by then before the safety car came out when the race was red-flagged. The rain continued for quite a while and there was heavy standing water on some parts of the circuit.
Lewis did a very good job getting up to 7th position. He thought he had 6th but unfortunately the last time he went over the start-finish line before the race was red-flagged he was still in 7th position. Last year he finished 5th but then again he started from 4th so he did a very good job this time round.
Hamilton’s post-race comments:
When the rain came down, it was impossible to drive.
I was aquaplaning everywhere – these were the most dangerous conditions I’ve ever raced in. All I could do was try and keep the car on the track.
It was the correct decision to stop the race because it was just too dangerous for everyone.
I love it when it rains, but this was just too much.
Malaysian Grand Prix Results:
1. BUTTON Brawn 2. HEIDFELD BMW +22.7s 3. GLOCK Toyota +23.5s 4. TRULLI Toyota +46.1 5. BARRICHELLO Brawn +47.3s 6. WEBBER Red Bull +52.3s 7. HAMILTON McLaren +1m00.7s 8. ROSBERG Williams +1m11.5s 9. MASSA Ferrari +1m42.1s 10. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso +1 lap 11. ALONSO Renault +1 lap 12. NAKAJIMA Williams +1 lap 13. PIQUET Renault +1 lap 14. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +1 lap 15. VETTEL Red Bull +1 lap 16. BUEMI Toro Rosso +1 lap 17. SUTIL Force India +1 lap 18. FISICHELLA Force India +2 laps R. KUBICA BMW +30 laps R. KOVALAINEN McLaren +31 laps
A point ? I am not so so thrilled with today’s race. I am containing my feelings incase the FIA come to disqualify Lewis again for looking at the Brawn car. Thats what I feel F1 has come to ridiculous.
I hope McLarean will give us something to cheer about in China. Whatever the outcome of April 14th will be. I see the FIA ruling in favor of the ‘diffuser three’ so I am not even thinking about that.
Lewis should put the last two races behind him. My ruling is still out on what happened in Aussie but for me winning is not everything – it is the only thing.
Hamilton need to focus on getting the performance back. His team need to get the car back to excellent state as quick as possible. Just ignore all the destructive factors. Hopefully God will help him again this year, just like last year!