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2008 Calendar
Mar 16 - Australia
Mar 23 - Malaysia
Apr 6 - Bahrain
Apr 27 - Spain
May 11 - Turkey
May 25 - Monaco
June 8 - Canada
June 22 - France
July 6 - Great Britain
July 20 - Germany
Aug 3 - Hungary
Aug 24 - Europe
Sep 7 - Belgium
Sep 14 - Italy
Sep 28 - Singapore*
Oct 12 - Japan
Oct 19 - China
Nov 2 - Brazil
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For all you tifosi, we have something new for you... The Tifosi Blog!
For those of you that are regular in our Tifosi Forum already found out about the great news a few weeks ago... the return of our TC founder: Enrico!
Not only is Enrico back, but he will be managing the Tifosi Blog, updating it with great news as only him can do, as he has done for many years here at Tifosi Club.
Click here to access the Tifosi Blog.
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Malaysia 2008 - TC Race Report
“The Real Ferrari”
 (TC) - After Ferrari’s worst race in 16 years, Ferrari President Luca Di Montezemolo said:
“I can’t wait for Sunday to see the real Ferrari.”
When Sunday arrived in Malaysia, the Formula 1 world was put on notice. The message was loud and clear: Ferrari is back, and they are strong.
For the other teams, the results from the first Friday practice ominously foreshadowed the remainder of the weekend. Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were 1.2 seconds per lap clear of the field. This was going to be a good weekend for the Scuderia. Qualifying was no different, as the Reds locked out their first front row of the season, Massa taking pole with Kimi second. The McLarens of Kovalainen and Hamilton relegated to P8 and P9 respectively after a blocking penalty during their cool down lap in qualifying. The penalty proved mute as neither McLaren challenged the Ferraris on this day.
Much of the pre-race focus was on the tropical weather of Malaysia. The temperature was a scorching hot well into the 30’s, and the humidity levels had the entire grid looking towards the heavens. Early predictions were for Rain to arrive during the last 15 laps of the race. Weather playing a part is no stranger to this venue as memories come to mind of a flash monsoon that took both Rubens and Michael through the gravel trap while comfortably leading the race in 2001. Much of the Paddock expected a wet-dry race, which begs the question; did McLaren set up for a wet race? When the rain didn’t come, is this why they were slow? Considering their inferiority on Friday, one would suspect that set up was not the case, as they were simply out performed.
Numerous other questions abounded on the grid. After a trip through the gravel trap that tore it’s front suspension off the car, Red Bull was being questioned by the FIA for the structural integrity of their cars. Jenson Button must have been looking at himself in the mirror, after being outclassed by Rubens Barrichello at the prior race in Australia. Was the unprecedented attrition in Australia an anomaly or was it a precursor of things to come?
The start was a bit strange as a marshal was still walking on track behind the field as the lights went out. Kimi made a blazing start only to have Massa squeeze him up against the pit wall, as if to send a message to his World Champion team mate: Not today, Kimi. Ferrari once again started the race on the opposite tire choice as their Rivals, this time beginning on the hard compound Bridgestones. Amazingly the field made it through the first turn without incident. Somewhere, track designer Herman Tilke smiled to himself.
Hamilton made a respectable start rising from P9 to P5 on lap one. As they crossed the line for the first lap, it was Massa leading Kimi, Kubica in the BMW, Webber in the surprisingly fragile Red Bull, and Hamilton in what many thought was a fuel heavy McLaren. Further back in the pack Alonso, Coulthard and Heidfeld had a battle that culminated in a 3-wide passing maneuver into the final hair pin. DC came out the worst from that situation as he lost 2 positions. Alonso showed his ruthlessness as he gave DC only enough tarmac for his RB4 chassis.
After 5 laps Hamilton was losing time to Webber as he suffered graining on the front tires of his McLaren. He lost further time to the flying Ferrari as after the same 5 laps, Massa had more than a 10 second lead. Things did not improve much for Hamilton, as after 10 laps, the Ferrari duo had a 17 second lead. Massa and Kimi were consistently a full second per lap in race trim, leading many to believe that the Ferraris were light on fuel and the McLaren, quite heavy.
On lap 17 Massa pits his Ferrari from the lead and rejoins behind Hamilton. Almost as if on cue, Kimi lowers the fastest lap of the race, then pits on the subsequent lap. Kimi’s blazing in-lap and solid pit work allowed him to overtake Massa in the pit stop exchange. It was clear that the race would be determined between the Ferrari drivers today. To further that point the “heavy” McLaren of Lewis Hamilton pitted on lap 18 as McLaren’s cards were now shown to the world. To add insult to injury, the McLaren team struggled with the right front wheel disc cover of Hamilton’s MP4-23, leading to a 20 second pit stop, which almost relegated Hamilton beyond the points paying positions.
Kubica pitted his BMW on Lap 21 and rejoined in 3rd place behind the Ferraris, solidifying BMWs new place on the grid ahead of McLaren. Kovalainen very quietly pits his McLaren and rejoins in P6, gaining 2 positions in the process. Hamilton is toiling behind Webber. Rumors begin to circulate in the paddock that McLaren may be filing a protest against Red Bull as a result of the RB4 losing it’s LED rain light, which is located on the tail of the gearbox. This talk proves to be just the speculation of the media.
By lap 30 Kimi and Massa have pulled a clear 20 seconds of the third position BMW, and are clearly racing each other. Kimi appears to have pulled 5 seconds on Massa, much to the disappointment of the Brazilian. On Lap 31, Ferrari’s beautiful day soured as Massa punched the throttle a millisecond early entering turn 8 and spun into the gravel trap, beaching his Ferrari and ending his race. The following lap, in true world champion form, Kimi adjusts his lap times to match those of the now second place BMW of Kubica.
The final opportunity of drama for the day was the last round of pit stops and the ultimate variable, the weather. Kimi pitted on lap 37 and rejoined in the lead. Kubica continued along beautifully, as did Kovalainen who managed to get past 2 more cars during the pit exchange to land him in a podium position. The second McLaren driver showing why he is considered a top talent. Interestingly enough, his team mate has never won a race that he didn’t start from the pole position. Today would be no different.
Kimi took the checkered flag ahead of Kubica, Kovalainen, Trulli in the Toyota, Hamilton, Heidfeld in the second BMW, with Webber and Alonso in the final points paying positions.
17 cars finished the Malaysian Grand Prix, 11 more than finished in Melbourne, so it appears that the question of attrition was answered, however bigger questions loom for many of the teams. While they finished the day on top of the world, serious questions linger for Ferrari. Would Felipe Massa learn to cope without traction control? Massa’s points are vital to the constructor’s race. This race marks the second consecutive event, which Massa has spun off the road as a result of a driver error, which would have been corrected by the electronics of traction control. Why did another Ferrari engine fail in the Torro Rosso of Sebastian Vettel?
While these questions are at the forefront for Ferrari, the rest of the grid can only hope and pray that the pace shown by the Red team today was a one off. Because if it wasn’t, the “Real Ferrari” are going to make a mark in history.
- Tifosi-Club.com
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Click here for the Bahrain 2008 - TC Race Report!
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Click here for the Australia 2008 - TC Race Report!
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Click here for a sneak peak of the new Tifosi Club!
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