Rain Stops Play

Race 2: Malaysia

All was going well in the second race of the season. Only a few unexpected incidents happened with Jenson Button having a poor start that seen him drop back a few places but after a few laps and some pit stops he reclaimed his place leading the field around the Sepang Circuit until in laps 31 to 33 we had the predicted Monsoon conditions and after a short spell of the Safety Car it was clear that in lap 33 that conditions were dangerous and for the first time in years we had Red Flag conditions.

Race was suspended after 1 hour and 10 minutes. With Jenson Button leading. Then for some reason the officials decided to keep waiting to see if the race could be restarted, when it was clear that there was no chance of a restart. After 50 minutes of waiting the decision was made by the clock as there was only 10 minutes left on the race clock, basically the 2 hour race window was closing and since the race was still Red Flagged and in the rules of the sport a 10 minute warning is required before restart there was absolutely no chance for a restart.

Nothing much else I can say about it really apart from the fact that the officials could have ended it sooner when it was clear that there was no chance of restarting in time for full points to be awarded. So only half points this week for those who managed to get in the points positions. A good race that was hampered by the weather, anyway no F1 next week but it is Singapore next, so the teams can have a week off to work on some little issues they have been having.

Well done though to Jenson Button yet again as well as Brawn GP, looking good for them so far and well I am getting more convinced to support Brawn GP this season, but just now as a neutral I am happy with the progress being made throughout the pit lane. Ferrari are still being a disappointment though due to poor decisions and dodgey KERS, McLaren aren't much better, Red Bull, BMW, Toro Roso are doing OK but again not as good as they should be. Force India, Reanult, Williams and Toyota have done as I expected them to do and Brawn have been the best so far, didn't expect them to do well due to being the new boys and on a limitied budget but they have done well. It is still the begining of the season and this is F1 so anything can happen over the season.

The next big thing for F1 is the FIA court hearing to do with the DIfusers. The difuser is just a device at the back of the car that is designed to difuse the air flow simple really, but a few teams have ones that are diffrent and work better than the others. Some people weren't happy and complained and we are now awaiting the FIA decision on the matter. I don't see them saying they are illegal as from what I have seen everything looks good and doesn't breach any of the rules, I think it is just a case of lets complain as we didn't think of that. I'm sure nothing will happen next Tuesday, but again when it is the likes of Ferrari that is having a moan you just never know what the decision will be.