More Woe for Williams

Oh dear.

Pastor still hasn't made it to lap 10 of a race.

Williams seem to have done a bit of a Jaguar (in 2000) where they seemed quite strong in winter testing and then it's all fallen apart when the season's started. However, I'm sure it won't continue in that fashion. We're only 2 races down and I've read they've got some developments coming up, so there's plenty of time to turn things around! Pastor might see lap 11 yet...! There's potential in that car that just hasn't been able to show itself in quali or the races yet.

At least it wasn't Pastor's fault that he stopped, which is good purely from a I-don't-want-him-to-look-bad point of view. He lost 2 places at the start but had made them back by the end of the first lap. That'll do me fine, thanks. He was then about to battle Perez but his car started misfiring and he crept round desperately slowly for a lap or two until it was all over on lap 8. Boo. I know how that feels (see upcoming and as-yet-unwritten blog about my track day yesterday).

So, that's a pity. Two races in: two cautious starts*, two promising follow-ups and then two mechanical gremlins. Sucky.

*At this stage I would much rather a more cautious start so that he makes it to the 2nd corner and loses a place or two, than him going gung-ho and crashing before the first corner. Obviously the best thing would be to go gung-ho and keep out of trouble and make up some places, but hey, baby steps.... just keeping out of trouble will do me for now. I'll get more demanding as the season goes on. ;-)

Anyway, so there we go. DNFs all round again.

China's only a few days away though. Let's see how he fares there. And come on Williams, give him a chance! (Although I'm not sure if my nerves can last a whole race!)

PS - in other Malaysia GP news....

• YAY JENSON!!! I was ever so pleased for my boy. What a star. Didn't put a foot wrong, blasted out regularly immense laps in his last stint, kept pushing, ace. Very happy to see him back on the podium (and well ahead of Hamilton who just fell apart after his 3rd pitstop. What was all that about?! It was like he forgot where the 'go' pedal was.)
• What a start by the Renaults! They were like bullets flying along!! That could put a cat among the pigeons (or indeed 'chickens') if RBR/McL keep locking out the front two rows with Renault not far behind. And well done Mr Heidfeld on his 3rd place too.
• Massa finished ahead of Alonso! Hooray! And I say this from a place of "Poor Massa has become completely overlooked" rather than of anti-Alonso-ness. 
• However, it was a 2nd Smedley-less race in a row. This is NOT GOOD ENOUGH, BBC. We need Rob Smedley. Sort it out.
• Those marbles on the track.... wow! It was like an actual carpet. Probably not so good if it's going to be disuading cars from overtaking because they don't want to go off the racing line. But quite a spectacle when we're not used to it.

Dear BBC, please find this man and have a little chat with him on air. Thanks.

(Photo borrowed from F1Fanatic.co.uk. (C) Julien Leroy - Firstlap.be)

Maldonado at Melbourne (and other stories)

So, today was his first race. And he made it past the first corner!! Phew.

From what I could see, it looks like he was slow off the start, BUT he kept out of trouble (unlike his teammate, who gave me near heart failure as I saw a Williams trundling across the gravel in the background, it took a few seconds before I could figure out which one of them it was).

The slow start meant that Pastor lost a few places off the line, but the good news is that he started making them up. He zoomed up to and past Kovalainen with ease (admittedly the Lotus is a lot slower than the Williams, but still!) and around lap 5 or 6-ish he was over 2 seconds behind Perez. He just ate this time up, cutting around a second a lap out of the gap, and then was past him before you could blink an eye and pulling away immediately. Brilliant.

And then disaster struck. The next thing we saw, his car was stopped out of the way at the side of the track. The good news is that he hadn't done anything wrong. But the car had just stopped working. Transmission failure on lap 9. Rubbish :-(

If the car had worked and he had kept out of trouble, it would have been a decent result I think.

Unfortunately, instead he'll just show as a DNF, and the folks on the TV just glance over how he "didn't finish" which makes it sound like he screwed up. Brundle's complete disregard of him was really winding me up this weekend. I guess I'd better get used to it though.

What we need is just a few quiet, solid results under everyone's radar to start with, to build up his skill and confidence, and then we'll be alright. I have no idea if Pastor will be able to live up to my faith in him. But I hope so. I've stuck by him for several years and he's only got better and better so far, so fingers crossed. I know he's not perfect, but perfect's boring...

Meanwhile, Rubens had a mixed race. His bounce across the gravel dropped him down, but he stormed through the field.... until he then stormed into Rosberg, whoops! The Williams was strong enough to keep going after a quick pit, but eventually they retired from suspected transmission failure too. Hmmm - not good on the reliability front today, boys! BUT we've seen that the Williams has got some pace, which is a good start for the season.

Pastor: Quali 15th / DNF (Transmission failure)
Rubens: Quali 17th / DNF (Transmission issues again!)

Thanks to the Williams website for providing info (as the BBC didn't give a damn what had happened to Pastor's car).

(Apparently I care an awful lot about Williams now.)

***************************

In other news from the race....

• People on Twitter are blaming Johnny Herbert (the Driver Steward this weekend) for JB's drive through. Gah. I'm pretty sure he wasn't the only person involved in that decision. I also don't think it was the wrong decision. (Sorry Jenson, love you, but...!) 
• Di Resta did good, which is nice
• Sauber's one stopping was a bit of a surprise, eh?? I wonder if there's something special about the Sauber or whether the other teams will have a big re-think about the tyres now?
• DRS looks a bit of a crock. Jenson was activating it to pass Massa, but then Massa was just KERSing to get away again. Hmm. It looks cool when the wing flap opens though. But less cool when nothing visible then happens.
• Massa needs to get out of Ferrari. I feel very sorry for him being a #2 driver as if it's the Schumacher era all over again. Also, it's sad that the BBC have seemingly lost all interest in him - no Rob Smedley this weekend!
• I enjoy JB going back to the clean-shaven look. A beautiful boy, inside and out. 
• DC's dislike of EJ seeping into on-screen mockery is more embarrassing than entertaining/funny. Especially with EJ's over-reations to everything DC teases him about.
• Eddie Jordan being BBC's "Chief Analyst" is an utterly ridiculous situation. "Well I think he COULD find the button. I think he was joking." - said with total seriousness in response to Vettel's blatant cheeky comment about why he hadn't used KERS. Or "They've got KERS. I don't know why they've got KERS but there you go." Calling him a chief analyst is a bit of an insult to the viewers, really. I don't particularly mind having him there as an adding bit of entertainment and fun, but c'mon - chief analyst?!?
• Why did Webber's car stop straight after he crossed the finish line??? Does anyone know??? Why did the BBC post-race coverage not even mention it?! It shows a chink in the Red Bull armour - I was a bit fed up they didn't find anything out about it.
• Talking of Webber, as I said on Twitter - he must be annoyed today. Vettel even beat him to the first on-screen swear of the season!

OK, I think I've brain-dumped enough. That's how for now!