Given all the stick we got about our cars being fragile, a two car finish in one of the toughest races of the year definitely puts our critics back in the box.
The first sign the paddock got that not all was right with DC was when he failed to show for the Drivers’ Parade. We got permission fmorning with a bad migraine and wanted to keep out of the sun. If the old song says that “only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun,” then maybe our Scotsman was making a point about his nationality. Battler that he is, we always knew that come the race he would be on the grid. The race itself was not a real thriller but much of the action centred around Mark, as first he fought off Lewis Hamilton and then, in the closing stages, double world champion, Fernando Alonso. Just to keep the championship interesting after Hamilton’s win in Melbourne seven days ago, this time it was the turn of Ferrari’s reigning world champion, Kimi Raikkonen to take the win.
He won by a very convincing 22 seconds from the BMW-Sauber of Robert Kubica and making it two Finns on the podium, they were joined in third place by McLaren-Mercedes driver, Heikki Kovalainen. The result should have been a Prancing Horse whitewash until Felipe Massa threw away what looked like a comfortable second place, spinning off on lap 31 of the 55 lap race. Jarno Trulli is in fine form at the moment and brought the Toyota home from fourth. Lewis Hamilton was fifth, but we never got the fight we expected between the Ferrari front row of the grid and the McLaren second row, because late last night – it’s always late at night – the Stewards decided the McLarens had impeded Nick Heidfeld’s qualifying run and dropped the two silver cars to the fourth row. Lewis did move up a few places at the start, but it took him most of the race to get past our Mark in what was a two stop race for everyone. Sixth went to Heidfeld and Alonso mopped up the final point for eighth.
Let’s not pull any punches, this has been a torrid start to our season, starting with a troubled time in Melbourne, so to go home with two points from here is a good morale booster. Bahrain starts now pretty much, with part of the team heading home tonight and with the way the time difference works, they’ll be back home from KL quicker than from Magny-Cours!
Even before the race was over, the pack-up process was underway, with the crew working late into the night to get all the material and cars packed and ready for flying straight to Bahrain where we start all over again in a fortnight. And luckily, we are not facing a rebuild hell as both cars crossed the line unscathed.
