1: Hamilton pitting at McLaren was hi-larious. I thought it would only be funny the first time I saw it, but I'm so happy I'm wrong.
2: Get your shit together, McLaren. Not securing those wheels was funny last year but I need other cars ahead of Ferrari.
[sidebar: Hi, Alonso. Thanks for not going into the pit for a new front wing.]
3. I didn't realize until Malaysia that Hamilton's car was #10, which means Lotus was 4th in the constructor's championship last year. That shit's not funny, Mercedes. (It's kind of funny, since Grosjean crashed all over the place last year and Kimi wasn't always finishing in the top 5.)
And the finale. Oh that finale. Team Orders FTW (if you can call it a win). Ross Brawn having to handle Rosberg from behind Hamilton and Horner/Newey not even knowing how to begin handling the Vettel and Webber.
The Mercedes problem is... I'm going to guess contractual. You don't woo a driver from the 3rd ranking team to a 5th ranking team without promising a) wins, or b) priority. So boohoo for you, Nico, you're not gonna be the top driver in Mercedes for a little while. They might throw you a bone every now and then, but I'm pretty sure they're not going to tell Hamilton to move over and let you through.
Now: Red Bull. Red Bull Racing. RBR. Top team. Top driver. And, to borrow from Webber, the other guy in the second car. I don't see how they realistically could have expected to tell Mr. Racer to stay behind Mr. I Deserve A Win (maybe Webber does deserve one, for being such a team player, but dude you were within racing distance).
Well, it's not like Sebastian Vettel wouldn't have seen this coming. Not this blog post, but the fallout from his actions on Sunday in Malaysia.
But what I don't understand is how people didn't see that coming. On Twitter I wondered how much of an ass Vettel was willing to be, and the truth is, he would have had to be, to be 3-time World Champion. Do I expect my World Champions to all be Nice Guy Mika Hakkinen with his trusty Number 2, David Coulthard? Yes. But not all Number 2 Drivers (2nd Driver? -- hello, Mallrats reference!) are willing to be patient to become #1. And even when they are, it can backfire when the team picks up an don't-give-a-fuck young 'un who will take every racing line they see.
And, again: Mr. Racer is 3-time World Champion.
This is where a defense of Vettel could be made: last year he won by a measly 3 points. He had to give up races he was leading because his car would suddenly act up. Understandably, if he can build an early lead now, I'm sure he'll take it. Anybody would. Was it worth alienating his teammate? Well...
Well.
So they got told to bring the cars home. As per Horner, they told Seb to stay behind Webber, but once the overtaking was done, didn't tell him to get back in line (and it's understandable why). The overtaking maneuvers in tight chicanes were risky, especially with only so many laps left to go. (Ten.) If they had crashed (Turkey 2010), it would have been disastrous. But here's the rub: it's not surprising that Vettel would try. And not for nothing, but Webber kind of fought back. (Also: Webber's tried the same shit before. The difference, I guess, is that Webber would be faster and more willing to adhere to team orders.)
[sidebar: Ahh, Team Orders. The bane of every 2nd driver's existence. Hi, Barrichello!]
Last year, not a few people made the assertion that Vettel was winning solely on the basis of his car (even though it would on occasion self-destruct for McLaren-in-2000/2001-like reasons). Those in his defense pointed out that Webber was in the same car, and wasn't nearly bringing in the same amount of victories. So... yeah. Even when he out-qualifies Seb, he doesn't really bring home the win. Hardly ever. Vettel will fight to the last lap to get any point. And that's what you want from a racing driver.
And, again: 3 lousy points in 2012. 4 in 2010. Anyone would take the win. Maybe he's being an ass for being "obsessed" with records and victories, but as every decent competitor would point out: nobody remembers who came in second.
And people can't exactly criticize Horner for not being more firm on Team Orders: he's said before that drivers of each team should be allowed to race each other, and maybe he'd rather be tagged as an ass-pansy babysitter of the world champion than a hypocrite.
And, finally, as one of the Star Sports commentators pointed out, after Webber made that comment about the team will always follow the WDC's helmet: Webber knew that, and he still signed that 2013 contract.
BTW, Red Bull, if you can do this again, that'll be great:
P.S. Hey, F1, now that Trulli's gone, can Maldonado be the new Jarno Trulli?
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