Malaysian Grand Prix – The Shame of Bernie Ecclestone

Mark Webber has taken the pole for the Malaysian Grand Prix. While he is to be congratulated, Bernie Ecclestone has ruined this once great race in the name of television ratings.
 
Malaysia has a bit of a rain problem as every person other than Bernie Ecclestone seems to know. The rain comes every afternoon during this time of the year and it comes in typhoon like quantities. There is so much of it that nobody can safely drive in it. Why does this matter? Well, Mr. Ecclestone has bumped the starting times for the race later into the day to make it easier to watch in Europe. The bump has put the race right into the middle of the daily rains.


I don’t mind a bit of rain to add a bit of spice to the race. The Australian race last week was a perfect example of a good thing. This, however, is ridiculous. The rains in Malaysia are so heavy that one is no longer even remotely racing. Indeed, the 2009 race had to be stopped part way through because of them.
 
The qualifying for the 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix was just another example. The three days of practice in which McLaren looked to have really come on were rendered useless. McLaren and Ferrari were both eliminated in round one of qualifying by not getting out on the raining track early enough. This ultimately led to some back markers moving up on the grid, but so what? By the end of the session, rain was so bad that the qualifying had to be stopped. This is racing?
 
Congratulations to Mark Webber. He and his team made the most of a bad situation. That being said, this once great race is now a bit of a disgrace. Does anyone think the race tomorrow will actually make it to the end? I don’t. Who will the winner be? The luckiest person on the track and perhaps the best sailor!
 
Shame on you, Bernie. You’ve taken one of my favorite races on the schedule and turned it into a joke.
 
Here are the sailing results from qualifying:



1     Mark Webber          Red Bull      1:49.327
2     Nico Rosberg         Mercedes GP     +01.346
3     Sebastian Vettel     Red Bull     +01.462
4     Adrian Sutil         Force India     +01.587
5     Nico Hülkenberg     Williams     +01.674
6     Robert Kubica         Renault     +01.724
7     Rubens Barrichello     Williams     +02.184
8     Michael Schumacher     Mercedes GP     +02.390
9     Kamui Kobayashi     Sauber         +02.440
10     Vitantonio Liuzzi     Force India     +02.927
11     Vitaly Petrov         Renault     1:48.760
12     Pedro de la Rosa     Sauber         1:48.771
13     Sebastien Buemi     Toro Rosso     1:49.207
14     Jaime Alguersuari     Toro Rosso     +00.137
15     Heikki Kovalainen     Lotus         +02.943
16     Timo Glock         Virgin         +03.193
17     Jenson Button         McLaren     
18     Jarno Trulli         Lotus         +03.557
19     Fernando Alonso     Ferrari     +03.717
20     Lewis Hamilton         McLaren     +03.723
21     Felipe Massa         Ferrari     +03.956
22     Karun Chandhok         Hispania     +06.972
23     Bruno Senna         Hispania     +07.942
24     Lucas Di Grassi     Virgin         +10.650

<< Formula One Race Results