"It means asking a lot of questions, and finding answers to them. We can schedule which questions we ask, and when, but we cannot schedule when we will find the answers. It means working diligently and honestly to find the root of our current difficulties. And at the same time, we have to keep on developing the car to compete at the track. I think it is obvious to say that it is not a simple diagnosis, but the first mistake we could make would be a knee-jerk reaction. The people working on the situation are the same people who won two world championships in the last two years - we have the same tools, the same methodology and the same confidence in our ability to succeed. Now, we need time and application to do so – and I have every faith in our capacity to bounce back strongly."
Symonds added that Bahrain could be more of a
Renault circuit than Sepang proved to be.
"If you look at the sector times in Malaysia, it is relatively obvious that we were less competitive in the parts of the circuit that featured the high-speed corners," he explained, "Sakhir is not a circuit with many high-speed corners, so it should be intrinsically a little kinder to us. But can I predict we will make a step forward in competitiveness? To be honest, it’s very hard to make any predictions at all at the moment, and I think a number of people up and down the pit-lane are scratching their heads right now."
Fisichella will carry some positives to Bahrain despite not making the podium in Malaysia, and hopes to build on the promise shown in pre-season testing at BIC.
"I am proud of how I raced in Sepang," he said, "I made a good start, was aggressive on the opening lap to make up places, and took sixth at the finish. It’s not many points, but they will all be important for us this year. Given our circumstances, it’s a satisfying result, and encouraging for this weekend in Sakhir. It is a circuit Renault knows well - we won the last two races there - and we spent two weeks testing here in the winter. Hopefully, we can make some more progress compared to Malaysia. We are realistic enough to know we have a long way to go to catch the leaders, but everybody is very motivated to do it!"
Kovalainen, meanwhile, has been buoyed by his first
F1 point, and feels able to press on with his own personal development.
"Naturally, it’s an important moment for my career, a good feeling, and you have to start somewhere," he reasoned, "I was quite happy with my race, and pleased with the progress compared to Melbourne. I still need to improve, and work hard along with the team, but I am confident we all have what it takes to improve our pace."
Ferrari – Felipe Massa (#5), Kimi Raikkonen (#6):
No-one was more surprised at
Ferrari's race day performance in Malaysia than the Scuderia itself for, having qualified first and third, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen finished fifth and third respectively, behind the two McLarens.
While the Finn carried a less than optimum engine into the second round of the year, his team-mate had only himself to blame for losing a potential podium finish, making a poor start and losing out to both
Fernando Alonso and
Lewis Hamilton, and then losing his cool while attempting to re-pass the Briton.
"We can always learn from our mistakes, and now I want to look ahead to the next race after the disappointment of the past two grands prix," Massa said, "I will only carry with me the positive things, like the fact I took pole position. Our race pace was not a fair reflection of what it could have been and what it is supposed to be, because both me and Kimi were stuck in traffic for a lot of the race. Of course, this was not supposed to have happened, given that I started from pole and Kimi from third, but I know we have a good car. The only certainty I had was that, having lost position to Fernando and Lewis, I knew that if I did not pass Lewis as soon as possible, my race was effectively over. The only course open to me was to try and pass him on the track. If people accuse me of making mistake, I say, yes, I did make a mistake but, if tomorrow I am in the same position, I would try again."
Raikkonen's minor engine problem, carried forward from Melbourne, effectively precluded him from completing his late-race pursuit of Hamilton, but third place gave him second spot in the championship and, after a quick break at home in Switzerland, the Finn is ready to go again.
"The Malaysian weekend was not good for us, that is for sure," he admitted, "We knew that we were not in the best of positions to start that weekend because of the engine worries we had, and we had to make compromise after compromise. That put us in a position where we did not want to be, where we had to play on the safe side. I always want to fight for the victory, and that is why I felt a little bit disappointed and empty inside. It was like playing a football game defending a goalless draw. Third was, for sure, the best possible result for us in that race - we got six points and we know that the most important thing right now is getting points from every race."
Honda – Jenson Button (#7), Rubens Barrichello (#8):
After a tough start to the season in Australia, Malaysia wasn’t any different for the Brackley-based outfit.
Despite that though, Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button both took
some encouragement from their performances in the race at Sepang and the fact they managed to finish 11th and 12th, after starting from 22nd and 15th was, in the context of their current situation, not too bad.
