Yep...that pretty much sums up the day. Unfortunately for Barrichello, he was only in fifth when the deluge broke out over the Sepang Circuit. However, his Brawn GP teammate Jenson Button was heading the field and doing as much of a rain dance as the cramped confines of an F1 cockpit would allow.
As my prediction for the race stated: if a late-summer monsoon hit, all bets were off on the result. Therefore, one of Brawn's awesome-looking cars tops the grid again, Nick Heidfeld puts BMW back near the top, and Timo Glock ties Toyota's best-ever result of third. Ferrari and McLaren take home one point between the two of them, and that goes to Lewis Hamilton.
Now, the major storyline (apart from the rain) is the fact that nearly every driver on the grid is complaining to high heaven about the starting time of the Australian and Malaysian Grands Prix -- and rightly so. Bernie, because he values TV ratings in Europe over the opinions of the drivers, decided to time the races so that they would start at 10 or 11 AM in Western Europe. That meant that, in Melbourne, the sun was going down in the drivers' faces and severely hampering their ability to, y'know, see where they're going. Malaysia has a similar weather pattern to Florida this time of year: it rains every late afternoon like clockwork.
As the race started and went through its early stages, the TV camera at the end of the pit stretch showed ultra-dark grey clouds building in the background. Just after halfway, the skies opened up and, for the first time I remember, an F1 race was called due to weather. The culprit was not just the rain, but the impending darkness (it was near 7PM in the Southern Hemisphere...it gets dark around then, yo). If it had been a 1 or 2PM race like GPs normally are, a) the rain wouldn't have happened during the race, and b) if it had, there would have been lots of daylight remaining to finish the race. Both the drivers and the fans were cheated.
But hey, Bernie's bank account grew a bit more, so what does he care. Honestly, I'd rather not have him back at the Speedway -- F1 can come back, but leave Bernie out of it.
Malaysian Grand Prix - Result
(race called after 31 laps)
1. BUTTON Brawn
2. HEIDFELD BMW +22.7s
3. GLOCK Toyota +23.5s
4. TRULLI Toyota +46.1
5. BARRICHELLO Brawn +47.3s
6. WEBBER Red Bull +52.3s
7. HAMILTON McLaren +1m00.7s
8. ROSBERG Williams +1m11.5s
9. MASSA Ferrari +1m42.1s
10. BOURDAIS Toro Rosso +1 lap
11. ALONSO Renault +1 lap
12. NAKAJIMA Williams +1 lap
13. PIQUET Renault +1 lap
14. RAIKKONEN Ferrari +1 lap
15. VETTEL Red Bull +1 lap
16. BUEMI Toro Rosso +1 lap
17. SUTIL Force India +1 lap
18. FISICHELLA Force India +2 laps
R. KUBICA BMW +30 laps
R. KOVALAINEN McLaren +31 laps
F1 Drivers Stadings
(*half points given at Malaysia -- didn't reach 3/4-distance)
1. Jenson Button Brawn GP 15
2. Rubens Barrichello Brawn GP 10
3. Jarno Trulli Toyota 8
4. Timo Glock Toyota 8
5. Nick Heidfeld BMW Sauber 4
6. Fernando Alonso Renault 4
7. Nico Rosberg Williams 4
8. Sebastien Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso 2
9. Mark Webber Red Bull Racing 2
10. Sebastien Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso 1
11. Lewis Hamilton McLaren Mercedes 1
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