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It was the first time we'd ever seen a Formula 1 car slalom flat-out through a slow-moving traffic jam. And it was terrifying. We are talking a speed differential of well over 100mph, many, many times greater than that which killed Gilles Villeneuve in 1982, an accident that was all about one driver cruising, another on a flat-out qualifying lap. The regulations as currently configured are tailor-made to create exactly that situation. All it would have taken for an aircraft-style crash at Sepang on Saturday would have been one of the five drivers on their in-laps to have wandered a few feet off line, unaware even there was a car approaching them at racing speeds. Heikki Kovalainen, Lewis Hamilton, Felipe Massa, Robert Kubica and Kimi Raikkonen were not expecting another car still on its qualifying lap. In their minds the session was over. So as Massa was acknowledging the crowd for a pole position he hadn't actually secured yet, he will doubtless have been surprised as the flat-chat Nick Heidfeld blasted past him, just as had the McLaren drivers a few seconds earlier when they'd baulked his approach to turn four. Nick got through the traffic physically unscathed, the only damage being to his lap time, dropping him from a likely third fastest to seventh. Just behind him, Fernando Alonso was even more badly blocked. It was an incident that could so easily have ended in the medical centre rather than the stewards room. © 2020 Autosport
In the magazine: Wheldon the Lionheart In AUTOSPORT magazine this week, we reflect on the life of Dan Wheldon with those who knew him best, and remember the day, just a month before his death, when he showed off IndyCar's staircase of talent Mag 
MPH: Mark Hughes on... A law that invariably applies in racing: the genie will not go back into the bottle once released F1 
MPH: Mark Hughes on... Competitors entering motorsport are getting ever-younger - but are even the youngest missing out on a crucial age in physiological development? F1 
MPH: Mark Hughes on... So, team orders failed to secure the world championship for Fernando Alonso. But neither he, nor the Ferrari team, can function happily – or truly effectively – any other way F1
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