Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull made it two out two with a great drive at the Malaysian Grand Prix. The World Champion was joined on the podium by McLaren's Jenson Button, and fellow German Nick Heidfeld.
Vettel, again, eased through the first corner, as chaos ensued behind him. The Renaults had made a fantastic start, and Nick Heidfeld had soon stolen second from Lewis, and Vitaly Petrov and taken fifth. Mark Webber had found a fault with his KERS during the warm up. This loss pushed Mark down to the field, until he was way down in 10th, after starting in third.
Rain was the word on most people's mouths all weekend, and race day was no different. Roughly 10 laps in, specs of rain did start to fall on the track. Driver's informed their team, but no one dared pit first. The worst of the rain never came, and with just a few drops hitting the track, no driver put on the wet tyres, and eventually the rain left, having no impact.
With the Malaysian heat, the tyres were not doing well. Pit stops were very common all afternoon, with three stops seeming to be the norm. Very little changed in position, except though pit stops. However, unlike at Melbourne, DRS seemed to be a great advantage to the drivers. The long straight, and KERS aided the system, ensuring that there were a few overtakes. Battles ensued between Kamui Kobayashi and Mark Webber, Kamui Kobayashi and Michael Schumacher, and Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso. The latter resulting in pieces.
Fernando was catching Lewis, who had older tyres on. Coming down the pit lane, Lewis had to swerve repeatedly to ensure Fernando stayed behind. On the next lap, Fernando tried again with the DRS. He seemed to gain an advantage, only for him to mess up the ending. He drove straight into Lewis' left rear tyre, and broke his front wing. Fernando pitted immediately, but Lewis stayed out, with no obvious damage. However, his lap times started to fall, and drivers began to gain. First Nick Heidfeld brilliantly took Lewis , using the KERS and DRS to their maximum. Then with Hamilton losing grip, he momenterally dropped off the track letting through Mark Webber. McLaren quickly pitted Lewis, resulting in him being dumped back in eight behind the two Ferrari's and Vitaly Petrov. He quickly gained seventh back, and Petrov's steering seemed to break forcing him off the track, then as Vitaly tried to get it back on, he flew over a chicane, forcing the Renault into the air, and ending his race.
The race ended with Sebastian, who had been untouched all day, leading Jenson home. The last few laps saw Mark Webber try to pass Nick Heidfeld. Mark, still without KERS, could not pass Nick as hard as he tried. Nick's determination ensured Renault got a second podium in two races. Further down, Massa kept Alonso at bay, with the Ferrari guys followed by Hamilton, Kobayashi, Schumacher, and Paul DiResta getting points for a second time.
Following the race, Alonso and Hamilton were summoned to the stewards room after their incident. They were both given twenty second penalties. This left Alonso in sixth, but pushed Lewis behind Kamui Kobayashi into eighth.
Race Results
Rank - Driver - Team - Rankings
1 - Sebastian Vettel - Red Bull - 1st
2 - Jenson Button - McLaren - 6th
3 - Nick Heidfeld - Renault - 13th
4 - Mark Webber - Red Bull - 3rd
5 - Felipe Massa - Ferrari - 5th
6 - Fernando Alonso - Ferrari - 4th
7 - Kamui Kobaysahi - Sauber - 25th
8 - Lews Hamilton - McLaren - 2nd
9 - Michael Schumacher - Mercedes - 19th
10 - Paul DiResta - Force India - 34th
11 - Adrian Sutil - Force India - 15th
12 - Nico Rosberg - Mercedes - 10th
13 - Sebastian Buemi - Toro Rosso - 16th
14 - Jaime Alguersuari - Toro Rosso - 20th
15 - Heikki Kovalainen - Team Lotus - 11th
16 - Timo Glock - Virgin - 14th
17 - Vitaly Petrov - Renault - 22nd
R - Vitantonio Liuzzi - HRT - 26th
R - Jerome D'Ambrosio - Virgin - 36th
R - Jarno Trulli - Team Lotus - 12th
R - Sergio Perez - Sauber - New
R - Rubens Barrichello - Williams - 9th
R - Narain Karthikeyan - HRT - N
R - Pastor Maldonado - Williams - N
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