Lewis Hamilton claimed his third pole position of the season at the Circuit de Catalunya. The 2008 world champion will share the front row with the surprisingly quick Pastor Maldonado in the Williams.

Home crowd favourite Fernando Alonso will start third in the revised Ferrari, ahead of Romain Grosjean, Kimi Raikkonen and Sergio Perez.

In a qualifying session full of surprises, Hamilton was half-a-second quicker than Maldonado, who had been fast in final practice, setting the quickest time in Q2, and then held provisional pole for a moment.

Hamilton was the only frontrunner to do two runs in Q3, and his initial lap time stood until crowd favourite Fernando Alonso in the much-improved Ferrari went faster, followed by the incredible Maldonado.

But Lewis held the advantage and produced a lap time of one minute, 21.707 seconds to give McLaren their 150th pole position in Formula One. He then stopped on track (possibly due to insufficient fuel) on the slowing-down lap.

Just behind Maldonado, Alonso held third ahead of the Lotus pair of Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen, who again proved extremely competitive.

Both Saubers made it into Q3, with Sergio Perez taking sixth while Kamui Kobayashi is in tenth. But a hydraulic problem forced the Japanese driver to stop at turn three on his way back to the pits.

Nico Rosberg was seventh after just one early run in Q3, while both Sebastian Vettel and Michael Schumacher elated to save tyres and not do any flying laps in Q3, so qualified eighth and ninth for Red Bull and Mercedes respectively.

The biggest shock in qualifying was the elimination of both Jenson Button and Mark Webber in Q2.

Button complained of understeer in the McLaren while Webber believed a single run was enough to make it through into the top ten shootout. Sadly, this was not the case for the Red Bull driver. The pair will start the Spanish Grand Prix on row six.

It was also a bad session for Felipe Massa as well, with the Ferrari driver registering his worst grid position so far in this already-disappointing season with P17. The Brazilian lines up behind the Force Indias and Toro Rossos on Sunday’s grid.

With Maldonado setting impressive times at the front, his Williams team-mate Bruno Senna tried too hard in his efforts to keep up – spinning into the gravel at the end of Q1.

While at the back, Vitaly Petrov outqualified Caterham team-mate Heikki Kovalainen for the first time. Charles Pic was quicker than his Marussia team-mate Timo Glock. As for HRT, Narain Karthikeyan hopes the race stewards can grant him permission to race following an apparent mechanical issues.

UPDATE: Pastor Maldonado will start from pole position for the Spanish Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton was excluded from qualifying for not returning to the pits after setting his best lap.

Hamilton’s McLaren was found to not have had enough fuel on board to comply with the rules that demand a car returns to the pits under its own power after qualifying with enough petrol for a one-litre sample to be provided to the FIA. He will start the race from the back of the grid.

Revised grid positions – Circuit de Catalunya:

1.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m22.285s
2.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m22.302s
3.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m22.424s
4.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m22.487s
5.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m22.533s
6.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m23.005s
7.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     No time
8.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             No time
9.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       No time
10.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m22.944s
11.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m22.977s
12.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m23.125s
13.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m23.177s
14.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m23.265s
15.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m23.442s
16.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m23.444s
17.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m24.981s
18.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m25.277s
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m25.507s
20.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m26.582s
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m27.032s
22.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m27.555s
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m31.122s
24.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m21.707s*

107 per cent time: 1m28.363s

*Sent to back of grid for not having enough fuel after Q3

The familiar sight of Sebastian Vettel winning a race made a reappearance following a faultless drive from the reigning world champion in the Bahrain Grand Prix.

The German held off the challenge from Lotus to get his title defence back on track with his twenty-second career Grand Prix victory – his first this season – and he now leads the world championship for Red Bull Racing.

The pace of the Lotus was impressive, with both Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean able to match the leading Red Bull on lap times.

To finish in second and third is a great result for Lotus. For Raikkonen, this drive to the runner-up spot has silence his critics that he still has the desire to go racing in Formula One.

While Grosjean should be immensely proud by recording a podium result in only his fourth race since making his Formula One comeback.

Mark Webber took fourth for Red Bull Racing, while pit-stop problems consigned front row starter Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren to eighth. Nico Rosberg completed the top five after an eventual race for Mercedes.

It soon became clear that the Lotus duo had stunning race pace. Although Vettel stormed away from initial pursuers Hamilton and Webber, Grosjean and Raikkonen were making quick progress up the order.

Grosjean had moved into fourth at the start, and then picked off Webber and Hamilton on laps four and seven.

While Raikkonen vaulted from P11 to seventh off the line, had a quick wheel-banging battle with Felipe Massa’s Ferrari, then got up to third by the time the first pit-stops were done – by virtue of a string of passes and a long first stint.

The Iceman then closed on Grosjean, passing his Lotus team-mate on lap 24, just before their second pit-stops, and started hunting down race leader Vettel.

As they approached the final tyre changes, Raikkonen was on Vettel’s rear wing and was able to take several looks at passing the Red Bull.

The tension eased after the final pit-stops, with Vettel able to rebuild a slight gap over the Lotus and held it to the flag.

Mark Webber finished in an unchallenged fourth position, but there was plenty of action behind the Australian.

Rosberg slipped back to ninth on a scrappy opening lap, before recovering to fifth – although he attracted the stewards’ attention along the way after some aggressive defensive moves against Hamilton and Alonso.

The way Rosberg defended his race position by forcing Hamilton way off the track was over the top and against the sport’s governing body code of leaving a car’s width. As for the incident involving Alonso, yes, he made his one move but it was still quite marginal to edge the Ferrari off the track.

Both incidents were investigated after the race and after a few hours, the stewards decided no action was needed.

Paul di Resta did a great job on a unique two-stop strategy for Force India. At one point, he was leading the Grand Prix. To finish in sixth is a fantastic achievement for himself and the team.

Hamilton’s race went awry in the pits, as a wheel nut issue with his left-rear cost him a lot of time at both his first and second pit-stops. The McLaren driver had to settle for eighth chasing di Resta and Alonso to the flag.

In fact, it was a miserable race for McLaren. As Jenson Button spent much of the race on the fringes of the top six before a late pit-stop with a left-rear puncture, and then a mechanical problem that left his sick-sounding car heading for the garage on the penultimate lap.

Alonso had got up to fifth with an assertive start, but did not have the pace to stay there. Felipe Massa was respectably close to his team-mate’s pace on the way to ninth, while Michael Schumacher was able to come through from P22 on the grid to tenth in the Mercedes.

Two stars of qualifying saw their race hopes rapidly dashed. Daniel Ricciardo tumbled down the order on the opening lap with damage on the Toro Rosso’s nose. He was able to recover to finish in P15 though. While Caterham’s Heikki Kovalainen picked up a puncture on lap one but made it to the end in P17.

So despite the political drama off-track dominating the news leading up to the Grand Prix, the racing at the Bahrain International Circuit was trouble free.

Red Bull’s first success of the season, which made Vettel the fourth different winner in four races, puts the champion back on top of the points table too, with 53 to the unhappy Hamilton’s 49. Webber is third with 48, followed by Button and Alonso on 43 apiece, Rosberg on 35 and Raikkonen on 34.

Red Bull also jumped ahead in the constructors’ rankings, with 101 points to McLaren’s 92, while the other big mover was Lotus who jumped up to third with 57 ahead of Ferrari on 45, Mercedes on 37 and Sauber on 31.

Race result at Bahrain, 57 laps:

1.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           1h35:10.990
2.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +3.333
3.  Grosjean      Lotus-Renault              +10.194
4.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +38.788
5.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +55.460
6.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +57.543
7.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +57.803
8.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +58.984
9.  Massa         Ferrari                    +1:04.999
10.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +1:11.490
11.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +1:12.702
12.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +1:16.539
13.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1:30.334
14.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +1:33.723
15.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1 lap
16.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
17.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
18.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +1 lap
19.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +2 laps
20.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +2 laps
21.  Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +2 laps
22.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +3 laps

Fastest lap: Vettel, 1:36.379

Not classified/retirements:

Maldonado     Williams-Renault             26 laps
Pic           Marussia-Cosworth            25 laps

World Championship standings, round 4:

Drivers:
1.  Vettel        53
2.  Hamilton      49
3.  Webber        48
4.  Button        43
5.  Alonso        43
6.  Rosberg       35
7.  Raikkonen     34
8.  Grosjean      23
9.  Perez         22
10.  Di Resta      15
11.  Senna         14
12.  Kobayashi      9
13.  Vergne         4
14.  Maldonado      4
15.  Hulkenberg     2
16.  Schumacher     2
17.  Massa          2
18.  Ricciardo      2

Constructors:
1.  Red Bull-Renault          101
2.  McLaren-Mercedes           92
3.  Lotus-Renault              57
4.  Ferrari                    45
5.  Mercedes                   37
6.  Sauber-Ferrari             31
7.  Williams-Renault           18
8.  Force India-Mercedes       17
9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          6

Next race: Spanish Grand Prix, Barcelona. May 11-13.

Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel returned to the front with his first pole position of the season at the Bahrain International Circuit.

Vettel’s lap of one minute, 32.422 seconds earned the Red Bull Racing driver his thirty-first pole in Formula One. The German edged out championship leader Lewis Hamilton by a margin of under a tenth of a second.

Mark Webber lines up in third ahead of Jenson Button, while Chinese Grand Prix winner Nico Rosberg had to settle for fifth.

Despite setting the practice pace, Mercedes had a disappointing qualifying session. Rosberg elated to do a single Q3 run that was only good enough for fifth fastest. As for Michael Schumacher, the seven-time world champion was eliminated in Q1 with an issue with the DRS.

Daniel Ricciardo gave Toro Rosso huge encouragement with his career-best sixth on the grid, in front of Romain Grosjean’s Lotus and Sergio Perez’s Sauber.

As for Fernando Alonso, the Spaniard choosing not to do a Q3 flying lap in the Ferrari, saving a set of Pirellis for the race.

Paul di Resta was likewise and even though Force India missed out on Friday afternoon practice session, di Resta was able to deliver the result needed in qualifying.

The pair will share row five, with Alonso five positions ahead of his Scuderia team-mate Felipe Massa.

Schumacher’s exit in Q1 was the biggest shock in qualifying. It came down to an issue with the Mercedes adjustable rear wing and a supreme lap from Caterham’s Heikki Kovalainen.

With track conditions rapidly improving, early Q1 times did not prove sufficient. Both Red Bulls were on the edge of elimination, as did Sergio Perez, but in the end it was Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne – for a third straight race – and Schumacher who ended up on the wrong side of the cut-off.

Vergne may face further trouble after the qualifying as television replays suggested he missed a call to the weighbridge in Q1.

Schumacher was not the only world champion making an early departure from qualifying, as Grosjean’s progress into Q3 came at the expense of Lotus team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, who will start in P11.

Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi and Nico Hulkenberg’s Force India could not match their team-mates’ form and will line up in P12 and P13 respectively.

It was a tough session for Williams too, with Bruno Senna only P15 while a KERS issue preventing Pastor Maldonado – who was already facing a five-place gearbox change penalty – from running in Q2.

While at the back, Marussia was nearly three seconds off Kovalainen’s pace, as Charles Pic outqualified team-mate Timo Glock for the first time – the German ending up behind Pedro de la Rosa’s HRT as well in P23.

Qualifying times from Bahrain:

1.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m32.422s
2.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1m32.520s
3.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1m32.637s
4.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m32.711s
5.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m32.821s
6.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m32.912s
7.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          1m33.008s
8.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m33.394s
9.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                No time
10.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   No time
11.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault          1m33.789s
12.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1m33.806s
13.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   1m33.807s
14.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1m33.912s
15.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault       1m34.017s
16.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault       1m36.132s
17.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1m34.865s
18.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m35.014s
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault       1m35.823s
20.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth      1m37.683s
21.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth           1m37.883s
22.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault       No time*
23.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth      1m37.905s
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           1m38.314s

*Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change

107 per cent time: 1m40.380s

After competing in 111 races, Nico Rosberg has finally claimed his maiden Formula One race victory with a commanding drive in a thrilling Chinese Grand Prix.

This result means Rosberg becomes the first new winner in the sport since Heikki Kovalainen won the 2008 Hungarian Grand Prix, 64 races ago.

Rosberg also joins the elusive list of father and son succeeding in Formula One. Both Keke and Nico are the third combination of winners after Graham and Damon Hill, and Gilles and Jacques Villeneuve.

As for Mercedes, their last triumph was back in the 1955 Italian Grand Prix with Juan Manuel Fangio.

McLaren duo Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton completed the podium, ahead of Red Bull Racing’s Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

At a track where he had led only to fade in each of the last two years, Rosberg ensured he stayed at the head of an absorbing race in which variants of tyre strategies played out throughout the 56-lap race.

Not only did drivers vary between two and three pit-stops, but also there were huge differences in stint length.

Despite the Mercedes team’s tyre difficulties in the opening two races, this time the team handled the Pirelli issue perfectly – allowing Rosberg to deploy a textbook two-stop strategy and keep himself ahead of most of the action.

The German pulled away from his team-mate Michael Schumacher in the opening laps, soon establishing a four-second lead. Schumacher’s opportunity to feature in the lead battle then ended when he retired with an incorrectly fitted right-front wheel immediately after his first pit-stop.

Button was Rosberg’s main challenger thereafter. A great start immediately took Jenson to third, and he was catching Rosberg on a three-stop plan for a while, but victory was dashed following a slow final pit-stop with a left-rear wheel issue.

Kimi Raikkonen’s two-stopping Lotus held second position going into the closing stages, but trying to do half the Chinese Grand Prix on his third set of tyres proved too optimistic, and the Iceman tumbled from second to P14 in just a handful of laps.

Vettel, following a similar strategy, was first to pass Raikkonen, and looked like he might salvage second from his qualifying disaster.

The reigning world champion could not hold off the McLarens or team-mate Webber with their fresher tyres from a three-stop strategy, with Button getting through five laps from the end.

Hamilton and Webber doing likewise amid a thrilling tussle over the last two laps.

Webber took fourth despite his first pit-stop coming as early as lap six, and two trips off the track – one of which featured a wild flight over the Turn 13 kerbs.

While Raikkonen fell back, his Lotus team-mate Romain Grosjean did a two-stop plan with a very long middle stint and was able to battle to sixth, ahead of the Williams duo of Bruno Senna and Pastor Maldonado.

As for Fernando Alonso, the Sepang winner was only ninth for Ferrari having lost a little ground running off-track trying to pass Maldonado.

Sauber was a factor in this pack but could not repeat its Malaysian Grand Prix heroics. Kamui Kobayashi fell back with a poor start and finished in tenth, just ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez, who led for a while on a two-stop strategy.

Thus, after the race of the season, Hamilton leads the world championship with 45 points to Button’s 43, with Fernando Alonso third on 37. In the constructors’ stakes, McLaren still lead with 88 points to Red Bull’s 64, Ferrari’s 37, Sauber’s 31, Mercedes’ 26 and Lotus’s 24.

The next race is in Bahrain and despite the political unrest; the sport’s governing body has safely ensured the event will take place.

Chinese Grand Prix race results, after 56 laps:

1.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   1h36:26.929
2.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +20.626
3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +26.012
4.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +27.924
5.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +30.483
6.  Grosjean      Lotus-Renault              +31.491
7.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +34.597
8.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           +35.643
9.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +37.256
10.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +38.720
11.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +41.066
12.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +42.273
13.  Massa         Ferrari                    +42.779
14.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +50.573
15.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +51.213
16.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +51.756
17.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1:03.156
18.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
19.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +1 lap
20.  Pic           Marussia-Cosworth          +1 lap
21.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +1 lap
22.  Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +2 laps
23.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +3 laps

Fastest lap: Kobayashi, 1:39.960

Not classified/retirement:

Schumacher    Mercedes                     16 laps

World Championship standings, round 3:

Drivers:
1.  Hamilton      45
2.  Button        43
3.  Alonso        37
4.  Webber        36
5.  Vettel        28
6.  Rosberg       25
7.  Perez         22
8.  Raikkonen     16
9.  Senna         14
10.  Kobayashi      9
11.  Grosjean       8
12.  Di Resta       7
13.  Vergne         4
14.  Maldonado      4
15.  Ricciardo      2
16.  Hulkenberg     2
17.  Schumacher     1

Constructors:
1.  McLaren-Mercedes           88
2.  Red Bull-Renault           64
3.  Ferrari                    37
4.  Sauber-Ferrari             31
5.  Mercedes                   26
6.  Lotus-Renault              24
7.  Williams-Renault           18
8.  Force India-Mercedes        9
9.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          6

Next race: Bahrain Grand Prix, Sakhir. April 20-22.

Nico Rosberg achieved his maiden Formula One pole position in an exciting and dramatic qualifying session in Shanghai.

The German put Mercedes at the front of the grid for the first time since Juan Manuel Fangio led the field at Monza in 1955.

Rosberg was a full half a second quicker over second-fastest Lewis Hamilton. But due to the gearbox penalty applied to the McLaren driver, Michael Schumacher is promoted to P2 forming an all-Mercedes front row.

While Rosberg celebrated his first ever pole, it was a disastrous day for reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel. Not only beaten by his Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber in qualifying for the third time this season, Vettel will start the Chinese Grand Prix down in eleventh.

Rosberg had led a Mercedes one-two in Q2, and then blitzed his rivals early in Q3 with an unbeatable time of one minute, 35.121 seconds.

So confident was Rosberg that the time would hold for pole, he got out of his car and walked off to the weighing area while the rest of the top ten tried in vain to improve their times.

Hamilton managed to get between the Silver Arrows on lap times, although on the starting grid he will line up in seventh.

His penalty means Kamui Kobayashi is promoted to an amazing third, as the Japanese driver emphasised Sauber’s progress by setting the fourth quickest time.

Thanks to the high level of competition this season, Vettel faced a difficult task for a fourth consecutive Shanghai pole and with the failure to make the top ten shootout for the first time since Brazil 2009 was a major shock.

The double world champion, running a different exhaust specification on the RB8 to Mark Webber, was only three tenths of a second slower than his pacesetting team-mate in Q2.

But that was the difference between first and eleventh in the extraordinarily close session. Vettel had been gradually edged down the top ten and ultimately pushed out by Romain Grosjean’s Lotus.

His Lotus team-mate Kimi Raikkonen will start fourth, ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button and Mark Webber in the Red Bull.

Malaysia combatants Sergio Perez and Fernando Alonso were together again as they led the way in Q1 after going for softs tyres, and qualified in close company once more in eighth and ninth.

Ferrari’s Felipe Massa was closer to his team-mate pace, but will start in P12.

The second half of the grid will line up in neat team formation. With the two Williams sharing row seven ahead of the Force Indias, and while Jean-Eric Vergne did not get beyond Q1, he will still start alongside Toro Rosso team-mate Daniel Ricciardo.

Meanwhile at the back, Caterham led Marussia and HRT, with all drivers comfortably within the 107 per cent qualifying margin.

Qualifying times from Shanghai:

1.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m35.121s
2.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m35.691s
3.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m35.784s
4.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m35.898s
5.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m36.191s
6.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m36.290s
7.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m35.626s*
8.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m36.524s
9.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m36.622s
10.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        No time
11.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m36.031s
12.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m36.255s
13.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m36.283s
14.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m36.289s
15.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m36.317s
16.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m36.745s
17.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m36.956s
18.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m37.714s
19.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m38.463s
20.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m38.677s
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m39.282s
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m39.717s
23.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m40.411s
24.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m41.000s

*Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change

107 per cent time: 1m42.931s

After a long red flag period and changeable weather conditions, Fernando Alonso took his twenty-eighth career Grand Prix victory in a thrilling race in Sepang.

The double world champion held off the remarkable Sergio Perez to take the chequered flag and with this win, he now leads the world championship despite a difficult start to the season.

But it could have been so different if Perez didn’t make that error in the late stages of the race – running wide in an attempt to catch Alonso.

The Mexican was a revelation in the Malaysian Grand Prix. Setting fastest laps in a bid to catch the leading Ferrari, but that mistake cost the Sauber driver a chance of victory. Despite this set back, Perez should be immensely proud of what he has achieved.

Perez became the first driver from his country to lead a race and finish on the podium since Pedro Rodriguez in 1971.

Lewis Hamilton completed the podium, with his McLaren team-mate Jenson Button outside the points after a disastrous race.

Sebastian Vettel also failed to score due to a clash in traffic, though his Red Bull Racing team-mate Mark Webber claimed fourth ahead of Kimi Raikkonen’s Lotus and the Williams of Bruno Senna.

Most of the field used intermediates for the start, which took place on a track dry in some parts but extremely wet in others.

The McLarens held their grid formation into Turn 1, as Romain Grosjean and Michael Schumacher battled for third until making contact and both spinning as the Lotus slid into the Mercedes, allowing the Red Bulls of Mark Webber and Vettel into third and fourth, ahead of Alonso.

Grosjean would put the Lotus into the gravel for good on lap three.

Already the rain was beginning to increase, and it was at that moment Sauber opted for the masterstroke of putting Perez straight onto extreme wet tyres – a choice nearly everyone would have to follow over the ensuing laps as the circuit became ever-more sodden.

By lap four, Perez was lapping three seconds quicker than the leaders, and that pace meant that by the time everyone had made the switch to wets, the Sauber was up into third position behind the McLarens. Webber, Alonso and Vettel were next up, the Ferrari having split the Red Bulls by taking wets a lap earlier than Vettel.

The storm then increased to the point that a red flag was inevitable, and the field would spend nearly an hour halted on the grid setting up shelter from the rain.

Particularly notable performances at this stage were Toro Rosso’s Jean-Eric Vergne getting up to seventh by virtue of hanging on with intermediates in the deluge, and Narain Karthikeyan appearing in tenth for HRT having started on wets.

Race control mandated wet tyres for the eventual restart, though by the time four laps behind the safety car had been completed the track was right for intermediates, with Button pitting just as racing resumed.

That allowed him to jump ahead of team-mate Hamilton, who also lost out to Alonso in a slightly slow pitstop. But Button’s race then fell apart as he clipped Karthikeyan while coming back through traffic after his pitstop, forcing him to pit for a new front wing.

Perez stayed out a lap longer than Alonso and Hamilton, and rejoined ahead of them – although the Ferrari immediately overtook the Sauber.

Alonso then began edging away, establishing six-second cushion over Perez, as both dropped the rest of the field.

As the track dried heading into the final stages of the race, Perez charged up behind Alonso, whose tyres were fading faster. Before the Sauber could attack, Alonso came in for dry, slick tyres, and reopened a five-second lead by doing so a lap before his rival.

But on a dry track, the Sauber was much faster than the race leader and started taking a second or more per lap out of Alonso’s lead, closing onto the rear of the Ferrari with seven laps to go – amid radio messages from the team urging him not to jeopardise second place.

Then a mistake coming onto the back straight saw Perez run wide and lose five seconds. The Mexican immediately resumed his charge, but did not have enough laps to pull off a remarkable win.

Hamilton did not have the pace to catch the top two in wet or dry conditions and finished third. Vettel was on course for fourth until clipping Karthikeyan’s HRT in the closing stages – causing a left-rear puncture that dropped the world champion to P11 and handed fourth to Webber.

Raikkonen continued his strong race form on his Formula One return with fifth place for Lotus.

Senna produced an excellent charge to take a career-best finish of sixth for Williams, despite sliding into team-mate Pastor Maldonado on the first lap and breaking his front wing.

Both Force Indias scored, with Paul di Resta seventh and Nico Hulkenberg ninth, split by Vergne’s Toro Rosso.

As for Mercedes, their weekend fell apart in the race again, with Schumacher only able to get back up to tenth after the first-lap clash and an additional tyre stop leaving Nico Rosberg P14, behind the delayed Button – whose recovery drive was stymied by tyre difficulties that saw him make another additional stop.

Maldonado had been on course for the final point as he chased Vergne and Hulkenberg in a tight three-way battle, until an engine problem halted the Williams two laps from the flag.

While one Ferrari took victory ahead of a future protégé, Felipe Massa could only finish P15 after another poor performance.

So a brilliant result for Ferrari and Fernando Alonso. After a difficult start to the season with the F2012, this victory was the perfect way to answer the critics. The Spaniard now leads the world championship after two races.

And yet the star of the race was Sergio Perez. His performance in the Sauber was remarkable. To miss out on taking the overall win due to a driver error was unfortunate. Nevertheless, Perez’s has a bright future in the sport and we could see him in the red car soon.

Malaysian Grand Prix, race result after 56 laps:

1.  Alonso        Ferrari                    2h44:51.812
2.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +2.263
3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +14.591
4.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +17.688
5.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +29.456
6.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +37.667
7.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +44.412
8.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +46.985
9.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +47.892
10.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +49.996
11.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +1:15.527
12.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +1:16.828
13.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +1:18.593
14.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +1:19.719
15.  Massa         Ferrari                    +1:37.319
16.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
17.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +1 lap
18.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +1 lap
19.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           +2 laps
20.  Pic           Marussia-Cosworth          +2 laps
21.  Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +2 laps
22.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +2 laps

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:40.722

Not classified/retirements:

Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari               47 laps
Grosjean      Lotus-Renault                4 laps

World Championship standings, round 2:                

Drivers:            
1.  Alonso        35
2.  Hamilton      30
3.  Button        25
4.  Webber        24
5.  Perez         22
6.  Vettel        18
7.  Raikkonen     16
8.  Senna          8
9.  Kobayashi      8
10.  Di Resta       7
11.  Vergne         4
12.  Hulkenberg     2
13.  Ricciardo      2
14.  Schumacher     1

Constructors:
1.  McLaren-Mercedes           55
2.  Red Bull-Renault           42
3.  Ferrari                    35
4.  Sauber-Ferrari             30
5.  Lotus-Renault              16
6.  Force India-Mercedes        9
7.  Williams-Renault            8
8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          6
9.  Mercedes                    1

Next race: Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai. April 13-15.

For the second successive weekend, Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button maintained McLaren’s excellent qualifying form this season with a front row lock-out at Sepang.

Michael Schumacher continues to impress with his best qualifying performance since making his Formula One comeback for Mercedes by taking third.

While defending world champion Sebastian Vettel elated to run the harder compound Pirelli and will start the Malaysian Grand Prix in fifth for Red Bull.

As was the case in Australia, Hamilton’s first flying lap in Q3 was enough to secure the top grid slot, as his one minute, 36.219 seconds proved unbeatable.

Button was second fastest after those runs, but was pushed back by Schumacher. Mercedes had left it late in Q2 and looked in danger of being eliminated before surging into the top ten, and then went for just one run in Q3.

That meant Schumacher was back in the pits by the time Button launched his retaliation, the McLaren edging the Mercedes off the front row by just 0.023 seconds. Schumacher beat team-mate Nico Rosberg by five places and a little under three tenths.

The Q3 battle was incredibly close, with just a small margin of four tenths covering pole to eighth position.

In fact, Mark Webber and Kimi Raikkonen set times that were identical to one-thousandths of a second – but the Australian claims the place ahead as he set the time first. Kimi’s grid penalty means he will start the race in tenth.

Red Bull was not a pole contender again, despite Mark Webber setting the quickest lap in Q1. He will start in fourth while team-mate Vettel gambled on the hard compound for his second Q3 run, meaning he will start the race on the more durable tyres.

After topping the time sheets in Q2, Kimi Raikkonen qualified his Lotus in a superb fifth but will drop down to tenth following his gearbox penalty. His team-mate Romain Grosjean was sixth quickest.

Against the team’s own expectations, Fernando Alonso got Ferrari into Q3 – although he could only manage to beat Sergio Perez’s Sauber to ninth.

Felipe Massa was closer to Alonso’s pace than he had been for most of the Melbourne weekend but he missed the Q2 cut and was P12.

Several of the underdog stars of Melbourne qualifying fell back into the midfield in Malaysia.

Pastor Maldonado briefly got into the top ten despite an early trip through the gravel in Q2, but he was pushed back to P11 as the Mercedes delivered their late laps. Maldonado will start two positions ahead of Williams team-mate Bruno Senna.

There were no Force Indias or Toro Rossos in Q3 compared to last weekend.

The closely-matched Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg claimed P14 and P16 for Force India, just 0.013 seconds apart and split by Daniel Ricciardo, whose Toro Rosso team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne locked-up in Q1, flat-spotted a tyre and consigned himself to P18.

Kamui Kobayashi’s Sauber brought up the rear of the Q2 pack.

Both HRTs made the 107 per cent cut this time around, and will not even start last on the grid, as Heikki Kovalainen’s penalty for passing under the safety car in Australia will drop the Caterham from P19 to last.

So a fantastic result for McLaren and Lewis Hamilton. The MP4-27 certainly has the edge over their rivals and thanks to the Mercedes engine; the car is so fast down the Sepang straights.

Can Hamilton takes his first win of the 2012 season or will Button score his second successive triumph? What about Schumacher? The seven-time world champion has a great opportunity to go for his 92nd Grand Prix victory on Sunday.

Qualifying times from Sepang:

1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes     1m36.219s
2.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes     1m36.368s
3.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes             1m36.391s
4.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault     1m36.461s
5.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault     1m36.634s
6.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault        1m36.658s
7.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes             1m36.664s
8.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari              1m37.566s
9.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari       1m37.698s
10.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault        1m36.461s*
11.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault     1m37.589s
12.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari              1m37.731s
13.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault     1m37.841s
14.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes 1m37.877s
15.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m37.883s
16.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes 1m37.890s
17.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari       1m38.069s
18.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari   1m39.077s
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault     1m39.567s
20.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth    1m40.903s
21.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth    1m41.250s
22.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth         1m42.914s
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth         1m43.655s
24.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault     1m39.306s**

107 per cent time: 1m43.974s

*Five-place grid penalty for changing gearbox
**Five-place grid penalty for passing under the safety car

 

Jenson Button opened the 2012 world championship with the perfect result by recording his thirteenth career victory with a brilliant drive in the Australian Grand Prix.

The McLaren driver made a great start from the front row to lead into Turn 1 and from then, drove a strong controlled race to take his third Albert Park win.

Defending world champion Sebastian Vettel finished in second for Red Bull, ahead of pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton.

While Mark Webber recovered from a poor start (clashing with Nico Hulkenberg into the first corner) to take fourth for Red Bull with Fernando Alonso dragging his Ferrari from a lowly grid position to a respectable fifth.

Button claimed the lead at the start with a better getaway than his pole-sitting team-mate, and then quickly established a lead of three seconds, which stayed stable through the opening stint.

The two Mercedes occupied third and fourth initially, but Vettel overtook Nico Rosberg on the second lap with an amazing round-the-outside pass.

Michael Schumacher’s run in third lasted only until lap 10, when he retired with a gearbox problem.

That elevated Vettel into third, but the defending champion was 12 seconds down on the McLarens by then and could make little impression.

Third-place qualifier Romain Grosjean dropped to sixth off the line, and was another early retirement when he clashed with Pastor Maldonado on lap two. Maldonado would lose ground with a trip through the Turn 6 gravel three laps later, but rejoined in ninth.

The gap between the McLarens grew to ten seconds at the first stops when Hamilton emerged behind Kimi Raikkonen and Sergio Perez, who were running extremely long first stints.

That allowed a train of cars to develop for second, as Vettel gained and brought Alonso – who made a great start then jumped Rosberg in the first pitstops – with him, and Rosberg, Webber and the recovering Maldonado closed in too.

Webber had initially fallen back with a poor start and a first corner clash with Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, who had to retire.

The lead order remained unchanged until Vitaly Petrov’s Caterham brought out a safety car by stopping on the pits straight with a steering problem in the middle of the final pitstop sequence.

The McLarens had both just pitted, whereas Vettel had not, and the Red Bull was able to get in for its tyre change under the safety car and get back out between Button and Hamilton.

Vettel was still no threat to Button, though, as the 2009 world champion confidently pulled away from his successor at the restart and left the Red Bull to fend off Hamilton through the final stint.

Webber also benefited from pitting under the safety car to get in front of Alonso at the last pitstops.

The Ferrari could not keep up with the Red Bull thereafter, and as Webber chased Vettel and Hamilton home, Alonso had to focus on successfully defending fifth from Maldonado – who made the task easier when the Williams crashed heavily on the final lap.

Behind, a huge battle between the Saubers of one-stopper Perez and Kamui Kobayashi, Rosberg’s Mercedes – which fell back with tyre wear and early pitstops – and Raikkonen also ended in last-lap drama, as Kobayashi emerged with sixth ahead of Raikkonen and Perez, while Rosberg’s Mercedes jammed in second gear and tumbled down to P12.

The final-lap chaos ahead allowed Toro Rosso’s Daniel Ricciardo to pick up his first Formula One points at home with ninth place, despite having lost ground in a first-corner clash with Bruno Senna, which also sent Jean-Eric Vergne off track. Paul di Resta completed the top ten for Force India.

Felipe Massa briefly made it into the top ten, but struggled with poor pace and high tyre wear, making three pitstops and falling back to P13 before retiring with damage following a collision with Senna’s Williams.

So a great result for Jenson Button and McLaren. Not only does the MP4-27 look beautiful, the Mercedes-powered car is fast. Can Button keep this winning form in Malaysia? We will find out in the next seven days.

Australian Grand Prix, race results after 58 laps:

1.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           1h34:09.565
2.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +2.100
3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +4.000
4.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +4.500
5.  Alonso        Ferrari                    +21.500
6.  Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari             +36.700
7.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +38.000
8.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +39.400
9.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +39.500
10.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +39.700
11.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +39.800
12.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +57.600
13.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           +1 lap
14.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +1 lap
15.  Pic           Marussia-Cosworth          +2 laps
16.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +4 laps

Fastest lap: Button, 1:29.187

Not classified/retirements:

Massa         Ferrari                      47 laps
Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault             42 laps
Petrov        Caterham-Renault             37 laps
Schumacher    Mercedes                     11 laps
Grosjean      Lotus-Renault                2 laps
Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes         1 lap
Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth                 1 lap
De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth                 1 lap

World Championship standings, round 1:

Drivers:
1.  Button        25
2.  Vettel        18
3.  Hamilton      15
4.  Webber        12
5.  Alonso        10
6.  Kobayashi      8
7.  Raikkonen      6
8.  Perez          4
9.  Ricciardo      2
10.  Di Resta       1

Constructors:
1.  McLaren-Mercedes           40
2.  Red Bull-Renault           30
3.  Sauber-Ferrari             12
4.  Ferrari                    10
5.  Lotus-Renault               6
6.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          2
7.  Force India-Mercedes        1

Next race: Malaysian Grand Prix, Sepang. March 23-25.