Sebastian Vettel continued his impressive start as the reigning world champion with race victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Despite the KERS unit not working during the 56-lap race, the consistency, speed and tyre management from Vettel enable the Red Bull Racing driver to pull away from the pack and score his twelfth career Grand Prix win.
McLaren’s Jenson Button finished in second while Nick Heidfeld earned Renault’s second successive podium following a great drive.
Mark Webber recovered from a poor start to take fourth position for Red Bull Racing, ahead of the Scuderia pair of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, with the latter damaging his front wing after clipping Hamilton’s car.
As for Lewis Hamilton, who started the race alongside Vettel on the front row, the McLaren driver suffered tyre degradation in the late stages of the Malaysian Grand Prix meaning four visits to the pits and seventh at the chequered flag.
As the five red lights went out, Sebastian Vettel made a clean getaway from the right side of the grid to lead into Turn 1. To the surprise of the world champion going into the first corner it wasn’t Lewis Hamilton alongside but it was the Renault of Nick Heidfeld who made a fantastic start from sixth.
Team-mate Vitaly Petrov also benefitted from a great start from eighth on the grid to take fifth on the opening lap, slotting in-between Hamilton and Jenson Button but ahead of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso.
The same cannot be said for Mark Webber, as his KERS already seemingly not working, the Australian plunged to ninth and was passed by a combative Kamui Kobayashi further around the lap.
Heidfeld did not lose too much time to Vettel, although the Renault staying within seven seconds of the leading Red Bull through the first stint. When Heidfeld then lost ground in the first stops, which released the McLarens and the rapidly-recovering Alonso to start gaining on Vettel.
While Hamilton got Vettel’s lead down to under four seconds, Alonso passed Button for third into the first corner early in the second stint and started closing in as well.
Vettel then looked even more vulnerable after the second of the leaders’ three pit-stops when his Red Bull team informed him that he could no longer use his KERS. But his pursuers’ hopes of taking advantage of this were quickly dashed – even without the energy boosting system Vettel managed to pull clear during this stint, stretching his lead over Hamilton back up to eight seconds.
It was Button who started making progress in the second half of the Grand Prix, taking third back from Alonso in the second pit-stops, then making an early final stop on lap 38 and setting some great lap times thereafter – which allowed him to take second position from team-mate Hamilton who pitted on lap 41.
As Button then started to reduce the gap towards Vettel, Hamilton was struggling to maintain his pace on the hard Prime tyres. Fernando Alonso sensed the opportunity to overtake and was soon all over the back of his racing rival, but with his Drag Reduction System not working, the Ferrari driver had to be creative in finding the right place to overtake.
On lap 45 Alonso got too close through Turn 3 and clipped the rear of the McLaren damaging his Ferrari front wing, forcing an extra pit-stop.
The lead up to the incident resulting in twenty-second penalties handed to both Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso by the stewards hours after the race. See comments for further details.
Hamilton was then caught by first Heidfeld, who slipped past into Turn 1 using the DRS with four laps to the flag, then the recovering Webber – who despite being on a four-stop strategy and still without KERS – managed to get back up with the leaders. The Australian grabbed fourth when Hamilton slid off the track briefly.
Vettel kept Button at bay to win by 3.2 seconds, with Heidfeld resisting the pressure from Webber in the final laps to claim third.
Alonso charged back onto Massa’s rear wing but had to settle for sixth behind his Scuderia team-mate, with Hamilton only seventh after his additional pit-stop.
Petrov was set for seventh until a wild moment on lap 53, when he ran wide and tried to rejoin the track flat-out over the grass. That launched the Renault in the air and as it crashed back down to the track, the force of the impact broke the steering column mount and the Russian was out on the spot.
Kobayashi managed to make a two-stop strategy work to take eighth position, after several spectacular battles with Michael Schumacher, who was ninth on a tough afternoon for Mercedes. His team-mate Nico Rosberg fell into the midfield on opening lap and never recovered, finishing P12 behind the Force Indias, as Paul di Resta recorded another points finish with a solid drive in his second Grand Prix.
Further back, Team Lotus got closer to the established midfield pace than ever before as Heikki Kovalainen finished P15 behind the Toro Rossos. Both Williams retired, as did Melbourne hero Sergio Perez after the Sauber sustained damage from running over debris.
So a fantastic result for Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing. Pole Position followed by race victory and scoring the maximum available championship points. The reliability of the KERS may still be a major issue for the team but the speed of the RB7 continues to impress this season. Can McLaren fight back in the next race in Shanghai? We will find out in seven days time.
Race results from Sepang, 56 laps:
1. Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h37:39.832
2. Button McLaren-Mercedes +3.261
3. Heidfeld Renault +25.075
4. Webber Red Bull-Renault +26.384
5. Massa Ferrari +36.958
6. Alonso Ferrari +57.248*
7. Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari +1:07.239
8. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes +1:09.957*
9. Schumacher Mercedes +1:24.896
10. Di Resta Force India-Mercedes +1:31.563
11. Sutil Force India-Mercedes +1:45.000
12. Rosberg Mercedes +1 lap
13. Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
14. Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
15. Kovalainen Lotus-Renault +1 lap
16. Glock Virgin-Cosworth +2 laps
17. Petrov Renault +4 laps
*Twenty-second penalty
Fastest lap: Webber, 1:40.571
Not classified/retirements:
Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 47 laps
D’Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 43 laps
Trulli Lotus-Renault 32 laps
Perez Sauber-Ferrari 24 laps
Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 23 laps
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 15 laps
Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 9 laps
World Championship standings, round 2:
Drivers:
1. Vettel 50
2. Button 26
3. Hamilton 22
4. Webber 22
5. Alonso 20
6. Massa 16
7. Heidfeld 15
8. Petrov 15
9. Kobayashi 6
10. Buemi 4
11. Sutil 2
12. Schumacher 2
13. Di Resta 2
Constructors:
1. Red Bull-Renault 72
2. McLaren-Mercedes 48
3. Ferrari 36
4. Renault 30
5. Sauber-Ferrari 6
6. Torro Rosso-Ferrari 4
7. Force India-Mercedes 4
8. Mercedes 2
Next race: Chinese Grand Prix, Shanghai. April 15-17.
Red Bull Racing’s Sebastian Vettel has commented that his second successive Grand Prix victory was the perfect start to the season. Autosport.com has the story.
Sebastian Vettel hailed his “perfect” start to the 2011 season after taking his second consecutive win of the year.
The Red Bull driver, the winner in Australia two weeks ago, took another emphatic victory in Sepang, leading from start to finish.
Vettel is already 24 points ahead of his closest rival in the standings.
Now the world champion is aiming to keep his momentum going into next weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix.
“I think first of all, we can be happy today and enjoy and try to keep that momentum, take it into next race,” said Vettel. “Two races, two out of two. Perfect.
“It could not be any better, but there is a long, long way to go. Lots of points still to get, so we have to keep our feet on the ground.
“Things are looking good and if that is the reward then it’s no problem putting harder work in. Tomorrow China starts and we’ll see how we get on there.”
The Red Bull driver was forced to race without KERS for a significant part of the event after the system hit problems.
But Vettel admitted it had worked well at the start, which he reckons was crucial to stay ahead.
“Obviously it was not according to plan. Then KERS came back, so it was on and off during the race. It is something we have to work on.
“Today the start without KERS we would have been in a different position. It gave us what we needed. We had a little problem so we turned it off and then it went back on.
“Coming here, reacting the way we did, we can be proud of ourselves, we cannot stop pushing, we have seen how close it is, much closer than Australia.
“So we have to keep our heads cool. I am not worried, the guys know this is the only way forward. For today we can all enjoy and then be very proud.”
Team boss Christian Horner praised Vettel’s drive as “really mature”.
“I think he was the coolest guy here today, I mean his composure in the car, the way he controlled the race, looked after the tyres, did what he needed to when he had to,” he told the BBC. “We had the option of doing a three-stop or a four-stop and he gave us those options so it was a really mature drive by him today.
“He’s just experienced. We forget that he is only 23 years of age, he can only just hire a hire car, so he is in his 60-something grand prix and he is just learning, gaining more experience and just continues to get better. It was also a great recovery by Mark today.”
Even though Jenson Button finished in second position, the McLaren driver was left confused by the team’s strategy during the 56-lap Malaysian Grand Prix. Autosport.com has the details.
Jenson Button said his run to second in the Malaysian Grand Prix was both confusing and intriguing as he managed his tyres impressively to come through to the runner-up spot.
The McLaren driver became more competitive throughout the race and then made a set of hard tyres last 19 laps through the final stint to take second behind Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull.
“It was a really confusing race in a way, understanding or trying to understand the pitstops and whether it is worth looking after the tyres or not, so pretty tricky,” said Button.
He said the McLaren was at its best when on the hard tyre late on.
“In the last stint putting the prime tyre on, the car came alive, I had so much more grip,” said Button. “I had a feeling the tyre would not go the same way as the prime tyre.”
He admitted that he had hoped he might get a shot at challenging Vettel for the lead.
“I had the team telling me to back it off and look after the tyres,” Button said. “In the racer’s mind you want to push and catch the leader even though you know it is not on, but it’s great to get second and 18 points.”
Button is now optimistic about McLaren’s chances of challenging Red Bull in China next weekend.
“We have made some good progress,” he said. “I’m looking forward to China – we can be excited and hopefully we can challenge these guys [Red Bull].”
Renault achieved their second successive podium finish with Nick Heidfeld taking third after a strong drive in Sepang. Autosport.com has the story.
Nick Heidfeld hailed his start in the Malaysian Grand Prix as fantastic after helping him secure a place on the podium.
The Renault driver scored his first rostrum finish of the season, the first in two years, after making a sensational start from sixth on the grid.
Heidfeld was second by the first corner and then went to finish in third position. His last podium had also been in Malaysia in 2009.
The German, who failed to score in the season-opening race in Australia, admitted his first podium with Renault was a big step.
“The start was fantastic, good fun,” said Heidfeld. “In Australia I made up many positions at the start, but I didn’t expect the same starting from sixth.
“I felt myself fighting with Seb who watched me in the mirrors. After that I did the best I could but Sebastian was quite a bit quicker then.
“In the first stint there were some drops coming down and I called the box to say tyres going off. They said ‘stay out’ as we didn’t want an extra pitstop.
“We had some good pace later on, especially with the Prime tyres and then had to defend from Mark who came flying by, then Mark attacked but his tyres started to degrade.
“My first podium for Lotus Renault is a great step.”
Lewis Hamilton said pitting too early in the opening stages of the Malaysian Grand Prix put him at a disadvantage for the rest of the afternoon.
The McLaren driver was up to second for a while and was closing on leader Sebastian Vettel.
But Hamilton struggled to keep his tyres alive through what should have been an 18-lap final stint, and ended up dropping back to seventh after having to make an additional stop.
“I think through the race my tyres went off,” he told the BBC. “We pitted too early, then we had to pit earlier, all the time we were pitting before everyone and my tyres were just finished at the end.
“It’s one of those days and you have to take it on the chin and move on.”
Hamilton admitted that finishing seventh was a hugely disappointing result after pushing Vettel hard for much of the weekend and starting from the front row.
“This is racing, I guess,” he said. “I started second and did everything I could to keep up, and I don’t really have much to say.”
Source: Autosport.com
This was an encouraging race from Team Lotus with Heikki Kovalainen finishing in P15. Autosport.com has the story.
Lotus technical chief Mike Gascoyne said the Malaysian Grand Prix marked the first time that the squad could really start racing its rivals, after an encouraging run to 15th for Heikki Kovalainen.
Although the Finn did not manage to beat any of the established teams, he had sufficient pace to keep the likes of Toro Rosso, Force India and even Mercedes in sight at times.
“Overall our pace was very good at the end, particularly when we were with the leading cars, and we were very close to passing one of the Toro Rossos as we came over the line which shows how we have progressed,” said Gascoyne.
“This weekend has been by far our strongest race performance since we came back into Formula 1, so it is good to be racing again.”
Team boss Tony Fernandes agreed that this was a breakthrough weekend for Lotus.
“Well I think we can officially say we were racing today!” he said. “It was a real shame about Jarno [Trulli, who had clutch problems] as I really wanted two cars to come home but Heikki drove a fantastic race and it is exciting that he was really pushing the Toro Rossos in the final few laps – maybe with a couple more laps he would have passed one of them.
“He kept pace with cars that were much faster than us during qualifying so I’m thrilled that we have recorded 15th at what was a very tough circuit, so huge congratulations to the whole team and well done to everyone.”
Sebastien Buemi believes his penalty during the Malaysian Grand Prix was too severe.
The Swiss driver got a stop-and-go for speeding in the pitlane, a penalty that ruined all his chances of fighting for the points.
Buemi, who finished in 13th position, felt a drive-through would have been much more fitting.
“I made a good start, passing Rosberg and was running well, closing up on Kobayashi and Schumacher, but at my first pitstop, I had the impression that the pitlane speed limiter had not been engaged.
“I immediately pressed it again, which deactivated it, so I sped in the pitlane and picked up a ten second stop-go penalty, which I felt was a bit severe, as usually you get a drive-through penalty which loses you less time.
“After that I gave it my best shot but it was not enough to get a reward for the work, as I felt we could have got the Force Indias and at least finished ninth. I only changed tyres twice and it’s true that the last few laps were very difficult because of the degradation.”
Team-mate Jaime Alguersuari also endured a disappointing race, the Spaniard at a loss to explain his problems during the event.
He finished in 14th.
“I need to analyse this race with the engineers, because to be honest, I don’t really understand what happened: we were slow and the tyre degradation was very high, higher than on Friday,” he said. “I struggled to clean the graining off the front tyres and was losing performance with every passing lap.
“On the positive side, I made a good start, gaining a few places. But soon I found I could not keep up with the guys in front. Given the difficulties I had, I feel that finishing the race was in itself an achievement and the best I could do today.”
Source: Autosport.com
For Mercedes GP, this was another disappointing race for both Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg. The lack of pace is a major problem. Autosport.com has the full details.
Mercedes drivers Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg felt their car simply lacked the race pace to do any better than their ninth and 12th positions in the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Although the team’s practice form had raised hopes that it might get back to the encouraging level of performance it showed in the final winter tests, Rosberg and Schumacher had disappointing qualifying runs to ninth and 11th, and fared no better today.
“I had a straightforward race today which was even a bit exciting towards the end but really full of ups and downs before,” said Schumacher.
“The start was quite good and then it was mainly about managing the tyres. We probably couldn’t have expected to take more than two points today and we certainly have to work on our race pace which is not yet where we want it to be. We are all aware of that and we are more than ready to keep working hard to make the necessary steps forward.
“Over one lap, we can already be at a good level when the car is working well, but we need to continue to work on our race performance.”
Rosberg’s grand prix was a similar story as he was unable to recover from a bad start.
“It was not my race today and it’s been a tough weekend,” he said. “I had a poor start and lost positions which made it very difficult to try and get into the points.
“Our race pace was not good enough, and it was very difficult to push, so unfortunately we could not perform at the level that we wanted to here.”
Team boss Ross Brawn explained that Mercedes had hoped it might manage to salvage something from the race by going for longer stints in the hope of capitalising on any rain that arrived, but with the race remaining dry throughout, this did not pay off.
“We had a couple of stints which proved to be a little too long, as we stayed out to see if the weather might bring an opportunity,” he said.
“That was our decision, and when it didn’t rain as had been predicted, we paid the price with the loss of perhaps a position or two.”
This was another difficult race for Mark Webber. The KERS on the Red Bull didn’t work and without it, the drag to the first corner on the opening lap left the Australian to lose a couple of positions. Autosport.com has the details.
Mark Webber was left lamenting a tough Malaysian Grand Prix after being unable to use his KERS during the race.
The Australian lost the system before the start of the event, which meant he lost several positions at the start and was later unable to fight properly with his rivals.
The Red Bull driver went on to finish in a distant fourth position.
“No,” Webber told the BBC when asked if he had KERS. “It was a tough race. Even out of the box it wasn’t a good start, but then obviously I was getting killed on the long straight without KERS and also after Turn 2.
“Then also on the first three or four laps you’re trying to pass people and they come back. So it’s tough to clear people.
“It was an interesting grand prix, we keep learning, it’s not our day yet, but we are pushing for it to come.”
Webber made four pitstops during the race and was believes his stint behind a slow Lewis Hamilton hurt his chances of a better result.
“I think Lewis was in strange trouble very quickly with his set of tyres, and I would have liked to have gone a bit longer on my fourth set, to have a better conditioned set at the end to nail the guys in trouble, but I was losing time behind Lewis so that’s the way it was.”
Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were handed 20-second penalties following the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang.
The McLaren driver, who endured a difficult race and finished in seventh position, was handed the penalty for making more than one move to defend his position when fighting with Fernando Alonso.
Alonso was given the penalty after he made contact with Hamilton during their fight, the Spaniard damaging his front wing and having to pit to replace it.
The penalty has dropped Hamilton to eighth, with Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi taking seventh.
Alonso keeps sixth place.
Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso have both accepted the penalties they were handed down by the race stewards at the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Both men were given 20-second time penalties in lieu of drive-throughs for breaching the regulations during their battle for third spot in the closing stages of the Sepang event.
Hamilton was punished for breaching Article 20.2 of the Sporting Regulations – which states that ‘manoeuvres liable to hinder other drivers, such as more than one change of direction to defend a position…are not permitted.”
Alonso, who had been pursuing Hamilton at the time, broke Article 16.1 of the Sporting Regulation which punishes drivers who cause a collision.
Hamilton got his penalty for his driving on the lap before he got hit by Alonso.
Hamilton said he was not shocked to have been hit with the penalty – which was for changing direction twice on the main straight.
Although Hamilton had escaped punishment for weaving down the straight last year to try and break Vitaly Petrov’s tow, the FIA tightened up the driving standards regulations at a meeting of the FIA World Motor Sport Council last December.
“I knew I was going to get a penalty. I’m not surprised,” explained Hamilton. “I was in with the stewards, so I anticipated it. I always try to assume the worst-case scenario. It’s only one spot, and it’s not really made me feel any worse than how the weekend has gone anyway.”
Asked whether he felt it was fair, Hamilton said: “It’s racing. I’m not going to argue or disagree with the penalty.
“From my side I’m not allowed to move more than once. Do I class it as dangerous? No, but that’s the rule. Twenty seconds is not such a bad penalty for it. As for Fernando, he hit me, he got a 20-second penalty, but it didn’t really do anything to him. It doesn’t exactly work out as a penalty, but again, that’s racing.”
Alonso also played down the significance of the punishment – especially because his penalty did not result in a loss of position.
“It doesn’t change positions, so there is no a big drama,” he said. “I finished sixth in the race anyway, and it was a race incident. I tried to overtake, we touched each other and unfortunately I broke the front wing and had to pit again, and I lost the podium possibility. But in the next race I will try again.”
When asked if he blamed himself or Hamilton for their collision, Alonso said: “It is one of those things. You try and race and we touched each other.
“The stewards called us to see our opinions and the decision is this. We are not the ones that decide, or have anything to say about the decision. We try to race, to try to enjoy the race in the cockpit and hopefully next time we finish both with no problems.”
Source: Autosport.com
Following the harsh penalty and the disappointing race pace in Malaysia, McLaren’s team principal Martin Whitmarsh has commented that Lewis Hamilton shouldn’t feel too unhappy. Whitmarsh believes the 2008 world champion will bounce back from this in the next race, Shanghai in seven days time. Autosport.com has the details.
McLaren team principal Martin Whitmarsh says Lewis Hamilton will waste little time dwelling on the disappointment of his Malaysian Grand Prix result.
Hamilton had been bidding to win his first race of the season but fell away in the second half of the race while on the prime tyres. He also got involved in an incident with Fernando Alonso and was punished for weaving – dropping him from seventh on the road to eighth.
Having failed to deliver the kind of result he had hoped for going into the race, Hamilton was disappointed – but Whitmarsh is convinced that the Briton will be in top form heading into the Chinese GP.
“For Lewis a number of things have happened this weekend, but he is strong and will take heart from other positive factors,” explained Whitmarsh.
“The underlying fact is he was very close to being on pole, and in the race was able to match the performance of Sebastian (Vettel). He is the marker you either have to match or beat, so those are the positives.
“The result and the mess around it is the disappointment. That’s motor racing, and it won’t be the last (disappointment) in his career. He was obviously very disappointed at the end of the race, but if you see him now he is smiling and has recovered.
“He’ll be further recovered tomorrow. He knows we’re going to try hard to win in China, and he’ll have his energy focused on that. I don’t think he is going to be troubled by what happened today.”
Whitmarsh was also not too impressed that the FIA had punished both Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton for driving infringements.
“I’m not a steward. They make those sort of decisions, and that’s how it is, but a penalty to both drivers is fairly harsh.”
Well overall it was a pretty good race I thought. Though given the high chance of rain, it was a shame it never happened.
Those Renaults or Lotuses or whatever?? Man they are damn good off the line. Exceptional drives by both drivers until Petrov decided to go airborne, crash down and to disconnect his steering wheel! That was one harsh landing. I’m surprised he hasn’t damaged his body, but I bet he is hurting some. It was just as well he wasn’t going too fast, cos without a steering wheel, your kinda buggered!
Button had a good drive to make it number two on the podium and for sure McLaren will still leave happy despite the poor finishing place of Lewis. To know that to be as quick as the Red Bulls, at least in qualifying, in the warmer weather is a great boost to when they were testing and being complete shite.
Talking of which, those 20-second penalties. First off take a look at this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L61_AevsjMs
Now to me, it wasn’t that bad at all, and neither was Alonso’s hit on Lewis IMO. Yes Lewis appeared to move more than once however, it wasn’t more than just taking a (very) wide line. If you notice, all he did was slowly move from left to right (as we look at it) after coming round the corner for the start/finish straight. Then yes he moved left again, but after that all he did was move to appear to be taking the racing line for the first corner. Accept that he didn’t move completely into the racing line but actually, just kept left of it. There was not second defensive move that I can see. That then, to me, is ONE defensive move. But for Lewis to think he would get a penalty, then maybe I’m not seeing something I should. But hey, Alonso’s final position is unchanged which is good, and for Lewis to move from 7th to 8th is not great loss. having been in the race for second (1st was out of the question), then 7th or 8th is a shitter.
So Ferrari. What the hell has happened to them???… (apart from not having Schuey ;)). They showed such promise and yet come race time…even qualifying time, they have gone from hero to almost zero. Such a shame since we need a 3rd proper challenger. And it’s Ferrari for Gods sake! Think whatever of the drivers, but everyone loves the red car, that’s been in Pro F1 from the very start. It is nice however to see Alonso be, what’s the word, MATURE about noting having everything go his way. I’m not he biggest fan at all, but it is really nice form him not to blame everyone but himself, and have proper reality thoughts on the team and their performance. Having said that, it’s clear he is the Number 1 driver, and I think that is all he wants. It’s a decent team and so their time will come I’m sure and I’m sure Alonso thinks so too. So what’s the point in rocking the boat what you have it as good as you can and your “team mate” will just move over whenever you ask him.
I feel sorry for Massa though. Clearly he had his chance, and but for Toyota, would have been champion, and had that Number 1 spot. But since his horrific accident, and the teams lacklustre performance, he is without question a back up for the team, even at this stage. Now that’s not a problem back in the late 90’s+ when Schuey was around winning year after year. But for the team as a whole to be struggling and for Alonso to be faster yes, but not exactly setting the world on fire, I’d be PISSED to be treated as second class. Yep, I truly believe he is treated that way from the outset. But I think Ferrari has always done that, at least so publicly.
But I thought it was a good race some great tussles. Webber and Kobayashi was great viewing. I love Kobi and cant wait for him to get decent car. You never know, with Webber’s contract up next year? Could Lewis get a drive along side Seb ‘crashy’ Vettel? Could Kobi take Lewis’ place? Man, If only I could make that happen!