FORMULA ONE MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX:RED BULL Racing finally delivered the kind of crushing victory it has been promising since the start of the season, Sebastian Vettel and team-mate Mark Webber yesterday romping to a dominant one-two finish at the Malaysian Grand Prix, to cast aside the failures both have endured in the opening races of the campaign.
Despite being in possession of clearly the fastest car on the grid both Vettel and Webber had failed to capitalise in Bahrain and Australia, the German driver suffering race-ending mechanical failures in both rounds while in the lead and Webber losing out on possible victory from the front row in Melbourne after an incident-filled race in which he tangled with McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton throughout.
Yesterday though, those errors were eradicated as the pair, who had annexed the front row in a messy rain-hit qualifying session on Saturday, roared away from the rest of the field, quickly building a solid gap to third-placed Nico Rosberg and then effortlessly cruising to the chequered flag.
For Vettel, the race was won in the first turn. The 22-year-old had been forced to settle for third on the grid after Webber had profited from a final session gamble in qualifying, taking on intermediate tyres when the rest of the top 10 remained on full wet tyres in the rain-affected top-10 shootout. It was a brave move, which paid off handsomely as the Australian took his second career pole position by 1.3 seconds over Rosberg.
At the start of the race, though, Vettel was quickest out of the traps, both Webber and Rosberg suffering wheel spin. The young German blasted past Rosberg’s Mercedes on the run down to turn one and as Webber went defensively wide on the entrance, Vettel tucked inside and stole into the lead.
And that was that. Webber hustled in the early stages to put some pressure on his team-mate but during his single pit stop, a stuck wheel gun kept the Australian in the pitlane for crucial seconds and by the time he retook the circuit, Vettel was comfortably ahead and cruising to victory.
“I realised straight away that I had made a good start past Nico and then I got the door open from Mark and was able to gain, gain, gain on the long sprint to turn one,” admitted Vettel.
“I took a chance and just about made it, the move was from quite far back.
“After that it was just a case of getting away from our competitors. But, what a day. It’s a very good result for us and especially for myself after two races where we didn’t finish where we wanted to be.
“The key is not to panic in that situation, you have to stay relaxed, it’s a long season.
“But, sitting here on a Sunday afternoon in first position is a good feeling.”
With Rosberg left to race in isolation for the final podium position, and with Renault’s Robert Kubica having a similar afternoon in fourth, what action remained was largely confined to a race-long strategic battle between McLaren and Ferrari, both teams battling into the points after being caught out on Saturday.
The two teams had opted to play a waiting game in qualifying as rain hit the circuit in the minutes before the start of the first session and while the rest of the field took to the track to put in ‘banker’ laps, Ferrari and McLaren dithered. When the rain became a torrent Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa and Lewis Hamilton left it too late, conditions proving too bad to find the pace to see them through to session two. Only Jenson Button scraped through in 15th. The champion, though, had spun off at the end of session one and with his car beached in the gravel traps he was forced to sit out the rest of the afternoon.
The race, then, was about damage limitation, and by the closing stages all four had clambered to points-scoring positions. But it was the McLarens who took most from the afternoon, Hamilton battling to sixth after a long first stint enabled him to remain in contention and then allowed him to push hard in the closing stages on fresh tyres.
RACE RESULT
1. S Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1 hr 33 mins 48.412
2. M Webber (Aust) Red Bull +4.849 secs
3. N Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 13.504
4. R Kubica (Pol) Renault 18.589
5. A Sutil (Ger) Force India 21.059
6. L Hamilton (Brit) McLaren 23.471
7. F Massa (Bra) Ferrari 27.068
8. J Button (Brit) McLaren 37.918
9. J Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso 01:10.602
10. N Huelkenberg (Ger) Williams 01:13.399
11. S Buemi (Swi) Toro Rosso 01:18.938; 12. R Barrichello (Bra) Williams 1 lap; 13. F Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 2 laps; 14. L Di Grassi (Bra) Virgin 3 laps; 15. K Chandhok (Ind) HRT 3 laps; 16. B Senna (Bra) HRT 4 laps; 17. J Trulli (Ita) Lotus 5 laps; r. H Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus 10 laps; r. V Petrov (Rus) Renault 24 laps; r. V Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 44 laps; r. M Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 47 laps; r. K Kobayashi (Jap) Sauber 48 laps; r. T Glock (Ger) Virgin 54 laps; dns P de la Rosa (Spa) Sauber 56 laps
(r = retired, nc = not classified, dns = did not start).
Fastest Lap: Mark Webber, 1:37.054, lap 53.
DRIVER STANDINGS
1. F Massa (Bra) Ferrari 39
2. F Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 37
3. S Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 37
4. J Button (Brit) McLaren 35
5. N Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 35
6. L Hamilton (Brit) McLaren 31
7. R Kubica (Pol) Renault 30
8. M Webber (Aust) Red Bull 24
9. A Sutil (Ger) Force India 10
10. M Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 9
11. V Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 8
12. R Barrichello (Bra) Williams 5
13. J Alguersuari (Spa) Toro Rosso 2
14. N Huelkenberg (Ger) Williams 1
CONSTRUCTOR STANDINGS
1. Ferrari 76
2. McLaren - Mercedes 66
3. Red Bull - Renault 61
4. Mercedes GP 44
5. Renault 30
6. Force India - Mercedes 18
7. Williams - Cosworth 6
8. Toro Rosso - Ferrari 2
9. BMW Sauber - Ferrari 0
10. Lotus - Cosworth 0
10. HRT - Cosworth 0
12. Virgin Cosworth 0
