Sunday, April 4, 2010

Vettel leads Red Bull one-two at Sepang

Red Bull desperately needed a victory to get back into the world championship chase, and Sebastian Vettel delivered it in fine style in a dry Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday. And to make things even better, Mark Webber brought the sister car home second.

Vettel snatched the lead at the start from his Australian team mate, and apart from a time when McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton ran second for a while before his tyre stop, they were never seriously challenged.

Polesitter Webber stayed close to Vettel until the stops, but lost two and a half seconds in his tyre stop because of a wheel-gun problem, and finally finished 4.8s behind.

Nico Rosberg was Mercedes GP’s sole finisher in third, after Michael Schumacher retired early on, and he headed home Robert Kubica who scored yet again for Renault. The Pole pushed the German hard, but was never able to challenge seriously.

The race up front wasn’t a repeat of Melbourne’s excitement, but the McLaren and Ferrari drivers provided plenty of thrills as they recovered from their lowly grid positions. Hamilton was 12th by the end of the first lap after starting 20th, but having run second, after staying out on hard rubber until the 30th lap, he was unable to pull an overtaking move on Adrian Sutil once he had switched to soft Bridgestones.

The German kept his head and drove a superb race for Force €ndia to take fifth. Hamilton pushed him very hard, but had to be content with another sixth place ahead of Felipe Massa who was Ferrari’s sole finisher after a feisty battle from the back of the grid.

McLaren’s Jenson Button took eighth, after making an early stop to switch from his soft tyres and having to make the hard replacements last a long time. He was overtaken briefly on the 55th lap by a challenging Fernando Alonso, but as the Ferrari slid wide in Turn One after braking too late Button repassed, and then immediately the Spaniard’s engine broke, dropping him back to a 13th-place finish.

Jaime Alguersuari again drove an excellent race for Toro Rosso and was rewarded with two points for ninth, with Nico Hulkenberg taking the final one for Williams thanks to Alonso’s misfortune.

Toro Rosso’s Sebastien Buemi was 11th from Rubens Barrichello, whose Williams bogged down so badly at the start that Alonso had to make a phenomenal avoidance.

Despite a wing-damaging brush with Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus, Lucas di Grassi brought his Virgin home 14th and best of the newcomers after a strong drive, while Karun Chandhok also beat the Lotuses on their home ground to bring his HRT home 15th ahead of team mate Bruno Senna. Jarno Trulli was 17th as Lotus’s better finisher, with Kovalainen taking 18th after a long pit stop for mechanical attention.

Vitaly Petrov ran well initially, earning Hamilton a stewards’ warning after the Briton weaved too much keeping him at bay down the pit straight, but retired his Renault with mechanical trouble. Vitantonio Liuzzi also ran well, ahead of the Russian, before his Force €ndia retired. He was classified 20th ahead of Schumacher and Kamui Kobayashi, who also suffered engine trouble in his BMW Sauber.

Virgin’s Timo Glock also failed to finish after a spin which put him into Trulli, spinning the Lotus. And Pedro de la Rosa did not take the start after his BMW Sauber stopped out on the circuit on the grid formation lap.

The result dramatically closes the championship points battle. Massa now leads with 39 from Alonso and Vettel on 37, Button on 35, Hamilton on 31 and Kubica on 30. €n the constructors’ stakes Ferrari still lead with 76, but McLaren now have 66, Red Bull 61, Mercedes 44 and Renault 30.

Race winner Sebastian Vettel (GER) Red Bull Racing celebrates on  the podium.  Formula One World Championship, Rd 3, Malaysian Grand Prix, Race,  Sepang, Malaysia, Sunday, 4 April 2010 Adrian Sutil (GER) Force India F1 VJM03 and Michael Schumacher  (GER) Mercedes GP MGP W01 at the start of the race. Formula One World  Championship, Rd 3, Malaysian Grand Prix, Race, Sepang, Malaysia,  Sunday, 4 April 2010 Sebastian Vettel (GER) Red Bull Racing RB6 passes team mate Mark  Webber (AUS) Red Bull Racing RB6 at the start of the race. Formula One  World Championship, Rd 3, Malaysian Grand Prix, Race, Sepang, Malaysia,  Sunday, 4 April 2010 Lewis Hamilton (GBR) McLaren MP4/25 leads Felipe Massa (BRA)  Ferrari F10. Formula One World Championship, Rd 3, Malaysian Grand Prix,  Race, Sepang, Malaysia, Sunday, 4 April 2010
Race winner Sebastian Vettel (GER) Red Bull Racing RB6 takes the  chequered flag at the end of the race.  Formula One World Championship, Rd 3, Malaysian Grand Prix, Race,  Sepang, Malaysia, Sunday, 4 April 2010


2010 FORMULA 1 PETRONAS MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX

Pos No Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Pts
1 5 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 56 1:33:48.412 3 25
2 6 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 56 +4.8 secs 1 18
3 4 Nico Rosberg Mercedes GP 56 +13.5 secs 2 15
4 11 Robert Kubica Renault 56 +18.5 secs 6 12
5 14 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 56 +21.0 secs 4 10
6 2 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 56 +23.4 secs 20 8
7 7 Felipe Massa Ferrari 56 +27.0 secs 21 6
8 1 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 56 +37.9 secs 17 4
9 17 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 56 +70.6 secs 14 2
10 10 Nico Hulkenberg Williams-Cosworth 56 +73.3 secs 5 1
11 16 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 56 +78.9 secs 13
12 9 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 55 +1 Lap 7
13 8 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 54 +2 Laps 19
14 25 Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 53 +3 Laps 24
15 20 Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 53 +3 Laps 22
16 21 Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 52 +4 Laps 23
17 18 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 51 +5 Laps 18
Ret 19 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 46 +10 Laps 15
Ret 12 Vitaly Petrov Renault 32 +24 Laps 11
Ret 15 Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 12 +44 Laps 10
Ret 3 Michael Schumacher Mercedes GP 9 +47 Laps 8
Ret 23 Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 8 +48 Laps 9
Ret 24 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 2 +54 Laps 16
DNS 22 Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 0 +56 Laps 12


Pos Team Points
1 Ferrari 76
2 McLaren-Mercedes 66
3 RBR-Renault 61
4 Mercedes GP 44
5 Renault 30
6 Force India-Mercedes 18
7 Williams-Cosworth 6
8 STR-Ferrari 2
9 BMW Sauber-Ferrari 0
10 Lotus-Cosworth 0
11 HRT-Cosworth 0
12 Virgin-Cosworth 0


Pos Driver Nationality Team Points
1 Felipe Massa Brazilian Ferrari 39
2 Fernando Alonso Spanish Ferrari 37
3 Sebastian Vettel German RBR-Renault 37
4 Jenson Button British McLaren-Mercedes 35
5 Nico Rosberg German Mercedes GP 35
6 Lewis Hamilton British McLaren-Mercedes 31
7 Robert Kubica Polish Renault 30
8 Mark Webber Australian RBR-Renault 24
9 Adrian Sutil German Force India-Mercedes 10
10 Michael Schumacher German Mercedes GP 9
11 Vitantonio Liuzzi Italian Force India-Mercedes 8
12 Rubens Barrichello Brazilian Williams-Cosworth 5
13 Jaime Alguersuari Spanish STR-Ferrari 2
14 Nico Hulkenberg German Williams-Cosworth 1
15 Sebastien Buemi Swiss STR-Ferrari 0
16 Pedro de la Rosa Spanish BMW Sauber-Ferrari 0
17 Heikki Kovalainen Finnish Lotus-Cosworth 0
18 Karun Chandhok Indian HRT-Cosworth 0
19 Lucas di Grassi Brazilian Virgin-Cosworth 0
20 Bruno Senna Brazilian HRT-Cosworth 0
21 Jarno Trulli Italian Lotus-Cosworth 0
22 Timo Glock German Virgin-Cosworth 0
23 Vitaly Petrov Russian Renault 0
24 Kamui Kobayashi Japanese BMW Sauber-Ferrari 0

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