Sepang success for Vettel

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel has won the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang ahead of team-mate Mark Webber.

Vettel overcomes Webber while Hamilton salvages sixth place

Sebastian Vettel led home team-mate Mark Webber on Sunday as Red Bull dominated the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang. The team, who have been the pacesetters so far this season but who have also suffered from poor reliability, made no mistakes in one of the toughest races of the season which despite a forecast of rain was run in dry, albeit typically hot and humid, conditions. Mercedes GP's Nico Rosberg finished third ahead of Renault's Robert Kubica and Force India's Adrian Sutil. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, finished sixth after starting 20th on the grid, one place ahead of Ferrari's Felipe Massa, who had lined up 21st. Hamilton's team-mate Jenson Button finished eighth while Massa's own team-mate, Fernando Alonso, suffered a late retirement whilst battling with the defending world champion. Toro Rosso's Jaime Alguersuari and Williams rookie Nico Hulkenberg therefore finished ninth and 10th to score their first championship points. The result sees Red Bull and their drivers finally get their season up and running, with Vettel climbing to joint second in the drivers' championship - a table the German would have been dominating but for the mechanical misfortunes he suffered in the opening two rounds. Up front, the race was decided at the very first corner as, starting third on the grid, Vettel passed Rosberg before diving up the inside of polesitter Webber at the first corner. Rosberg therefore fell to third ahead of Kubica, Sutil, Mercedes GP's Michael Schumacher, Hulkenberg, Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi and Renault's Vitaly Petrov. With the Red Bull's away out front, attentions now turned towards the back of the grid, where both McLaren and Ferrari languished after misjudging wet conditions in qualifying. Much like Vettel, Hamilton found plenty of clear track down the start-finish straight and moved up from 20th to 13h on lap one, with Massa 14th, Button 15th and Alonso 16th. Alonso passed Button for 15th on lap two - the McLaren driver having had to back off to avoid a collision with an out-of-shape Massa - with Hamilton passing Toro Rosso's Sebastien Buemi for 12th before climbing into the points by lap four after overtaking Alguersuari and Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi.

Slipstreaming

He then got involved in a dice with Petrov, the pair slipstreaming to and fro down the wide straights as Hamilton sought a way past, finally making the move stick on lap eight but also receiving an official warning for weaving. Button got back past Alonso one lap later before becoming the first to pit on lap 10 - McLaren electing to start their drivers on opposing strategies and pitting Button early to change from soft to hard compound tyres. The same lap brought the sight of Schumacher pulling off the track, a wheel nut having fallen off his car's left-rear, while Hamilton's path was eased further when Liuzzi slowed from seventh place two laps later before retiring. He was up to sixth place when Hulkenberg pitted on lap 14, Button now also in the points as he and Hamilton traded fastest laps with Webber and Vettel, the latter holding a 1.4s lead on lap 19. Hamilton moved up to third after Sutil, Kubica and Rosberg stopped between laps 21 and 23 but he could not get second from Vettel after the latter stopped soon after. He took second from Webber when he stopped one lap later but fell to seventh after McLaren finally brought him in to change from hard to soft tyres on lap 31. He rejoined just ahead of Button - the two McLarens briefly side by side after Hamilton rejoined the fray - before pulling away from his team-mate in his pursuit of fifth-placed Sutil. Meanwhile, Alonso was the last to make a scheduled stop on lap 37, dropping from fifth to ninth behind his team-mate. Vettel now held a 3.4-second lead over Webber, with Rosberg third ahead of Kubica, Sutil, Hamilton, Button, Massa, Alonso and Alguersuari. With the race settling into its final phase, it was Sutil and Button who appeared in most danger of losing position.

Blown engine for Alonso

Massa passed Button on lap 44 and inched towards Hamilton, who in turn found himself stuck behind Sutil. Meanwhile, Alonso closed up on the second McLaren and despite passing him briefly on two separate occasions, the latter attempt on lap 55 coincided instead with a blown engine. Elsewhere, Lucas di Grassi won the battle of the new teams with 14th place for Virgin Racing ahead of the Hispania Racing cars of Karun Chandhok and Bruno Senna, with Lotus's Jarno Trulli finishing behind them in 17th. Petrov pulled off the track with a mechanical failure on lap 34 while Kobayashi retired with an engine failure on lap 9 - the same problem preventing Sauber team-mate Pedro de la Rosa from taking the start.

Malaysian Grand Prix, result

1 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 1hr 33mins 48.412secs, 2 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 1:33:53.261, 3 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 1:34:01.916, 4 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 1:34:07.001, 5 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 1:34:09.471, 6 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 1:34:11.883, 7 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 1:34:15.480, 8 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 1:34:26.330, 9 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:34:59.014, 10 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams 1:35:01.811, 11 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 1:35:07.350, 12 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams at 1 Lap, 13 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari at 2 Laps, 14 Lucas di Grassi (Bra) Virgin Racing at 3 Laps, 15 Karun Chandhok (Ind) HRT-F1 at 3 Laps, 16 Bruno Senna (Bra) HRT-F1 at 4 Laps, 17 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 at 5 Laps Not Classified: 18 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 46 Laps completed, 19 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 32 Laps completed, 20 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 12 Laps completed, 21 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 9 Laps completed, 22 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber 8 Laps completed, 23 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 2 Laps completed, 24 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber 0 Laps completed
World Championship Standings
Drivers: 1 Felipe Massa (Bra) Ferrari 39pts, 2 Fernando Alonso (Spa) Ferrari 37, 3 Sebastian Vettel (Ger) Red Bull 37, 4 Jenson Button (Gbr) McLaren 35, 5 Nico Rosberg (Ger) Mercedes GP 35, 6 Lewis Hamilton (Gbr) McLaren 31, 7 Robert Kubica (Pol) Renault 30, 8 Mark Webber (Aus) Red Bull 24, 9 Adrian Sutil (Ger) Force India 10, 10 Michael Schumacher (Ger) Mercedes GP 9, 11 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Ita) Force India 8, 12 Rubens Barrichello (Bra) Williams 5, 13 Jaime Alguersuari (Spa) Scuderia Toro Rosso 2, 14 Nico Hulkenberg (Ger) Williams 1, 15 Sebastien Buemi (Swi) Scuderia Toro Rosso 0, 16 Pedro de la Rosa (Spa) BMW Sauber 0, 17 Heikki Kovalainen (Fin) Lotus F1 0, 18 Karun Chandhok (Ind) HRT-F1 0, 19 Lucas di Grassi (Bra) Virgin Racing 0, 20 Bruno Senna (Bra) HRT-F1 0, 21 Jarno Trulli (Ita) Lotus F1 0, 22 Timo Glock (Ger) Virgin Racing 0, 23 Vitaly Petrov (Rus) Renault 0, 24 Kamui Kobayashi (Jpn) BMW Sauber 0
Manufacturers: 1 Ferrari 76pts, 2 McLaren 66, 3 Red Bull 61, 4 Mercedes GP 44, 5 Renault 30, 6 Force India 18, 7 Williams 6, 8 Scuderia Toro Rosso 2, 9 BMW Sauber 0, 10 Lotus F1 0, 11 HRT-F1 0, 12 Virgin Racing 0