Sebastian Vettel made it four wins from the last four races as he took the chequered flag at the Malaysian Grand Prix.

With the rain expected for the race never fully materialising, Vettel was able to keep cool in the Malaysian heat to extend his Championship lead to 24 points.

The German led from pole to win his second race of the season. Jenson Button made up for a poor start to finish second, while Renault’s Nick Heidfeld held off a late charge from Mark Webber to secure a superb podium finish.

Lewis Hamilton had a race to forget however, and looked off the pace before a coming together with Fernando Alonso forced him into the pits and down into 7^th place, where he eventually finished.

Vettel dominated early proceedings and got away off the line excellently, something which could be said of team-mate Webber, who reported a problem during the installation lap. The Australian looked helpless as he fell back to 9^th position, while Heidfeld rocketed forward into 2^nd place, ahead of Hamilton and Button.

“Hamilton’s mood reflected the gathering dark rain clouds after the race, with the 26-year old left to wonder what might have been.”

If events seemed to be transpiring against Webber, then he would not have been impressed when he received a radio message from his team informing him that the KERS power boost system had failed on both Red Bulls.

Vettel’s early lead diminished as Hamilton eventually wrestled 2^nd back from Heidfeld and reeled in his rival. However the 23-year-old soon responded and re-established his lead to comfortably take the race from Button.

“It (KERS) was a little bit on-off during the race.” He said after his victory. “Two weeks ago we never raced it at all. Today if I didn’t have it at the start the race would never have unfolded as it did. Then we had a problem and had to turn it off, but it came back on again.”

If Hamilton was dismayed after his race-strategy had left him behind Button in third, he would have been distraught with the collision with Alonso which cost him dear. The 2008 World Champion was struggling for grip on a new set of tyres he was looking to make last until the end of the race, but with ten laps remaining, was forced to stop after Alonso ran into the back of his right rear tyre, snapping the Spaniard’s front wing and damaging the McLaren driver’s rubber.

Hamilton’s mood reflected the gathering dark rain clouds after the race, with the 26-year old left to wonder what might have been.

This is racing, I guess,” Hamilton said. “I started second and did everything I could to keep up and I don’t really have too much to say.

“It started (when) I got stuck behind Heidfeld, I had Jenson on my inside and Heidfeld on my outside so squashed into Turn One.

“It was difficult to defend without hitting them but that’s racing sometimes. Through the race, my tyres went off, we boxed (pitted) too early, that made us box earlier again, all the time we were boxing early.

“My tyres were done on the end. I have to take it on the chin and see how it goes.”

Both drivers were hit with a 20 second penalty after the race, Hamilton for changing more than one direction in an attempt to block Alonso’s overtaking manoeuvre, while the Spaniard was punished for causing the collision. As a result, Hamilton dropped one place to eighth, with Alonso retaining his race position.

Webber was able to move up the grid after Hamilton ran wide on his damaged tyres, and pushed Heidfeld, who was also able to pass Hamilton, all the way for the final podium finish. But the German, who was drafted in as a replacement for the injured Robert Kubica, kept him at bay to secure his first top three finish since 2009.

Renault’s Vitaly Kubica rounded off a spectacular race as he went air-borne after running wide, pulling his steering column off in the process.

Race Results:

Related posts: