VETTEL THIRD TIME LUCKY IN MALAYSIA

Germany's Sebastien Vettel made it third time lucky in Malaysia recording a one-two finish with Red Bull team-mate Mark Webber. Nico Rosberg made it onto the rostrum recording the Sllver Arrows’ first podium finish.

In the hot, sticky conditions of Kuala Lumpur, everyone was waiting on the rain which had made qualifying the previous day a lottery. Surprisingly, the heavens didn’t open leading to more of a processional race like we had seen in Bahrain.

However, Vettel was one man smiling that the rain didn’t threaten his dominant race. Webber started from pole position, had made a good start over his team-mate, but chose to head into turn one on the racing line instead of taking a more defensive approach into the first corner Vettel didn’t hesitate and jumped up the inside into the lead and comfortably led Webber for the duration of the race.

After the heartbreak for Vettel twice this season retiring whilst winning the GP, this was a man desperate to claim 25 points and make up for the disaster of the Bahrain and Melbourne. The new F1 points system for 2010 means that Vettel is now only 2 points behind the leader of the championship, putting himself right back into contention.

Vettel enthused, “What a day! At the start, I realised that I had a good start past Nico. I was then able to gain on Mark; it's a long sprint down to Turn one and I had an advantage, so I took the chance into Turn 1 and just made it through! Mark had a better exit out of Turn 2 though Turn 3, but it was very slippery and we both tried to push. We are here to fight, but you should always keep respect and I think we both had respect for each other. If Mark had been in my position I'm sure he would have done the same.”

Webber was reflective after the first corner judgement he made and maybe rues giving Vettel even an opportunity to pass. “I got a bit of wheel spin at the start and Seb got a tow into the first corner. I didn't know where Nico was, so I braked late. Both Seb and I were on the limit to make the first corner. I had a little bit better exit coming out of Turn 2 and the fight continued into Turn 4. We had a chat to Christian at the start of the race and he said ‘Boys, behave yourselves!’ and we did.”

After Rosberg’s first front row start in F1, a podium result for the 25 year old, was a welcome sight and puts him in a very strong position in the drivers championship, only 4 points off the leader. Consistency appears to be the key for the Mercedes driver and after being outgunned by the eventual race winner Vettel at the start, he held off Kubica and once again comphrensively beat his team-mate Schumacher. Schumi’s F1 season was not to improve in Malaysia. After making up two places at the start, the seven time world champ was in 6th position and suffered a rear wing failure on lap 10 putting an end to his race.

Of course there was a topsy turvy grid with both McLarens and Ferraris starting from 17th and below. Hamilton was the best of the bunch making an awesome start and gaining seven places on the first few laps. He had an exiting battle with young Russain driver Vitoly Petrov, though was warned over his excessive weaving down the straight after he appeared to block the Renault driver four times. Rules say you are only allowed to make 1 clear blocking move.

Renault boss Eric Boullier said the team complained to race control about Hamilton's actions during the race. "Very frankly, it is very clear in the regulations that you can have one change of direction, so when you do three in a row something is wrong. He got a warning for dangerous driving, but I am not sure it is enough. It is definitely clearly written in the regulations that you can not do any more than one direction change, and it is something you should not be doing. "However Boullier said they would not be pursuing the matter further, "No. A warning says that if you do it again you will be penalised."

Hamilton’s charge came to a halt when he caught his good friend Adrian Sutil and was unable to pass him. As they both use the powerful Mercedes engine, even the McLaren’s F-duct which helps increase speeds on the straights didn’t manage to allow Hamilton to squeeze by the Force India. The Stevenage born racer said, “I tried my best to get past Adrian, but he was very smart at getting clean exits and was simply too fast down the straights. He drove a fantastic race, actually; faultless, in fact. From 20th on the grid, I think sixth was a brilliant result.”

Race winner in Melbourne, Jenson Button didn’t have the dream start that Hamilton did and was tied up on a fight with both the Ferrari’s. He was chased until the end by Fernando Alonso finishing 8th behind Felipe Massa.

Alonso had what he described as the “hardest race of his life” when he had to drive with a broken downshift problem. He had bravely fought onto the back of Button’s McLaren in a 9th place, when he passed Button and then his engine exploded costing him two points after a difficult race. "This was a very difficult weekend. We made a big mistake in yesterday's qualifying and today in the race, I had to retire with an engine problem. My race was an uphill climb from the start: I found I had a problem with the gearbox right from the start and I had to drive without a clutch for practically the whole race.

"Trying to look on the positive side, at least the engine failure only cost me two points: it would have been much worse if I had been in the lead!”

Massa finishing in 7th place left Malaysia as the new leader of the driver’s championship.

The Torro Rosso boys provided the fans with some much needed passing. Buemi and Alguersuari drove great races after mediocre races in the first two. Alguersuari finished in 9th place, collecting his first ever points in F1. It was a great reward for the youngster’s drive in this category.

There was also delight for Lucas Di Grassi in the Virgin after finishing his first race for Virgin and in F1. It was a welcome sight to see the chequered flag. The Hispania Racing team also got both cars to the finish showing good reliability.

Next challenge for the F1 circus is China, will Red Bull continue to dominate or will the Ferrari and McLaren’s bounce back to fight for top spot?

Malaysia Race Results:
1. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 56 laps 1hr 33m 48.412s
2. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault +04.8s
3. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes +13.5s
4. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault +18.5s
5. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes +21.0s
6. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes +23.4s
7. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari +27.0s
8. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes +37.9s
9. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari +70.6s
10. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth +73.3s

Drivers Championship Standings after Race 3:
1. Felipe Massa 39pts
2. Fernando Alonso 37pts
3. Sebastian Vettel 37pts
4. Jenson Button 35pts
5. Nico Rosberg 35pts
6. Lewis Hamilton 31pts
7. Robert Kubica 30pts
8. Mark Webber 24pts
9. Adrian Sutil 10pts
10.Michael Schumacher 9pts

How did the team-mates fare? After 3 races?
Hamilton 1-2 Button, Massa 1-2 Alonso, Vettel 2-1 Webber, Rosberg 3-0 Schumacher, Kubica 3-0 Petrov, Barrichello 2 -1 Hulkenberg, Sutil 3 –0 Liuzzi, De La Rosa 2-1 Kobayashi, Buemi 3-0 Alguersuari, Glock 3-0 Di Grassi, Trulli 1-2 Kovalainen, Senna 2 – 1 Chandhok