Malaysian GP 2010: Vettel's start coup sets up Red Bull one-two

In the third round of the 2010 season, Sebastian Vettel won the Malaysian GP at the Sepang International Circuit ahead of his teammate Mark Webber. For Red Bull it was a one-two. Nico Rosberg completed the podium for Mercedes in third place. The race was decided as early as the first corner: starting third on the grid, Vettel went past Rosberg and polesitter Webber and only briefly gave up the lead during the pit stops.

The stage for the race was set on Saturday. Heavy rain began shortly before qualifying and grew ever heavier during Q1. Anyone who didn't set a lap early had little chance of reaching Q2. Of all teams, Ferrari and McLaren waited in the garage and missed their moment. As a result, Fernando Alonso lined up 19th on the grid, Lewis Hamilton 20th and Felipe Massa 21st. Jenson Button had set a time good enough for Q2, but after a trip into the gravel he was unable to take part. He started 17th.

At the front, Webber took pole position on intermediates as the track dried out at the end of Q3. Rosberg lined up alongside him, followed by Vettel and, surprisingly, Adrian Sutil in the Force India. Rookie Nico Hülkenberg also shone with fifth on the grid in the Williams.

One car was out before the start. Pedro de la Rosa (Sauber) suffered an engine failure on the way from the pit lane to the grid, so he did not take part in the formation lap. Rubens Barrichello stalled on the grid and was at the back of the field after the first lap.

Then came the decisive moment: Webber had wheelspin at the start and left the inside open on the run to the first corner. Vettel, who had already passed Rosberg on the straight, used Webber's slipstream and slipped through on the inside. He fended off Webber's counterattack at the next corner. From then on, the two Red Bulls pulled away from the field.

According to our data, Vettel led until lap 22. After Vettel's tyre change, Webber was briefly ahead from lap 23. At Webber's own stop, however, the right front wheel proved difficult to remove. He lost around two seconds and rejoined roughly four seconds behind Vettel. From lap 25 Vettel was back in the lead, this time all the way to the finish. On rejoining from the pits he was side by side with Hamilton, who had not yet stopped, and got the better of him. In total, Vettel led 54 of the 56 laps. Webber responded with the fastest lap of the race (1:37.054 on lap 53, according to Wikipedia) but could not get any closer.

In the Sepang heat, the race was also physically gruelling. Vettel said he had been sweating non-stop in the heat and stressed how important it had been to manage his energy. After two disappointing races, Webber was delighted: “First and second is sensational” (Mail & Guardian).

Things were exciting further back, as the favourites came through from the rear. After just four laps Hamilton was already in tenth place. Along the way he fought a hard battle with Vitaly Petrov in the Renault. The two swapped positions several times. After Hamilton got past at the final corner, he switched lanes four times on the start/finish straight to deny Petrov the slipstream. The stewards investigated the move and gave Hamilton a warning. Experts and drivers disagreed on whether it breached the rules against blocking.

The drivers coming through took different strategic approaches. Button was the first to pit, as early as lap 9, switching to the harder compound. Hamilton, Massa and Alonso, by contrast, had started on the hard tyres and ran long first stints: Massa stopped on lap 27, Hamilton on lap 31 and Alonso not until lap 37. On lap 46 Massa passed Button.

At the finish, Hamilton was sixth and Massa seventh, both having gained 14 places. Hamilton was stuck for a long time behind Sutil, who defended fifth place to the flag. Button finished eighth. Robert Kubica gained two places from sixth on the grid and scored strong points for Renault in fourth.

One of the retirements hit German fans particularly hard:

• Michael Schumacher (Mercedes) retired after 9 laps because a wheel nut had come loose. Official reason: wheel. For the seven-time world champion, the difficult start to his comeback continued.
• Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) struggled with a gearbox problem throughout the race, according to Wikipedia. While battling Button for eighth place, his engine blew on the penultimate lap, with smoke pouring from the rear. Because he had completed more than 90 per cent of the distance, he was still classified 13th after 54 laps.
• Timo Glock (Virgin) was out after just 2 laps. The official reason was a spin; according to Wikipedia, he had previously made contact with Jarno Trulli.
• Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber) retired after 8 laps with an engine failure, Vitantonio Liuzzi (Force India) after 12 laps with a throttle pedal fault.
• Vitaly Petrov (Renault) had to retire with a gearbox failure after 32 laps, following his duel with Hamilton.
• Heikki Kovalainen (Lotus) pitted with hydraulic problems, carried on afterwards and was not classified after 46 laps.

For the new teams, though, there were also reasons to celebrate. Lucas di Grassi took Virgin's first chequered flag in 14th. HRT got both cars to the finish for the first time with Karun Chandhok (15th) and Bruno Senna (16th); for Senna it was his first finish in Formula 1.

Winners of the day:

• Sebastian Vettel: In Bahrain and Australia, technical failures had cost him victory; in Malaysia he made it count at the third attempt. It was the sixth Grand Prix win of his career and Red Bull's first one-two since the 2009 season finale in Abu Dhabi.
• Nico Rosberg: With third place, he gave the new Mercedes works team its first podium. A works Mercedes had last stood on the podium at the 1955 Italian GP.
• Hamilton and Massa: Having gained 14 places each, they were the biggest climbers of the race.
• Nico Hülkenberg and Jaime Alguersuari: Both scored their first championship points, Hülkenberg in tenth, Alguersuari in ninth for Toro Rosso. According to Wikipedia, this made Alguersuari the second-youngest points scorer in Formula 1 history at the time.
• Adrian Sutil: He started fourth, finished fifth and kept Hamilton behind him in the process.

Losers of the day:

• Fernando Alonso: The engine failure shortly before the end cost him the championship lead.
• Mercedes with Schumacher: While Rosberg drove onto the podium, the record world champion lost a wheel.
• Rubens Barrichello: After stalling at the start, he finished twelfth without points, a lap down.

The retirement reshuffled the top of the 2010 standings. Felipe Massa took the lead with 39 points, despite only finishing seventh. Behind him were Alonso and Vettel on 37 points each. Vettel moved up four places thanks to the win. Button and Rosberg had 35 points each, Hamilton 31 and Kubica 30. Webber was eighth with 24 points.

In the constructors' championship, Ferrari stayed in front with 76 points, ahead of McLaren on 66. Red Bull closed the gap with the one-two and were third on 61 points, ahead of Mercedes on 44 and Renault on 30.

The verdict after three races: Red Bull clearly had the fastest car in Sepang. So far, failures had prevented the big results. But if the cars ran without problems, Vettel and Webber had to be reckoned with in this title fight. You can find all the times and data for the race on our Malaysian GP 2010 race page.