Vettel leads Red Bull Racing to bitter one-two finish

Sebastian Vettel has won the Malaysian Grand Prix with teammate Mark Webber just behind in second for the first Red Bull one-two win of the 2013 season. Lewis Hamilton scored his first podium finish with his new team, putting his Mercedes in third just ahead of his teammate Nico Rosberg in an action packed final ten laps saw hair raising wheel-to-wheel racing between both the Red Bull cars and the Mercedes cars, and somewhat unimpressed and unhappy teammates and team personnel in the trophy room before the top three took to the podium.

The closing stages of the race proved to be possibly the most exciting part of the entire day, when both Red Bull Racing teammates and Mercedes AMG F1 teammates found themselves racing each other for track position. A late third stop by race leader Mark Webber saw the Australian leave the pit lane just ahead of Sebastian Vettel and fighting for first place. Just a couple of laps later and Sebastian Vettel would pass Webber for the lead with a daring move on Webber down the pit straight, with team personnel on the pit lane looking understandably terrified with the situation. Christian Horner was even heard to say over the radio to Vettel “This is silly Seb, come on” in fear that both teammates would take each other out of the race.

Behind the Red Bull fight, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were fighting for third position into close proximity of each other on several occasions. Ross Brawn also looked weary on the pit wall, radioing to both drivers many times to ensure both finished the race and scored as many points as possible.

As the top three gathered in the holding room before taking to the podium, there was little to be said amongst teammates Vettel and Webber, with Webber not even speaking to Vettel until spoken to. Adrian Newey, accepting the trophy on behalf of Red Bull Racing, looked to be discussing the events of the race in great depth with Vettel as well as talking about the fact that Sebastian Vettel directly disobeyed team orders. Mark Webber looked noticeably disappointed and angry with how the result played out, though played a somewhat gracious role whilst being interviewed on the podium, thanking his team for a good race.

There was also noticeable friction at the Mercedes team, with Rosberg being told to hold back from overtaking Hamilton in the final laps of the race. Rosberg asked several times to pass Hamilton, saying he was faster, but Team Principal Ross Brawn ordered him to hold back, wanting to ‘bring both cars home safely’. Hamilton ultimately finished third, just ahead of Nico Rosberg in fourth. Ross Brawn quickly disappeared to the back of the Mercedes garage at the end of the race, and was not immediately available for interview.

Felipe Massa finished in fifth place, being the only Ferrari to score points this race after Fernando Alonso’s second lap retirement from the race. Romain Grosjean and Kimi Raikkonen brought both Lotus cars home in sixth and seventh respectively, with the Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg in eighth. Sergio Peres scored the only point from McLaren, finishing ninth, whilst Jean-Eric Vergne scored his inaugural points of the season and for his team picking up tenth place.

Tyre strategy, though key to any race, did not seem to play as much of a part in Malaysia as was expected with few drivers struggling to maintain wear or temperatures at any given point of the race. It was the first time Pirelli have brought their new P-Orange hard compound tyre to a race in 2013, a tyre which proved both durable and a favourite amongst many of the drivers today.

After several laps by the Medical Car prior to the race to ensure the track was dry and safe enough for the drivers to get off under their own power, things got off to a relatively clean start in the wet with all cars making it safely through Turn 1 and into the race. Alonso would suffer the only damage of the first lap, coming into contact with Sebastian Vettel’s Red Bull in turn 2 as the car seemed to slip slightly out of his control. Opting to remain out on track as lap 1 came to an end, Alonso’s front wing would then fall off on the main straight just as lap 2 got underway, trapping itself under the front wheels of the car and forcing the damaged Ferrari off track and into the gravel track, thus making Alonso the first retirement of the race. Arguably, it was a retirement that could have been avoided; though that will be down to Ferrari and Alonso to discuss internally.

A few laps into the race, and with the track starting to dry out with no rain falling, it was time for the first round of pit stops as drivers looked to change with Intermediate tyres with the slick medium Pirelli compound. All fairly standard stops, expect for a few notable events in the pit lane. Force India made the call for both cars to pit, but a rear air-gun failure meant Adrian Sutil was stuck waiting for his rear left tyre a little longer than he would have hoped. Teammate Paul di Resta meanwhile sat idle behind waiting for the team to rectify the situation. Eventually both cars returned to the track, though somewhat further back than the team would have been planning for.

Lewis Hamilton also made for an amusing watch in the first round of stops, pulling into his ex-team McLaren’s pit box before the mechanics frantically waved him through. Noticing his mistake, Hamilton surged forward, around the pit box of Lotus and eventually into his own [Mercedes] pit box for a sound stop.

The race seemed to settle down after the first round of stops, with little by ways of ‘action’ out on track and more just the usual on track position changes and racing associated with an F1 race. Maldonado continued to struggle with his Williams FW35, losing control into turn 11 not even twenty laps into the race and ripping his front wing off. A front wing and nosecone change later, he would find himself driving for position amongst the back-markers until retiring from the race, ending his second race of 2013 in the gravel trap.

Force India pit stops got no better second time round. Paul di Resta’s routine scheduled stop for a second tyre change turned into a stop of epic length as the team struggled with di Resta’s front left tyre. Unable to fix the tyre, the team choose to retire the car, bringing a miserable race weekend to an end for the Scot. After the first round of disastrous stops, Adrian Sutil found himself competing at the back of the grid until lap 29, when his car was also retired by the team and pushed into the garage. Force India will be happy to see the back of Malaysia, hoping to find the early season success they had in Australia when racing returns to Shanghai in three weeks.

The pit lane continued to be where most of the action could be found in Malaysia this year when Jenson Button pit for his third round of tyres. Mechanics were unable to secure his front right tyre before he was prematurely released. Button would stop his car outside the Sauber garage before mechanics could catch him up, push the car back to the McLaren pit box, and secure the wheel. Button re-joined the race on lap 37 in 14th place after that costly delay. McLaren eventually retired Button’s car just a few laps from the chequered flag.

At the back of the race finishers, Bottas, Gutiérrez, Bianchi, Pic, van der Garde and Chilton all saw the chequered flag, whilst Button, Ricciardo, Maldonado, Sutil, di Resta and Alonso were the race retirees. It is the second consecutive race of the 2013 season in which both Caterham and Marussia cars have finished the entire race.

Sebastien Vettel now leads the World Drivers’ Championship with 40 points, just ahead of Kimi Raikkonen who has 31. With a one-two finish, Red Bull Racing now lead the constructors’ ahead of Lotus and Ferrari.

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