Would there be rain in Kuala Lampur to shake up the field and what went down at Sepang? Come with me below the fold to find out…
Ham is the Man in Malaysia running from Pole to Checker for Mercedes, Rosberg second for the Silver Arrows
The rain held off at Sepang circuit and the race ran without the delays or significant incidents that so often crop up in the Malaysian Grand Prix, as Pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton sprinted to the win in sultry Kuala Lampur in the season’s second race. After his DNF in Australia two weeks ago the Mercedes ace ran away from the field and never came under any real pressure throughout the race. Making it all the sweeter for the Silver Arrows, Hamilton’s teammate Nico Rosberg came home a solid 2nd, expanding his lead in the Drivers’ Championship and holding off Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel, who nonetheless got his first podium of the year with a 3rd place finish.
After running strong in the first half of the race, Vettel’s new teammate Daniel Ricciardo had another heartbreaking weekend when a mishap in the pits led to his left front wheel not being secured properly. The Aussie then had to be wheeled back to his pit box, which took forever, and to add insult to injury the team was slapped with an Unsafe Release drive through penalty and he then had a front wing failure, completely destroying Ricciardo’s race. In the end the junior Red Bull driver retired on lap 49 for his second frustrating weekend to start the season after being excluded from the Australian Grand Prix for a fuel sensor violation. Making matters even worse, FIA rules mandate a 10-spot grid penalty for next week’s Bahrain Grand Prix due to the Unsafe Release. Simply put, the kid shows great promise but simply can’t catch a break from his team — are we seeing Mark Webber redux?
Ferrari had a mixed race with a decent outing again from Fernando Alonso, who came home 4th but never seemed to have anything for the top contenders. However Finnish teammate Kimi Raikkonen had contact early on lap one that led to a puncture and premature pit stop and afterwards the car never seemed right. The Ice Man could do no better than 12th, making for a less than stellar return to the Scuderia after his first two outings.
On the other hand, Nico Hulkenberg had another storming drive in his Force India, using tire strategy and excellent long runs to outpace McLaren’s Jenson Button for a very solid 5th place to the English veteran’s 6th. If Hulkenberg could land a drive with one of the big 4 teams, there’s no telling how high he could fly. Unfortunately for Force India, however, their number 2 driver Sergio Perez could not get out of pit lane to start the race with a terminal gearbox issue.
Button’s McLaren teammate, rookie Kevin Magnussen, had an eventful race and was dinged for a stop-and-go penalty for the contact on Raikkonen, a rather harsh judgement from the stewards for what appeared to be a standard racing incident. But the young Dane fought back for a points paying 9th place behind the dueling Williams drivers Filipe Massa and Valteri Botas. Massa ignored team orders and held his 7th place position to the end despite entreaties from the pit wall to let his young inter-team rival pass and take the fight to Button on fresher rubber. It seems the Brazilian vet and near-World Champion has had enough of hearing “so and so is faster than you” but it should still be interesting to see how such blatant disobedience plays out with Sir Frank and Co. as the week progresses.
Torro Rosso rookie Daniil Kvyet claimed the last points paying position with a solid 10th after his more experienced teammate Jean-Eric Vergne had an awful start from 9th on the grid and went back through the pack like a stone. The Frenchman then tangled with the Marussia of Jules Bianchi which eventually led to both of their premature retirements from the race.
In other race-related news the formerly contending team of Lotus, one of last year’s big movers, continues to struggle under the new formula. Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado had a power failure on lap 7 and while Romain Grosjean finished 12th his chassis clearly did not have the pace to challenge for points. On the other hand, lowly Caterham showed some promise with both cars completing full race distance and new hires Kamui Kobayashi and Swedish rookie coming home a respectable 13th and 14th respectively. Is that very first Constructor’s point in the cards this season after 4 years in the big time?
Top 10 finishers here:
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Laps | Time/Retired | Grid | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 56 | 1:40:25.974 | 1 | 25 |
| 2 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes | 56 | +17.3 secs | 3 | 18 |
| 3 | 1 | Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull Racing-Renault | 56 | +24.5 secs | 2 | 15 |
| 4 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Ferrari | 56 | +35.9 secs | 4 | 12 |
| 5 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 56 | +47.1 secs | 7 | 10 |
| 6 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 56 | +83.6 secs | 10 | 8 |
| 7 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams-Mercedes | 56 | +85.0 secs | 13 | 6 |
| 8 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams-Mercedes | 56 | +85.5 secs | 18 | 4 |
| 9 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | McLaren-Mercedes | 55 | +1 Lap | 8 | 2 |
| 10 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | STR-Renault | 55 | +1 Lap | 11 | 1 |
Full race results available at Formula1.com.
The next Grand Prix will be a week from now in Bahrain as the teams work literally on the fly to improve their cars and come to grips with the new technology. Only one thing’s for sure: they won’t have to contend with any rain on that sandy desert circuit. See you then.