Sunday, April 10, 2011

2011 MALAYSIA GP: VETTEL WINS, FIRST CLASS RACE FOR YOUNG GERMAN

Vettel is incredible, superb drive, excellent tactics. Nobody could match him today. First clase race from young German. He remains unbeaten this season despite problems with KERS on his car. Red Bull most of the race drove without this system, which seems is the weakest chain in the car.

World Champion again dominated, and his win was neber in doubt. He had enough speed and without KERS enabled to stay ahead of his rivals this time on the dry track in Sepang. Most of the drivers ask their engineers if it will rain, and thus to get a chance to catch Vettel.

Follow, Jenson Button in second and Nick Heidfeld in third place. Nick had an impressive start to the race. Both in a quiet race for them, benefit mistakes of Hamilton, Alonso, Webber and the race ended with an excellent result for them. Button won Hamilton in their third and final pit stop, after the rapid gap closing in stint before entering the pits, but for something more, i.e. Vetel attack, there was no performance in his car.

Heidfeld secured third place with a good start, but followed by bad tactical decision for early pit stop, then he struggle to get at front, Hamilton and Alonso made beginers mistakes, and he finished the race on the podium.

Mark Webber into a nightmare race for him, finished 4th. As we said KERS on Red Bull`s is their weak point, Vetel had half race but the Australian one was faulty from the start, and without it at the start of the race you can`t do much, it cost him as he dropped back to 10-th. Pushing for the better finish, driving always on the maximum of the car is especially bad this year with the Pirelli tyres, so he had four visits to his mechanics, unlike the three pit stop of rivals. Eventually reached Heidfeld, his car had a performance to overtake, but there wasn`t enough time, and in the last round also his moveable rear wing failed to activate. Felipe Massa finished 10.5 seconds behind Mark Webber in fifth place in a race in which he more time spent defending his position rather than attacking.

The biggest disappointments of the day Alonso, 6th, and Hamilton, 7-th. Lewis was Vettel`s closest rival at the beginning of the race but his pace dropped dramatically in the last stint on the hard tyres due to extensive wear, since unnecessary forced them them in the first laps after the exit from the pits. It`s his mistake failed to preserve for the rest of the race. The ten laps to go he was third, but his car struggled to stay on track. In such a situation was easy prey, and first hunter was his "favorite" rival Alonso. Ferrari had trouble opening the movable rear wing, but was expected to pass Hamilton at any moment. But another surprise, Alonso makes rookie mistake, crashes his front wing to Hamilton rear tyre. The result of all this is another unplanned pit stops and ruined race for Alonso and Hamilton. Top 10 placement finalize Kobayashi, Schumacher, Di Resta, who drove an interesting race for them, often changing position. Deserved point finish for all of them.

Most spectacular moment in the race was Vitaly Petrov`s crash, who at one point thought it was Red Bull, so he has wings to fly. He launched his car into the air, but it lasted briefly, and quickly landed with a broken wheel in contact with the ground. Another bad weekend for the Williams team.

The Malaysian Grand Prix
Sepang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia;
56 laps; 310.408km;
Weather: Dry.

Classified:
Pos Driver Team Time
1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h37:39.832
2. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes + 3.261
3. Nick Heidfeld Renault + 25.075
4. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault + 26.384
5. Felipe Massa Ferrari + 36.958
6. Fernando Alonso Ferrari + 37.248*
7. Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes + 49.957*
8. Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari + 1:07.239
9. Michael Schumacher Mercedes + 1:24.896
10. Paul Di Resta Force India-Mercedes + 1:31.563
11. Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes + 1:45.000
12. Nico Rosberg Mercedes + 1 lap
13. Sebastian Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
14. Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari + 1 lap
15. Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault + 1 lap
16. Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth + 2 laps
17. Valery Petrov Renault + 4 laps

FASTEST LAP: Mark Webber, 1:40.571

Not classified/retirements:
Driver Team On lap
Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 47
D'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth 43
Trulli Lotus-Renault 32
Perez Sauber-Ferrari 24
Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 23
Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 15
Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 9

Standings after 2 races:
Drivers: Constructors:
1. Vettel 50 1. Red Bull-Renault 72
2. Button 26 2. McLaren-Mercedes 48
3. Hamilton 22 3. Ferrari 36
4. Webber 22 4. Renault 30
5. Alonso 20 5. Sauber-Ferrari 6
6. Massa 16 6. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 4
7. Heidfeld 15 7. Force India-Mercedes 4
8. Petrov 15 8. Mercedes GP 2
9. Kobayashi 6
10. Buemi 4
11. Schumacher 2
12. Sutil 2
13. Di Resta 2
UPDATE:
Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso were handed 20-second penalties following the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang. The McLaren driver, who endured a difficult race and finished in seventh position, was handed the penalty for making more than one move to defend his position when fighting with Alonso. Ferrari driver Alonso was given the penalty after he made contact with Hamilton during their fight, the Spaniard damaging his front wing and having to pit to replace it.

Both were given post-race drive-throughs, meaning 20 seconds added to their final times. The penalty has dropped Hamilton to eighth, with Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi taking seventh. Alonso keeps sixth place.

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