Sebastian Vettel – Malaysian Grand Prix 2010

Sebastian Vettel took his Red Bull across the line to claim his first victory of the season at this weekends Malaysian Grand Prix after passing his team-mate Mark Webber at the first corner to dominate the race.

Nico Rosberg finished in third position for Mercedes ahead of Robert Kubica in the Renault and Adrian Sutil for the Force India team.

Lewis Hamilton was in sixth place for the McLaren team followed by Felipe Massa in the Ferrari and Jenson Button in the second McLaren.

The Renault team made a complaint against Lewis Hamilton’s style of driving during the race, accusing the British driver of weaving ahead of their driver Vitaly Petrov on the straight, resulting in the McLaren driver being given a warning.  The BBC commentator Anthony Davidson told the BBC radio;

“I don’t know what Lewis was doing, weaving all over the track. I think he thought he was playing a Playstation rather than real life.”

Petrov was another retiree after his car stopped on track midway through the race, it is thought a gearbox problem caused the Renault to stall.

Vitantonio Liuzzi had a problem with the throttle on his Force India and was forced to park his car after just 12 laps.

Fernando Alonso suffered a gearbox problem with his Ferrari from the start of the race, and it all ended on the penultimate lap when the engine finally blew.

Spanish driver Jaime Alguersuari claimed ninth place for the Toro Rosso team ahead of the Williams driver Nico Hülkenberg in tenth position.  The second Mercedes GP driver Michael Schumacher was unable to finish the race after a wheel nut came off of the left rear, leaving the car unstable and impossible to steer.

Rubens Barrichello in the second Williams car appeared to be a non-starter as the race got underway and the other drivers were forced to go around the stricken vehicle.  He finally got going but was pushed to the back of the grid, finally finishing the race down in twelfth place.

Timo Glock in the Virgin Racing car was a non-finisher after hitting the Lotus F1 Racing car of Jarno Trulli as he tried to overtake.  Glock admitted that the accident was his fault after locking his rear wheels during the move but for some reason the anti-stall devise failed to work.

Both Pedro de la Rosa and Kamui Kobayashi for the BMW Sauber team failed to finish the race and both were surprised by the failure.  De la Rosa’s car broke down as he was waiting to exit the pit lane while his team-mate was out on lap 9, after both cars suffered engine failure due to the pneumatic system.

Here are the results;

POS	DRIVER	NATIONALITY	ENTRANT	LAPS	TIME/RETIRE
1.	Sebastian Vettel	Germany	Red Bull-Renault	56	1h33m48.412
2.	Mark Webber	Australia	Red Bull-Renault	56	4.849
3.	Nico Rosberg	Germany	Mercedes GP	56	13.504
4.	Robert Kubica	Poland	Renault	56	18.589
5.	Adrian Sutil	Germany	Force India-Mercedes	56	21.059
6.	Lewis Hamilton	Britain	McLaren-Mercedes	56	23.471
7.	Felipe Massa	Brazil	Ferrari	56	27.068
8.	Jenson Button	Britain	McLaren-Mercedes	56	37.918
9.	Jaime Alguersuari	Spain	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	56	1m10.602
10.	Nico Hulkenberg	Germany	Williams-Cosworth	56	1m13.399
11.	Sebastien Buemi	Switzerland	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	56	1m18.938
12.	Rubens Barrichello	Brazil	Williams-Cosworth	55	1 Lap
13.	Fernando Alonso	Spain	Ferrari	54	DNF
14.	Lucas di Grassi	Brazil	Virgin-Cosworth	53	3 Laps
15.	Karun Chandhok	India	HRT-Cosworth	53	3 Laps
16.	Bruno Senna	Brazil	HRT-Cosworth	52	4 Laps
17.	Jarno Trulli	Italy	Lotus-Cosworth	51	5 Laps
R	Heikki Kovalainen	Finland	Lotus-Cosworth	46
R	Vitaly Petrov	Russia	Renault	32	Gearbox
R	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Italy	Force India-Mercedes	12	Throttle
R	Michael Schumacher	Germany	Mercedes GP	9	Wheel Nut
R	Kamui Kobayashi	Japan	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	8	Engine
R	Timo Glock	Germany	Virgin-Cosworth	2	Spin
R	Pedro de la Rosa	Spain	BMW Sauber-Ferrari	0	Engine
FASTEST LAP:
	Mark Webber	Australia	Red Bull-Renault	53	1:37.054

Kimi Raikkonen was quickest in the morning practice session with a fastest lap time of 1:26.461 and Lewis Hamilton took the afternoon session with a 1:26.559.

The afternoon session is normally the time the teams put aside for race preperation so lap times are not taken too much into account.

Mark Webber was the second fastest in the afternoon session for the Red Bull Renault team but team mate David Coulthard suffered engine problems in the morning session and ended the afternoon session getting towed back to the pits by the safety car with another mechanical problem although he still ended the day the fifth fastest.

Felipe Massa was the third fastest man in the Ferrari after surviving a big spin exiting the fast turn 12 ahead of the second McLaren driver, Heikki Kovalainen, Coulthard and Raikkonen.

Toyota driver, Jarno Trulli was a promising seventh place despite spinning out late on in the session after putting his left rear tyre on the grass, while team mate Timo Glock on his debut claimed a respectable tenth place.

Williams did not get off to a great start after the FW30 seemed prone to rear brake lock ups and over-steer but seemed to pick up some pace in the second session with Nico Rosberg taking eighth slot while team mate Kazuki Nakajima came in sixteenth.

Force India Ferrari driver Giancarlo Fisichella was an impressive ninth fastest while second driver, Adrian Sutil had a few off track moments and came in seventeenth.

Jenson Button in the Honda was in eleventh with Rubens Barrichello in fourteenth. The BMW Sauber team who many are considering to be the dark horse of the season, seemed a little of pace today with Nick Heidfeld in twelfth and Robert Kubica in sixteenth.

Fernando Alonso in the Renault could only manage thirteenth place while team mate Nelson Piquet on his debut came in at nineteenth out of the twenty two runners.

The two Toro Rosso drivers, Sebastian Vettel and Sebastien Bourdais were in eighteenth and twentieth places respectively with the final two runners being Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson for the Super Aguri team.

The McLaren driver, Heikki Kovalainen seems to be lacking confidence in himself at the moment and said that his goal is not to go for pole position or to even to fight for a top position and said “Hopefully towards the end of the season I can fight for the top positions and if things go well, even early on. But for the moment the priority is just to start better than last year and not aim for pole.” His team mate, Lewis Hamilton feels that his only real rival is that of the reigning World Champion, Kimi Raikkonen. He has apparently rejected the speculation that the life of a racing driver is tougher in the second year and said “I have always found that in every category my second year has always been, I wouldn’t say easier, but twice as strong. Going into the year I have no doubts that I will be stronger.”

The Ferrari team have the number one driver and reigning World Champion, Kimi Raikkonen, who took the pole position and won the Australian Grand Prix of 2007.  He will be driving alongside the Brazilian driver, Felipe Massa. Raikkonen says he can’t wait for the season to start, especially with the F2008 which he feels is a much stronger car and says “I’m really satisfied with how the tests went. We have a strong, fast, competitive and reliable package. We should be there fighting for victories in every race and in the end for the two Championships.” Felipe Massa, who got married over the winter break, feels that the winter testing went well and said “I was happy with the car right from the very start through to the end as the various new developments came on stream over the winter months. However, Massa has not always had such good luck in Melbourne after failing to finish the first lap in 2006 and then having a problem in qualifying last year, but seems much more optimistic about the coming season.

The Williams team return with Nico Rosberg, which will be in his third season with them alongside Kazuki Nakajima making his debut in Formula 1 after testing for the team in 2007. The new Williams car, the FW30 has proved to be consistent over the winter testing and seems to be a big improvement on the 2007 model. Nico Rosberg said “I believe that we will have a solid race this weekend and will look to bring home some points. Reliability-wise, it will be challenging to achieve our target of 100% this season, but we’re in good shape.” Kazuki Nakajima has said that he is really excited and can’t wait to get the season underway.

The Honda team have Jenson Button and his team mate Rubens Barrichello, but the car has not been so hot in the testing sessions over the winter months. Jenson has ruled out scoring points in the first race of the season but is optimistic after apparent aerodynamic improvements at subsequent private Jerez session. Rubens said “In my 16 years of Formula One, I never had an improvement as big as I had last week.”

The Red Bull team have the veteran driver David Coulthard alongside Mark Webber. The car is said to be intrinsically more reliable and the team feels they have made good progress over the winter testing. However, the team is still far from where they want to be but feel they are in for a more competitive year and are determined to give it there best shot.

The Toyota team have a new driver line-up of Timo Glock who has joined Jarno Trulli in the 2008 car, the TF108. It will be the 12th Australian Grand Prix for Jarno but the 1st for Timo and the team is said to be excited and optimistic, with a strong points finish planned for the weekend ahead. Trulli said “I am always excited by the start of a new season and this year I am probably more motivated than ever. This years car is a big improvement; it is very different to the TF107 and we have a lot of potential to continue the improvement we have seen in testing. I am totally focused on getting a strong result this weekend and I think we have a good chance to score points.”

The Renault team consists of a new line-up with Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet. Alonso said “The team was far behind in 2007 and it would have been impossible to overcome that gap this winter. The other teams have also progressed and so it will certainly take a little time to reach a higher level, but I am convinced that we have the potential to get there. The team has shown in the past that they know how to produce a winning car; we just need to continue our efforts and to make sure we don’t lose ground.” Nelson Piquet has said “I still don’t feel like a race driver yet because I have only been doing testing. I think that I am ready, and above all I am looking forward to the start of the season. I have worked all my life to get here, and it is a great feeling to be starting my first race in Melbourne. I’m conscious that I have a lot to prove this year, but I am determined to do my best.”

The Force India team is India’s first ever Formula One team and driving for them are Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil. Last year the Spyker team were bought by Dr. Vijay Mallya and Jan and Michiel Mol. The team are aiming to make strong progress throughout the season and have the veteran driver Fisichella, who won the Australian Grand Prix back in 2005. Sutil said that “You can see that the team is better structured this year, and everything seems to be going in the right direction, there is more budget, and we can develop the parts we wanted to last year, but couldn’t because of resources.”

The Super Aguri team have now reached an agreement with Magma securing its future in Formula 1 and continuing as planned with the drivers, Takuma Sato and Anthony Davidson. Sato said “Our winter preparation has not been as comprehensive as we had wished; however we always get over these difficulties and keep pushing forward with our fighting spirit.

The BMW Sauber team have Robert Kubica and Nick Heidfeld and the team insists that the target of beating Ferrari and McLaren to the number 1 spot on the podium this year at least once still stands. Kubica, however had said that this is “impossible”. He went onto say “My own goal is to drive as fast as possible and make the most of the car; which could be finishing sixth or winning the race. I will make sure I give everything I can and then we will see where we are. Every driver wants to win, but I know that it might not happen this year, or next year, or ever. I hope that I can win some time, but if I cannot, then that’s life.”

The Toro Rosso team has Sébastien Bourdais and Sebastian Vettel driving for them. Bourdais is making his debut in F1 although he is the multiple Champ Car titleholder. Bourdais said “I will do my best, prove that I deserve my place in Formula One, and we would like to mark points as often as possible of course. But we have to be realistic, it won’t happen every week-end.” He said of his new team mate “He’s very quick.”

Anthony Davidson has also just completed his first full year driving but has a salary of £150,000 a year, very modest by  Formula 1 standards.

Hamilton is said to be staying in a luxurious Australian retreat contemplating the start of the season next weekend while Davidson will be flying economy to Melbourne with no guarantee if he will be driving at all.

Davidson, is one of the driver’s of the Super Aguri team which are in extreme financial difficulties and have only managed to test through the winter for 4 out of the 38 allocated days.  The number of staff with the team has also had to be cut through redundancies and voluntary retirement, leaving a team of  just 80 people

Apparently, both of the Super Aguri cars have been put aboard the cargo flight on Friday after much speculation as to whether they would even leave the teams headquarters.

The rumours are still circulating of a rescue package supposedly by a British consortium that is about to be finalised and hopefully get the team back on track for the season.

Unlike Hamilton, Davidson seemed to be down on his luck when in his first race after a collision with Adrian Sutil’s Spyker, he had to drive almost the entire race in agonising back pain for which he was given morphine after the race and sent to hospital.  In June at the Canadian Grand Prix, he lost his third place in the pouring rain when he drove over a ground hog which put a hole in his front wing and went into the radiator.

Next week will see Hamilton’s campaign begin, to secure the 2008 World Championship but for Davidson its going to be a long struggle just to save his career.