F1 Malaysia Race

After the problems in quali the teams faced at least a dry start but with rain forecast.

Temperatures of 48/49 for both air & track meant it was for sure to be a hot sticky time for the drivers. As the cars came out to the grid Pedro's Sauber stalled in the pit lane and after starting it up it stopped on track and that was the end of his race.

The very mixed up grid after quali caused huge anticipation for all concerned into T1. Off they went onto the warm up lap and all seemed all well as they formed into position. Down went the flag and Sebastian launched his Red Bull past Mark & Nico into T1 and all the rest followed and cleared the first two corners.

Rubens had stalled on the grid but was to get going whilst Lewis launched his Mclaren down the pit wall and clean side of the track and made up 8 places to 12th by the end of lap 1. Meanwhile Jenson had opted for the dirty, grandstand side and found himself locked in battle with Fernando and Felipe and they were to remain like that for a lot of the race, albeit Felipe passed Jenson ultimately.

At the front Sebastian, Mark, Nico, Robert and Adrian were holding station and really nothing happened to change their relative positions to the end of the race. Jenson had made his first and only pit stop earlier than anyone on lap 9 which hampered him a little but his position to the 2 Ferrari's remained the same until Felipe went by.

Michael suffered a broken wheel nut which put him out the race on lap 9 and still he can't really match Nico in the sister car who has out gunned the 7 times world champion all season. Timo went out on lap 2 after a spin, we lost Kamui on lap 8 so both Saubers were out and then Vitantonio went out on lap 12 with throttle problems. Then later on out went Vitaly on lap 32 with gearbox issues and Heikki with problems with hydraulics on lap 46.

The fight between Lewis and his mate Adrian continued and with the Mercedes engine in the Force India, Lewis never over came him and they finished 5th and 6th respectively. Fernando had gear selector downshift issues all through the race which obviously hampered him throughout and his latter fight with Jenson for 8th filtered away and then his engine blew albeit he was classified 13th having completed 54 laps.

In the tyre change competition Mercedes came out top with a 3.9 sec season best change. Jamie confirmed his talent and drove a good race to earn his first point for Toro Rosso and he made some excellent overtaking moves throughout the race.

So, the rain stopped away which I suppose on reflection took away some of the excitement and Sebastian commented he would have liked a wet spell to cool things down. The race was not as thrilling as Melbourne but that will go down as a classic but Lewis's fight through the field and latter scrap with Adrian, Felipe, Jenson and Fernando locked in combat throughout the race and Jamie's overtaking moves added spice to a dull race up at the front.

Leaving Sepang the points have moved around a bit with Felipe taking over first place so they stood: Felipe (39), Sebastian and Fernando (37), Nico and Jenson (35), Lewis (31), Robert (30), Mark (24), Adrian (10) and rounding out the top 10 was Michael (9).

In the constructors championship it is Ferrari (76), Mclaren (66), Mercedes (44), Red Bull (61), Renault (30) and Force India (18) followed by Williams (6) and Toro Rosso (2).

The real excitement of the race was Lewis's meteoric rise from 20th and his scrap with Adrian for a few more points. The scrap between Felipe, Jenson & Fernando caused a few edge of seat moments but the front 5 remained basically as the first lap so that must be considered a little boring.

Off we now go to China on April 18 and we look forward to seeing any upgrades and moves from the lower teams into the higher ranks. Force Indai are now stamping their authority on the top positions with both Adrian & Vitantonio and it would be good to see Williams doing similar.