Unstoppable Vettel makes it four in a row

World Champion Sebastian Vettel’s domination of F1 continued at the Sepang Circuit near Kuala Lumpur in the Malaysia Grand Prix with another comfortable victory, his fourth in a row and fifth in the last 6 races. The Red Bull driver took a crucial pole position late on in qualifying on Saturday, and led virtually the entire race unchallenged on Sunday while the rest of the field squabbled amongst themselves. This was despite more issues with KERS for the team – team mate Mark Webber’s failed on the parade lap before the race, leaving him floundering in the midfield after the start, and Vettel was soon told not to use his. But despite this disadvantage, it all seemed rather easy for the young German.

McLaren were once again the nearest opposition but this time it was Jenson Button and not Lewis Hamilton in 2nd. Hamilton had been the closest threat to Vettel after moving ahead of fast-starting Nick Heidfeld in the first round of pit stops, but a slow third stop dropped him behind his team mate and into the clutches of old sparring partner Fernando Alonso. Cue the fireworks – after a couple of laps of battling, Alonso clipped the back of Hamilton’s car and broke his front wing. The McLaren’s rear tyre survived but he soon had to pit for new boots anyway due to a lack of grip, dropping him to 7th. This became 8th after the race when he was given 20 second penalty for weaving when defending his position against Alonso.

The Spaniard was also penalised but remained 6th, as Ferrari’s frustrating start to the season continued. Felipe Massa upheld Maranello honours with 5th behind Webber, who made four pit stops but took the fastest lap of the race during his recovery to again prove that the Red Bull’s ultimate race pace is very quick. Thus, the final podium place went to Heidfeld in the only Renault to make it home; team mate Vitaly Petrov was also set for more points until his steering mount broke on landing after briefly going airborne.

Away from the front, Kamui Kobayashi made up for his disqualification in Australia with 7th in his Sauber. In a typically aggressive performance, the popular Japanese driver spent much of the race in combat with Michael Schumacher, who for once outperformed team mate Nico Rosberg and scored his first 2 points of his season for 9th. This was just ahead of Paul di Resta, with the Scottish rookie scoring points in his first two races, although this time he didn’t need two cars disqualified to get into the top 10.

At the back of the grid, it was a much better weekend for strugglers Hispania. After failing to qualify either car for the race in Melbourne, they made significant progress at Sepang and both Vitantonio Liuzzi and Indian Narain Karthikeyan made the race. Although both failed to finish the race, that they made it into the show in the first place shows they are moving in the right direction, and they could soon even be challenging Virgin Racing. The Sheffield-based team have been one of the biggest disappointments so far this year, having made minimal progress from last year. By contrast, Team Lotus’ Heikki Kovalainen finished within touching distance of Toro Rosso’s Jaime Alguersuari, suggesting Australia may have been a blip for last year’s top new team.

As a whole, it was a much better race than the first round. While the result was again never in doubt from early on as far as the victor was concerned, the Sepang Circuit, coupled with KERS and the new movable rear wing, proved ideal for overtaking – I cannot remember a race with so much in the last few years. Some may say it was artificial due to the new devices, but a lot of the passing took place in unlikely places – if anything, it was the high rate of tyre wear and the variety of strategies which helped the most. It does seem the new rules have improved the quality of the racing. The main problem, as we head to Shanghai for next week’s Chinese Grand Prix, is Vettel, and how to stop him – the last time a driver won the first 2 races of the season and didn’t win the title was nearly 30 years ago…