Sebastian Vettel has done it again, this time at the Malaysian GP. Vettel mirrored his result in Melbourne a fortnight ago as he was the first driver to cross the finish line after starting from pole position. The reigning World Champion from Red Bull finished the 56-lap, all-dry race ahead of McLaren’s Jenson Button.
Very good news for the Proton-backed Lotus Renault team as Nick Heidfeld proved his skeptics wrong after finishing the race in third despite struggling with worn tyres, giving the team its second consecutive podium finish! The German was receiving some tough competition from Mark Webber at the dying minutes of the race. Webber had to settle for fourth. Felipe Massa was fifth for Ferrari while his team mate Fernando Alonso was right behind him.
Lewis Hamilton who could have finished in the podium had to pit at the last minute and managed only seventh. Hamilton pitted after sustaining damage possibly due to an on-track squabble with Fernando Alonso. Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi was eight ahead of Michael Schumacher who collects Mercedes GP Petronas’ first points of the season. Force India did reasonably well today with Paul di Resta’s tenth place finish.
Schumacher’s team mate, Nico Rosberg only managed 12th today. Heikki Kovalainen was the only representative from Malaysia’s Team Lotus who finished the race. The former McLaren driver managed 15th ahead of the final driver who finished the race, Virgin’s Timo Glock. A total of eight drivers failed to finish today, due to numerous reasons. Vitaly Petrov’s reason for DNF was rather interesting. The Russian’s black and gold racer went airborne after going off-track with four laps remaining and landed aggressively causing the steering column to become lose.
It was an interesting race overall. It started off well with both the Lotus Renault drivers climbing up the field as Vettel kept his lead while Webber suffered from a bad start. As the dust settled, it was Heidfeld who was behind Vettel, Hamilton in third followed by Button, Petrov, Massa, Alonso, Schumacher, Kobayashi and Webber in the top ten. Lap 11 saw Webber making the first scheduled pit stop as Button, Massa and Alonso were battling for fourth place.
At the same time, Hamilton was behind Heidfeld’s Renault-powered car. Spots of rain were seen at certain sections of the track on Lap 13 but that didn’t prompt drivers to switch to wet weather tyres. Minutes later, the alarm for rain went away giving way to an all-dry race till the end. At about Lap 22, Massa made a move on Webber for 6th place as Schumacher and Kobayashi were battling for 10th place. At the same time Alonso complained over radio about a defective DRS or Drag Reduction System. By Lap 24, Vettel was still leading, this time ahead of Hamilton and Alonso.
Heidfeld was running fourth in front of Massa. Four laps later, Kobayashi managed to take on Schumacher as the German’s Pirellis were getting worn. On Lap 44, Alonso was battling with Hamilton for the third spot. Alonso was faster than Hamilton who was in front and was right behind the Brit despite making do with a faulty DRS. Just two laps later, Alonso hit Hamilton and suffered from a damaged front wing while trying to make a move, forcing him to make a pit stop which pretty much ended his contention for the final podium position.
On Lap 50 there was also an interesting battle between Webber and Massa for fifth place and the former came out in front at the end. Hamilton then had to make a last minute stop after he started to drop down the grid. That gave way to Heidfeld to clinch third but with three laps remaining, the German was suffering with severely worn tyres and that allowed Webber to close in. Nevertheless Heidfeld managed to keep his cool and his track position till the end of the race. That was an interesting bit of the race.
In the Drivers’ Championship, Vettel leads with 50 points ahead of Button who has 25 points. Hamilton is behind with 24, followed by Webber with 22 and Alonso with 20. Red Bull also leads in the Constructors’ Championship with 72 points followed by McLaren with 50 points. Ferrari has 36 in third closely followed by Lotus Renault with 30. Formula 1 now heads north for this weekend’s Chinese GP.
UPDATE: Both Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton received 20-second time penalties for their actions during an on-track battle which forced Alonso to pit and change his front wing. Hamilton was penalised for making more than one directional change while defending his position against Alonso.
Alonso on the other hand was penalised for causing a collision with his former McLaren team mate. As a result of the penalties, Hamilton drops from seventh to eight, giving seventh place to Kamui Kobayashi. Alonso, thanks to his healthy gap from Hamilton’s original position, remains in sixth.
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VETTEL!!!!! YESSSSSSSSS!!!!
Heidfeld, awesome podium!!!!!
Webber, awesome recovery despite disaster start!!
Petrov, unfortunate incident, but thank goodness you’re safe!!
AWESOME RACE!!! SEPANG REALLY AWESOME RACE!!! HAHAHAHa
I am writing COMPLAIN letter to the star and @NajibRazak in twitter for the reason why
there is no Live tv brodcast in Malaysia, what is the reason? First time happen in ten years,
what a shame!
Why Petronas sponsor starsport in Astro, but NOT sponsor ntv7, 8tv, RTM this year..WHY
F1 is real life with Astro Byond HD yo! Truly orgasmic
With Steve Slater as commentator? YUCK. I’d rather watch laggy online stream than bleeding my ears listening to horrible commentators.
Martin Brundle, David Coulthard n fellow BBC reporters FTW!! Problem is… why aren’t any free TV channel broadcasting it?!?! Kanasai tul…
Star Sports coverage is totally annoying plus they have more advertising breaks,seemed to be every 12 minutes or so. Slater said “meanwhile” in excess of one hundred times yesterday, mentioned Karun Chandhok on four occasions( is he the bf or what?) and rambled on incessantly about the DSR and KERs. Checkered flag is boring as hell too………
I’m with you….its never happen before….what’s happen to this country??? Government should know that not all people want to subscribe Astro….
It’s up to the channel to chase the sponsors, not vice versa. Besides, Media Prima fcuked it up by not showing F1 live when they got the rights. RTM technology fcuked up that’s why they only manage one season. In the end, just watch it on Astro! Almost everyone got one, and if you don’t, go to the kedai mamak and watch it there.
Oh, wanna add lots of thanks to Alonso for making Heidfeld’s podium possible ehehe :D
Thanks for reminding me to tweet our beloved PM :)
Ini, ini bodoh. Petronas especially, what happened?! Why don’t want sponsor for RTM or any Media Prima channel? Proton cannot sponsor, sure kene kutuk bazir duit rakyat blabla, meanwhile Tony… err… never mind. So Petronas… why? Harga minyak dah bagi naik, bohong kalau kata takde duit!!
Seriously frustrating, very embarrassing. Thank God at least I have unifi, but watching online live stream sites still laggy, surely lots of traffic from fellow Malaysian F1 fans. Terribly, terribly disappointed.
Like I said, TV station chase sponsor, not vice versa. Besides, from what I’ve heard, Bernie’s upset that last time Media Prima (TV3 et al) didn’t show live coverage but only delayed telecast, so that’s why it went to TV2 for a year. TV2 plak their technology bit outdated, so return back to Media Prima with the provision that they must show it live. So they show it in 8TV. But somehow they feel not worth disrupting normal schedule so in the end, watch it on Astro.
Besides, BBC’s commentary ain’t that good as well. Brundle & DC? If it was Murray Walker, then it’s okay, but everybody else is a poor substitute!
next time buy ticket and watch it live at track side or go to mamak which have astro and ask them to air it out.. dont rely to much on rtm and media prima channel lah..
plus the comentator at astro like noob.me want the bbc version!!!
another plus: the commentator wearing batik that looks like more to Indonesian batik compare to Malaysian batik
well, my credits go to Heifeld, nice drive & result, too bad Petro cant make it..
In the dying moments he used the KERS well keeping the distance to avoid Webber using DRS.That was sheer excitement,always respected Nick driving,calm and in control.
Amazing race, and what a race for LRGP. Hopefully we’ll hear the last of Tony Fernandes’ bad mouthing.
congrats lotus renault…good machine indeed super fast at lond straight
why our tv doesn’t broadcast f1 meh?
dem towl!
Great job Lotus Renault..!!! 2 podium finishes in 2 consequtive races…! That’s what we love to see… a good race and a good finish. Well done n keep it up..!
er… should i ask about the blowhard team? Nahhh…
congrats nick LRGP! also mercedes gp for grabbing some point. team lotus? hmm…
butthurt team lotus fan just thumb down my comment! haha
Because they think “good guys always win” :P
Ehehe hahaha XD
no luck for vitaly. but he able to fly his car before the steering came out.
Great drive by LRGP! disappointed Petrov couldn’t finish the race.
dominating performance by RedBull, even with some KERS issues.
Team Lotus still haven’t got the mid-pack pace.
Good luck to all Malaysian Teams!!!
bravo…
Good Job Sebastian…
Well DONE LRGP…Good Race
No point stil use people Brand to promote……Tony wat happen to ur team Shammmmmme
that team don’t have professional engineer how to make car better. formula One is not only about name and engine… but its about technology, engineering, team work and tactical..
kudos to LRGP!
awesome!
Congratulations to Lotus Renault for the 3rd place in Sepang. You’ve made us Malaysians proud. And a shame to TF’s Team Lotus who claimed to be “the most Malaysian team” because they lose even in own home ground.
now this is what i call racing…much more exiting than the last race in Melbourne!
Where is Tony Fernandes promises to make sure the team is mid table ? there seems to be hardly any improvements. there are improvements since they have not been lapped many times, but we want to see the team AT LEAST challenging for mid table!. Engine ? already a renault, Gearboxes ? already a Red Bulls, and hardware, technically looks competitive, where is the results! why are the cars not fast enough ? why are the team still “the best new team” ?? where is the mid table challenge ?? where ? 2nd races on 2nd year and I’m one of the disappointed fans. TF, PLEASE IMPROVE THE RESULTS! Thank You.
If you were a Redbull fan about 4 years ago, I’m sure you’ll disappointed with them too during that time. If you know what I mean. :-)
but red bull principal dont talk and act cocky at that time like TF
Oh, is this about TF talk cock and act in manners that you don’t like?
Ohh… I thought IT WAS ABOUT RACING.
LOL..!!! its combination of engine + aerodynamic + tuning setup… if aerodynamic package still not good how to catch faster car…
Was hoping for rain to create some excitement but overall this was an exciting race to watch. Other than Vettel, the others have to fight for their places. Overtaking was abundant, thanks to the new DRS and the KERS system. The teams still haven’t learned enough about the Pirelli tyres so their strategy can sometimes backfire, like what happened to poor Lewis.
Kudos to Lotus Renault for winning the podium again :)
LRGP power!!!
Superb race. DRS and Pirelli tyres are a success.
Go go LRGP!
Go LOTUS_RENAULT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeeehaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! Ini bukan main2 punya maaa….serius business… oiiii Team (FAKE) Lotus…if u want to get a podium finish, jush use one of your airbus engine la..hahahaha… Baru pueh hati…..
Good job to Lotus Renault for its 2nd consecutive time in podium.. You make us proud of Proton.
looks like jarno trulli’s cycling trip didn’t help him much huh??
Good Job Lotus Renault! That will show Mr. Fernandez who’s better in F1 yo!
what’s wrong with u guys with Mr Fernandez??
let him with his positive thinking..what;s wrong with that?
if u know to kutuk2 only, then u’ll be the in his position and manage the team..then u’ll know how tough it is..
come on, he’s malaysian too..support him
if dont want to support,just keep quiet and respect..
everyone fails before succeed..its a matter of time..typical malaysian u guys..
Malaysian?
Can’t speak Malay
Speaks with a British accent
Tries to steal a British brand
Grew up and studying overseas
Makes more fuss in sending press releases about receiving CBE than receiving Datuk or Datuk Seri
Fighting with all our GLCs, using their owned brands and calling it his own, not paying airport tax
When he tweets about “home”, refers to UK place
Where are all his kids studying?
And finally overcompensating for all of the above by making claims about being more Malaysian…
Malaysian my hind lah. This is the modern way of how westerners menjajah our country.
Come on lah, don’t be sucked into the fake PR!!!
Man.. you really hates TF, don’t you?
Well said dude!! Facts are always a bitch isn’t it.
Read from your news in 2nd paragraph:
“Felipe Massa was sixth for Ferrari while his team mate Fernando Alonso was right behind him. ” :
wasnt that Massa 5th and Alonso 6th? Some error might due to excitement perhaps..
anyway Hamilton and alonso slapped with 20 seconds penalty.. good for Kobayashi promoted to 7th.. alonso remain 6th while poor Hamilton goes 8th
and there in a corner of one of Air Asia’s hangar, an old over ambitious guy weeps..
You know, he tweets about how happy he was after the race. He is happy with his team mediocre result. Let him be.
So much for the TF’s big airbus mouth.
No doubt as to who is the real Lotus after 2 GPs.
I hate to do this as it will surely will get thumb’s down again. Lotus Renault is not a real Lotus, YET. It is basically a Renault. Group Lotus is just sponsoring.
Hoprfully someday Group Lotus will buy this team, then we can truly be proud of it. They have been doing quite a good job, as expected for a well established team.
hamilton and alonso having 20 sec penalty alonso remain 6 hamilton drop to 8
Havinder…
the babes of the GP pictures please
Now everyone can fly… leaving the dust to be inhaled by TF.
Well done Lotus Renault Proton. Keep it up.
i feel shame/ malu when i saw the PM present the trophy!
so pathetic, so small! even for the champion!
macam primary school – best karangan trophy!!
not presentable!
petronas so poor? can’t make it bigger?
i remember last time the trophy is sepang main building (it look classy)
this year one! not design so more so small!
malu……….malu…………..
That.
I was surpised too, this year’s trophy looks like a generic trophy design. Boring, cheap n so forgettable.
Gotta love their old design too, shaped like the hibiscus flower/grandstand. Gives the trophy a lot more character, something uniquely Sepang.
the real people to be blamed – sepang international circuit!!
see : http://www.malaysiangp.com.my/news/formula-1-sepang-race-trophies-sterling-silve
Breaking tradition, the winners’ trophies for the Formula 1, MotoGP and the 12-hour Malaysia Merdeka Endurance Race (MMER) at Sepang Circuit will now be in sterling silver and courtesy of world renowned silversmith Tiffany & Co.
“I am proud to announce our collaboration with Tiffany and Co, which will be sponsoring the winners’ trophies for the Formula 1 PETRONAS Malaysia Grand Prix, the Malaysian Motorcycle Grand Prix and our MMER for the next three years beginning this year,” said SIC Chief Executive Officer Dato Ahmad Razlan Ahmad Razali.
LRGP’s KERS really working well.. congrats!
lol
there’s only 2 groups of commentators that really dominate paul tan blog
1 – very emo tony bashers
2 – very emo proton bashers
it’s hard to see very constructive comment on this 2 topics
1 – Proton cars
2 – Formula 1 (especially team lotus and LRGP)
Well .. haters gonna hate anyway
:D
u should put other group coz im team lotus fan n some sort diehard fan of proton car(claim by other)
i don like alonso but im diehard fan of ferrari, i dont like mclaren but i like kimi (in his mclaren day)
What can you say, both topics are intertwined.
Vettel will be the double world champion :)!!!
tony is a great business man….i respect him for that,i really wish more malaysian as positive thinking as him rather then being skeptical….but he got it all wrong in this f1 thingy….he should just switch the name….if he use their name(team air asia,team malaysia,tune money etc etc)more people(as in malaysian) would backed him…but his pr dont really work in f1(and all he care about malaysian is when he is in malaysia for his bullshit pr purpose)…its a sports…the bottom line is a result…proton make a good decision…to chanel the fund to renault….congratulation to group lotus and proton for making this decision,hopefully the whole lotus re-branding will be a success….and the whole tony mid-runner team is just a marketing gimmick…..and yes a “proud” malaysian as tony claims absolutely wont cheat his own country man and woman that excited about his f1 team will based in malaysia with windtunnel facility bla bla bla…
btw…i see a lot of team tony warrior giving thumbs down…
Quite an exciting race especially when a car’s set of tires are on the verge of losing its grip properties but you don’t exactly know when that’s going to happen. At least it wasn’t a straightforward race like previous years. I think FIA and Pirelli did a good job in this respect, in keeping the suspense going.
Congrats to Seb but I think Mark was the Driver of the Race. He had to do without KERS from the start and still managed a good position. That shows the basic car is really quite fast. Meanwhile Nick drove a good race and kept his cool. The LRGP looks quick off the line and is pretty competitive. Wonder how the results would’ve been if Robert was in the car (no disrespect to Nick).
And did Vitaly just showed Tony that Now Everyone Can Fly? :P
Looks like TF has an army of cybertroopers who will give thumbs down to his bashers without realizing the fact that the true Lotus team is now standing among the top ones while his team loses in his own home ground. Malu la weih!
My 11 year old son says and not me..” better watch motogp than this…boringlah ayah jom balik !!!
MotoGP is like a simple TV show with a simple plot and ordinary actors. F1 is like a movie with a complex plot, superstar actors, super chicks, powerful villains and lots of side dramas. Your kid will love F1 when he grows up :)
Now the Lotus name is ahead of Ferrari & Mercedes in F1. That is what branding is all about.
Thanks to Dany Bahar and Proton.. you guys make it happen!
Now does it make your Proton car faster or more reliable?? Or does it make Lotus car better & can sell more??….I afraid this only benfit the Renault car brand …And, we shouldn’t forget that, Alonso won his 2 world championships with Renault not too long ago lol ^_^
Marketing is the main beneficiary of F1 exposure, not the product quality. Instead of getting a 458 or a SLS AMG, an F1 race fan would buy an Evora.
Lotus name is head-to-head with Ferrari and Mercedes brands in F1.. Not ahead..yet.
Lotus, the carmaker still loss $$$$(Proton’s money…some of it might be yours lol) haha