Mat Coch writes:

The Malaysian Grand Prix didn’t go quite the way many had predicted following the opening race of the season. The result may have been the same as in Australia, Sebastian Vettel winning ahead of a McLaren and a Renault, however there was much, much more to the story than the podium ceremony told.

McLaren for one was far closer to its Milton Keynes rivals throughout the weekend, evidenced by Lewis Hamilton joining Vettel on the front row with teammate Jenson Button fourth, just 0.3s off the pace of the pole sitter, with Mark Webber splitting the two silver cars in third. It looked as though the race would be decided among those four, however, when the lights went out so too, it seemed, did Webber’s chances.

A poor start saw the Australian plummet down the order, ending the first lap a distant ninth while teammate Vettel headed the field with a comfortable 1.9s margin. It soon became apparent however, that aside from a poor start Webber was also without the aid of KERS, having failed after qualifying.

While Webber was going backwards the two Renault’s had blistering starts, both Vitaly Petrov and Nick Heidfeld opting for the outside as the field ploughed into the first turn. Heidfeld muscled his way around the outside of the Ferraris before coming within inches of Lewis Hamilton’s McLaren, the German placing his car up the inside into turn two. It forced the former champion wide, Heidfeld squeezing underneath and into second from a sixth place grid slot. Petrov was similarly aggressive, getting ahead of Massa as the field entered the second corner to slot in fifth behind Jenson Button while Alonso was shuffled out and found himself seventh by turn three.

Like Webber, Nico Rosberg also had a poor start, dropping from ninth to thirteenth on the opening lap. It was the start of what would be a long day at the office for Rosberg, whose teammate Michael Schumacher also struggled throughout the race. The seven-time champion however, did enjoy a more positive start, moving to eighth from his eleventh spot on the grid.

Out in front Vettel built on his lead over second placed Heidfeld, the Red Bull driver extending the gap by about 0.5s per lap. Heidfeld proved to be a cork in a bottle, holding up Hamilton in the initial stages before the pair were joined by Button, Massa and Alonso.

Massa had got by Petrov as they entered turn one on lap four, the Ferrari driver using the drag reduction system to full advantage as Rubens Barrichello emerged from the pit lane. Having suffered a puncture just beyond the pit entry the Williams driver had to crawl around the 5.5km circuit with his left-rear tyre flat. While easily replaced it left the veteran at the back of the pack, his day not getting any better as he ultimately retired on lap twenty-five with gearbox problems.

Soon after Petrov finally succumbed to pressure from Alonso running wide and allowing the Spaniard through. The Russian rejoined without incident, making the most of the asphalt run off at turn fourteen.

Having dropped back to ninth at the start Mark Webber was soon embroiled in a battle with Kamui Kobayashi, the Japanese driver enjoying another eventful Grand Prix. The duo swapped places several times, the DRS featuring prominently while Kobayashi clearly enjoyed the benefit of KERS to stay ahead of Webber who was clearly faster if only he could break free of the Sauber’s clutches.