Back to back wins for the Defending Champion Vettel

Way to go Sebastian!!

It was again a flawless performance from the defending champion Sebastian Vettel at the Sepang circuit this weekend. The grid positions were pretty much similar to the Australian Grand Prix with just a few ups and downs. And it could not have more odd as the final drivers’ standings were also similar except for the last time podium finishers McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton and Renaults’ Vitaly Petrov, who both had a bit of a hard luck going their way. Lewis Hamilton went off the track a couple of times in the dying laps of the race which damaged his tires significantly. He had to take an unwanted pit stop because of which he lost a lot of vital time and dropped down to the 8^th spot in the 53^rd lap.

This time Vettel seemed not to be threatened for the first position except when Hamilton was producing some exceptionally good laps and was closing in on Vettel by one second per lap. But then again Vettel was at least 4-5 seconds clear from Hamilton and soon Vettel found his rhythm and was again looking very comfortable at the top. It was a hard earned second and third positions respectively for Jenson Button and Nick Heidfeld, who is replacing the frontline Renault driver Robert Kubica after his rally crash just before the start of the 2011 season. Though the start of the season with the Australian GP was certainly not one of the best races where he finished 12^th but was quite commendable considering the position with which he started on the grid. There were people who still doubted the German’s capabilities and the decision of the Renault Team but this race was a clear answer to all those people that he is fully capable of taking the responsibility as the frontline Renault driver. There was also some scroll of luck rolling towards his way when Hamilton went off the track but Heidfeld was surely giving Hamilton a hard time when the latter was finding it hard to find proper grip on the track. Hamilton also lost considerable lap time due to the same reason.

The fans were hoping that the rain would make the race whole lot interesting. Well it did rain but it was nothing more than a drizzle that lasted no more than a few minutes. Hence the effect on the race was not as significant as we would have liked. It was a very crucial decision as to when to take the pit stop or rather even taking it or not because of the weather reports. But the teams preferred not to take the risk and suddenly after Hamilton’s pit stop, it looked like a pitting spree and all the teams suddenly opted for the softer slick tires for the wet surfaces.

Mark Webber suffered some problems with the his KERS which could not get activated at the start of the race and it made him to lose significant positions right at the start when he slipped from a third to a ninth position. Another important highlight of the Malaysian Grand Prix was the battle between Mark Webber and Sauber’s Kobayashi. Even without his KERS, Webber was there right behind Kobayashi sticking his nose just on the rear of the sauber driver and was finally able to leave Kobayashi behind him after a few ups and downs between the two drivers. Though Kobayashi gave Webber a fairly tough resistance, it was the Australian who came out victorious. It was a commendable performance by Webber, finishing 4^th and giving team Red Bull some very crucial points. Each and every point proves very critical at the end of the season.

The way Vettel is driving right now is simply unbelievable. Even though the Red Bull was having some problems in understanding the KERS, he was still leading the race quite comfortably and with the least of trouble from any driver on the grid. He is now 24 points clear from Button who is 2^nd on the driver’s championship standings after two races. The gap seems to be huge but there are still 17 more races to go and we know a lot can happen in Formula One.