Vettel takes controversial Malaysian F1 GP victory

Start of 2013 Malaysian F1 GP

Sebastian Vettel won his first race of 2013 after controversially beating his Red Bull team mate Mark Webber at the Malaysia grands prix.

Webber led for much of the race and with him and Vettel clear of the field, Red Bull radioed both drivers to call off the fight and settle for the 1-2 result with Webber winning. However the triple champion took matters into his own hands and after an intense fight he overtook Webber with 12 laps to go.

The pair’s relationship is notoriously frosty and this was evident after the race with Webber visually angry with his younger team mate, who ruthlessness is comparable to his fellow German Michael Schumacher. Like Schumacher, Vettel’s popularity will have suffered due to his controversial actions.

Lewis Hamilton racing his Mercedes W04 at Sepang

Best of the rest was Lewis Hamilton who won his own inter-team battle against Nico Rosberg’s faster Mercedes to claim 3rd.

Vettel made a bright start in the wet conditions, which saw all drivers start on intermediate tyres, and led both Ferrari’s out of the first corner. The fast starting Fernando Alonso collided with the rear of Vettel and damaged his front wing. After the Spaniard didn’t come into the pits to replace it at the end of the first lap, the wing collapsed under the car and sent Alonso into the gravel trap, and retirement.

On a drying track the major decision was when to switch to dry tyres. Vettel pitted too early and Webber inherited the lead after timing it to perfection. The Red Bull’s led the two Mercedes of Hamilton and Rosberg in a tactical battle for much of the race with only a handful of seconds between them.

Red Bull 1-2 finish at Malaysia

Red Bull extended their advantage to ten seconds after the final round of stops. Webber exited the pits side by side with his team mate which prompted a mesmerising lap of quality driving. Vettel eventually won the battle, and the race. Rosberg was as equally infuriated with Mercedes as Webber was with Red Bull as his clearly faster car was not permitted to pass Lewis Hamilton, but was magnanimous in defeat.

Felipe Massa finished a distant and disappointing 5th. After showing much promise all weekend the race pace of Ferrari was poor in comparison to their rivals, and they struggled badly in the wet conditions in the early stages.

Mark Webber & Sebastian Vettel on the podium at Malaysia

Romain Grosjean finished an impressive 6th for Lotus, who also struggled in the hotter conditions, while his team mate Kimi Raikkonen had an eventful afternoon to come 7 th. Sergio Pérez claimed his first McLaren points by coming 9th, while Jenson Button retired. McLaren had a far better weekend and showed some pace with Button running comfortably 5th all afternoon.

However they still have a long way to go to catch the Red Bulls who have today provided a fascinating sub-plot for the next couple of races in Bahrain and China. Vettel may have won the race but he has not won any friends.

See race results 2013 Malaysian Formula 1 Grand Prix

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