Sebastian Vettel led team-mate Mark Webber in a comfortable victory for Red Bull Racing dominating a rain-free Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix.
Vettel jumped into the lead when front row duo of pole sitter Mark Webber and Nico Rosberg who experienced a slow start and took control of the whole race without having any more mechanical problems as it happened in the 2 previous races. His team-mate Mark Webber was 2nd and 3rd was Nico Rosberg who secured a maiden podium for Mercedes GP.
After the race, Vettel quoted:
"At the end of the day, a very good result for us and for myself after two races where I didn't finish where I wanted to be. It was crucial for the team not to panic and to stay relaxed. It is a long season but this is the best result we could get and on top of that Mark getting second place is a big plus for the team and a lot of points. The second stint was extremely long and it's extremely hot here so I didn't stop sweating. Fortunately I did not run out of drinks in the car. I was trying not to be too extreme at the beginning, but it is very hot, very physical (and) at one stage I was hoping for rain just to get a bit of a cool down."
Robert Kubica made also an excellent start gaining 2 positions and Force India's Adrian Sutil was kept in top-5 after keeping Lewis Hamilton behind in the late stage of the race. McLaren and Ferrari drivers both experienced a bad qualifying session starting fomr the back of the field. although they gained positions quickly as the race started they never managed to threat the frontrunners. Lewis Hamilton finished 6th and Felipe Massa 7th. The defending World Champion finished back in 8th position followed by Jamie Alguersuari when Alonso's engine began to smoke and with only a lap and a half to go, the Spaniard was forced to retire from the race. Rookie Nico Hulkenberg gained his first F1 point finishing 10th.
Both HRT cars finished the race but it was a real surprise for Lucas Di Grassi to finish the race ahead both of them despite Virgin's fuel tank size problems. Local-funded Lotus Racing and sponsorless BMW Sauber had a bad race retiring both of their cars during the race.
After the race Vettel was also summoned by the stewards because he passed Lotus' Jarno Trulli while yellow flags were waving. The stewards' report said Vettel "did breach ... the international sporting code" without imposing any penalty concluding that Vettel did slowed down in the yellow flag area, after noting that Trulli at that time had "an obvious problem."
