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A perfect start to his title retention campaign. Red Bull Racing driver and current F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel made it two in a row with another dominating performance in the Malaysian Grand Prix at the Sepang Circuit.
Even without the boost of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System (KERS), Vettel duplicated his start-to-finish victory in Australia. Introduced in 2009, the KERS gives F1 cars a boost of 6.67 kilometers per lap. It can increase lap times to an additional 0.1 to 0.4 seconds.
The win in Sepang is the fourth straight for the German dating back to last year. 2009 world champion Jenson Button of McLaren finished in second place with Renault’s Nick Heidfeld completing the podium finishers.
Australian Mark Webber of Red Bull recovered from a poor start to finish in fourth. Qualifying third from the grid, Webber dropped all the way to tenth place after his KERS failed to disengage. The Red Bull driver worked his way towards the field by employing a four pit stop strategy.
Former world champions Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton finished sixth and seventh, respectively. However, one of them could have finished in the podium if not for an unfortunate racing incident. Coming into the 45th lap, the two were battling for a podium position when the chasing Alonso’s front wing clipped the McLaren’s rear tires forcing the Ferrari driver to the pits.
Two hours after the race, the stewards penalized the two former world champions with 20-second time penalties for driving infringements. Hamilton was penalized for changing directions several times to defend his position. Alonso, on the other hand, was penalized for causing a collision.
As a result, Hamilton was demoted to eight place with Williams driver Kamui Kobayashi taking seventh place. Alonso, on the other hand, retained his sixth position behind teammate Felipe Massa.
Despite the problem with the KERS, Vettel kept his composure and maintained control of the race. He nursed his tires and stuck to their plan. The youngest world champion in history will look to maintain his momentum next week when the season shifts to Shanghai for the Chinese Grand Prix.
After two races, Vettel now has 50 points, Button 26, and Hamilton and Webber at joint third place four points behind Button.
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