Sepang Spite…!!

After some delirious drama at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia, Red Bull’s German driver Sebastian Vettel came out on top by piping his own teammate Mark Webber for the prestigious victory.

The Malaysian Grand Prix promised to deliver a remarkable showdown of driving skills for two reasons – One, the passion of the racing fans heading into only the second race of the season, and Two, all the drama surrounding the use of “intermediate” tyres during qualifying..

Its been quite some time that I have seen something like all 22 (or 24 in some cases) drivers using intermediate tyres at the start…

After Adrian Sutil rocked Q1 and Q2 a day before by using medium compound tyres, the use of the intermediate came into play because the Sepang Rain Gods showed their ugly faces..

Ferrari’s Brazilian driver Felipe Massa, who was second fastest in qualifying yesterday, started in 2^nd place for the first time since Bahrain GP 2010 and was rightfully being termed as the Renaissance Man…

But, the whole “Comeback” was shattered when Webber began his awesome racing maneuvers.. Right from the start when the five red lights went off, Webber was on the offense when he challenged the Ferrari duo of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa..

The Weber-Alonso Fiasco saw Webber move from 5^th into 3^rd in the first lap itself and then finally to 2^nd after a hard fought battle with the Spaniard.. Alonso had his front wing clipped, which eventually gave up on Lap 2, therefore allowing Webber to move into 2^nd.

After 5 laps, Red Bull’s “tyre change” gamble seemed to pay rich dividends when Vettel straight away went for the medium compound tyres.. The track temperature at that time seemed to coming up with time and therefore the change was implemented..

The Red bull strategy was followed by all the teams almost instantly, which led to a “traffic jam” like situation in the pits..

Speaking of pit stops, there was one team in particular that seemed to have a horrible day there – None other that Sahara Force India..

Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta’s pit stops were complete disasters as the India-based team were having all sorts of problems with the hydraulics..

Due to these tyre changing fiascos, Force India’s Malaysian adventure just went from horrible to absolutely devastating as it forced both drivers to retire early..

 In fact, it seemed as if all the action on the circuit was less on the track and more in the pits… Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton even went to the extent to head into his old team McLaren’s pits by mistake… Classic move Lewis… Telling them who’s the boss.. J

On the other hand, Australian Grand Prix winner Kimi Raikonen and McLaren’s latest recruit Sergio Perez seemed to be having their own mini battles at the wee end of the grid as at first they were fighting for 9^th-10^th position and later for the 6^th-7^th spot..

While the “Iceman” was confident that he would win that battle, Massa had other plans to implement.. The Ferrari driver took full advantage of the Kimi-Perez duel when he overtook both of them to move into 6^th in Lap 50…

Another driver who had luck really pulling him down was McLaren’s Jenson Button,who at one time was even leading the race... The only thing that was not in his favor was the fact that he had one pit stop lesser that everyone else..

Before McLaren could even think about “planning” a gamble for Button to finish the race with his worn out medium compound tyres, Webber took the lead from Button on Lap 35..

That promptly forced Button to head into the pits one lap later and change his tyres.. However, disaster struck Button’s already horror-struck luck when his cars stalled right after moving out… It was “race-over” for the Briton..

Meanwhile, Vettel’s combo of fuel saving and DRS helped him overtake Hamlton on Lap 38 and therefore the triple world champion proved that the Briton still has a long way to go before he adjusts with his new team..

Red Bull and Mark Webber seemed to have everything under full control when on lap 45 an impeccable pit stop by the Australian proved the same.. Webber headed into the pits with a 20 second lead over his comrade and a perfect 20 second pit stop allowed his to come out of the Pit right where he left off… In front of Vettel…

Finally on Lap 46, Vettel moved into the lead by using his DRS to perfection.. Webber, who did everything he could to hold his ground, was completely outclassed by the German’s skillful moves..

After overtaking, Vettel said, “Come On Mate, This is Silly…”

All in all, the Malaysian Grand Prix was quite synonymous to being “team wars” with Vettel vs Webber (Battle for 1^st) and Rosberg vs Hamilton (Battle for 3^rd)..