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25px Flag of Malaysia  2010 Malaysian Grand Prix
Race details
Race 3 of 19 in the 2010 Formula One season
Sepang.svg
Date April 4, 2010
Official name XII Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix
Location Sepang International Circuit
Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia
Course Permanent racing facility
5.543 km (3.444 mi)
Distance 56 laps, 310.408 km (192.879 mi)
Weather Mainly cloudy, dry
Pole position
Driver 25px Australia Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
Time 1:49.327
Fastest lap
Driver 25px Australia Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
Time 1:37.054 on lap 53
Podium
First 25px Germany Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault
Second 25px Australia Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault
Third 25px Germany Nico Rosberg Mercedes

The 2010 Malaysian Grand Prix (formally the XII Petronas Malaysian Grand Prix) was the third round in the 2010 Formula One season. It was held in Sepang, Malaysia on April 4, 2010.[1]

The race was won by Sebastian Vettel leading a one-two finish for the Red Bull-Renault team with Mark Webber coming in second place.[2]

Report[]

Qualifying[]

Webber Malaysian 2010 qualy

Mark Webber claimed his second career pole position, being the solitary person on intermediate tyres during the third part of qualifying.

Sutil qualy 2010 Malaysia (cropped)

Adrian Sutil started fourth for Force India.

Mark Webber took pole position for Red Bull Racing, on a wet and wild day of Qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix. The brave switch Webber made to intermediate tyres, after a delay during Q3, as a heavy storm lashed the circuit, proved pivotal – as the track started to dry in the last moments of qualifying.[3]

The weather provided numerous high-profile casualties during the early period of the session, as both McLaren and Ferrari drivers inexplicably opted to remain in their garages while the rest of the field set banker laps, before the rain arrived. By the time they made their way onto the track, the rain had set in, and it proved impossible to complete a lap good enough to make it into Q2.

Jenson Button had set a lap time that was good enough to advance from Q1, but he ended up beached in the gravel, meaning that he would not take his place in Q2.

Mercedes GP team principal, Ross Brawn, believes that Saturdays wet qualifying session, proved that teams rely too much on sophisticated weather radars, and do not use enough common sense when it comes to assessing the conditions.[4]

We learned a lesson there, because we almost got caught out,” he said.

“It [the radar] was so definitive that there wouldn’t be any rain for the rest of the session.

Race[]

2010 Malaysian GP opening lap

Sebastian Vettel takes the lead at the first corner of the race.

Prior to the race, Pedro de la Rosa's engine failed as the cars were making their way from the pit lane to their grid positions, and so he did not even take the formation lap.[5]

At the start, Sebastian Vettel starting from third, got past Nico Rosberg immediately on the straight, and at the first corner came up the inside of polesitter and teammate Mark Webber to take the lead. Webber challenged in the next corner but Vettel held firm. Robert Kubica and Michael Schumacher also gained two places, and were fourth and sixth respectively. Rubens Barrichello who started seventh stalled on the grid and was last at the end of the first lap. Both McLarens and both Ferraris charged up the field from their lowly grid positions after failing to properly read the conditions in qualifying. Lewis Hamilton had got up from 20th to 13th, Felipe Massa from 21st to 14th, Jenson Button from 17th to 15th, and Fernando Alonso from 19th to 16th. At the end of lap 1, the top 10 were: Vettel, Webber, Rosberg, Kubica, Adrian Sutil, Schumacher, Nico Hülkenberg, Vitantonio Liuzzi, Vitaly Petrov and Kamui Kobayashi. Timo Glock retired on lap three after a collision with Jarno Trulli.

Rosberg Malaysian GP start 2010 (cropped)

Nico Rosberg achieved the first podium for Mercedes; the first works Mercedes podium since the 1955 Italian Grand Prix.

Hamilton was on a charge, and soon was up to 10th within 4 laps, passing a car a lap. The Ferraris and Button could not get past Sébastien Buemi's Toro Rosso and were stuck with Massa 14th, Alonso 15th (having passed Button) and Button 16th. On the fifth lap, Hamilton passed Vitaly Petrov for ninth at the final turn, but Petrov came back at him at the back straight and regained the position. Two laps later, Hamilton once again passed Petrov at the final corner, however then weaved 4 times from side to side along the start finish straight in an effort to break the tow. He failed to do so as Petrov followed tightly behind and made an attempt to pass back at the first corner which did not succeed. Hamilton's manoeuvre of crossing from side to side 4 times courted controversy, dividing race pundits and drivers alike as to whether it was in breach of the regulations regarding the blocking of an overtake. The race stewards investigated the incident and issued Hamilton with a warning.

Sebastian Vettel won 2010 Malaysian GP

Vettel led 54 of the race's 56 laps as he won his sixth Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton overtaking Vitaly Petrov 2010 Malaysia

Lewis Hamilton was shown the black-and-white flag for unsportsmanlike behaviour during a battle with Vitaly Petrov.

Kobayashi, Schumacher and Liuzzi retired in quick succession on laps 8,9 and 12 with engine, loose wheel nut[6] and throttle failures respectively. This left the top 10 as: Vettel, Webber, Rosberg, Kubica, Sutil, Hülkenberg, Hamilton, Jaime Alguersuari, Massa and Alonso. Button had passed Alonso on lap 9, but then immediately pitted to change to the harder tyres. He was the first man to pit. He resumed on a clear track, and immediately set the fastest lap of the race, with a 1:41.044. Hülkenberg soon pitted, releasing Hamilton, who immediately ran under 1:41, setting a 1:40.9 on lap 16. He had improved that to a 1:40.4 by lap 20, when Rosberg, Kubica, and Sutil all pitted. The Red Bulls stayed out until laps 24 and 25, with Vettel coming in first. He rejoined side by side with Hamilton, but got ahead taking the inside line on Turn 1. Webber's pit stop was not as smooth, with a problem on his wheelnut costing him 2 seconds, and he rejoined 4 seconds behind teammate Vettel, with Hamilton in between. Vettel immediately got into the 1:39s with a lap of 1:39.854. Webber responded by going two tenths quicker on the next lap. The top 10 at the end of lap 26 were: Vettel, Hamilton, Webber, Rosberg, Kubica, Massa, Alonso, Sutil, Button, and Hülkenberg.

Senna Malaysian qualy 2010 (cropped)

Bruno Senna finished his first F1 race in sixteenth position for Hispania Racing.

The three drivers who started on hard tyres—Hamilton, Massa, and Alonso—were the only top drivers who had not pitted. Massa pitted on lap 27 from sixth and rejoined ninth, just ahead of Hülkenberg. Massa, on the softs, and with clear track, immediately went over a second quicker than anyone else. On lap 28, he set a 1:38.002, a second and a half faster than the previous fastest lap. Hamilton followed suit, pitting on lap 31 from second. He rejoined seventh, just ahead of teammate Button. He immediately closed in on Sutil like a rocket, setting a new fastest lap of 1:37.745. By lap 34, he was right behind Sutil. Massa similarly was closing in on Button. Alonso was the last of the frontrunners to pit, on lap 37. He rejoined in ninth, behind Massa. He did what Massa and Hamilton did before, on the new softs, setting a string of fastest laps, the last being a 1:37.231 on lap 41, half a second quicker than anyone else, allowing him to close a gap of over 10 seconds to Massa and Button in five laps.

Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso 2010 Malaysia

Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso battled on track before the engine in Alonso's Ferrari F10 failed.

Massa passed Button on lap 46 at the first corner, taking seventh place. He set about closing in on Hamilton, who was unable to pass Sutil. His lap times decreased by a second, but his tyres were 20 laps old, and he did not go as quickly as he had before. Alonso had been battling a gearbox problem for the entire race, and this affected his ability to pass Button. He made an attempt on lap 48, and then on the penultimate lap of the race, tried at Turn 1 and went wide. Alonso's engine then blew up, and he was out of the race from ninth. Also, on lap 53, Webber set a new fastest lap, 1:37.054.

Vettel took the chequered flag ahead of Webber, leading a Red Bull one-two,[7] with Rosberg completing the podium in third.[8] Kubica was fourth, Sutil held off Hamilton for fifth, and Massa and Button got seventh and eighth after gritty drives from the back. Alguersuari and Hülkenberg rounded out the point-scoring finishes, both scoring their first points in Formula One.[9][10] Alguersuari's points made him the second youngest points scorer in Formula One history. Further back, Virgin got their first ever finish with Lucas di Grassi 14th[11] and HRT got both their cars to the finish line for the first time, with Karun Chandhok 15th and Bruno Senna 16th.[12] Jarno Trulli was last of the 17 classified finishers, having suffered hydraulic problems, although his team-mate Heikki Kovalainen was still running at the end. He had pitted during the race with hydraulic issues and resumed nine laps adrift of the leader. He circulated six laps behind his nearest rival and did not complete enough laps to be classified as a finisher, ultimately taking the chequered flag ten laps down.

Classification[]

Qualifying[]

Pos No Driver Constructor Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Grid
1 6 25px Australia Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 1:51.886 1:48.210 1:49.327 1
2 4 25px Germany Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:52.560 1:47.417 1:50.673 2
3 5 25px Germany Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1:47.632 1:46.828 1:50.789 3
4 14 25px Germany Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1:49.479 1:47.085 1:50.914 4
5 10 25px Germany Nico Hülkenberg Williams-Cosworth 1:49.664 1:47.346 1:51.001 5
6 11 25px Flag of Poland Robert Kubica Renault 1:46.283 1:46.951 1:51.051 6
7 9 25px Brazil Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1:50.301 1:48.371 1:51.511 7
8 3 25px Germany Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1:52.239 1:48.400 1:51.717 8
9 23 25px Japan Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:48.467 1:47.792 1:51.767 9
10 15 25px Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 1:49.922 1:48.238 1:52.254 10
11 12 25px The flag of the Russian Federation Vitaly Petrov Renault 1:47.952 1:48.760 11
12 22 25px Spain Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1:47.153 1:48.771 12
13 16 25px Switzerland Sébastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:48.945 1:49.207 13
14 17 25px Spain Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1:48.655 1:49.464 14
15 19 25px Finland Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 1:52.875 1:52.270 15
16 24 25px Germany Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1:52.398 1:52.520 16
17 1 25px UK Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1:52.211 No Time 17
18 18 25px Italy Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 1:52.884 18
19 8 25px Spain Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1:53.044 19
20 2 25px UK Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1:53.050 20
21 7 25px Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari 1:53.283 21
22 20 25px Flag of India Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 1:56.299 22
23 21 25px Brazil Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 1:57.269 23
24 25 25px Brazil Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 1:59.977 24

Race[]

Pos No Driver Constructor Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 5 25px Germany Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 56 1:33:48.412 3 25
2 6 25px Australia Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault 56 +4.849 1 18
3 4 25px Germany Nico Rosberg Mercedes 56 +13.504 2 15
4 11 25px Flag of Poland Robert Kubica Renault 56 +18.589 6 12
5 14 25px Germany Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 56 +21.059 4 10
6 2 25px Great Britain Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 56 +23.471 20 8
7 7 25px Brazil Felipe Massa Ferrari 56 +27.068 21 6
8 1 25px Great Britain Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 56 +37.918 17 4
9 17 25px Spain Jaime Alguersuari Toro Rosso-Ferrari 56 +1:10.602 14 2
10 10 25px Germany Nico Hülkenberg Williams-Cosworth 56 +1:13.399 5 1
11 16 25px Switzerland Sébastien Buemi Toro Rosso-Ferrari 56 +1:18.938 13
12 9 25px Brazil Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 55 +1 Lap 7
13 8 25px Spain Fernando Alonso Ferrari 54 Engine1 19
14 25 25px Brazil Lucas di Grassi Virgin-Cosworth 53 +3 Laps 24
15 20 25px Flag of India Karun Chandhok HRT-Cosworth 53 +3 Laps 22
16 21 25px Brazil Bruno Senna HRT-Cosworth 52 +4 Laps 23
17 18 25px Italy Jarno Trulli Lotus-Cosworth 51 +5 Laps 18
NC 19 25px Finland Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Cosworth 46 Hydraulics 15
Ret 12 25px The flag of the Russian Federation Vitaly Petrov Renault 32 Gearbox 11
Ret 15 25px Italy Vitantonio Liuzzi Force India-Mercedes 12 Throttle 10
Ret 3 25px Germany Michael Schumacher Mercedes 9 Wheel 8
Ret 23 25px Japan Kamui Kobayashi BMW Sauber-Ferrari 8 Engine 9
Ret 24 25px Germany Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 2 Collision 16
DNS 22 25px Spain Pedro de la Rosa BMW Sauber-Ferrari 0 Engine 12

Notes:

  1. – Fernando Alonso retired, but was classified as he had completed over 90% of the winner's race distance.

Championship standings after the race[]

Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
1 25px Brazil Felipe Massa 39
2= 25px Spain Fernando Alonso 37
2= 25px Germany Sebastian Vettel 37
4= 25px UK Jenson Button 35
4= 25px Germany Nico Rosberg 35
Constructors' Championship standings
Pos Constructor Points
1 25px Italy Ferrari 76
2 25px Great Britain McLaren-Mercedes 66
3 25px Austria Red Bull-Renault 61
4 25px Germany Mercedes 44
5 25px France Renault 30
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

References[]

  1. Benson, Andrew; Holt, Sarah (2009-08-29). "Bahrain set to start 2010 season". BBC Sport (BBC). http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8228228.stm. Retrieved 2009-08-30. 
  2. Ornstein, David (2010-04-04). "Sebastian Vettel wins the Malaysian GP for Red Bull". BBC Sport (BBC). http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8602452.stm. Retrieved 2010-04-06. 
  3. Ryan, Josh (2010-04-03). "Webber Takes Pole In Malaysia". aussief1.com (Aussie F1). http://aussief1.com/2010/04/03/article032-webber-takes-pole-in-malaysia/. Retrieved 2010-04-07. 
  4. Ryan, Josh (2010-04-07). "Brawn: Too Much Reliance On Radars". aussief1.com (Aussie F1). http://aussief1.com/2010/04/07/article039-brawn-too-much-reliance-on-radars/. Retrieved 2010-04-07. 
  5. "Pre-race engine failure ruins de la Rosa's race". gpupdate.net (GPUpdate). 2010-04-04. http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-news/231756/pre-race-engine-failure-ruins-de-la-rosa-s-race/. Retrieved 2010-04-07. 
  6. "Lost wheel nut ends Schumacher's race". gpupdate.net (GPUpdate). 2010-04-04. http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-news/231762/lost-wheel-nut-ends-schumacher-s-race/. Retrieved 2010-04-07. 
  7. "Vettel heads Red Bull 1–2 in Malaysia". gpupdate.net (GPUpdate). 2010-04-04. http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-news/231765/vettel-heads-red-bull-1-2-in-malaysia/. Retrieved 2010-04-07. 
  8. "Rosberg pleased with first Mercedes podium". gpupdate.net (GPUpdate). 2010-04-04. http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-news/231782/rosberg-pleased-with-first-mercedes-podium/. Retrieved 2010-04-07. 
  9. "Alguersuari scores in eleventh Grand Prix". gpupdate.net (GPUpdate). 2010-04-04. http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-news/231803/alguersuari-scores-in-eleventh-grand-prix/. Retrieved 2010-04-07. 
  10. "Hülkenberg hoped for more despite point". gpupdate.net (GPUpdate). 2010-04-04. http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-news/231809/hulkenberg-hoped-for-more-despite-point/. Retrieved 2010-04-07. 
  11. "Di Grassi and Virgin finish for first time". gpupdate.net (GPUpdate). 2010-04-04. http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-news/231818/di-grassi-and-virgin-finish-for-first-time/. Retrieved 2010-04-07. 
  12. "Hispania celebrate double race finish". gpupdate.net (GPUpdate). 2010-04-04. http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/formula-1-news/231820/hispania-celebrate-double-race-finish/. Retrieved 2010-04-07. 

External links[]



Previous race:
2010 Australian Grand Prix
FIA Formula One World Championship
2010 season
Next race:
2010 Chinese Grand Prix
Previous race:
2009 Malaysian Grand Prix
Malaysian Grand Prix Next race:
2011 Malaysian Grand Prix
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