Weather whisperers were out in force, for team members on the grid it was a race to see who could predict the weather closest to lights out. It was Intermediates for the whole field, except HRT who went for fully wets.
Lap 1 and by this time it was tipping it down with rain, Lewis Hamilton got off well from pole with teammate Jenson Button chasing close behind in to Turn 1. Romain Grosjean also got off to a superb start up in to 3rd until he clipped Michael Schumacher, they both dropped down to the mid-field after Schumi spun his Merc.
Sauber's Sergio Perez was first to pit opting for full wets, a bold decision which was the start of a brilliant race for the young Mexican, a gamble that payed off well.
Lap 5 saw the first retirement of the race when Romain Grosjean beached his Lotus for the second race in a row, i think once he's over beaching his car during the race Grosjean will be a strong competitor the car looks like it's got what it takes to go all the way to the podium but Lotus' luck hasn't been great so far with Kimi Raikkonen receiving a five place grid drop after changing the gearbox yesterday, needless to say the Iceman worked his way up the field.
On lap 7 Jenson Button declared the last sector "is like a lake"... soon after the safety car was out and the field were bunched up. Eventually two laps later the race was red flagged, the cars lined up on the grid in order of current positions behind the safety car, gazebo's went up and the grid now looked like some dodgy British BBQ party.
The driver who benefited most from the red flag was Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne who had yet to pit, he put in a great effort to stick (or struggle to stick) with inters while others changed to full wets. The driver who could of done without the red flag the most was Bruno Senna who had only just pitted for wet tyres.
What seemed like forever (50 minutes to be precise), a few claps of thunder and lightening plus a lot of rain later the race restarted under the safety car and the field were on their way again.
Lap 13 and the safety car was in, it was time to get back racing for the remainder of the race.
Pedro de la Rosa got given a drive-through penalty for having team personnel leave the grid too late. After starting in the pits because he stalled at the start of the race before the red flag, the Spaniard's day went for bad to worse.
Lap 14 was the start of pit skittling - Button, Rosberg and Raikkonen were first to pit for inters followed by a hectic lap 15 with front runner Hamilton pitting but was a crucial flaw in the McLaren drivers race, he ended up having to wait while Felipe Massa got in to his pitbox which meant he was behind Alonso when he was released. While the drama was unfolding in the pitlane, Sergio Perez was leading the Grand Prix, holding out for another lap on wet tyres, he then pitted for medium compound tyres - another wise move from the Sauber team.
Meanwhile McLaren's race was falling apart, Jenson Button collided in to the back of HRT's Narain Karthikeyan ruining his race and Karthikeyan's, he struggled with grip and tyre issues for the rest of the race, Button finished in 14th place.
On Lap 17 Alonso made his all important move on Perez for 1st, for the rest of their race they were both dicing each other battling for the top spot, each taking fastest after fastest lap off each other, both holding on to their positions finishing 1st and 2nd, a fantastic performance by Perez; if you didn't think he had talent before then i bet you do now!
Once DRS had been activated reining champion Sebastian Vettel was up to 4th place overtaking Nico Rosberg who then dropped back behind Kimi Raikkonen. The Mercedes seem to have better qualifying pace then race pace.
Sebastian's position soon diminished, as with Button, Vettel collided with Kathikeyan and punctured his left rear, spitting up rubber he pitted for fresh tyres. Vettel's chances of a podium were over and the frustrated German finished in 11th.
*Narain Karthikeyan has been giving a penalty after the incident with Sebastian Vettel, why? You tell me.
Williams' end of race misfortune continued in Sepang with Pastor Maldonado having to box after an engine failure on Lap 55 however teammate Bruno Senna had a blinder of a race and finished in 6th, his best result in a GP and a much needed comeback for the team!
Red Bull had a terrible last lap with Vettel; they played radio hokey-cokey telling him to pit due to damage to rear brake duct after his clash with Kartikeyan, then changing their mind and saying he had to stay out, in, out, in out and finally he finished in 11th, it turns out his radio didn't work and he couldn't hear a thing they were telling him, just as well.
It was all smiles for the podium drivers, even though McLaren overall didn't have the race they hoped they would have had, a podium is a podium and it's more points on the board.
RESULTS:
FASTEST LAP: Kimi Raikkonen: 1:40.722
Fernando Alonso 1st, Sergio Perez 2nd, Lewis Hamilton 3rd
The first two opening races have been corkers, full of excitement and unpredictability, this had to be one of the most surprising podiums in a long time. Now for a short (in F1 fan term this actually means it'll feel like forever and a day) three week break until China [April 13-15th] teams and driver will now have a chance to reflect on the season opener's after a jam packed few weeks. Who knows what China will bring but i have a feeling it'll be another nail biting race.
If you are a MotoGP fan though the even longer wait till the first race of the season is soon to be over. Two weeks today Qatar's MotoGP night race will be underway and the start of Casey Stoner's fight for retainment of his championship will begin, along with Moto2 and Moto3 - which has been replaced by 125cc, who'll be the first Moto3 winner in Doha?
Will the Ducati finally make some positive progress and fight for podiums? Will Repsol Honda be as dominate as 2011? How well will the CRT's perform in race conditions?
We'll soon find out!
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