The complete Malaysian Grand Prix review

PRACTICE

Practice one - Friday am

Lewis Hamilton may have ended the Australian Grand Prix looking somewhat gloomy, but five days later he was firmly back in business and going fastest in the opening free practice session for the Malaysian race. A 1m38.021s lap put the McLaren man on top just before the session's halfway point, and proved unbeatable. Sebastian Vettel had briefly swapped first place with Hamilton before having to settle for second, half a second adrift.

While one McLaren was leading the way, the Melbourne-winning one was languishing in ninth, as an oil leak sidelining Jenson Button in the garage after 15 laps. Mercedes was expected to be very competitive around Sepang with its trick DRS likely to be a huge benefit on the track's long straights. Sure enough, Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher were third and fourth, while Lotus looked strong too with Romain Grosjean fifth and Kimi Raikkonen seventh, sandwiching Mark Webber's Red Bull. There was no upswing for Ferrari at this stage, though - Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso 13th and 15th.

The morning also featured a potentially significant debut, as reigning GP3 champion and highly-rated talent Valtteri Bottas made his first appearance in a grand prix weekend session for Williams, taking Bruno Senna's car and beating his team-mate Pastor Maldonado to 11th. At the tail of the field, HRT's strife continued as Narain Karthikeyan stopped on track with a gearbox problem, and Pedro de la Rosa was slower still.

Practice two - Friday pm

Hamilton marched on in P2, having never much looked like being anything other than fastest in the second 90 minutes of running.

The Sepang asphalt wasn't giving up the same amount of grip in the searing post-midday sun and plenty of drivers complained about a lack of adhesion, particularly at the rear. But come rain, shine, or unbearable humidity, the McLarens looked quick, and Hamilton's 1m38.172s was more than 0.3s faster than his nearest rival Schumacher could manage.

The McLarens and Mercedes alternated the top positions as Button and Rosberg completed the top four.

Behind the silver cars was Daniel Ricciardo as the Toro Rossos were an impressive fifth and eighth quickest, which only added to the bemusement over the team's lack of pace when it came to qualifying later in the weekend. Alonso was sixth in the improving Ferrari.

Raikkonen, who took his maiden grand prix win at Sepang in 2003, languished down in 15th having experienced problems both with the Lotus's KERS and its floor.

Practice three - Saturday am

A few drops of rain before the start of final practice meant the session was off to a slow start, and it took 20 minutes for a driver to set a time. After that, the action was non-stop, and several drivers exchanged the top position as track conditions improved and teams tried the medium rubber. Eventually it was Rosberg who set the pace in the Mercedes, finishing over 0.4s clear of his closest rival, Vettel in the Red Bull. The German led a pack of six cars split by just over 0.1s, setting the scene for a thrilling qualifying session.

Friday's pacesetter Hamilton did not have the best of sessions. The Briton went off the track during his first run, ending up in the gravel. Although he managed to return to the track, it took his McLaren team several minutes before it could send him back out. In the end, Hamilton completed his first timed lap with less than 10 minutes left and finished with only eight circuits completed. Hamilton's off was the only incident of significance during a quiet session.

QUALIFYING

1. Lewis Hamilton (McLaren)

Time: 1m36.219s

"We made some set-up changes to the car but still managed to do some good times. The first lap in Q3 was quite good. I lost a bit of time in the last corner but fortunately I was able to minimise the time that I lost.

2. Jenson Button (McLaren)

Time: 1m36.368s

"Qualifying has been pretty good to me in the last two races, so I can't complain too much. You obviously want it the other way round, but Lewis did a great lap at the start of Q3. We edged closer, but we couldn't quite get it. It will be an exciting start with us two on the front row."

3. Michael Schumacher (Mercedes)

Time: 1m36.391s

"This was the maximum that was available. We worked the car very well over the whole weekend. I feel good about it knowing that we have chosen a car that should work better in the race - a situation that should pay off tomorrow."

4. Mark Webber (Red Bull)

Time: 1m36.461s

"Today went a bit better than we thought it would in terms of pace. We are still not quick enough to challenge for pole position yet. There are areas where we need to improve, straightline speed and a few things like that, but it was a better showing today and it will be better in the race... or not worse... tomorrow."

5. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull)

Time: 1m36.634s

"We had a difficult session this afternoon. All in all, I think it was fairly close if you look at the gaps in qualifying. It could have been better and could have been worse, but we deserve to be where we are. We got the maximum out of the car and we will see where we are tomorrow."

6. Romain Grosjean (Lotus)

Time: 1m36.658s

"It's not bad to be four tenths from pole position. I'm struggling a little bit into Turn 1 and 2 where I am two tenths off Kimi's pace, but then the car feels good over the rest of the lap. We can have good ambitions for tomorrow to score points."

7. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes)

Time: 1m36.664s

"I would obviously like to be further up the grid. Unfortunately I lost some time on my quick lap after a poor first corner, which cost me a few tenths and left me with a lot of tyre vibrations for the rest of the lap."

8. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari)

Time: 1m37.566s

"Qualifying went well for us. There wasn't a lot of time to be extracted from the car. We had to use the medium tyre in Q1 to get through and in Q3 it was impossible to fight with the top guys, so we did just one lap which was enough to get ahead of Perez, which was the only target we had."

9. Sergio Perez (Sauber)

Time: 1m37.698s

"I am very happy we made it into Q3. Considering all the balance problems we had yesterday that we could not fully explain, it was a great achievement today for the team. Also, our car is still better in race conditions than in qualifying."

10*. Kimi Raikkonen (Lotus)

Time: 1m36.461s

"The car worked today. It didn't work yesterday because we had some issues with KERS and the set-up but now it is normal. The lap was OK. I got out of shape in a few places and maybe lost a tenth or two. With a perfect lap, it might have been two tenths faster."
*Raikkonen qualified fifth but received a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.

11. Pastor Maldonado (Williams)

Time: 1m37.589s

"From yesterday, I saw that Q3 would be a bit too difficult because we are penalised too much by the DRS effect and we are not too good on the straights. But for tomorrow, it's looking good because we did some good long runs in practice."

12. Felipe Massa (Ferrari)

Time: 1m37.731s

"Qualifying was the first time that I had the car the way it was supposed to be. To be three tenths behind Fernando was not too bad, even if I do want to be in front. After everything that happened in Australia, it was definitely a good effort and now we're going in a good direction."

13. Bruno Senna (Williams)

Time: 1m37.841s

"Qualifying was okay. It was a bit eventful as I didn't get the best Q1 of my life. Fortunately, we got through. We ran old tyres then new tyres in Q2 and lacked enough running to maximise the run on new tyres. And the first lap had to be aborted because of a yellow flag."

14. Paul di Resta (Force India)

Time: 1m37.877s

"My laps in Q2 were good and I got sectors one and two right, but I maybe lost out in the final sector, which I never really maximised. I think P14 is a reasonable place to start and hopefully our race pace and tyre management will pay off tomorrow."

15. Daniel Ricciardo (Toro Rosso)

Time: 1m37.883s

"Today's performance was okay, but obviously not as good on paper as last Saturday when I was in Q3. It's very close so a tenth of a second might have made a difference of a few positions. I think we are more or less where we thought we would be."

16. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India)

Time: 1m37.890s

"Half a tenth would have given me two or three places, while finding a tenth would have put me 12th on the grid. To be honest, though, I don't think that there was any more to come because I pretty much got the maximum from the car."

17. Kamui Kobayashi (Sauber)

Time: 1m38.069s

"We had a problem with the balance and because of that we couldn't find the overall grip. P3 was fine and from yesterday to today the setup changes were a good step. For qualifying, we changed the settings, and it wasn't good. I struggled a lot."

18. Jean-Eric Vergne (Toro Rosso)

Time: 1m39.077s

"I'm a bit disappointed with this result. I made a mistake at the first corner, having a massive lock-up on a front wheel. That created so much vibration that I had to come back to the pits and that was my qualifying over."

19. Vitaly Petrov (Caterham)

Time: 1m39.567s

"We had quite an aggressive strategy for qualifying but it didn't pay off. I didn't have a good balance on the car in either P3 or the qually runs and we need to spend a bit more time looking at how to get the best out of the tyres."

20. Timo Glock (Marussia)

Time: 1m40.903s

"We closed the gap a little bit compared to the top teams relative to Melbourne, so it's all going in the right direction at the moment. In qualifying, I managed to do two good laps but didn't really have confidence in the tyre. I made two little mistakes and this cost me a tenth or two."

21. Charles Pic (Marussia)

Time: 1m41.250s

"It was a good qualifying for me. I am a little bit closer to Timo than in Australia and that is the best target that I have for now. I think there are still a couple of tenths to find but overall it's a positive step."

22. Pedro de la Rosa (HRT)

Time: 1m42.914s

"It was a good day. From the first lap in the morning, the car had improved notably and we improved our times significantly. We could have improved our times even more during the qualifying session. We've taken a huge stride and I'm very satisfied because of that."

23. Narain Karthikeyan (HRT)

Time: 1m43.655s

"Yesterday I had only two flying laps and this morning three, so it was an improvement. In qualifying, I screwed up the last corner and lost three tenths on my last lap when I was pushing hard. All things considered, it's a bit better and at least we are in."

24*. Heikki Kovalainen (Caterham)

Time: 1m39.306s

"The feeling was that there was much more in the car. The first run with the hard tyre felt good and we decided only to have one run on the medium tyre. But it didn't feel as good and I was struggling for rear end grip. It was not the qualifying lap that you would expect."
*Kovalainen qualified 19th but received a five-place grid penalty for an illegal overtaking move in Australia..

THE GRID

Pos  Driver                Team
 1.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes
 2.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes
 3.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes
 4.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault
 5.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault
 6.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault
 7.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes
 8.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari
 9.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari
10.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault *
11.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault
12.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari
13.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault
14.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes
15.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari
16.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes
17.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari
18.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari
19.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault
20.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth
21.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth
22.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth
24.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault **

*  Five-place grid penalty for gearbox change
** Five-place grid penalty for overtaking under safety car

RACE

The 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix will go down in history as one of those 'did that really happen?' races. On paper, a double world champion driving for Ferrari ought to be an obvious race winner, and perhaps that is indeed the way that the season will unfold. But in the context of Ferrari's winter of misery and its own assertion earlier in the weekend that it had no chance of getting into Q3, to see Fernando Alonso atop the podium was a shock.

Not as big a shock as the identity of the man standing next to him - and who so nearly beat him. Sergio Perez came within a small mistake of beating Alonso to the win - the humble Sauber having not only been hunting down the Ferrari at a closing speed that sometimes exceeded a second per lap, but been dropping the McLaren, Red Bull and Lotus pack that trailed in his wake too. Is the 2012 Sauber something very special? Is Perez? Or did the weather conditions on this Sepang Sunday just play into their hands?

It was also one of those curious occasions when the events of a race slot exactly into Formula 1's news agenda. 'Ferrari in crisis' was fading down the headline priorities after Alonso's race performance rescued the team's Australian Grand Prix weekend. But Felipe Massa's inability to do the same meant the Ferrari news focus became the Brazilian's chances of not just hanging on to his drive for 2012 (which have been considered roughly zero for some time by many), but of reaching the end of this year still dressed in red. And who is top of the list of potential replacements...? Ferrari Academy member and Ferrari-powered Sauber driver Perez.

Perez hassling Alonso to the flag in a Sauber on a day when Massa finished a minute and a half adrift in 15th fitted the news script almost too perfectly. As if the pressure on Massa could have got any greater...

The weather played a part in Alonso and Perez - the man who had fought for ninth in qualifying - becoming the men to beat in the race, but it wasn't the whole story.

The race began with some parts of the circuit very wet and others nearly dry, and most on the compromise choice of intermediates. As McLaren team-mates Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button converted their front row positions into lead formation, Alonso and Perez dodged their way up to fifth and seventh amid mild chaos triggered by Romain Grosjean sliding into Michael Schumacher and sending both spinning.

Perez didn't stay there long, immediately pitting for the full wet tyres that were about to become by far the best choice as the clouds opened in earnest.

It didn't take long for the Mexican to start outpacing the leaders, prompting everyone to follow suit - but not in time for most of them to get back out ahead of the Sauber, which was up to third behind the McLarens when worsened conditions forced the safety car to emerge on lap seven and the race to be halted for an hour soon afterwards. Alonso was fifth at this stage, benefiting from pitting one lap earlier than the Red Bulls as he split Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel.

Although wets were declared mandatory for the restart, when the safety released the field again at the start of lap 14, the track was ready for intermediates.

This time it was Button who made the wise call, diving in before reaching the restart line. That decision would have probably ensured he jumped Hamilton even if his team-mate hadn't suffered a five-second delay at his pitstop, mainly through being boxed in by Ferrari stacking its cars. Alonso also got ahead of Hamilton at the same time, rejoining behind Button.

For a moment it looked like Button was lining himself up for a second straight win. But pitting so soon had dropped him deep into traffic. One of the cars to be passed was Narain Karthikeyan's HRT, which had briefly risen to the surprise heights of 10th by virtue of starting on full wets. The McLaren slid into the HRT, smashing its front wing and ending Button's victory hopes - in an incident both men were happy to take responsibility for.

"I was struggling to keep the tyres up temperature and it was totally my fault," Button admitted. "I hit the brakes, I lost the rear. I was struggling to get the car slowed down. I tried to get around the corner but I couldn't do anything but hit him really."

But Karthikeyan was also feeling apologetic: "I didn't think he would pass there, because you really don't want to get in their way, and if I had seen him coming I would have moved over."

The McLarens' stop had put Perez into the lead, as he did not go for intermediates until lap 15 - rejoining just ahead of Alonso, but swiftly being passed by the already-up-to-speed Ferrari.

And from then on, the race was all about the Spaniard and the Mexican who may be team-mates in the not massively distant future, for surprisingly Hamilton simply did not have the pace to threaten them.

"We just weren't very quick today," said the polesitter. "I was just trying to hunt them down but they were both massively quick."

By lap 30, Alonso was 7.7s clear of Perez and 15.5s in front of Hamilton. The track was now drying, but with more rain flirting with the circuit, no one was in a hurry to ditch the intermediates. However, the Sauber was keeping its rubber together better than the Ferrari - reducing the gap to 1.3s by lap 39 - and once Daniel Ricciardo put slicks on his Toro Rosso and started going very rapidly, it was obvious that a tyre change was going to be essential.

The combination of Alonso getting onto the right tyres one lap sooner and the Sauber's clutch being slightly uncooperative put the lead gap up to 7.1s with 14 laps to go. Race over? Not at all. In dry conditions - and running new hard tyres when Alonso was on used mediums - Perez was spectacularly faster and the leader, and soon taking massive chunks out of the Ferrari's cushion.

Ferrari boss Stefano Domenicali hinted that Alonso always had the situation under control, and there were also murmurs - not quietened by a Sauber radio message urging Perez not to jeopardise his second place - that as a Ferrari customer engine user, Sauber was not permitted to steal victory from Alonso. Not so, said all involved, and as far as Alonso was concerned, it was a straight fight against a faster rival.

"I think Sauber is doing a fantastic job this year," said Alonso. "We saw in winter testing they made very good progress, they showed good potential in Australia, they showed super potential here, today, with a very good drive from Sergio."

By lap 50, Perez was within half a second of the lead and hitting his DRS button - though it didn't give him enough impetus to complete a pass at the first attempt. And it would turn out that would be the one and only attempt, for later that lap he ran wide coming onto the back straight and lost five seconds - too much to recoup in the remaining laps.

"I knew I had to get him soon because in all the sectors with the high speed I was losing already my front tyres with a lot of degradation going behind Fernando, so it wasn't easy," said Perez. "Then I ran wide in the quick corner, I touched a kerb and I went to the dirty side. It was completely wet and that was the end of the win, probably. It was very difficult obviously to get Fernando but I think today the win was possible."

Being beaten by a Sauber would have raised some questions for Ferrari - but in the context of its troubled start to 2012, even second place would have been very, very welcome. Though he left the McLarens and Red Bulls, not to mention Lotus and Mercedes, trailing in Malaysia, Alonso said he was under no illusions about his car's actual competitiveness. He didn't put it quite so bluntly, but this was a triumph of driving brilliance in a car that should really have been somewhere between Alonso's epic first place and Massa's dismal 15th.

"I think it changes nothing, to be honest," said the delighted but pragmatic victor. "We are in a position that we don't want, to be fighting to go into Q3 and then fighting to score some points.

"We want to fight for pole positions, for victories, so definitely in the first two races of the championship that we find ourselves off the pace. We didn't lose any points to the leaders, so this is the positive news about these first two races but coming to China, Bahrain, Barcelona, there is a lot of stuff coming to improve the car and this is the real job we have to do."

On a straightforward weekend, Ferrari probably isn't as fast as McLaren, Red Bull, Lotus or Mercedes still, but Alonso found speed in the conditions in a way none of that quartet's drivers did, and was better at staying out of trouble.

While McLaren had Hamilton on the podium, its Melbourne winner Button never really recovered from his clash with Karthikeyan - making an extra pitstop for more intermediates and finally finishing 14th.

Red Bull wasn't miles off the pace or ever really a victory threat. Vettel and Webber looked set for fourth and fifth, not far away from the podium, until an unimpressed Vettel became the second title contender to collide with Karthikeyan in an hour, causing a puncture and brake damage that left him to finish 11th - a broken radio meaning he failed to hear the team's instructions to retire.

Once again, Mercedes saw a promising qualifying turn into a horrible race. Schumacher didn't have the pace to get any higher than 10th after his incident with Grosjean, and although Nico Rosberg made it to fifth for a while, huge tyre wear forced an extra stop and left him 13th. Massive tyre fade was also the problem for Massa on his way to that worrying 15th place.

Lotus got Kimi Raikkonen home in fifth, the Finn feeling a bit more than his zero experience on Pirelli wets and intermediates would have helped. Grosjean aquaplaned terminally into the gravel not long after clouting Schumacher.

Bruno Senna was also in trouble on the first lap when he hit Williams team-mate Pastor Maldonado, but brilliant mid-race pace saw him charge back to sixth, while Maldonado recovered from some pitstop confusion to get up to 10th, only to suffer a late engine failure.

Force India scored more points with Paul di Resta seventh (despite an early punt from Maldonado) and Nico Hulkenberg ninth. And on a day when his Toro Rosso team-mate Ricciardo seemed ill at ease in the conditions in a way that even a pioneering switch to slicks didn't resolve, Jean-Eric Vergne impressed greatly - first by staying on intermediates right up to the red flag, which placed him seventh for a spell, then by securing his first points for eighth place.

RACE RESULTS

The Malaysian Grand Prix
Sepang, Malaysia;
56 laps; 310.408km;
Weather: Mixed conditions.

Classified:

Pos  Driver        Team                       Time
 1.  Alonso        Ferrari                    2h44:51.812
 2.  Perez         Sauber-Ferrari             +     2.263
 3.  Hamilton      McLaren-Mercedes           +    14.591
 4.  Webber        Red Bull-Renault           +    17.688
 5.  Raikkonen     Lotus-Renault              +    29.456
 6.  Senna         Williams-Renault           +    37.667
 7.  Di Resta      Force India-Mercedes       +    44.412
 8.  Vergne        Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +    46.985
 9.  Hulkenberg    Force India-Mercedes       +    47.892
10.  Schumacher    Mercedes                   +    49.996
11.  Vettel        Red Bull-Renault           +  1:15.527
12.  Ricciardo     Toro Rosso-Ferrari         +  1:16.826
13.  Rosberg       Mercedes                   +  1:18.593
14.  Button        McLaren-Mercedes           +  1:19.719
15.  Massa         Ferrari                    +  1:37.319
16.  Petrov        Caterham-Renault           +     1 lap
17.  Glock         Marussia-Cosworth          +     1 lap
18.  Kovalainen    Caterham-Renault           +     1 lap
19.  Maldonado     Williams-Renault           +    2 laps
20.  Pic           Marussia-Cosworth          +    2 laps
21.  Karthikeyan   HRT-Cosworth               +    2 laps
22.  De la Rosa    HRT-Cosworth               +    2 laps

Fastest lap: Raikkonen, 1:40.722

Not classified/retirements:

Driver        Team                         On lap
Kobayashi     Sauber-Ferrari               47
Grosjean      Lotus-Renault                4


World Championship standings, round 2:                

Drivers:                    Constructors:             
 1.  Alonso        35        1.  McLaren-Mercedes           55
 2.  Hamilton      30        2.  Red Bull-Renault           42
 3.  Button        25        3.  Ferrari                    35
 4.  Webber        24        4.  Sauber-Ferrari             30
 5.  Perez         22        5.  Lotus-Renault              16
 6.  Vettel        18        6.  Force India-Mercedes        9
 7.  Raikkonen     16        7.  Williams-Renault            8
 8.  Senna          8        8.  Toro Rosso-Ferrari          6
 9.  Kobayashi      8        9.  Mercedes                    1
10.  Di Resta       7       
11.  Vergne         4       
12.  Hulkenberg     2       
13.  Ricciardo      2       
14.  Schumacher     1       
       

TEAM-BY-TEAM

Red Bull

Malaysia proved what Australia hinted, that the team has yet to find the sweet spot on the RB8. Uncharacteristically struggling with grip issues through practice in a car Webber described as 'disconnected', Vettel was forced to go for the harder tyre in Q3 - the only man to do so - and it still wasn't enough. He ended up fifth on the grid, behind his team-mate for the second weekend running.

The duo ran third and fourth initially in the race, after Grosjean and Schumacher took each other out, but still it was Webber who had the upper hand until the pair pitted for inters after the safety car period that signalled the restart after the rain.

Vettel then ran fourth before making an unusual mistake and clipping Karthikeyan's HRT as he lapped the Indian. This gave the world champion a left rear puncture, dropping him out of the picture. He was ordered by the team to retire on the last lap due to brake duct damage, but a broken radio meant the went unheard. This was Webber's gain as the Australian finished in the position, having spent some time in the race caught behind Raikkonen's Lotus.

McLaren

McLaren will look back on this race as an opportunity missed. Throughout practice and qualifying the MP4-27 was the fastest thing around Sepang and Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button duly delivered the team's second front row sweep in succession. It all looked good for another dominant weekend. Then it rained on Sunday.

The race started well enough for Hamilton who led away from his team-mate, but the duo's campaign unravelled when the race was restarted after the lap nine rain stoppage. Hamilton dropped back into the pack after a difficult stop for intermediates and though he recovered to third he could seemingly do nothing about the pace of Alonso and Perez at the front.

Button's race was ruined by a misjudgement while lapping Karthikeyan. He was forced to pit for a new nose, but couldn't get heat into the set of inters he took on. He stopped again for another set after several laps of futility and only then did he unleash his typical mixed conditions pace. It was too late by then though and he ended the race a disappointing 14th.

Ferrari

Perhaps only Fernando Alonso could turn a pumpkin into a glittering carriage and provide Ferrari with a Cinderella storyline. No way should the F2012 be winning races at the moment, and that's just how it looked through practice and qualifying, where the Spaniard could manage only eighth fastest - one spot ahead of Sergio Perez.

Rain at the start of the race levelled the field and allowed the Spaniard to mix it with the two Red Bulls that trailed McLaren as everyone stopped for wets. The race was red-flagged on lap nine because of the rain, and when it restarted Alonso pitted early for intermediates.

He emerged from this phase in the lead, having passed Perez on track and showing genuine pace. Judging the conditions brilliantly he pulled away from the Sauber, but in the closing stages he came under intense pressure from the Mexican, but held his nerve. Then Perez made a mistake and Alonso was home and, almost, dry to a famous win.

"That's why he's with us," said Stefano Domenicali afterwards. How long Felipe Massa will be is another question as a chassis change did nothing to turn his fortunes. The Brazilian started the race 12th having declared himself much happier with the car. He ended it 15th though, 95s behind Perez, who has been linked to his drive, having struggled with tyre temperatures and general grip issues.

Mercedes

Both Schumacher and Rosberg looked very strong through the build-up days and it was no surprise to see the seven time world champion on the second row - third position his best qualifying performance since returning to the spot. The shock, in fact, was seeing Rosberg only take seventh - the German having locked up on his qualifying lap in Q3 for the second weekend running.

Schumacher was spun around on the first lap by Grosjean and from there he was in a battle to fight back into the points. Rosberg meanwhile climbed his way up to fourth before pitting for wets. After the restart both drivers struggled with bad degradation on their inters and for a long while it looked as if neither driver would finish in the points.

But then Vettel suffered a puncture which elevated Schumacher to 10th. Rosberg's degradation was so bad he was forced to pit for another set of inters, his only positive being his pace in the final dry stint, which allowed him to pass Button for 13th. More work required.

Lotus

A KERS issue and a change of the E20's floor masked Kimi Raikkonen's true pace on Friday, but on Saturday there was genuine frustration that the returning world champion had also had to have a gearbox change, dropping him from fifth to tenth. The Finn was convinced he could have been on the front row with the Lotus, had he not made a mistake.

Grosjean made a brilliant start from sixth to third but then ruined it by making contact with Schumacher at Turn 4. He spun off in the rain a few laps later as Raikkonen took the first allotted wet tyre stop. Raikkonen raced home to fifth having battled for a while with Webber, and was left still wondering exactly where he and Lotus stand in the competitive order after another unconventional race.

An average qualifying session saw di Resta and Hulkenberg back in 14th and 15th. Bar di Resta being pushed into a quick spin by Maldonado, they were fairly inconspicuous in the race - but were still quicker than most of the midfield and soon fought their way forwards in the conditions. Their final rewards were seventh for di Resta and ninth for Hulkenberg.

In the years to come, this may come to be seen as the race victory Sauber should have taken. It has never won as a privateer and never come closer either, yet Perez was within DRS striking distance of leader Alonso with five laps to go when he dropped it over a kerb at Turn 15.

Still, second place was a brilliant result for the burgeoning Mexican talent - who jumped into lead contention with a perfectly-judged early move to extreme wets, and then benefited from the McLarens' issues to spend the race battling for victory with Alonso.

While Perez flew - also making it into Q3 - his team-mate Kobayashi struggled, starting only 17th after struggling to find a qualifying balance, and having to retire with brake problems late in a low-key midfield race.

Failing to repeat his Melbourne qualifying heroics was no great disaster for Ricciardo, who said his 16th place on the grid just underlined that this would be a topsy-turvy year mid-pack. Vergne was more frustrated, locking up on a crucial Q1 lap and starting only 18th.

The Frenchman made amends with a brilliant race through to eighth - his performance including being the only man to survive on intermediates right up to the red flag, when he was running seventh. But Ricciardo struggled for speed and was only 13th at the flag.

Qualifying 11th and 13th was less exciting than Williams's Melbourne heroics, and its drivers then came together on the first lap, leaving Senna to pit for a new wing.

After that, the Brazilian was flawless, charging back to a fine sixth-place finish. Maldonado was also delayed, falling down the order after missing a crucial radio call to pit amid the tyre changes, but he recovered to 10th before a late engine failure.

Caterham continues to fall between the faster midfield teams and its fellow 2010 arrivals, and nothing changed in Malaysia - bar Kovalainen having to start last as a result of the penalty he carried over from Melbourne.

Nose damage sustained in a trip off the road hampered his Sepang race and he finished 18th, two places behind team-mate Petrov.

Managing to get both cars into the field despite a few technical gremlins in the build-up was a good achievement for the Spanish team, as was getting to the flag.

De la Rosa was penalised for his mechanics being on the grid too long, and started from the pits due to a fuel pressure problem, before finishing 21st. Karthikeyan rose to an amazing 10th having started on wet tyres, later collided with both Button and Vettel, getting a penalty for the latter clash, and was classified 22nd after beating his team-mate on the road.

Marussia remained a little way off Caterham's pace, safely ahead of HRT, and encouraged by its improving pace and reliability. Glock managed to beat the delayed Kovalainen to 17th, and Pic finished 20th.

RACE DATA

The Race in Action

Full race lap times (H)

Full race lap times (V)

Lap chart (positions)

Lap chart (gaps)