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Malaysian Grand Prix did what Australian and Bahrain GP could not do for Red Bull. Red Bull has achieved a one-two in the Malaysian Grand Prix, with Sebastian Vettel leading ahead of Mark Webber.

Victory, which deluded Vettel at the Bahrain circuit and the Australian circuit with unfortunate mechanical failures, finally embraced Sebastian Vettel in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

"It was a very good result for us especially after two races where we didn't finish where we wanted to be," Vettel said as he celebrated his sixth career win. Red Bull's had shown a similar one-two performance at Abu Dhabi at the end of last season.

At third position, Nico Rosberg achieved the first podium finish for the Mercedes GP Petronas.

Renault’s Robert Kubica, who finished second last week at the Australian GP, finished fourth, ahead of Adrian Sutil from the Force India team. For the second half of the race, Sutil held off McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who finished at number six.

The real excitement came as a result of the disastrous qualifying by McLaren and Ferrari, who started on the back four rows of the grid. But Lewis Hamilton, who started at the 20th place got better of it by the end of the fourth lap and finished at the sixth position.

Felipe Massa, who started from the 21st on the grid continued to follow Lewis Hamilton and took seventh place. Fellow teammate Fernando Alonso failed to finish.

Jenson Button in his McLaren reached the finish line at the eighth position after a close follow with Alonso, who retired on the penultimate lap with smoke leaping out the rear of his Ferrari.

Jaime Alguersuari, from the Toro Rosso, finished ninth ahead of Nico Hulkenburg from the Williams team. Both the teams earned their first points in the Formula One Championship 2010.

Vettel started off well and pried his way into the lead by the first corner and, as a result, Webber had to hold himself at the second. Webber was hoping to pass his team mate with a faster pit stop, but the mechanics struggled to remove his front right wheel and he had to contain himself behind Vettel.

"The second stint was extremely long and its extremely hot here so I didn't stop sweating," said Vettel, who had started on pole in the Bahrain and Australian GPs. "At some stage I was hoping for rain just to get a bit of a cool down so yeah, what a day. Today, fortunately it stayed dry and we had a magnificent car... the key was to pace yourself."

Seven times world champion Michael Schumacher continued with to struggle at the Malaysian circuit too. He retired quietly by mid race, after the wheel nuts on his back left wheel all missing.

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After the not-so-exciting season opener at the Bahrain racing circuit, Australian Grand Prix, at the Albert Park, brought the much needed excitement for F1 enthusiasts the world over. Power packed with spins and crashes, rain and dry, wheel-to-wheel action and leapfrog passes, the Australian GP gave its audience a weekend full of fun. It seemed as if the drivers and team managers were in a hurry to prove that the new Red Bull car was much faster than the other cars. On Saturday, Vettel and Webber completed the laps at the Albert Park faster than anyone else and placed their cars at the top of the time sheet, securing the front row – pole and second positions – on the grid.
Jenson Button secured not only his second in a row win at the Australian GP, but also his very first one for team McLaren. Button decided to come in early for slick tyres on the rain washed track and that proved to be fruitful to him. Lewis Hamilton, also from the McLaren team, started 11th and struggled for the second place. But then he was called for a second change of tyres and that nearly swallowed his hopes. He ended up finishing 6th.

Robert Kubica, from the Renault team, finished second, after jumping Felipe Massa in the pits. He held on for his first podium finish since Brazil last year. Vitaly Petrov, from the same team, was running in the top ten, but unfortunately had to retire after his car got stuck in the gravel, post tyre change.

Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, from Ferrari, finished third and fourth respectively. Alonso made a poor start and was later nudged into a spin at the first corner. Massa moved up to the second position but could not hold on to it. He still managed to grab his second podium in a row.

Nico Rosberg, who was considered as an underdog to his fellow team mate, Michael Schumacher, outdid him and finished at the fifth position. Schumi, however, seemed to be struggling throughout the racing and then made a late finish at the tenth position. Definitely not one of the very impressive performance from the racing legend.

While Adrian Sutil suffered a loss of engine power and had to retire on lap nine, fellow team mate from the Force India team, Vitantonio Liuzzi managed well and finished in the points for the second race in a row

Rubens Barrichello kept the Williams team ahead and finished on the eighth position. Nico Hulkenberg’s car was speared by Kobayashi's Sauber at turn six and had to retire at the end of the first lap.

Sebastian Vettel, from the Red Bull team, started from the pole for the second race in a row and failed to make the podium. He later retired due to a brake failure. Mark Webber, who set the fastest lap of the race, finished at the ninth position.

Jaime Alguersuari, from Toro Rosso, finished eleventh. Pedro de la Rosa, from Sauber, finished twelfth. Heikki Kovalainen, from Lotus, finished thirteenth and our very own Karun Chandhok finished at the fourteenth position.

Timo Glock, from the Virgin team, retired after the 15th lap due to a suspension problem. Fellow team mate, Lucas di Grassi retired after the 26th lap with hydraulics failure.

Other racers who retired due to technical problems with their cars are Bruno Senna (after five laps with an hydraulics problem), Jarno Trulli (failed to start due to hydraulics problem), Kamui Kobayashi (crashed on the first lap) and Sebastien Buemi (hit from behind in the first lap melee).

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Bahrain is currently in the grip of a motorsport fever that is popularly known as Formula One. Bahrain International Circuit is bustling with activity as the BIC team, Formula 1 teams and staffs, marshals, medical personnel and other logistical staff prepare to host the region’s largest motor sport phenomenon.

The Bahrain Formula One race that starts on 14th of this month flags off the 2010 International Automobile Federation (FIA) F1 World Championship and brings in the landmark 60th Anniversary celebrations of the motor racing sport.

People in Bahrain have already started spotting their favourite Formula 1 drivers as they arrived at the Bahrain racing circuit. Some F1 drivers were even seen relaxing with their team members. They also visited their team garages to get a close and final look at their car's assembly, while many others set out by road car or bicycle to learn the new track layout ahead of the weekend Grand Prix.

Also seen on the racing circuit were Fernando Alonso of Ferrari, Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber of Red Bull, Sebastien Buemi of Toro Rosso, Nico Rosberg of Mercedes GP, Pedro de la Rosa of Sauber, Heikki Kovalainen of Lotus, Adrian Sutil of Force India, Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi of Virgin, Nico Hulkenberg of Williams, Robert Kubica and Vitaly Petrov of Renault, and Bruno Senna and Karun Chandhok of Hispania Racing Team.

And last but not the least, seven time champion Michael Schumacher of Mercedes GP and Jenson Button of McLaren also showed up.

There were other high-profile visitors who also landed at the Bahrain International Circuit. President of the General Organisation for Youth and Sports, Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa showed two thumbs-up for the excellent preparation done ahead of the Grand Prix event.

Today BIC will open its gates to the lucky all three-day ticket holders who can take an exclusive walk down the F1 pit lane.

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Force India have become the latest team to present the car with which they will compete in the 2010 FIA Formula One World Championship. The VJM03, which will be raced by the unchanged driver line-up of Adrian Sutil and Vitantonio Liuzzi this season, was unveiled online on Tuesday morning.

The Silverstone-based team may have made a name for themselves last season, scoring their first pole position, points and podium, but they are hoping their new Mercedes-engined car will power them to even greater things in 2010.

“Our goal is to continue on the same path of performance improvement that we had at the end of 2009,” said Force India’s chairman and team principal Dr Vijay Mallya. “I don't think I am being over-proud when I say 2009 was an exceptional year for us. The bare statistics say it all: one podium, one pole position, one fastest lap, a further five top 10 starts and 13 points.

“We've learnt from our experiences and we've come out a better team: resilient, resourceful and now resurgent. I hope 2010 will see this great progress carrying forward. We've got one podium so far but I would hope that, this time next year, I'm talking about more points and more podiums. I'm confident we can get this, why not aim high?”


The VJM03 has been designed in-house at the team's UK facility by a unit led by design director Mark Smith. Although very much an evolution of its predecessor, the new car incorporates the 2010 rule changes, including the switch to narrower front tyres and the need for a much larger fuel tank as a result of the refuelling ban.

“The VJM03 is definitely an evolution of the VJM02 in terms of the design philosophies we have developed at Force India over the last year,” explained Smith. “We are very happy with the direction, therefore we have opted to evolve the car rather than significantly revise.

“Obviously one of the major aspects we have had to contend with are regulation changes which have had a considerable impact on some aspects of the design of the car. The removal of refuelling from races increases the amount of fuel needed to be stored in the cars - almost twice the amount we ran in 2009. There is a compromise now: either make the car much longer or wider, or, as we have done, a combination of both. This of course has influenced the mechanical design solutions and also the aerodynamics, specifically with respects to the diffuser and bodywork.”

Both Sutil and Liuzzi are thrilled with their new car and spoke of their hopes for the season ahead: “2010 is a really important season and we are very optimistic about going well,” said Sutil. “I think this year it's important to be consistent from the first race. I'd like to be in the midfield and be competitive from Bahrain.

"It's the first time we have been completely on schedule so I feel this will be the first season when I can show from the beginning to the end what is possible with the car and what I can do. Of course we will have updates and performance packages from this point on but I hope we will be strong from the first practice session rather than compromising at the start.”

Liuzzi, who was promoted from his reserve role to a race seat in September 2009 after Giancarlo Fisichella moved to Ferrari to replace the injured Felipe Massa, added: “After one and a half years in a test role, I feel really prepared, both physically and mentally for a full race season. My objective is to be as strong and consistent as possible and give good feedback to the team to help them improve. For sure scoring points as many times as I can is going to be the key and you never know, perhaps we can get something more as well if everything comes together.”

Following its Tuesday launch, the VJM03 will make its testing debut at the Spanish circuit of Jerez on Wednesday. Liuzzi will be in charge of driving duties for the first two days, before Sutil takes over on Friday and Saturday.

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