Malaysian Grand Prix (2011) RESULT

Red Bull leads the grid in Malaysia 2011

The front row of the grid at the 2011 Malaysian Grand Prix is all Red Bull and McLaren, with Vettel on pole. Did it stay that way?

We might as well get it out of the way at the start. Especially as the interesting bits went on elsewhere. Sebastian Vettel lead from start to finish and now has 50 points after his win at this year’s inaugural race – the 2011 Australian Grand Prix . The question is, can anyone challenge him?

On the face of it the McLarens certainly look like they can at least shake a fist at Vettel, even if actually putting the boot in doesn’t look likely just yet.

Off the line at the start of the Malaysian Grand Prix Hamilton did look like he was going to challenge Vettel, but in the end he got squeezed by Nick Heidfeld in the Renault and dropped to third. He eventually got it back and got to within three seconds of Vettel.

The problem for Hamilton is that – superb though he is – he does seem to have a bit of a bull in a china shop mentality. So he buggers his tyres quite quickly, especially with the new Pirellis designed to degrade quickly, and ended up with four pit stops. And a 20 second penalty for weaving on the straight (which seemed rather harsh).

And he got hit up the arse by Alonso who found his KERS and his DRS came together and conspired to leave him too little time to negotiate his way round the back of Hamilton. A bit like a 1980s 911 Turbo. Still, it was just a broken wing for Alonso. It was eighth place for Hamilton.

Jenson Button, on the other hand, is a man with a driving style like Alain Prost. He conspires to be so smooth he often looks like he’s going backwards and not really trying. And sometimes he is. But his smooth style played in to the new Pirellis and he ended up a rather convincing second, one ahead of an almost as impressive Heidfeld in the Renault.

Perhaps the guy you have to feel sorry for is Mark webber, fast becoming Sebastian Vettel’s very own Rubens. The Gods again conspired against Webber, who found his car without KERS on the warm-up lap. Despite that, and ending up 10th off the grid, he managed to fight through five sets of tyres to fourth place and semi-respectability.

The Ferraris coped better than expected with Alonso making the top three at times, but his ‘911 Turbo’ overtake on Lewis meant he ended in sixth – after a nose change and a 20 second penalty – with team-mate Massa in fifth.

On a more parochial note, Paul di Resta (a Scot, believe it or not from the name) did a cracking job to bring his Force India home in tenth place – for the second race running – to score points. Good boy. And, perhaps more importantly, he was two places ahead of his team mate, Adrian Sutil.

A feeling Mark Webber would love to enjoy.