The Malaysian Grand Prix may be remembered for team orders more than anything this year as Sebastian Vettel coasted home to victory after being told off by Christian Horner. The Red Bull team principle didn't want to see Vettel and Webber fighting it out for the victory and once Vettel had ignored team orders and got past Webber, the Australian held back to allow the World Champion the victory.
But Red Bull weren't the only team using team orders to make sure their drivers didn't race amongst themselves. Behind the Red Bull one-two were the Mercedes cars and with Lewis Hamilton being told to nurse the car home to save fuel, Nico Rosberg was told that he was allowed to try and take the podium off of Hamilton despite the German's pleas.
During the race, Vettel was called silly by Horner and that he will have to explain his actions after the race. Meanwhile, Ross Brawn was congratulating and thanking Rosberg for doing what he was told to which the German replied 'I won't forget this'.
Thankfully, it was a dry race despite the track being wet in parts for opening few laps. Ferrari were the team on everybody's lips for a possible one-two but Fernando Alonso crashed out in the second lap and Felipe Massa could only manage fifth. It was also a bad day in the pits as a cock-up for McLaren cost Jenson Button that fifth place and he ended up retiring as did the Force India pairing because of faulty wheel nuts, this was a shame as Paul Di Resta had been setting fastest laps in the midfield beforehand.
The race began with everyone on intermediate tyres because the first part of the track was still wet despite sectors two and three being dry enough for slick tyres. Webber had a great start and managed to get himself in behind Vettel with the Ferraris also in hot pursuit. Going in to the second corner, Alonso had overtaken Massa and had managed to get in front of Webber with Vettel firmly in his sights. But Alonso was too eager and slightly went in to the back of the Red Bull, causing the Ferrari severe front wing damage.
Button had manage to propel himself up to fifth with Massa dropping to sixth. As the leaders got to the final corner, Alonso decided not to pit and change the stricken front wing. Webber managed to overtake the Ferrari on the home straight just before that front wing ended up going underneath the chassis and causing Alonso to get beached in the gravel and be out of the race, when really he should have pitted.
The pace of Mercedes was clear for much of the race and Rosberg easily overtook Button on the third lap to take fourth. By lap six the track Vettel had decided the track was dry enough to change to slicks and he was the first to come in along with Massa. In contrast to Vettel, Webber was told to stay out and this proved to be the right call.
Webber and Hamilton waited two more laps before they pitted and Webber ended up coming out of ahead of his team mate. But the drama in the pits had only just begun; when Hamilton arrived he forgot who he was racing for and ended up going into the McLaren bay, only to be moved on to the Mercedes area. Just after that, Jean-Eric Vergne was unsafely released and the Toro Rosso collided with Charles Pic's Caterham, causing both cars to have front wing damage and needing extra time in the paddock.
Pastor Maldonado struggled with the Williams all afternoon and the Venezuelan went off the track on lap-14, losing half of his front wing as he hit the kerb, but he did manage to continue. Last week's winner, Kimi Raikkonen, looked to be in a different car this race and also struggled for a lot of it. The Finn did manage to overtake Sergio Perez on lap-16 after chasing him for around five laps to gain eighth.
Webber was the first to pit for the second round on lap-20. It was a lap later when Force India began having their problems in the pits as they struggled with Di Resta's left front tyre. Many had come in and gone out again by the time Di Resta finally came out 21st and 48-seconds behind. Sutil came in on lap-23 and unfortunately suffered from the same problem.
A lap later and Di Resta was called back in to be retired as the team wouldn't have been able to cope with another pit stop. Sutil was also brought in on lap-29 to end a promising weekend for Force India on the lowest possible note.
Lap-31 saw Hamilton pit first in round three. That was followed by Webber and Rosberg a lap later before Vettel came in another lap after that. But that proved to be a mistake for the German as he ended up coming out behind Hamilton.
Button had decided to stay out for a while longer than the rest but Webber had managed to overtake him on lap-35 to regain the lead. A lap later, Button had decided to pit but was released too early with his right front tyre not fixed on. Luckily, Button stopped mid-way down the pit lane and the crew were able to wheel him back in but it pushed him down to 14th from 5th.
Vettel managed to overtake Hamilton on lap-39. Raikkonen had managed to get himself up to eighth after overtaking Nico Hulkenberg after another epic battle, two laps later. The fourth set of pit stops began with Hamilton on lap-42. Vettel came in the next lap with Webber waiting until the following one. Vettel was the one to gain as Webber came out just inches ahead of his team mate and it was the start of a huge battle.
Despite the cries from Horner, Vettel managed to overtake Webber on lap-46. From there, it would seem that Webber was told to back off as within five laps, Vettel had moved six seconds clear, thus ending a thrilling inter-team battle.
Maldonado's race ended on lap-48 after getting beached, meaning that he has failed to complete either race this season. Raikkonen and Massa managed to overtake Perez on lap-49 to move sixth, seventh and eighth respectively. The Ferrari then managed to overtake the Lotus a lap later to take sixth.
Daniel Ricciardo was retired on lap-54 for Toro Rosso. Also on that lap, Massa had tracked down Romain Grosjean to take fifth place. The final retirement came a lap later for a very disappointed Button. Rosberg would have taken third off of Hamilton if he would have been allowed to race, but unfortunately this was not the case and the German was definitely unhappy. Race result:
1. Vettel (Red Bull), 2. Webber (Red Bull), 3. Hamilton (Mercedes), 4. Rosberg (Mercedes), 5. Massa (Ferrari), 6. Grosjean (Lotus), 7. Raikkonen (Lotus), 8. Hulkenberg (Sauber), 9. Perez (McLaren), 10. Vergne (Toro Rosso), 11. Bottas (Williams), 12. Gutierrez (Sauber), 13. Bianchi (Marussia), 14. Pic (Caterham), 15. Van Der Garde (Caterham), 16. Chilton (Marussia) DNF: Alonso (Ferrari), Di Resta (Force India), Sutil (Force India), Maldonado (Williams), Ricciardo (Toro Rosso), Button (McLaren)
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