Lots of action in Malaysia except for Vettel who marches on

The Malaysian GP was full of overtaking, pit stops, accidents, etc… but is was serene for Vettel at the front as he waltzed off to his second victory and a 24pt lead in the championship. Jenson Button who described his own race as “confusing” finished up in second as he put his McLaren where it needed to be and kept hold of his tyres for long enough to make it stick. Heidfeld confirmed the pace of the Renault as he took the last podium place with Webber taking a hard earned fourth spot.
The DRS was used for the first time really in Malaysia and seemed to work quite well at certain points, i.e. getting people along side the other guy (Mark Webber used it a few times), but sometimes it seemed to spoil the show as the car using it just drove clean by – though you have to [...]

2nd stop – Malaysia

With a decent start to the season in Australia behind us the F1 circus moves to Malaysia. The Red Bull cars look unstoppable and with Martin Whitmarsh dampening hopes of McLaren staying in touch does this leave the fighting for third place as the best hope for anyone but Sebastien Vettel or Mark Webber?
The teams will come to Sepang and regard it as the first proper racing track – Australia is a street circuit and as such doesn’t have the same characteristics as a racing circuit. Sepang should let the DRS actually work and should show some more of the aero effects from the new rules.
Ferrari and McLaren will be hoping that they can get on terms with Red Bull and Mercedes will be hoping that they can figure out how to use their car. The tyres will play an important role and all the teams will be keen to [...]

With three races down – is the new points system working if Felipe Massa is leading?

With three races completed, Bahrain, Australia and Malaysia there have been three winners so far, Fernando Alonso, Jenson Button and Sebastien Vettel but it’s Felipe Massa who leads the Championship. It may be by only 2 points but it seems strange that a points system that was designed to give winning races more emphasis is being led by a driver who hasn’t won yet.
The table itself is very close with 9pts covering the first 7 drivers:

1. Felipe Massa
Ferrari
39

2. Fernando Alonso
Ferrari
37

3. Sebastian Vettel
Red Bull Racing
37

4. Jenson Button
McLaren
35

5. Nico Rosberg
Mercedes GP
35

6. Lewis Hamilton
McLaren
31

7. Robert Kubica
Renault
30

Though I doubt this will hold all season it does mean that you can hold onto the people who are winning even if you don’t manage it yourself. I’m sure that Felipe Massa will be wanting to win and justify that position at the top but with all the different people who seem to be in with [...]

Sauber’s sorry start to the season

Sauber have had a torrid start to their 2010 campaign, with only one finish in the first three races – even the new teams have done better than that. It’s not like the car is blisteringly fast when it’s on track either, all of that pre-season pace seems to have melted away and they look like they may soon be fighting with the newcomers.
It’s all a far cry from the hype that surrounding Peter Sauber’s return to the sport and the signing of the young Japanese driver Kamui Kobayashi from the exiting Toyota team. I guess that they should get some credit from just making it to the grid at all as they were technically the last team to be given the go ahead. That said everyone at the team has enough F1 experience to know what needs to be done.
Both cars suffered the same fate in Malaysia, pneumatic issues [...]