Another Malaysian grand prix came to an end. And it came to an end sooner than expected due to heavy rain conditions that made the track undriveable. For the second time this season we have seen the Brown cars being the fastest ones in track, with Toyota and Williams having made a good step forward.
Nico Rosberg had a great start and took the first place after the first corner. J. Trulli followed him, leaving Jenson Button third. The race was exciting during the whole time. We have seen great battles, many overtakings and the result was unpredictable during the whole race.
Alonso held fourth place for some time with R. Barichello struggling to pass him as he was much quicker. We had a chance to see a battle between to great drivers there. Finally the Brazilian passed the Spaniard who lost another two places against Kimi Raikkonen and M. Webber.
When the rain came, everybody switched to extreme conditions tyres. Some too soon (K. Raikkonen), thus destroying their race, some too late and some just in time.
The best choice has been made by Toyota on T. Glock. He was the only one with intermediate tyres while the rain was still light. He was going up to 9sec per lap quicker than anybody on track. It seemed that it was going to be his day. However as he passed J. Button for the first place the rain got heavy and turned into a tropic pour. He switched to extreme condition tyres one lap before J. Button did the same. J. Button took the first place as he came out of the pit lane, and held the it for just enough time (one lap after the change) to win the race that has been interrupted at that point.
The race stopped before the conclusion of the 75% of the laps, so the regulations say that only half points will be awarded.
Ferrari was completely out of pace, as was McLaren. On the other hand Williams seemed to have been reborn, Toyota was very fast and of course Brawn retained its great shape. Renault was at the same level as it was one week earlier.
The race results are as follows :
01 J. Button Brawn GP 1:10:59.092
02 N. Heidfeld BMW + 22.700
03 T. Glock Toyota + 23.500
04 J. Trulli Toyota + 46.100
05 R. Barrichello Brawn GP + 47.300
06 M. Webber Red Bull + 52.300
07 L. Hamilton McLaren + 1:00.700
08 N. Rosberg Williams + 1:11.500
09 F. Massa Ferrari + 1:16.900
10 S. Bourdais Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1 laps
11 F. Alonso Renault + 1 laps
12 K. Nakajima Williams + 1 laps
13 N. Piquet jr. Renault + 1 laps
14 K. Räikkönen Ferrari + 1 laps
15 S. Vettel Red Bull + 1 laps
16 S. Buemi Scuderia Toro Rosso + 1 laps
17 A. Sutil Force India F1 + 1 laps
18 G. Fisichella Force India F1 + 1 laps
Did not finish
19 R. Kubica BMW + 55 laps
20 H. Kovalainen McLaren + 56 laps
