Shanghai F1 GP - Red Bull in maiden 1-2 finish

Sebastian Vettel started started from pole position in China on Sunday afternoon, and this time he led team mate Mark Webber home in a superb one-two.

In wet and windy conditions, it was the Mercedes-Benz safety car which led the field for the first eight laps. The safety car had already done more laps this season that Heikki Kovalainen! When the safety car pulled in after the first eight laps, the Red Bulls led until their first refuelling stops, Webber on Lap 14, Vettel on 15.

WIth the wet weather, it was again an exciting race with lots of cars spinning due to less grip. Again, Ferrari finished without the points, thus extending their worst start to the F1 season.

Button extends his championship lead to 21 points, ahead of Barrichello on 15, Vettel on 10 and Webber on 9.5.

The constructor's championship stands as follows:

1. Brawn-Mercedes - 36
2. RBR-Renault - 19.5
3. Toyota - 18.5
4. McLaren-Mercedes - 8
5. BMW Sauber - 4
6. Renault - 4
7. STR-Ferrari - 4
8. Williams-Toyota - 3.5
9. Ferrari - 0
10. Force India-Mercedes - 0

Ferrari is suddenly found in Force India's territory in the constructor's point standing ... that must be very unfamiliar territory for Ferrari.

Malaysian F1 GP - Results

What a race!!! First the timing of the race was shifted back to about 5pm so that more viewers from Europe can watch the race. Second, the race did not even finish!!!! The heavy downpour suspended the race. If they had not shifted the timing of the race back by 2 hours, the race would have completed in perfect weather ....

I was watching the race on TV, and must say that it was really bad weather when the rain came down on Sepang. There was hardly any visibility at all. How did the drivers know there was a bend when I can't even see the track via a car camera!!!! What a crazy race!!!.

When the red flag came out on lap 32, the order read: Button, Glock, Heidfeld (a long way behind after a spin), Trulli, Barrichello, Hamilton, Rosberg, Webber, Massa, Bourdais, Alonso, Nakajima, Piquet, Raikkonen, Sutil, Vettel, Buemi and Fisichella (who had spun twice).

At 18.52 hours (or 6.52pm) the race directors finally called it off. Button had won, it was just a matter of deciding how far they would go back to decide the order behind him. In the end, that was lap 31, giving a race finishing order of:

Button, Heidfeld, Glock; Trulli, Barrichello, Webber, Hamilton and Rosberg as the points scorers. Then: Massa, Bourdais, Alonso, Nakajima, Piquet, Raikkonen, Vettel, Buemi, Sutil and Fisichella.

Since the race had gone past the 50 percent mark but not 75 percent, half points were awarded. But for Button, it was the chance to extend his championship lead from 10 points to 15, with Barrichello next on 10 from Trulli on 8.5. In the constructors' championship, Brawn have 25 to Toyota's 16.5.

For Ferrari, the season has started really bad for them, scoring nothing after 2 races. Hope they will pick up some points soon ... starting with the Shanghai GP.

Malaysian F1 GP - Qualifying

Once again, Brawn GP has shown its speed and strength by taking the pole position in the Malaysian GP.

Brawn GP's Jenson Button and Toyota's Jarno Trulli fought a tense battle for supremacy in Sepang qualifying on Saturday afternoon, with pole position finally falling to the Briton in 1m 35.181s. Trulli's final effort yielded 1m 35.273s, good enough to take second place from Sebastian Vettel's Red Bull, which the German had lapped in 1m 35.518s.

Rubens Barrichello was fourth on 1m 35.651s, ahead of Timo Glock on 1m 35.690s, Nico Rosberg in the Williams on 1m 35.750s, Mark Webber in the second Red Bull on 1m 35.797s and Robert Kubica in the lead BMW Sauber on 1m 36.106s.

It was not a great day for Ferrari, with Kimi Raikkonen their best runner in ninth on 1m 36.170s, ahead of Fernando Alonso who only did one run for 1m 37.659s in the Renault.

Lewis Hamilton and Heikki Kovalainen in the McLarens on 1m 34.905s and 1m 34.924s respectively. Sebastien Bourdais was 15th on 1m 35.431s.

As the final times were posted in Q1, the shock sank in that Felipe Massa had missed the cut for Ferrari, finishing a glum 16th on 1m 35.642s as he was unable to generate good tyre temperature.

Factor in Vettel's 10-grid place drop from Australia, and Barrichello's five-place drop after his gearbox change on Friday, and the starting order reads:

Button, Trulli; Glock, Rosberg; Webber, Kubica; Raikkonen, Barrichello; Alonso, Heidfeld; Nakajima, Hamilton; Vettel, Kovalainen; Bourdais, Massa; Piquet, Fisichella; Sutil, Buemi.

Malaysian F1 GP - Practice 2

Kimi Raikkonen led team mate Felipe Massa in a Ferrari one-two in Friday afternoon’s second practice session for the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang. The Finn dipped below Massa’s 2008 pole time of 1m 35.748s with 1m 35.707s, and the Brazilian was just 0.125s slower on 1m 35.832s.

The Ferraris took control halfway through, and Sebastian Vettel in the Red Bull got closest to them as Williams and Brawn lacked the sheer pace they have shown of late. Rubens Barrichello and Jenson Button clocked 1m 36.161s and 1m 36.254s respectively.

It looks like things are going fine for Ferrari so far ... let's see how they do for qualifying.

Malaysian F1 GP

The 2nd race of the 2009 season will be in Malaysia, Sepang circuit. Based on what was seen during the Australian F1 GP, it seems that the Brawn GP will once again be the team to look out for.

Hamilton was disqualified for the Austalian GP after investigations revealed that McLaren had instructed Hamilton to let Trulli pass when the safety car was out on the tracks.

Sepang circuit has always be one of the favourite circuit of many F1 drivers, despite the intense heat.

Once again, I would be rooting for Ferrari to finish on the podium, despite their struggles during the Australian GP.