You could have been forgiven for expecting a race akin to Melbourne having watched Saturday's qualifying session interrupted by monsoon-like conditions, yet come race day, dry conditions prevailed and great racing ensued, even if much of it didn't take place at the pointy end of the field.
However, we did have the tropical deluge to thank for outsmarting the bods of McLaren and Ferrari, consigning Alonso, Hamilton and Massa to 19th, 20th and 21th places on the grid respectively. It rained from the outset through Q1, but the boys at McLaren and Ferrari failed to foresee the rain worsening. As such, they were reluctant to let their drivers go out in the early part of the session, but as things transpired by the time they hit the track, conditions had worsened to the point where the driving talents of the 3 aforementioned were insufficient to make the grade for Q2. Button squeezed through on virtue of getting on the track somewhat sooner than his rivals, but a pirouette into the gravel meant he'd be starting in an equally lowly 17th, despite actually qualifying for the second session.
Red Bull on the other hand had no such worries, and Webber in a brave call decided to risk intermediate tyres for his fast lap in the final session when those around him opted for the safer full wets. His risk paid dividends - he lined up on pole from Rosberg's Mercedes and his teammate Vettel. Sutil and Hulkenberg impressed the onlookers with 4th and 5th places, from Kubica, Barrichello and der weltmeister Schumacher. The race began dry, but with predictions for rain around 1 hour in. That said, you never quite know what will happen weather-wise, least of all at Sepang... As Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali wisely foretold, 'The rain comes when the rain is on the ground'.
As the five red lights went out, it was Vettel who seized the iniative at turn 1 to snatch the lead away from his polesitting teammate. Further back, Hamilton had a Playstation-esque start that saw him sitting in 13th, up 7 places from his grid slot at the end up lap 1, after a fine getaway followed by an opportunistic lunge up the inside of the field at turn 1. He continued to slice his way through the field relentlessly early on, with convincing passes on Buemi, Alguersauri and Kobayashi. Less convincing however was a move on Petrov for 9th place – just after passing him Hamilton responded to a challenge from the Russian with some highly questionable weaving down the pit straight which, rightfully in this writer's opinion, earned him a warning from the stewards, this weekend bolstered by Johnny Herbert.
Meanwhile, The Red Bulls extended their lead at the head of the field, whilst Button fell behind both the pursuing Ferraris, Massa, unlike Hamilton however, seemed incapable of scything pass Buemi in such a way the Brit was able to do with apparent ease. A couple of laps later, Button found a way back past Alonso, the Spaniard hobbled by gearbox downshift woes. The reigning champion then pitted for a set of harder compound Bridgestones, but not Schumacher's return to racing took another dive, with a loose wheelnut forcing the German out of the running from 6th place.
Hamilton then began to rapidly close in the 5th placed Force India car of Sutil after Hulkenberg pitted, before the Force India driver opted to change his tyres also, rejoining the action ahead of Button. Rosberg and Kubica both opted to pit from 3rd and 4th places, the latter returning to the track marginally ahead of Massa's Ferrari, now running well with no traffic immediately ahead. All this meant Vettel now led Webber and Hamilton, all three yet to stop. The Red Bull laps later pitted a couple of laps apart, but any hope of Webber challenging his German teammate was effectively destroyed by a fumbled wheel change in the pits.
On lap 31, Hamilton finally made his switch to the soft compound tyres, a few laps after Massa. Hamilton rejoined the track in a wheel-to-wheel battle with his teammate, which he duly won before speeding up to the back of Sutil in 5th, where the Brit would remain for the duration of the race, the Force India having impressive straight-line speed with the Mercedes unit propelling it. Button in the meantime lost another place to Massa, Alonso, having pitted, soon caught up with Jenson too, but his engine expired in a giant flurry of smoke before he was able to pass the McLaren.
The lead positions would remain static to the flag, with Sebastian Vettel taking a long overdue win from Webber. Rosberg completed the podium a solid drive to 3rd, from Kubica 4th, Sutil who held on from Hamilton for 5th, with Massa and Button completing the top 8. 9th went to Alguersauri, who over the course of the race made 2 brave but masterful passes on Petrov and Hulkenberg. The latter took his first career point for 10th place ahead of Buemi and Barrichello in the sister Toro Rosso and Williams. Di Grassi scored Virgin's first finish ahead of the Hispania pairing and the Lotuses of Trulli and Kovalainen, who battled to the bitter end in the face of a series of problems to impress the adoring home crowd.
So, the much-fabled rain never materialised, yet the racing did, even if the Red Bulls did enjoy a very hassle-free run to the flag. The championship now is incredibly tight, with Massa enjoying a slender 2 point lead from Alonso and Vettel thanks to the quirks of the new scoring system, with Button, Rosberg, Hamilton and even Kubica all still less than 10 points adrift. We complete our Asian-Pacific leg of the series with a visit to the Shanghai circuit in 2 weeks time, where the weather can also throw a few surprises... but Malaysia proved that whilst the rain does add to the spectacle, dry races can be just as entertaining.
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