Vettel seizes lead in Malaysia GP

Sebastian Vettel surged into the lead after the first lap of the Malaysian Grand Prix today while McLaren duo Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton also made their move from the back of the grid.

The Red Bull driver had started third on the grid but immediately passed the Mercedes of Nico Rosberg before then getting the better of team-mate Mark Webber.

Button and Hamilton started 17th and 20th on the grid respectively after a strategic error during yesterday’s rain-soaked qualifying saw them fail to progress from Q1. But they made quick work of passing the slower cars as Hamilton climbed to 13th after the first lap with Button making up one place into 16th.

A heavy downpour had fallen without fail around the same time each day in the build-up to the race but the drivers took to a dry circuit today, although rain was expected to arrive at some stage of the race.

Meanwhile, Pedro de la Rosa’s race was over before it had even started as his Sauber came to a stop at turn three on his lap to the grid after suffering engine failure.

The Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa were also having to battle through the pack having started in 19th and 21st place respectively following their failure to progress from Q1 yesterday.

The pair soon found themselves battling with Button before then getting the better of the reigning world champion after the third lap.

Rubens Barrichello endured a frustrating start after stalling on the grid in his Williams and consequently dropped towards the back while Virgin Racing’s Timo Glock saw his race come to a premature finish when he ran off at turn nine and into the gravel.

Meanwhile, Hamilton was flying as he showed his typically aggressive driving to climb up to 10th after lap five before then passing the Renault of Vitaly Petrov after the Russian ran wide on the final corner.

Petrov swiftly passed the Briton again but Hamilton reclaimed ninth before defending his position with some questionable weaving along the pit straight. That manoeuvre saw the 25-year-old being shown the black and white flag for “excessive weaving” soon after.

Kamui Kobayashi was the race’s next victim after his Sauber came to a standstill after nine laps but there was disaster for Michael Schumacher on the following lap as his race also came to an end.

The 41-year-old was in sixth position but his Mercedes came off at turn six after suffering a broken left rear suspension.

Meanwhile, Vettel was over a second quicker than Webber at the front while Hamilton continued to climb and was up to sixth after 15 laps.

Button - who had switched to harder tyres - Alonso and Massa were all pushing their way up through the field and were ninth, eighth and seventh respectively after 20 laps.

Vettel made his first pit stop after lap 23 to surrender the lead to Webber while Hamilton was up to third, although the 2008 champion was still to pit.

Webber made his stop the following lap where the wheel gun briefly got caught in his front right tyre to allow his German teammate to regain the lead as the Australian re-emerged behind Hamilton in third.

Button, meanwhile, had overtaken Massa to take eighth while Alonso had climbed up to sixth with only Massa of the two Ferraris having entered the pits on lap 27.

Hamilton finally made his pit stop on lap 31 for a change of tyres and he re-emerged just ahead of Button in seventh.