Lewis Hamilton broke his drought at Formula One's Malaysian Grand Prix and led a one-two finish for the Mercedes team on Sunday.
Hamilton
beat teammate Nico Rosberg by 17.3 seconds at the Sepang International
Circuit, with defending world champion Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull
third.
It was the first one-two by the Mercedes factory team since 1955, when it was a dominant force in the embryonic days of F1.
Hamilton
got away well from pole position and led throughout, making up for his
retirement in the season-opening race in Australia and belatedly winning
in Malaysia for the first time, at his eighth attempt.
"Incredibly
happy, my first win here in my eighth year, so finally got that,"
Hamilton said. "To get a one-two is quite special, I haven't had many in
my career."
The Briton was also quick to mention the ill-fated
Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, which took off from the Kuala Lumpur
airport adjacent to the Sepang track earlier this month and is thought
to have crashed, killing all 239 people aboard.
"After such a tragedy three weeks ago, I would like to dedicate this win to those people and their families," Hamilton said.
Ferrari's
Fernando Alonso finished fourth, ahead of Force India's Nico Hulkenberg
and McLaren's Jenson Button, while Felipe Massa held on for seventh
ahead of Williams teammate Valtteri Bottas despite being told by his
team to let Bottas through.
After the race, Massa insisted he had
done the right thing in ignoring team orders, though there were likely
to be internal repercussions as Bottas was adamant he could have passed
Button.
Two rookies took the final two points positions, with McLaren's Kevin Magnussen ninth and Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat tenth.
On
a day when the threatened tropical rain held off, Red Bull's Daniel
Ricciardo and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen were the leading cars that
suffered the worst luck.
Ricciardo was in fourth place with 15
laps to go when the team failed to properly attach a wheel during a
pitstop, forcing him to stop halfway down the pitlane and be pushed back
to have it replaced. Soon after, the Australian lost his front wing,
got a stop-go penalty for an unsafe release from the pitstop and then
retired.
To make matters worse, the unsafe release means he will also get a 10-place grid penalty at next weekend's race in Bahrain.
It
was another tough day for Ricciardo, who finished second in his home
race in Melbourne, only to be disqualified after the team was deemed to
have exceeded the fuel-flow limit on his car.
Raikkonen was hit
from behind by Magnussen on the opening lap, causing a puncture,
dropping him to the back of the field. He finished 12th, behind Lotus'
Romain Grosjean who did well to make it to the finish in his Lotus,
which has been beset by engine failures in the early part of the season.
Rosberg's
second place extended his early lead in the drivers' championship to 18
points ahead of Hamilton, and Mercedes already has a sizeable lead atop
the constructors' championship, but the German was wary about how
quickly Red Bull appears to be catching up.
"They were absolutely
nowhere [after preseason testing] and now [Vettel] is right in the back
of me, pushing me," Rosberg said. "They have ramped up their pace, very
very impressive, so we need to keep on it to keep our advantage."
Vettel,
who put a squeeze move on Rosberg in the run to the first corner that
almost forced the Mercedes into the pit wall, was compromised in his
attempt to catch the silver cars by high fuel consumption, and in the
end settled for third place.
"We need to make quick steps because
they are quite far ahead but I am happy with the steps we are making,"
Vettel said. "It's still a bloody good result to be finishing right
behind them on the podium, and that is what we need to keep doing.
Source : Jakartapost
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» Hamilton leads Mercedes 1-2 at Malaysian GP
Hamilton leads Mercedes 1-2 at Malaysian GP
Written By Unknown on Sunday, 30 March 2014 | 07:01
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