(Mercedes AMG F1 Team)
Lewis Hamilton took a dominant win at the Malaysian Grand Prix today to lead home his team mate Nico Rosberg for a Mercedes 1-2. A result that lifts Mercedes ahead of McLaren in the Constructors championship and indeed increases Rosberg's lead in the driver's championship. The win was the best result for Hamilton and a fantastic way for him to open his points account following his retirement from the Australian Grand Prix,
Reigning world champion Sebastian Vettel brought his Red Bull home in third place with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso finishing where he started the race in 4th place just ahead of the Sahara Force India of Nico Hulkenberg who collected 10 points for his fifth place finish which was a great result for the Silverstone based team as Sergio Perez failed to start the race in the second VJM07.
Jenson Button had another strong race for the McLaren team as he finished the race in 6th place following his third place finish in Melbourne last time out. The 2009 champion finished the race just ahead of the Williams Martini Racing pair of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas who had their own inter team battle. It was a fantastic result for the Grove based team as Felipe Massa started the race from 13th place while Valtteri Bottas was penalized after blocking Daniel Ricciardo and started the race from 18th on the grid and brought the car home in 8th place while Massa finished 7th giving the team their first double points finish of the season.
It was a great result for McLaren's Kevin Magnussen who finished the race in 9th place despite being involved in a first corner incident with Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen, which resulted in the Dane receiving a penalty. It was another great race for Toro Rosso's Daniil Kvyat as for the second race in a row he collected another point.
Romain Grosjean enjoyed a much better race then in Australia as the Frenchman finished the race just ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in the Ferrari. The Finn endured an extremely tough race in the F14T as he suffered a puncture following the incident with Magnussen, unfortunately he was unable to recover due to the fact the Ferrari lacked the race pace and the team will be hoping to improve the performance of the car in time for the next race in Bahrain next weekend.
It was a great race for the Caterham duo of Kamui Kobayashi and Marcus Ericsson brought both cars home which is a great result for the team whose owner Tony Fernandez is from Malaysia. So all in all it was a boring race but on the plus side we don't have long to wait until the next race as the Bahrain Grand Prix takes place in just one week at the Sakhir circuit.
Driver's Standings following the Malaysian Grand Prix:
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 43 points
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 25
3 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 24
4 Jenson Button McLaren 23
5 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 20
6 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 18
7 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull Racing 15
8 Valtteri Bottas Williams Martini Racing 14
9 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 6
10 Felipe Massa Williams Martini Racing 6
11 Jean Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 4
12 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 3
13 Sergio Perez Force India 1
Constructors Championship Standings
1 Mercedes AMG F1 Team 68 points
2 McLaren Mercedes 43
3 Ferrari 30
4 Williams Martini Racing 20
5 Sahara Force India F1 Team 19
6 Red Bull Racing 15
7 Scuderia Toro Rosso 7
UPDATE: Daniel Ricciardo has been handed a 10 place grid penalty for the Bahrain Grand Prix next weekend following his unsafe pit-lane release.
©Ben Johnston 2014
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