Third time proved lucky for Sebastien Vettel as he took his first win of the 2010 season in the Malaysian GP (full results). He led home team-mate Mark Webber for Red Bull’s first ever 1-2 finish in a race while Nico Rosberg got his first podium for Mercedes GP in what was partly their home race thanks to the association with Petronas.

Contrary to Saturday qualifying, the race played out in bone dry conditions. But there was plenty to watch out for thanks mainly due to the lopsided grid as the two McLarens and two Ferraris at the back made a quick start. All four cars started on hard tyres as Lewis Hamilton made the quickest get away possible and jumped eight places on the first lap itself. At the front, drivers opted for the softer tyres after a wet qualifying and Vettel too was away quickly tucking in both Webber and Rosberg, getting his car ahead into the first corner. From then on it was a case of bringing home the cars, something the Red Bull drivers had not been able to do in the first two races.

Behind them, the action continued as Lewis continued his charge through the field to come up to fourth at one point but just as he was beginning to worry Rosberg, who was driving a lonely race in third, but dove into the pits for new tyres. When he came out, he had Adrian Sutil’s Force India in front. Combined the effects of losing downforce when approaching a car in front plus that Sutil also had a Mercedes engine, Lewis had no choice but to stay put. His team mate Jenson Button finished eighth as he again gambled with his tyres, coming in for a change to softs with 46 laps to go. Probably he was also hoping that it would rain later but it didn’t.

While the McLarens somewhat redeemed their weekend, the same cannot be said of Ferrari. Or atleast the Ferrari of Fernando Alonso who was suffering a gear box problem for the entire race and couldn’t go past Jenson Button despite trying so many times. Ultimately his engine gave out just two laps away from the finish and he got zero points on a day when Vettel won. This equalized his lead from the first two races as Massa waltzes onto the lead with 39 points while Alonso and Vettel are tied on 37. As promised the season is turning out to be quite close with top seven drivers split by nine points and top three teams split by fifteen points.

Also on Lap 10 went out Michael Schumacher after his left front tyre’s wheel nut wasn’t locked properly during his stop and he lost drive in his car. He had risen to sixth from eighth on the first lap so what could have been a promising race didn’t materialize. And now the score is 3-0 in favor of Rosberg on race days as well just like qualifying. His tormentor from Melbourne Jaime Alguesuari finished tenth for his first points in F1. He overtook Nico Hulkenberg’s Williams and that turned out to be quite an important move.

From an Indian point of view, Force India scored points for a third consecutive race this season and for a change it was Sutil doing some scoring. The fact that Hamilton had trouble getting past means that they have done some really good work not to be overtaken by the McLaren’s superior aero systems. However what is hurting them is unreliability for their second car almost never finishes. Tonio Liuzzi retired early and if only they could set this right it would steal them a march on rivals Renault and Williams both of whom are dependent on Robert Kubica and Rubens Barrichello for points.

Karun Chandhok meanwhile finished his second race in a row and this time he finished ahead of team mate Bruno Senna as well as Jarno Trulli’s Lotus. It has been a good two races for the Indian driver as also for his team as both drivers completed the race and should give them quite a lot of data to analyze for Shanghai as well as take a step further when the European season begins.