FORMULA ONE
2009 Malayasian Grand Prix Race Report
The 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix ended in chaos and will be remembered for finishing in torrential rain, biblical lightening storms, a curtailed race and the first half-points finish since the Australian Grand Prix in 1991.
Brawn GP driver, Jenson Button won the second GP of 2009 and the second consecutive win for him and the Brawn GP team. Due to a monsoon-like downpour the race was suspended on lap 31 and was ultimately brought to a premature end just before 19:00hrs local time due to fading light conditions.
Jenson Button continued his perfect start to the 2009 Formula One season as he took his second successive Grand Prix victory today when the Malaysian Grand Prix was stopped after 31 laps following a torrential downpour. Team-mate Rubens Barrichello also had a strong race to bring his Brawn-Mercedes car home in fifth position.
Button made a good start from pole but was unable to prevent the cars on the other side of the grid overtaking down into the first corner and was running third by the end of lap one. He took full advantage of his heavier fuel load to put in some quick laps when the cars ahead pitted and took the lead on emerging from his first pit stop on lap 19. Rubens Barricello had a good start from eighth on the grid, battling through to make up six places and to be running in second position by his first stop on lap 20.
The race became increasingly hectic as rain threatened and the field dived into the pits. Jenson and Rubens pitted on lap 22 for wet tyres but the downpour was less than expected and they came back in for intermediates on lap 28 for Rubens and lap 29 for Jenson.
When the rain did arrive, it was so torrential that the wet weather tyres which the drivers fitted on lap 31 were not enough to allow the race to safely continue. After a lengthy delay on the grid, the race was declared over and half-points awarded.
An elated Jenson Button beamed, "What a crazy race It was really exciting out there and Im delighted that we came out on top today. I didn have the best of starts and was surprised at the lack of grip on my side of the grid. I went in deep at turn one and got a big snap of oversteer which dropped me to fourth but I was able to get past Alonso at the end of lap one and overtake Trulli and Rosberg at the first pit stops. I was happy with the car and our pace was good but the weather really threw the race wide open. Choosing the tyres was difficult but we made the right calls at the right time, particularly when it started raining so hard and so quickly. I have to say a massive thank you to my engineer Andrew Shovlin who was on the podium with me today and the whole team for their work on the strategy and in the pits. Last weekend we said that we had a fairytale start to the season and I am so proud that has continued here."
Ross Brawn, head of Brawn GP said, "A fantastic team performance today and a thoroughly deserved second victory of the season for Jenson and the team. It was an eventful race to say the least and I am pleased with how quickly we were able to react to the changing conditions to maintain the lead that Jenson had achieved in the first stint of the race. However it was not perfect as we could have had both cars in the top three if we had been a little bolder in bringing the drivers in for their third stops for intermediate tyres. We are delighted to have had such a successful start to the season with two pole positions and two victories in the opening races. You cant ask for more than that and it is a credit to the talent, attitude and dedication of our team that we have been able to achieve such results."
Nick Heidfeld brought his BMW-Sauber home in second, while Toyota driver Timo Glock made it on to the final step of the podium.
Nick Heidfeld said,“I'm obviously very happy to be second after starting from tenth. It was a really extreme and challenging race today. I had a good start but also quite a heavy car, which meant racing was not easy for me. When it was obvious it would rain soon I pitted seven laps earlier than planned, and we decided to go on full rain tyres. They wore down quickly because the heavy rain didn't come. The team kept telling me "stay out, heavy rain expected", but the tyres felt almost like slicks. For those laps intermediates would have been much quicker, but who could know that. When it finally poured down it was the right decision to stop the race. It was absolutely impossible to drive. I spun behind the safety car, not only because of aquaplaning with the tyres but also with the underfloor. I'm happy for our team that we can now bring home at least one proper result from the first two races of the season.”
This was another difficult race for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro, the team failed to score points. When the race was stopped because of the rain, on lap 32,while Felipe was ninth and Kimi fourteenth. However, the Finn would not have taken the restart, because of a problem with the isolation of the KERS, which led the team to bring the car back into the garage. The race was then definitively abandoned with the classification set as of lap 31.
Stefano Domenicali: “We are very disappointed because once again today, we leave a circuit empty handed. With hindsight, it’s clear that we took some wrong decisions, especially in Kimi’s case at his first pit stop: the information we had at the time was that the storm was due to hit in a very short time, when in fact it took a few more minutes for the rain to come. Felipe was very unlucky: another forty seconds or so and he could have stayed on track with the extreme wet tyres, finishing in a good position at the end of the race. Clearly we have to extricate ourselves from this situation, without panicking, but with every one of us taking on our responsibilities: we have to dig deep and react, starting immediately. We have to change our mentality and accept that we are in a different situation to the past and that therefore we have to tackle it with a different approach, both on track and in Maranello.”
The AT&T Williams team enjoyed a field-leading advantage for the early part of the Malaysian Grand Prix, after Nico Rosberg took the race lead from the start and was pulling away from the field until his first stop on lap 15. Soon after threatening lightening and stiffening winds then became a fully wet track and precipitated into a flurry of pitstops. The stops shuffled the order until the deluge of rain that had been anticipated, finally arrived and the race was red-flagged shortly after on lap 31. Rosberg was classified in eighth and Kazuki Nakajma finished in twelth.
Nico Rosberg said,"I took the lead off the start and it is a while since Williams have been out the front on pure performance and I have to thank the engineers for that. The car was going really well and I showed my ability to consistently push on each lap and open the gap to those behind me. And then the rain came and unfortunately the situation just didn’t go our way. But we got something out of the day and our car is right up there, so we will be looking to get the points we deserve next time out."
2009 Malayasian Grand Prix Results
| 1 Jenson Button | Brawn-Mercedes | 1h10m59.092s |
| 2 Nick Heidfeld | BMW Sauber | 1h11m21.814s |
| 3 Timo Glock | Toyota | 1h11m22.605s |
| 4 Jarno Trulli | Toyota | 1:11:45.265 |
| 5 Rubens Barricello | Brawn-Mercedes | 1:11:46.452 |
| 6 Mark Webber | Red Bull-Renault | 1:11:51.392 |
| 7 Lewis Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1:11:59.825 |
| 8 Nico Rosberg | Williams-Toyota | 1:12:10.668 |
| 9 Felipe Massa | Ferrari | 1:12:16.024 |
| 10 Sebastien Bourdais | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1:12:41.256 |
| 11 Fernando Alonso | Renault | 1:12:48.514 |
| 12 Kazuki Nakajima | Williams-Toyota | 1h34m42.388s |
| 13 Nelson Piquet Jr | Renault | 1:12:55.805 |
| 14 Kimi Raikkonnen | Ferrari | 1:13:21.933 |
| 15 Sebastian Vettel | Red Bull-Renault | Retired lap 30 |
| 16 Sebastien Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | Retired lap 30 |
| 17 Adrian Suitil | Force India | Lapped - 1 lap down |
| DNF Giancarlo Fisichella | Force India | Retired lap 29 |
| DNF Robert Kubica | BMW - Sauber | Retired lap 1 |
| DNF Heikki Kovalainen | McLaren Mercedes | Retired lap 0 |
2009 FIA Formula One Driver's World Championship
| 1 Jenson Button | 15 |
| 2 Rubens Barricello | 10 |
| 3 Jarno Trulli | 8.5 |
| 4 Timo Glock | 8 |
| 5 Fernando Alonso | 4 |
| 6 Nick Heidfeld | 4 |
| 7 Nico Rosberg | 3.5 |
| 8 Sebastien Buemi | 2 |
| 9 Mark Webber | 1.5 |
| 10 Sebastien Bourdais | 1 |
| 11 Lewis Hamilton | 1 |
| 12 Giancarlo Fischella | 0 |
| 13 Adrian Sutil | 0 |
| 14 Sebastien Vettel | 0 |
| 15 Robert Kubica | 0 |
| 16 Kimi Raikonnen | 0 |
| 17 Felipe Massa | 0 |
| 18 Nelson Piquet Jr | 0 |
| 19 Kazuki Nakajima | 0 |
| 20 Heikke Kovalainen | 0 |
2009 FIA Formula One Constructor's World Championship
| 1 Brawn-Mercedes | 25 |
| 2 Toyota | 16.5 |
| 3 BMW-Sauber | 4 |
| 4 Renault | 4 |
| 5 Williams-Toyota | 3.5 |
| 6 Torro-Rosso Ferrari | 3 |
| 7 Red Bull Renault | 1.5 |
| 8 McLaren Mercedes | 1 |
| Force India | 0 |
| Ferrari | 0 |
All results subject to FIA confirmation
Simon McBride
Thanks to Brawn GP, Toyota, Force India, Williams, Ferrari and BMW F1 teams for suppling the images.
