Race rage at Red Bullposted in F124 | 03 | 2013

    THREE-TIME WORLD CHAMP Sebastian Vettel won the Malaysian Grand Prix, the 27th of his career, matching the total of Sir Jackie Stewart, but the win was heaped in controversy.

    Clearly instructed by his team in the closing stages to hold his second position behind team-mate Mark Webber, Vettel ignored the order and muscled his way past the Australian. After the race, Webber all but snubbed Vettel in in the post-race podium celebrations, and made his views very clear.

    "After the last stop the team told me the race was over and we turned the engine down to go to the end," an incensed Webber explained.

    "I want to race as well, but in the end the team made a decision which we always say before the start of the race is how it's probably going to be: we look after the tyres and get the cars to the end.

    'Catastrophic failure' halts Paul di Resta

    "In the end Seb made his own decisions today and will have protection as usual, and that's the way it goes."

    Later, Vettel attempted to placate the situation by apologising to his team-mate.

    "We should have stayed in the positions we were in. I didn't ignore the order on purpose," Vettel said, "but I messed up in that situation.

    "I took the lead from Mark, which I can see now he is upset about, but I want to be honest and stick to truth, and apologise."

    At Mercedes, while Lewis Hamilton took third place, it was only after his clearly much faster team-mate was ordered to stay behind him over the closing laps.

    And Hamilton admitted he felt awkward about the outcome, and agreed Rosberg should have been on the podium.

    "Nico deserved to be where I am," the former world champ said. "With the position in the championship the team thought it was logical to stay in position, but Nico drove a smarter and more controlled race than me today.

    "Would I let him past in the future? I probably would."

    F1 Malaysian Grand Prix — Result:

    1. Sebastian Vettel Red Bull-Renault 1h38m56.681s;

    2. Mark Webber Red Bull-Renault +4.298s;

    3. Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +12.181s;

    4. Nico Rosberg Mercedes +12.640s;

    5. Felipe Massa Ferrari +25.648s;

    6. Romain Grosjean Lotus-Renault +35.564s;

    7. Kimi Raikkonen Lotus-Renault +48.479s;

    8. Nico Hulkenberg Sauber-Ferrari +53.044s;

    9. Sergio Perez McLaren-Mercedes +1m12.357s;

    10. Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1m27.124s;

    11. Valtteri Bottas Williams-Renault +1m28.610s;

    12. Esteban Gutierrez Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap;

    13. Jules Bianchi Marussia-Cosworth +1 lap;

    14. Charles Pic Caterham-Renault +1 lap;

    15. Giedo van der Garde Caterham-Renault +1 lap;

    16. Max Chilton Marussia-Cosworth +2 laps;

    17. Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes +3 laps;

    18. Daniel Ricciardo Toro Rosso-Ferrari +5 laps.

    Fastest lap: Perez, 1m39.199s

    Not classified/retirements:

    Pastor Maldonado Williams-Renault 45

    Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 27

    Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 22

    Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1

    World Championship standings (After 2 of 19 grands prix):

    Drivers:

    1. Vettel 40

    2. Raikkonen 31

    3. Webber 26

    4. Hamilton 25

    5. Massa 22

    6. Alonso 18

    7. Rosberg 12

    8. Grosjean 9

    9. Sutil 6

    10. Di Resta 4

    11. Hulkenberg 4

    12. Button 2

    13. Perez 2

    14. Vergne 1

    Constructors:

    1. Red Bull-Renault 66

    2. Lotus-Renault 40

    3. Ferrari 40

    4. Mercedes 37

    5. Force India-Mercedes 10

    6. McLaren-Mercedes 4

    7. Sauber-Ferrari 4

    8. Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1

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    Jim McGill

    Photo: Getty Images

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