Malaysian Grand Prix 2011: Raceday - Formula One highlights (part 11)
The atmosphere at the Sepang circuit in Malaysia was definitely a tense one. The crowd was on tenterhooks, trying to cheer on their favourite car or constructor. The pit crew was staring at the monitors, hoping to ‘stare’ their respective cars to the finish
line. The margin for error for all cars involved was great – A case of everything to gain or lose. Holding one’s nerve was the key; who would blink first?
Hamilton dived into the pits as the race headed into lap 53. After an off-track excursion where he lost 4th place to Webber, perhaps the decision to pit was a little later than expected but clearly the Briton couldn’t end the race in that state
and still expect to retain track position. Hamilton took on a new set of hard compound tyres and out in 9th position – still amongst the points, if it were any consolation that late in the race.
Mark Webber seemed to be rejuvenated after the drama that unfolded in front of him when the Ferrari and McLaren made contact. The Australian was closing in on Heidfeld and was slowly getting in a decent enough position to make his move. His team further
informed him that Heidfeld’s tyres were 4 laps older than his.
Lap 54: Drama for Petrov! The Russian ran wide as he went off track, hit a bump and took flight momentarily. The steering broke off the column on landing – Thankfully for the youngster and all those watching, he managed to come to a stop and was safely out
of the car.
2nd last lap: Webber was effectively right on Heidfeld’s exhaust in the corners and looked to make his move for the last podium place.
Vettel started the final lap of the race, running 6.6 seconds ahead of Button. Webber looked unable to do anything with Heidfeld though, as he fell a few car lengths behind.
Shortly afterwards, Vettel crossed the line to take the chequered flag for his 4th consecutive win and 2nd in a row this season for Red Bull Racing. Button saved his tyres perfectly to secure 2nd place. Heidfeld had a great run to score Renault's second
podium of the season.
Massa managed to make a lunge for 5th position on his teammate Alonso on the last lap of the race. Kobayashi made a 2-pit stop race work in his favour to finish in 8th position. Michael Schumacher made a great recovery from his troubles
earlier in the race to finish 9th and Paul di Resta rounded off the top 10 of the Grand Prix.
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