Sebastian Vettel Maintains Perfect Start To F1 Season In Malaysian Grand Prix

Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel has done it again, leading from start to finish in the Malaysian Grand Prix and claiming his second victory in the second race of the 2011 Formula One season. It was not as dominant a display as the Australian Grand Prix win two weeks ago by Vettel—who this time crossed the finishing line three seconds ahead of second-placed Jenson Button in a McLaren, with Lotus Renault's Nick Heidfeld in third—but it was enough for the 23-year-old German to lead Button by 24 points on the drivers' championship standings.

“Two races, two out of two—Perfect”, Vettel said. “It could not be any better, but there is a long, long way to go. Lots of points still to get, so we have to keep our feet on the ground”. Vettel gave KERS the credit for helping him stay in front from the start, even though the system failed to work for much of the race after the starting stretch. “Obviously it was not according to plan. Then KERS came back, so it was on and off during the race. It is something we have to work on”, the 2010 world champion added. “Today, the start without KERS, we would have been in a different position. It gave us what we needed”.

Red Bull's other driver Mark Webber could only manage fourth place, no thanks to his poor start and the KERS failure which limited his pace. “It was a tough race today. It wasn't a good start out of the box and we had a failure with the KERS, so I was out of position on the first lap”, Webber lamented. “For the first three or four laps, I was trying to pass people, but they were coming back at me on the straights; it was tough to clear people when I didn't have KERS”.