Fernando Alonso wins 2012 Malaysian GP

Fernando Alonso has put a miserable winter behind him and the Ferrari team to win a rain-affected Malaysian Grand Prix. More amazingly it was a race that probably should have been won by the car in second place, the Sauber of Sergio Perez. That’s right Perez finished second!

Lewis Hamilton, who led the early stages from pole position until heavy rain forced officials to stop the race until conditions improved, finished in third place. But the day belonged to Alonso and Perez.

In the early stages of the race Perez made the switch to full wets much earlier than the leaders. By the time they followed his move the young Mexican had made up enough ground to find himself in third place, behind the two McLarens.

After the restart the Safety Car led the field around for four laps. When racing resumed it was dry enough for the drivers to consider switching to intermediates, something Jenson Button did at the earliest opportunity. That move put him ahead of Hamilton, only for a clumsy move while lapping Narain Karthikeyan to send Button back into pitlane for a new front wing. He never recovered and finished the race in fourteenth place.

An equally clumsy pitstop from McLaren handed Hamilton’s track position to Alonso and the pair rejoined the race behind an unfamiliar leader in Sergio Perez. Sauber made the most of their opportunity and put Perez back out ahead of his more fancied rivals.

Alonso was having none of that, though, and soon found his way past Perez and was able to build a comfortable cushion. Similarly, Perez established a handy gap back to Hamilton.

Daniel Ricciardo was the first driver to pit for slick tyres and it was soon evident that was the right choice, despite reports of further rain being likely.

In the end the rain held off and once Perez had some heat into his harder compound tyres he was soon whittling away at Alonso’s lead. At times Perez was as much as a full second quicker than Alonso, who was running the option tyres, and it didn’t take long before Perez was getting a good look at the Ferrari’s gearbox. Indeed such was the pace of the Sauber, Perez taking the lead seemed to be a formality.

But, with less than 10 laps remaining Perez made an error and ran wide, losing five seconds to Alonso. He was able to close that gap by the end of the race, but it was too little too late and he had to make do with a well-deserved second place. It’s the best result for Sauber as an independent team and the joy on Peter Suaber’s face after the race was clear to see.

Alonso enjoyed his 28th career win and, remarkably, finds himself leading the drivers’ championship. He has 35 points and is ahead of Hamilton (30) and Button (25).

Mark Webber drove a serviceable race and bagged his second fourth place for the year. Kimi Raikkonen, who tagged Michael Schumacher early in the race, forcing them both to spin, kept out of trouble thereafter and collected a valuable fifth place. Bruno Senna came home in sixth giving himself and Williams a well-earned eight points.

Paul di Resta found himself in the points again, in seventh. While Jean-Eric Vergne picked up his first career points in just his second race by finishing in eighth position. Vergne was the only driver to stay on intermediates before the race was stopped and it was this tactic which allowed him to do so well after starting well down the field from P18.

Vergne now edges ahead in his battle with Ricciardo, who had a slightly disappointing race and finished in P12.

Nico Hulkenberg and Michael Schumacher picked up the remaining points on offer.

Sebastian Vettel was another to get tangled with an innocent Karthikeyan and had to pit to replace a punctured left rear tyre. In the closing stages of the race comedy ensued when Vettel was instructed to retire from the race, only to received another radio instruction almost straight after saying to stay on track. By now it mattered little anyway, and he completed the race out of the points in eleventh place.

Overall it was a very entertaining race, thanks, of course, to the rain. We’d like to ignore the conspiracy theorists who suggest Perez ran wide in his Ferrari-powered Sauber on purpose thereby handing Ferrari an easy win. But for that mistake, he could, and should, have won the race. Which would have been an astonishing effort.

If nothing else it would have heaped further pressure on the hapless Felipe Massa who finished fifteenth and was only on the lead lap by a slender four seconds. As it is there is already talk that Perez could find himself in a Ferrari seat before year’s end, today’s results will only stoke that fire.

2012 Malaysian Grand Prix

1. Alonso (Ferrari) – 25pts
2. Perez (Sauber) +2.263 – 18pts
3. Hamilton (McLaren) +14.591 – 15pts
4. Webber (Red Bull) +17.688 – 12pts
5. Raikkonen (Lotus) +29.456 – 10pts
6. Senna (Williams) +37.667 – 8pts
7. Di Resta (Force India) +44.412 – 6pts
8. Vergne (Toro Rosso) +46.985 – 4pts
9. Hulkenberg (Force India) +47.892 – 2pts
10. Schumacher (Mercedes) +49.996 – 1pt
11. Vettel (Red Bull-Renault) +1:15.527
12. Ricciardo (Toro Rosso) +1:16.826
13. Rosberg (Mercedes) +1:18.593
14. Button (McLaren) +1:19.719
15. Massa (Ferrari) +1:37.319
16. Petrov (Caterham) +1 lap
17. Glock (Marussia) +1 lap
18. Kovalainen (Caterham) +1 lap
19. Maldonado (Williams) +2 laps
20. Pic (Marussia) +2 laps
21. Karthikeyan (HRT) +2 laps
22. De la Rosa (HRT) +2 laps

Retirements:
Kobayashi (Sauber) – lap 47, brakes
Grosjean (Lotus) – lap 4, spin

[Pic: Ferrari]