HAMILTON & ALONSO GET PENALISED - FINAL RACE RESULTS...

Sepang, Malaysia -  Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso have both been penalised for infringements in the 2011 Malaysian Formula 1 GP.

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McLaren's Hamilton was dropped from seventh to eighth after stewards ruled he "made more than one change of direction" while dicing with Alonso, his former team mate.

And Ferrari driver Alonso also received a post-race drive-through penalty - 20sec added to his race finishing time - for "causing a collision" when he drove into Hamilton's rear.

But the Spaniard keeps his sixth place.

Hamilton said: "He just clipped me with his wing and broke my car's rear floor.  I don't how much downforce that lost me.

"Today wasn't the greatest of days."

DAMAGED WING

The collision is sure to add to the bad blood between the bitter F1 rivals. The former team mates were fighting over a podium spot with just over 10 laps to go when Alonso clipped Hamilton's rear wheel.

Alonso was forced to pit with a damaged front wing and finished sixth; Hamilton's race unravelled as he struggled with worn tyres in the final few laps, dropping from third to seventh (then eighth with the penalty).

They left the track with conflicting emotions: Hamilton described the race as "a disaster" and questioned his team's strategy while Alonso was buoyed by Ferrari's competitiveness in race conditions.

Read earlier race report.

Results from the Malaysian Formula One GP raced over 56 laps at Sepang International Circuit on Sunday (corrected for Hamilton place demotion):

1 Sebastian Vettel (GER/Red Bull) 1hr37min39.832
2 Jenson Button (GBR/McLaren) +3.261
3 Nick Heidfeld (GER/Lotus-Renault) +25.075
4 Mark Webber (AUS/Red Bull) +26.384
5 Felipe Massa (BRA/Ferrari) +36.958
6 Fernando Alonso (ESP/Ferrari) +57.248
7 Kamui Kobayashi (JPN/Sauber) +1min06.439
8 Lewis Hamilton (GBR/McLaren) +1min09.957
9 Michael Schumacher (GER/Mercedes GP) +1min24.896
10 Paul di Resta (SCO/Force India) +1min31.563
11 Adrian Sutil (GER/Force India) +1min41.379
12 Nico Rosberg (GER/Mercedes GP) +1 lap
13 Sebastien Buemi (SUI/Toro Rosso) +1 lap
14 Jaime Alguersuari (ESP/Toro Rosso) +1 lap
15 Heikki Kovalainen (FIN/Lotus) +1 lap
16 Timo Glock (GER/Virgin Racing) +2 laps
17 Vitaly Petrov (RUS/Lotus-Renault) +4 laps

RED BULL WINS IN MALAYSIA - 2 FROM 2...

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Reproduced with kind permission of the FIA

Drivers: 1 - Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull); 2 - Jenson Button (McLaren); 3 - Nick Heidfeld (Renault)

Q: Sebastian, never an easy day at the office here in Malaysia but as you told the team on the radio, ‘I love coming to work’, and when you take home the win it is hardly surprising.
Sebastian Vettel: Yeah I guess so. Another great day. The start was crucial. I thought I had a really good start and then I saw Lewis lining up behind me quickly. Then I was surprised going into turn one as all of a sudden I saw something black in my mirrors. I knew it was a Lotus and then I realised it was Nick. Obviously for the first stint it was a good thing to happen as I could pull away lap by lap. I think the grand prix was different to what we saw two weeks ago especially with tyres going off. On the one side you do not want to be the first in as the shorter you get the more stops you might have to do in the end, but on the other hand if someone goes in he has the advantage on new tyres and might undercut you. I think it was quite difficult and it was tight with Lewis but I always had a couple of seconds in hand so we could control that – but still it was never easy until the last stint. Lewis had a problem, I don’t know what happened to him but I realised Jenson was behind and I could comfortably control the gap so with not too many laps to go it was quite good. Very pleased as I said. I love what I do and I don’t think I can be happier at this stage.

Q: Different to Australia but in some respect very much the same. Lap 29, you are told you cannot use KERS. Did you know the problem and how much of a difference did it make to your car and your feelings at the time?
SV: Yeah, it was not according to plan, but then it was coming back. It was a little bit on-off during the race. It is something we have to work on but still never forget two weeks ago we didn’t race it at all and today it was very crucial at the start. Without KERS again we would have been in a completely different position and the race would have unfolded in a different way. It was giving us what we needed and being in a luxury situation, being a little bit ahead, we had a little problem so we turned it off and it went back on. But coming here only 10 days overseas, reacting the way we did, we can be very proud of ourselves. We cannot stop pushing. We have seen how close it is, much closer here than in Australia, so that’s how quickly things can change. We have to keep our heads cool, keep working, keep pushing, but I am not worried to be honest. All the guys, they know that this is the only way forward so for today we all enjoy and we can be very proud.

Q: Jenson, I would imagine you will enjoy second place?
Jenson Button: Yeah, it was a really confusing race in a way, trying to understand the pit-stops and whether it was worth looking after tyres or not through the stints. So it was pretty tricky. Then, the last stint, when we put the prime tyre on, the car came alive and I had so much more grip. I had a feeling that the tyre wasn’t going to go the same way as the soft tyre and my pace was much better in the last stint. A fun race. A couple of really good battles. Happy to come away with a second. I had the team telling me to back it off and look after the tyres but in a racer’s mind you want to push as hard as you can as you want to try and catch the leader. Even though it was not really on you have still got to give it a go, so I had a lot of fun out there and great to get 18 points.

MOTORSPORT HEADLINES - Malaysian Grand Prix 2011

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SEPANG, Malaysia - The weather over Sepang is always an issue as tropical downpours can build-up and rain down in a matter of minutes.

With a new tyre supplier - Pirelli - teams are more or less equal in terms of lacking data to make informed set-up decisions in the wet, hot and humid conditions.

Suffice to say: expect the unexpected during this weekend's Malaysian Formula 1 GP.

Here are the Malaysian GP second free practice session times from Sepang on Friday.

1 Mark Webber RBR-Renault 1min36.876       
2 Jenson Button McLaren-Mercedes 1min36.881  
3 Lewis Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes 1min37.010 
4 Sebastian Vettel RBR-Renault 1min37.090
5 Michael Schumacher Mercedes 1min38.088
6 Felipe Massa Ferrari 1min38.089
7 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1min38.565
8 Nick Heidfeld Renault 1min38.57
9 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 1min38.583
10 Jaime Alguersuari STR-Ferrari 1min38.846   
11 Pastor Maldonado Williams-Cosworth 1min38.968   
12 Rubens Barrichello Williams-Cosworth 1min39.187   
13 Vitaly Petrov Renault 1min39.267
14 Kamui Kobayashi Sauber-Ferrari 1:39.398  
15 Sergio Perez Sauber-Ferrari 1min39.603   
16 Paul di Resta Force India-Mercedes 1min39.625   
17 Adrian Sutil Force India-Mercedes 1min39.809   
18 Sebastien Buemi STR-Ferrari 1min40.115 
19 Timo Glock Virgin-Cosworth 1min40.866   
20 Jarno Trulli Lotus-Renault 1min41.890 
21 Narain Karthikeyan HRT-Cosworth 1min43.197 
22 Vitantonio Liuzzi HRT-Cosworth 1min:43.991
23 Heikki Kovalainen Lotus-Renault 1min44.886 
24 Jerome d'Ambrosio Virgin-Cosworth

FIRST PRACTICE

1 Mark Webber (Australia) RedBull 1min37.651
2 Lewis Hamilton (Britain) McLaren 1min39.316
3 Michael Schumacher (Germany) Mercedes 1min39.791
4 Nico Huelkenberg (Germany) Force India 1min40.377
5 Pastor Maldonado (Venezuela) Williams 1min40.443
6 Felipe Massa (Brazil) Ferrari 1min40.453
7 Nick Heidfeld (Germany) Renault 1min40.525
8 Rubens Barrichello (Brazil) Williams 1min40.581
9 Fernando Alonso (Spain) Ferrari 1min40.601
10 Nico Rosberg (Germany) Mercedes 1min40.646
11 Adrian Sutil (Germany) Force India 1min40.734
12 Daniel Ricciardo (Australia) Toro Rosso 1min40.748
13 Jaime Alguersuari (Spain) Toro Rosso 1min40.770
14 Kamui Kobayashi (Japan) Sauber 1min40.872
15 Jenson Button (Britain) McLaren 1min40.927
16 Jarno Trulli (Italy) Lotus 1min41.620
17 Sebastian Vettel (Germany) RedBull 1min41.627
18 Sergio Perez (Mexico) Sauber 1min41.642
19 Timo Glock (Germany) Virgin 1min42.154
20 Jerome d'Ambrosio (Belgium) Virgin 1min42.540
21 Davide Valsecchi (Italy) Lotus 1min44.054
22 Vitantonio Liuzzi (Italy) HRT 1min45.228
23 Narain Karthikeyan (India) HRT 1min46.267
24 Vitaly Petrov (Russia) Renault 1min:47.932