Brian Bielanski, Editor

(RacingWire) – The margin of victory was slightly closer but Sebastian Vettel made the Malaysian Grand Prix look much like a repeat of Australia.

The Red Bull driver and defending World Champion took the lead on the first lap and from that point on it was a race for second place.

“The start was crucial,” said Vettel. “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 realized it was Nick. I think the grand prix was different to what we saw two weeks ago especially with tires 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 tires and might undercut you. 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. Very pleased as I said. I love what I do and I don’t think I can be happier at this stage.”

A fantastic start catapulted Renault's Nick Heidfeld to second on the opening lap. Heidfeld held on to that position until the first pit stop.

Lewis Hamilton, like many of the front runners had problems in the race and after spending much of the middle portion of the event in second, fell back to finish seventh on the track. Hamilton was relegated to eighth after a 20 second penalty for blocking Fernando Alonso.

The penalty moved Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi to seventh.

Alonso was also penalized for hitting Hamilton in a late race incident that broke Alonso's wing and forced him to pit. Alonso's penalty didn't change his finishing position.

Hamilton's McLaren teammate, Jensen Button, made the best of his tire strategy to work his way to an eventual second place finish.

“(It was) a fun race,” said Button. “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 tires 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.”

Heidfeld recovered from a disappointing Australian Grand Prix to take his first podium of the year finishing third.

“The start was fantastic,” Heidfeld said. “Good fun. In Australia I made up many positions on the start but I didn’t expect the same happening when starting from sixth rather than 18th or whatever it was in Australia. I found myself actually fighting with Sebastian who watched me in the mirror and just paced himself to keep me behind. After that I did the best I could but Sebastian was quite a bit quicker. I used my KERS just in places where I needed to defend and it is great to come third. Second podium for Lotus Renault. It is a great step forward from last season.”

Mark Webber and Felipe Massa rounded out the top five.

Seven-time World Champ Michael Schumacher finished ninth and rookie Paul DiResta had another impressive drive finishing Tenth. DiResta has finished in the points in each of his first two F1 starts.