Mercedes score emphatic 1-2 win in Malaysia

Lewis Hamilton dominated from the off, claiming a faultless victory for Mercedes in Malaysia.

Hamilton cruised to victory ahead of his team-mate Rosberg in 2nd and World Champion Vettel in 3rd.

Before the race hydraulic issues with Sergio Perez' Force India meant he would not take to the grid for the race.

As the lights went out Hamilton got the perfect start and led into the first corner, ahead of Rosberg which was the closest any car would get to Hamilton for the rest of the race. A good start by Ricciardo in the Red Bull had put him third on the first lap behind both Mercedes after a great overtake on his team-mate Vettel.

An accident towards the back of the grid between Maldonado and Bianchi, resulted in the Marussia driver becoming the first driver to be given a 5 second stop go penalty. This penalty, which is new for the 2014 season is allowed to be taken at the beginning of a normal pit stop but teams must ensure that no work is done to the car during those 5 seconds. The accident ultimately spelt the end for both Maldonado and Bianchi's GP.

Kimi Raikkonen kept his eventful start to the season going with a collision on lap 2 with Magnussen. This collision broke part of the front wing of the McLaren and in turn gave Raikkonen's Ferrari a right rear puncture. For the collision Magnussen was the recipient a 5 second stop go penalty.

On lap three Hamilton had already opened a 4 second gap to his team mate. Team radio transmitted to Hamilton that “Nico is struggling with his rear tyres and to look after yours”. Vettel and Ricciardo changed places into the first corner of lap 3 thanks to a DRS assisted overtake. Alonso in 5th was gaining on Ricciardo lap by lap. Both Williams drivers had started way down the back of the grid due to their struggles in wet weather conditions during qualifying, but were soon up in 10th and 11th battling with the McLarens and Toro Rossos.

On lap 13 the drivers at the front began to make their pit stops. Alonso pitting a lap before Ricciardo resulting in a close battle as the Red Bull left the pit lane and the two came into the first corner side by side. Impressive driving from both of them resulted in Ricciardo managing to hang onto his 4th place into turn three and pull out a big enough gap to prevent DRS.

Vettel was next to pit and came out ahead of his team mate but behind the Williams of Bottas who had elected to stay out longer on his tyres. After being held up for several corners Vettel made his move and passed Bottas who was clearly struggling for grip on worn tyres.

The Mercedes drivers were next to pit with Rosberg returning to the track in 3rd and Hamilton in 2nd behind a yet to stop Hulkenberg in the Force India. It didn't take long for Hamilton to pounce on the Force India as he breezed through to regain the lead. Lewis began to push even harder and began to stretch his advantage over the chasing pack to 10 seconds.

Jenson Button was running a very lonely race in 7th. As the race developed the Williams drivers began to close the gap with Massa leading their charge. Team radio came through to Massa telling him “Valteri is faster than you, do not hold him up”.

The Grand Prix weekend ended early for the Sauber team with both drivers retiring from the race within laps of each other. Sutil came to a stop on track and Gutierrez pulled into the pits to end his race.

Ricciardo seemed to have gained Mark Webber's knack for bad luck in the Red Bull. As he was released from the pits, his front left tyre was not secure and he was wheeled back to his pit box. After rectifying the error the Red Bull was on its way again but his race was severely compromised. More woes were to follow as Ricciardo suffered a front wing failure which meant he had to limp around the track to the pits to change his wing. Moments later he was to pick up a 10 second stop go penalty for an unsafe pit release during the tyre issue effectively ending his race.

Hulkenberg who was having a very strong race on a different strategy to the top runners tried to beat Alonso by doing only two stops to the Ferrari’s three. Ultimately the Ferrari was able to pull the Force India in at a rate of nearly 2 seconds a lap due to Alonso's fresher tyres and complete the overtake and that's how they would end their race.

Hamilton who was running away at the front, proved his superiority over the field with the fastest lap of the race with 3 to go. He also proved to be running a very economical race using less fuel than any other driver in the top 10.

After a spirited effort from Vettel, who had managed to close to within 0.5 seconds to Rosberg, He was unable to get any closer as the Mercedes driver who pulled out a further 2 seconds in the closing laps to cement 2nd place.

Jenson Button managed to hold on to 6th place in the closing stages despite the ever closing Williams' of Massa, who had elected to ignore team orders and continue ahead of his team-mate Bottas.

The McLaren of Kevin Magnussen finished ninth after recovering from the following a second-lap collision with Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari. Raikonnen managed to recover to finish 12th, behind an impressive performance from Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat, and an improving Lotus of Romain Grosjean in 11th.

Kvyat's team-mate Vergne failed to finish the race, retiring mid way through.

Hamilton took the chequered flag 15 seconds ahead of team-mate Rosberg. Completing a Mercedes 1-2.

In his post race interview, Hamilton dedicated the win to the families of the passengers lost in the disappearance of flight MH370.

Following the race, Ricciardo was handed a 10-place grid penalty for the Bahrain GP next week for his unsafe release in the pits.

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Race Result
1- Hamilton
2- Rosberg
3- Vettel
4- Alonso
5- Hulkenberg
6- Button
7- Massa
8- Bottas
9- Magnussen
10- Kvyat
11- Grosjean

Championship Standings

1. ROSBERG Mercedes 43.0
2 HAMILTON Mercedes 25.0
3 ALONSO Ferrari 24.0
4 BUTTON McLaren 23.0
5 MAGNUSSEN McLaren 20.0
6 HULKENBERG Force India 18.0
7 VETTEL Red Bull 15.0
8 BOTTAS Williams 14.0
9 RAIKKONEN Ferrari 6.0
10 MASSA Williams 6.0
11 VERGNE Toro Rosso 4.0
12 KVYAT Toro Rosso 3.0
13 PEREZ Force India 1.0

The next race in Bahrain will be on 4th-6th April and once again Driving for Pleasure will be providing full coverage on Twitter live, so follow us on @Drivin4Pleasure for all the latest news