“It is unusual for us to have a reliability problem,” he said morosely. “Last year, the team had no retirements at all, so it is a shame.”
Schumacher, once the top draw of grand prix racing, was little more than a sideshow once again as Formula One put on another thrilling event to follow the excitement of Melbourne a week ago.
This was always going to be an exciting race after the shenanigans of qualifying when Ferrari and McLaren hopelessly misread the weather conditions. Both teams held their cars back in the first qualifying session as the rain started to fall – but the rain got heavier and three world champions, along with Massa were dumped to the back of the grid.
With the McLarens of Button and Lewis Hamilton starting seventeenth and twentieth respectively, and Fernando Alonso on the grid at 19, two ahead of Felipe Massa’s Ferrari, four of the quickest cars on the circuit were going to be forced to go on a charge. And they did.
Hamilton’s roaring pace was spectacular as he sliced his way through the field from the start, taking on car after car with Massa and Alonso giving chase.
This was another of those days when everybody wondered what the fuss over the new regulations was about. Alonso had even said before the race that overtaking was one of Formula One’s myths, yet there was the Spaniard showing how it should be done, along with Hamilton.
Button, just as he did in Melbourne, chose the cerebral route, taking a fresh set of tyres after only nine laps, gambling that he could catch the quicker Ferraris on fresh rubber and slide past them at their pitstops. But it seemed the Ferraris had a gamble of their own, with the team looking up at the skies and waiting for the storm that had been predicted all day. Then they could pit only once, taking on rain tyres and dash to the end.
Like all best-laid plans, they went slightly wrong. The rain that has been ever-present in Kuala Lumpur this weekend failed to turn up and Button did get past. But not for completely. He raced for so long on his Bridgestone rubber that Massa reeled him in a bid to steal seventh place. Alonso, though, could not get past the determined McLaren driver and his attempts to overtake exploded along with engine with the chequered flag almost in sight.
Up ahead, Hamilton had reached a mobile road block in the form of Adrian Sutil’s Force India, which proved just too rapid in the straights for the McLaren man to get by as his tyres deteriorated.
Hamilton was also playing cagey after incurring the wrath of the stewards in the early laps as he weaved in front of Vitaly Petrov's Renault on the long start-finish straight. Hamilton claimed he was not weaving, only trying to break the tow, but the stewards saw it differently and put out the black-and-white flag as a stern warning to the Briton that another infringement would mean disqualification.
Hamilton could not afford such a draconian penalty on a day when points were the most important prize, not least to Vettel. This result pushes him into a joint-second in the world championship with Alonso, behind Massa, who leads, and with Button sharing third spot with Rosberg.
"It was a very good result for us," Vettel said. "After two races where we didn't finish where we didn't want to, it was very crucial not to panic. With Mark in second place, it is a big plus for the team. I'm very, very happy."
Webber admitted he was disappointed to have let his team-mate pass him at the beginning. "The first part of the race was crucial and I got a litle bit of wheel spin on the first corner," he said. Webber explained that he pressed on the breaks after the Red Bull team principal had warned the drivers not to risk too much if it put the team's chances in jeopardy.
"Christian Horner told us at the start of the race 'behave yourself, boys'," Webber said. "We did a job at a crucial stage and deserved a victory. It's a nice comeback fo us after tough few races. I'd like to be one spot further up but we executed a beautiful weekend for everybody on the team."