Vettel beats Webber to win Malaysia Grand Prix

Three – time defending Formula One champion Sebastian Vettel, smarting from a third place finish last weekend in Melbourne behind the duo of Kimi Räikkönen of Lotus and Fernando Alonso of Ferrari respectively, held off Red Bull teammate Mark Weber in the second race of the season to win the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Just like the Red Bull pair finished first and second, the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg came in third and fourth respectively for the British driver to edge his German teammate to the third spot on the podium.

Ferrari’s Fenanado Alonso retired on the second lap after his Ferrari made contact with the back of Vettel’s ‘Hungry Heidi’ car, and held on in second place until his front wing failed.

Vettel had earlier on earned a steely rebuke from team principal Christian Horner as the world champion went wheel-to-wheel with Webber before overtaking him late-on in a grueling battle for the finish line in the Malaysian rain at Sepang to claim his 27^th career victory.

The third race of the 19-race season, the Chinese GrandPrix, comes up in Shanghai on April 14.

Vettel hits the track with Hungry Heidi

“Overall it was a good day for us. It was pretty seamless and there was no 

trouble with the car. After all the mileage of testing, it was fun to be out there – this circuit doesn’t get easier, it’s a good challenge. The soft tyre doesn’t last too long, but the harder tyre is a decent race tyre. The weather should be quite changeable tomorrow and, as we can’t predict how much that will impact the tyres and car balance, we need to be ready for what’s coming up.” These were the words of Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel after he dominated both practice sessions at the 2013 Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix in Albert Park, Melbourne on Friday, returning P1 – 1:27.211|1^st; P2 – 1:25.908|1^st.

Vettel is hoping Hungry Heidi, the name of his current machine, will bring him a fourth successive Formula One crown.

Other racers returned as follows:

Mark Webber, P1 - 1:27.668|5^th; P2 - 1:26.172|2^nd

Nico Rosberg, P1 - 1:28.013|7^th; P2 - 1:26.322|3^rd

Lewis Hamilton, P1 - 1:27.552|4^th; P2 - 1:26.772|7^th

Kimi Raikkonen, P1 - 1:27.877|6^th; P2 - 1:26.361|4^th

Romain Grosjean, P1 - 1:28.520|10^th; P2 - 1:26.680|5^th

Fernando Alonso, P1 - 1:27.547|3^rd; P2 - 1:26.748|6^th

Felipe Massa, P1 - 1:27.289|2^nd; P2 - 1:26.855|8^th

Adrian Sutil, P1 - 1:28.426|8^th; P2 - 1:27.435|9^th

Paul di Resta, P1 - 1:28.910|13^th; P2 - 1:28.311|12^th

Nico Hulkenberg, P1 - 1:28.786|12^th; P2 - 1:28.187|10^th

Esteban Gutierrez, P1 - 1:30.203|16^th; P2 - 1:28.772|15^th

Jenson Button, P1 - 1:28.440|9^th; P2 - 1:28.294|11^th

Sergio Perez, P1 - 1:28.597|11^th; P2 - 1:28.566|13^th

Daniel Ricciardo, P1 - 1:30.969|18^th; P2 - 1:28.627|14^th

Jean-Eric Vergne, P1 - 1:30.729|17^th; P2 - 1:28.968|17^th

Pastor Maldonado, P1 - 1:29.443|14^th; P2 - 1:28.852|16^th

Valtteri Bottas, P1 - 1:29.928|14^th; P2 - 1:29.386|18^th

Jules Bianchi, P1 - 1:31.263|19^th; P2 - 1:29.696|19^th

Max Chilton, P1 - 1:32.176|20^th; P2 - 1:30.600|21^st

Charles Pic, P1 - 1:32.274|21^st; P2 - 1:30.165|20^th

Giedo van der Garde, P1 - 1:32.388|22^nd; P2 - 1:32.450|22^nd

Champions League Draw

The Champions league quarterfinal draws have been held on Friday and the fate of the remaining 8 teams have been decided. Heavyweights Barcelona and Real Madrid have avoided each other. 3 Spanish, 2 German, 1 French, 1 Italian and 1 Turkish team were drawn to complete the lot.

Ibrahimovic's PSG will host Lionel Messi's Barcelona at the French capital in the first leg of the quarterfinals while surprise team Galatasaray comprising of champion league winners Wesley Schieder and Didier Drogba will travel to Madrid to play Real Madrid. In the remaining fixtures Juventus, the Old Lady of Turin, will face last years finalist Bayern Munich while Malaga take on German champions Borussia Dortmund.

The draw for the semifinals will come up on April 12 and the finals at the Wembley Stadium on May 25.

Real Madrid	vs	Galatasaray
Bayern Munich	vs	Juventus
Paris Saint-Germain	vs	Barcelona
Malaga	vs	Borussia Dortmund