Summary Sebastian Vettel's 27th victory in Formula One didn't earn him a lot of admiration.
SEPANG (AP) - The three-time defending champion ignored team orders Sunday and overtook fellow Red Bull driver Mark Webber toward the end to win the Malaysian Grand Prix, having been told to stand down and cruise to a 1-2 finish.
The German s move left Webber fuming and had team officials remonstrating Vettel publicly after the race. Vettel apologized, but said he didn t realize he had been told to hold back.
"Mark should have won," said Vettel, who now leads the championship standings by nine points ahead of Lotus driver Kimi Raikkonen. "I made a big mistake today and we should have stayed in the position. I messed up in that situation and took the lead from Mark and can see now he is upset. The result is there and all I can say is that I didn t do it deliberately."
Webber refused to acknowledge his teammate after the race, and said he had been told by the team to keep a slower pace to save the tires to the end.
Vettel s decision to ignore team orders was made extra glaring by the fight for third place between Mercedes drivers Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg. In a similar situation, Rosberg was told repeatedly not to pass Hamilton, and obeyed giving the Briton his first podium finish with his new team.
Vettel started from pole but Webber grabbed the lead on the ninth lap and stayed in front for much of the race. Vettel had complained over the team radio earlier that "Mark is too slow" and that they should let him pass. The team response was for the German to be "patient."
He clearly ran out of patience on the 46th lap, making an aggressive move with the cars almost touching as the German grabbed the lead with team officials immediately calling him "silly" over the radio.
Team Principal Christian Horner said Vettel s decision made for a "hugely uncomfortable" situation within the team.
Mercedes team principal Ross Brawn had more success with his orders, after imploring Rosberg to back off from Hamilton who was struggling to make his fuel last. Brawn told Rosberg that "I want to bring these cars home," and the German complied.
As Brawn congratulated him over the radio, Rosberg told him to "remember this one. Rosberg called it a "great day" for the team but acknowledged that the finish was not ideal.
"Of course, it was disappointing for me having to hold position but I understand the team s decision to safeguard our positions and to make sure that both cars got to the end with a strong team finish, especially in light of the tough times behind us," he said.
"There are a lot of races to go and our performance today makes me look forward to fighting for more podium finishes in the future."
Hamilton earlier endured an embarrassing moment when he drove into his former team McLaren s pits before correcting himself and heading to Mercedes, which he joined ahead of this season.
The finish to the race could also cause grumblings from fans, who prefer to see the drivers duel it out for the win rather than having team orders decide the result.
It was a disastrous day for Ferrari s Fernando Alonso, who crashed out of the race on the second lap after damaging his front wing when he bumped Vettel a lap earlier. His teammate Felipe Massa started poorly but managed to finish fifth.
McLaren s troubles also continued, as a botched pit stop dropped 2009 champion Jenson Button to 14th. The Briton then retired with two laps remaining while his teammate, Sergio Perez, finished ninth. The team has struggled with its new car with talk that it may swap it for last year s model.
