The Renault cars did not immediately run in Friday afternoon practice while the team investigated the technical failures of the initial session at Sepang.
Team boss Eric Boullier confirmed at the Malaysian circuit that neither Nick Heidfeld or Vitaly Petrov would return to their R31s until the problem is understood and rectified.

“Best to be on the safe side,” the team said on its official Twitter.

Heidfeld had returned to the pits in the first session with a blocked wheel, before Petrov spun into the gravel after a catastrophic failure on his left corner.

It was initially believed the problem was related to brakes, but the later theory was that the fault was in the suspension upright.

Half-way into the second session, it is believed the problem has been found and the cars will return to the track shortly.

Meanwhile, Boullier confirmed that German Heidfeld sat out some pre-weekend events this week with a throat infection.

“It’s not serious,” he told Bernama news agency. “He wanted to rest and be ready for free practice.”

‘Power’ is a keyword in the Red Bull camp on Saturday, after qualifying day for the Italian grand prix.

2010 pole specialist Sebastian Vettel, fast all weekend at Monza and never off the first two rows of the grid all season so far, qualified just fifth on Saturday afternoon.

“I don’t know where the speed went,” said the German.

“I was around 3 or 4 kph quicker yesterday than I was this afternoon with less fuel,” he added.

“There are a lot of straights in Monza, so it was quite costly.”

Engine supplier Renault has accepted the blame for both of Mark Webber’s practice stoppages on Friday and Saturday morning.

Saturday’s problem, which doubly worried the team when the Australian’s stricken RB6 took a long time to be returned to the pits before qualifying, was caused by a fire inside the airbox.

Team boss Christian Horner admitted the V8 might now have to be run with a “slightly more conservative setting”.

Webber qualified fourth on Saturday, crucially ahead of his championship rival Lewis Hamilton.

But asked if he is worried about his engine, he answered: “A little bit, yes.

“We need to look at it with Renault and see what the best plan is. It is not the first time we have seen this, we have experience with this kind of problem and we just need to chip away,” added Webber.

Mainly due to Renault’s 2.4 litre V8, Red Bull had travelled to the ultra high speed Monza venue expecting its “worst” outing of the entire season, Horner confessed.

“We knew Monza would be a difficult race for us,” agreed Fabrice Lom, in charge of Red Bull’s supply of customer Renaults.

“Unfortunately we cost Mark some running time yesterday and today, so we apologise for that,” he said, albeit praising Webber’s efforts to be fourth.

“With Hamilton not at the front, it could be an interesting result,” added Lom.

Sebastian Vettel declared on the radio he is “back on track” after winning Sunday’s European grand prix.

“Germany one, England nil,” grinned third-placed Jenson Button, before leaving the FIA press conference to watch Germany score the first goal for real as the countries battle for World Cup survival in South Africa.

With his win, pole sitter Vettel snatches third place in the world championship – behind both McLarens – from his Red Bull teammate Mark Webber, who escaped unhurt from a frightening backflip crash.

Caused by the Australian striking the rear of Heikki Kovalainen’s Lotus, the crash mirrored one during the earlier GP2 race, in which Josef Kral was hospitalised.

Some figures, including David Coulthard, slammed Kovalainen’s decision to race Webber’s much faster car, but Lotus technical boss Mike Gascoyne said on Twitter that the Finn was “pissed off with Webber”.

“For all those saying we should not have defended from Webber, when it is for position on track we race,” Gascoyne insisted.  “Always.”

The race was also controversial for other reasons.  Hamilton finished second after a drive-through penalty for overtaking the safety car, while Fernando Alonso did not make the illegal pass and finished just ninth.

“It is really unfair, it is like no penalty,” Alonso’s race engineer Andrea Stella told the angry Spaniard by radio during the race.

And nine drivers – Button, both Williams, both Renaults, both Force Indias, Sebastien Buemi and Pedro de la Rosa – are under investigation by the stewards for driving too fast on their pitstop in-lap while the safety car was out.

If penalised, Sauber’s Kamui Kobayashi – finishing behind four of the investigated drivers – could be the big winner, after finishing seventh with an unique race strategy that saw him make a very late single pitstop.

By performing impressive late-race passes on Fernando Alonso and Buemi, meanwhile, the Japanese also rekindled memories of his stirring late debut for Toyota last year.

Provisional Race Result -  27 June 2010

Red Bull still had the F-duct fitted to its RB6 on Saturday morning in Valencia.

According to the BBC, the Milton Keynes based team has confirmed the downforce-stalling device will also remain on the Renault-powered car for qualifying and the race.

Sebastian Vettel topped the final 60 minutes of practice at the sunny street circuit, with his teammate Mark Webber third, split by Renault’s Robert Kubica.

The two Force Indias were fourth and seventh, with the team having ironed out the problems with its F-duct version.

“(It) is working very well now and it makes a real difference,” said German Adrian Sutil.

Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso was fifth, while the McLarens were just ninth and tenth, and Mercedes’ Nico Rosberg 11th.

“There are a lot of quick cars out there,” said Jenson Button.  “The Ferraris look very fast, so do the Red Bulls, Renaults and Mercedes.”

Nico Rosberg achieved the first podium finish for the Mercedes GP Petronas team at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia today. Nico Starting from second place on the grid, but Nico lost a place at the start and was running in third position at the end of the first lap.

He made his sole pit stop on lap 22 where superb work from the team enabled Nico to gain over a second on the chasing Robert Kubica. From there, Nico drove a composed race to the chequered flag to secure third position and his third podium finish,

Michael Schumacher was out of the race when a wheel nut came off one of the rear wheels and forced Michael to retire on lap ten.

Nico Rosberg
“Its a fantastic result today to achieve our teams first podium at the home race for our title partner, Petronas. I want to thank the whole team for all of their hard work this weekend and over the winter. This result is the start of the reward for our efforts. Its a great feeling to be back up on the podium again and to have so much support from the Malaysian fans here. My start didnt go that well today as I had a bit too much wheelspin and once I was in third place, I knew it would be difficult to follow the leading cars. I struggled a little with the options in the first stint which allowed Robert to stay quite close but once we switched to the primes, I felt really comfortable and we could manage the race home to third place. This is a great end to a strong weekend for us. Were not quite where we want to be yet so we need to push on but Im confident that well get there soon.”

Michael Schumacher
“It was a shame that I could not finish the race but unfortunately the wheel nut on the left rear wheel was lost. The car suddenly became very unstable in turn six and I could hardly steer and had no drive left. I initially thought it was something to do with the suspension but after I stopped and had a look, it was evident that was a wheel nut missing. It is something very unusual to happen and in testing we never had problems so we have to look it. I would have obviously wanted to finish the race and I think it could have worked out quite reasonably well. But in the end that is motor racing, I remember that very well. It makes no sense to get angry about it, you have to accept it as part of the game and look ahead. At least Nico scored our first podium finish and I am happy for him and the team.”

Ross Brawn
“That was an excellent drive from Nico today and a first-class performance to secure his third career podium and the first podium for the Mercedes GP Petronas team. We are delighted to have achieved the first podium for the Silver Arrows here in Malaysia and to be able to share the rewards of our hard work with our title partner Petronas at their home Grand Prix. My compliments to Nico for an assured performance today and over the weekend. Michael was in a good position after the start and we were looking forward to having a good race on his side but unfortunately it wasn’t to be. The car lost a wheel nut which is a problem that we haven’t experienced before. The wheel nuts are double-checked on the grid so we will investigate and put in place the necessary solutions.”

Norbert Haug
“A great drive from Nico and our first podium after starting from the first row in our third race. The team had a first-class strategy and Nico did not put one foot wrong and secured this first and for us historic podium finish, at the home race of our title partner Petronas. Our gap to the two Red Bull-Renaults in front of Nico was still considerable and we all know there is more work to be done in order to catch up. However it looks like we are heading in the right direction and the point standings after three races dont look too bad. Sorry for Michael who had a great start and was positioned sixth when a wheel nut came loose which stopped his race. We will work hard and concentrated to make sure that our car will be fully reliable in the future and get quicker step by step. After Melbourne, Nico and the team performed again the quickest pit stop which is very rewarding for our guys and sometimes very important to get the right amount of World Championship points. Last but certainly not least congratulations to Sebastian Vettel and Red Bull Racing for their first and well deserved victory in 2010. Seb was the class of the field today.”

(YF1)