Martin Brundle column

Did we get our money's worth out of the Malaysian Grand Prix? Well, it was short - but fascinating all the same.

The safety car period closely followed by the red flag which suspended the race caused enormous confusion. Drivers were walking around after the race still apparently unsure where they finished.
There were effectively two simultaneous - and contradicting - situations as the cars sat on the grid in the pouring rain after the red flag.
Firstly, officials needed to sort out the grid order should the race have been restarted. That would have been based on where the cars were as they splashed round to the start-line.
Establishing exactly where everybody was as the red flag dropped is a complex issue, and created the confusion and delay.
The second scenario was what order the cars would finish in if the race was declared over - which is what eventually happened.
In that case, the positions would be decided from the running order at the end of the last complete lap - which was two laps earlier on lap 31.
In theory, the race could have run beyond the specific two-hour time limit.
That is because clause 41 of the sporting regulations (which declares that the timing system does not stop when the Grand Prix is suspended) is supplemented by clause 5, which states that any suspended time is added on to the two-hour limit.
In Malaysia on Sunday, though, because the race started at 5pm, nightfall would have intervened first.
Ten more laps - either behind the safety car or racing - would have cleared the magic 75% race distance required for full points.
As it is, half points were handed out. And Nick Heidfeld and Timo Glock, in second and third places, were informed on which step to stand on the podium literally as they walked out.
But while the end of the race was mired in confusion, there was still plenty to glean from the stormy showdown in Sepang.
Jenson Button can take even more satisfaction from his win there than from his victory in the opening Australian Grand Prix.
There was no luck involved at all; it was simply another great drive from Button.
He had a poor start from pole but kept his head in difficult conditions and numerous pit stops.
This win wasn't the slam-dunk that it was in Melbourne. There, it was Brawn GP's race to lose, but the competition was much closer in Sepang.
Button got it spot on by making the most of his fast early pace before the heavens opened.
At the end of the first dry stint, when Jarno Trulli and Nico Rosberg dived into the pits, he punched in two very quick flying laps, and his in-lap was a cracker too.
Button rejoined comfortably in the lead, helped by the fact that Rosberg's in- and out-laps were less impressive.
Tyre gambles and strategies were the story of the day.
The teams were understandably confused because they could see the heavy rain on the radar but it was later arriving than their systems predicted.
And when the rain did finally arrive, it was initially light.
The sky was black as black could be, lightning bolts were hitting the grandstands, and for a split second the electricity went down - but bizarrely it still wasn't raining that hard.
Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen had gambled on full wet tyres on a bone-dry track. They were destroyed in no time at all and he would later retire at the red flag with an apparent car problem.