Formula One: Malaysian Grand Prix to resume

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The Malaysian Grand Prix will resume at 5:15 pm (0915 GMT) on Sunday after it was temporarily suspended due to heavy rain, officials said.

McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, who started from pole position, was leading from team-mate Jenson Button when the safety car was brought out before officials halted the race shortly afterwards.

The delay recalls Button's win of 2009 -- the year he won the championship -- when tropical downpours forced the Malaysian Grand Prix to be abandoned.

After days of mostly dry weather, black clouds rolled over Sepang and the rain fell, right on clue, as the Malaysian anthem was played.

At the start Hamilton, who was passed by Button from pole position in Australia last week, survived a furious challenge from his team-mate and he emerged from the first corner with his lead intact.

But as the cars kicked up plumes of spray, it was only a matter of time before they started spinning and the first casualty was wet-weather maestro Michael Schumacher, who dropped down the field.

The rain immediately turned torrential and Ferrari's Felipe Massa was the first in for wet-weather tyres, followed immediately by the other drivers in a chaotic few minutes in the pit lane.

Lotus's young Frenchman Romain Grosjean span into the gravel and out of the race, Mercedes' Nico Rosberg went off-course and Button radioed that the last sector was 'like a lake' before the safety car came out on lap seven.

The racers will re-start under the safety car and all must have wet-weather tyres fitted, they said. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton is in first position followed by his team-mate Jenson Button, with Sauber's Sergio Perez third.