Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (My Sportsbook) - Jenson Button's perfect start to the 2009 Formula One season continued Sunday with the victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix, despite the race at Sepang Circuit stopped short of its scheduled 56 laps because of heavy rain.

Button, who also won last weekend's season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Brawn GP's F1 debut, overcame a poor start and then drove through torrential rain conditions before the race was red-flagged after 32 laps, as lightning struck around the circuit and visibility deteriorated.

"What a crazy race, it really was," Button said. "My start was pretty bad. I had a lot of oversteer in the car. I don't know if I got heat in the rear tires. I fell back to fourth, but got up to third, and eventually got back to the front, and I was pretty happy with that. Our pace was good, and then the rain started. Choosing the tires was very difficult."

Button started on the pole for the second straight week, but Nico Rosberg charged from fourth to take the lead as they headed into the first corner. Button dropped in the field.

Rosberg held a three-second advantage before he pitted for the first time on lap 14. Jarno Trulli captured the lead, but when Trulli came in for his stop three laps later, Button moved in front as rain drops began to fall on the 3.444-mile circuit.

Button made his stop for soft tires in 8.7 seconds on lap 19. His Brawn teammate, Rubens Barrichello, moved in front, but Button reclaimed the top spot when Barrichello pitted the following lap.

The skies opened up on lap 21, with everyone heading for the pits again to take on wet tires. Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton slipped off the track, but the two quickly got back on pace.

As some parts of the track remained dry, the field once again hit pit road for intermediate tires on lap 29 .

Button was one of the last drivers to pit for new tires, as Timo Glock moved into the lead on lap 30.

On the following lap, Button caught Glock and passed him for the lead as Glock was maneuvering onto pit lane to take on wet tires with the rain intensifying.

Just after Giancarlo Fisichella spun in the gravel and Sebastian Vettel came to a stop on the track, the safety car was deployed for poor weather conditions on lap 31.

Button led behind the safety car for one lap before the red flag was displayed, suspending the event.

"We went with the full wet tire, and it just destroyed itself," Button said. "I saw Timo flying up behind us on the intermediate tire, so we put (the intermediate) on, but then I saw his tires were bald. I got one lap in, on the intermediate with a reasonable pace, I was able to come in and get the wet tire on. A very interesting race, but I still haven't seen a checkered flag without the safety car out front."

Stewards contemplated the possibility of resuming the race when the weather improved somewhat, but as darkness approached, a restart was ruled out.

BMW Sauber's Nick Heidfeld finished second, and Glock from Toyota was third.

"I think it was a very difficult race obviously in these conditions," Heidfeld said. "We took the right tire choice, but not the perfect tire choice. I went straight to full wets. My rear tires were destroyed completely. They were a slick basically. When it started to rain, I just tried to stay on the circuit."

Trulli, also from Toyota, and Barrichello rounded out the top five.

Red Bull's Mark Webber finished sixth, and defending F1 world champion Hamilton was seventh.

Hamilton was disqualified from last weekend's Australian GP after stewards concluded Thursday that Hamilton and his McLaren team gave "misleading evidence" during a hearing held immediately after the race in Melbourne. He was also stripped of all his points.

Rosberg from Williams-Toyota ended up finishing eighth, while Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Torro Rosso's Sebastien Bourdais were ninth and 10th, respectively.

Half points were awarded since 75 percent of the race was not completed. A total of 42 laps had to be run to ensure the full points.

It's the first time since the 2003 Brazilian Grand Prix that a race has been shortened due to weather and the first in half the distribution of points since a heavy downpour cut short the 1991 Australian GP less than three- quarters of the way.

Heikki Kovalainen spun off into the gravel on the opening lap to become the first driver to retire. Kovalainen has yet to complete a full lap this season. Last week, the McLaren driver damaged his front suspension beyond repair during a first-lap crash. He finished 20th for the second straight week.

BMW Sauber's Robert Kubica became the second driver out of the event early when suffered a mechanical meltdown with flames coming out of his exhaust when he reached pit lane. Kubica ended up with a 19th-place finish.

In preparation for the inclement weather, Kimi Raikkonen gambled by putting full wet tires on his Ferrari, but the rain did not come soon enough as Raikkonen fell back in the field. While the race was suspended, Raikkonen's team moved his car from the grid into the garage as the Finn called it a day just before the event was called. The Finn settled for a 14th-place finish.