Google+ Jack Leslie F1: 2014 Malaysian Grand Prix Weekend Report

28 March 2014

2014 Malaysian Grand Prix Weekend Report

The second round of Formula 1's new era took place at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia.
© Mercedes AMG Petronas
It was the 16th race to be held in the country, with the 3.44-mile track helping to paint a more realistic picture of the competitive order.

Following an exciting and intriguing start to the 2014 season in Australia, teams and drivers were hard at work preparing for the most challenging weekend of the year. High temperatures and humidity levels push both the cars and drivers to the limit, and the circuit features a tricky layout with a mix of high-speed bends, slow hairpins and long straights.

For a look at the goings-on from the track on Thursday, go here. Also be sure to take a look at my in-depth race preview, and take a look back at the 2001 Malaysian Grand Prix with my F1 Flashback - as well as re-capping on last year's controversial round with my One Year Rewind. Also, here is a piece for Car Throttle with 10 things you might not know about the race.

Here is my Malaysian Grand Prix weekend report, which will be updated updated after each session.

FP1
The opening practice session of the race weekend was a fascinating one, with Lewis Hamilton eventually topping the timesheets for Mercedes with a 1m40.691.

Conditions were hot, humid and dry, with Fernando Alonso and Marcus Ericsson being the first to take to the circuit to complete their installation laps. It took a little bit of time for the session to get going, but when it did, there was plenty of on-track action.
© Mercedes AMG Petronas

Jean-Eric Vergne, Kevin Magnussen and Kimi Raikkonen all traded fastest times before Hamilton moved to the front late in the 90 minute session. He completed 19 laps and finished just 0.152 seconds ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in second place. Nico Rosberg and the McLaren duo of Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen rounded out the top five.

It was a highly dramatic session with a number of spins and off-track excursions as drivers continued to get to grips with the new 2014 machines. Hamilton took to the gravel at turn 11 in the closing stages, with Alonso (who finished 11th fastest) suffering a spin at turn eight - as did Felipe Massa. 

Reliability problems remained with Magnussen grounding to a halt with 35 minutes remaining on the clock, although he did return to the track, and both Lotus drivers suffering issues. Kamui Kobayashi only managed five laps after the team was forced to change his car's energy store but, in contrast, his team-mate Marcus Ericsson completed the most laps of anyone: 24.

FP2
Rosberg set the pace in second practice for the 2014 Malaysian Grand Prix, with a best time of 1m39.909. 

It was a busy session with plenty of action, including off-track excursions for Max Chilton, Daniel Ricciardo and Sergio Perez (who took to the gravel at the pit entry). It was the standard schedule for the majority of the field, completing qualifying runs on the softer compound tyre before moving to race simulations.
© Red Bull/Getty Images

The fastest times were close, with Rosberg finishing just 0.035 seconds ahead of second-place man Raikkonen. Sebastian Vettel, Hamilton and Alonso completed the top five, with Massa in sixth. 

Ricciardo, Bottas and Button were next up, with Hulkenberg's best lap being good enough for 10th and just under eight tenths off Rosberg's benchmark. Teams found that tyre degradation was surprisingly high on Friday afternoon, with track temperatures rising to over 50 degrees. 

Lotus suffered a difficult session with Pastor Maldonado failing to complete a lap - like the Caterham of Kobayashi - and Romain Grosjean stopped out on the circuit with a gearbox issue with 18 minutes remaining.

FP3
Mercedes continued to dominate in third practice for the Malaysian Grand Prix, with Rosberg setting the pace once again. It was a busy 60 minute session, in more overcast and cooler conditions, as teams and drivers completed final preparations ahead of qualifying and the race. 
© McLaren Mercedes

Ericsson was the first driver out on track, followed by Vergne and Maldonado. Following the early installation laps, the majority of drivers focused on running the hard compound tyre before switching to the options for the final 20 minutes. 

Rosberg topped the timesheets with a fastest lap of 1m39.008, just two tenths ahead of his team-mate. Raikkonen, Vettel and Hulkenberg completed the top five. Ricciardo, Alonso and Massa were next up, with Bottas and Perez rounding out the top 10. Times were more spread out in comparison to second practice. 

Drivers continued to struggle with the 2014 cars, with plenty of off-track excursions and lock-ups. It was a more positive day for Lotus, despite Grosjean branding the car a "disaster", with Maldonado completing 20 laps. In contrast, Caterham's reliability problems continued and McLaren suffered a power-unit sensor problem, meaning Button and Magnussen managed just four and five laps respectively. 

Qualifying
Q1
Following the dry third practice, heavy rain arrived just prior to the start of the first qualifying session. It was delayed by 50 minutes but eventually got underway at 16:50 local time. The Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Rosberg were the first drivers to take to the track, on the intermediate tyre.
© Lotus F1 Team

A problem for Ericsson meant he was left stranded at the end of the pitlane. However, the CT05 was fired back up and he managed to return to the circuit. Conditions worsened throughout as the rain intensified once again, with plenty of sliding and off-track excursions.

Rosberg's early time of 1m57.183 could not be surpassed, but his team-mate came close and missed out on the top spot by just 0.019 seconds. The session was dramatically red flagged with less than a minute remaining after Ericsson crashed at turn four. 

This meant that it was impossible for anyone to reach the line and start a lap before the chequered flag. Vettel, Hulkenberg, Alonso and Ricciardo completed the top six but were some way off the pace of the two fastest cars.

Magnussen and Button originally started the session on the wet tyres but were soon instructed to pit for intermediates. Despite the rain making a return, they both managed to sneak through to Q2 in 12th and 13th. Maldonado, Sutil, Bianchi, Kobayashi, Chilton and Ericsson failed to do so and were eliminated from qualifying.

Q2
The rain continued to fall as the second session got underway, meaning the wet Pirelli tyre was the compound of choice for the majority of the drivers. Hamilton and Gutierrez were the first to emerge onto the circuit.
© Williams F1 Team

The qualifying disruption continued when the session was red flagged after just two minutes following a clash between Kvyat and Alonso at turn nine. The impact damaged the Ferrari driver's suspension but, incredibly, the Spaniard returned to the track after a speedy repair job. Q2 resumed with less than 13 minutes on the clock.

Gutierrez was the first driver to set a time but Hamilton and Rosberg soon displaced him. Bottas was the only driver to choose the intermediate tyres and his opening attempt was eight seconds off. The Finn later pitted for the full wets.

By the chequered flag, Hamilton had improved his fastest time to a 1m59.041. Vettel moved up to second on his final lap, with Rosberg dropping to third. Ricciardo, Hulkenberg and Alonso all made it through to Q3, as did Raikkonen, Button, Magnussen - who took a wild trip through the gravel at the final corner - and Vergne.

The Frenchman displaced his rookie team-mate, with Kvyat just missing out in 11th. Gutierrez, Massa, Perez, Bottas and Grosjean (who spun on his last lap) were also knocked out in the second session.

Q3
Tyre choices were split once again at the start of the 12-minute top 10 shoot-out. The majority of the drivers took to the track on the full wets, but Magnussen and Button were on the intermediates. 
© Mercedes AMG Petronas

The former felt it was the wrong choice and pitted to change tyres, but his team-mate disagreed and took to the pitlane for a fresh set of the green-banded Pirelli rubber. Raikkonen was the first to set a timed lap, a 2m01.218, but was swiftly displaced by Hamilton, Vettel, Alonso, Rosberg and Ricciardo.

One second separated the top five after the first runs. A number of drivers pitted with three minutes remaining for a new set of tyres and returned for a second attempt at securing pole position.

With conditions failing to improve in the closing stages, it was Hamilton who secured pole position - the 33rd of his career, matching Jim Clark's British record from Vettel (who failed to complete a final lap after he was the first to take the chequered flag) and Rosberg. Alonso out-qualified his team-mate in fourth, despite damage following his Q2 clash,  with Raikkonen finishing behind Ricciardo in sixth. 

Hulkenberg impressed once again with the seventh fastest time, just ahead of Magnussen and Vergne. Button stayed out on the intermediate tyres but the gamble didn't pay off. The Brit was 4.5 seconds down on the pace setter after a dramatic, delayed and very interesting qualifying session.

Results:
Pos      Driver                Team                  Time       Gap   
 1. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes              1m59.431s
 2. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m59.486s  +0.055s
 3. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              2m00.050s  +0.619s
 4. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               2m00.175s  +0.744s
 5. Daniel Ricciardo      Red Bull-Renault      2m00.541s  +1.110s
 6. Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari               2m01.218s  +1.787s
 7. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes  2m01.712s  +2.281s
 8. Kevin Magnussen       McLaren-Mercedes      2m02.213s  +2.782s
 9. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Renault    2m03.078s  +3.647s
10. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      2m04.053s  +4.622s
                            Q2 cut-off time: 1m36.811s                                   
11. Daniil Kvyat          Toro Rosso-Renault    2m02.351s  +3.310s
12. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari        2m02.369s  +3.328s
13. Felipe Massa          Williams-Mercedes     2m02.460s  +3.419s
14. Sergio Perez          Force India-Mercedes  2m02.511s  +3.470s
15. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Mercedes     2m02.756s  +3.715s*
16. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         2m02.885s  +3.844s
                              Q1 cut-off time: 2m01.689s                         
17. Pastor Maldonado      Lotus-Renault         2m02.074s  +4.891s
18. Adrian Sutil          Sauber-Ferrari        2m02.131s  +4.948s
19. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Ferrari      2m02.702s  +5.519s
20. Kamui Kobayashi       Caterham-Renault      2m03.595s  +6.412s
21. Max Chilton           Marussia-Ferrari      2m04.388s  +7.205s
22. Marcus Ericsson       Caterham-Renault      2m04.407s  +7.224s
*Bottas was given a three-place grid penalty for blocking Ricciardo and started in 18th.  
The Race 
Following the heavily delayed and dramatic qualifying session on Saturday, race day arrived for the second round of the 2014 season in Malaysia. 

Rain threatened but conditions remained dry throughout the race, which took place under blue skies and scorching sunshine at the Sepang International Circuit. Due to the wet qualifying session, all 21 cars who started the race had free choice of tyres (Perez failed to take to the grid).

There were still plenty of unknowns, with reliability continuing to be a concern, but the big question ahead of the race was whether anyone could catch and beat the Mercedes duo. Who went on to win? Read on to find out... 
© Ferrari

The revs rose, the lights went out and we were racing in Malaysia. Off the line Hamilton had a strong start and Rosberg moved ahead of Vettel into turn one. Ricciardo progressed up to fourth and then moved ahead of his team-mate at turn three. At the back, Bianchi and Maldonado made contact with both cars spinning.

Massa moved from 13th to 10th on the first lap and Hulkenberg displayed Alonso at the start of the second lap. The Ferrari driver's team-mate slowed after turn three with a right-rear puncture following contact with Magnussen and pitted for repairs. Hamilton had stretched out a commanding two second lead by the end of the lap two, extending his advantage to 3.2 seconds on the next tour.

In the midfield, Button moved ahead of his struggling team-mate as the Danish driver battled in the early stages with a broken front wing. Bottas had jumped into the top 10 by lap four after a strong start and the first DRS-assisted move came from Vettel after he passed his team-mate into turn one.

The first five second stop/go penalty of the season - a new regulation - was handed to Bianchi after stewards deemed that he was at fault for his lap one clash with Maldonado. He disagreed with the decision, saying contact with Vergne gave him a puncture. Three drivers had pitted for repairs by lap seven. On the same lap, Maldonado was told to return to the Lotus garage and retire the car due to a power-unit problem.

At the front of the field, Hamilton continued to increase his lead over Rosberg as the German struggled with higher than expected rear tyre degradation. Magnussen became the fourth car to pit for repairs at the end of lap nine and Alonso was the first front runner to complete a scheduled stop for a fresh rubber on lap 11.


© Sahara Force India F1 Team
He immediately started setting fastest sector times and this prompted Red Bull to react and pit Ricciardo. After a close battle with the Ferrari through the first two corners, he managed to maintain his position. Vettel and Button took to the pitlane on the next lap with the former emerging just ahead of his team-mate. 

Rosberg and Hamilton took to the pits on lap 14 and 15 respectively, with the latter emerging with a 10 second advantage after the first round of stops. Raikkonen pitted for the second time on lap 19 following his earlier puncture, while Vergne retired with a mechanical problem. Christian Horner confirmed to Sky Sports F1 that Ricciardo's fuel flow sensor had died and that the team was working with the FIA - unlike in Australia.

The scheduled second stops kicked off with Magnussen on lap 24, as drivers started to conserve the V6 Turbo power-units and save fuel for a late push. Alonso was the first driver in the top five to dive to pit for a fresh third set of tyres, with Ricciardo following him in on the next lap. At the back of the pack, Grosjean and Kobayashi had a good scrap over 13th place - the former still in the race despite the reliability woes earlier in the weekend at Lotus.

Vettel and Rosberg pitted on lap 31 and 32 respectively, with Mercedes fitting fresh rubber to Hamilton's car on the following tour. The yellow flags emerged at the end of lap 34 after Sutil parked his Sauber at the exit of the final corner. Raikkonen reported light rain at the back of the circuit shortly after but it failed to intensify.

Gutierrez became the fifth retirement from the race, meaning a double retirement for Sauber, due to a gearbox problem. There were a number of mid-race battles, but Hamilton was in a league of his own and increased his lead to 11 seconds. The third stops soon arrived with Button and Magnussen being the first to dive into the pitlane for a final time.


© Williams Martini Racing
Ricciardo was next up but the Aussie, who was running in fourth place at the time, was released with a loose front-right wheel. He went a lap down and later suffered a front wing failure. He eventually retired from the race after a disastrous day in Malaysia.

The lead drivers opted to stay out to see if the expected rain materialised but it didn't, with Vettel taking to his pit box on lap 49 to move on to the hard tyre. Rosberg pitted on the next lap, with Mercedes bringing in Hamilton not long after. On the circuit, Hulkenberg and Alonso battled for fourth place - the former completing a two-stop strategy. 

The pair ran side-by-side through the first two corners but it was the Ferrari driver who emerged ahead. At the front, Hamilton crossed the line and took the chequered flag to register his first race win in Malaysia by 15 seconds from his team-mate in a dominant Mercedes 1-2.

Lewis Hamilton wins the 2014 Malaysian Grand Prix

Hamilton scored the 23rd race victory of his career and his 100th points finish at the Sepang International Circuit after a controlled and faultless drive. He made up for the disappointment of Australia and won by 17 seconds from his team-mate Rosberg. 


© Mercedes AMG Petronas
The German performed well throughout the race but struggled in the early stages with higher tyre degradation. Nevertheless, it was a strong drive as he extended his lead in the drivers' standings. Vettel rounded out the podium finishers after an encouraging race for Red Bull Racing.

Alonso moved up to fourth late in the race, with Hulkenberg completing the top five after an impressive drive for Force India. Button scored more useful points in sixth, but he finished some 80 seconds down on the leader. He finished just ahead of the battling Massa and Bottas. 

Magnussen recovered well after his early pit stop and penalty to score his second consecutive points finish. Kvyat was the second rookie in the top 10 after a quiet race in the Toro Rosso STR9. Lotus managed to secure a race finish with the E22 after Grosjean finished in 11th, just ahead of Raikkonen's Ferrari after the Finn's puncture on lap two. Kobayashi finished in 13th, with his team-mate Ericsson and the Marussia of Chilton finishing in close formation.

There were six retirements and one non-starter during the 56-lap race. Ricciardo had a terrible day with a pit stop problem, a penalty and a front wing failure. Gutierrez and Sutil suffered mechanical problems, as did Vergne, with Bianchi and Maldonado stopping early in the race.

There will be very little time to celebrate and reflect on the race for Mercedes, however, with the third round of the year in Bahrain just one week away.
Result - 56 laps:

Pos       Driver                Team                    Time/Gap
 1. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes                1m40m25.974s
 2. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes                +17.313s
 3. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull Racing        +24.534s
 4. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                 +35.992s
 5. Nico Hulkenberg       Force India         +47.199s
 6. Jenson Button         McLaren             +1m23.691s
 7. Felipe Massa          Williams             +1m25.076s
 8. Valtteri Bottas       Williams             +1m25.537s
 9. Kevin Magnussen       McLaren              +1 lap
10. Daniil Kvyat          Toro Rosso            +1 lap
11. Romain Grosjean       Lotus                +1 lap
12. Kimi Raikkonen        Ferrari                 +1 lap
13. Kamui Kobayashi       Caterham             +1 lap
14. Marcus Ericsson       Caterham          +2 laps
15. Max Chilton           Marussia         +2 laps

Retirements: 
Daniel Ricciardo      Red Bull Racing        49 laps
Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber              35 laps
Adrian Sutil          Sauber              32 laps
Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso           18 laps
Jules Bianchi         Marussia             8 laps
Pastor Maldonado      Lotus                  7 laps
Sergio Perez          Force India          0 laps

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