Malaysian GP 2014

MARCH 30, 2014

Race Notes - Hamilton wins Malaysian GP as Mercedes dominates

Lewis Hamilton, Malaysian GP 2014
© The Cahier Archive

Lewis Hamilton won the Malaysian Grand Prix today from pole position, while his Mercedes GP team mate Nico Rosberg finished in second place, 17.3 seconds behind. World Champion Sebastian Vettel finished in third place, 24.534 seconds behind the winner.

It is Mercedes‘‚   first one-two finish as a team since the 1955 Italian GP, where Juan-Manuel Fangio beat his team mate Piero Taruffi.

It is Lewis Hamilton‘‚  s 23 career win, and his second victory since joining Mercedes last season.

Fernando Alonso (35.992s) in the Ferrari finished in fourth place, followed by Nico Hulkenberg (47.199s) in the Force India-Mercedes was fifth, Jenson Button (1m23.691s) in the McLaren-Mercedes was sixth, Felipe Massa (1m25.076s) in the Williams-Mercedes was seventh, his team mate Valtteri Bottas (1m25.537s) was eighth, Kevin Magnussen (1 lap) in the second McLaren was ninth and Daniil Kvyat (1 lap) in the Toro Rosso-Renault finished in the final points paying position in tenth.

Before the race, Hamilton sits on pole-position in his Mercedes GP, with Sebastian Vettel alongside in his Red Bull-Renault. Nico Rosberg and Fernando Alonso are on the second row, with Danial Ricciardo and Kimi Raikkonen on the third row.

With the qualifying session taking place in the rain, the drivers are open to choose whichever tyre compound they want to choose, most choosing medium compound tyres.

As always in Malaysia there are threats of rain and thunderstorms throughout the afternoon.

Valtteri Bottas drops three positions for impeding Ricciardo during qualifying to start 18th. Sergio Perez will start in the pits, suffering from technical problems.

As the cars get ready to start off the grid, all drivers opting to start on the softer medium compound tyres, except Perez starting from the pitlane.

Perez is out of his car, as it appears the team cannot fix the car for the start.

Hamilton leads the field back to the grid.

At the start Hamilton takes the lead, Vettel squeezes Rosberg, but Rosberg takes second followed by Vettel, Ricciardo, Alonso and Raikkonen. Rucciardo passes Vettel for third.

On lap 2 Hulkenberg battles Alonso, while Magnussen passes Raikkonen who slows with a punctured rear tyre, after Magnussen touches his tyre with his front wing.

Bianchi pits with a puncture. Vergne and Raikkonen pit as well, Vergne switching to hard tyres.

On lap 3 Bottas is up to tenth place, after starting in 18th. Button passes his team mate for seventh place.

On lap 4 Vettel passes his team mate Ricciardo into the first corner to take third place behind the two Mercedes. Massa and Magnussen battle back and forth for eighth place.

On lap 5 Kvyat passes Gutierrez for 11th place. Hamilton sets fast lap at 1m47.428s.

On lap 7 Bianchi is given a 5 second stop and go penalty for causing a collision at the start. Maldonado is told by the Renault team to pit the car and retire on the next lap. Hamilton sets another fast lap at 1m47.048s.

On lap 8 Maldonado pits and retires.

Williams tells Bottas to follow his team mate Massa through past Magnussen ahead - Bottas tells the team to tell Massa to up his pace.

On lap 10 Magnussen pits, and has a slow stop as the team replaces the front wing, and his rejoins in 17th.

Bianchi pits as well.

On lap 11 Magnussen is given a 5 second stop/go penalty for his incident with Raikkonen.

Hamilton holds a 6 second lead over his team mate Rosberg in second, and a further 4.6 seconds to Vettel in third place.

Kvyat, Gutierrez and Chilton all pit.

On lap 12 Alonso pits for more medium tyres and rejoins in 10th place behind Grosjean. Sutil pits as well. Alonso passes Grosjean for ninth.

On lap 13 Ricciardo, Massa, Grosjean all pit. Ricciardo battles with Alonso coming out of the pits. Ricciardo gets ahead.

On lap 14 Vettel and Button both pit. Vettel on fresh tyres gets ahead of Bottas. Ricciardo gets past Bottas as well.

On lap 15 Rosberg makes his first pitstop from second place for more medium tyres. Bottsd pits as well.

On lap 16 leader Hamilton pits for new medium tyres, and comes out still in the lead. Kobayashi pits as well. Vettel sets fast lap at 1m46.334s.

On lap 17 Hulkenberg finally makes his first pitstop. Hamilton on fresh tyres sets fast lap at 1m46.190s. Markus Ericsson, Raikkonen and Vergne battle over17th place.

Ricciardo is told to back off of Vettel, and he tells the team he would rather stay close in case something happens in front of him.

On lap 18 Vergne pits, while Raikkonen gets past Ericsson.

On lap 19 Raikkonen pits and switches to hard tyres. Vergne pits again and retires in the pits.

At lap 20 Hamilton leads Rosberg by 9.5 seconds, followed 2.5s further back by Vettel, Ricciardo, Alonso, Hulkenberg, Button, Massa, Kvyat and Bottas in tenth place.

On lap 21 Bottas uses DRS to get past Kvyat on the frn straight to take ninth.

On lap 22 Mercedes tells Hamilton to dial back the settings to look after his engine. Hamilton asks if there is anything else he can do to conserve his engine.

On lap 23 Kvyat pits from 10th place, taking on hard tyres. Gutierrez pits the next lap for hard tyres as well.

On lap 25 Magnussen and Sutil both pit. Button and Grosjean pit the next lap. Gutierrez passes Chilton for 15th place.

Red Bull report that Ricciardo‘‚  s fuel flow sensor has failed.

On lap 28 Ericsson and Alonso both pit. Kvyat passes Kobayashi for tenth place. Massa pits. Magnussen sets fast lap at 1m46.110s.

On lap 29 Ricciardo pits from fourth place, switching to hard compound tyres. Magnussen passes Kobayashi for 11th place.

There are reports of drops of rain in the general area.

At lap 30 Hamilton continues to lead his team mate Rosberg by 10.2 seconds, followed 3.9 seconds back by Vettel, Hulkenberg, Ricciardo, Alonso, Bottas, Button, Massa and Kvyat in tenth place.

Ricciardo sets fast lap at 1m45.831s.

On lap 30 Bottas pits and stays on medium tyres. Kobayashi and Grosjean battle over 12th place.

On lap 32 Vettel pits from third place taking medium tyres. Bottas sets fastest lap at 1m45.475s.

On lap 33 Kobayashi and Rosberg both pit. Rosberg takes on another set of medium tyres. Hamilton pits from the lead on the next lap, and takes another set of medium tyres as well. Vettel sets fast lap at 1m44.779s. Vettel chases after Rosberg, who comes out of the pits less than a second ahead of the World Champion.

On lap 34 Sutil stops off track just after the final corner, and yellow flags come out. DRS is disabled.

On lap 35 Hulkenberg pits and takes hard tyres. Raikkonen reports rain drops on the back straight.

On lap 36 Raikkonen pits. Gutierrez pits as well, but the car sits seemly unable to select a gear.

On lap 37 DRS is enabled again.

Reports of rain drops in turns 9 and 10. Alonso closes to under 1.5 seconds behind Ricciardo. Vettel thinks there is some fluid coming from Rosberg‘‚  s car.

On lap 40 Ericsson pits. Button and Magnussen pit as well.

At lap 40 Hamilton leads Rosberg by 11.0 seconds, followed 3.9 seconds further back by Vettel, Alonso, Ricciardo, Hulkenbergm Massa, Button, Bottas and Magnussen.

On lap 41 Ricciardo pits for medium tyres. As he exits down the pitlane his left-front tyre is not secure. The mechanics push Ricciardo all the way back to the Red Bull pit and reaffix the tyre. Ricciardo rejoins, but loses nearly a lap.

On lap 43 Alonso pits from fourth and switches back to medium tyres. Ricciardo reports he has a puncture and his front wing mount is falling off. Ricciardo pits again and the team changes tyres and replaces the front wing.

Hamilton sets fast lap at 1m44,329s on lap 44.

On lap 45 Bottas pits from sixth place.

On lap 46 Ricciardo is given a 10-second stop/go penalty for and unsafe release.

On lap 47 Button and Massa battle over sixth place, followed by a closing Bottas.

On lap 48 Alonso sets fast lap at 1m44.165s. The Ferrari is closing fast on Hulkenberg in fourth.

On lap 49 Vettel pits for hard compound tyres, rejoining just ahead of Hulkenberg.

On lap 51 Rosberg pits and rejoins still in second place. Hamilton pits the next lap and rejoins still in the lead. Ricciardo pits again, and retires.

Raikkonen closes on Grosjean to battle for 11th place.

On lap 52 Alonso with fresher tyres battles with Hulkenberg - finally taking fourth place from the German. Hamilton sets fastest lap at 1m43.066s.

On lap 53 Massa is told that Bottas behind him is faster and he should let his team mate past.

The two Williams battle over seventh place.

Hamilton comes across the line first followed by Rosberg and Vettel.