2014 Malaysian GP tyre strategies and pit stops

2014 Malaysian Grand Prix

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After yesterday’s downpour there was no significant rainfall during today’s race. But the threat of rain did shape the outcome of the grand prix.

As the hard compound tyre was considerably slower than the medium teams postponed using it until their final, shortest stint. This also meant that if rain arrived during the race they might be able to avoid using it entirely.

However Fernando Alonso got his hard tyre stint out of the way early and was able to drive an attacking final stint. He could have reaped even greater dividends from this had a late-race Safety Car brought him within range of the cars ahead.

While most drivers elected for three-stop strategies in Malaysia, Nico Hulkenberg was an exception in the Force India. But that meant running a long final stint on the hard tyres.

It left him up to two seconds per lap slower than Alonso on track, and though he tried to resist the Ferrari in DRS-era Formula One it was always going to be unlikely that he could hold on to his track advantage.

It also helped Alonso’s cause that, as in Australia, Ferrari were the fastest team in the pits. But a disastrous 109-second pit stop was the beginning of Daniel Ricciardo’s downfall and he will continue to pay a price for it at the next round, where he has a ten-place grid penalty for being released unsafely from the pits.

Malaysian Grand Prix tyre strategies

The tyre strategies for each driver:

Stint 1 Stint 2 Stint 3 Stint 4 Stint 5 Stint 6
Lewis Hamilton Medium (15) Medium (18) Medium (18) Hard (5)
Nico Rosberg Medium (14) Medium (18) Medium (18) Hard (6)
Sebastian Vettel Medium (13) Medium (18) Medium (18) Hard (7)
Fernando Alonso Medium (11) Medium (16) Hard (15) Medium (14)
Nico Hulkenberg Medium (16) Medium (18) Hard (22)
Jenson Button Medium (13) Medium (12) Medium (14) Hard (17)
Felipe Massa Medium (12) Medium (15) Medium (15) Hard (14)
Valtteri Bottas Medium (14) Medium (15) Medium (15) Hard (12)
Kevin Magnussen Medium (9) Medium (15) Medium (15) Hard (16)
Daniil Kvyat Medium (10) Medium (12) Hard (12) Medium (21)
Romain Grosjean Medium (12) Medium (13) Medium (15) Hard (15)
Kimi Raikkonen Medium (2) Medium (16) Hard (16) Medium (21)
Kamui Kobayashi Medium (15) Medium (16) Hard (24)
Marcus Ericsson Medium (11) Medium (15) Medium (12) Hard (16)
Max Chilton Medium (10) Medium (17) Medium (14) Hard (13)
Daniel Ricciardo Medium (12) Medium (16) Hard (12) Medium (2) Hard (2) Hard (5)
Esteban Gutierrez Medium (10) Medium (13) Hard (12)
Adrian Sutil Medium (11) Hard (13) Hard (8)
Jean-Eric Vergne Medium (2) Hard (15) Medium (1)
Jules Bianchi Medium (1) Medium (7)
Pastor Maldonado Medium (7)
Sergio Perez Hard

Malaysian Grand Prix pit stop times

How long each driver’s pit stops took:

Driver Team Pit stop time Gap On lap
1 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 24.222 27
2 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 24.246 0.024 34
3 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 24.415 0.193 39
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 24.417 0.195 18
5 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 24.432 0.210 13
6 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 24.466 0.244 11
7 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 24.484 0.262 51
8 Valtteri Bottas Williams 24.498 0.276 44
9 Jenson Button McLaren 24.524 0.302 25
10 Felipe Massa Williams 24.526 0.304 42
11 Felipe Massa Williams 24.577 0.355 27
12 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 24.604 0.382 15
13 Felipe Massa Williams 24.637 0.415 12
14 Fernando Alonso Ferrari 24.641 0.419 42
15 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 24.654 0.432 50
16 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 24.709 0.487 12
17 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 24.723 0.501 14
18 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 24.728 0.506 31
19 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 24.775 0.553 28
20 Jenson Button McLaren 24.841 0.619 13
21 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 24.887 0.665 34
22 Valtteri Bottas Williams 24.964 0.742 29
23 Valtteri Bottas Williams 25.020 0.798 14
24 Jenson Button McLaren 25.028 0.806 39
25 Romain Grosjean Lotus 25.046 0.824 12
26 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 25.109 0.887 10
27 Sebastian Vettel Red Bull 25.186 0.964 49
28 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 25.287 1.065 32
29 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 25.289 1.067 34
30 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 25.296 1.074 33
31 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 25.336 1.114 16
32 Adrian Sutil Sauber 25.493 1.271 24
33 Romain Grosjean Lotus 25.596 1.374 25
34 Max Chilton Marussia 25.639 1.417 10
35 Romain Grosjean Lotus 25.735 1.513 40
36 Adrian Sutil Sauber 25.998 1.776 11
37 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 26.030 1.808 38
38 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 26.325 2.103 23
39 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 26.399 2.177 2
40 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 26.505 2.283 31
41 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 26.515 2.293 26
42 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 26.598 2.376 17
43 Kamui Kobayashi Caterham 27.124 2.902 15
44 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 27.473 3.251 22
45 Max Chilton Marussia 27.828 3.606 41
46 Max Chilton Marussia 29.210 4.988 27
47 Esteban Gutierrez Sauber 29.420 5.198 10
48 Marcus Ericsson Caterham 30.040 5.818 11
49 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 30.661 6.439 24
50 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 34.480 10.258 44
51 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 34.697 10.475 42
52 Kevin Magnussen McLaren 37.116 12.894 9
53 Jean-Eric Vergne Toro Rosso 45.629 21.407 2
54 Jules Bianchi Marussia 52.836 28.614 1
55 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 109.329 85.107 40

2014 Malaysian Grand Prix

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Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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7 comments on “2014 Malaysian GP tyre strategies and pit stops”

  1. Thanks for all the data!
    @keithcollantine, could the fuel data be added in some way in the stats?
    Or I missed it?

    1. Was just wondering the same thing. BBC article suggests Hamilton used the least of the top 10, but the Williams had loads left with 6 to go.

  2. If it’s possible, could you add the stationary time to the pit stop information. Otherwise, thank you for all the additional information and data.

  3. Would it be possible to show a chart/table giving data on which lap a driver has overtaken another driver? For example, today on lap 1 Rosberg overtook Vettel. Anyway, many thanks for all the stats/charts currently being provided by f1fanatic.

  4. He could have reaped even greater dividends from this had a late-race Safety Car brought him within range of the cars ahead.

    This happens from time to time with Alonso.

  5. Great stats Keith! From this it can clearly be seen that McLaren are not only not fast enough but they can’t make their tyres last as well. It looks as if pre-season testing flattered to deceive, and from this, the first ‘proper’ race, it would seem that thus far, the MP29 is no better than last year’s car. The Mercedes, Red Bull and even Ferrari appear to be in a different league.

  6. Ricciardo’s pit stop was an absolute joke – you have to feel for him. It’s enough to knock anyone’s game off.

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