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
Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
30th March 2014, 15:39
Thanks for all the data!
@keithcollantine, could the fuel data be added in some way in the stats?
Or I missed it?
ginnerchris (@ginnerchris)
30th March 2014, 21:27
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.
Kodongo (@kodongo)
30th March 2014, 16:01
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.
ShoponF (@shoponf)
30th March 2014, 18:36
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.
Adam Hardwick (@fluxsource)
30th March 2014, 18:53
This happens from time to time with Alonso.
Baron (@baron)
1st April 2014, 12:12
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.
Laura
8th April 2014, 10:49
Ricciardo’s pit stop was an absolute joke – you have to feel for him. It’s enough to knock anyone’s game off.