Malaysian Grand Prix 2013: Race

Once again, another fairly early start to the day for the Malaysian Grand Prix. The race begins at 8am. Currently, Sky F1 are showing replays of people making their way to the grid – the track is half dry and half wet, however the wet part appears so wet that the intermediates can’t cope well. This could lead to a very interesting and mixed up race. My intention is to update this every 5 laps or so, like last week, with the main events from the race.

There is one change to the grid I published yesterday as Kimi Raikkonen, who won last week from 7th on the grid, has been given a three-place grid penalty for impeding Nico Rosberg in qualifying. He had again qualified seventh but will now start 10th after the stewards decided that he blocked Rosberg’s Mercedes at Turn 14.

Tyres have been the main talking point in the lead up to this race, and will most likely become the focus again as the number of changes teams may have to make if the weather remains unsettled.

With four minutes to go, the safety car rumbles away from the grid. this means that a normal start should be happening.

The formation lap begins and there is a large amount of spray on the circuit in the first couple of corners and around the back of the circuit. The slick tyres should be used fairly quickly as the 22 cars will clear a racing line in a short time.

Lap 1: Alonso touches the back of Vettel’s Red Bull. Visible sparks are coming from his front wing as it drags on the ground. Mark Webber moves into third, but is attacking Alonso’s damaged car. Alonso didn’t go into the pits and under braking for the first corner of the second lap his wing explodes in a shower of debris. He can’t control the car and ends up in the gravel. Ferrari should have brought him in to fit a new wing.

Lap 3: Sebastian Vettel leadsby 3.3 seconds from Mark Webber, Lewis Hamilton, Jenson Button and Nico Rosberg after a dramatic first couple of laps.

Lap 5: Felipe Massa is down in 6th from 2nd, There has been a lot of to-ing and fro-ing all over the field as drivers tip toe around the wetter parts of the circuit. Vettel is told on the radio that the cross over point to dry tyres is approaching. Rosberg (4th) is clear of Button (5th) with Massa in 6th. Hulkenberg passes Perez’ McLaren to go 7th.

Lap 7: Drivers begin coming in for dry tyres. Vettel and Massa begin that process – rare for leaders to be taking that risk as they normally let lower placed drivers take the plunge first. It’s always best to be on the right tyre and one lap too early may cost them dearly if the wetter parts of the track aren’t ready.

Laps 7 to 10: Hamilton tries to pit in the McLaren area – they waved him through to get to his Mercedes team. A small incident as a Caterham and a Toro Rosso collide – the Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne shouldn’t have been let out until the Caterham of Charles Pic had arrived. Lots of movement up and down the field still. Vergne and Pic have rejoined at the back of the field. Vettel is running behind Webber who leads.

Laps 11 to 15: As the field settles down a bit, Hulkenberg is harrying Button for 5th, Paul di Resta passes team mate Adrian Sutil for 14th, Grosjean overtakes Perez for 8th  and Vettel is slightly slower than Webber as Hamilton catches the pair of them. Perez is under attack here from Raikkonen too but he hasn’t got ahead yet. Rosberg in 4th keeps setting fastest laps. Yellow flags are waved for Pastor Maldonado who has lost half of his front wing following a trip across the gravel at turn 11. He gets a new front wing put on in the pits and continues in 21st place. Webber continues to lead.

Laps 16 to 20: No more rain is expected at the moment. Webber sets a new fastest lap as the track continues to dry. There are a few scraps for places down the field, but strategy could swing this race to any one of four or five drivers at the moment. 8 seconds covers the top 4. Raikkonen has now passed Perez on the main straight (lap 16) to take 9th and continues to push the fastest lap time down. Webber pits from the lead and rejoins in 5th. He spent 12 laps on the hard tyre.

Laps 21 to 25: Many pit stops happening, including another nightmare one for Force India – their previous one had a sticking wheel nut too. Di Resta is sat for a long time and is now last. Most drivers now seem to be moving on to the medium tyre. Vettel pits and returns to the track behind Webber who leads again. Hamilton remains in 3rd, Rosberg is 4th, Perez is 5th, Button 6th, Sutil 7th, Massa 8th, Grosjean 9th and Hulkenberg is 10th. The Force India car of di Resta is retired – he lost two minutes with his problem and was last.

Laps 26 to 30: Vettel is very close to Webber. Vettel’s hard tyres are working well. Hamilton is also catching them leading to a close battle at the front – he has DRS available to him once he is one second behind Vettel. Webber edges away slightly. Sutil is brought in to retire in the same manner as di Resta. Raikkonen is seen bouncing over the kerbs. Hamilton still has DRS available to him.

Laps 31 to 35: Hamilton pits, which may allow him to pass Vettel but it may also mean he needs an extra stop to get to the end. Webber pits as a reaction to Hamilton’s stop. Webber comes back out in 3rd with Hamilton behind. Vettel leads at the moment but pits at the end of lap 32. He comes out in 4th behind Hamilton and ahead of Rosberg. Hamilton’s quick couple of laps made that move. Button currently leads the race having not pitted for a third time yet. Webber passes Button for the lead on lap 35. Button pits at the end of lap 35. He fails to rejoin the track however after grinding to a halt half way down the pit lane. It appears that he stopped as the right front tyre wasn’t attached properly.

Laps 36 to 40: 20 laps to go, plenty has happened and lots of scope for more to go on. The top four (Webber, Hamilton, Vettel and Rosberg) all need another pit stop. The picture becomes muddier further down the field. Button rejoined in 14th in the end. Vettel overtakes Hamilton into turn 1 of lap 39 using DRS. Hamilton is told he will be pitting on lap 42.

Laps 41 to 45: Raikkonen has been fighting Hulkenberg for a good while now but finally manages to pass for 8th place at turn 2. No dramas for Hamilton’s pit. This time an early stop may punish him at the end of the race as his tyres will be older than those around him. Vettel and Rosberg both stop a lap after Hamilton. Top 4 are now Webber, Vettel, Hamilton and Rosberg although Webber still needs to stop. Not much has been seen on TV of the lower placed drivers. Can’t recall seeing Bottas, Gutierrez or Bianchi at all among others. Webber’s pit stop goes well and he just holds off Vettel for the lead – wheel to wheel action for 4 corners. That could have ended badly had they clashed. Button, in 14th, sets the fastest lap of the race – he needs to make up 20 seconds to get into the points though. Rosberg briefly passes Hamilton, but Lewis regains the place.

Laps 46 to 50: The two Red Bulls continue their scrap. Vettel and Webber trading places, racing side by side during lap 46. Vettel takes the lead but almost come to blows.  Behind the two Red Bulls and two Mercedes’, Massa is 5th, Grosjean 6th and Perez 7th. Raikkonen continues in 8th, Hulkenberg 9th and Gutierrez holding 10th position. Maldonado retires from the race, pulling off to the side of the rack. Massa pits and rejoins in 8th. 11.8 seconds now cover the top 4. Raikkonen and Massa both pass Perez to put him down to 8th. Massa then passes Raikkonen further around the lap his new tyres clearly working well although I doubt that he will make up the gap to Grosjean in 5th who is 10 seconds further down the road.

Laps 51 to 55: That 10 second gap is now 7.941s between Massa and Grosjean. I may have spoken too soon! Massa sets a fastest lap as the gap is reduced to under 5 seconds now. Massa has managed to catch and overtake Grosjean to take 5th. Ricciardo retires in the pits as does Button who was in 12th and making decent progress. 17 runners remain now. Perez makes a last minute stop for tyres with 2 laps left – he had dropped down to 9th.

Final lap: Mercedes keep sending message to both cars about saving fuel. Rosberg has been wondering why he isn’t allowed to pass Hamilton for a while – Ross Brawn has tried to make it clear that Hamilton is managing his fuel and so needs to go slow. Sebastian Vettel wins the Malaysian Grand Prix, his 27th victory, from Webber and Hamilton. Rosberg is frustrated in fourth feeling he was quicker than his team mate. Massa takes fifth, Grosjean comes home in sixth with Raikkonen in seventh. Eighth goes to Hulkenberg, Perez in ninth sets the fastest lap with Jean-Eric Vergne completing the points in tenth.

Result:

1. Sebastian Vettel, Red Bull-Renault, 1h38:56.681
2. Mark Webber, Red Bull-Renault, + 4.298s
3. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, + 12.181s
4. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, + 12.640s
5. Felipe Massa, Ferrari, + 25.648s
6. Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Renault, + 35.564s
7. Kimi Raikkonen, Lotus-Renault, + 48.479s
8. Nico Hulkenberg, Sauber-Ferrari, + 53.044s
9. Sergio Perez, McLaren-Mercedes, + 1m12.357s
10. Jean-Eric Vergne, Toro Rosso-Ferrari, + 1m27.124s
11. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Renault, + 1m28.610s
12. Esteban Gutierrez, Sauber-Ferrari, + 1 lap
13. Jules Bianchi, Marussia-Cosworth, + 1 lap
14. Charles Pic, Caterham-Renault, + 1 lap
15. Giedo van der Garde, Caterham-Renault, + 1 lap
16. Max Chilton, Marussia-Cosworth, + 2 laps
17. Jenson Button, McLaren-Mercedes, +3 laps
18. Daniel Ricciardo, Toro Rosso-Ferrari, +5 laps

Fastest Lap: Sergio Perez, 1m39.199

Not classified:

• Pastor Malonado, Williams-Renault, 45 laps
• Adrian Sutil, Force India-Mercedes, 27 laps
• Paul di Resta, Force India-Mercedes, 22 laps
• Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, 1 lap