Lewis Hamilton put his Australia engine woes behind him with a pole to flag victory leading team mate Nico Rosberg home by 17 seconds to record the first Mercedes 1-2 since 1955. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel also put Australia behind him to record his first podium of the season.
Daniel Ricciardo who had his Melbourne second place taken away from him several hours after the race, was once again screwed by his Red Bull team. The Australian was told to stop after his final pit stop while running in fourth after it was realised that the left front wheel was not secured. After being wheeled back and the wheel secured; Ricciardo fell from fourth to 14th. Then suffered a broken wing on his out lap forcing another pit stop, then to add insult to injury was handed a 10 second stop/go penalty for an unsafe release, Red Bull finally electing to retire the car on lap 52.
Vettel never really had a chance of winning the race after dropping back behind Rosberg off the line into turn 1; third was a best the German could expect; Mercedes were the class of the field. The way it’s shaping up, we could see single team dominance in 2014, which doesn’t bode well; although I suspect that many will find it easier to swallow seeing Lewis Hamilton winning race after race!
Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso finished the race one place higher than where he started; which was mainly thanks to Red Bull’s implosion which cost Ricciardo dear. Team mate Kimi Raikkonen eventually finished in 12th place thanks to seven retirements after McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen sliced through his right rear tyre on lap 2. Magnussen suffered from a damaged front wing which slowed him down significantly allowing team mate Button to move ahead while a queue quickly formed behind the Dane before pitting for tyres and a nose cone on lap 10 while picking up a 5 second stop/go penalty.
Kevin Magnussen finished the race in ninth place while McLaren team mate Jenson Button finished in sixth place ahead of the squabbling Williams drivers. A call came over the radio to Massa “Valteri is faster than you, do not hold him up”; the Brazilian elected not to let his mate mate, Valteri Bottas pass which allowed Button to put some distance between himself and the pair of Williams.
The Williams pair finished the race in seventh and eighth places with the Brazilian leading the pair despite the team order; and to be honest I don’t blame him. The stealth-like Force India driver, Nico Hulkenberg secured fifth spot with yet another quiet unassuming drive although there were some notable but short lived battles as the German fell back from leading the race due to not having stopped for tyres at that point. Respect to Hulkenberg for bringing home another solid result.
The final points paying position went to Daniil Kyvat; who drove solidly throughout the race weekend to pick up of the spoils from the parent team and their failure to secure Ricciardo’s wheel. It really does make you wonder if Mark Webber left his bad luck in F1 for fellow Aussie, Ricciardo?
2014 Malaysian Grand Prix Results
|
1. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 1:40:25.974 2. Nico Rosberg (Mercedes) +17.300 3. Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) +24.500 4. Fernando Alonso (Ferrari) +35.900 5. Nico Hulkenberg (Force India) +47.000 |
6. Jenson Button (McLaren) +83.400 7. Felipe Massa (Williams) +84.700 8. Valteri Bottas (Williams) +85.100 9. Kevin Magnussen (McLaren) +1 lap 10. Daniil Kyvat (Toro Rosso) +1 lap |
