2014 Malaysian Grand Prix, Qualifying Report.


After the intrigue of Malaysia it was going to be interesting to see how much had changed since the first race in Australia. However this was also a rain affected qualifying session with Q1 initially delayed for 50 mins due to a heavy storm and standing water. In the end however it was Lewis Hamilton who won the fight for pole position, his 33rd equalling that of the great Jim Clark.

Full results:

PosNoDriverTeamQ1Q2Q3
144Lewis HamiltonMercedes1:57.2021:59.0411:59.431
21Sebastian VettelRed Bull Racing-Renault1:57.6541:59.3991:59.486
36Nico RosbergMercedes1:57.1831:59.4452:00.050
414Fernando AlonsoFerrari1:58.8892:01.3562:00.175
53Daniel RicciardoRed Bull Racing-Renault1:58.9132:00.1472:00.541
67Kimi RäikkönenFerrari1:59.2572:01.5322:01.218
727Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1:58.8832:00.8392:01.712
820Kevin MagnussenMcLaren-Mercedes2:00.3582:02.0942:02.213
925Jean-Eric VergneSTR-Renault2:01.6892:02.0962:03.078
1022Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes2:00.8892:01.8102:04.053
1126Daniil KvyatSTR-Renault2:01.1752:02.351
1221Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari2:01.1342:02.369
1319Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes2:00.0472:02.460
1411Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes2:00.0762:02.511
1577Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1:59.7092:02.756
168Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault2:00.2022:02.885
1713Pastor MaldonadoLotus-Renault2:02.074
1899Adrian SutilSauber-Ferrari2:02.131
1917Jules BianchiMarussia-Ferrari2:02.702
2010Kamui KobayashiCaterham-Renault2:03.595
214Max ChiltonMarussia-Ferrari2:04.388
229Marcus EricssonCaterham-Renault2:04.407 

As you can see Hamilton finished 0.055 seconds ahead of Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel, Nico Rosberg lines up third with Alonso an incredible 4th. Ricciardo and Raikkonen were 5th and 6th respectively.

Hamilton said "Today was incredible, How heavy was the rain? It was tricky out there for everyone because at the end it was almost impossible to see. I couldn't see where the track went, where the corners were, where to brake. I had to bail out of my final fast lap, so it was very close."

Wet weather specialist Nico Hulkenberg was 7th and Kevin Magnussen (or K-Mag as everyone is now calling him) taking 8th beating his team-mate Jenson Button who lines up 10th. Jenson gambled on intermediate tyres for Q3 which meant he ended up 1.8secs slower than his team-mate. Jean-Eric Vergne split the Mclaren's in 9th.

However it was vergne's team mate who caused a red flag in Q2 after a coming together with Alonso which damaged the Spaniard's left front suspension. Ferrari performed a miracle to get his car fixed and get him back out to set a time but the duo were subject to a stewards investigation which later was deemed to need no further action. The incident was caused when Alonso went wide into turn 9 & Kvyat went for the inside thinking there would alonso had left the door open, They then collided when they reached the apex. Kvyat finished 11th.

Alonso said "I don't blame him . I think it was 50:50 probably, because I didn't see him. I was lucky to run again. I think he ran again also, so that was the best news."

Williams had a poor qualifying as both drivers struggled in the wet conditions, Massa 13th behind Sauber's Gutierrez, and team-mate Bottas 15th behind Perez. (however he received a 3 place grid penalty for impeding Ricciardo)