2013 Malaysian Grand Prix

The 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix (formally known as the 2013 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix) was the second race of the 2013 Formula One season. It was scheduled to be held over the weekend of March 22–24 2013 at the Sepang International Circuit near Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. It was the 15th running of the Malaysian Grand Prix at this circuit.
Sebastian Vettel took his second pole of the year, with a time nearly one second quicker than second-fastest Felipe Massa. Championship leader Kimi Räikkönen qualified seventh, but was given a three-place penalty for blocking Nico Rosberg, and started tenth.
Vettel went on to win the race ahead of teammate Mark Webber. Vettel led at the start, defending a strong start from Fernando Alonso, who hit the back of the German at the end of Turn 2. The driver's front wing was damaged, but he did not pit, and crashed out after it fell off. Webber lead the middle of the race, but was overtaken by Vettel in the final stint despite team orders to keep his position. Lewis Hamilton secured the final podium position, after Rosberg was told strongly to not overtake his teammate.
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==Background==
Following from Australia, Kimi Räikkönen took the lead in the championship after winning in Australia, Fernando Alonso was 7 points behind while Sebastian Vettel was a further 3 points.
Like the 2012 Malaysian Grand Prix, tyre supplier Pirelli brought its hardest two compounds, with the orange-banded hard compound tyre being the harder "prime" tyre, and the white-banded medium compound tyre being the softer "option" tyre. For the first time during the 2013 season, the hard tyre was used.
==Entry list==
The full entry list for the is shown below:
No.	Driver 	Entrant 	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model 	Tyre
1 	Sebastian Vettel 	Infiniti Red Bull Racing 	 	RB9 	 	RS27-2013	
2 	Mark Webber 	Infiniti Red Bull Racing 	 	RB9 	 	RS27-2013	
3 	Fernando Alonso 	Scuderia Ferrari 	 	F138 	 	056 	
4 	Felipe Massa 	Scuderia Ferrari 	 	F138 	 	056 	
5 	Jenson Button 	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 	 	MP4-28 	 	FO 108Z 	
6 	Sergio Pérez 	Vodafone McLaren Mercedes 	 	MP4-28 	 	FO 108Z 	
7 	Kimi Räikkönen 	Lotus F1 Team 	 	E21 	 	RS27-2013	
8 	Romain Grosjean 	Lotus F1 Team 	 	E21 	 	RS27-2013	
9 	Nico Rosberg 	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	 	W04 	 	FO 108Z 	
10 	Lewis Hamilton 	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	 	W04 	 	FO 108Z 	
11 	Nico Hülkenberg 	Sauber F1 Team 	 	C32 	 	056 	
12 	Esteban Gutiérrez 	Sauber F1 Team 	 	C32 	 	056 	
14 	Paul di Resta 	Sahara Force India F1 Team 	 	VJM06 	 	FO 108Z 	
15 	Adrian Sutil 	Sahara Force India F1 Team 	 	VJM06 	 	FO 108Z 	
16 	Pastor Maldonado 	Williams F1 Team 	 	FW35 	 	RS27-2013	
17 	Valtteri Bottas 	Williams F1 Team 	 	FW35 	 	RS27-2013	
18 	Jean-Éric Vergne 	Scuderia Toro Rosso 	 	STR8 	 	056 	
19 	Daniel Ricciardo 	Scuderia Toro Rosso 	 	STR8 	 	056 	
20 	Charles Pic 	Caterham F1 Team 	 	CT03 	 	RS27-2013	
21 	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham F1 Team 	 	CT03 	 	RS27-2013	
22 	Jules Bianchi 	Marussia F1 Team 	 	MR02 	 	CA2013 	
23 	Max Chilton 	Marussia F1 Team 	 	MR02 	 	CA2013 	
==Practice Overview==
===FP1===
===FP2===
===FP3===
===Practice Results===
No.	Driver 	Constructor	FP1 	 	FP2 	 	FP3 	
No.	Driver 	Constructor	Time 	Pos	Time 	Pos	Time 	Pos
1 	Sebastian Vettel 	 	1:37.104	3 	1:36.588	2 	1:36.435	1
2 	Mark Webber 	 	1:36.935	1 	1:37.026	5 	1:36.613	4
3 	Fernando Alonso 	 	1:39.319	4 	1:36.985	4 	1:37.302	10
4 	Felipe Massa 	 	1:37.771	7 	1:36.661	3 	1:36.946	8
5 	Jenson Button 	 	1:38.173	11 	1:37.865	12 	1:36.822	7
6 	Sergio Pérez 	 	1:38.830	13 	1:37.838	11 	1:37.538	12
7 	Kimi Räikkönen 	 	1:37.003	2 	1:36.569	1 	1:36.806	5
8 	Romain Grosjean 	 	1:37.915	10 	1:37.206	6 	1:37.560	14
9 	Nico Rosberg 	 	1:37.588	5 	1:37.448	7 	1:36.949	9
10 	Lewis Hamilton 	 	1:37.840	9 	1:37.574	9 	1:36.568	2
11 	Nico Hülkenberg 	 	1:39.054	14 	1:38.068	13 	1:37.685	13
12 	Esteban Gutiérrez 	 	1:39.204	15 	1:38.645	14 	1:38.294	16
14 	Paul di Resta 	 	1:37.773	8 	1:37.571	8 	1:36.807	6
15 	Adrian Sutil 	 	1:37.769	6 	1:37.788	10 	1:36.588	3
16 	Pastor Maldonado 	 	1:38.673	12 	1:37.801	16 	1:37.359	11
17 	Valtteri Bottas 	 	1:39.208	16 	1:39.660	19 	1:37.936	15
18 	Jean-Éric Vergne 	 	1:38.284	17 	1:38.738	15 	1:38.376	17
19 	Daniel Ricciardo 	 	1:39.567	18 	1:38.904	19 	1:38.425	18
20 	Charles Pic 	 	1:41.163	21 	1:40.757	20 	1:38.995	19
21 	Giedo van der Garde	 	1:40.728	19 	1:40.768	21 	1:40.209	21
22 	Jules Bianchi 	 	1:40.996	20 	1:39.508	18 	1:39.717	20
23 	Max Chilton 	 	1:41.513	22 	1:41.438	22 	1:44.495	22
==Qualifying==
===Q1===
The Q1 eliminations were Jean-Éric Vergne, Valtteri Bottas, Jules Bianchi, Charles Pic, Max Chilton and Giedo van der Garde.
===Q2===
Q2 saw the eliminations of Romain Grosjean, Nico Hülkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Esteban Gutiérrez, Paul di Resta and Pastor Maldonado. Maldonado didn't manage to set a time.
===Q3===
Pole position was taken by Sebastian Vettel, followed by Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso. Kimi Räikkönen originally qualified 7th, but was dropped to 10th after receiving a three-place grid penalty for blocking Nico Rosberg.
===Qualifying Results===
Pos.	No.	Driver 	Team		Q1 	Q1 		Q2 	Q2 		Q3 	Q3 	Grid
Pos.	No.	Driver 	Team		Pos	Time 		Pos	Time 		Pos	Time 	Grid
1 	1 	Sebastian Vettel 	 		15 	1:37.899		9 	1:37.245		1 	1:49.674	1
2 	4 	Felipe Massa 	 		12 	1:37.712		6 	1:36.874		2 	1:50.587	2
3 	3 	Fernando Alonso 	 		4 	1:37.314		7 	1:36.877		3 	1:50.727	3
4 	10 	Lewis Hamilton 	 		8 	1:37.513		3 	1:36.517		4 	1:51.699	4
5 	2 	Mark Webber 	 		9 	1:37.619		2 	1:36.449		5 	1:52.244	5
6 	9 	Nico Rosberg 	 		3 	1:37.239		1 	1:36.190		6 	1:52.519	6
7 	7 	Kimi Räikkönen 	 		2 	1:36.959		4 	1:36.640		7 	1:52.970	10
8 	5 	Jenson Button 	 		6 	1:37.487		8 	1:37.117		8 	1:53.175	7
9 	15 	Adrian Sutil 	 		1 	1:36.809		5 	1:36.834		9 	1:53.439	8
10 	6 	Sergio Pérez 	 		10 	1:37.702		10 	1:37.342		10 	1:54.136	9
11 	8 	Romain Grosjean 	 		5 	1:37.363		11 	1:37.636		 	 	11
12 	11 	Nico Hülkenberg 	 		16 	1:37.931		12 	1:38.125		 	 	12
13 	19 	Daniel Ricciardo 	 		13 	1:37.722		13 	1:38.822		 	 	13
14 	12 	Esteban Gutiérrez 	 		11 	1:37.707		14 	1:39.221		 	 	14
15 	14 	Paul di Resta 	 		7 	1:37.493		15 	1:44.509		 	 	15
16 	16 	Pastor Maldonado 	 		14 	1:37.867		16 	no time 		 	 	16
17 	18 	Jean-Éric Vergne 	 		17 	1:38.157		 	 		 	 	17
18 	17 	Valtteri Bottas 	 		18 	1:38.207		 	 		 	 	18
19 	22 	Jules Bianchi 	 		19 	1:38.434		 	 		 	 	19
20 	20 	Charles Pic 	 		20 	1:39.314		 	 		 	 	20
21 	23 	Max Chilton 	 		21 	1:39.673		 	 		 	 	21
22 	21 	Giedo van der Garde	 		22 	1:39.932		 	 		 	 	22
===Grid===
Note:
* Kimi Räikkönen qualified seventh, but received a three-place grid penalty for blocking Nico Rosberg, and started in tenth.
==Race==
===Report===
At first, the track was damp with tricky conditions, mostly around Turn 3. Sebastian Vettel led in the first stage of the race, as Fernando Alonso's front wing gets clipped from hitting the back of Vettel's car. Alonso was able to keep ahead of Mark Webber until the start of lap 2, when his front wing came off and prevented the front tyres from touching the ground, causing the car to go into the gravel at Turn 1. Vettel came into the pits early on lap 6 to put on slick tyres, and fell back behind Sergio Pérez, Adrian Sutil and Romain Grosjean, although he was able to regain them quickly on the track's drier parts. His pit stop put Mark Webber into the lead, and he kept it during the next pit stops, when the Red Bull team told him to stay out due to the slick tyres being too dry at Turn 3.
On lap 7, Sutil had a long pit stop due to a wheel nut failure, which also happened to Force India's other driver Paul di Resta. Both drivers were forced to retire later in the race, which it was believed by the team that the issue was caused by the high temperatures.
Later on lap eight, Lewis Hamilton made a mistake by driving into McLaren's pits while racing for Mercedes, before being waved through by the team to the correct pits.
On lap 9, Jean-Éric Vergne and Charles Pic collided in the pits when Vergne was released into the path of Pic. Pastor Maldonado went off the track on lap 13 after touching a damp white line, and damaged his front wing, but was able to continue in the race.
After Webber, Vettel, Hamilton and Rosberg took their pit stops, the race was briefly led by Jenson Button on laps 33 and 34, making it look like McLaren would score good points until he fell a whole lap behind due to a pit stop where one of his tyres was not fitted on properly.
Webber took his final pit stop on lap 44, and got back in the lead just ahead of Vettel, who battled with him through the following two laps, especially on the front straight. Afterwards, Vettel overtook Webber to take the lead. Caught by TV cameras, Webber flipped the finger to Vettel on the same lap. Earlier, Vettel was told by Red Bull's team principal Christian Horner on the radio, "This is silly, Seb. Come on." Meanwhile, Hamilton and Rosberg were battling for third. Rosberg asked the team to let him past Hamilton, saying that he is so much faster, only to hear Ross Brawn reply, "Negative Nico, negative." Later, Brawn added that "Lewis' pace is what we're asking him to do. He could go a lot faster as well." However, Rosberg kept close behind his teammate, causing Brawn to tell him, "Nico please drop back, there's nothing to gain - I want to bring both cars home please." Later in the race, Maldonado retired when a KERS malfunction forced him to stop his car for precautionary reasons. Button was later forced to retire on lap 55 after receiving a severe wheel vibration, and Daniel Ricciardo had to retire with only 51 laps completed, due to receiving exhaust problems. However, both of them were classified as finishers due to completing over 90% of the distance.
The race was won by Vettel, with Webber finishing second, followed by Hamilton, Rosberg, Massa, Grosjean, Räikkönen, Hülkenberg, Pérez and Vergne.
===Post-race===
There was a brief exchange from Webber and Vettel before the podium ceremony, which Webber said to Vettel, "Multi-21, Seb. Multi-21," which meant the team issue of having Webber (car no. 2) win in front of Vettel (car no. 1).
Later, Webber stated during the podium questions that "I want to race as well but in the end the team made the decision ... we look after the tyres, get the car to the end. In the end Seb made his own decisions today, not respected team orders, but will have protection as usual and that's the way it goes." It was later confirmed by Horner that Vettel ignored team orders and had "taken things into his own hands."
Upon being asked on his third-place finish, Hamilton stated that Rosberg deserved it more as stating that "If I'm honest I really feel that Nico should be standing here."
Toro Rosso was fined €10,000 (£8,530) by the stewards for Vergne's unsafe release in the pits.
===Results===
Pos.	No.	Driver 	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired 	Grid	Points
1 	1 	Sebastian Vettel 	 	56 	1:38:56.681 	1 	25
2 	2 	Mark Webber 	 	56 	+4.298 	5 	18
3 	10 	Lewis Hamilton 	 	56 	+12.181 	4 	15
4 	9 	Nico Rosberg 	 	56 	+12.640 	6 	12
5 	4 	Felipe Massa 	 	56 	+25.648 	2 	10
6 	8 	Romain Grosjean 	 	56 	+35.564 	11 	8
7 	7 	Kimi Räikkönen 	 	56 	+48.479 	10 	6
8 	11 	Nico Hülkenberg 	 	56 	+53.044 	12 	4
9 	6 	Sergio Pérez 	 	56 	+1:12.357 	9 	2
10 	18 	Jean-Éric Vergne 	 	56 	+1:27.124 	17 	1
11 	17 	Valtteri Bottas 	 	56 	+1:28.610 	18 	
12 	12 	Esteban Gutiérrez 	 	55 	+1 Lap 	14 	
13 	22 	Jules Bianchi 	 	55 	+1 Lap 	19 	
14 	20 	Charles Pic 	 	55 	+1 Lap 	20 	
15 	21 	Giedo van der Garde	 	55 	+1 Lap 	22 	
16 	23 	Max Chilton 	 	54 	+2 Laps 	21 	
17 	5 	Jenson Button 	 	53 	Wheel 	7 	
18 	19 	Daniel Ricciardo 	 	51 	Exhaust 	13 	
Ret 	16 	Pastor Maldonado 	 	45 	KERS 	16 	
Ret 	15 	Adrian Sutil 	 	27 	Wheel nut 	8 	
Ret 	14 	Paul di Resta 	 	22 	Wheel nut 	15 	
Ret 	3 	Fernando Alonso 	 	1 	Collision damage	3 	
===Fastest laps===
===Laps in the lead===
==Milestones==
*Fernando Alonso's 200th race entry (199th start).
*By scoring points here, Kimi Räikkönen has now scored in 19 consecutive races. This places the Finn joint third of all time in this respect, tied with Sebastian Vettel. Räikkönen is now 5 points finishes behind all-time record holder Michael Schumacher.
==Standings after race==
Drivers' World Championship	Drivers' World Championship	Drivers' World Championship
Pos. 	Driver 	Pts
1 	Sebastian Vettel 	40
2 	Kimi Räikkönen 	31
3 	Mark Webber 	26
4 	Lewis Hamilton 	25
5 	Felipe Massa 	22
6 	Fernando Alonso 	18
7 	Nico Rosberg 	12
8 	Romain Grosjean 	9
9 	Adrian Sutil 	6
10 	Paul di Resta 	4
11 	Nico Hülkenberg 	4
12 	Sergio Pérez 	2
13 	Jenson Button 	2
14 	Jean-Éric Vergne 	1
15 	Valtteri Bottas 	0
16 	Esteban Gutiérrez 	0
17 	Jules Bianchi 	0
18 	Charles Pic 	0
19 	Giedo van der Garde 	0
20 	Max Chilton 	0
21 	Daniel Ricciardo 	0
Constructors' World Championship	Constructors' World Championship	Constructors' World Championship
Pos. 	Team 	Pts
1 	 	66
2 	 	40
3 	 	40
4 	 	37
5 	 	10
6 	 	4
7 	 	4
8 	 	1
9 	 	0
10 	 	0
11 	 	0
==See Also==
==Notes==
Category:Malaysian Grand Prix
Category:2013 Grands Prix
Category:Grand Prix articles