The Malaysian Grand Prix 2011 was the 2nd round of the 2011 F1 season, and took place at the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on April 10th.
Sebastian Vettel won the race from the pole, followed by Jenson Button, and Nick Heidfeld completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 59 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 10-17: 22 stops
- Laps 22-29: 11 stops
- Laps 32-32: 4 stops
- Laps 34-44: 17 stops
The fastest pit stop was Sebastian Vettel's, stopping the clock at 21.893 seconds during his pit stop on lap 25, while the slowest one was was Vitantonio Liuzzi's, who stopped the clock at 38.823 seconds, 16.930 seconds slower than Vettel, during his pit stop on lap 44.
These times include the time the driver spent going through the pit lane, as well as the actual time he stopped for the mechanics to work on his car.
Strategy
The race was not obvious in terms of pit stop strategy, with different teams and different drivers choosing to make anywhere from 1 to 4 stops.
The race winner, Sebastian Vettel, was on a 3 stops strategy.
1 stop
-
-Jarno Trulli
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5Sergio Pérez
2 stops
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7Rubens Barrichello
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4Heikki Kovalainen
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1Jaime Alguersuari
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3Kamui Kobayashi
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5Timo Glock
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3Jérôme d'Ambrosio
3 stops
-
6Adrian Sutil
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4Paul di Resta
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-Sebastian Vettel
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3Nick Heidfeld
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2Jenson Button
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2Felipe Massa
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2Michael Schumacher
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9Vitaly Petrov
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1Sébastien Buemi
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3Nico Rosberg
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5Vitantonio Liuzzi
4 stops
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1Mark Webber
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6Lewis Hamilton
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1Fernando Alonso
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 2 stops strategy gained 2.75 positions on average, the ones on a 3 stops strategy gained 1.67 positions on average, while those on a 4 stops strategy lost an average of 2.67 positions.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 2 stops strategy was the best option, even if Sebastian Vettel managed to win the race making 3 stops.
It is important to note that this might not always be the case for other races held at the Sepang International Circuit, as the conditions might change from year to year, in terms of wheel degradation, accidents, safety cars, etc.
Incidents
There were some incidents during the race, with 8 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Vitaly Petrov, Jérôme d'Ambrosio, and Sergio Pérez, all of whom had to retire due to an accident, Jarno Trulli, who had a problem with the clutch on lap 31, Rubens Barrichello, who experienced issues with the gearbox on lap 22, and Pastor Maldonado, who suffered an engine misfire on lap 8.
Accident
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Vitaly PetrovLap 52
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Jérôme d'AmbrosioLap 42
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Sergio PérezLap 23
Clutch
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Jarno TrulliLap 31
Gearbox
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Rubens BarrichelloLap 22
Engine misfire
-
Pastor MaldonadoLap 8
Qualifying
Sebastian Vettel managed to get the pole position by 0.104 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:34.870. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Lewis Hamilton.
Track evolution
As the qualifying session went on, with the track rubbering in, and the drivers testing the limits of the grip of their cars, the times per lap dropped, and 16 out of the 17 drivers that took place in Q2 were able to improve their times.
The Q3 is the time were all the remaining drivers put all their cards on the table, even those with a superior car who might have been managing their times in Q1 and Q2 push their cars to the limit in Q3. It therefore comes as no surprise that 8 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.