The Malaysian Grand Prix 2016 was the 16th round of the 2016 F1 season, and took place at the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on October 2nd.
Daniel Ricciardo won the race after starting in the 4th position, followed by Max Verstappen, and Nico Rosberg completing the podium.
Lewis Hamilton started from the pole position, but didn't manage to cross the finish line, as he suffered an engine malfunction, and had to retire on lap 40th.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 44 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 1-1: 4 stops
- Laps 9-9: 7 stops
- Laps 20-22: 6 stops
- Laps 27-32: 13 stops
- Laps 39-41: 9 stops
The fastest pit stop was Nico Rosberg's, stopping the clock at 23.476 seconds during his pit stop on lap 41, while the slowest one was was Esteban Ocon's, who stopped the clock at 33.338 seconds, 9.862 seconds slower than Rosberg, during his pit stop on lap 31.
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 3 stops.
The race winner, Daniel Ricciardo, was on a 2 stops strategy.
1 stop
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6Kevin Magnussen
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17Lewis Hamilton
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6Valtteri Bottas
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9Jolyon Palmer
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1Felipe Nasr
2 stops
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1Sergio Pérez
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-Jenson Button
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4Esteban Ocon
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5Carlos Sainz
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3Daniel Ricciardo
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5Marcus Ericsson
3 stops
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1Daniil Kvyat
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3Felipe Massa
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6Esteban Gutiérrez
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1Max Verstappen
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-Nico Hülkenberg
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15Fernando Alonso
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1Nico Rosberg
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6Pascal Wehrlein
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2Kimi Räikkönen
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 7.5 positions on average, the ones on a 2 stops strategy gained 3 positions on average, while those on a 3 stops strategy gained 2.63 positions on average.
This difference in possitions gained, together with a deeper nalaysis of each strategy, reinforces the conclusion that a 1 stop strategy was the best option, even if Daniel Ricciardo managed to win the race making 2 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 6 drivers who didn't manage to cross the finish line.
These included, Felipe Nasr, and Romain Grosjean, both saw the breaks of the car give up, Lewis Hamilton, who suffered an engine malfunction on lap 40, Esteban Gutiérrez, who had problems with a wheel nut on lap 39, Kevin Magnussen, who suffered a power loss on lap 17, and Sebastian Vettel, who retired dure to damage caused by a collision with other cars on lap 0.
Brakes
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Felipe NasrLap 46
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Romain GrosjeanLap 7
Engine
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Lewis HamiltonLap 40
Wheel nut
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Esteban GutiérrezLap 39
Power loss
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Kevin MagnussenLap 17
Collision
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Sebastian VettelLap 0
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton dominated all the qualifying sessions and took the pole by 0.414 seconds, with a final lap time of 1:32.850. Nico Rosberg was right behind him, helping Mercedes score a one-two and monopolize the first line of the grid.
The second line fo the grid was dominated by Red Bull, with Max Verstappen in third position, and Daniel Ricciardo in fourth.
But the team pairings didn't stop there, as the two Ferraris were right behind them, with Sebastian Vettel in fith position, and Kimi Räikkönen in sixth.
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 all of the drivers that took place in Q2 improved their times in this second session.
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 7 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.