The Malaysian Grand Prix 2017 was the 15th round of the 2017 F1 season, and took place at the Sepang International Circuit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on October 1st.
Max Verstappen won the race after starting in the 3rd position, followed by Lewis Hamilton, who originally had the pole position, and Daniel Ricciardo completing the podium.
Final results
Race evolution
Pit Stops
There were a total of 20 pit stops during the race.
The most popular pit stop windows were:
- Laps 9-13: 8 stops
- Laps 26-30: 7 stops
The fastest pit stop was Lewis Hamilton's, stopping the clock at 23.489 seconds during his pit stop on lap 26, while the slowest one was was Fernando Alonso's, who stopped the clock at 25.798 seconds, 2.309 seconds slower than Hamilton, during his pit stop also on lap 26.
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
We saw a variety of options in terms of pit stop strategies during this race, however most drivers chose a 1 stop. Only Nico Hülkenberg and Romain Grosjean decided to try something different with a 2 stops strategy.
The race winner, Max Verstappen, was on a 1 stop strategy.
1 stop
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4Esteban Ocon
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5Kevin Magnussen
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2Felipe Massa
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5Lance Stroll
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1Pierre Gasly
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-Stoffel Vandoorne
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3Jolyon Palmer
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1Lewis Hamilton
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1Fernando Alonso
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2Max Verstappen
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16Sebastian Vettel
-
-Valtteri Bottas
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1Daniel Ricciardo
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3Sergio Pérez
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1Pascal Wehrlein
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1Marcus Ericsson
2 stops
-
8Nico Hülkenberg
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3Romain Grosjean
Excluding those drivers who could not finish the race, those on a 1 stop strategy gained 1.75 positions on average, while those on a 2 stops strategy lost an average of 2.5 positions.
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.
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 race went on mostly with no incidents. Only 2 divers were involved in circumstances that were severe enough to prevented them from finishing the race.
These included, Carlos Sainz, who suffered an engine malfunction on lap 29, and Kimi Räikkönen, who had a battery failure on lap 0.
Engine
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Carlos SainzLap 29
Battery
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Kimi RäikkönenLap 0
Qualifying
Lewis Hamilton managed to get the pole position by 0.045 seconds and a final lipe time of 1:30.076. Right next to him, completing the first line of the grid, was Kimi Räikkönen.
The second line fo the grid was dominated by Red Bull, with Max Verstappen in third position, and Daniel Ricciardo in fourth.
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 14 out of the 15 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 9 out of the 10 drivers that took place in Q3 were able to improve their times.