Malaysian F1 Grand Prix 2013: Sunday's Race Report - Sergio Perez P9 as Jenson Button retires

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SERGIO PEREZ
- MP4-28A/02
- Started: 10th
- Finished: 9th
- Fastest Lap: 1m39.199s (1st)
- Pitstops: Four: laps 7, 22, 33 and 54 [Int-Opt-Opt-Pri-Pri]
- Points: 2 (10th)

“This afternoon my engineers sorted out a very good race strategy that enabled me to pass the cars immediately in front of me early on – so thank you and well done for that, guys.


“Unfortunately, towards the end of the race, my tyres began to degrade a bit too much, especially my front left, and we therefore felt it would be too risky to try to drive to the finish on that set.

“Consequently, we had no real option other than to make an extra pitstop, which caused me to lose position.

“I still ended up ninth, which is two places better than I finished in Melbourne last weekend, so I think it’s fair to say that we can see that progress is being made.

“In Shanghai in two weeks’ time let’s hope that that upward trend continues.”

JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-28A/03
- Started: 8h
- Finished: DNF
- Fastest Lap: 1m40.556 (+1.357s, 5th)
- Pitstops: Three: laps 7, 21 and 35 [Int-Opt-Opt-Pri]
- Points: 0 (DNF)

“We drove a good race today. Strategy-wise, we did everything right. We pitted on the correct laps and looked after the tyres exactly as we should have done.

“We’d have finished fifth but for the problem in the pitstop – maybe we’d even have been in the battle for third and fourth. It’s very disappointing that we weren’t able to demonstrate that, of course.

“Even at the end we had a chance of scoring a point, but unfortunately I was struggling with my front left [tyre] by that stage. It kept locking up, and it was producing such a bad vibration that I think the guys were worried that it might damage the front left suspension if I carried on.

“However, as I say, apart from the pitstop problem, I think we did a pretty good job. We’ve made improvements over the past week, and the result of those improvements was that we were more competitive here in Malaysia than we were in Australia last weekend, so there are definitely positives that we can take away with us.

“Hopefully, in China in two weeks’ time, we can continue that steady improvement and score a few more points.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH - Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“After having finished only ninth and 11th last weekend in Melbourne, today in Sepang we saw clear evidence that all the hard work we’ve been doing over the past week has resulted in some significant gains in terms of car development.

“Obviously, however, we’re very disappointed that Jenson lost a hard-earned and well-deserved fifth place, perhaps even third or fourth, as a consequence of a pitstop problem caused by a wheel-gun issue. Jenson did absolutely nothing wrong and reacted correctly to the green light, by the way.

“Checo, too, put in a solid and plucky performance all weekend, earning his first points for Vodafone McLaren Mercedes this afternoon, and recorded fastest lap at the very end of the race.

“Clearly, therefore, although as I say we’re very disappointed for Jenson, the truth is that he could and should have finished at least fifth – and, although by our own high standards that’s not remotely good enough, it plainly shows that we’re going in the right direction from a car-development point of view.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ~

Copyright © 2013, mercedesgla. All rights reserved.

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Malaysian F1 Grand Prix 2013: Sunday's Race Report - Strong finish with Lewis on P3 and Nico on P4

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Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg finished the 2013 PETRONAS Malaysia Grand Prix in third and fourth places today.

- Lewis scored his 50th Formula One podium this afternoon and his first for the team

- He ran a four-stop strategy, stopping on laps 7, 21, 30 and 41, using intermediate/option/option/prime/option

- Nico also made four stops on laps 8, 22, 31 and 42, with the same tyre usage strategy

- The team scored 27 points today, the most on a single weekend since the Silver Arrows returned to Formula One in 2010

Lewis Hamilton
“That was a fantastic job by the team today. They worked so hard over the winter and to achieve a podium at the second race of the season is a nice reward, particularly here in Malaysia at one of our home races. I have to say big congratulations to Nico. He drove a smarter and more controlled race than me this afternoon and deserved to finish where I did. The team made the call for us to hold positions and we both respected that. The race was tough, we were fighting hard with Red Bull and went aggressive on our fuel strategy but they were just too good today. Third and fourth places is still a great result for us however and just increases our motivation to keep pushing and close that gap.”

Nico Rosberg
“It was a great day for us as a team and we can be very happy of our performance here this weekend. It was a good feeling to be competitive and to be able to set fastest lap times during the race. Thanks to all of you at the team for all the hard work, results like these are very well deserved. Of course, it was disappointing for me having to hold position but I understand the team’s decision to safeguard our positions and to make sure that both cars got to the end with a strong team finish, especially in light of the tough times behind us. There are a lot of races to go and our performance today makes me look forward to fighting for more podium finishes in the future.”

Ross Brawn
“This weekend was another step in the right direction for the team. We had a pretty good car today, certainly on the option tyres it was very good, and the team made the right calls on strategy. On the third set of dry tyres, the hard compound, we didn’t quite have the balance and that’s where we fell back. We had a heavier than expected fuel consumption during the race and as we got towards the end, we had to take some measures to ensure that both cars finished. We asked Lewis and Nico to hold position and both drivers respected that. Whilst it was tough for Nico and I fully expect him to be disappointed, we have now got a car we can fight with and that there will be plenty more opportunities to achieve good results this season. We’ve got to concentrate on keeping up the pace of development but we can take pride in achieving our first podium of the season and my thanks to everyone here and back at base for their commitment and hard work.”

Toto Wolff
“We achieved a very good result for the team this weekend and to score some solid points is very satisfying. We have continued to show an upward performance trend although there is still work for us to do to close the gap to the leading cars even further. Both Lewis and Nico both drove extremely well today. Tough decisions have to be made sometimes and it was important for us that both cars finished the race and we scored some solid points. Congratulations to everyone here at the track, and back at Brackley and Brixworth for our first podium of the season, and we will keep pushing hard to make sure that more will follow.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS ~

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Malaysian F1 Grand Prix 2013: Saturday's Qualifying Report - Lewis Hamilton P4, Nico Rosberg P6

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Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg qualified in fourth and sixth places for the Malaysian Grand Prix this afternoon.

- Both drivers completed one run on the hard compound tyre in Q1 and one run on the medium compound in Q2

- With rain starting to fall during the second qualifying session, Q3 required the use of intermediates tyres

- Lewis and Nico used one set of intermediates for the session and finished in P4 and P6 respectively

Drivers ++ Car No. ++ Chassis No. ++ Practice ++ Qualifying 1 ++ Qualifying 2 ++ Qualifying 3
Lewis Hamilton ++ 10 ++ F1 W04 / 04 ++ P2 ++ P8, 1:37.513 ++ P3, 1:36.517 ++ P4, 1:51.699
Nico Rosberg ++ 9 ++ F1 W04 / 03 ++ P9 ++ P3, 1:37.239 ++ P1, 1:36.190 ++ P6, 1:52.519

Weather - Hot & humid with rain showers

Lewis Hamilton
“I’m pretty happy with fourth place considering the conditions today. The car was not too bad in the dry but the balance could have been a lot better, then it was pretty tricky conditions in the wet during Q3. We did our lap with older tyres than the guys in front, which was a bit unfortunate, but our pace was good overall so I can’t complain. It’s the second race on the second row for me and there are lots of positives to take out of the weekend so far. Our long run pace looked pretty good compared to the other teams so I’m hoping for dry conditions tomorrow.”


Nico Rosberg
“In the dry conditions I had a great balance today and everything went perfectly which was nice to see. Once it began to rain unfortunately we weren’t able to get the most out of the car and at the end of Q3, my tyres were worn as some parts of the track were drying and I wasn’t able to improve my lap time. We have a good car for the race and a strong starting position from the third row of the grid so I’m looking forward to tomorrow. We should have some good opportunities and will need to make sure that we make the most of them.”

Ross Brawn
“An exciting qualifying session this afternoon with the threat of the weather conditions changing. The car was well balanced on both dry compounds and the intermediate tyres, and we made a pretty good job of judging the conditions. Clearly there was an opportunity at the end to put a second set of intermediates on and potentially go faster but it could have gone either way. Both Lewis and Nico are in good positions for the race and the car seems to be in reasonable shape so we look forward to tomorrow and whatever the weather decides to throw at us.”

Toto Wolff
“That was a tricky qualifying session, particularly in Q3 when it may have been better to run a second set of new intermediate tyres - but it’s easy to be wise after the fact. The reality today is that we have shown our trend is positive, we got a solid result with both cars in the top six and the team delivered a solid performance. We have spent the entire weekend working on our performance for Sunday, not Saturday, and we hope that we can confirm our positive trend tomorrow.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS ~

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Malaysian F1 Grand Prix 2013: Saturday's Qualifying Report - Jenson Button P8, Sergio Perez P10

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JENSON BUTTON
- MP4-28A-05
- FP3: 16 laps, 1m36.822s (+0.387s), 7th
- Q1 (on Primes): 1m37.487s, 6th
- Q2 (on Options): 1m37.117s, 8th
- Q3 (on Intermediates): 1m53.175, 8th overall

“I don’t think we can really expect to qualify any better than P8 right now – but, having said that, to be just two-tenths off the guy who won last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix [Kimi Raikkonen] in Q3 can’t be too bad.


“Q3 was wet today, of course, but during Q1 and the first half of Q2 it appeared that perhaps we’re now a little more competitive in the dry than we were this time last weekend. We’re still not quick, but the guys are doing a fantastic job to get everything they can out of our car.

“As for tomorrow’s race, well, when you’ve got a quick car, you never want it to rain. When you’ve got a less quick car, you do want it to rain. Today, though, we didn’t have great pace on the Intermediates [tyres] in Q3, when it was raining, so all I’ll say is that as always we’ll battle hard and see what the race brings.”

SERGIO PEREZ
- MP4-28A-06
- FP3: 12 laps, 1m37.538s(+1.103s), 12th
- Q1 (on Primes): 1m37.702s, 10th
- Q2 (on Options): 1m37.342s, 10th
- Q3 (on Intermediates): 1m54.136s, 10th overall

“Considering how our car was behaving at Albert Park just a week ago, I guess you could say that was an encouraging qualifying session.

“Jenson and I both got into Q3, which was a relief, but obviously we know we’ve still got a long way to go in terms of car development. Having said that, I can see how hard the team is working to improve our car, and it’s a really good feeling to be a part of that.

“It often rains in the late afternoon here in Sepang, so I guess tomorrow’s race may well be affected by wet conditions, given that it’s scheduled to start at 4.00pm.

“But I really enjoy racing on this circuit, and, whatever the weather, I’ll give my best tomorrow for the best team in Formula 1.”

MARTIN WHITMARSH - Team principal, Vodafone McLaren Mercedes

“Both Jenson and Checo drove commendably solidly in qualifying here today, in tricky conditions in which it would have been all too easy for them to have made costly mistakes.

“In terms of car performance, while we’d never be even remotely satisfied with P8 and P10, it’s fair to say that we’ve made a small amount of progress since last weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, so I want to say thank you to all the guys, both on the road and back home in Woking [Surrey, UK], for their sterling efforts in that respect.

“Just as important, though, we’ve continued to gather useful data, which we’ll now number-crunch intensively with a view to continuing our evolution of MP4-28.

“There’s still a long way to go, because as I say we’re not yet even close to where we want and need to be in terms of car performance, but it’s probably fair to state that, although the gains we’ve made have been small so far, the development trend appears to be in the right direction.”

~ Official photos and report courtesy of Vodafone McLaren Mercedes ~

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