Malaysia – Race: Overview of Strategies

Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull) secured his first victory of the season after a fierce battle with his teammate Mark Webber, during which both drivers used three different Pirelli compounds: the intermediate (Cinturato Green), the medium (P Zero White), and the hard (P Zero Orange) in different orders.

All drivers started on intermediate compound (Cinturato Green) in light rain. This set was kept during the first stint, thus not forcing the drivers to use both slick compounds for the remainder of the race.

The top 5 at the finish stopped four times after a start on wet conditions. Romain Grosjean (Lotus) is the highest-ranked driver with three stops, in sixth place, ahead of his teammate Kimi Räikkönen.

Paul Hembery, Pirelli Motorsport Director: « The rain fell immediately after the start of the race, adding complexity to the strategies. Teams were forced to react to the changing conditions by anticipating the varying levels of grip during the first stint. Once the track dried, we saw different approaches with teams using the hard and medium tires in different ways. Nevertheless, the leaders were very close, despite adopting different tactics, like at Mercedes, which split the Red Bulls. We encountered significant degradation here, but knew that would be the case due to the extreme nature of the circuit and the additional performance offered by our softer compounds this year. We are only at the second Grand Prix of the season, and our past experience shows that teams quickly understand the tires as the season progresses and as the cars develop. We have no doubt that it will be the case again this year ».

The best times of the day by compound:

– Mediums: Massa en 1:39.805 devant Vettel en 1:40.446 et Vergne en 1:40.492

– Durs: Pérez en 1:39.199 devant Button en 1:40.556 et Webber en 1:40.685

– Intermédiaires: Webber en 1:55.795 devant Rosberg en 1:55.841 et Hamilton en 1:56.590

Longest stint in the race:

– Mediums: 19 tours par Maldonado (Williams)

– Durs: 22 tours par Räikkönen (Lotus)

– Intermédiaires: 8 tours par Rosberg (Mercedes)

Truth Barometer: The winning strategy with four stops was different from the three-stop strategy predicted by Pirelli. However, the rain at the start altered our predictions, forcing teams to complete their first stint on intermediate tires. After this initial stint, Vettel switched to new medium tires on lap 5, then moved to hard tires on lap 22, and did the same on lap 32. His final stop to switch back to medium tires occurred on lap 42.

[From the official statement released by Pirelli]

In order to better read this graph, you can use our summary of pit stops as well as the FIA’s lap-by-lap chart by clicking here.