F1 - Malaysia - Sepang - Oct 2 2016

Ricciardo wins as Mercedes falter

http://www.planetf1.com

Daniel Ricciardo made the most of Mercedes’ misfortunes to win the Malaysian GP ahead of Max Verstappen while Lewis Hamilton recorded a DNF and Nico Rosberg was involved in a first lap collision.

A confusing start as the lights were slow to work led to a chaotic run into the first corner where Rosberg and Sebastian Vettel made contact as the Ferrari driver battled with Verstappen for position.

Rosberg was pitched into a spin, Vettel was taken out of the grand prix and Verstappen declared: “Sebastian is crazy!” The Virtual Safety Car was shown as Hamilton led the race ahead of Ricciardo and Sergio Perez.

On the restart Hamilton pulled away from Ricciardo, Verstappen took third off Perez, and Rosberg was down in 16th place.

With the championship leader seemingly out of the running for the victory it appeared as if it would be a straight run to the chequered flag for Hamilton. Red Bull had other ideas.

The decision to pit Verstappen under the first VSC saw the Dutchman take the lead, however, a swap from soft to hards for Hamilton opened the door to a one-stop strategy.

That looked to be paying dividends for the Mercedes driver who pulled 22 seconds clear of the feuding Red Bull team-mates only for his Mercedes engine to expire in flames on lap 40.

Red Bull pitted their drivers under the Virtual Safety Car with Ricciardo emerging two seconds clear of Verstappen.

Rosberg was third, but news broke that he had a 10-second time penalty for causing an earlier collision with Kimi Raikkonen as they traded paint while tussling for position.

On the restart Ricciardo had to face traffic, which allowed Verstappen to close up a bit. He continued to edge closer, 1.5s behind with five to go.

The Aussie held on for the victory, his first of this season, by 2.4 seconds ahead of Verstappen.

Rosberg was third as, even with his penalty, he crossed the line 10 seconds ahead of Raikkonen. Rosberg now leads the title race by 23 points.

Valtteri Bottas had a good race for Williams, finishing in fifth place ahead of Perez, Fernando Alonso and Nico Hulkenberg.

Jenson Button and Jolyon Palmer completed the points, Palmer’s first of his F1 career.

Felipe Massa lost his top-ten starting position when he was unable to leave the gird for the formation lap. “The throttle is not working,” he reported.

Massa started from the pit lane but was soon back in the pits for a puncture. He finished P13.

Esteban Ocon was caught twice for speeding in the pit lane, incurring five-second penalties for both incidents. He was 16th.

Romain Grosjean spun out on lap 8 when he lost it under braking into the gravel at the final corner. It as a double DNF for Haas as Esteban Gutierrez lost his front left tyre.

Kevin Magnussen joined them in retirement on lap 17 after he was told to park his Renault due to lap 1 damage, the result of a hit from behind from Daniil Kvyat. Nasr also retired, pulling his Sauber into the pits.

Result
1 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull 1:37.12.776
2 Max Verstappen Red Bull 2.443
3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 25.516
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 28.785
5 Valtteri Bottas Williams 61.582
6 Sergio Perez Force India 63.794
7 Fernando Alonso McLaren 65.205
8 Nico Hulkenberg Force India 74.062
9 Jenson Button McLaren 81.816
10 Jolyon Palmer Renault 95.466
11 Carlos Sainz Jr Toro Rosso 98.878
12 Marcus Ericsson Sauber 1 lap
13 Felipe Massa Williams 1 lap
14 Daniil Kvyat Toro Rosso 1 lap
15 Pascal Wehrlein Manor 1 lap
16 Esteban Ocon Manor 1 lap

Did not finish
Felipe Nasr Sauber
Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
Esteban Gutierrez Haas
Kevin Magnussen Renault
Romain Grosjean Haas
Sebastian Vettel Ferrari

F1 - Singapore - Marina Bay - 18 Sep

Rosberg holds off Ricciardo for Singapore win

http://www.planetf1.com

Safety Car, brake management and tyre strategy all played a part in Sunday’s Singapore GP, a race won by Nico Rosberg as he took the lead in the Drivers’ Championship.

Pole sitter Rosberg made a great start as he stormed into P1 on the ultrasoft tyres ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, on the supersofts, and Lewis Hamilton on the ultras.

They had to do it all over again two laps later as there was an early Safety Car for Nico Hulkenberg’s accident at the start.

Sandwiched by the two Toro Rossos, there was contact with Carlo Sainz that put Hulkenberg into the pit lane wall, and out of the race.

Back underway Rosberg set about building up an advantage over Ricciardo, while Hamilton was slowly dropped by the leading duo.

By lap 9 brakes came into play with Rosberg told “this is serious, we need brake management” while a lap later Hamilton heard “we really need to get on top of these front brakes.”

As the leaders’ tyre strategy played out Rosberg was ahead by 23.8s when Ricciardo pitted for the fourth and final time, swapping to the supersofts.

But with just 12 laps to go Mercedes opted not to cover the Red Bull racer’s strategy and kept Rosberg out on his soft tyres.

Lap after lap Ricciardo ate into the German’s advantage with the gap down to 3.4s as they started the penultimate lap and 2.0s at the start of the final lap with just 23 corners remaining.

Rosberg held on to win by 0.488s ahead of Ricciardo.

Although Hamilton joined his team-mate on the podium it was not a great night for the World Champ, who complained about his strategy and his brakes.

His chances of finishing on the podium were also under threat as he was attacked by Kimi Raikkonen. The Ferrari driver took third off the Brit but later lost it when Hamilton undercut him in their fourth and final stop.

Hamilton’s P3 still meant he lost the lead in the Drivers’ Championship with his two-point advantage turned into an eight-point deficit.

Raikkonen was fourth while Sebastian Vettel recovered from his back of the grid start to finish in fifth place, ahead of Max Verstappen, Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez.

Daniil Kvyat scored for Toro Rosso in ninth place while Kevin Magnussen was back inside the points for Renault. Esteban Gutierrez was P11 – for the fifth time this season.

Sainz failed to score as he dropped down the order after being shown a black and orange flag by the stewards, forcing him to pit for repairs after his STR11 was damaged in the opening lap contact with Hulkenberg. He was P14.

The grand prix started one driver shorter as Romain Grosjean’s race never began with Haas revealing that they could not resolve his brake-related problem in time for the start.

Valtteri Bottas retired, parking his Williams after his team saw a “mechanical issues in the data”, with Jenson Button also calling it quits in the pits.

Result
1 Rosberg Mercedes 1:55.48.950
2 Ricciardo Red Bull 0.488
3 Hamilton Mercedes 8.038
4 Raikkonen Ferrari 10.219
5 Vettel Ferrari 27.694
6 Verstappen Red Bull 71.197
7 Alonso McLaren 89.198
8 Perez Force India 111.062
9 Kvyat Toro Rosso 111.557
10 Magnussen Renault 119.952
11 Gutierrez Haas 1 lap
12 Massa Williams 1 lap
13 Nasr Sauber 1 lap
14 Sainz Toro Rosso 1 lap
15 Palmer Renault 1 lap
16 Wehrlein Manor 1 lap
17 Ericsson Sauber 1 lap
18 Ocon Manor 2 lap

Did Not Finish
Button McLaren
Bottas Williams mechanical issues
Hulkenberg Force India crash

Did Not Start
Grosjean Haas brakes