2016 Malaysian Grand Prix

2016 Malaysian Grand Prix
Previous←	2016 Singapore Grand Prix
Round	16 of 2016
Next→	2016 Japanese Grand Prix
Sepang International Circuit
Race Details
Date	October 2, 2016
Official Name	2016 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix
Location	Sepang International Circuit Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia
Course	Permanent racing facility 5.543 km (3.444 mi)
Distance	56 laps, 310.408 km (192.879 mi)
Pole Position
Driver	Lewis Hamilton Mercedes
Time	1:32.850
Fastest Lap
Driver	Nico Rosberg Mercedes
Time	1:36.424 on lap 44
Podium
First	Daniel Ricciardo
Second	Max Verstappen
Third	Nico Rosberg
Lap Leaders

The 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix (officially the 2016 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix) was the sixteenth race of the 2016 Formula One season, and the eighteenth time the Malaysian Grand Prix was held on the Formula One calendar. It was held between 30 September and 2 October 2016.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the fourth time at Malaysia, with his teammate Nico Rosberg on the front row. Hamilton led the race from the start, but on the start of his 41st lap, his engine blew, causing him to retire from the race, and enabling Daniel Ricciardo to take victory and Max Verstappen to finish second, and championship leader Nico Rosberg finished third after a collision from Sebastian Vettel on the first lap put him at the back of the field, putting Rosberg twenty-three points ahead of Hamilton in the championship.

Background

Weather Conditions
Practice 1	Partly Cloudy
Practice 2	Partly Cloudy
Practice 3	Cloudy
Qualifying	Cloudy
Race	Partly Cloudy

Available Tyres
Softest	Soft
Mid	Medium
Hardest	Hard
Inters	Intermediate
Wets	Wet

Nico Rosberg's win in the Singapore Grand Prix gave him enough points to take the lead of the Drivers' Championship from his teammate Lewis Hamilton, who could only finish third in the race. Afterwards, Rosberg led with 273 points, eight points clear of Hamilton. Daniel Ricciardo, who finished second in Singapore, was already far behind, 86 points behind Hamilton. Sebastian Vettel, despite finishing behind Kimi Räikkönen, was still fourth with 153 points, while Räikkönen was fifth and five points behind Vettel. Mercedes led the Constructors' Championship with 538 points, being 222 points ahead of Red Bull thanks to the former's dominance. Ricciardo's podium finish and Max Verstappen's sixth-place finish kept Red Bull second, fifteen points ahead of Ferrari. Sergio Pérez's eighth-place finish resulted in Force India moving up to fourth, just one point ahead of Williams, whose drivers failed to score any points in Singapore.

For the first time since 2000, the Malaysian Grand Prix was held in October rather than March or April. With the extra time, the track was resurfaced and had several upgrades to some of the corners, including to make the drainage at Turn 15 better than before so that there is not a huge amount of rainwater on the turn's entry and exit. However, Vettel felt unsure if the track's resurfacing would improve the track itself.

Soft, medium and hard tyres were chosen for the race, with the first appearance of the soft compound in the 2010s thanks to the regulations of 2016. Most teams chose seven sets of soft tyres, while others chose either six or eight. Jolyon Palmer was the only one of the drivers to choose four sets of hard tyres, while all the other drivers chose two or three. Hamilton was one of those to choose three, while Rosberg chose two, each alternating between their number of medium sets.

On 28 September, the FIA revealed a provisional calendar for 2017 that includes the Italian Grand Prix after rumours that it might not be hosted again, although the provisional calendar had also shown that the Canadian, German and Brazilian Grands Prix were yet to be confirmed. Felipe Massa, however, was concerned that the Brazilian Grand Prix may not be held, like how the German Grand Prix was not held in 2015. Coincidentally, more rule changes for 2017 were confirmed, including to have standing starts in races that start during wet weather conditions.

Before the Grand Prix, McLaren fitted new parts onto Fernando Alonso's power unit. Due to having gone over the limit of new parts allowed, Alonso was expected to take a grid penalty putting him at the back of the grid, while Jenson Button revealed that his own car would not have any upgrades to its power unit that contain grid penalties for Malaysia and especially for his 300th start, and that McLaren were hoping not to take any grid penalties at their engine supplier Honda's home race in Japan. Due to the penalties, Alonso stated that he would do only one short run in qualifying and get within the 107% time, as well as saving several sets of tyres for the race.

Although he was close to fighting for the win in Singapore, Ricciardo did not feel that he would be very likely to fight for victory in Malaysia: "From the first view it's probably not our shot at a win - unless it rains, and then it is a whole different ball game. And I love ball games!" Meanwhile, Hamilton was sure that he might be able to be back in the fight for the championship if he did better in Malaysia than in Singapore: "Just drive it better, I guess. More time on track. Hopefully we won't have any problems this weekend."

Entry list

No.	Driver	Entrant	Constructor	Chassis	Engine	Model	Tyre
44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	W07 Hybrid	Mercedes	PU106C Hybrid	P
6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team	Mercedes	W07 Hybrid	Mercedes	PU106C Hybrid	P
5	Sebastian Vettel	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	SF16-H	Ferrari	059/5	P
7	Kimi Räikkönen	Scuderia Ferrari	Ferrari	SF16-H	Ferrari	059/5	P
19	Felipe Massa	Williams Martini Racing	Williams	FW38	Mercedes	PU106C Hybrid	P
77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Martini Racing	Williams	FW38	Mercedes	PU106C Hybrid	P
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB12	TAG Heuer	TAG Heuer	P
33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	Red Bull	RB12	TAG Heuer	TAG Heuer	P
27	Nico Hülkenberg	Sahara Force India F1 Team	Force India	VJM09	Mercedes	PU106C Hybrid	P
11	Sergio Pérez	Sahara Force India F1 Team	Force India	VJM09	Mercedes	PU106C Hybrid	P
20	Kevin Magnussen	Renault Sport F1 Team	Renault	RS16	Renault	RE16	P
30	Jolyon Palmer	Renault Sport F1 Team	Renault	RS16	Renault	RE16	P
26	Daniil Kvyat	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR11	Ferrari	059/4	P
55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Scuderia Toro Rosso	Toro Rosso	STR11	Ferrari	059/4	P
9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber F1 Team	Sauber	C35	Ferrari	059/5	P
12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber F1 Team	Sauber	C35	Ferrari	059/5	P
14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren Honda	McLaren	MP4-31	Honda	RA616H	P
22	Jenson Button	McLaren Honda	McLaren	MP4-31	Honda	RA616H	P
94	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor Racing MRT	Manor	MRT05	Mercedes	PU106C Hybrid	P
31	Esteban Ocon	Manor Racing MRT	Manor	MRT05	Mercedes	PU106C Hybrid	P
8	Romain Grosjean	Haas F1 Team	Haas	VF-16	Ferrari	059/5	P
21	Esteban Gutiérrez	Haas F1 Team	Haas	VF-16	Ferrari	059/5	P
source

Practice Overview

FP1

Kevin Magnussen's Renault caught fire just after a few minutes in the first Free Practice session. The team confirmed the cause of fire as a fuel leak.

FP2

During the second Free Practice session, McLaren driver Jenson Button prompted an angry team radio towards Renault's Kevin Magnussen.

Practice Results

The full practice results for the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix are outlined below:

No	Driver	Team	FP1		FP2		FP3
			Time	Pos	Time	Pos	Time	Pos
3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	1:36.753	6	1:36.337	8	1:35.461	6
5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1:36.331	4	1:35.605	3	1:35.170	5
6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1:35.227	1	1:35.177	2	1:35.053	3
7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	1:36.315	3	1:35.842	4	1:35.150	4
8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	1:37.886	13	1:37.789	20	1:36.687	15
9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	1:38.313	17	1:37.449	17	1:36.765	18
11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	1:37.601	9	1:36.284	6	1:36.259	11
12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber-Ferrari	1:38.184	16	1:37.547	18	1:37.106	19
14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda	1:36.510	5	1:36.296	7	1:41.199	22
19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	1:38.339	18	1:37.110	15	1:36.227	10
20	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	No Time	22	1:37.664	19	1:36.741	16
21	Esteban Gutiérrez	Haas-Ferrari	1:37.921	14	1:37.048	14	1:36.553	13
22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda	1:37.613	10	1:36.715	10	1:36.363	12
26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:37.847	11	1:37.297	16	1:36.752	17
27	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	1:37.513	8	1:36.390	9	1:35.776	7
30	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	1:39.148	19	1:36.940	12	1:36.604	14
31	Esteban Ocon	Manor-Mercedes	1:40.036	20	1:37.990	22	1:37.961	20
33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	1:36.973	7	1:36.037	5	1:34.879	2
44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:35.721	2	1:34.944	1	1:34.434	1
55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	1:38.055	15	1:36.836	11	1:36.222	9
77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	1:37.861	12	1:37.016	13	1:35.902	8
94	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor-Mercedes	1:40.627	21	1:37.878	21	1:38.089	21
Source:

Qualifying

Qualifying Results

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team		Q1			Q2			Q3		Grid
					Pos	Time		Pos	Time		Pos	Time
1	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes		1	1:34.444		1	1:33.046		1	1:32.850	1
2	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes		2	1:34.460		2	1:33.609		2	1:33.609	2
3	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-TAG Heuer		12	1:35.443		3	1:33.775		3	1:33.420	3
4	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-TAG Heuer		7	1:35.079		4	1:33.888		4	1:33.467	4
5	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari		4	1:34.557		6	1:33.972		5	1:33.584	5
6	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari		4	1:34.556		5	1:33.903		6	1:33.632	6
7	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes		6	1:35.068		10	1:34.538		7	1:34.319	7
8	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India-Mercedes		5	1:34.827		9	1:34.441		8	1:34.489	8
9	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda		10	1:35.267		8	1:34.431		9	1:34.518	9
10	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes		9	1:35.267		7	1:34.422		10	1:34.671	10
11	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes		8	1:35.166		11	1:34.577				11
12	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari		11	1:35.400		12	1:35.001				12
13	21	Esteban Gutiérrez	Haas-Ferrari		15	1:35.658		13	1:35.097				13
14	20	Kevin Magnussen	Renault		13	1:35.593		14	1:35.277				14
15	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso-Ferrari		16	1:35.695		15	1:35.369				15
16	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Toro Rosso-Ferrari		14	1:35.605		16	1:35.374				16
17	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari		17	1:35.816							17
18	12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber-Ferrari		18	1:35.949							18
19	30	Jolyon Palmer	Renault		19	1:35.999							19
20	31	Esteban Ocon	Manor-Mercedes		20	1:36.451							20
21	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor-Mercedes		21	1:36.587							21
22	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda		22	1:37.155							22*
107% time: 1:41.055
Source:

* Alonso was given a 45-place grid penalty for having elements of his power unit being unscheduled changed.

Grid

The starting grid of the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix is as below:

Show Grid

	Pos.	Pos.
	Driver	Driver
		______________
Row 1	______________	1
	2	Lewis Hamilton
	Nico Rosberg	______________
Row 2	______________	3
	4	Max Verstappen
	Daniel Ricciardo	______________
Row 3	______________	5
	6	Sebastian Vettel
	Kimi Räikkönen	______________
Row 4	______________	7
	8	Sergio Pérez
	Nico Hülkenberg	______________
Row 5	______________	9
	10	Jenson Button
	Felipe Massa	______________
Row 6	______________	11
	12	Valtteri Bottas
	Romain Grosjean	______________
Row 7	______________	13
	14	Esteban Gutiérrez
	Kevin Magnussen	______________
Row 8	______________	15
	16	Daniil Kvyat
	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	______________
Row 9	______________	17
	18	Marcus Ericsson
	Felipe Nasr	______________
Row 10	______________	19
	20	Jolyon Palmer
	Esteban Ocon	______________
Row 11	______________	21
	22	Pascal Wehrlein
	Fernando Alonso*	______________

Source * Alonso was given a 45-place grid penalty for having elements of his power unit being unscheduled changed.

• ^† Massa had a throttle issue last-minute, and started the race from the pit lane.

Race

Post-race

Three days following the race, Paddy Lowe explained that by the time he was saying it, they still had no idea what caused the engine failure on Hamilton's car while also investigating it. One day later, the Mercedes team confirmed that the engine failure was due to crankshaft bearing failure, after the car's oil pressure suddenly dropped at Turn 15 on lap 40 without any warning. Responding to this, the team informed all of the teams with Mercedes engines to make sure they check the engine settings in the future, while Hamilton's car was fitted with the engine he used in Singapore.

After the race, the stewards investigated Vettel's collision with Rosberg, and decided to give him two penalty points and a three-place grid penalty for Japan. While Gutiérrez was not penalised for the loss of his tyre, his team was fined €5000, as the FIA mentioned "some function of the design, part failure or fitting allowed the wheel to come loose on the track, which is considered a serious safety issue", considering it an unsafe release.

Nine Australian fans were arrested after having stripped at the Malaysian Grand Prix, being investigated whether they were insulting the country.

Renault also announced that thanks to the drama occurring with Magnussen's car during free practice, they were to alter their fuel system's design in time for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Results

Pos.	No.	Driver	Constructor	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	3	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	56	1h 37m 12.776s	4	25
2	33	Max Verstappen	Red Bull-TAG Heuer	56	+2.443	3	18
3	6	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	56	+25.516*	2	15
4	7	Kimi Räikkönen	Ferrari	56	+28.785	6	12
5	77	Valtteri Bottas	Williams-Mercedes	56	+61.582	11	10
6	11	Sergio Pérez	Force India-Mercedes	56	+63.794	7	8
7	14	Fernando Alonso	McLaren-Honda	56	+65.205	22	6
8	27	Nico Hülkenberg	Force India-Mercedes	56	+74.062	8	4
9	22	Jenson Button	McLaren-Honda	56	+81.816	9	2
10	30	Jolyon Palmer	Renault	56	+95.466	19	1
11	55	Carlos Sainz, Jr.	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	56	+98.878	16
12	9	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber-Ferrari	55	+1 Lap	17
13	19	Felipe Massa	Williams-Mercedes	55	+1 Lap	10
14	26	Daniil Kvyat	Toro Rosso-Ferrari	55	+1 Lap	15
15	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Manor-Mercedes	55	+1 Lap	21
16	31	Esteban Ocon	Manor-Mercedes	55	+1 Lap†	20
17	12	Felipe Nasr	Sauber-Ferrari	46	Gearbox	18
Ret	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	40	Engine	1
Ret	21	Esteban Gutiérrez	Haas-Ferrari	39	Wheel	13
Ret	20	Kevin Magnussen	Renault	17	Transmission	14
Ret	8	Romain Grosjean	Haas-Ferrari	7	Spun off	12
Ret	5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	0	Accident	5
Source: "Malaysian Grand Prix 2016 Race Results". formula1.com (Formula One Administration). 2 October 2016. http://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2016/races/952/malaysia/race-result.html. Retrieved 2 October 2016.

• • Rosberg was given a ten-second time penalty for making contact with Räikkönen. However, since he finished the race more than ten seconds ahead, his results were not affected.
• ^† Ocon was given two five-second time penalties for speeding in the pit lane.

Milestones

• Jenson Button's 300th start (303rd entry).
• Lewis Hamilton's 100th front row start.
• Daniel Ricciardo's first win since the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix.
• Red Bull's first 1-2 finish since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix.
• Jolyon Palmer's first championship point.

Standings after race

Drivers' World Championship Pos. Driver Pts +/- 1 Nico Rosberg 288 — 2 Lewis Hamilton 265 — 3 Daniel Ricciardo 204 — 4 Kimi Räikkönen 160 ▲ 1 5 Sebastian Vettel 153 ▼ 1 6 Max Verstappen 147 — 7 Valtteri Bottas 80 — 8 Sergio Pérez 74 — 9 Nico Hülkenberg 50 — 10 Fernando Alonso 42 ▲ 1 11 Felipe Massa 41 ▼ 1 12 Carlos Sainz, Jr. 30 — 13 Romain Grosjean 28 — 14 Daniil Kvyat 25 — 15 Jenson Button 19 — 16 Kevin Magnussen 7 — 17 Jolyon Palmer 1 ▲ 3 18 Pascal Wehrlein 1 ▼ 1 19 Stoffel Vandoorne 1 ▼ 1 20 Esteban Gutiérrez 0 ▼ 1 21 Marcus Ericsson 0 — 22 Felipe Nasr 0 — 23 Rio Haryanto 0 — 24 Esteban Ocon 0 — Source:

Constructors' World Championship Pos. Team Pts +/- 1 Mercedes 553 — 2 Red Bull-TAG Heuer 359 — 3 Ferrari 313 — 4 Force India-Mercedes 124 — 5 Williams-Mercedes 121 — 6 McLaren-Honda 62 — 7 Toro Rosso-Ferrari 47 — 8 Haas-Ferrari 28 — 9 Renault 8 — 10 Manor-Mercedes 1 — 11 Sauber-Ferrari 0 — Source:

See Also

See the related event on the F2 Wiki 2016 Sepang Feature Race See the related event on the FIA F3 Wiki 2016 Sepang Feature Race

See the related event on the F2 Wiki 2016 Sepang Sprint Race See the related event on the FIA F3 Wiki 2016 Sepang Sprint Race

Notes

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