2011 Malaysian Grand Prix

Championship standings

Vettel leads on 25 points after winning the opening round in Melbourne. The rest of the standings are as the drivers finished in Australia: Hamilton on 18, Petrov on 15.

Previous race

Vettel won the season opener in Melbourne from pole, with Hamilton second and Vitaly Petrov third — Petrov’s first podium and the first for a Russian driver in Formula One. Hispania Racing’s Narain Karthikeyan and Vitantonio Liuzzi both failed to qualify after their lap times fell outside 107% of Vettel’s Q1 benchmark. Post-race scrutineering disqualified both Saubers of Pérez and Kobayashi for a technical infringement.

Entrants

Hispania arrive confident of qualifying after their 2011-specification front wing — which failed its crash test in Melbourne — has now passed. Nico Hülkenberg again substitutes for Paul di Resta at Force India. Daniel Ricciardo drives for Toro Rosso in FP1, this time replacing Sébastien Buemi. GP2 driver Davide Valsecchi takes part for Lotus, replacing Heikki Kovalainen.

Tyre choices

Pirelli brings the same hard/soft pairing as in Melbourne. The high temperatures at Sepang and the circuit’s abrasive surface lead Pirelli to predict heavy tyre wear throughout the weekend, with pit-stop strategy expected to be the decisive factor. An experimental harder compound was also supplied for free practice only, with a view to introducing it at the Turkish Grand Prix — but the compound was rejected following feedback from the teams.

The FIA moved the pole position grid slot from the left to the right side of the circuit. The pole slot had traditionally been on the left because it offered the optimal line into the tight first corner, but tyre marbles from the Pirellis had accumulated precisely on that side of the track.

Practice

Mark Webber was fastest in FP1 by more than a second and a half over Hamilton. Vettel ran in 17th overall, focused on developing the KERS unit rather than outright pace — team principal Christian Horner had indicated in the build-up that the unraced KERS device would be crucial. Overall lap times were considerably slower than at Sepang in 2010, with Webber’s benchmark more than two and a half seconds off Hamilton’s time from the same session a year ago.

FP1 was marked by mechanical failures: Jérôme d’Ambrosio’s right-front suspension failed, keeping the Virgin out of FP2 for repairs. Both Renaults suffered similar problems — Heidfeld’s front-right tyre locked in place, and Petrov spun at turn 9 with a comparable fault. The team discovered a material defect in the suspension uprights; both cars were limited to a handful of laps across the two sessions while the investigation was conducted.

Webber was fastest again in FP2 by just five thousandths of a second over Jenson Button. Pastor Maldonado spun into the pit lane wall and damaged his Williams, dropping down the order. Vitantonio Liuzzi stopped on circuit after bouncing over a kerb but was able to continue. The Hispania cars set times within 107% of the pace leaders in both Friday sessions.

Hamilton topped FP3 ahead of Webber and Button in a clean session, notable mainly for several spins from Paul di Resta and Liuzzi spending most of the hour in the garage with a mechanical fault.