2013 Malaysian Grand Prix

The 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix (officially the 2013 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix ) was a Formula One motor race held at the Sepang International Circuit in Sepang , Selangor on 24 March 2013 before 90,000 people. It was the second round of the 2013 Formula One World Championship , and the 15th Formula One race held in Malaysia. Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel won the 56-lap race from pole position . His teammate Mark Webber finished second, and Lewis Hamilton was third for the Mercedes...

Vettel apologised to the Red Bull team and Webber for ignoring the order to hold position; Red Bull did not punish or reprimand him because his attorneys threatened legal action, and he recanted the apology three weeks later. Webber was asked to present his version of events to Red Bull founder and co-owner Dietrich Mateschitz . Vettel's victory placed him in the lead of the World Drivers' Championship that he would not relinquish for the rest of the season, after Lotus driver Kimi Räikkönen fin...

The 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix was the 2nd of the 19 rounds of the 2013 Formula One World Championship , [ 1 ] and the 15th Formula One Malaysian race. [ 3 ] It was held at the 15-turn 5.543 km (3.444 mi) Sepang International Circuit in Sepang , Selangor on 24 March. [ 4 ] A Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA, motorsport's governing body)-sanctioned race has been held in Malaysia since the 1960s, with the first editions run in Singapore —then part of the Malaysian Federation—before mo...

Tyre supplier Pirelli brought white-banded, medium compound tyres; red-banded, hard compound dry tyres; green-banded, intermediate compound tyres; and dark-blue-banded wet-weather tyres to the race. [ 2 ] The drag reduction system (DRS), an adjustable flap at the back of each car that helps with overtaking when activated, had two activation zones for the race: one on the straight , linking turns 14 and 15, and another on the straight between the final and first corners. [ 3 ] For the race, a deb...

After winning the season-opening Australian Grand Prix one week earlier, Lotus driver Kimi Räikkönen led the World Drivers' Championship with 25 championship points , ahead of Ferrari 's Fernando Alonso and Red Bull 's Sebastian Vettel in second and third, with 18 and 15 championship points. Alonso's teammate Felipe Massa was fourth with 12 championship points, and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton was fifth with ten championship points. [ 7 ] Ferrari led the World Constructors' Championship with 3...

Vettel said that the Australian Grand Prix would be meaningless later in the year, and predicted that with the different conditions and tyres in Malaysia, he would outpace Ferrari and Lotus. [ 8 ] His teammate, Mark Webber , explained that Red Bull required an improvement in car performance for the race: "As a team we weren't as strong as we thought we'd be. But that's Formula One – it can change very quickly. We've got a very, very hot track this week in Sepang. So let's see how we go for the n...

The second session was also hot and humid; [ 23 ] many teams used dry tyres early, due to rain clouds above the track. A heavy rain shower fell, preventing an improvement in lap times; some drivers drove on the wet track on the intermediate-compound tyres, to acclimatise themselves with the conditions if inclement weather returned later in the week. [ 24 ] [ 25 ] Räikkönen lapped fastest at 1 minute, 36.569 seconds, followed by Vettel, Massa and Alonso, Webber, Grosjean, Rosberg, Di Resta, Hamil...

In the final session (also in hot, humid weather), most drivers used hard-compound tyres to see how they would behave during the race, then switched to medium-compound tyres when track grip improved. [ 27 ] Räikkönen set a benchmark in the first ten minutes, which Rosberg and Sutil bettered. Rosberg and his teammate, Hamilton, fought for the fastest lap time until Vettel used the medium-compound tyres to lead with a 1-minute, 36.435-second lap with three minutes to go. Hamilton, Sutil, Webber, R...

Rosberg was fastest in the first session, [ 22 ] but fell to sixth in the final session on a used set of intermediate tyres. [ 33 ] Räikkönen took seventh on a new set of intermediate tyres. [ 22 ] A slow pace put Button eighth, an oversteer in the corners left Sutil ninth, and McLaren's Sergio Pérez was tenth. [ 33 ] Grosjean, 11th, drove onto the track too late. [ 22 ] Hülkenberg, 12th, could not switch from a set of worn medium-compound tyres due to a loss of weather data. A car-balance adjus...

The fastest lap in each of the three sessions is in bold .

Notes:

At the start of lap two, Webber drew alongside Alonso, [ 42 ] whose front wing detached and folded under his Ferrari at the end of the main straight, [ 22 ] sending him into the turn-one gravel trap. Track stewards refused Alonso's request to extricate his car from the gravel, and he was the race's first retirement. [ 42 ] DRS was enabled on the third lap. [ 44 ] Rosberg passed Button for fourth on the third lap; [ 40 ] Räikkönen tried to pass Ricciardo for tenth at turn one on the next lap, [ 4...

Webber led laps five to seven, [ 22 ] because Red Bull advised him that turn three was too wet for dry tyres and he set a series of fast lap times. [ 42 ] [ 47 ] His race engineer , Simon Rennie , [ 48 ] told him to enter the pit lane at the conclusion of the seventh lap. [ 22 ] [ 49 ] Hamilton made a pit stop on lap eight. [ 42 ] He mistakenly drove into the McLaren pit stall, and the team waved him through to prepare for Button and Pérez's arrival. On that lap, Toro Rosso released Vergne into ...

Maldonado, in 12th position, ran on a damp white line at turn 11 on lap 13; he drove across the gravel trap, removing half of his car's front wing. Maldonado recovered to the pit lane without external aid for a replacement front wing, and rejoined the race in 21st place. [ 41 ] [ 42 ] By lap 15 Webber led teammate Vettel by 2.2 seconds, and Vettel was the same distance ahead of Hamilton in third. [ 40 ] Webber began the second round of pit stops when he entered the pit lane to switch to medium-c...

By the end of lap 25, Vettel was less than a second behind teammate Webber and could use DRS to attempt a pass for the lead. The gap to Vettel and Webber was lowered to four-tenths of a second at the start of the next lap, as Hamilton gained on them. Rocquelin told Vettel by radio on that lap to conserve his tyres in high-speed corners, because he drew too close to Webber and was affected by the aerodynamic turbulence of airflow over his teammate's car. [ 41 ] [ 42 ] Webber also slowed to preser...

The third pit-stop phase began on the 30th lap. Hamilton entered the lane to switch to hard-compound tyres, and rejoined the track in fifth place. Webber and Rosberg made their stops on the next lap for hard-compound tyres, and emerged in third and fifth. Vettel led the 32nd lap; he made his stop and returned in fourth position, behind Hamilton and Webber. Button led laps 33 and 34. [ 40 ] Webber unsuccessfully challenged Button for first near the final corner; [ 41 ] he then used DRS and out-br...

Red Bull technical director Adrian Newey told Webber that Vettel was instructed to hold position. [ 48 ] Incensed about Vettel's action, Webber considered boycotting the podium ceremony until convinced to do otherwise. [ 57 ] In the cool-down room, Vettel wanted to speak to Webber, who did not want to communicate with him; [ 48 ] he sat on a chair and told Vettel, "Multi 21, Seb. Yeah, Multi 21". [ 42 ] [ 49 ] During the podium interviews by commentator Martin Brundle , [ 58 ] Vettel said that i...

Vettel ignoring team orders was a key moment in his rivalry with Webber, which began when he collided with Webber at the 2010 Turkish Grand Prix and was forced to retire. [ 65 ] Horner talked to Vettel and Webber the night after the race, expressing his misgivings about the situation. [ 57 ] Vettel flew from Kuala Lumpur to visit the Red Bull team factory in Milton Keynes , England on 26 March to apologise to his colleagues after doing so to Webber at the press conference. According to Horner, V...

While in Australia, Webber received a telephone call from Red Bull owner and co-founder Dietrich Mateschitz , who asked for an oral and written account of events because he was irate about the damage to his company's reputation. [ 48 ] Although media reports and comments from the Formula One community speculated about his future at Red Bull and whether reserve driver, Sébastien Buemi , would replace him, [ 69 ] Webber dismissed the suggestions and would continue driving for the team for the fore...

Alonso said that he could have challenged for the victory had he not retired on the second lap due to Ferrari's similar race pace to Red Bull: "No one was especially quick, so I think we could really have fought for the win." [ 72 ] According to Button, he could have battled Mercedes for third position on strategy. [ 73 ] Although Rosberg begged Ross Brawn to reconsider his decision to maintain position, he respected Mercedes' judgment and finishing third and fourth and duelling Red Bull was "su...

The result moved Vettel into the lead of the World Drivers' Championship that he would never relinquish for the rest of the season with 40 championship points, and Räikkönen fell to second place. Webber rose three positions to third place, Hamilton moved to fourth, and Massa dropped from fourth to fifth. [ 7 ] [ 36 ] Red Bull took the lead of the World Constructors' Championship with 60 championship points. Lotus maintained second place, and Ferrari fell from first to third. Mercedes and Force I...

Drivers who scored championship points are denoted in bold .

Notes: