Malaysian Grand Prix (2014): RESULT

With Lewis Hamilton on pole and Nico Rosberg in third spot, can Mercedes take a one-two in the 2014 Malaysian Grand Prix to crush the opposition at Sepang?

The opening Grand Prix of 2014 in Australia could have been a demonstration of Mercedes’ apparent superiority with the new F1 engines, but Lewis Hamilton’s car let him down leaving Nico Rosberg to take the win for Mercedes.

But at the Sepang Track in Malaysia this morning, Lewis Hamilton had no such problems and was ahead of the pack from lights to flag to take a convincing win for Mercedes, 17.3 seconds ahead of his team mate Nico Rosberg in second place with reigning champion Sebastian Vettel trailing in third. An impressive Mercedes one-two in Kuala Lumpur.

Behind the top three, Fernando Alonso managed to take fourth place for Ferrari, Nico Hulkenberg showed Force India have legs this year with a fifth spot and Jenson Button managed sixth for McLaren.

Behind Button’s McLaren, the Williams cars recovered well from their poor wet showing in qualifying, with Massa and Bottas taking seventh and eighth spots (after Massa seemed to ignore team orders to move over for Bottas), McLaren new boy Magnussen – who did so well in Australia – managed ninth spot and Toro Rosso’s Daniil Kvyat took the last points place in tenth.

Red Bull’s new boy – Daniel Ricciardo – suffered more woes after his disqualification in Australia over the FIA fuel flow issue, falling from a possible fourth to a lap behind when a wheel wasn’t put on properly at his third pit stop, leaving him stranded half way down the pit lane.

When he finally got back out he had a front wing issue with the end plate falling off, running under the tyres and causing a puncture. Ricciardo then retired five laps from the end.

Raikkonen suffered a similar dismal fate in the race after Magnussen crashed in to the back of his Ferrari, puncturing a tyre. Raikkonen limped back to the pits and ended in twelfth place.

So it was a mixed bag for all the teams but Mercedes, with the Silver Arrows putting on a dominant display for the one-two and staking their claim to superiority on-track in 2014.