Mercedes AMG Petronas driver, Lewis Hamilton took a lights-to-flag victory at the 2014 PETRONAS Malaysian Grand Prix, while teammate Nico Rosberg finished right behind in second. This is the first one-two finish for the Mercedes Silver Arrows since Juan Manuel Fangio and Piero Taruffi at the 1955 Italian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton
I’m incredibly happy today. This is my first win in Malaysia after eight attempts and to do it for our PETRONAS family in their home country makes it even more special. It’s all down to the team. They have done a fantastic job and I have to say a huge thank you to everyone here at the track and back at our factories who have been pushing non-stop to get the car where it is. The race was tougher than it perhaps looked today and the conditions here always make it a great challenge. But I was able to look after the car, the tyres and the fuel and still keep a bit of pace in hand which made my job that little bit easier. It’s great to see Mercedes leading the championship but we know that we have to make these early races pay. Anything can happen as we saw in Australia, so this is an important result for us. One-two finishes don’t happen very often and this is a real achievement for the team. Finally, I would like to offer this victory in tribute to all those affected by the tragedy of MH370. A special mention also goes to my step-mum Linda for her 50th birthday tomorrow!
Nico Rosberg
This is an incredible day for our team and for Mercedes-Benz. Everyone back at our factories in Brackley and Brixworth, and all employees of Mercedes-Benz, can feel very proud today. For the first time in the modern Silver Arrows era, we have achieved a one-two finish which is an incredible result. The team did a phenomenal job over the winter and my thanks once again for that. I also want to thank our partners PETRONAS. They have given our team so much support, along with the best products for our power unit, so we are proud to be associated with them and I hope they enjoy the celebrations today. I had a great start again, even though it was tight with Sebastian. It was very close at the wall and I just closed the eyes, went for the gap and did it. Later I was able to control the pace and to defend my position against Seb but Lewis was out of my reach, so congratulations to him for his win. I really look forward now to next weekend in Bahrain.
Toto Wolff
It doesn’t get any better than a one-two finish – congratulations to everybody in the team, at Mercedes-Benz and at PETRONAS who worked so hard to make this happen. It was a controlled race from the first lap and Lewis and Nico did a fantastic job in very demanding conditions. But we cannot afford to be complacent: we still have room for improvement with our overall package and the race showed us once again that the competition are right there behind us. We will savour the moment this evening but we all know that if you stand still in this business, you go backwards. So we will be pushing hard to improve further for the next race in Bahrain.
Paddy Lowe
We knew from our practice running that we had the pace in the car, so today was about managing the team and the car through 56 laps without encountering any problems or making any mistakes. Formula One is a very complex sport and, as we have seen ourselves in recent weeks, the littlest things can destroy a race. But we delivered a faultless day for both cars and both drivers; we are simply over the moon to have scored the first one-two finish for Mercedes-Benz since 1955 and to have earned our own small place in that fantastic tradition. That’s the right point at which to thank the whole team that contributed to this success, in Brackley, Brixworth, Stuttgart and Kuala Lumpur, the home city of our partners PETRONAS. It is hard to overstate the crucial role of PETRONAS fluid technology solutions in the development of the new 2014 Power Unit and we are especially proud to have delivered our first one-two finish at their home race here in Malaysia. The entire team has spent several years working on this Silver Arrow and today we successfully delivered the final piece of the puzzle.
MERCEDES AMG PETRONAS drivers, Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg, finished the rain-affected Malaysian Grand Prix in 10th and 13th places respectively Sunday. Taking top spots at the second race of the 2012 Formula 1 season was Fernando Alonso from team Ferarri who captured the win after starting from 8th position. Coming in second was Sergio Peres, Sauber-Ferrari, followed by Lewis Hamilton, McLaren-Mercedes, and Mark Webber, Red Bull Racing-Renault.
| Drivers | Car No. | Chassis No. | Race Result / Fastest Lap |
| Michael Schumacher | 7 | F1 W03 / 05 | P10 1:41.760 |
| Nico Rosberg | 8 | F1 W03 / 03 | P13 1:41.863 |
| Weather | Wet | |
| Temperatures | Air: 25-26°C | Track: 24-28°C |
Michael Schumacher
“From where I started the race, it’s a real shame to grab just one point at the end today, and of course I would have wished for a better finish for our team after their hard work. However I was touched at the back soon after the start and the car spun which really decided my afternoon. During the first part of the race, I just tried to stay on track as you couldn’t see anything, and it was the right decision to halt the race. After the re-start, the pace wasn’t that far off but it was the same for a lot of teams so there was no way to gain positions. It’s clear from today that there is still a lot of work for us to do to take our pace from qualifying into the race, and I am sure the guys are already thinking very hard about finding a solution. But this will not be done from one race to another, it will take some time, and we need to give it that time. Still it is a fact that we have improved, so I can fly home now being sure about this and looking forward to fighting in the races to come.”
Nico Rosberg
“That was an unlucky day for me after an eventful race. I had a good restart and because of a good strategy I was in fourth position. But then I had problems with my intermediate tires; the degradation was very high which forced me to do another pit stop for a new set. The positive thing is that on my last stint with the slicks, I had good pace and because of my tire management, I was able to beat Jenson. We are strong in qualifying but not yet in the race, and we need to work on that before the next race in China.
Ross Brawn
“It’s a very disappointing end to what had been such a positive weekend here in Malaysia. Clearly we have a conundrum with this car that we have to unravel. After such an encouraging qualifying session, and indeed the fuel runs that we did on Friday, we struggled to get the tires to work properly in the race today. There were little windows when we seemed to get them working and other times where we fell out of them completely. I don’t believe that we are abusing the tires, just not using them properly, and it’s a problem that we have to solve if we are going to move forward with the car. It is especially disappointing after the potential we have shown, however I am confident that we have enough strength and the right people to unravel the problem. We will be getting our heads down back at the factory next week and doing just that.”
Norbert Haug
“From P3 Michael did not have the best start but was still in a top five slot when he was spun around during the first lap and passed the start and finish line in P16. After the restart, things did not go any better and we never really could cope with the wet conditions and the drying out track on which nobody has had the opportunity to test before the race. Other teams could obviously handle these mixed conditions better and all credit to them. Both Ferrari and Sauber did a great job today so congratulations to those teams, Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez. We obviously did not have the set-up to make the best out of these tricky conditions today. We brought Nico in and put him on slicks which was a calculated risk that finally did not pay off. Our car has got speed and we will continue to work hard to generate this speed in the race as well as in qualifying.”
The Malaysian Grand Prix holds the unique distinction of being the only Grand Prix circuit at which the Safety Car has not been officially deployed in the past ten years – in spite of often unpredictable weather conditions. With Mercedes-AMG once again supplying both the Official F1™ Safety Car and Official F1™ Medical Car for 2012 – the 17th season in which it has done so – it’s the perfect opportunity to look at how often this race-changing factor comes into play…
How much was the Safety Car used in 2011?
Last season saw the Safety Car deployed for 4.9% of the season – a total of 12 deployments, over seven races, for 61 laps or 284.3 kilometres. This compares to 21 deployments in 12 races in 2010, for a total of 7.8% of the season over 452.3 kilometres. This reduction was in spite of a significant increase in on-track overtaking through the combination of the Pirelli tyres and DRS rear wing system. However, while there was an overall reduction in Safety Car deployments, the 2011 Canadian Grand Prix featured five Safety Car phases over 32 laps, or 139.6 kilometres: this represented 45.7% of the race distance, a record in Formula One.
Which races feature the highest and lowest probabilities of Safety Car deployment?
The races with the highest historical probability of Safety Car deployment are in Singapore and Korea: every race held at these venues has seen at least one deployment (four races in Singapore, two in Korea). Canada (14 deployments in last nine races) and Monaco (13 deployments in last ten races) also feature prominently. As for the lowest likelihood, aside from the Indian circuit which has only hosted a single race, this is in Malaysia (no official deployments in the past ten years), Bahrain (one deployment in seven races) and Hungary (two deployments in last ten races).
Wasn’t the Safety Car deployed during the 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix?
The Safety Car was indeed deployed on lap 32 of the race, before the event was red flagged on lap 33. However, the official race results only run to lap 31, so the Safety Car deployment is not considered for statistical purposes.
Which cars are used for the Official F1™ Safety Car and Official F1™ Medical Car?
The Official F1™ Safety Car is the SLS AMG, with a 6.3-litre V8 engine developing a peak output of 420 kW (571 hp) at 6800 rpm and maximum torque of 650 Nm at 4750 rpm. The engine, power train, suspension and braking system of the Safety Car are the same as those found in the standard production SLS AMG. The Official F1™ Medical Car is the C 63 AMG Estate, which produces 358 kW (487 hp) – an extra 30 hp compared to the standard model thanks to forged pistons, connecting rods and lightweight crankshaft from the SLS AMG. These components are three kilograms lighter than standard. The first Mercedes-AMG Safety and Medical Cars were the C 36 AMG, which was first used in 1996, although an AMG E-Class Coupe was occasionally used as the Medical Car as early as 1984.