MALAYSIAN GRAND PRIX - RACE
Daniel Ricciardo lead a Red Bull one-two in the Malaysia GP, with an incredibly recovery drive from Nico Rosberg ending with the Germany third in the podium. Rosberg leads the championship ahead of the Japanese GP next weekend.
Everything seemed to be over for Rosberg after the first corner. Sebastian Vettel, starting fifth, shot down the inside of Max Verstappen going into the tight hair pin. Vettel managed to get past, but couldn’t turn his car fast enough and hit Rosberg.
Rosberg was sent spinning to the back of the pack, Vettel out of the race. Verstappen managed to get away with minimal damage, but had still lost a handful of places.
Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton was in a race of his own, once again. He’d managed to get a clean get away from the grid, and had left Ricciardo far behind him.
The virtual safety car was virtually brought out, pausing the race whilst the debris from the collision was cleared.
Further back, Daniil Kvyat had hit the back of Kevin Magnussen’s car and the Russian dived into the pits to replace his damaged front wing.
As soon as the green flags returned to the track, Verstappen was on the move. The Dutch driver made quick work of Kimi Raikkonen and Sergio Perez ahead of him, moving back up to third.
Further back in the field, Fernando Alonso was on the move. After starting twenty second on the grid after taking an engine penalty, the Spaniard was set for a strong recovery drive. Alonso was already up into the points by the time the virtual safety car was deployed, and he wasn’t about to stop there.
The McLaren driver moved up into ninth, then stuck to the back of Valtteri Bottas’ car. His attack would have to be put on hold though, when the virtual safety car was deployed again.
A big puff of smoke signalled a problem with Romain Grosjean’s left rear break and the Frenchman was sent hard into the gravel track.
Verstappen took the opportunity to head to the pits, putting soft tyres onto his Red Bull machine. The virtual safety car meant he would head out only sixteen seconds behind Hamilton.
By this point, everybody had guessed Rosberg’s race was over, but the German was still on track, and he wasn’t about to give up without a fight. As the virtual safety car ended, the German was pushing against Nico Hulkenberg for thirteenth. It didn’t take long for Rosberg to pick of Hulkenberg, then Felipe Nasr.
The opening lap damage wasn’t over yet. Magnussen was struggling in his Renault, the down force levels not where they were supposed to be. Seventeen laps into the race, the Danish driver was told to come into the pits, retiring his car.
Rosberg had managed to get up into the points and was running up in sixth before the leaders dived into the points. Verstappen’s early stop guaranteed him the lead of the race, with Hamilton, Ricciardo, and Raikkonen behind him. When Raikkonen came out of the pits, he found the familiar silver car of Rosberg right behind him.
The alternative strategy Red Bull had put Verstappen on didn’t seem to be working quite the way they planned. Hamilton was catching the teenager, setting the fastest lap of the race.
Verstappen was told he could push, but the soft tyres were beginning to run out and he dived into the pits. With hard tyres on, he came out only just ahead of Raikkonen, behind his team mate.
It was expected the leaders were going to try and keep their hard tyres until the end of the race, but that just wasn’t going to work for Rosberg. The German pitted, putting more hard tyres on and coming out behind Perez. Ferrari moved to cover the stop, pitting Raikkonen for hard tyres and coming out ahead of the German.
Alonso was still on his recovery drive, though. The Spaniard was swarming over the back of Carlos Sainz’s car, trying to find a way past the Toro Rosso car. With a purple first sector, Alonso passed his fellow Spaniard.
Rosberg was close to the back of Raikkonen’s car, sending the Finn into as much of a panic as you can send Raikkonen into. He could be heard complaining on the radio, saying he needed as much power as he could get with the Mercedes within DRS range.
The German headed up the inside of Raikkonen, but it wasn’t clean. The two came together, Raikkonen hitting the side pod of Rosberg’s car. Both managed to keep going, though, Rosberg ahead, but it was a move Rosberg would be investigated for.
Ricciardo was now having to defend against Verstappen, Red Bull long ago learning not to tell your drivers not to race in Malaysia. The Dutchman got up alongside his more experienced team mate and it looked like Verstappen might get ahead, but Ricciardo fought hard and managed to keep the teenager at pay.
Hamilton had been on fire earlier in the race, setting fastest laps to get a good run on Verstappen when he was in second. Now he was actually on fire, smoke and flames pouring from the engine.
The virtual safety car was deployed as the stricken Mercedes was cleared from the track. Both Red Bulls, Raikkonen, and Rosberg pitted for new tyres, but all came out in the same order.
Esteban Gutierrez’s tyre was also seeing some action, but not in the pits. His first left tyre had come away from the car, and the Haas driver pulled to the side of the track, the second Haas to retire from the race.
Just as the virtual safety car was cleared, Rosberg was handed a ten second penalty. That dropped him to a net fourth place, with Raikkonen not too far behind him. There weren’t too many laps left, and he would have to get a move on if he wanted to get the podium.
With only six laps to go, Raikkonen slipped just out of the top ten, meaning there would once again be a Mercedes on the podium.
Verstappen was beginning to fall away from Ricciardo a bit and this time there was no need for team orders in the Red Bull camp for their Australian driver to take the race win.
RESULTS:
1. Daniel Ricciardo / Red Bull-TAG-HEUER / Australia / + 25 Points
2. Max Verstappen / Red Bull-TAG-HEUER / Netherlands / + 18 Points
3. Nico Rosberg / Mercedes-Mercedes / Germany / + 15 Points
4. Kimi Raikkonen / Ferrari-Ferrari / Finland / + 12 Points
5. Valtteri Bottas / Williams-Mercedes / Finland / + 10 Points
6. Sergio Perez / Force India-Mercedes / Mexico / + 8 Points
7. Fernando Alonso / McLaren-Honda / Spain / + 6 Points
8. Nico Hulkenberg / Force India-Mercedes / Germany / + 4 Points
9. Jenson Button / McLaren-Honda / Great Britain / + 2 Points
10. Jolyon Palmer / Renault-Renault / Great Britain / + 1 Point
11. Carlos Sainz / Toro Rosso-Ferrari / Spain
12. Marcus Ericsson / Sauber-Ferrari / Sweden
13. Felipe Massa / Williams-Mercedes / Brazil
14. Daniil Kvyat / Toro Rosso-Ferrari / Russia
15. Pascal Wehrlein / Manor-Mercedes / Germany
16. Esteban Ocon / Manor-Mercedes / France
RETIRED - Felipe Nasr / Sauber-Ferrari / Brazil / Break-By-Wire
RETIRED - Lewis Hamilton / Mercedes-Mercedes / Great Britain / Engine Fire
RETIRED - Esteban Gutierrez / Haas-Ferrari / Mexico / Mechanical Failure
RETIRED - Kevin Magnussen / Renault-Renault / Denmark / Collision Damage
RETIRED - Romain Grosjean / Haas-Ferrari / France / Break Failure
RETIRED - Sebastian Vettel / Ferrari-Ferrari / Germany / Collision
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Article Written By: Bethonie Waring
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