Ricciardo leads home Red Bull 1-2posted in F102 | 10 | 2016
AUSSIE DANIEL RICCIARDO led home a shock Red Bull 1-2 ahead team-mate Max Verstappen in a thrilling Malaysian Grand Prix after Lewis Hamilton retired from the lead. (Related: Gordon Shedden wins BTCC title in thriller)
The defending world champ had looked on-course to win the race and reclaim the lead in the title race when his Mercedes engine imploded on the approach to Turn 1 with 15 laps to go.
As he pulled to a stop at the side of the track, Hamilton cried "Ah, no, no, no”, before climbing out of the car, squatting down and placing his head in his hands.
With the virtual safety car activated, Ricciardo, who was running nose-to-tail with Verstappen at the time, pitted along with his Red Bull team-mate for soft tyres as they had a 40-second gap back to championship leader Nico Rosberg’s Mercedes in third.
The Red Bull duo refined comfortably ahead, and Ricciardo cruised to the finish to take his first victory of the season, and first since Spa 2014. It was also Red Bull’s first 1-2 since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Earlier in the race, while Hamilton led, the two Red Bulls went wheel-to-wheel with each other as Verstappen battled to pass the Aussie. But Ricciardo won the battle on the brakes into Turn 7 to hold what would turn out to be crucial track position.
Rosberg, meanwhile, completed a fight back through the pack from the back of the field after he was turned round following a collision with Sebastian Vettel’s Ferrari at Turn 1 on the opening lap.
Rosberg now heads to Japan this weekend leading Hamilton by 23 points with just five grands prix remaining.
Vettel’s first-lap error, which forced him to retire and resulted in a three-place grid penalty for Japan, came when he hurtled down the inside of Verstappen into the tight right-hander.
The four-time world champ was unable to stop, and he locked-up his Ferrari to skate into Rosberg, breaking his own car’s front-left wheel and forcing him to retire.
Rosberg, in turn, then received a 10-second penalty for causing a collision when he barged passed Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari into Turn 2 for third place.
Hamilton, meanwhile, had led comfortably from pole and established a healthy 20s gap before his engine exploded in flames. The three-time world champ has still to win a race since before the summer break.
Raikkonen crossed the line fourth, with Valtteri Bottas’ Williams fifth. Fernando Alonso — who started the race from last on the grid after receiving another laughable 45-place grid penalty for changing engine components — powered through to finish seventh, sandwiched between the Force India pair of sixth-placed Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg.
And while Alonso’s McLaren team-mate Jenson Button finished ninth, Jolyon Palmer recovered from what he described as a "pretty depressing" qualifying to finish 10th and score his first point of the season.
Formula 1 — Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang (Result):
1. Daniel Ricciardo AUS Red Bull-TAG Heuer 56 laps / 1h 37m 12.776s
2. Max Verstappen NED Red Bull-TAG Heuer +2.4s
3. Nico Rosberg GER Mercedes-Mercedes +25.5s
4. Kimi Raikkonen FIN Ferrari-Ferrari +28.7s
5. Valtteri Bottas FIN Williams-Mercedes +61.5s
6. Sergio Perez MEX Force India-Mercedes +63.7s
7. Fernando Alonso ESP McLaren-Honda +65.2s
8. Nico Hulkenberg GER Force India-Mercedes +74.0s
9. Jenson Button GBR McLaren-Honda +81.8s
10. Jolyon Palmer GBR Renault-Renault +95.4s
11. Carlos Sainz Jr ESP Toro Rosso-Ferrari +98.8s
12. Marcus Ericsson SWE Sauber-Ferrari +1 lap
13. Felipe Massa BRZ Williams-Mercedes +1 lap
14. Daniil Kvyat RUS Toro Rosso-Ferrari +1 lap
15. Pascal Wehrlein GER MRT-Mercedes +1 lap
16. Esteban Ocon FRA MRT-Mercedes +1 lap
Retired
Felipe Nasr BRZ Sauber-Ferrari
Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes-Mercedes
Esteban Gutierrez MEX Haas-Ferrari
Kevin Magnussen DEN Renault-Renault
Romain Grosjean FRA Haas-Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel GER Ferrari-Ferrari
Related: Rosberg wins in Singapore
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Jim McGill