Daniel Ricciardo wins the Malaysian Grand Prix, beating Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen in race. In the same time the leader Lewis Hamilton suffered an engine failure. And is now 23 points behind Nico Rosberg in the championship. Hamilton made a strong start to keep his lead, while behind team-mate Nico Rosberg was hit by Sebastian Vettel, who dived up the inside. He was trying to pass Verstappen.
Ricciardo and Verstappen slotted behind Hamilton. Rosberg was at the back of the grid, while Vettel retired with front-left suspension damage. A Virtual Safety Car was deployed when Haas driver Romain Grosjean spun off with an apparent brake failure. And Verstappen and Rosberg for the big boys pitted.
Red Bull drivers in close fight
He made his first stop on Lap 21 – reclaimed the lead and managed the gap back to Ricciardo, who also overhauled Verstappen. Hamilton built a good gap over the Red Bulls of over 20 seconds, while behind Daniel was holding Max in the battle for 2nd. Both did a good scrap.
The pair going side-by-side for multiple corners and Daniel stayed ahead. Hamilton was pushing, having the intention to do 2nd stop for soft tyres. But his engine gave up on lap 41, ending his race and put him in a big dissapointment.
Rosberg penalised for a collision with Kimi Raikkonen
Ricciardo and Verstappen moved to the front. Red Bull put them in the pits for softs under the Virtual Safety Car. This created a 2 seconds gap between the pair. Rosberg found himself at the back of the pack after the first-corner drama. But he recovered to the final podium position, despite being penalised with 10 secs for a collision with Kimi Raikkonen early on.
The Ferrari driver finished 4th and was enable to stay within 10 seconds of Rosberg. Valteri Bottas in Williams was 5th with one-stop strategy. He started on a medium tyres and after that was using hards. Both Force India drivers made a good race. Perez ended 6th while Hulkenberg 8th. Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button gave McLaren-Honda a double points finish in seventh and ninth, with Jolyon Palmer claiming his first Formula 1 point in 10th position.
Red Bull thus marked its first 1-2 result since Brazil 2013, denying Mercedes an early conctructor title celebration, while Rosberg moved 23 points clear of Hamilton with five races remaining.
