Max Verstappen won the Malaysian Grand Prix on the weekend of his 20th birthday – a victory that was set up by passing Lewis Hamilton, who still extended his championship lead.
In hot and humid conditions, Hamilton finished second with his title rival Sebastian Vettel driving from the back of the grid to a remarkable fourth-place finish. Daniel Ricciardo, of Red Bull, was third.
Vettel’s damage limitation exercise was impressive but he now trails Hamilton by 34 points with five more races remaining, the next in Japan a week on Sunday.
Sparks flew between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton as the young Dutchman stole pole from the Mercedes star
The Dutchman pressed ahead of Hamilton and stormed to victory for Red Bull in the Malaysian Grand Prix
Hamilton had burst out of the traps, but his Red Bull rival Verstappen was instantly on his tail and pressured from the off
The two stars of the sport went head to head in an immediate duel, with Verstappen coming out on top
Verstappen displayed some incredible skill to steal an early march on Hamilton and impose himself upon the race in Sepang
The Red Bull prodigy held his nerve as he began to pull away from the Championship leader and set the pace in Malaysia
But while the championship leaders played out their private battle on different parts of the track, Verstappen was adding lustre to his burgeoning name with a fine performance, his second career victory, by 10 seconds. His first in Spain last year had elements of fortune to it, but he was solidly impressive here in a very strong Red Bull.
He passed Hamilton at the start of the fourth lap at the first corner, darting through the inside with the help of the DRS boost device. Cue frantic applauding in the Red Bull garage and Verstappen’s excited radio transmission: ‘That’s how you do it.’
He had been helped by Hamilton’s battery losing some of its power, but it was a good pass nonetheless.
Verstappen now put his foot down, opening up a 1sec lead in a trice. That was soon up to 8sec. He was not threatened again, ending a run of problems that added up to seven retirements this season. His last and only podium of the year came many moons ago in China.
Hamilton looked strong in second, though he had thoughts as much as one man behind him as the one in front: Vettel. ‘He’s 22sec behind but he might be a threat at the end of the race,’ Hamilton was told, prophetically.
The Red Bull team worked meticulously in the pits to get the Dutchman back out onto the track to compete with Hamilton
Ferrari were dealt another blow as Kimi Raikkonen had issues with his car and was forced to bow out prematurely
Sebastian Vettel managed to pull back some places following his nightmare in qualifying on Saturday
The German pushed hard to put pressure on the podium finishers and try to catch his arch rival Lewis Hamilton
Vettel ended up finishing the race in a mess following a late collision with Lance Stroll which left the Ferrari man livid
Indeed, Vettel carved through the field in his excellent Ferrari and was up to 10th and a point scoring place in nine laps. He thrust right into the mix by passing Sergio Perez’s Force India and getting on the back of Mercedes’ Finn Valtteri Bottas, running fourth.
Vettel passed him in the pits. So now he was behind the top three – all of whose cars were fast enough to prevent him getting on to the podium, though he had a brief moment when it seemed possible he would get past Ricciardo.
It was a bad day for Ferrari generally(Vettel’s speed and performance, apart), with Kimi Raikkonen withdrawn from the grid with an engine problem. The constructors’ championship is over bar the mathematics. The mood at Maranello must be shaky, given that Vettel’s engine problem that demolished his qualifying afternoon sentenced him to the back of the grid.
‘I don’t know what it is yet exactly – I don’t think anyone does,’ said Raikkonen.
‘It’s impossible to say if I could have won but I’m pretty certain I would have had a very, very good car today.’