Red Bull racer Daniel Ricciardo won an action-packed dramatic Malaysian Formula Grand Prix last weekend while teammate Max Verstappen finished in second and Mercedes Nico Rosberg at third. The three-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, which is the crowd favorite to win, retired after an engine failure, making a dent at his chance for the world title.
Not The 3rd Wheel Anymore
Daniel Ricciardo has placed third a lot of times in the past. The Malaysian GP now showed him ending that skid and finally getting the number one trophy after the abandonment of Lewis Hamilton as his Mercedes engine failed and Rosberg's effort proved inadequate enough to beat the Red Bull racer.
"I'm exhausted. It is such a hot race here. It was a race of challenges. Obviously, Lewis got the lead and had his problem. No hard feelings to Lewis" Ricciardo said.
Action-Packed Race
The rain that has been anticipated for the GP Malaysia 2016 has not arrived, but it was not needed as the race was an action-packed event from the start to the checkered flag.
Lewis Hamilton could not have started better, his fabulous departure allowing him to dominate the race until flames started pouring from his Mercedes on lap 43.
A battle between Sebastian Vettel and Max Verstappen ended with the Dutch delayed, Vettel going off track and hitting the nose of Rosberg's car. The German championship leader had to climb from the seventeenth position, and he did not disappoint.
Fernando Alonso started at 22nd place after a violation of opening new engine components this weekend, but the Spaniard took advantage of the best possible way the 'crazy' exit and at the first round managed to be placed in the twelfth position, and after a few laps became 10th, just ahead of Carlos Sainz. He is one of the men of the race, without doubt, as he started from the last position on the grid and brilliantly finished on 7th.
The fight for victory got more interesting. Lewis Hamilton was leading, followed closely by Daniel Ricciardo and Verstappen. While Hamilton and Ricciardo seemed to copy strategies, after leaving the soft and then placing the hard, the Dutch Red Bull driver rode two consecutive soft games in order to try to win the race at the end.
But we will never know what would have happened in that fight as on lap 40 the engine of Lewis Hamilton failed. He was heard shouting "No, no!" Since then, everything was an intense fight between the Red Bull teammates.
17 Years Old And Striving
In the end, RedBull triumph with their racers at the 1st and 2nd place. The 17-year-old and one of the youngest F1 racers, Max Verstappen, completed a brilliant race.
Verstappen had been on Ricciardo's tail and asking his team to "do something" to beat Hamilton, and the Australian had already fended off an attack by his teammate as they ran side by side from Turns Four to Eight. After Hamilton's engine caught on fire, the two already enjoy a lead of the race while Hamilton's teammate Rosberg grabbed the third position.
"They have great respect for each other. They are young, they were racing hard and it was right to let them race today. It is a great day for us." Red Bull team boss Christian Horner said.
After an action-packed race in Malaysia, everybody is now anticipating the next race which will happen on the weekend in Japan.
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