2016 Malaysian GP: Hamilton's engine blows, Ricciardo wins

Daniel Ricciardo won the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix ahead of his team-mate Max Verstappen, handing Red Bull a one-two. Nico Rosberg finished third even though he had dropped to last after the start. The race at the Sepang International Circuit was decided on lap 41, when the engine in Lewis Hamilton's car went up in flames while he held a big lead.

Hamilton started from pole position, which grandprix.com says was his 100th front-row start. He got away cleanly. Behind him there was chaos: Sebastian Vettel, starting from grid position 5, ran into the back of Rosberg at Turn 1. His rival's Mercedes spun and dropped to the back of the field. The left front suspension on the Ferrari driver's car was broken, and he parked it a few corners later. The results list him as “Collision” without a single classified lap. The stewards gave him a three-place grid penalty for the next race in Japan.

The first Virtual Safety Car (VSC) period came right after the opening lap. Several drivers had to pit after the scramble at the start, including Kevin Magnussen, Daniil Kvyat and Esteban Gutiérrez. Verstappen lost ground at the start, but according to grandprix.com he passed Sergio Pérez for 3rd place on lap 3.

Romain Grosjean caused the next Virtual Safety Car. After seven laps his Haas F1 Team car went off into the gravel with a brake failure. Red Bull used the slow phase to bring Verstappen in for soft tyres on lap 9. Rosberg pitted as well. At that point he was eleventh and had already been working his way forward bit by bit.

Hamilton stayed out until lap 20 and Ricciardo until lap 21. That briefly shuffled the lead: Ricciardo was in front for one lap, then Verstappen led from lap 22. Because he had stopped early, Verstappen had to pit again on lap 27, this time for hard tyres. From lap 28 Hamilton was back in front.

On fresher tyres, Verstappen caught his team-mate. Shortly before Hamilton retired, the two Red Bulls went wheel to wheel. Ricciardo refused to give way and kept 2nd place. Red Bull let both drivers race each other freely.

Hamilton seemed to have the race firmly under control. According to formula1.com he was 22.7 seconds ahead after 40 laps. Then, on the way to Turn 1, smoke poured from the back of his Mercedes and flames burst out. His race ended after 40 classified laps, and the results show “Engine”. Ricciardo took the lead, and there was another Virtual Safety Car. Red Bull pitted both cars on the same lap for soft tyres. Ricciardo spent 24.4 seconds in the pit lane for his stop, while Verstappen, waiting behind him, needed 28.3 seconds. That all but settled the fight for the win. According to the FIA, Verstappen got to within about one second in the closing stages, but Ricciardo won by 2.4 seconds.

By then Rosberg had worked his way back into the leading group. Shortly before Hamilton's retirement, according to formula1.com, he dived up the inside of Kimi Räikkönen at Turn 2 and the two cars touched. The stewards handed him a 10-second time penalty for it. Rosberg responded with a run of quick laps and set the fastest lap of the race along the way. That gave him enough of a gap at the finish to stay third ahead of Räikkönen despite the penalty.

• Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari): at the first corner after the collision with Rosberg, without a classified lap
• Romain Grosjean (Haas): after 7 laps, brake failure and a spin into the gravel
• Kevin Magnussen (Renault): after 17 laps, officially a loss of power. He had already had to pit after the first lap.
• Esteban Gutiérrez (Haas): after 39 laps, wheel nut problem. According to grandprix.com, the left front wheel came loose.
• Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes): after 40 laps, engine failure while leading
• Felipe Nasr (Sauber): after 46 laps, brakes

Fernando Alonso made up the most ground. An engine penalty meant he had to start from grid position 22, and he finished seventh. By gaining 15 places, he scored valuable points for the McLaren team. His team-mate Jenson Button finished ninth in his 300th Grand Prix.

Valtteri Bottas gained six places from grid position 11 and finished fifth for Williams with just one pit stop. It was a special day for Jolyon Palmer: he climbed from grid position 19 to 10th place, scoring his first championship point in Formula 1. For Force India, Pérez finished sixth and Nico Hülkenberg eighth.

Along with Hamilton and Vettel, Felipe Massa was also among the losers. After early pit stops on laps 1 and 6 he finished a lap down in only 13th. At Toro Rosso, Carlos Sainz narrowly missed the points in eleventh. Manor Marussia saw the chequered flag with Pascal Wehrlein in 15th and Esteban Ocon in 16th.

In the title race, the afternoon at Sepang was a heavy blow for Hamilton. Rosberg extended his lead in the standings to 23 points and now had 288 points to Hamilton's 265. Five races remained until the end of the season. Ricciardo strengthened his hold on 3rd place with 204 points. With 160 points, Räikkönen moved past Vettel (153) into 4th place.

In the constructors' standings, Mercedes still had a clear lead on 553 points ahead of Red Bull (359) and Ferrari (313). Force India held on to 4th place with 124 points, just ahead of Williams (121).

For Red Bull it was the second win of the season after Verstappen's triumph in Spain. The team celebrated its first one-two since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix, which also made it the team's first of the hybrid era that began in 2014. Ricciardo won for the fourth time in his career and for the first time since the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix.