Ricciardo wins as Hamilton retires in Malaysia with engine fire - Engine fire halts Hamilton's run in Sepang
Published by Christine
The race in Sepang had drama at either end, with a first lap incident knocking Sebastian Vettel out of the grand prix and dropping Nico Rosberg to the back of the field. Vettel made a reckless move on Verstappen which didn’t work out, ending his running and punting Rosberg towards the rear. The Mercedes driver started making his recovery, overtaking Kimi Räikkönen with a bash of wheels that the stewards deemed worthy of a ten second penalty.
It didn’t look like he would manage to set foot on the podium, however, with Hamilton leading comfortably and two Red Bull cars settled in behind. However, on lap 40, Hamilton’s Mercedes burst into flames, the power unit giving up and pouring forth with a lot of smoke. The Brit climbed from his car, head in hands, bitterly disappointed. Daniel Ricciardo kept his teammate behind him to take the race victory, Verstappen settling for second and Rosberg did manage to take third place, and of course, the lead in the driver’s championship once again.
