SEPANG, Malaysia -- Daniel Ricciardo won a dramatic Malaysian Grand Prix ahead of Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen after Lewis Hamilton retired from the lead of the race with an engine failure on lap 41.
For 40 laps everything was going Hamilton's way as he led the battling Red Bulls by over 20 seconds and title rival Nico Rosberg recovered through the field following contact with Sebastian Vettel at the first corner. But as Hamilton approached Turn 1 for the 41st time a lick of flame from the exhaust signaled a problem before the engine lost all power and ground to a halt on the exit of the corner. With smoke still coming from the rear of the car, the reigning world champion came to a halt with his head in his hands, knowing that his pursuit of a fourth world title had just become significantly more difficult.
Up until the Mercedes engine failure, the Red Bulls had been in a thrilling battle for second, with Verstappen attacking Ricciardo using a younger set of tyres. The pair duelled at high speed through Sepang's sweeping Turns 5 and 6, but Ricciardo just held on to the position. At the time it appeared as though they were fighting over second place behind Hamilton, but just one lap later the pair came across the yellow flags for the smoking Mercedes and moved up to second and third.
A Virtual Safety Car was deployed to clear Hamilton's stricken Mercedes and both Red Bull drivers were called into the pits at the same time for new tyres. The decision eliminated any advantage Verstappen had from his younger rubber as he had to stack behind his teammate to take on a set of new soft tyres of similar age to Ricciardo. However, in neutralising the race, Red Bull's pit wall made sure they secured their first 1-2 finish since Sebastian Vettel finished ahead of Mark Webber at the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Despite being tipped into a spin at the first corner by Vettel and receiving a 10-second time penalty for causing contact with Kimi Raikkonen while overtaking on lap 38, Rosberg battled back to take a significant third place. The result gives him a 23-point lead in the drivers' standings over Hamilton, putting him in a strong position with just five races left to run this year. Rosberg said he thought his race was over at Turn 1 when Vettel made an ambitious move on the inside of Verstappen and ended up tagging the Mercedes into a spin. The impact broke Vettel's front left suspension, resulting in the Ferrari's retirement on lap one while Rosberg had to fight back from the back of the field.
Raikkonen finished fourth after failing to stay within 10 seconds of Rosberg in the final stint to take advantage of the penalty hanging over the Mercedes diver. The incident in question saw Rosberg take the outside line in Turn 1 and then dive up the inside of the Ferrari at Turn 2, slapping his right rear wheel against the sidepod of Raikkonen's car in the process. It meant Rosberg had to push at the end of the race to ensure a 10-second lead over Raikkonen and the final place on the podium.
After starting 11th, Vatteri Bottas made use of a one-stop strategy to rise to fifth by the finish ahead of Sergio Perez's Force India in sixth. Fernando Alonso put in an incredible performance to go from last to seventh over the 56 laps and was as high as tenth on lap six. Nico Hulkenberg finished eighth ahead of Jenson Button in ninth and Renault's Jolyon Palmer, who scored the first point of his F1 career in tenth.
Six cars retired over the course of the race with Felipe Nasr, Esteban Gutierrez, Kevin Magnussen, Romain Grosjean and Vettel all joining Hamilton in the list of DNFs.