Taking a welcome break from the usual Mercedes 1-2 Formula One race parade, Red Bull blasted through for a 1-2 finish of their own with Daniel Ricciardo taking first place honors and his teammate, Max Verstappen, taking second place while Mercedes’ lone presence on the podium came a distant 25 seconds back with Nico Rosberg.
Red Bull’s victory came courtesy of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel, who started fifth but collided with Rosberg at the race start, taking himself out and putting Rosberg in the pits for repairs, where he had to fight back the entire race to eventually finish third. This seemingly set the race up for Rosberg’s Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton, to take the race in a runaway but Hamilton’s engine blew on Lap 41 and it was an easy 1-2 victory from there on out for the Red Bull teammates.
With his third place finish, Rosberg extends his season driver points standings with 288 to Hamilton’s 265 in second and Ricciardo with 204 in third.
2016 Malaysia Grand Prix Sepang International Circuit – 56 laps
1 Daniel Ricciardo – Red Bull 25 1:37:12.776
2 Max Verstappen – Red Bull 18 +2.443 Sec
3 Nico Rosberg – Mercedes 15 +25.516 Sec
4 Kimi Raikkonen – Ferrari 12 +28.785 Sec
5 Valtteri Bottas – Williams 10 +1:01.582 Sec
6 Sergio Perez – Force India 8 +1:03.794 Sec
7 Fernando Alonso – McLaren 6 +1:05.205 Sec
8 Nico Hulkenberg – Force India 4 +1:14.062 Sec
9 Jenson Button – McLaren 2 +1:21.816 Sec
10 Jolyon Palmer – Renault 1 +1:35.466 Sec
11 Carlos Sainz Jr. – Toro Rosso +1:38.878 Sec
12 Marcus Ericsson – Sauber
13 Felipe Massa – Williams
14 Daniil Kvyat – Toro Rosso
15 Pascal Wehrlein – Manor
16 Esteban Ocon – Manor
17 Felipe Nasr – Sauber
18 Lewis Hamilton – Mercedes
19 Esteban Gutierrez – Haas
20 Kevin Magnussen – Renault
21 Romain Grosjean – Haas
22 Sebastian Vettel – Ferrari