Max Verstappen gave himself a late birthday present on Sunday, as the Dutchman passed Lewis Hamilton before going to take victory at the final Malaysian Grand Prix in Sepang.
The Red Bull driver made the most of more problems at Ferrari, as Kimi Raikkonen was unable to take the start due to engine problems, and would use his superior pace in the early laps to move ahead of the Mercedes into Turn 1 using DRS.
After a controlled performance, Verstappen would eventually cross the finish line 12 seconds clear of the championship leader with Hamilton maintaining second and Daniel Ricciardo claiming the final podium place.
The Australian would have to fight hard for that position, however. After falling behind Valtteri Bottas at the start before passing the Finn at Turn 4 in a thrilling wheel-to-wheel battle, he would later have to hold off a recovering Sebastian Vettel, as the German moved up from 20th on the grid to fourth in the Ferrari.
He would look to pass Ricciardo for third after closing consistently by a second per lap using an alternative tyre strategy but when his former teammate defended strongly, he was ordered to back off to protect the car amid rising temperatures.
After what was a strong recovery drive, there would be a final sting in the tail to the four-time champion’s troubled weekend as he and Lance Stroll collided at Turn 5 on the in-lap causing heavy damage to the Prancing Horse. That has now created concerns of a possible gearbox change for the next race in Japan which would result in a five-place grid penalty.
Bottas’ race encapsulated the problems Mercedes had on Sunday, as the two-time race winner this season would be behind Vettel by the halfway point, following the pitstops, and would be almost a minute down on race winner Verstappen in fifth place at the end.
Raikkonen’s absence saw Sergio Perez use his strength of managing the rear tyres as, in the last race on the circuit where he scored his first F1 podium in 2012, he finished ‘best of the rest’ in sixth.
In what was a titanic midfield battle, Stoffel Vandoorne would be able to keep his seventh place from qualifying in the McLaren, scoring points for the second successive race. The Belgian would beat the two Williams’, as Stroll passed Felipe Massa after pitting to take eighth with the Brazilian ninth.
Esteban Ocon also had a very eventful race in the second Force India, colliding with Massa and Perez at the start and requiring an early stop. Later the Frenchman would be hit and spun by Carlos Sainz also at Turn 1 before being pushed off track on several occasions by Massa again as the two battled for position.
By the end, however, the 21-year-old would continue his remarkable points scoring run making it 14 in 15 races as he rounded out the top 10.
Fernando Alonso made another barn-storming start, running as high as fifth but would slip down the order as the race progressed just missing the points positions in 11th.
The Spaniard would be involved in a close call with Kevin Magnussen late on as he barged his way past at Turn 2. That would leave the two Haas cars line astern in 12th and 13th, holding off Pierre Gasly in his first race, as the young Frenchman was 14th for Toro Rosso.
Disappointment at Renault as their drivers fell back massively in the race as an early decision to change tyres backfired. Nico Hulkenberg was only 15th and Jolyon Palmer, who spun at Turn 14 before spinning again two corners later after colliding with Magnussen mid-race, was 16th.
The two Sauber’s of Pascal Wehrlein and Marcus Ericsson completed the field as Sainz was the only in-race retirement due to engine problems in his Toro Rosso.
At the front and it was all smiles as Verstappen finally had something to cheer with just his second podium of the season and a first win since his first race with Red Bull in Spain last year.
For Hamilton too, his championship lead extended further to 34 points over Vettel with five races to go, starting with the Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka in a week’s time.
