Race Report – Between drinks

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Daniel Ricciardo, Malaysian GP 2016 

 © Active Pictures

By Dan Knutson in Sepang

Daniel Ricciardo got to drink the bubbly from his racing boot after he won the Malaysian Grand Prix. The last time he tasted the winning wine, albeit from the bottle rather than his shoe, was after his victory in the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix.

“What a day, I’m feeling a bit emotional and overwhelmed!” he said. “It’s been a long time between drinks! A couple of weeks ago I said we’d win a race this year, but to be honest I didn’t expect a win to come at this circuit. This is probably the sweatiest race to win and do a ‘shoey,’ but for me it’s not so bad, I felt a bit sorry for the others though having to drink from my shoe, but the crowd was encouraging me.”

It had been a hot race.

The ambient temperature at the start of the race was 91 degrees Fahrenheit (33 degrees Centigrade) and the track temperature was 126 degrees Fahrenheit (52 degrees Centigrade.) There was a 20 percent chance of rain, and the humidity was 53 percent.

Lewis Hamilton was going to win the 56-lap affair, but his Mercedes engine went up in flames 40 laps into the event. That set up a duel to the finish between Ricciardo and his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen.

“The battle with Daniel during the race was great and really good fun,” Verstappen said after finishing second. “We have a lot of respect for each other so you can see we gave plenty of space but were still able to push hard. I got close to being in the DRS activation zone but my rubber was slightly older and overheating so I just couldn’t get within range and attack.”

It was a case of damage control for Nico Rosberg who wound up third in his Mercedes after dropping to 17th after getting tangled up in first lap accident.

“Today was a tough day – because after Turn 1 I thought it was finished,” Rosberg said. “Of course I’m happy with the comeback; to get all the way back on the podium, I definitely didn’t think that was going to be possible. For Lewis (Hamilton), I’ve been in his position, I know how terrible it is in that moment, so I’m sure he’s totally gutted.”

Going back to the beginning, Felipe Massa’s car stalled at the start of the formation lap. He had qualified tenth, but now the mechanics had to push his car into the pits. They got the car started and he headed for pit exit.

Pole sitter Hamilton got a good start to take the lead in the 56-lap race. Sebastian Vettel, who had qualified his Ferrari fifth, tried to go for it all in Turn 1.

“I braked late but I was still behind Nico (Rosberg) and then Sebastian (Vettel) just dived up the inside, just went really deep and there was definitely no space for that,” Verstappen said. “He T-boned Nico, so I had to avoid all the debris and the two cars. I lost three or four positions because of that.”

Vettel, last year’s winner, parked his damaged car on the edge of the track Turn 3, and the Virtual Safety Car was deployed for three minutes.

“We had a good start,” Vettel said, “and then I was going side by side with Max (Verstappen). We were both battling for position into turn one. Nico (Rosberg) in the front was …

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