Almost a maximum for Max, a career-best for Stoffel, but Valtteri's slump continues
Tuesday 10 October 2017 11:36, UK
Max Verstappen said on Saturday that he wanted to win a race on merit and he did just that on Sunday to record the second victory of his F1 career and receive the perfect belated birthday present.
The now 20-year-old has been arguably the unluckiest driver in F1 2017, but was finally rewarded with a result his performances have deserved.
Verstappen admitted he took extra risk and went aggressive to get past Lewis Hamilton for the lead on lap four, but after that he never looked back as he comfortably pulled away from the Mercedes and Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo. Only the charging Sebastian Vettel could match the Dutchman for pace.
And perhaps his luck is just beginning to change too as he avoided a potential race disaster as Kevin Magnussen and Jolyon Palmer made contact mere moments after he had lapped them.
Rating out of ten: 9.5
It was clear Lewis Hamilton was ruing the missed opportunity after extending his title advantage by only six points on Sunday despite Sebastian Vettel's struggles - but in a Mercedes car that seemed to be third best in Sepang this was another strong weekend in his championship quest.
You must only look at the gap between Hamilton and his Mercedes team-mate - 0.7 seconds in qualifying and almost a minute in the race - to understand that the 2017 leader extracted absolutely everything out of the Malaysia GP.
Hamilton: We've got big problems
Hamilton will be grateful for another stonking pole lap - a lower grid position may have seen Vettel catch him - and while he admittedly "didn't put up a fight" when Verstappen came charging through the lead, this was probably the mature and wise decision.
Mercedes' pace is worrying but with five races to go and a 34-point advantage, Hamilton knows he just needs to keep up this consistency.
Rating out of ten: 9
Another podium for Daniel Ricciardo, but on this occasion there can be no dispute: it was Max Verstappen's weekend at Red Bull. Few drivers have performed quite as impressively - and consistently - as Ricciardo on race day this year, but his 22-second deficit to his race-winning team-mate meant this wasn't one of the Australian's best Sundays.
That said, Ricciardo still enjoyed his own high points with his racing skills once again adeptly displayed in both defence and attack. Starting on the wetter side of the grid, Ricciardo lost position to Bottas at Turn One, but got back ahead of the Mercedes after winning an entertaining five-corner duel eight laps later.
But that lost early ground was still costly as he lost touch with Hamilton and, despite having nearly 50 laps to try and catch up, never really made up sufficient ground to threaten the championship leader's second place. However, blunting Vettel's stirring recovery did represent a late-race success for which Hamilton was probably as delighted about as the Red Bull pit wall.
Rating out of ten: 8
There have been several fine recovery drives this season but perhaps Sebastian Vettel pulled off the best of the lot as he came from last to fourth to limit the damage to his title ambitions to just six points.
Ferrari had the quickest race car from Practice Two onwards but the German was forced to scythe his way through the field after a loss of power left him unable to set a time in Q1.
However, he made quick work of getting by the slower cars, up to 11th by lap three and up to fifth behind Valtteri Bottas by lap 21. With hindsight, the decision to pit early to undercut the Finn may have cost Vettel a podium as his tyres ran out late on as he challenged Daniel Ricciardo. Ultimately, though, he felt fourth was the best possible result.
But his Sunday delight was tapered by his bizarre collision with Lance Stroll following the chequered flag which caused significant damage to his Ferrari. The worry will now be that he is once again forced to play catch-up this weekend in Japan with a possible gearbox penalty looming.
Rating out of ten: 9
The mystery of Valtteri Bottas' shocking slump in form is that he has lost his pace having had it at the start of his Mercedes career when most expected the Finn to struggle. But Bottas has been blown away since the summer break - including being out-qualified by Hamilton by at least half a second in all of the Saturday sessions since Hungary - and Sunday's race saw him defeated by 55 seconds to Vettel and 44 seconds to Hamilton.
"It may be the most difficult time of my career so far," he said afterwards. For a driver as verbally reclusive as Valtteri, it was a remarkable admission. Suzuka will host a tough test of his mettle and resilience.
Rating out of ten: 5
Another 'best of the rest' display from Sergio Perez may not sound too surprising given the Mexican's consistent speed - but considering his fitness struggles in Sepang this was a remarkable drive.
Perez, suffering with a stomach virus, needed an IV drip after qualifying and admitted to Sky F1 he was considering "giving up" during the race, which he labelled the hardest of his career.
The Force India driver narrowly avoided heavy contact with his team-mate on the first lap and was quickly ahead of Esteban Ocon after a rare Saturday defeat, and was even gaining on Bottas' Mercedes at one stage in the race. But sixth place was a fine result, and one that Perez dedicated to those affected by earthquakes in his country.
Rating out of ten: 8.5
It's not often this decade that a team-mate can claim to have genuinely outperformed Fernando Alonso over a race weekend, but Stoffel Vandoorne can place that particular proverbial feather in his cap after Sepang. It was a performance the young Belgian described as his "best-ever race" in F1 and was right up there with Verstappen's in terms of the day's best.
That's back-to-back seventh-place finishes now and, while the first of those in Singapore came on a track McLaren expected to go well at and owed a lot to the unexpected retirement of leading cars, the same result on a fast-flowing Malaysia circuit was one of the very best of the ill-fated McLaren-Honda reunion. And Vandoorne was not even running the same aero upgrade package as Alonso.
It's taken longer than expected, but the 25-year-old is finally starting to show the form that made him such a hot property in the junior categories. Against the highest of benchmarks, now he has to sustain it.
Rating out of ten: 9.5
A strong showing from Lance Stroll delivered a decent result as the youngster led home Felipe Massa in eighth. All of which, unfortunately, will be forgotten because of the post-race crash with Vettel.
"I was on my normal line, picking up rubber, doing all my switch changes, shutting down the car and Sebastian came flying by me, pushing round the outside like the race was still on," said Lance.
Rating out of ten: 7.5
It was all going so well for Felipe Massa. Until Turn Two, that is. The Brazilian made early ground after a disappointing Q2 exit on Saturday and quickly gained on the third-row starting car of Ocon, but contact with the Force India dropped him below team-mate Stroll.
Massa then had to cede a position back to the Canadian in the race after a Williams undercut, and in doing so both drivers lost out to Vandoorne's McLaren. Clearly frustrated, Massa played bumper cars with Ocon again after some rather aggressive defending.
An annoying result for Massa, as on another day he could have been challenging for sixth. But this was still just the third time both Williams have finished in the points in 2017.
Rating out of ten: 6.5
Esteban Ocon is now just one more chequered flag away from equalling Max Chilton's record of the most consecutive race finishes from the start of an F1 career, but he still described Sunday as a "disastrous race" after he finished only 10th from sixth on the grid.
The Frenchman put that down to a lap-one puncture, when he was sandwiched between Perez and Massa, and then a clash with Carlos Sainz at Turn One as he attempted to work his way back up to eighth. He produced a solid drive thereafter, but it was his team-mate who ultimately claimed the headline race result.
Rating out of ten: 7
Given he is currently renegotiating a contract extension which would continue to make him one of the highest-paid drivers in F1, Fernando Alonso has picked a bad time for a brief loss of form. Out-qualified by Vandoorne for the second time in three races, the Spaniard was second-best to his team-mate on race day as well and now trails Vandoorne in the Drivers' Championship as well.
Great drivers tend to reserve their best for great moments, but Alonso will not be enjoying this current spell of the season.
Rating out of ten: 6
Another Grand Prix in which Kevin Magnussen found himself annoying one of his fellow drivers as he bore the brunt of Fernando Alonso's anger. The Spaniard branded Magnussen "an idiot" as the pair touched when Alonso battled to get by through Turns Nine and 10.
Magnussen would make contact again later in the race with Jolyon Palmer but aside from those two moments it was a solid drive from the Dane. He made a blistering start to climb from 17th to ninth by lap three but despite falling back to 18th with an early pit stop, he fought back through to finish 12th and ahead of team-mate Romain Grosjean.
Rating out of ten: 7
Romain Grosjean deserves credit for once again out-qualifying his Haas team-mate in a quickly reconstructed car following an unfortunate and dramatic Practice Two crash - but that was about as good as it got for the Frenchman.
Grosjean was quickly at the back of the pack after a truly atrocious start to the race - which he blamed on a damp part of the track - and while he rose back to 13th after a decent final stint on the soft tyre, he will hope for much better in Japan.
"We didn't choose the right technical setup this weekend, and I include myself in the decision process," Grosjean admitted.
Rating out of ten: 6
A solid F1 debut for Pierre Gasly in the Toro Rosso. The Frenchman closely matched his more experienced team-mate Carlos Sainz throughout the weekend before coming home 14th in the race.
His Sunday was made tougher by being unable to drink during the grand prix while also suffering back pain from a loose seat. On another tough weekend for Toro Rosso, Gasly has a good base to build from in Japan.
Rating out of ten: 7
After the long-awaited, and well-deserved, points finish in Singapore, Malaysia brought more of that familiar frustration for Jolyon Palmer. In truth. the Englishman's weekend never took off, as he missed Q3 by less than a tenth and then slipped to 14th on the race's first lap.
Team-mate Nico Hulkenberg lost even more ground at the start and Palmer followed the sister Renault until lap 37, feeling he was quicker, but then spun and lost a position to Alonso. Vying with Kevin Magnussen, he then spun again at Turn One a lap later as race leader Verstappen came up behind them. Fifteenth wasn't the result Palmer needed as he chases an F1 lifeline for 2018.
Rating out of ten: 6
Malaysia 2017 was yet another race to get away from Nico Hulkenberg. It then just keep on going in the wrong direction. Eighth on the grid promised much but a poor start triggered an early stop which proved to be far too early when his tyres rapidly degraded in traffic. Cue another pit-stop, his second, in what was a one-stop race for everyone else and a finishing position of 16th.
Rating out of ten: 6
Finishing 17th but ahead of Marcus Ericsson - there's not really much more Pascal Wehrlein can do in a heavily out-developed Sauber. Wehrlein found himself as high as 13th in the race after staying out on the soft tyre, but was understandably a sitting duck once the midfield came through.
But the German is hardly damaging his reputation with such displays. Does he still have a chance at Williams, or indeed Toro Rosso, for a 2018 seat? They could do worse…
Rating out of ten: 7
Despite his perceived ties to Sauber's owners, Marcus Ericsson doesn't yet appear on completely solid ground for a 2018 seat. Malaysia proved a struggle with the Swede adrift of team-mate Wehrlein in both qualifying and the race, the only driver to finish two laps down. The Swede admitted it was "a poor race for me" and says he will work with his engineers to get to the bottom of the problems in an attempt to come back stronger at Suzuka.
Rating out of ten: 5
Did Not Finish
A tough weekend for Carlos Sainz as he struggled with his car on Friday afternoon and Saturday, before an improved Sunday was brought to a halt when he suffered an electrical issue halfway through the race when running comfortably in the points.
Rating out of ten: 6
Did Not Start
Oh what might have been for Kimi Raikkonen as he failed to even start after suffering Ferrari's third engine issue of the weekend. Having qualified just 0.046s adrift of polesitter Hamilton and Vettel's pace in the sister car, a first win since Australia 2013 was surely there for the taking.
Rating out of ten: N/A
