Hamilton heartbreak hands Ricciardo victory

2016 Malaysian Grand Prix summary

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Daniel Ricciardo led a one-two for Red Bull in a dramatic Malaysian Grand Prix where both Mercedes drivers hit trouble.

Malaysian Grand Prix in pictures
Lewis Hamilton looked on course for a comfortable victory which would have restored him to the lead of the championship when his power unit failed without warning.

However team mate Nico Rosberg was unable to collect the victory having been delayed by a collision at the start of the race. He was tipped into a spin by Sebastian Vettel, who retired on the spot.

Rosberg fought his way back through the field to finish third, despite picking up a ten-second time penalty for colliding with Kimi Raikkonen as he passed the Ferrari driver at turn two. Raikkonen came in fourth.

Valtteri Bottas took a surprise fifth place for Williams. His team mate Felipe Massa started from the pit lane after a problem with his throttle on the grid.

Despite starting last, Fernando Alonso climbed to finished seventh behind Sergio Perez. Their team mates came next, Sergio Perez ahead of Jenson Button. The final point went to Jolyon Palmer, the first of his career.

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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44 comments on “Hamilton heartbreak hands Ricciardo victory”

  1. You kids still think hording engines is cool?

    1. Opposed to the driver taking double the punishment and take further grid penalties at the following race for mechanical failures?

  2. Riccuardo got back the one he lost to Hamilton In Monaco.

    1. The difference is Ricciardo’s engine didn’t blow up, he still finished 2nd in Monaco.

    2. The Colgate kid was gifted a win.

  3. Can someone calculate the probabilities of Ham engine going this race? Is it really that unlikely that saying luck is silly?
    In that post race interview Ham doesn’t think it’s luck anymore.
    I assume packaging between cars isn’t as much of an issue, Mercedes wouldn’t have sacrificed the reliability of engine to this extent.

    1. Of the 8 merc powered cars on the grid none experience so much unreliability as hamilton.

      Is that plain bad luck? Driving style? Merc sabotage to favor ROS? Or incompetence from Lewis’ mechanics?

      No way of really telling but to me the chance that Merc sabotages HAM is the least likely because it makes their brand look bad (especially since this was a home race for Petronas)

    2. Flip 50 coins. If they all magically land on heads, what is the chance the 51st flip will be heads? 50% because there are two sides and a new flip.

      If there are 8 Merc engines in a race, Ham always has 1/8 chance for failure if a failure in a Merc is guaranteed. That number remains constant. Even if he loses three engines in a day, he still has 1/8 chance of being the next failure.

      1. That’s the simple way of looking at probability. It’s 1/8 at each individual race but to roll the same number of 8 numbers x times to none the probability halfs each time. For example from start point you have a 50% of throwing a heads and when you throw again you have a 50% of throwing a heads. But from the get go the probability of thowing 2 heads is 25% because there are 4 possible outcomes. Thus if Hamilton has had 6 engine issues this season the probability of all those issues being on his car when his is 1 out of 8 is 0.195%

  4. I have to admit I felt for him. but might be karma considering Mercedes engine stock piling…

    1. Mercedes were against the rule change to allow stockpiling, so it’d be unfair of karma to hurt Hamilton like this. :-)

    2. Karma for stockpiling?!? Weren’t Hamilton’s engines malfunctioning from the get go this year?

  5. Can you believe it.anyone can point out a single mechanical problem in Nico Rosberg’s car had all the season.why it always happens to Lewis only.its height of conspiracy better Lewis to quit Mercedes.absolute nonsense.

    1. Better you to quit posting nonsense

  6. In his sky interview Lewis pretty much flat out implied the team are sabotaging him intentionally.

    1. Peppermint-Lemon (@)
      2nd October 2016, 18:12

      Yeah Hamilton talks a lot of rubbish much of the time. As if the team are doing that. If anything the team favour him over Rosberg.

  7. Danny Ric is a legend.

    That is all.

    1. please……Verstappen was in a different league today…he lost it because of the cr ap manouvre from Vettel….otherwise he was faster then his teammate….all weekend….deservedly DotD

      1. Well Max certainly tried hard to pass Dan (on fresher tyres btw) but couldn’t. So Dan, not Max, is the legend for me too.

      2. Evil Homer (@)
        2nd October 2016, 14:38

        @ES

        If Max was in a different league today I suspect you mean the minors? I never try to bag drivers but I can their fans, you must have missed Max’s efforts to overtake Daniel in which he could not do and ………. well that cost Max the race.

        Daniel proved Alpha Male today, the “take a drink” call was team orders but that was lost when Max wasn’t quite good enough to pass Dan!

        Dan= Legend ! :)

    2. Danny was 23 seconds behind Verstappen, that’s what he was

      1. Well. Looks like Dan was given a different strategy. How much older were Danels hards than Max’s when they were fighting. 2 completely different strategies. In the end Daniel kept his nose clean, held Max off on much older hards… Then used his extra tyres he SAVED FROM Q2 to win the race. Still won. Still more points than max.

  8. Yet again more proof that the reliability is costing Hamilton the championship while Nico has been essentially bullet proof, saying otherwise is now just borderline denial.

    1. OmarRoncal - Go Seb!!! (@)
      2nd October 2016, 10:08

      @foreverred yes, but might it be because of his own driving style?
      And BTW, terrible coverage on Sky, they cut Danny’s radio, then paste the radio again when he was getting out of the car (and when the fans get all excited). Also, horrible to hear Brundle saying: “so strange not any other Mercedes-powered car has these issues, why only Lewis?” it’s not the exact quote but it sounded so accusing!

      Congrats to Dan!!

      1. Are we really onto that old chestnut again of blaming the driver for mechanical failures?

        1. I would blame the user if he puts coffee in the CD-ROM drive and calls tech support. Does Hamilton overuse equipment? I dunno, but I do know it is a thing that can be quantified.

          1. I find this assumption so bizarre considering Lewis is the driver who nursed an engine from Britain to Germany. This is not on Lewis whatsoever.

          2. If someone drives through the field by banging on other cars and his wing falls off 10 laps from the finish, you would blame the equipment?

            At the very least, it is very possible that Hamilton has a different driving technique. But nooooooooo you want to believe in sabotage!

      2. The engines are constantly monitored. The team has all the data they want to check if their drivers are hurting the engines.
        They are loads of safety margins to prevent drivers from destroying cars (this is not the 70s anymore).

        I’d add that Rosberg benefited from Hamilton’s experience when the team refused him to use a more powerful engine mode. Rosberg’s engine may well have blown when he built that 10s gap to Räikkönen.

  9. Could be his driving techNiue. . Given that other merc engine cars have not had any problems.

    1. What’s techniue ?

    2. I doubt that and nobody but the mercedes guys who have the data know. We have seen multiple engine troubles with mercedes this year, people just seem to forget most.

    3. Of course, it could be Hamilton’s driving that caused an internal combustion failure. Please, do share your source.

  10. a wins a a win but RBR didnt win thru pace did they?

    vettel rammed rosberg and hams engine failed

    so i wouldnt get too excited if i was ricciardo

    1. You have to also be lucky and smart enough to grab the opportunity when it presents itself. RBR put themselves on row 2 in quali, and capitalized on the Mercs’ misfortunes. Just like how RBR had a dog of a powertrain in 2014 yet won 3 races with it.

      Contrast it to Ferrari who have been masters in the art of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory in 2016 thanks to a risk-averse mindset and bad strategy calls.

      1. agreed

        but my point is that only being able to win with merc failing isnt really a big victory

        1. Yep, have to agree with that point you’re making – its a bit like getting an overtake done due to pit strategy. And I recall before Hamilton’s engine blew, there was a point where it appeared that Verstappen could really shoot ahead, but them Hamilton was able to push forward hard.

          Then again, given Mercedes’ dominance, I think their competitors will take any victory in whatever manner they can. :)

  11. Fantastic race from Ricciardo. Won the battle through 5 and 6 with his team mate before Hamilton crashed out, allowing him to pit first, and then when it looked like Verstappen was about to get into DRS range he just managed the gap between 1.1 and 1.4 seconds, before Verstappen backed off. Ricciardo really deserved a win, after being let down by strategy or pit stops in Spain and Monaco in particular, where he looked like he was on for a victory. Hopefully Red Bull will have the best car next year so he can win the WDC, Mercedes can fuck off back to where they were in 2010-13.

    Rosberg also had a fantastic race. Remember in Spa when everyone said Hamilton coming from last to 3rd was the drive of a champion? Even though he was able to follow Alonso through the carnage and end up just behind him in 5th after the first lap and people pitting. He basically went from 5th to 3rd during the race, ignoring the first lap. Today, Rosberg went from 22nd to 3rd, ignoring the first lap. This was a much better drive than Hamilton’s in Spa, he made more overtakes than I’ve ever seen from him, which was one of the most criticised aspects of his racing. This race and Singapore have made me believe that he does deserve the championship this year.

    Hamilton fans have to stop being so bitter about the engine problems he has. This was the first time his engine blew up this season ffs. And saying it’s just him from the Mercedes engine drivers is dumb too, I think I heard them talking about Hulkenberg having a little issue at the start of this race, and in Italy Wehrlein’s engine forced him into retirement. These things happen, and there is no way that Mercedes are purposefully doing this to give Rosberg the title, anyone who claims that is petty and salty.

    McLaren once again showing that their car is now the 5th best in the field, just behind Force India but ahead of Williams. Been really impressed with their progress this year, could even be in contention for a podium next season. 22nd to 7th again for Alonso, like in Spa, very impressive. He seems to navigate his way through the damage on the first lap so well, was 4th in Spa and 12th here. Guy next to him in those races did well too, Ham 5th and Ocon 10th after the first laps on each track. Button slightly disappointing that VSC came out 2 laps after his pit stop, allowing Hulkenberg and Alonso to overcut him due to losing 15s in the pits instead of 23s, but a double points finish is a fantastic result.

    Palmer getting his first point is good for him, but I still maintain that Magnussen is much better and should keep his seat, whereas Palmer should be let go.

  12. fully deserved win for daniel and im very happy for him. he had to fight for it against verstappen and he didnt let him past. it was great to see an actual wheel to wheel battle for victory as it turned out to be. you can say dan lucked into it but he deserved some luck after having a puncture while leading in china, leading again in spain and losing out thanks to strategy and ofcourse being robbed of a win in monaco. and how fitting was it that he snatched this win from lewis…

    lewis still showing he isnt fully mature. you simply cannot blame your team of sabotaging because its nonsense. and its not like nico hasnt had his problems before. and when you consider the new engines he got in spa. he was actually in a better engine position than nico because of that. this makes up for it…

    the penalty for nico was nonsense. no wonder the decline in viewers when someone goes for an optimistic move and gets penalised. why are the stewards never this harsh on verstappen? he should have got a race ban by now then because he got away with much worse than what nico did today. it makes you think villeneuve was right and that verstappen truly is protected by the fia.

    1. Do you remember that Red Bull and Ferrari used that trick of accumulating penalties at a single event?
      I don’t remember reading your rant back then… @matijaleader

    2. So you think it’s ok to ram into another car in order to overtake? I thought the 10 second penalty was quite generous.

  13. Question.

    How is it that with all the engine sensors and telemetrics being fed in realtime to his pit crew, that there was no warning that engine was about to go?

    How is it that Hamilton was given no warning this could happens? Has this question been asked by the media?

    1. Not every failure is gradual. Breakages like a valve stem breaking or a timing chain breaking are all instantaneous, catastrophic (to the engine) and terminal. There are other things where sensors can help – say a coolant leak which shows temperatures rising, can give advance warning allowing them to retire the car and possibly save the engine.

      Mercedes will no doubt be stripping the engine to understand what went wrong. They might not share details with the public, but we might get a passing comment about what failed (I still remember the failure in the 2014 Australian GP where the spark plug’s HT lead had a problem due to its cover, leading to Hamilton’s retirement).

  14. Finally a well deserved victory for Daniel.
    Monaco he lost because Red Bull screwed up. Nazi Marko giving too much attention to Verstappen. Same happened to Weber’s time at Red Bull. Daniel is driving beautifully this season, giving a heck of a show, the best overtakes and constantly beating his team mate. Let’s look at the Sapin GP. If Red Bull used the same tyre strategy they used on Max, Daniel would have won the race easily. Let’s go back 2 years. You do not kick a 4 times world champion ass by chance. He is the ONLY one putting a fight against the Mercs.

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