Max Verstappen wins the first race in Malaysia in 9 years during what turned out to be quite a bizarre Grand Prix.
After a bizarre period of time waiting to get the race underway, which saw an attempted formation lap get aborted due to software issues in a number of drivers’ power units, the race would finally get underway 100 minutes after it was initially scheduled to.
At the time of the race start, the track had looked to have dried up and many took a gamble on the slick tyres, though others weren’t convinced that the track was in the right conditions for it yet.
It seemed as though the intermediate tyre runners were proven correct during the formation laps when Gasly, on softs, spun around and almost ended his race prematurely. This was reinforced when throughout the first lap, the slick runners like Norris and both Ferraris, really struggled for pace and the intermediate runners like the Red Bulls and Mercedes cars just drove into the distance.
Both Antonelli and Russell had amazing starts off the grid, climbing up to 1st and 2nd respectively by the time they got to turn 1, while Verstappen had to initially fend of Lawson to at least maintain 3rd.
Ferrari would pit Leclerc at the end of the opening lap, going onto the intermediate tyre, and the pace difference was again very apparent as he would soon overtake Hamilton, who was staying out on his soft tyres.
Verstappen was still looking very quick despite having lost two positions at the start of the race, making quick work of Russell before setting his sights on Antonelli for the lead.
Before he could make an overtake though, the safety car would come out after Bottas would get his Cadillac stuck in the gravel, allowing those on intermediate tyres to pit with conditions looking more and more favourable to the dry tyres.
It also allowed those who had stayed with the slicks and fallen horribly far behind to catch back up to the back of the pack, even if they likely wouldn’t gain them any positions in the short term.
Antonelli would have a poor restart to the race, with Verstappen managing to overtake him for the lead heading into turn 1, while Russell would himself overtake the championship leader to drop him down to 3rd place.
Hamilton was looking like a man on a mission during this portion of the race. After having lost so many positions with the failed tyre gamble early on, he was able to work his way back up to 7th by lap 20, and with some more midfield cars ahead that he would be up to 5th not long after that.
Antonelli told his team that he felt he was quicker than Russell in a not-so-subtle hint that he felt the two cars should be swapped around. While team orders would not be made, Antonelli decided that he wouldn’t need them, as he overtook Russell for 2nd place going into turn 4 on lap 21.
While Antonelli certainly proved that he was quicker, building a decent gap to his teammate, he wasn’t getting any closer to Verstappen in the lead, with the gap growing as the laps wore on.
Hamilton was quickly starting to gain on Hadjar in 4th, with the latter really starting to complain that his tyres were done. The two would both pit at the end of lap 31, with Hamilton now just 2 seconds behind the Red Bull, having once been over 11 seconds behind.
The race had entered a largely processional period after the pit stops, as while Hamilton was sticking close to the back of Hadjar, the Red Bull’s pace in a straight line was just about keeping him ahead.
Fernando Alonso was looking particularly strong this weekend in an Aston Martin that has looked off the pace all season, managing to overtake Arvid Lindblad on lap 41 to get himself up to the points paying positions. The only other time he has managed that this season was at the Monaco Grand Prix, only managing to do so due to a penalty for Sergio Perez which promoted Alonso into the points that day. This time it’s on pure pace.
A Virtual Safety Car would come out on lap 43 after Alex Albon’s car stopped on the side of the track due to his gearbox failing. This provided Verstappen with an opportunity to box for new tyres, which did promote Antonelli into the lead of the race by staying out, while Hamilton would also pit for soft tyres in an attempt to try and take 4th from Hadjar.
Verstappen would regain the race lead just one lap later, with the VSC staying out and Mercedes deciding to pit both of their drivers, all the while Red Bull chose to respond to Hamilton’s pit stop with one of their own for Hadjar, keeping himself ahead of Hamilton while crucically having Piastri on old hard tyres between them.
The marshalls were looking to be struggling to get Albon off of the track, and the VSC was upgraded to a full safety car, at which point McLaren chose to pit both of their drivers. Now Hamilton would have no obstruction ahead of him in his fight for 4th, and now possibly more.
There were a couple of bizarre moments that took place on lap 50 as the field remained under the safety car. First, Russell pulls his car off to the side of the track to retire as something went wrong in his car, and then moments later Norris would find himself going off track at turn 1, almost running into the back of his teammate. He would drop down to 11th place as a result.
When the race finally resumed on lap 52, Hamilton was able to immediately take 3rd place from Hadjar, who had no answer for the 7 time world champion. Hadjar’s restart would get even worse as just one lap later he would drop to 5th, losing a position to Leclerc.
The race at the front then settled down as Verstappen calmly stayed on the pace to win his first grand prix of the season, and taking back to back victories at Sepang, albeit 9 years apart.
Further behind in the field Norris was trying to recover any positions he could in the limited time left, and while he managed to climb to 9th, Alonso was able to fend him off in the last corner of the last lap to take 8th place.
The result means that if Antonelli didn’t already have one hand on the driver’s championship, he certainly does now, with his lead over Russell growing to 84 points with up to 7 races remaining.
The next race is the Singapore Grand Prix, which will take place next weekend on Sunday, October 11, and will be F1’s final sprint race of the season.
