Verstappen of Red Bull victorious in Malaysian F1 race

Max Verstappen who turned 20 celebrated his birthday in style when he won the Malaysian Grand Prix on October 1, 2017 for his team Red Bull Racing beating Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton who came in second. Verstappen’s team mate Daniel Ricciardo held off Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari for the third spot. The Ferrari driver narrowly missed out on a podium having started from the back of the grid.

Force India’s Sergio Perez came in 6^th while his team mate Esteban Ocon came in 10 to be be among the points. 

After winning an opening-lap tussle with the Valtteri Bottas of Mercedes to seize second place, Verstappen took the lead from polesitter Hamilton on the fourth lap. And as the Mercedes driver struggled a little, the Dutchman notorious for his crashes never looked back and controlled the race to win by 12.7s.

Ricciardo, meanwhile,  fought and beat Bottas before facing stiff competition late in the race from back-row starter Vettel, who drove a brilliant race. Vettel got close enough for a long look down the inside in Turn 1 on the 49th lap, but Ricciardo held his ground. That proved to be the tipping point, as Vettel’s challenge faded as his tyres began to go off and his engine gave cause for concern.

The result means that Hamilton is now 34 points ahead of Vettel with five races remaining.

Sergio Perez came in 6^th for Force India despite feeling unwell. Esteban Ocon pitted his Force India early after contact with Massa in Turn 2 at the start, when he got squeezed between his team mate and the Williams, sustaining a puncture. After that he did a grand job to take the final point after doing 54 laps on a set of soft tyres.