It was the win Daniel Ricciardo felt he deserved after multiple near misses in 2016 but that won’t be what dominates the headlines after Sunday at Sepang.
Instead, the Malaysia Grand Prix produced another race that went against the form guide and perhaps for the first time broke the spirit of Lewis Hamilton in this year’s championship chase.
It looked like a race that would once again put the Briton back in the driving seat. Certainly, after dominating qualifying, to then see his teammate spun around by an overeager Sebastian Vettel at the first corner things couldn’t have appeared any better!
The world champion comfortably had the pace to cover off all of Red Bull’s moves, even if we never saw exactly what they would have done with Ricciardo.
But with victory seeming to be a near-certainty, with 16 laps to go, it all changed as the 1.6-litre V6 part of his power unit decided it had had enough.
Immediately, Lewis knew what it meant for his championship chances with his head in his hands as he pulled off and as he jumped out the car.
Those feelings continued back to the paddock and his subsequent comments to the media are once again reigniting the far-fetched conspiracy claims that somehow Mercedes favour Nico Rosberg.
Yes, it’s incredible how the power unit problems seem to have mostly impacted Hamilton but it comes down to how each driver looks after the car and there is an element of luck too.
No part at Mercedes is designed to fail and when they produce the power units at Brixworth how do they know which car that part will be fitted to?
That’s what makes the sabotage claims laughable and perhaps Hamilton should be looking into what he can do to prevent it from ‘always being him’.
As for Rosberg, he produced a performance that might just be considered a champion’s drive. He swept his way through the field and claimed what 650m into the race had seemed an impossible podium.
No car seemed capable of matching him in his Mercedes and the ease of which he beat Kimi Raikkonen highlights the ongoing woes at Maranello.
The 10-second penalty he was given for the move on the Ferrari at Turn 2 was just ridiculous, watch Jules Bianchi on Kamui Kobayashi in Monaco 2014 to see my point, therefore, to have enough pace to pull out that margin over the Finn was in many ways justice for Rosberg.
His third place moved Nico 23 points clear of his teammate in the championship and it will be very interesting to see which Hamilton turns up at Suzuka in a week’s time.
Much of the Sepang weekend proved that when he’s on his game Hamilton is still the faster of the two Mercedes, but can he refind that form in the final five races or has the psychological tide turned too strongly in favour of Rosberg?
Usually, Hamilton would be the last man to give up on a title but his comments before the weekend and now his attitude after it really are giving the impression of a man doing just that.
The final word must be on Daniel Ricciardo. While he may have inherited his fourth win in F1, it’s nothing less than the Australian has deserved.
The disappointments in Spain and Monaco are well documented and don’t forget he had a puncture while leading the race in China.
But while he may not have had to fight Hamilton for the victory in Malaysia, Ricciardo did have to overcome his teammate Max Verstappen.
Those few corners when the two ‘Bulls were side-by-side were a testament to both drivers and to the pit wall for allowing them to race. It was also a huge statement from Ricciardo that he managed to hold off Verstappen in what seemed a lost fight exiting Turn 4.
The Australian knows he may even be in a losing fight to keep his lead driver status within the team, as Verstappen continues to develop, but the fight of the ‘Honey Badger’ showed how big the battle at Red Bull will be in 2017.
As for the one-two, it was just as deserved for Red Bull after the massive strides the team and their engine supplier Renault have made in 2016.
No-one gave them a chance at the start of the season, yet Ricciardo comfortably sits third in the Drivers’ standings, the team is easing into second in the Constructors’. The team is also on track to repeat what they did in 2014 and be the only team other than Mercedes to win a race.
The ‘shoeys’ were out in force and it was another feel good moment for F1. But with just five races left this season we have to wonder whether the drama of Sepang was the moment the title battle took it’s most crucial turn.
