Hamilton wants last laugh in Sepang
COMING FULL CIRCLE Here’s a look back at five dramatic races at Sepang, which first hosted Formula One in 1999:
2001: Schumacher the rain man
A third-lap cloudburst made the track almost undriveable, but despite a spin on to the grass, the peerless Michael Schumacher proved king of the conditions by managing to lap five seconds quicker on intermediate tyres than the other drivers tiptoeing around on full wets. The German surged from 11th to the lead leaving his Ferrari teammate Rubens Barrichello, who finished second, almost 24 seconds adrift.
2003: Raikkonen’s first victory
A 23-year-old Kimi Raikkonen took full advantage of an uncharacteristic and spectacular first-lap blunder by Michael Schumacher to claim his first Formula One victory in his McLaren. The flashpoint of a frenzied race came at the second turn as Ferrari’s Schumacher, who had started third on the grid, attempted to beat Jarno Trulli’s Renault on the inside and smashed the Italian off the track, damaging his own front wing.
2009: Button storms to half a win
Brawn’s Jenson Button was deemed the winner with Nick Heidfeld’s Sauber second and Timo Glock’s Toyota third after the race was red-flagged and then abandoned after just 31 laps of 56 when a thunderstorm flooded the circuit. F1 supremos had pushed the start back to 5:00pm to attract a bigger Sunday morning TV audience in Europe. With not enough time to allow the track to dry before darkness fell, only half the championship points were awarded.
2012: Alonso escapes to victory
Fernando Alonso survived a rain suspension of almost an hour, a rash of spins and a strong late challenge from Sauber’s flying Sergio Perez on a drying track to claim a surprise first win in eight months.
2016: Hamilton’s epic meltdown
Daniel Ricciardo’s victory was overshadowed by Hamilton’s emotion-fuelled outburst that he was the victim of a Mercedes conspiracy after his engine exploded spectacularly when leading with just 15 laps to go. “No, no,” he cried as flames appeared and 25 world championship points disappeared in a puff of smoke.