Red Bull are Formula One’s famous party animals and everyone should have been joining in the champagne frolic here on Sunday after they produced their first one-two result since Brazil in 2013, a win that marked the end of their four-year world drivers’ championship hegemony.
The Malaysian Grand Prix was the scene of Daniel Ricciardo’s first victory for more than two years and few peoplebegrudged him that after his early-season misfortunes. The Australian not only quaffed bubbly from his racing boot but persuaded everyone around him to do the same.
There was also the sight of the British driver Jolyon Palmer, who looks doomed not to survive at this level, scoring his first point in Formula One.
But the race, like so many this season, was dominated by the two‑hander of a soap opera that is Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at Mercedes.
This should have been – almost had to be – Hamilton’s race, after a weekend of swaggering dominance. But instead of removing his team-mate from the top of the championship table, which Rosberg led by eight points, he saw the German extend that advantage to 23 with only five races to go.
It was difficult not to feel sorry for Hamilton, even for Mercedes. While their two drivers and head of motorsport, Toto Wolff, dissected the day, a number of cardboard boxes were carried out of the team’s paddock hospitality centre. They contained T-shirts celebrating the team winning the constructors’ championship. A Sunday night party was also cancelled.
To win that championship Mercedes needed to win this race, with any points scored by their second driver sufficing. That was the likely outcome as Hamilton, making the most of his commanding pole victory of the previous day, streaked into the lead, followed by Rosberg.
The first party-pooping moment came on the opening corner, when Rosberg felt Sebastian Vettel – who won this race last year, if that can be remembered amid his current travails – crash into his right rear wheel. Rosberg was put in a spin and dropped back to 21st place. Crucially there was no serious damage and he survived another bang later in the race, when he thudded into Kimi Raikkonen, earning himself a 10-second penalty that made no difference to him finishing third.
But the real downer for Mercedes came at the start of the 41st lap when Hamilton, who appeared serene at the front, seemed to be experimenting with self-immolation. Flames burst from the back of his car and he promptly pulled over and retired, his weekend in tatters. He has rarely looked as distraught as this.
Everyone in F1 knows Hamilton is the faster driver by some distance. But he seems destined to lose his title this year – and to a rival whom he has dominated in various arenas for more than 20 years.
Wolff thought he would be leading a celebration but instead found himself conducting an inquest. This, after all, was the fourth time – following China, Belgium and Russia – that Hamilton’s race had been wrecked for reasons beyond his control and that does not include his awful starts in Australia, Bahrain, Canada and Italy, where the driver has experienced clutch difficulties for which he may not be entirely to blame. Amid the mayhem Wolff strove to appear sanguine. “This is a mechanical sport,” he said with a shrug. “It’s a very unfortunate coincidence. It’s been really bad for him and for the team. I have no words. I’m gutted in the same way.”
When he was asked about Hamilton’s immediate post-race comments, in which the driver said there was someone who did not want him to win the title this year, without immediately making it clear whether he was referring to God or Mercedes, Wolff smiled, in a grim sort of way. “Every remark, every answer [Hamilton made] is allowed after such a frustrating moment,” he said.
“If you’re in the lead and about to get back in the championship and the engine blows up, and a microphone is put in front of your face, he is allowed to say whatever he wants. It’s completely understandable.
“Each of us will have expressed his frustration in different ways. There is no explanation. It’s a freaky situation that has no rational explanation. After recovering a bit he [will] see that. In the heat of the moment, no problem. The failures have not been linked. There is no pattern that we can identify.”
Wolff praised Hamilton for going back to his mechanics and engineers to lift them for the challenge of Japan next weekend. “Lewis was trying to pick up the team, which only the greatest do. In such a moment to find moments to pick the engineers up for the next race, it was really great.”
Would Rosberg be described as a lucky champion? “These things happen … Nico had a failure at the start of the last race in 2014. It’s frustrating that it comes at a crucial moment in the championship. We are letting Lewis down this year. I don’t think it will have put any shadow on the championship. And the championship isn’t over yet.”
It is not over but the pattern looks increasingly irrevocable.
