Ricciardo relishes victory at Sepang

Daniel Ricciardo scored his first victory in F1 since the 2014 Belgian GP by winning the Malaysian Grand Prix ahead of his teammate Max Verstappen. The Australian celebrated his fourth success in the discipline after taking advantage of the abandonment of Lewis Hamilton and can finally turn the page on Monaco where he lost the victory following an error by his team.

" I'm exhausted. It's so hot here. It was a challenge race. It went better than in Monaco and I'm going to take advantage of it today, the pilot rejoiced Red Bull. I have nothing against Lewis (Hamilton) but I will enjoy this victory. »

The Australian had to fight to stay ahead of the race against Max Verstappen who almost took the advantage.

“Max took advantage of the virtual safety car to make his stop and switch to the soft tires and his strategy seemed to work well. I had to confront him in the middle of the race until Lewis had his problem, recalled Daniel Ricciardo. It was a great fight. Max had a little fresher tires and I knew he was going to come back, but I did everything to maintain the advantage. It was a tough fight and we were both determined to win, but we fought each other with a lot of respect and I thank him for that. »

Daniel Ricciardo took third place in the Championship following the retirement of Sebastian Vettel which he is ahead of by seven points. Red Bull also consolidated its second place among the Manufacturers with 46 units ahead of the Team Ferrari.

Malaysian Grand Prix results

Discover the analysis of the Malaysian Grand Prix carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2083 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.