Rate the race: 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix

2016 Malaysian Grand Prix

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What did you think of today’s race? Share your verdict on the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Since 2008, F1 Fanatic has held polls on every F1 race to find out which fans thought of each round of the season.

Join in the latest poll and give your verdict on the race: 10 being the highest and 1 the lowest. Please vote based on how entertaining and exciting you thought the race was, not on how your preferred driver or team performed.

What were the best and worst moments of the race? What was the main thing you’ll remember about it? Rate the race out of ten and leave a comment below:

Rate the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix out of ten

  • 10 (10%)
  • 9 (27%)
  • 8 (35%)
  • 7 (19%)
  • 6 (6%)
  • 5 (1%)
  • 4 (1%)
  • 3 (1%)
  • 2 (0%)
  • 1 (1%)

Total Voters: 530

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1 = ‘Terrible’, 10 = ‘Perfect’

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Keith Collantine
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131 comments on “Rate the race: 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix”

  1. I wonder if Vettel will be demoted to Haas

    1. I wonder if Hamilton might move to Ferrari?

  2. Much better than the last couple. 9/10. Rosberg is a lucky git though.

    1. Going to last place in lap 1 is lucky?
      Agreed he was luckier than Hamilton, but by no means lucky.

      1. Not having his car shattered to pieces by drivers behind him is extremely fortunate and borders on what one would call lucky.

      2. Remember what happened to Hamilton in china? Hulkenberg last week? Yeah, definitely a tinge of luck there. Then he makes contact with Kimi. Not saying the pass wasn’t legit, just saying more contact minimal damage. Yeah, I’ve changed my mind. He was very lucky. Top it all off, his rivals engine blows up. Lucky indeed.

    2. Lucky?? Got hit by Vettel and had to drive through the field, got a far too harsh penalty for a gutsy move. Not much luck involved.

      Rather bad luck for Hamilton that put him out.

      1. I believe it was a deserved penalty though. I think 10 seconds was too harsh and 5 seconds would’ve been more appropriate there

        1. Nah, I don’t think that Rosberg deserved a penalty. It was a ballsy move, but it was still good and it paid off.

        2. In the end the penalty didn’t matter. It was quite obvious that Räikkönen wasn’t very fast in the race.

      2. He was very fortunate. Most of the time a collision in that position puts you out with damage, or you have to do an extra pitstop. Unless no one saw Vets suspension break. He’s a very fortunate fellow today.

      3. When Bianchi barges his way through Kobayashi, it’s the greatest move of all time.

        But when Rosberg does it it’s a deserved penalty…

        Also funny how Rosberg received the penalty AFTER Hamilton blew up. It’s almost as if the stewards were trying to keep the championship as close as possible…

        1. It’s quite possible, the stewards actually needed the alloted time they took to make a decision?

        2. The funniest thing, is that the steward said in the interview that he hoped Lewis would win so the championship would be close

          1. Is that really true? I also disagreed with the penalty – I mean Rai almost invited Rosberg to go for the gap, then he also has a responsibility for not seeing him coming on the inside. And when they collide Rosberg is almost at the level of Rai and Rosberg can’t move further to the inside – only Rai could prevent them from colliding, which he didn’t. In a way You could argue that it was Rai’s fault – so Racing incident in my view.

    3. Yeah, but not that lucky in my opinion. I mean, he did not get a helping hand by the SC… like HAM did, whenever he started last on the grid. Otherwise, maybe ROS would have even won the race (if a SC period would have cancelled all the gaps at 1 point)!

      1. :D Who knows what would have happend… Maybe Rosberg easy win, with Hamiltons engine blowing up maybe even sooner when challanged by fast teammate…

        Maybe Nico’s engine would blow up same way when following Lewis 2s behind unable to pass due to “Mercedes design”…

        But getting taped from behind on first corner through no fault of your own… cannot be considered lucky.

        1. Getting hit from behind is definitely unlucky. What can be considered lucky is that his car wasn’t hit by drivers in back of him or debris all over the place cutting his tires while sitting in the middle of a corner in an F1 race. There’s two sides to getting hit sometimes. Not just the part where you’re get hit.

    4. I agree with you that Rosberg was lucky, in the sense that he wasn’t collected by another car in turn 1, but he isn’t a git. Vettel was the git in this race.

  3. 7/10 +1 point for RICCIARDO WINNING!!! 8/10 overall.

    1. Same for me. Pretty average race except for the two Red Bulls going side by side and Hamilton blowing up.

      1. Also Rosberg’s aggressive move on Kimi. I like to see that side of the drivers from time to time, but yeah, other than that the race as a whole deserves no more than 8. Very enjoyable afternoon’s entertainment.

      2. @paeschli, me too, average (5) + 1 for the 2 RBRs giving us a brief demonstration of how F1 races should be.

        1. Agree, average race.

          But it could have been better had the RBR had 3 or 4 more laps to give us a race for the lead.

        2. It’s a pity tires only last a round of agressive driving.

  4. Very frustrating in the end. Hamilton win stolen, Verstappen win stolen, spectators got robbed of a fight for the win. Only positive was the amazing way Ricciardo kept Verstappen behind, well done, if only Hamilton had stayed in one piece.

    1. How on earth was Vestappen’s win stolen?

      1. Yes I don’t get this comment either???

        1. @phil-f1-21 team orders, and double stacking on final pitstop, ensured he stayed behind.

          1. No, Ricciardo’s great defence on older tyres ensured that Verstappen stayed behind in the pit stops.

      2. Classic RB team order.

        1. @mayrton what teams orders? Ricciardo was on better tyres for the last spell while Verstappen was on used softs and that’s pretty much it.

          1. After seeing the full press conference I have to admit you are right.

        2. Red Bull didn’t use team orders. They allowed their drivers to race as long as they kept it clean. This is exactly what they did when they went side by side in the middle sector, keeping it clean and fair. The main reasoning behind why Verstappen couldn’t get as close to Danny after the VSC was because Ricciardo had saved a set of tyres from Q1 to use in the race, which he did in the final stint, andVerstappen didn’t have the same luxury of a fresh set of soft tyres.

          Since Max pitted 8 or 9 laps later for his Hard tyres after splitting strategy at the second VSC, he was able to push Daniel with the fresher rubber at his disposal. After Hamilton triggered the second VSC, Ricciardo had the fresher rubber and track position (just, after that scrap the lap before), so it became all the more harder for Max with the older tyres and dirty air to get into the DRS Zone without destroying his tyres.

          Definently no team orders were used by Red Bull to restrict their drivers from scrapping for position. In saying that, a strategic masterstroke in qualifying and sheer determination to stay ahead gave Ricciardo the edge over Verstappen today. Deserved first win of the season even if it took a bit of luck with Hamilton’s ICE failure.

          1. Need to proof read haha.

            Ricciardo saved a set of softs in Q1, which he then used in his final stint
            Hamilton triggered the 3rd VSC, not 2nd

          2. “In saying that, a strategic masterstroke in qualifying and sheer determination to stay ahead gave Ricciardo the edge over Verstappen today.”

            What?!
            Verstappen used his new set of softs after his first pitstop during the VSC. Ricciardo didn’t stop and later switched to hards. That’s why Ricciardo had that new set of softs at the end of the race. No qualifying masterstroke there whatsoever.
            Then, Hamilton went out and the VSC saved Ricciardo from having to defend more than one lap against a faster Verstappen on 6 laps younger tyres, not 8 or 9.
            And track position gave Ricciardo the edge over Verstappen today, nothing more. If Verstappen had been 2nd after the first corner Ricciardo wouldn’t have had a chance at the victory.

          3. @Baron, Ricciardo was the only driver who made it to Q3 who had the luxury of a new set of softs. That’s what won him the final sprint.

      3. Because he was basically side by side with Ricciardo on newer tyres the moment Hamilton’s engine expired? If Red Bull don’t bring them in the way they did he wins? That’s the same way Ricciardo’s race in Spain was stolen, a narrative I read on these pages to this day.

        1. By ‘basically side by side’ you mean behind Ricciardo and ultimately that’s all that matters. Maybe he would’ve passed him had Hamilton not DNF’d or maybe he wouldn’t have, the fact of the matter is he had a chance and couldn’t do it.

          1. @faulty Hi mate, thanks for your reply but you tagged the wrong Baron. If there is no “@” next to the posted forum name, it means they are not registered on this forum and therefore tagging them in a reply will not work.

            There is only one fully paid up @Baron on F1 Fanatic and that’s me…

            “There can only be One” :)

  5. Gave a 9, i did have everything. Shame that now Rosberg has excellent chance to became a world champion thanks to Hamiltons non-working Mercedes engines.

  6. Wow, that played out quite interestingly. Vettel being too eager in the first corner meaning Rosberg had to get through the field, Alonso going to 7th from the back.
    The fight between the Manors was lovely, great gutsy move from Rosberg to pass Kimi, really don’t get the harsh penalty for it. And that fight between which turned out to be for the lead the Red Bulls was lovely.
    And I must say that it gets me pumped to see Hamilton get that gap down again next race, Suzuka will be extra exciting because of it (Also Red Bull will be quite a force there too.)

  7. Now this is what real real racing between teammates mean Mercedes. Derek Warwick is doing a great job the strangest yet greatest overtake since Ricciardo Austin 2014 and from the unlikeliest source, what was Rosberg thinking.

    1. Really????

  8. I think spurred on by this failure, Hamiton will dominate the remaining 5 races. Rosberg should be terrified.

    1. Rosberg can just rely on Hamiltons car not working. It’s been really bad for Hamilton again this year. Mercedes changed out 3 engines to avoid this too. Tough cookies, thems the breaks.

    2. 5 Races to go, Nico has race win in hand. Lewis has a fight on his hands….

  9. 7/10

    That would have been an 8, but I substracted one point, for the totally unnescessary penalty to Rosberg for doing one of the best overtakings of the year. This is the sort of things that pull people out of F1.
    Even though I don’t support Hamilton, I feel gutted for his engine failure : it’s so disappointing to see him not winning a race where he was strongest through no fault of his own.

    1. You can’t just pile into the other car to make your pass stick – it looked like something you’d do on PlayStation. Rosberg is the least convincing WDC F1s ever seen.

      1. yahbasic (@thedogjustpukedonme)
        2nd October 2016, 9:58

        +1. Clumsy racecraft indeed.

        1. Agreed. I don’t get the hype surrounding that move. Top clumsy for my taste.

      2. You can if it works. Remember Hamilton in 2011 how many cars he hit?

      3. Nope, that was his father :)

        1. Haha, like father like son.

    2. Best overtakings of the year? It was a dumb divebomb that would never have resulted in a clean pass.

      1. Maybe you all prefer DRS automatic passes, but I personally prefer gutsy moves where you don’t believe an overtaking is possible. I didn’t see a collision : there was contact, but no real damage.

        1. I really dug the comments from both Mark Webber and David Coulthard on it – both mentioned that it was a gutsy move and exactly what the sport needs drivers to have a go at @dan_the_mclaren_fan

        2. There is a difference between gutsy and dumb. That move was just dumb.

          1. Exactly, gutsy moves still have to be clean. Rosberg used Raikkonen as a brake to make the corner. He’s hopeless wheel to wheel.

        3. This is Formula 1. There were countless move in the history of the sport as gutsy as this one but without contact.
          I prefer my overtakes with no contact nor DRS.

    3. :D LOL I loved that overtake. It was fast it was decisive, it was on the limit, there was touching involved, ballsy distant, forceful. Penalty was fair, lets be honest he did cause the collision, but he made it. Drove through the penalty and “won”… valuable championship points.

      IF he wins WDC He will earn it against the best driver of this generation.

  10. 9/10 – Amazing race, would have been 10 if Verstappen closed in on Ricciardo at the end

    Can’t believe people are giving this 6 and 7. That was race was amazing

    1. Completely agree

    2. @lolzerbob, have our expectations really been driven that low?

      1. @hohum
        I often wonder how some of the younger fans would rate the 1993 European Grand Prix at Donington, maybe 150 out of 10 if they think this is a 9 or 10.
        There were a few incidents in the race, but it was far from being a classic, and had very little in the way of racing. The Nico/Kimi incident was one of very few actual bits of racing I saw today, and apparently that’s now a penalty worthy move.

        1. @beneboy, totally agree, I gave 1 extra point (5+1) for the sight of 2 (RBR) cars battling it out over several corners the way it should be, and many years ago was, done for most of the race.

  11. 9/10 for me. The Verstappen/Ricciardo battle was fantastic. Rosberg’s move was borderline in my opinion, but I’m suprised he didn’t get a 5 second penalty instead of a 10 second one.

    1. Yeah… a safety-driven penalty like speeding in the pitlane earned Ocon a 5s penalty, but a no-harm-caused contact gets Rosberg 10s? I mean, Raikkonen didn’t suffer a puncture, didn’t have his race end, and lost just a bit of front wing.

  12. Finally a race to watch and not being bored by it. 9/10. It cant be 10 due to DRS, but otherwise a very enyojable race.

  13. And also, what a fantastic race from Alonso! 3 or 4 more laps and he would’ve been 5th!

    1. Yes . Very little mention of Fernando and Jenson’s results !
      Glad to see McLaren on the up

  14. Pretty good! Well done to Daniel Ricciardo! So pleased he won, fantastic race by him. Has to be said Verstappen did brilliant too.

    Actually impressed by Rosberg this time. He didn’t deserve that penalty at the end though. Good drive, more like that and Hamilton might lose this one.

  15. Disappointed…

    Looking now at driver cooldown room, Nico is happy. Daniel just won, and not really smiling honestly. Verstapen is just.. “Whatever, it was nice.” Horner is… bearly smug about “awesome” result.

    It sums up how I feel about this race. So much potential. Yet it dissolved in to a Multi 21 situation.

    Gave it a 5, because before team orders Red Bulls did some awesome racing. Vettel robbed us of Mercedes battle. But that is that.

    Team orders were banned for a reason. They leave a bad aftertaste, that the race winner was not there on merit.

    1. I think that’s a fair analysis. Both Hamilton and Verstappen can feel hard done by, both would have finished ahead of the winner if not for circumstances. Verstappen especially will feel he should have been ahead, Ricciardo got very lucky with the VSC timing but sometimes you need that luck.
      Will be curious to see what the reaction is after the race, sincerely hope it wasn’t some form of payback to Ricciardo for Monaco. Verstappen has played ball this season, Hockenheim for instance, so would be nice to see him get the favour in return.

      1. Duncan Idaho (@)
        2nd October 2016, 13:43

        VES got lucky with the first VSC & pitwall call that put him in the mix for a better result than 3rd, (not to mention the bonus at the first corner). I imagine he’s happy with the day.

        1. Bonus at the first corner? Losing out to your teammate and falling down to sixth is a bonus?
          Verstappen was in DRS range of Ricciardo when the first VSC started, faster all weekend. Would have beaten him.

    2. i don’t believe this was a multi-21 call. Max’s tires were older and he pushed a bit harder first to get into the 1 sec gap, so he kind of distroyed them…

      1. THAT is exactly what VES said himself to local Dutch TV that I was watching!

    3. he will scrabble back out of that by the time he cools down a bit @jureo. I can understand his frustration about losing out like this.

    4. Agree about the team orders! I could understand them at “extreme moments”, like when a driver fights for the champ with a driver from another team, otherwise… I think it’s something that should be banned completely. These team orders kinda take F1 into WRC territory. I mean, the results are not decided by the speed-skills combo, but more like just by the speed of the car and it becomes something like: who can complete ~60laps in the shortest amount of time.

    5. With more American stakeholders in the future (Liberty and the US sponsors that will follow) I recon team orders will be banned. We were robbed of an epic fight today.

  16. first half was boring except first lap crash but damn… I can feel pain and joy at the same time now.

  17. 7/10 Great strategy battle revolving VSC. Good battle side by side battle for couple of laps from Red Bulls and also from Button and Palmer. Great comeback from Alonso which McLaren looks really fast. The downside is Hamilton engine blowup makes RBR 1-2 feels “kinda given” to them (not discrediting RBR though) and I’m not sure if this will make the WDC battle better or worse.

  18. Victor (@victorandrei1999)
    2nd October 2016, 9:54

    For this race : 100
    Great race!!!

    1. Realy? We knew what the top 3 would end up being 10 laps before the end.

      The race was pretty average, then got really exciting with the Red Bulls fighting each other, Robserg barging his way past Raikkonen en Hamilton blowing up, but ended up as boring as the first half.

      DRS was too powerful yet again.

      1. Victor (@victorandrei1999)
        2nd October 2016, 12:58

        Yes. This is true. But I think Alonso and Rosber did some beautiful overtakes.At the begining of the race you couldn’t say that such recoveries are possible.And the greatest think is Riccardo’s BIG SMILE.I feel sory for Hamilton but neither Rosberg had his luckiest race ever.

      2. Duncan Idaho (@)
        2nd October 2016, 13:48

        DRS can’t have been overly dominant with ROS and VES choosing other parts of the track to attempt high stakes passes.

  19. I didnt even watch the race thanks to work…but I was following on Autosport live..it was gripping even through that!!

    Great drives from Dan and Fernando!

    1. Verstappen deserved DotD…wich he got…best driver on the field

      1. Starting third and finishing second without overtaking anyone is not what I feel worth of a DoD. But again, DoD votes have been totally rubbish so far so no surprise here. I’d go for Alonso who made a flawless rush to 7th.

  20. A pleasant race.

  21. Absolutely breathtaking at moments. Amazing racing between the Red Bulls, and we had some absolute drama, great strategy calls, and an awesome recovery drive or two.

    However Rosberg’s penalty was utterly disgraceful.

    1. Agree on Ros penalty and i would also add penalty on Ger GP. Maybe they should cancel any overtaking moves outside of stupid drs zones? He want for the GAP that was there or people quote Senna only when some other driver is in question?

  22. Awesome race!

    A lot of moments reminded me of some classics! Roseberg on Raikonnen -> the famous corcksrew pass at laguna seca by zanardi ! (pentalty for Rosberg was too harsh) Aesome recovery drive by Nico though, yes he has the best car, but he cut through that field like a knife through butter. Bad luck for Lewis, I was hoping for a fight between him and Max in the closing stages. Max and Ricciardo! awesome racing, brought to mind Villeneuve and Arnoux! Max lost a lot of time in the double pitstop. He might have taken Ricciardo without that, but either way. A SUPERB race for both the red bull drivers I really think they are the best driver combination on the grid.
    And what an awesome podium interview, multi 33 ! gotta love marc webber hahaha

  23. Enjoyable race, but an 9 or 10 feels too much. It had it moments definitely: exciting start, Verstappen’s overtakes, Rosberg’s progress (though it was pretty straightforward) and that manic few minutes where all was happening. However it also had dull periods, underlining big gaps between teams. A few years ago it would have been just called a good race but seems the expectations have dropped a bit now and of course a non-Mercedes win plays some part as well! Anyway it was worth getting up for it, absolutely! I give 7.5, it would have been a full 8 if not for Rosberg’s penalty, it wasn’t the smallest punishment as well, 10 seconds added.

  24. This is what we call a race! 9/10 from me whereby it looked to be the usual race at the front once Nico was punted out in T1 and Lewis looked comfortable in the lead but tables turned even before Lewis had engine troubles when RBR went into combat.

    I was so happy for the three podium finishers and commiserations to Lewis but the fight is not over until it’s over and this race just proves it!

    +1 point for the podium that I enjoyed so much and sporting of Christian, Max and Nico to do the ‘shoey’. I was scared that like last year, the podium in Malaysia would be spoiled by a nerd television presenter but was glad to see Mark do it!

    1. And yes, I am glad it was on Channel 4 live so had the pleasure of avoiding Sky Sports F1 :)

  25. 7/10

    Typical Malaysia, engine troubles for many drivers, mix of strategies and an unexpected result. Got dull in the middle and would have been nice to see RBR fight for 1 and 2 but that is never going to happen as long as Horner is in charge.
    Still happy to see RIC win, a very well deserved victory for one of the best and popular drivers.
    Glad to see McLaren do well too, especially ALO going from 22 to 7. Hope they celebrate by eating pie. :P :P :P

    ROS costing both Ferrari’s today: VET was a racing incident but incident with RAI was simply bad form and could have taken them both out of the race. ROS needs to get his head out of his ass and learn how to pass cleanly with comparable cars. He did well with the midfielders but simply messes up with Ferrari/RBR cars in passing. Poor stewarding does not help matters either.

    1. I’d give it an 8/10 but Derek Warwick deserves 0/10. I’m not a Seb Vettel fan but his move down the inside was ballsy and no worse than Verstappen’s at Spa. So clearly the rules are applied differently dependent on whether you are a new driver or a world champion. That’s not racing. If you award less or no penalty, then award less championship points!

  26. It was one of those races that occur late in the season that both have an effect on the championship but also contain nice bit of drama, racing and unpredictability themselves. Finally a decent race, although definitely not a classic.

  27. I gave it an 8. Hamilton controlled it beautifully until the failure and the Red Bulls put on a good show. I took 2 points away because Hamilton doesn’t act like a man when trouble hits.

  28. ILuvSoundtracks (@)
    2nd October 2016, 10:32

    8.
    Unlikely, insane, and unpredictable.

  29. One would give this race a 10 just for the RIC/VES battle but that’s not how the voting works. Several key events made the race interesting but if we’re honest they were tied together by a boring series of DRS passes and VSC moments that dragged on too long. A 7 from me.

  30. Personally, it’s between 7-8 for me. Was interesting at moments, but I… expected something more, I think. Maybe a not dull last 10 laps to the finish between Red Bull would’ve been better.
    ..at least it was not a Mercedes win, I guess.

  31. A relatively good race overall, the middle part was a little boring-ish, not as good as last year’s race or the Singapore GP, for example, but otherwise a decent race. I don’t really understand the logic of the hardest compound being the only ‘must be used in the race at some point’ compound, they should just apply the same rule that they apply to 18 circuits also in Canada, Malaysia, and Japan.

  32. Great Race, 8/10
    Not 10 because
    -1 for the preposterous Rosberg penalty
    -1 because the best moment of the race -the Dan/Max scrape- was a fight for the 2nd position, not for the win. It would have been felt much better if Lewis had removed himself by then.

  33. Utterly perfect. A proper wheel to wheel battle at the front, unpredictable from lights out to chequered flag and the championship battle is wide open.

  34. A 9/10 from me – there was plenty to see throughout.

    First an eventful start, then continued started as a strategic battle between HAM and the Red Bulls, seeing how far ROS, ALO could go, several people out of ‘normal’ position thanks to VET again trying to win/lose the race in the 1st turn bc. he knows that’s Ferrari’s only chance at the moment; ROS showing some good moves (sure faster car, but still doing it), including, imo, that rather harsh move on Kimi.

    And then it turned with hearthbreak for HAM (not quite happy to have to avoid page about HAM’s race here for the flame/blame game but oh well), followed by a few quite good moves between the bulls and a sort of fight for the win between them, and even a bit of suspense to see if/how long ROS would take 10s out of RAI.

    Lost track of Palmer but he got a point out of it, unexpected, but good for him, I guess. And Both McLarens in the points, good races even with some bad timed VSC for BUT; similar for HUL, I think, and PER again timing things right there to get ahead. BOT salvaging the weekend for Williams too – and MAS having good pace, even with bad luck from grid and 1st laps.

  35. between 7 and 8 for me. ended up giving an 8 mostly because ricciardo winning.
    start not how i wanted considering who i support. was fun watching nico get trough the field. some other good battles in the midfield. interesting strategies as well, palmer and bottas making it work. rosberg penalty made me very frustrated but daniel winning made me feel better. if rosberg got a penalty for that, verstappen should have got a race ban by now after everything he got away with. seeing this you cant help but feel villeneuve was really right about verstappen being protected by the fia. lewis retiring was ofcourse a very dramatic moment and the red bull battle was the highlight of the race.

  36. A solid 7 / 10 for me. Quite a few good battles throughout the whole field, cars failing at the circuit with some of the toughest conditions on the calendar. The transitioning battle between the Red Bulls over the first half of that lap were some of the best, cleanest racing seen so far this year. Also nice to see a good attendance, something the promoters were very worried about with the calendar move so close to the Singapore Grand Prix.

  37. A race of intrigue from start to finish, presenting two swings in the title, first towards Hamilton before his luck ran out yet again and his engine blew up. Pleased to see Riccardo get what is a somewhat overdue victory after some highly skilled dueling with Verstappen.
    It’s another example of why I don’t rate Rosberg very highly, especially after yet another overtake that is more fitting of Touring Cars then F1 (you can’t knock his recovery drive, but it’s what you’d expect from that car after seeing Hamilton do it more then once earlier in the season). If Hamilton does start overturning this new points deficit to Rosberg (and judging by his superior speed this weekend I can only assume he will) then I can see Rosberg replicating his old team mate Schumacher at some point.

  38. 8/10
    Nice and eventful race. Would have been even better if the Red Bulls could have taken their battle to the finish line, but for very understandable reasons the team decided to pit both drivers.

  39. I gave this race an 8 although I was a bit torn between an 8 and 9. I have given recent ones a 6/7 so it had to be higher.

    Exciting start with the first lap accident. Then some interesting strategy calls with the tyres. Got a little bit dull in the middle but then the dramatic fight between the Red Bulls, the Nico/Kimi overtake incident and the complete surprise of Lewis’ car failing. So quite a lot of excitement really.

    I am a little undecided about the Nico overtake incident. I think it was good to see him try this but if he had taken Kimi or himself out of the race then everyone would have been saying what an idiot he was. He would have passed Kimi anyway sooner or later so it was a bit risky but, on the other hand, exciting. I think a 5 second penalty would have been more fair and more of a slap on the wrist.

    Good to see Daniel win at last this season. He deserves this victory and his defence of his position from Max gave him the victory really. Good to see both McLarens in the points as well.

  40. 10. Perfect race for me – unpredictable to the end and overtakes and close racing everywhere.

  41. Wow, what a painful reminder of how lucky we are with Mercedes… Despite their dominance at least they don’t rob us of a good team mate battle…

  42. Evil Homer (@)
    2nd October 2016, 13:59

    Great race (despite the fact our boy won). Not sure really what people are looking for when rating this one lower!?

    Seb’s efforts on corner 1 were his fault and he will see that when he see’s a replay (yet his opinion may not change- all good!). Very much like Daniil in Russia really but only one tap LOL!

    Very glad to see Jolyon Palmer get a point, a long time coming and a good drive that went his way on this occasion. May be his only one, I hope not but can see why he may be moved on next year……………. but who knows?

  43. Gave it 5. I feel unfairly. Now that I have calmed down a bit I would give it more.

    Lets start with 10.

    Mercedes not winning +2
    Fight for the lead lasting long time +2
    RIC wins +1
    Rosberg does some good overtaking +1
    Rosberg does some Kimi contact +1

    Seems good right?

    First lap nutcase takes out Rosberg and Vettel ending two top drivers chance of winning -2.
    Booring VSC twice -1
    Rosberg gets penalty for his best overtake this year -1
    Engine blowout decides lead position -2.
    Team orders decide final winner -3.

    Fair score would be about 8, depending on what default start score is.

    Race would be easily 9 or 10 had Hamilton won from strategic deficit behind Verstapen or if RBR duel was not interupted by the team.

    If Rosberg wasnt taken out maybe we would see even more dramatic fight for top spot with Lewis.

    For me it was an gripping race with way to much unrealised potential.

  44. Considering the numbet of incidents in the race, it was bloody boring for long periods and a struggle to stay awake, for the 2nd time this season Vettel has robbed us of a potentially interesting battle at the front with an ill-advised move at the first corner.
    If Lewis’s engine hadn’t failed I think most people would be rating this as a 5 or 6, it was just so predictable again, and even with his engine failure giving us a Red Bull 1-2 it was hard to rate it higher than a six.

    1. I have to agree with respect to the boredom in the middle – I was starting to doze off post-lunch (here in India), until Hamilton’s flameout jolted me awake. Eyes wide open from that point on.

  45. I didn’t enjoy this one much at all. It started with two of the leading drivers colliding, ruining more chance of close racing, especially with Vettel. Then as the race settled down I nearly fell asleep, absolutely nothing was going on except a couple of passes here or there. Rosberg made his way through the pack until he got penalised stupidly for close racing, which just makes me realise how F1 is in such a bad state. Then the leader’s car broke down. This lead to a
    Dramatic finish, but ultimately it was born through an event that shouldn’t have occurred as far as luck is concerned, and furthermore there wasn’t even a wheel to wheel battle for the lead.

    Overall it was very dull.

    1. Forgot to mention what I actually gave it: 4/10

  46. Definitely very entertaining. Two very unexpected setbacks for the expected winners of the race, a great battle between the drivers who went on to finish first and second, the possibility of Verstappen getting in Hamilton’s way late in the race, much strategic variation and many on-track overtakes …
    Not as much of a thriller as Singapore, and the fact that the most competitive cars couldn’t win due to bad luck and nothing else, leads me to the conclusion that this race deserves a rating of 8.5 – or 8 in integers.
    Fairly representative race of the 2016 season, the tyre rules work.

  47. An important race for the championship, and it did have some exciting moments. The middle part of the race was pretty dull but it spiced up a bit towards the end with the Red Bulls fighting, Hamilton’s break down and the Rosberg/Raikkonen incident. Honestly I don’t think it deserved a penalty, even just a few years ago that would be seen as good opportunistic racing, but today it apparently warranted a 10 second penalty. It was a rude move, but it wasn’t even close to as bad as Coulthard’s move on Schumacher at the same corner in ’99. Rosberg has drawn criticism for his wheel to wheel racing recently, some rightly (Austria ’16), and some wrongly (in my opinion, Germany ’16) but this time I think Nico was in the right; It was the kind of gutsy, muscular moves we usually like to see from our championship contenders, or at least we used to.

  48. We had a few laps of good racing watching Ricciardo and Verstappen go wheel to wheel but it wasn’t that gripping a race. I’m not voting on the result just because we got a none Mercedes victory, for the action and the racing we got that was a 6/10. (maybe a 7/10 and I’m just knocking 1 off for the disappointment of seeing a championship decided by reliability)

  49. Rate 8,5
    The best/fastest driver didn’t win due to all the virtual safety cars, DNF’s and accidents.
    But it had great racing in it.

  50. 8/10. I found it quite enjoyable, the tyres weren’t as much of an issue as I thought they might have been and I think partly because of this we actually saw some good racing for once. I don’t think I have ever seen two cars go through turns 5 and 6 completely side by side before, kudos to the Red Bull guys for that moment.

    It’s a shame that Rosberg was torpedoed by Vettel but it was fun to watch him comeback up the order and to witness that brilliant overtake on Räikkönen really put a smile on my face, it’s disappointing that the stewards thought differently. I’m sure that most people want to see more close and exciting racing, and for them to give out a penalty just because there was a slight bang of cars is not going to encourage close and exciting racing. The stewards need to back off.

  51. I think, this deserves 8. I don’t like the result, but the race was very exciting…

  52. 8/10 even if it did brake my heart to see Lewis pulling out from both leads, something is definitely not rightly set up in the Merecedes team at the moment, IMO Toto is not doing his best to make both drivers chances equal as long as it goes in Rosberg favour, guys the 2016 championship is rigged.

  53. ? How did he manage to over-rev it? Come on, another Hamilton power unit let loose!

  54. I gave the race an 8

    There was action throughout the race and even before Hamilton’s retirement it had not seemed as if it would be certain victory for him from the start.

    After practice, although Mercedes had a pace advantage it appeared that Red Bull and possibly Ferrari could challenge them given the right circumstances in the race.

    When Verstappen made his early stop under the virtual safety car I thought that it had given him an opportunity to win the race or at the very least that Hamilton would have to pass Verstappen on track later on to retake the lead.

    But then Hamilton stayed out a while before making his first stop and it looked like he may have even managed to convert to a one stop that was until he started to routinely put fastest laps in to pull a gap on the Red Bulls and so wasn’t nursing his tyres to the end.

    Just as it appeared that Hamilton was set for a dominant win having almost pulled a big enough gap to make a pit stop and still retain the lead his engine blew.

    The late battle between the two Red Bulls just before Hamilton’s retirement was great and boosted my rating of the race, however after their final pit stops under the virtual safety Verstappen wasn’t able to really challenge Ricciardo again.

    While anything could still happen and a win for Hamilton and DNF for Rosberg at the next race would put Hamilton back in the championship lead, that engine failure could be pivotal, Rosberg must now be the heavy favourite to take the title.

    Unless Rosberg suffers relalibilty problems or has a retirement for some over reason I think Hamilton will have to win every race from now until the end of the season, while that is certainly possible I think that for at least one of the remaining Grand Prix Rosberg will finish in front of Hamilton either due to him being quicker, as we have seen at Brazil the last couple of years, or due to a bad start from Hamilton.

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