What happened last time F1 went to Sepang?

F1 has returned to Sepang, Malaysia this weekend for the er…Bahrain Grand Prix. The series has been away from Malaysian circuit since 2017 - but what happened the last time the F1 circus visited?

Free practice 1 was delayed due to heavy rain, and saw outings for Ferrari juniors Antonio Giovinazzi and Charles Leclerc for Haas and Sauber respectively, as well as Sergey Sirotkin for Renault and Sean Gelael for Toro Rosso who also had Pierre Gasly debuting for the full weekend after replacing Daniil Kvyat. Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo would go on to lead the session for Red Bull.

📸Leclerc for Sauber.

Drier practice 2 and 3 sessions would follow, with a dislodged drain cover causing a talking point as it was the cause of a high speed accident for Romain Grosjean’s Haas.

📸Grosjean spins off mid corner over the detached drain cover.

In qualifying, engine failure for Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel meant he’d have to start the Grand Prix from 20th and last with Lewis Hamilton taking his 70th career pole for Mercedes ahead of Kimi Raikkonen for Ferrari, Verstappen, Ricciardo, Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and the Force India of Esteban Ocon.

📸Ocon with Force India.

On race day, Raikkonen’s car was pulled from the grid before race start due to a turbo issue - the Finn classified as ‘Did Not Start (DNS). Hamilton would lead the early exchanges as teammate Bottas challenged the Red Bull cars to little avail. Verstappen took the race lead to open lap four and never looked back - winning the second race of his young career after a 504 day wait since his first in 2016.

📸Verstappen crosses the line for career win #2. He could make it #72 this weekend!

Sebastian Vettel would rise from 20th to 4th, struggling to pass Ricciardo for P3, with Hamilton ahead.

Further back, Sergio Perez (Force India), Stoffel Vandoorne (McLaren), Lance Stroll, Felipe Massa (both Williams) and Esteban Ocon took home points with Vandoorne’s McLaren teammate, Fernando Alonso, just missing out.

On the cool down lap, a strange accident between future Aston Martin teammates Vettel and Stroll saw the the two collide at low speed, and Vettel’s car coming off worse with the left rear tyre sheared from the car but still somehow attached and hanging over the engine.

📸Top: Stroll collides with Vettel. Bottom: Pascal Wehrlein gives Vettel a lift back to the pits in his Sauber.

Let’s hope we see some excitement again at Sepang!

📸Image credits: Fox Sports, Formula Motorsport Limited, Sky Sports.