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2016 Malaysian Grand Prix recap: Surprises and missed opportunities

Mercedes-AMG Petronas pilot Lewis Hamilton drove so well in the run-up to the Malaysian Grand Prix that he said before the race, "Honestly, I don't feel anything is going to stop us." On Sunday, the Sepang race showed what it thought of plans and predictions. Heading into the right-hand Turn 1, Sebastian Vettel practically recreated the dust-up at the Belgian Grand Prix three races ago. When Mercedes' Nico Rosberg swept across from the outside line toward the apex, Red Bull's Max Verstappen had to jink right to avoid, touching Vettel's Ferrari on the inside. Vettel speared straight on and hit Rosberg. Vettel's left front suspension broke, ending his race. Rosberg spun and got moving again, but at the back of the pack. That appeared to put Hamilton on a clear run to the checkered flag. His car looked perfect, his pace was perfect, he easily kept Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo and Verstappen behind. A result that would have seen Hamilton retake control of the Driver's Championship – at Petronas' home race – got crushed on Lap 41 when Hamilton's engine blew down the main straight. That put Ricciardo in the lead, followed closely by his teammate. Just two laps before Hamilton's exit, Ricciardo and Verstappen had battled for second place with some of the best driving we've seen all season. Ricciardo drove as if exorcising the demons of missed opportunities earlier in the year, keeping the young Dutchman behind. The two Red Bulls took the flag fifteen laps later in that order, clocking the first one-two finish for a team other than Mercedes since 2014. It's Red Bull's first one-two since Brazil 2013, when Vettel and Mark Weber took the top steps at the last race of the V8 era. Rosberg recovered to take third in spite of a ten-second penalty for an optimistic pass on Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen. The Finn crossed the line 12 seconds later, followed by Valtteri Bottas in the Williams and Sergio Perez in the Force India. In another Belgium repeat, Fernando Alonso drove from the back of the grid to finish seventh. Nico Hulkenberg secured eighth, Jenson Button ninth for McLaren in his 300th grand prix, and rookie Jolyon Palmer scored his first point of the season for Renault in tenth. The issue to trump all others from now until next week's Japanese Grand Prix: Lewis Hamilton's terrible luck with engines. Power unit gremlins earlier this season helped drop the Brit to 43 points behind Rosberg after the Russian Grand Prix.

2015 Austrian F1 Grand Prix switches to alternating current

It's called the Red Bull Ring, guests are welcomed by a statue of a leaping bull, and dominating its layout demands powerful cars that can run it hard. Perhaps all that aggression is what led both Mercedes-AMG Petronas cars to run off the track in the final qualifying session on their final hot laps, a little too aggressive on the charge. Lewis Hamilton was first into the gravel at Turn 1 when he lost his car under braking, but he was still fast enough to get pole ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg, who spun at Turn 8. Rosberg started second. Or perhaps it wasn't the red bull but the scarlet horse that caused The Silver Arrows to muck it up: Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel had Mercedes' attention all weekend, and he'd line up in third just 0.355 off Hamilton's time. Williams truly rediscovered its power, Felipe Massa going fourth fastest, teammate Valtteri Bottas in sixth. Between them was newly-minted Le Mans winner Nico Hulkenberg, yet again – can we say that enough? – pulling the still-not-updated Force India to fifth place on the grid. Max Verstappen led the Renault-powered top-ten duo in his Toro Rosso in seventh, Infiniti Red Bull Racing driver Daniil Kvyat behind him in eighth. Kvyat, however, would start down the order because of a ten-place grid penalty for needing a fifth Renault engine. After that it's back to Mercedes Ferrari power, Felipe Nasr in the Sauber in ninth, Romain Grosjean in with Mercedes power in the Lotus in tenth – but fellow Lotus driver Pastor Maldonado actually started in tenth because of Kvyat's demotion. Before we get to the race, can we take a moment to talk about the shenanigans and gaudy penalties? Kimi Raikkonen waved the Ferrari flag in Canada after a season that's been full of "We didn't get it right this time," and we thought he was back. But no. In Austria the refrain returned, the Finn kicked out of Q1 after another miscommunication with the team – he qualified 18th. If the scenario plays to form, we'll now wait for team boss Mauricio Arrivabene to issue a clarification that suggests Raikkonen missed a step. Daniel Ricciardo parachutes ten spots back for the same reason as his teammate Kvyat, needing a fifth Renault power unit, dropping him to 18th on the grid and forcing him into a five-second time penalty when he comes in to pit.

2016 Italian Grand Prix race recap

The Italian Grand Prix at Monza is called the Temple of Power. Furthermore, the winning driver in Italy started on pole in 13 of the last 16 years, and only one driver in that time has won the Italian GP from behind the front row of the grid: Rubens Barrichello in 2002 and 2009. By this point in the current Formula 1 season (era?) we know what it means when a track emphasizes both power and pole position: Mercedes-AMG Petronas. The Silver Arrows locked out the front row with Lewis Hamilton on pole. A poor start prevented the Briton from capitalizing on the advantage, so teammate Nico Rosberg and four other drivers swept by him before the end of the second turn. Mercedes would later say a clutch issue caused Hamilton's botched start, but that didn't help the man who'd just fallen to sixth place. Rosberg got about two laps of television coverage on his way to an unbothered victory ahead of Hamilton. Ferrari made Hamilton's second-place finish easier by sticking to a two-stop strategy; both Mercedes drivers pitted once. We aren't sure why Ferrari didn't at least attempt a one-stopper once Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen had been gifted second and third on track. A pit stop took about 23 seconds from entry to exit and Vettel finished third, six seconds behind Hamilton. Raikkonen finished fourth, another seven seconds behind Vettel. Perhaps the Scuderia's tire usage wouldn't allow longer stints, but we'll never know. Daniel Ricciardo wielded his Red Bull like a scalpel to make an impeccable pass on Valtteri Bottas in the Williams and take fifth place. Ricciardo, trailing another Italian province behind, somehow closed the gap on Bottas in just the braking zone of Turn 1, pulling alongside near the apex without locking a wheel on entry nor running wide on exit. Bottas claimed sixth ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen, Sergio Perez in the Force India, Felipe Massa in the second Williams, and Nico Hulkenberg in the second Force India sealing the top ten. Monza did spring a few on-track surprises. Esteban Gutierrez drove Haas F1 into Q3 for the first time this season, the Mexican setting the sixth-best time in Q2. Manor Racing planned for Monza all season, Pascal Wehrlein repaying the effort by qualifying 13th. Fernando Alonso pitted his McLaren on Lap 50 of the 53-lap race for a set of super soft Pirellis, then set the fastest lap. It's Honda's first fastest lap since 1992. The biggest moments happened off the track.