The Final Malaysian GP Depicted in Memes

Max Verstappen had the honour of winning the final Malaysian Grand Prix. Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo joined him on the podium. Sebastian Vettel conjured up a heroic drive to finish 4th while teammate Raikkonen didn’t make the start. Valtteri Bottas struggled to keep up and finished 5th. The race started in damp conditions and the track soon dried up. There were bits and pieces of action on track and even during the buildup to the weekend. Essentially Sports sums up the final Malaysian GP in meme form.

Pre-race Switch

Toro Rosso surprised everyone with the announcement that Daniil Kvyat was being ‘rested’ and reserve driver Pierre Gasly was being given an early debut. Interestingly enough, the last time Daniil Kvyat was substituted off, Max Verstappen promptly went and won a race. It was Spain 2016 when Red Bull promoted Verstappen to the senior team and Kvyat was downgraded. Max went on to win his first race with Red Bull while Kvyat struggled all the way. In an ironic twist of coincidence, Kvyat was subbed off again and Verstappen repeated the feat in Malaysia. Hmm… Red Bull need to do this more often.

Who’s Afraid of Pennywise the Clown?

During the second practice session, Haas F1’s Romain Grosjean brought out the red flags. What happened was that Bottas’ Mercedes and Raikkonen’s Ferrari dislodged a drain cover and Romain ran right over it. As a result, the rear of the car smashed into the open drain and the Frenchman got pitched into a wild spin. Of course, social media saw dug deep into their humour cockpits and came up with a few good memes. One of the best memes came from former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde. The Dutchman posted a picture of Grosjean on the kerb and just under the kerb was Pennywise the Clown. For the uninitiated, Pennywise is a character from the horror movie ‘It’.

Another Tortuous Year for Kimi?

Kimi Raikkonen has had an unbelievable amount of bad luck this season. He has come close to victory only a few times with the most notable one being Monaco. However, circumstances led to another and he just missed out on a victory. With a front row start in Malaysia and Ferrari looking strong, it seemed like Raikkonen would finally break the jinx. Sadly we spoke too soon, a power unit issue forced Kimi into the pitlane where the Ferrari team began a race against time to sort the issue. They lost and Raikkonen was out. It was a crying shame as he was really in a good position.

The Perfect Birthday Present

Max Verstappen turned 20 on Saturday and was starting 3rd on the grid. Ferrari gifted him a clear run when Kimi Raikkonen was eliminated from the grid. Although Hamilton got away well, Verstappen was able to keep him in his sights and eventually reeled him in. A few laps later, Verstappen was through on Hamilton and he never looked back since.

Bottas was Nowhere to be Seen

At the start of the race, Valtteri Bottas got in on the action and was battling with Ricciardo and Verstappen. But that was the only piece of action he ever saw. Once Ricciardo was past, Valtteri was left eating their dust. Afterwards, there were red faces in the Silver Arrows garage as Vettel, from 20th, made short work of the Finn. He admitted that they should have been strong in Malaysia but they were seriously struggling.

Vandoorne Becoming a Force to Reckon With

Both McLarens displayed a strong qualifying performance to get both cars in the top 10. Come race day, Vandoorne made a great start to run in 5th behind the Mercedes and the Red Bulls. As the race progressed, Sergio Perez caught and overtook the Belgian. Soon, he was at the mercy of a hard-charging Vettel. But he did manage to keep ahead of both Williams cars and Esteban Ocon’s Force India. Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso just missed out on a point-scoring position in 11th. McLaren-Honda have long become prime targets for memes and jokes.

How Do You Even???

As the saying goes, It isn’t over till the fat lady sings. But this race was an exception if you are Sebastian Vettel or Lance Stroll. The two were involved in a bizarre incident on the slowing down lap. Vettel tried move around the outside of Stroll and they made contact. The impact wrecked Vettel’s rear suspension and there were concerns that the gearbox may have been damaged. Fortunately, some reports from Italian press say that it was undamaged.

Looks like they won’t be Exchanging Christmas Cards soon

With the Ferrari getting a hefty whack, the car was on 3 wheels. Surprisingly, Stroll’s car survived the impact. When they both radioed their respective teams, naturally they had differing opinions on how it happened. Vettel alleged that Stroll was unaware of his surroundings. The Canadian felt that Vettel turned in on him.

Hi! I’m Pascal, I’ll be your Uber driver today

In the aftermath of the Stroll-Vettel collision, Pascal Wehrlein stopped by the stricken Ferrari to give Vettel a lift. Although the Safety Car and the Medical Car had arrived by then, Vettel opted to ride on the Sauber.

That’ll be $35.50 Please

Selamat Tinggal Kuala Lumpur

The final Malaysian GP race was a delicious recipe indeed. All the ingredients were perfectly blended to give the fans an exciting race. Max Verstappen finally got the monkey off his back and Lewis Hamilton inched closer to his 4th title. There was a dance off between Esteban Ocon and Jolyon Palmer as to who could spin better. To cap everything off, there was post race drama (which has already been mentioned before).