Maiden victories, engine drama, Multi 21: Best of Malaysia since 1999

Eddie Irvine claimed the first victory in Malaysia at its premiere in 1999. However, the Irishman had the support of Michael Schumacher.

The then two-time world champion returned after his leg break at Silverstone with a magnificent pole position and distanced his teammate by almost a second.

Irvine's Victory and Disqualification Chaos

In the race, however, the German allowed Irvine to go ahead. Irvine was still fighting for the title, so Schumacher kept the McLaren duo at bay as a buffer. Nevertheless, Mika Häkkinen became world champion in the last race.

After the race, both Ferraris were disqualified due to illegal bargeboards, which would have made Häkkinen world champion prematurely. However, the decision was reversed by the stewards.

Four years later, Kimi Räikkönen stood on the top step for the first time. After Fernando Alonso had claimed his maiden pole the day before, the "Iceman" went into qualifying with significantly more fuel and only qualified in seventh place. However, the "gamble" paid off in the race.

Räikkönen won with a lead of almost 40 seconds over Rubens Barrichello, while Alonso still celebrated his first podium finish in third place.

Alonso as Spoilsport and Vettel's Maiden Ferrari Triumph

In 2012, the Spaniard himself slipped into the role of spoilsport: Alonso took his first win of the season in Malaysia and kept the surging Sergio Perez (Sauber) behind him for laps before the latter made a mistake.

The Mexican missed out on the sensation, but finished in second place to claim his first podium finish.

Sebastian Vettel, however, celebrated his maiden victory in red. In the second race of the 2015 season, the German opted not to pit after a Safety Car period. With one less pit stop, he kept the favored Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at bay.

In 2009, the race was scheduled for 5 PM local time for European viewers – a fateful error.

After a dry start, the heavens opened after one third of the race distance, leading to an interruption after lap 31 and ultimately a complete cancellation after a long wait.

As less than 75 percent of the race distance had been completed at the time of the cancellation, drivers were awarded half points.

For Kimi Räikkönen, the race was already over at this point. While the rest of the field waited in their cars for the restart, the Ferrari driver, already changed, got himself an ice cream – his KERS system had a defect, and Ferrari internally already knew he wouldn't be restarting.

Formula 1 cars are generally not known for aerial manoeuvres – Vitaly Petrov attempted one nonetheless in 2011.

During the race, the Russian went off track in his Lotus-Renault. As he tried to return to the circuit, Petrov was literally catapulted into the air. The airborne moment ended with such a hard impact that even the steering column broke, leaving the Russian holding his steering wheel loosely in his hands.

Two years before his first Ferrari victory, Vettel was already in the spotlight in Malaysia. Mark Webber's legendary statement in the cool-down room after the 2013 race went down in history.

The then three-time champion Vettel started from pole position, while his teammate started only from fifth place.

Heavy rain began 30 minutes before the start. Vettel maintained first place on intermediates, while Alonso damaged his front wing. Webber, after a lightning start, was already in second place after lap two.

The German already switched to fresh mediums on lap five and got stuck behind a few cars. Webber, however, only came in for his pit stop on lap eight and thus stayed ahead of his teammate.

Vettel Defied Team Orders

Even after the fourth stop, the Australian remained just ahead of Vettel, but held him up on used hard tires. Red Bull informed its world champion with the famous team order "Multi 21" that positions should be maintained.

After laps of battling and several radio messages to stick to the instructions, Vettel finally prevailed and took his first win of the season.

His Australian rival demonstratively crossed the finish line not along the pit wall, but on the other side of the straight, cut off Vettel and showed him the middle finger.

In the cool-down room, Webber reminded the German of the agreement with the words "Multi 21, Seb. Yeah, Multi 21". The tension on the podium was evident to everyone.

Lewis Hamilton was also on the podium in the same race – his first of over 150 for Mercedes after his departure from McLaren.

The Briton caused a faux pas right in his second outing: During his first pit stop, Hamilton turned into the McLaren garage and was waved through by his perplexed ex-team.

As with Red Bull, there were laps of battling at Mercedes – a foretaste of what was yet to come in the following years. Unlike the energy drink team, Rosberg, however, ultimately adhered to the team's instructions to hold positions.

Three years later, Hamilton, with two world championship titles for Mercedes under his belt and an eight-point deficit to teammate Rosberg, headed into the 16th of 21 races of the season.

The Briton took a dominant pole ahead of Rosberg and maintained the lead, while Rosberg collided with Vettel and fell to the back of the field.

While Hamilton was driving towards a seemingly certain victory, his title dreams went up in smoke on lap 41 with an engine failure.

Rosberg finished behind Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen – instead of having a five-point lead, Hamilton went into the last five races with a 23-point deficit. Despite a third-place finish and then four consecutive victories, Rosberg would not let the title slip away.