Car fully gave up on the formation lap, started on the worst tyre choice, dropped all the way back to P18 at one point, decided to gamble and stay out, survived the wet on slicks, kept those well into half the race, put up laps a second faster than the red bull with its monster straight line, charged through all the way to the podium for the first time since Silverstone. What a race.
F1 left Malaysia in 2017 with Max Verstappen & Lewis Hamilton 1-2. F1 came back 9 years later & of course, it's Max & Lewis starting 1-2 tomorrow.
So much changed over 9 years, on the grid & for them. Cars, engines, teams, regs, rivals. Yet these two remain the benchmark.