Hello and welcome to ESPN's live coverage of the Malaysian Grand Prix.

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15:01: "I'm losing power," Palmer says, as Hamilton returns to pole. Nearly time for lights out!

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15:00:,/b> The clock ticks over to a fresh hour and Hamilton leads the field away for a formation lap. Massa doesn't get away!

Lap 1

Good start from Hamilton and Rosberg.

Vettel dives down the inside of Turn 1 and hits Rosberg! The championship leader has been punted out... Can't see if he's still on the track. Vettel has pulled over with a damaged left front. He's out.

Virtual Safety Car deployed.

"Really, Sebastian is crazy!" Verstappen says. Looked like a very optimistic lunge from the German.

Manor is up to tenth! Gutierrez has a puncture. It's all happening.

Lap 2

Rosberg is still circulating so he's not out yet.

Massa pits, as does Magnussen and Gutierrez.

"He f---ing smashed into Rosberg like an idiot," says Verstappen, who continues to rant about Rosberg.

Replays show Vettel lunging down the inside of Turn 1, locking up and squeezing Verstappen and tagging Rosberg. The German got spun around and luckily managed to get going again.

Lap 3

Perez has moved up to third in all that early drama.

Red Bull now can get very aggressive on that strategy to put pressure on Hamilton.

Verstappen quickly dispatches Perez. Rosberg has climbed to 16th.

This one definitely not over yet.

Lap 4

DRS is enabled as Hamilton starts the fourth lap. He's already a second clear of Ricciardo, who sets a fastest lap.

Raikkonen takes the long way around Perez for P4 at the first two corners, lovely move.

Rosberg eases past Palmer for 14th.

Lap 5

Another fastest lap from Ricciardo, a 1:40.462, and he's within DRS range of Hamilton. Game on.

Alonso and Grosjean fighting for ninth through Turn 4 and 5, great wheel to wheel action early on.

Perez reporting over the radio Verstappen passed Raikkonen before VSC ended. Replays show him passing down the main straight when a green light flashed next to him.

Lap 6

Hamilton sets a fastest lap, a 1:40.090, pulling out four tenths on Ricciardo.

Grosjean and Alonso coming very close again through Turns 1 and 2. Alonso finally gets it done at Turn 4, nice move on the inside.

Rosberg up to 13th. Don't worry Rosberg fans, still a long way to go yet.

Lap 7

Massa's day goes from bad to worse as Williams tells him he's got a puncture.

Hamilton adds another 0.5s to his lead. Replays show Rosberg easing past Ocon on the run down to Turn 15.

Lap 8

Rosberg moves up to 12th. He's got a long train of cars up ahead of him.

Will be very interesting listening to what Rosberg and Vettel have to say about that incident. It's being investigated by the stewards.

Lap 9

"It's very difficult to stay behind, I'm getting closer," Verstappen tells Red Bull.

Grosjean has gone off at Turn 15 and that looks like another brake issue. Virtual Safety Car neutralises the race again.

Replays show the car snapping as he came down the straight and just not slow down - brake failure all the way. Scary stuff for Grosjean, the gravel did well to slow him down.

"The brakes braked..." Grosjean reports over the radio.

Lap 10

Red Bull has decided to call Verstappen in under the VSC period. He was running third but will be happy to get out of teammate's dirty air.

"Keep over my left front, I went over something," says Rosberg, who pits for hard tyres. Mercedes also telling him to keep his VSC delta time positive, meaning he's currently lapping too fast under that cautionary period.

Replays show a rather tardy stop for Perez, with Force India double-stacking the Mexican with Hulkenberg.

Lap 11

Virtual Safety Car period ends and Rosberg is all over the back of Hulkenberg's Force India. Surprisingly he's not making any lunges, championship fight firmly in his mind, no doubt.

Nice move from Rosberg up the inside of Turn 1 to dispatch Hulkenberg. He gets good drive down to Turn 4 and moves past Nasr for 12th. Button the next man up.

Verstappen looking very, very well-placed at the moment. He's pitted and he's 17 seconds down on race leader Hamilton - the top three all yet to pit.

Lap 12

Fastest lap from Hamilton, a 1:39.643 out in the clear air. Verstappen not close to matching that at the moment.

Rosberg passes Button for P11. Palmer, in front of the championship leader, has a big lock up at Turn 9. Rosberg gets past the yellow Renault at the next corner.

Lap 13

Magnussen is told he's missing downforce due to some earlier contact.

Alonso sweeps past Nasr for 14th.

Verstappen's last lap just one tenth slower than race leader Hamilton. These next ten laps will be fascinating in determining the outcome.

.@Max33Verstappen went on to soft tyres, which could give him a big advantage when the three cars in front of him make their first stop

— Pirelli Motorsport (@pirellisport) October 2, 2016

Lap 14

Another fastest lap from Hamilton - and that's immediately beaten by Verstappen's 1:39.217, three tenths quicker than Hamilton. Hamilton pulling away from Ricciardo, who is pulling away from Raikkonen, but Verstappen is the man in the pound seats at the moment.

Hamilton 3.6s ahead of Ricciardo at the front. Verstappen just seven seconds behind the leader!

Lap 15

This is about the time you would expect the leaders to pit but those various VSC periods will have given them plenty of time to stretch out these opening stints.

Rosberg now all over the rear of Perez. Another nice move at Turn 8 from Rosberg, using the speed advantage to nip down the inside of the Mexican.

Lap 16

Things still working very nicely for Rosberg at the moment, he's still in contention here after that switch to hard tyres.

Hamilton reporting his tyres are feeling good, Mercedes tells him they are extending the stint by three laps. Big, big couple of laps for the world champion.

Red Bull tell Ricciardo they are looking to fit the hard tyre at the next stop, which isn't a surprise. Rosberg's times looking very good on that compound. Remember, Ricciardo has a fresh set of soft tyres for the end of the race....

Lap 17

Hamilton lapping faster than any of the top three. Verstappen still rapid.

Lap 18

Vettel with some very interesting TV quotes. Says "Racing Max is moving around, everyone knows that." Laying the blame squarely on the Dutchman for squeezing him into Turn 1. Not sure everyone will agree.

Big shame for Magnussen as Renault says he'll be retiring. We didn't see any more contact after Turn 1 but it's possible there was as everyone moved to avoid the spun-around Rosberg.

Speaking of Rosberg, he's still absolutely flying and eases past Ericsson for seventh into Turn 1.

Lap 19

Another nice move from Rosberg, who moves into the top six by cutting past Sainz at the new-look Turn 15. Strong recovery drive so far from the championship leader.

Verstappen being told to catch and pass Raikkonen as quickly as possible.

Replays of the start now showing what happened to Magnussen, he seemed to make contact with Gutierrez and go over some debris before being nudged in the rear by Kvyat. Nothing much any of them could have done about it.

Lap 20

Verstappen bearing down on Raikkonen, he's0.4s away from DRS range. Verstappen v Raikkonen usually gets a little bit tasty, doesn't it...

Rosberg sets another personal best lap in sixth position. He's still very much a contender in this one, though he's out of sequence in terms of pit stops to the guys in front.

Lap 21

Verstappen moves alongside Raikkonen into Turn 15 and the Ferrari driver pits.

Hamilton pits from the lead for hard tyres. Pirelli thinks they can last for 30 laps - that looks like a one-stop strategy for Mercedes, but he's going to have a job to make it work.

Raikkonen emerges just ahead of Rosberg, who has just passed Bottas for fifth position. Remember, Rosberg put those tyres on lap nine, so will be pitting around lap 39 depending on how well he's made them last.

Ricciardo (yet to pit) leads Verstappen (has pitted). Verstappen will have to pit out of sequence to the leaders, however, so the end of this race is very fascinating.

Lap 22

Verstappen moves into the lead of the race as Ricciardo pits. Where will he filter out? He comes out comfortably in third, and he's also taken the hard compound tyre.

Replays show Rosberg locking up heavily on the inside of Turn 15 when he passed Bottas. That won't have done those tyres any good.

Lap 23

"I think start to push a little bit more at this stage," Red Bull tells Verstappen. Hamilton has just set a personal best lap behind him. Key to all this now is remembering lap nine, which is when Verstappen took the soft tyres and Rosberg took the hard compound. Both will need to pit again at least once, Mercedes will hope to get Hamilton to the end of the race on this set.

Assuming we don't have another incident, this one might just be a repeat of Singapore with one, or both, Red Bulls chasing a leading Mercedes on a softer compound.

Lap 24

Ericsson passes Nasr on the inside of Turn 15 for 13th.

Alonso told to "think about plan A" on strategy. The Spaniard replies "no way, no way" because of current levels of degradation.

Lap 25

Hamilton chopping time out of Verstappen's lead with every passing lap, he's 6.6s off the teenager at the moment. At the moment he's looking absolutely on it.

Hamilton passes Gutierrez but he's lost half a second behind the Haas driver, who had blue flags for a couple of corners.

Lap 26

"How is the balance?" Red Bull asks Verstappen. He replies that he's losing grip at the front and rear. He's had the tyres on for the 16 laps Pirelli said was their ideal life.

If he pits now he might come out in around Raikkonen and Rosberg.

Verstappen locks up into Turn 15 but stays out.

Lap 27

"So Lewis, that gap is going to close, deg starting to appear," Mercedes report to Hamilton. The world champion still looks like favourite to win at this stage, his car looks like an absolute beauty to drive today.

Lap 28

Verstappen pits from the lead of the race. He rejoins comfortably in third position, with Raikkonen just joining the start-finish straight as he does.

Alonso pits again for a fresh set of soft tyres.

Lap 29

Bottas, running on the mediums, locks up and runs deep into Turn 6. He's still running well in sixth position, crucially ahead of both Force India drivers.

Hulkenberg pits from ninth. Hard compounds go on his car. He emerges behind Alonso, so the undercut has worked nicely for McLaren.

Lap 30

Palmer up in ninth but still has a pit stop to come soon.

Hamilton, back out in the lead, sets a blistering fastest lap of 1:39.135, taking eight tenths of a second out of Ricciardo.

The crucial gap now is Hamilton-Verstappen, rather than Ricciardo, in case Hamilton can't get those tyres to the end as he will want a gap big enough to pit and emerge ahead.

Bottas' impressive stint comes to an end and he pits for new tyres, emerging in eighth position.

Lap 31

McLaren confirms it's a "strategy switch" for Alonso, as he's taken on the soft tyres.

Another fastest lap from Hamilton, a 1:38.941.

Rosberg's times starting to drop off now - he's not making any dent on Raikkonen's lead over him. He might well be heading for a fifth-place finish unless anything else happens ahead.

Lap 32

Hamilton with another fastest lap, a 1:38.595.

Rosberg pits again for another set of hard tyres. He filters out behind Perez for sixth, but unlikely he will be behind the Force India for long.

Lap 33

Sainz and Alonso dicing together for ninth position. Alonso's been in the thick of the wheel-to-wheel action today. McLaren has to give him a competitive car next year.

Raikkonen pits and successfully gets out ahead of Rosberg, so he stays fourth.

Replay of Alonso throwing his McLaren down the inside of Sainz for ninth, notably struggling over the raised camber on the inside but making the move stick.

Lap 34

Hamilton leads Ricciardo by 16s, Verstappen by 19.8s.

"Tyres are starting to drop a little bit," Hamilton tells Mercedes. Well then.

Lap 35

A pit stop from either Red Bull now would probably force Mercedes' hand a little bit. Impossible to predict the finish to this one.

Ocon, whose already had a penalty for it this afternoon, under investigation for speeding again in the pit-lane.

Lap 36

Hamilton doing his best Raikkonen impression as he passes Palmer. "Blue flag!"

Rosberg bearing down on Raikkonen now. He's looking very quick on those hard tyres.

Lap 37

"Come on we need all the power!" Raikkonen tells Ferrari, asking for his fastest mode from Ferrari. Those two men are some 48 seconds off the lead, at the moment if Hamilton pits he'd come out just behind Verstappen in third.

Lap 38

"These are great lap times Lewis mate," Mercedes tells the race leader. "Just keep your head down".

Suggests another stop is coming.

Verstappen has moved right up behind teammate Ricciardo.

Rosberg trying to go around the outside of Turn 1 and he barges through at Turn 2! The two men make contact as Rosberg slides down the hill and the small gap on the inside. That's a man who wants to win the world championship...

Lap 39

Verstappen right behind Ricciardo, who won't be in any mood to move over.

Verstappen gets some slipstream down to Turn 4 and switches to get ahead. The two men go wheel to wheel through Turns 5 and 6 and Ricciardo re-gains the lead on the run down to Turn 7... Wonderful stuff from the Red Bull drivers.

Rosberg under investigation for causing a collision with Raikkonen.

Lap 40

Verstappen opens the DRS but can't get close enough to pass. Ricciardo in absolutely no mood to yield to his young teammate.

Lap 41

Hamilton's engine is on fire! Hamilton's engine is on fire! He's out of the race.

"Oh no! NO!" He cries.

Toto Wolff's head drops into his head.

Red Bull now fighting for the win.

Raikkonen pits under the Virtual Safety Car.

Verstappen is right behind Ricciardo as they wait for VSC to end.

Lap 42

Red Bull double stacks its drivers.

Rosberg also pits as Gutierrez stops and is out of the race.

The VSC is out.

Gutierrez's front left wheel falls off his Haas.

Lap 43

The VSC is back in and we are racing again.

Rosberg has been handed a 10-second time penalty.

Lap 44

Rosberg sets a new fastest lap of the race.

As things stand, Rosberg would be 23 points clear of Hamilton.

Lap 45

Ricciardo leads by 2 seconds over Red Bull teammate Verstappen.

Another new fastest lap from Rosberg.

Lap 46

Verstappen gets the gap down to 1.8s.

"Have a drink, 11 laps to go," Ricciardo is told over team radio.

Lap 47

Button has reported a problem on the radio. He is currently 9th.

Lap 48

Meanwhile the two Manors are scrapping away in 16th and 17th.

Nasr becomes the latest to retire.

Lap 49

Verstappen takes another tenth out of Ricciardo's lead.

Lap 50

Just one second separates the Red Bull drivers.

Ricciardo imediately extends the gap up to 1.4s.

Lap 51

Red Bull are on the verge of their first 1-2 finish since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix.

Lap 52

Five laps remain.

Meanwhile Palmer is currently 10th and on course for his first F1 point.

Lap 53

Alonso is seventh for McLaren, despite starting from 22nd and last.

Lap 54

Rosberg is on course for the final spot on the podium, despite a 10-second post-race penalty. The German is 12.3s clear of Raikkonen.

Lap 55

Two laps to go.

Verstappen is now a full 3 seconds down on Ricciardo. It looks like both Red Bull drivers are coasting to the flag.

Lap 56

Ricciardo starts the final lap.

Daniel Ricciardo takes his fourth F1 victory in Malaysia, ahead of Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen and Nico Rosberg.

That's all for our coverage of the 2016 Malaysian Grand Prix. Thanks for joining us and we'll see you in Japan next week!