Hello and welcome to ESPN's live coverage of the 2017 Malaysian Grand Prix

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15:02: Hamilton takes his position at the front of the grid. Now the wait for the rest of the field to form up....

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14:59: Super-soft tyres for everyone except the bottom three - Wehrlein, Ericsson and that man Vettel. One silver lining for him is that he's saved a shed load of tyres from missing all those qualifying sessions, though that probably won't be a source of much comfort to him at the moment.

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14:57: Drivers getting their final bits of advice from their respective pit walls. Slippery circuit but it's drying quickly. Everyone on slicks.

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14:55: This one is Mercedes' race to lose. The team won't be taking anything for granted here -- I can tell you, that memory of that Hamilton engine failure here last year still lingers in that garage.

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14:53: Oh no, Raikkonen's car is being wheeled to the pit lane! That engine issue hasn't been fixed. The stars are aligning for Hamilton.

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14:50: The rain before the race means everyone on the right side of the track (the side of pole) has a dry line, compared to a slippery outside lane. Could be a big advantage come lights out.

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14:48: The Malaysian national anthem plays out ahead of Sepang's final race (for the forseeable future, at least).

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14:42: Early drama in this one, Raikkonen complaining about no power and a drained battery in his car. After turbo issues for Vettel yesterday, that would be an absolute disaster for Ferrari if it continues into the race. We will keep you updated.

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14:42 Bottas starts from fifth after running with the new Mercedes aero package. He admitted after qualifying that he made the wrong choice, while Hamilton stuck to the old spec W08.

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14:39 The Red Bull's are next up having locked out the second row of the grid. Verstappen got the better of his teammate on his 20th birthday and the Red Bull's also looked very competitive in race trim. There has been some heavy rain leading up to the race, though most of the circuit has now dried up thanks to Malaysia's hot and humid climate. Some damp patches still remain, so we may start the race on intermediates.

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14:36 Kimi Raikkonen starts alongside Hamilton, after missing out on pole by just 0.045s. Ferrari's race pace looked very strong on Friday when Mercedes were struggling with balance and set-up, so the Finn could prove to be a big player in this race. Don't count out Ferrari for the race win yet.

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14:34 Lewis Hamilton starts on pole position for the fourth year in a row here, having claimed his 70th pole position in F1 in qualifying. The Briton has a huge opportunity to further extend his 28 point championship lead over main title rival Sebastian Vettel, with the German starting from the very back of the grid following his Q1 engine troubles as he failed to set a time.

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14:30 The pitlane is open and the cars are heading out for their installation laps to the grid, ahead of the final (at least for now) Malaysian Grand Prix. The race has been a permanent fixture on the calendar since 1999.

Lap 1

Nice start from Hamilton and he leads into Turn 1. Bottas has had a great getaway and he is wheel to wheel with Ricciardo into Turn 1 and up into third. He gets Verstappen gets into Turn 2 but the Dutchman wins the drag race down to the next corner.

Vandoorne has jumped both Force India's and he's already fifth!

Woah! Vettel locks up sharply to avoid hitting the back of Palmer's Renault but he's already made good inroads on this opening lap. Palmer holds postion into the final corner.

Lap 2

Vettel finally gets Palmer on the start-finish straight as Hulkenberg ahead runs wide and kicks some dirt up. Vettel scythes past Hulkenberg and he's up to 12th. Alonso the next man up.

Up front Verstappen just hanging on to Hamilton in DRS range.

Vettel is absolutely flying at the moment.

Sainz and Palmer dicing for position behind.

Lap 3

Vettel has a look down the inside of Alonso at the final corner but isn't close enough for a pass.

Early stop for Ocon in the Force India for a new set of soft tyres.

Hamilton reports some de-rates from his engine. Mercedes tells him its expected.

Bottas has dropped three seconds behind Verstappen. The Dutchman right behind the leader....

Lap 4

Verstappen passes Hamilton for the lead! He gained in the DRS zone and Hamilton doesn't put up much of a fight.

Behind that Ricciardo and Bottas are going wheel to wheel!

Ricciardo right on Bottas' tail through the twisty sequence of corners at the end of the first sector. Bottas holding form.

Another radio message from Hamilton complaining about his de-rating engine.

Lap 5

Hamilton has a look down the inside of Verstappen at Turn 1 but opts against a late lunge. Bottas holding firm in the fight for third.

Red Bull said this yesterday - Hamilton has too much to lose to fight properly for the win. That, and the team's superior race pace, has opened the door for Red Bull.

F1 editor Laurence Edmondson in Sepang: "Great move by Hamilton on Verstappen. The Red Bull looked like the quicker of the two cars on long runs on Friday and should be kinder to its tyres over the length of this first stint."

Lap 6

Replays of the start show how bunched up the rear of the field. Ocon complaining his teammate Perez pushed him into Stroll's car.

Grosjean was also forced wide by Gasly, explaining his furious radio messages earlier.

Raikkonen is walking down the pit-lane in his shorts and Ferrari kit, so his race is officially over.

Vettel hasn't been able to find a way past Alonso, who is running 10th. His early progress has stalled, probably not helped by the fact the McLaren has super-softs AND the DRS behind Magnussen.

Lap 7

Magnussen and Alonso dice for position and Vettel waits patiently behind to wait for an opportunity.

Hamilton has dropped 2s behind Verstappen. We just heard a radio message from his engineer Pete Bonnington telling him opportunities will come later in the race. Bottas doing a great job as rear-gunner holding Ricciardo at bay.

Hulkenberg complaining that something feels wrong with the front of his car. He gets an appropriate switch change relayed to him from the pit wall.

Lap 8

Verstappen sets a fastest lap in the Red Bull. I think a lot of people will be willing him to victory given some of the bad luck he's had this year.

Replays show Perez passing Vandoorne on the inside of Turn 4.

Lap 9

Bottas and Ricciardo wheel to wheel through Turn 1 and 2 and they manage to keep their tyres away from each other. Ricciardo appears to have the lead through Turn 2 but Bottas fights back to lead into Turn 3, Ricciardo then gets the inside line for Turn 4 and holds it! That, right there, is how you do wheel-to-wheel racing. Great respect shown by both drivers.

Ricciardo has about eight seconds to make up on Hamilton in second.

Replays show Vettel finally passing Alonso, he's up to 10th.

Lap 10

Vettel now makes light work of Magnussen, he's up to ninth.

F1 editor Laurence Edmondson in Sepang: "Mercedes confirm Hamilton's 'derates' are not part of a wider problem with the car and everything is looking fine from the telemetry. A 'derate' is when the Energy Recovery System doesn't supply full battery power from the hybrid system. The cars use an awful lot of battery power to battle for position on the first lap, so they need to recover energy on the subsequent lap when possible."

Lap 11

Verstappen's lead now 3.7s. Ricciardo, now in clear air, sets a personal best lap which takes a full second off his gap to Hamilton. The championship leader could be looking at a third-place finish at this rate, the Red Bull's look in great shape.

Lap 12

Verstappen sets another fastest lap, a 1:36.474.

Vettel now dicing with Massa in eighth position. He's some 23 seconds behind Hamilton at the moment, which is effectively the pit-lane delta.

Massa releases Vettel by pitting.

Hamilton being told Vettel could be a threat towards the end of the race, as he will be taking on the quicker tyre.

The world champions need to find an answer to their pace at the moment because they are struggling to match the Red Bulls at the moment.

Lap 13

Vettel approaching the rear of Stroll's Williams, with the Canadian complaining the rear tyres are starting to struggle.

And as with the lap before, Stroll pits to release Vettel. He's up to seventh. The next man up is Vandoorne, five seconds up the road. The Ferrari race pace looks sublime.

Stroll is released just as Massa comes by and they fight for position through the first corners, but Massa holds on for the undercut.

"Come on guys!" complains Stroll. He was ahead of his teammate but pitted one lap later, which he won't be happy about.

Lap 14

F1 editor Laurence Edmondson in Sepang: "While it's true that Red Bull showed superior race pace to Mercedes on Friday, Ferrari was quicker than both. Not only that, Mercedes suffered serious degradation on the super-soft tyres, which are not good at coping with the heat. No wonder Mercedes is looking at defending position from Vettel rather than attacking Verstappen."

Vettel's strategy unfolding beautifully as Vandoorne peels into the pits just as the Ferrari approaches. So three consecutive laps where he hasn't had to put too much strain on the soft tyres. Vettel up to sixth.

Stroll has got back ahead of Massa and the Williams pair are fighting the McLaren of Vandoorne.

Lap 15

Vettel in sixth, he's still around 23 seconds behind Hamiilton. But now he's got himself some clear air, let's see how the lap times compare from now on. Ferrari has to fancy its chances of getting Hamilton in this one.

Verstappen is having a belated birthday cruise at the moment, seven seconds up on Hamilton. Red Bull will be starting to get nervous after all those reliability problems this season...

Lap 16

Still way too early to call who's going to win, I'd say, purely because of Verstappen's horrible luck this year. But certainly at the moment this is their race to lose.

Red Bulls focus will also be switching to Vettel and the threat he poses to Ricciardo, who is chipping a tenth or two a lap away from Hamilton every lap but struggling to make a big dent into that gap. We just heard a message complaining about the tyres.

Lap 17

Mercedes will hope Red Bull gets Ricciardo's strategy right in this one, because he could be key to holding Vettel up later in the race.

Replays show Gasly passing Ericsson for 17th. Teammate Sainz up in eighth, but he hasn't pitted yet.

Lap 18

Verstappen's lead about 9s now.

Magnussen eases past Wehrlein for 14th on the approach to Turn 1.

The gap between Vettel (6th) and Hamilton (2nd) about 22 seconds. That gap has stayed pretty much the same for most of this one but Ferrari won't be too concerned about that one given the fact it's on the slower tyre. Vettel still in a great position to fight late in the race.

Lap 19

Perez, who is driving with a virus this weekend, tells Force India his tyres are good and he doesn't need to pit any time soon. His mirrors are full of red Ferrari at the moment, Vettel is right on his tail.

Vettel still just outside Hamilton's pit stop window so getting past the Force India, renowned for its straight-line speed, will be crucial.

"You can use everything from the tyre," Force India tells Perez.

Lap 20

Vettel flicks a switch on his steering wheel and opens the DRS and he's a lot closer this time around. Vettel dives down the inside of the Force India to roars from the grandstand and he's up to fifth.

Hamilton just over 23s up the road despite traffic.

Lap 21

Hamilton doing a good job of keeping his pace up here. Ricciardo hasn't been closer than 4.5s for a few laps now.

Mercedes now asking Hamilton for feedback from the tyres. "Tyres OK," the championship leader replies.

Lap 22

Verstappen's lead still 9s.

Lap 23

Verstappen now telling Red Bull he's reaching limitation of his tyres.

Vettel cuts 0.5s in his net gap to Hamilton.

After an entertaining start the drama in this one has died down. The closest fight currently is Ocon catching Sainz for eighth, but Sainz is yet to pit.

Vettel is easing up behind Bottas, who is really struggling for pace at the moment.

Bottas is going to need to earn his paycheck here - Mercedes will need some stubborn defensive driving from the Finn here. It could get tasty.

Lap 24

Bottas being told where he's losing pace, Turn 6 and Turn 14. "And now we'll let you get on with it," is the sign-off, a message every driver probably enjoys hearing more than any other.

Ocon all over the gearbox of Sainz's Toro Rosso. Two stars of the future doing battle.

Lap 25

"Tyres dropping off," Hamilton tells Mercedes.

F1 editor Laurence Edmondson in Sepang: "Vettel is now 23s behind title rival Hamilton and lapping at a similar pace. But don't forget Vettel is on the soft compound tyre so will go longer on this stint before taking on some super-softs for his next stint, while Hamilton is on the reverse strategy. New for new the super-softs are 0.8s per lap quicker than the softs so Vettel could have a big advantage at the end of the race."

Replays show Hamilton having a little lock-up at the final corner.

Ocon has spun at the first corner. He gets going again, but that's a big blow to his chances of a strong result today and it's dropped him behind both Williams drivers.

Lap 26

Replays show Sainz and Ocon tangling into Turn 1. Appeared Ocon had his nose in front and he's left plenty of room on the inside - Sainz gives him a little thump.

Vettel all over the back of Bottas' Mercedes now.

Vettel dives down the inside of Turn 4 and appears to have the position but Bottas get superior drive out of the corner. Vettel looked a little bit conservative in that one, he won't want to lose a front wing after the events of Singapore.

Lap 27

Hamilton pits from second. Key to do that while Bottas is holding up his title rival and he emerges just in front of the No.77 Mercedes.

Ocon still holding firm.

Lap 28

Verstappen pits from his healthy lead. Vettel also pits and takes on a fresh set of super-soft tyres.

Ricciardo has inherited the lead, and Red Bull says his stint will be extened.

Amusing radio exchange between Force India and Ocon, who had just been hit by Sainz. Force India asked if he had been hit -- which the replays clearly showed he had -- to which he said "For sure, he hit me. Is that not clear enough?". Force India then telling Ocon he needs to report it to race control -- in other words, be more vocal! Usually engineers are asking their drivers to calm down....

Lap 29

F1 editor Laurence Edmondson in Sepang: "That was a pit stop for race position rather than tyre wear. Vettel was losing time behind Bottas and should now leapfrog him."

And he does! The crowd roars as Bottas emerges just behind the Ferrari.

Hamilton sets a fastest lap, a 1:34.723, on the soft compound. Mercedes tends to struggle on the softer compounds but the soft tends to be its strongest tyre, so that makes these final stages even more intriguing.

Lap 30

Ricciardo's extended stint didn't last long. He pits from the lead of the race and slots back into third position, he's way ahead of Perez.

Sainz complaining about lack of engine power.

F1 editor Laurence Edmondson in Sepang: But Bottas has helped Hamilton to some extent as he forced Vettel to make an earlier stop than Ferrari might have wanted. Vettel now has to do 27 laps on super-softs rather than having a fresh set to attack at the end."

Lap 31

Sainz swearing on his radio about his latest engine drama.

Ocon is forced wide by Massa as they battle for ninth. Some close battles lower down the order.

Vettel sets a fastest lap of the race -- a 1:34.433 -- but he's 32 seconds off the lead and 26 seconds behind Hamilton. Without a Safety Car or Hamilton encountering some sort of drama, that's a huge deficit to overcome in the second half of this race.

Ricciardo complaining about something wrong with the floor of his car.

Lap 32

Ocon inside DRS range of Massa.

FOM feed is following Alonso, who is chasing down Magnussen, albeit for 14th. Hopefully in 2018 we'll finally see him back at the front end of the pack.

Alonso feigns one way, then another and dives down the inside at Turn 1. Magnussen tries to squeeze Alonso on the exit of Turn 2 and they make contact, but both men keep going. Didn't seem like Alonso had a lot of room there... an interesting one for the stewards to look at.

On the topic of which, no further action for Sainz and Ocon's incident earlier.

Lap 33

"What an idiot!" Alonso says about Magnussen. "Hulkenberg is right!"

Replays show Alonso has gone straight on at the exit of the corner, I don't think it's fair to blame Magnussen from that one.

Lap 34

Lots of tetchy drivers out there now. Ocon complaining about Massa forcing him wide again.

Lap 35

The gaps at the front aren't changing too dramatically.

Another replay of that Magnussen/Alonso incident, I don't think Alonso is fair to blame that squarely on the Dane. Left him no room on the exit.

Grosjean still complaining on his radio about something -- he's running in last at the moment.

Ricciardo told his last lap was a tenth quicker than Hamilton. He's a huge 9.8s behind.

Lap 36

Vettel sets another fastest lap, a 1:34.371. That Ferrari in clear air is flying.

Stewards say no further action on Alonso and Magnussen. Nice to see stewards taking a more lenient approach to racing now -- some of these scraps have been mega.

Lap 37

Vettel chipping away at the gap to Ricciardo. It's down to 9s. The gap to Hamilton, in second, is now 18s. Does he have enough laps? And how long will his super-soft tyres retain a pace advantage?

F1 editor Laurence Edmondson in Sepang: The track temperature has been dropping throughout the race (it's now 37C) as clouds continue to hang over the track. That's good news for Mercedes, which has struggled to keep rear tyre temperatures in the correct operating window all weekend.

Lap 38

Hamilton's pace seems to have eased off recently, but managing his car to the finish will be at the front of his mind after what happened here last year.

Hamilton, Ricciardo and Hamilton closing up slowly. If that is still the case in 10 laps or so, we'll have a real race on our hands for those final two podium spots.

Palmer spins and lets Alonso past him. Palmer and Magnussen dice for position with race leader Verstappen right behind him and the Dutchman eases his way through - and Palmer and Magnussen touch! Verstappen had just cleared them, Palmer spins again. Magnussen not going to be a popular driver after this one, you feel.

Replays show Palmer lunging down the inside with Verstappen just in front of him.

Lap 39

"What a f---ing lunatic!" Magnussen says of Palmer. It was a risky lunge down the inside, for a second it looked like Verstappen could get caught up in that. That will have been a nervy moment on the Red Bull pit wall.

Lap 40

"I have damage on the car, I don't know how long it's going to last," Magnussen says, with a deflated tone in his voice. It's been a punchy drive from him but he's still down in 13th.

Another fastest lap from Vettel, he's now seven seconds behind Ricciardo, who in turn is seven seconds behind Hamilton. Those gaps keep tumbling.

F1 editor Laurence Edmondson in Sepang: "Vettel is 14 seconds behind Hamilton and lapping 1.7s faster with 17 laps remaning. This race is far from over."

Lap 41

Imagine if Vettel beats Hamilton to second position here after the issues he had yesterday. Ricciardo will have something to say about it, I imagine, as he won't want to finish off the podium at a race his teammate looks set to win.

Vettel's hopes of catching Hamilton probably hinge on how fast he can get past Ricciardo. If it takes a few laps, Hamilton probably has it in the bag.

Vettel's drive today has been sublime.

Lap 42

Renault to Hulkenberg: "Stopping is not an option, Nico, it's a very poor option. We have to go to the end."

He's in 11th but has Alonso bearing down on him.

Another fastest lap from Vettel. He's five seconds behind Ricciardo now. How much has the Red Bull driver and Hamilton been holding in reserve?

Lap 43

Verstappen's lead out in front is 10 seconds. Career win number two after your second birthday? Can't be bad can it. It's 13 laps away from becoming a reality.

Hamilton has found some pace and opened up a bit more of a gap to Ricciardo, that's back up to seven seconds.

Red Bull tells Ricciardo Vettel will be with him in four of five laps. "Keep pushing," he's told.

Lap 44

Hamilton and Ricciardo's lap times look pretty similar.

Verstappen giving some feedback about some erratic upshifts in his car.

Vettel is going to have a few laps to try and have a go at Hamilton at the end of this one, surely.

Lap 45

Ricciardo has hit some traffic at an awkard moment. Vettel within 1.5s. Hamilton has opened u an 8.4s gap to Ricciardo now, all crucial in the fight here because you have to assume Vettel is going to be able to get past Ricciardo pretty quick.

Lap 46

"We're racing for the podium," Red Bull tells Vettel.

He's just on the cusp of DRS range here.

When Ricciardo was asked if he would see Vettel in the race yesterday, he said: "If I do, I'll have had a pretty s----y race..." Well Vettel's now right on his tail!

Lap 47

Verstappen getting some instructions from the pit wall but says everything is OK.

Hamilton, meanwhile, being told to maintain current pace - his last lap matched Vettel's. Has Mercedes turned the wick up a bit?

Lap 48

Ricciardo is now right behind Alonso, who then puts himself between the Red Bull driver and Vettel! Naughty, naughty from the Spaniard.

"Come on Alonso! Really? I thought you were better than that," Vettel says on the radio. He's got good reason to be upset there. He waves a hand at him.

Lap 49

Hamilton now turning in personal best laps in second place.

Verstappen dives down the inside and Ricciardo slams the door in his face! That was a late move across, hard to see if there was any contact but Vettel clearly pulled out of that one late. Tense stuff.

"Attack now, attack now," Ferrari tells Vettel. To be fair, I'm sure he doesn't need to hear that...

Barring something crazy happening now, this has probably secured P2 for Hamilton.

No DRS for Vettel, he's just out of range now.

Lap 50

He'll need another lap to get close enough. Ricciardo's message there was clear - "I've got less to lose than you, Seb. Come and earn this podium."

Lap 51

Vettel's pace has dropped off a bit, but he's going to have one more chance to get this one at least.

Verstappen sets a personal best lap out in front, having been stuck in traffic for a little while.

Bottas, in fifth, is a huge 33 seconds behind Hamilton now. Mercedes will have to ask where the Finn's pace has gone since the summer break.

Lap 52

Five laps to go. Looks like Vettel's super-soft tyres might have lost the edge over Ricciardo, the gap has dropped to two seconds. All very good news for Hamilton, who is comfortably running in second position. It was always going to be a very, very tall order for Vettel to get past one of those cars.

Lap 53

Cameras following Verstappen right now. He spoke yesterday about wanting a victory on merit and how he wanted to finally have a clean Sunday - he's had one now.

Message to Ricciardo: "I think you've broken Vettel's spirit, he's backed off."

Lap 54

One driver who's gone under the radar is Vandoorne, running seventh ahead of both Williams drivers.

Lap 55

"Engine temps are fine, attack now," Ferrari tells Vettel. He's slipped five seconds down the road, though, so that seems to have come too late.

Gasly and Grosjean fighting for 13th. The debutant can't find a way past off the racing line.

Lap 56

Verstappen has started his final lap. Christian Horner's leg-twitch in overdrive on the Red Bull pit wall.

He turned 20 yesterday, he became a two-time race winner today! Max Verstappen wins the Malaysian Grand Prix!

Hamilton takes second, Ricciardo rounds out the podium. Vettel's super recovery drive puts him fourth - a brilliant drive, even if he leaves here with a bigger points gap to Hamilton.

Bizarre scenes after the race, Stroll has driven into the back of Vettel on the slow-down lap! The Ferrari driver had finished the race, but the back of his car has been utterly destroyed. Gearbox change needed for Suzuka?

In the cool-down room, Hamilton and Verstappen have a chat - Hamilton says he could have slammed the door shut when he got caught but had to think about the championship. He's very complimentary of the Dutchman, though. A super drive from the Red Bull driver.