Second place a lot better than nothing

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Even before this weekend's crushing out-of-the-blue retirement in the Malaysian Grand Prix, it's surprising that Sepang hasn't been a better hunting ground for Lewis Hamilton over the years.

He's won here only once - in 2014 - when he beat Mercedes team mate Nico Rosberg to the chequered flag by more than 17 seconds. Otherwise he's finished on the podium on only four further occasions in ten appearances here, with two second places and two more third positions.

One of those runner-up spots came in his very first race here back in his rookie season in 2007 when he crossed the line behind his then-McLaren team mate Fernando Alonso. The picture above shows the pair celebrating together with the team in pit lane, Hamilton looking much happier with second than he was this year with that crushing retirement.

"That was the toughest race of my career. I was defending my position for a lot of the time," he had said after the race. "A big thank you to the team who have worked so hard both with the car but also preparing me for the past months. Today's result is super for the entire team

"Congratulations to Fernando, very well done," he added.

Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.