Alexander Albon wins the first race of the week-end at Sepang, benefitting from the collision between De Vries and Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque eventually finished third behind Jack Aitken.
Charles Leclerc started on pole position ahead of Alexander Albon and Nyck De Vries. Difficult get away from Leclerc who lost the lead to Albon at the start. At T4, as Leclerc was trying to pass Albon, he was tagged by Nyck De Vries and lost two places while the Dutchman found himself down to P18. One lap later, Leclerc took back P3 from Arjun Maini. Four DNFs were to be seen after the third lap: Calderon, Hunghes, Janosz and Nandy.
De Vries got a five second penalty for the incident with Leclerc. The Dutchman found himself up to eleventh position on lap 8 as Leclerc was trying to catch up Jack Aitken. Santino Ferrucci pitted halfway through the race but eventually went out again several laps later. Steijn Schothorst standing in P5 was blocking people behind him, especially Jake Dennis, struggling to overtake him.
Getting into the last third of the session, Leclerc caught up Aitken and struggled to pass him. Ferrucci finally gave up with four races to go. Apart from Albon, the fastest man on track in the last laps was Arjun Maini who manage to threaten Leclerc at the last lap.
Alex Albon won his fourth race of the season, his second long race. Jack Aitken and Charles Leclerc were on the podium with him. Maini, Schothorst, Dennis, Fukuzumi, Fuoco, Parry and Stuvik completed the top 10. Despite finishing ninth in the race, De Vries were down to P13 after his penalty.
Charles Leclerc’s advantage has been reduced to 24 points to Albon, new second in the championship, Antonio Fuoco was 39 points away from Leclerc.