Meanwhile, on-track, Red Bull Racing scored its second consecutive Malaysian Grand Prix victory, but this time it was Max Verstappen on the top step of the podium, on the day after his 20th birthday. Verstappen had finished runner-up to West Aussie Ricciardo, the carsales.com.au global ambassador, 12 months earlier.

The free-to-air telecasts have been banished from Channel 10 because, according to F1’s commercial arm, when the network was placed into administration on 17 June, it owed $20 million in rights fees. Government legislation decrees the Melbourne race must remain on free-to-air TV.

For Australian motorsport fans, Daniel Ricciardo’s third place in yesterday’s Malaysian Grand Prix has been overshadowed by news F1 TV coverage will be exclusively on FOX pay-TV for the next five years – except for the Australian Grand Prix which will still be shown on free-to-air.

Verstappen is the fifth driver to win this season – the most in this era of turbocharged 1.6-litre V6 hybrid engines power units which began in 2014.

Verstappen drove faultlessly in KL on Sunday, enjoying an untroubled run to the chequered flag after overtaking Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes four laps into the race. Already the youngest winner in F1 history at 18, the Dutchman is still a year and 72 days younger than Vettel was when he claimed his first GP victory in Italy 10 years ago.

No, Ricciardo’s regret was that Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel couldn’t give him more of a fight at the end of this race.

Despite his third place this year - podium finish number eight for 2017 - Ricciardo was disappointed last night, and not just because yesterday was the last Malaysian GP [the Kuala Lumpur stopover has long been a popular stopover for the F1 circus].

Nevertheless, Red Bull Racing was thrilled to sign off from Malaysia with its first double podium since Sepang last year, when Ricciardo won after Hamilton’s Mercedes expired spectacularly, ultimately ceding the world title to then teammate Nico Rosberg.

“Even if we got the greatest of deals, do it for free for example, what’s the product?” Razali said. “I myself am not able to sit in front of the television and watch from lap one until whatever lap (for) two hours. It’s hard to sell this kind of event and to get bums on the seat ... it’s not worth the investment.”

But it’s the flat-sounding V6 hybrids which background Malaysia’s decision to pull the plug on F1 racing after 19 years at the popular Sepang race circuit. Despite a strong Aussie contingent in the grandstands [many from Ricciardo’s home town of Perth, just a short flight from KL], Sepang boss Razlan Razali said poor ticket sales, TV audiences and tourist numbers, especially since the introduction of the muffled hybrids, did not justify the expenditure required to be part of the F1 show.

Kimi Raikkonen in the other Ferrari, having qualified alongside Hamilton on the front row, didn’t even start the race after turbocharger problems on the formation lap. A similar issue prevented Vettel qualifying on Saturday and he lined up at the rear of the grid before charging through the field and setting the fastest lap on the way to catching Ricciardo.

On Sunday he fended off Vettel, who finished fourth and now finds himself 34 points astern of Hamilton in the title fight.

Third this time, he was 22.5 seconds behind Verstappen and 10 behind Hamilton. Ricciardo sits a comfortable fourth on the world championship points table.

While yesterday’s victory was just Verstappen’s second visit to the rostrum this season, it was Ricciardo’s eighth podium of the year, including his victory in Azerbaijan.

However, worse was to come for the German Ferrari star after the chequered flag.

“I was surprised that there was only one proper attack from Seb,” Ricciardo said. “I defended a bit and I saw he was still coming, so I closed the door a bit later towards the apex, but it didn’t seem over-aggressive from my side.

“It didn’t feel like I did a really late move or anything, so from there I expected him to attack to the end, but I was going to do all I could to keep him behind.

“I expected him to keep coming, keep coming. I guess maybe he ‘killed’ the [supersoft] tyres trying to chase me and then getting close to me.

“I would have liked a bit more of a fight until the closing stages, just to have made it a little more exciting.

“The last few laps were kind of lonely, but I enjoyed the race.

“This is the most physical race [because of the heat]. This and Singapore. I’d say this was the toughest race [this season]. You feel it.

“I think having a battle, having Seb catch me and keeping me on my toes, actually made it a bit easier.

“The double podium [for RBR] is a very positive result.

“Obviously Max got the big one and drove well, so congrats to him for the win.

“There were a few extra bits available for the cars here and I think we’re going to try that again in Suzuka [next weekend’s Japanese GP].

“It looks positive for us at the high downforce circuits.”

RBR team principal Christian Horner said it had been “a great performance by the whole team” and that it was “fantastic to see Max get a well-deserved victory, after enduring so much bad luck throughout the season”.

“I said when Max’s luck would change it would change in a dramatic way,” Horner said.

“He's endured so much bad luck (seven non-finishes in the previous 14 races, including four power unit failures), but he's never let his head drop too much.

“He drove a truly dominant race, making a sensational pass on Lewis and then really controlling the race from there.

“To beat Mercedes fair and square was beyond our expectation. When we walked to the grid I thought we had a great race car, but I didn't think it was going to be quite that great.

“We always knew Lewis was going to be thinking with more of a mind on the championship, so we gave Max a hurry-up.

“Lewis had reported he had an issue with some clipping on his energy recovery cell so we said ‘now is your moment’, and he went for it - threw it up the inside and made the pass stick.

“Daniel, after starting on the wet side of the grid [in fourth place, but without Raikkonen ahead of him after the Ferrari was pushed to the pits], initially dropped a place to Valtteri [Bottas in the second Mercedes] but worked hard to get the pass done, which is incredibly hard at this circuit.

“He then managed to save enough in hand to fend off a fast-recovering Sebastian at the end of the race.”

Verstappen knew quickly he had Hamilton’s measure.

“Straight away I could see our pace was good and that Lewis was struggling with traction,” Verstappen said. “I just went for it and used all the battery power I could to get past him.

“I knew that he was fighting for the championship and wouldn’t take too many risks, so I went for it.

“As soon as I passed Lewis I knew from there onwards I could control the race.

“Whenever Lewis was speeding up I could easily do a faster lap time, so it was really controlled.

“The car was really good. It was a very physical race and very warm in the car, plus I haven’t been feeling that well this weekend, but we managed to bring it home.

“We keep improving the car and it is looking positive.”

It was a positive day for the Force India and Williams teams too, both getting both their drivers home in the points – Sergio Perez sixth and Esteban Ocon 10th for Force India, and Felipe Massa and Lance Stroll eighth and ninth for Williams.

However, Stroll added to Ferrari’s woes on the cool-down lap when he ran into the back of Vettel, knocking the left rear wheel up on to the back of the car.

If the damage is bad, a gearbox change at Suzuka would incur another grid penalty for Vettel, who is already facing an uphill battle to keep the championship fight with Hamilton alive.

Sepang again indicated Ferrari has pace, its cars seemingly faster than the Mercedes’ currently, but – after its horrors of the past 15 days in south-east Asia – Vettel may need to win all five remaining races to beat Hamilton to the world title.

Encouraging news for McLaren-Honda with the team’s young Belgian driver Stoffel Vandoorne backing-up his seventh place finish in Singapore a fortnight ago with another seventh at Sepang. Vandoorne also qualified a career-best seventh, three places ahead of his dual world champion teammate Fernando Alonso, and is now ahead of Alonso – 11th on Sunday – in the drivers’ standings for the first time.

Formula 1 World Championship driver standings after 15 of 20 rounds – 1. Lewis Hamilton (Great Britain, Mercedes) 281 points; 2. Sebastian Vettel (Germany, Ferrari) 247; 3. Valtteri Bottas (Finland, Mercedes) 222; 4. Daniel Ricciardo (Australia, Red Bull-Renault) 177; 5. Kimi Raikkonen (Finland, Ferrari) 138; 6. Max Verstappen (Netherlands, Red Bull-Renault) 93; 7. Sergio Perez (Mexico, Force India-Mercedes) 76; 8. Esteban Ocon (France, Force India-Mercedes) 57; 9. Carlos Sainz Junior (Spain, Toro Rosso-Renault) 48; 10. Nico Hulkenberg (Germany, Renault) 34; 11. Felipe Massa (Brazil, Williams-Mercedes) 33; 12. Lance Stroll (Canada, Williams-Mercedes) 32; 13. Romain Grosjean (France, Haas-Ferrari) 26; 14. Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium, McLaren-Honda) 13; 15. Kevin Magnussen (Denmark, Haas-Ferrari) 11; 16. Fernando Alonso (Spain, McLaren-Honda) 10; 17. Jolyon Palmer (GB, Renault) 8; 18. Pascal Wehrlein (Germany, Sauber-Ferrari) 5; 19. Daniil Kvyat (Russia, Toro Rosso-Renault) 4.

F1 constructor standings – 1. Mercedes 503 points; 2. Ferrari 385; 3. Red Bull-Renault 270; 4. Force India-Mercedes 133; 5. Williams-Mercedes 65; 6. Toro Rosso-Renault 52; 7. Renault 42; 8. Haas-Ferrari 37; 9. McLaren-Honda 23; 10. Sauber-Ferrari 5.