Sebastian Vettel has taken his first win for Ferrari in the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix, pushing the Mercedes’ of Hamilton and Rosberg in to second and third.
Sebastian Vettel has taken his first win for Ferrari in the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix
Sebastian Vettel has done plenty of moaning about the dominance of Mercedes (which is a bit rich considering he enjoyed years behind the wheel of a dominant Red Bull). But today in Malaysia he made a nonsense of his own complaints by beating Mercedes in his new Ferrari, fair and square.
But in the backwards and forwards of the pit stops it was clear that Mercedes decision to major on the harder tyre was causing Hamilton time, whilst Vettel on the medium tyre seemed quicker and sharper.
And by the time all the pit stops had played out it was Vettel in front, and despite Hamilton making some inroads it was the Ferrari that crossed the line first – 8.5s in front of the Mercedes.
Behind Hamilton it was Rosberg in third followed by Kimi Raikkonen in the second Ferrari – underlining the return of Ferrari with a drive that had taken him from 11th on the grid to fourth place – with the Williams of Bottas and Massa in fifth and sixth.
Maz Verstappen did a sterling job to put his Toro Rosso in seventh spot – the last car on the same lap as the winners – with team mate Carlos Sainz in eighth place and the Red Bulls of Kvyat and Ricciardo rounding out the top ten.
It was a miserable outing for McLaren – although Alonso did get up in to the top ten for a short time until his hybrid system overheated on lap 21 and he retired – and Jenson Button not doing much more than limp along near the back of the pack until his turbo packed up and he too retired.
But the 2015 Malaysia Grand Prix was Ferrari’s day – and Sebastian Vettel’s – as they proved conclusively that Mercedes are not unbeatable.
Let’s hope Ferrari’s win is not just a lucky one-off, and that Mercedes will face proper competition this year.
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