Vettel pulls off a Ferrari coup at 2015 Malaysian GP

Sebastian Vettel in his new Ferrari has won the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix for his team Scuderia Ferrari ahead of Lewis Hamilton in 2nd and Nico Rosberg in 3rd of Mercedes AMG in an untraditional dry race at the Sepang International Circuit, Kuala Lumpur on March 29, 2015 after heavy rains were witnessed the previous day during the qualifying race.

The victory meant that Ferrari got their first victory since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix and Vettel his first since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix.

The race in Sepang was held, barely within two weeks from the season opener in Australia wherein Lewis Hamilton had emerged victorious.

At the Malaysian GP, Vettel, in fact, moved into an early lead when his rivals pitted under the safety car. He never looked back since then, using a two-stop strategy to beat his Mercedes rivals.

Vettel’s teammate Kimi Raikkonen recovered from an 11th-place start and an early puncture, caused by contact with Felipe Nasr’s Sauber, to finish an impressive fourth ahead of the Williams duo Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa.

The race also saw 17 years old Max Verstappen, of Toro Rosso becoming the youngest points scorer in F1 history as he took seventh place for his team,  just ahead of team mate and fellow rookie Carlos Sainz. Both the youngsters beat Red Bull mates Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo who completed the top ten.

It was a bad dream for McLaren as both their drivers Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button were forced to retire their cars mid race with technical problems.

Initially in lap 4, Marcus Ericsson was the first man to go out when he spun his Sauber into the gravel, leading to the safety car being deployed, while Pastor Maldonado of Lotus also made an exit because of mechanical woes later in the race.

The race had got underway with Hamilton starting from pole position in what was his 150th Grand Prix. But unlike in Australia it was Vettel, and not Rosberg, who started alongside Hamilton. Vettel had come within a whisker of giving Ferrari its first pole position since 2012 in a thrilling wet-weather qualifying session.

The race started without Will Stevens as his team Marussia had failed to fix the fuel system problem that prevented him from running in qualifying. That meant 19 drivers started the race.

From the lights out, to the chequered flag, it was drama all the way from the first lap. As Vettel started from 2nd place, the German pushed Rosberg’s Mercedes giving him no room. Vettel kept his Ferrari in 2nd behind Hamilton.

In the initial stages of the race, as both Mercedes cars, dove into the pits when the safety car was announced, Ferrari gambled to leave Vettel out to take track position ahead of both the Mercedes cars. This gamble paid off later on as after dropping down to 3rd after his first well-rehearsed 2.4 second pitstop on Lap 22 with a stop left for both, Vettel took 2nd from Rosberg. Though Rosberg had DRS through the main straight, Vettel got a better line through the last turn and was able to keep the place through turn 1 only to drive away from Rosberg.

By lap 25, Vettel closed onto race leader Hamilton and made the same move off the back straight only for Hamilton to dive into the pits and Sebastian Vettel took the lead.

With this win in Malaysia, Ferrari has closed the gap on Mercedes after which would be inarguably a horrible 2014 season for the legendary prancing horse. 

TheRenault powered cars were having their own race down the middle of the pack as both Torro Rossos and both Redbulls fought for track position throughout the race. On Lap 26, Kvyat contacted with Hulkenberg’s Force India on turn 2 and spun out. This left the Force India driver with a penalty for causing a collision. Both Torro Rossos finished ahead of their sister team Redbull while all 4 managed to finish in the first 10 and scored points.

The McLaren team who were facing problems with their new Honda engines were forced to retire. Manor Racings Roberto Merhi finished the race while Will Stevens was unable to start the race facing electrical problem all weekend. The next Formula 1 race will be at the Shanghai circuit in China.