After last years incredible Mercedes dominance and an easy victory for the silver arrows at this seasons Melbourne opener, you could be forgiven for writing off this season as another one horse race but the spectacular victory of four times World Champion Sebastian Vettel in his new Ferrari in the tropical heat of Malaysia tells a different story. The significance of this result to the Ferrari team shouldn’t be underestimated as the previous season was their worst result ever, culminating in the loss of star driver Fernando Alonso to rivals Maclaren and the sacking of many key staff at the team.
Eyebrows were raised when Vettel left Redbull, the team where he won his four world titles, for the ailing Ferrari team, but it looks like he’s fully vindicated now. After the first race at Melbourne, most were expecting Ferrari to be battling Williams for “best of the rest” while Mercedes coasted to a series of easy victories. Few were expecting Ferrari to challenge the Mercedes at Sepang Raceway, let alone snatch the top step of the podium but the perfect mix of pace and strategy on both Saturday and Sunday won the day for Vettel.
Fellow Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonnen, who missed out on getting into Q2 during qualifying, had a puncture just past the pits on lap 2, sending him to the back of the pack. He managed to storm to 4th by the chequered flag, which shows the great pace of the Ferrari package.
All this is great for fans, with the promise of a serious challenge to the Mercedes team, who looked more surprised than anyone at the Ferrari victory. Looks like the 2015 season may be a lot more exciting than expected!
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