2015 Malaysian Grand Prix: A Short Review and Championship Standings

In the end this race, won by Ferrari‘s Sebastian Vettel, will be remembered as the beginning of a new chapter in his career. He will hope it provides him with a similar amount of success as his time at Red Bull did!

Lewis Hamilton was on the back foot a bit as he had missed most of the Friday running with a power unit problem, but his Mercedes team had also messed up their strategy during the race. This was Ferrari’s to lose.

Hamilton led Vettel and team-mate Nico Rosberg off the grid, and when the lights went out Vettel squeezed Rosberg towards the pit wall. In 2014 Vettel lost out to Rosberg doing this, but the reverse was true this time around, though they came close to touching in turn one.

A Safety Car period was caused quickly by Marcus Ericsson spinning into the same corner a few laps into the race. This was another gift for Ferrari – both Mercedes’ headed for the pit lane and Vettel inherited the lead. Rosberg queued behind Hamilton leaving the order as Vettel, Nico Hulkenberg, Romain Grosjean, Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez, none of whom had pitted. They were followed by Hamilton, Daniel Ricciardo, Felipe Massa and then Rosberg. By lap ten, however, Hamilton was back in second and, four laps later, Rosberg was up to third.

Vettel finally pitted on lap 18, dropping him back for a short while. On lap 21 though, the Ferrari easily passed Rosberg – an unusual sight. Three laps later, he was about to do the same to Hamilton, when the Mercedes dived into the pits. Thereafter, it was a tyre saving drive from both Mercedes drivers to the flag as Vettel held his lead.

While this was going on, the other Ferrari of Kimi Raikkonen was working towards his eventual fourth place and there was an all-Williams battle for fifth. Valtteri Bottas made a fabulous move to pass his stable mate Felipe Massa around the outside of turn six, a move he had performed earlier on against Max Verstappen. The young Toro Rosso driver here would be the next driver home and become the sport’s youngest ever points scorer in the process.

Overall, this was a much better race to watch than the dullness of the season opener, and a reminder that not everything needs changing quite so quickly in F1 after all. There may well be more than one team in contention this year after all…

2015 Malaysian Grand Prix Result