Everyone expected Lewis Hamilton to dominate yet another race, this week-end in Malaysia. But Sebastian Vettel surprised everyone with his first Ferrari victory.
Against his best will, Marcus Ericsson played an important role in Vettel's race, as he spun on lap 4 to bring the safety car out. This pushed Mercedes to adopt a three-stop strategy
Vettel sticked with two stops went and on to take the win by 8.5s over Hamilton. Nico Rosberg completed the podium 3.7s behind his teammate. Kimi Raikkonen's fourth place, despite a first-lap puncture, confirmed Ferrari's pace. Capping an unbelivable day, Vettel lapped both Red Bull cars four laps from the checkered flag. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen, who finished seventh in Kuala Lumpur, became the youngest ever driver to score points at 17 years, 5 months and 27 days of age.
After losing to Ferrari, Mercedes' Toto Wolff said he did not regret opting for a three-stop strategy. He insists Ferrari won "fair and square". "Remember, last year in Malaysia we also struggled against Daniel Ricciardo in the race, so these are not our conditions," he pointed out on Formula1.com.
"Probably we were a bit too aggressive on set-ups that pushed us into the direction of three stops - all the algorithms showed that this was the right way to go. But we got stuck in traffic and damaged the tires following cars, and there you have it." Race results* – Malaysian Grand Prix 1 - Sebastian Vettel (Ferrari SF15-T) - 56 laps 2 - Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes W06) - 8"569 3 - Nico Rosberg (Mercedes W06) - 12"310 4 - Kimi Raikkonen (Ferrari SF15-T) - 53"822 5 - Valtteri Bottas (Williams FW37-Mercedes) - 1'10"409 6 - Felipe Massa (Williams FW37-Mercedes) - 1'13"586 7 - Max Verstappen (Toro Rosso STR10-Renault) - 1'39"085 8 - Carlos Sainz (Toro Rosso STR10-Renault) - 1 lap 9 - Daniil Kvyat (Red Bull RB11-Renault) - 1 lap 10 - Daniel Ricciardo (Red Bull RB11-Renault) - 1 lap 11 - Romain Grosjean (Lotus E23-Mercedes) - 1 lap 12 - Felipe Nasr (Sauber C34-Ferrari) - 1 lap 13 - Sergio Perez (Force India VJM08-Mercedes) - 1 lap 14 - Nico Hulkenberg (Force India VJM08-Mercedes) - 1 lap 15 - Roberto Merhi (Manor-Ferrari) - 3 laps
DNF Pastor Maldonado Jenson Button Fernando Alonso Marcus Ericsson DNS Will Stevens
Drivers' standings 1.Hamilton 43; 2.Vettel 40; 3.Rosberg 33; 4.Massa 20; 5.Raikkonen 12; 6.Nasr, Bottas 10; 8.Ricciardo 9; 9.Hulkenberg, Verstappen, Sainz 6; 12.Ericsson 4; 13.Kvyat 2; 14.Perez 1. Constructors' standings 1.Mercedes 76; 2.Ferrari 52; 3.Williams-Mercedes 30; 4.Sauber-Ferrari 14; 5.Toro Rosso-Renault 12; 6.Red Bull-Renault 11; 7.Force India-Mercedes 7. *Unofficial timing
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