With all the talk surrounding Lewis Hamilton‘s opening endeavours for Ferrari, it is interesting that this weekend marks ten years since Sebastian Vettel claimed his first victory in red at the 2015 F1 Malaysian Grand Prix.
The seven-time world champion has already claimed his first pole position for Ferrari in Friday’s sprint qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix.
He followed this up with a dominant performance in Saturday’s sprint race to claim his and Ferrari’s maiden sprint victories.
However, he couldn’t match Vettel’s achievement in Sunday’s Grand Prix as he crossed the line in sixth place but was disqualified post-race for excessive rear skid wear.
Vettel’s drive at Malaysia in just his second race for Ferrari was one of many in 2015 that lead some to argue that his first season at the team was his best for the Scuderia.
What was Vettel up against?
Coming into Sepang, Mercedes had dominated the opening event of the season in Melbourne as Lewis Hamilton led home Nico Rosberg in a one-two with Vettel over 30 seconds back in third. At the time, Red Bull were even threatening to leave Formula 1 altogether over how dominant Mercedes had become.
Across Friday and Saturday in Sepang that dominance did not look like wavering either as the Mercedes duo between them topped every single practice and qualifying session. But they were split by Vettel in Q3 as Hamilton took pole position by 0.074 seconds ahead of the Ferrari and Rosberg’s Mercedes in slippery conditions.
The race was set-up to be 56 laps of extreme heat and a battle of attrition with most inside the paddock expecting a repeat of Melbourne’s result come the chequered flag.
Ferrari’s strategic gamble
When the lights went out, Hamilton got away comfortably out in front as Vettel held off Rosberg’s challenge to stay in second. Vettel’s Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen suffered a first-lap puncture after contact with Felipe Nasr’s Sauber.
However, on lap four it all changed as Marcus Ericsson’s spin at turn one forced him to retire and brought out the safety car. The two leading teams were forced into a decision: pit and do a three-stop or don’t pit and do a two-stop. Hamilton and Rosberg went with the former whilst Vettel stayed out. This left the four-time world champion to lead a safety car restart with Nico Hulkenberg and Romain Grosjean behind him in the top three.
By the end of lap ten, the Briton had fought back from sixth and passed Hulkenberg’s Force India to take second position but was ten seconds adrift from Vettel out in front. Rosberg re-joined the podium places on lap 14 but neither could make significant gains on the Ferrari.
Vettel takes control
Vettel decided the best time to pit was lap 18 as he conceded the lead back to Hamilton but came out still within the top three. With only the Mercedes in sight, he was flying. He chased Rosberg down and, just four laps after pitting, he passed him with DRS and was back up into second.
On lap 24, Hamilton’s tyres were massively wearing off as Vettel rapidly closed him down. The World Champion, at the time, subsequently veered off the track and headed to the pits for a change, handing Vettel the lead once again.
A lead he would not relinquish until lap 38 as he pitted for a second and final time which temporarily restored Hamilton’s lead. However, the Mercedes driver pitted just one lap later and emerged a substantial 12 seconds off Vettel’s lead. On lap 41, Rosberg pitted from second and dropped back behind his teammate. It was clear that their three-stop strategy hadn’t worked.
Meanwhile, Vettel on a two-stop managed the last phase of the race brilliantly to lead home the two Mercedes drivers and secure the 40th victory of his career and his first of 14 he would claim for the Scuderia across six seasons.
Despite Hamilton exploiting free air to marginally gain on the Ferrari, he could only close the gap down to 8.5 seconds by the chequered flag. In other great news for Ferrari, Kimi Raikkonen had fought back from that opening lap puncture to finish in fourth place.
In honour of Michael Schumacher
It was an emotional result for driver and team as it was Vettel’s first top-step since Brazil 2013 and Ferrari’s first victory since Fernando Alonso’s most recent win to that point at the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix.
Emotional on the podium, Vettel said: “It’s been a while that I haven’t been on the top step. It’s my first time obviously with Scuderia Ferrari. I’m speechless.
“I remember when the gate opened in Maranello it was like a dream coming true. I remember the last time I was there was as a young kid watching Michael over the fence driving around in the Ferrari and now I’m driving that very red car. It’s incredible.
“But to be honest… I shouldn’t say it but I don’t know, I was shitting myself the last couple of laps because here and there the thought was coming to my head, I was looking at the top of the chassis and thinking ‘this is a red, you’re about to win’ and then I thought, ‘OK, stop thinking that, otherwise you’ll miss the next apex or something’.”
Present-day Ferrari driver Hamilton post race acknowledged that the Italian outfit “did an amazing job” as Mercedes tasted defeat for the first time since Daniel Ricciardo’s victory at the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix.
