So the looks like it is not going to be a total silver-wash in 2015 with Vettel in his Ferrari reminder one of a previous era when a German took victory after victory for the bright red cars.
As we are too lazy to go into any great depth, here’s our brief thoughts of the race.
– Times have changed if people are celebrating seeing the German Number 1 digit again. The Mercedes were totally outplayed by Ferrari, and Vettel outdrove the more fancied rivals in a glimpse of the why he was a 4 time World Champion.
– Vettel has timed his move to Ferrari to perfection, and no doubt had a smile on his face as he approached his former team Red Bull towards the end of the GP to lap them. Alonso too could be wondering what could have been after outperforming his cars for years at Maranello, and now needing to do just that at McLaren.
– Rosberg already looks like a defeated man with some strange radio contact during the week to go with inferior drives to his team mate in the first two races, and getting snippy with the next most likely Vettel.
– Kimi Raikkonen’s race went past with low fanfare, but his recovery to 4th after more early troubles show Kimi still has it and Ferrari are unlikely to be a one trick pony this season.
– Signs are looking more positive for McLaren and their Honda engine, as they battled towards the end of the midfield train during the race, and looked a far better proposition than the wheel barrow they turned up with for the first race.
– Huzzah for Manor and somehow they made it to the finish. A huge effort for a team not far off having their assets sold at auction before the season started.
MAN OF THE RACE
Sometimes the drivers points aren’t the best reflection on what was achieved, so we’ll put our five cents on offer each race and tally them up for the year for our driver of the year.
MALAYSIA POINTS
VETTEL – 5 points
KIMI – 4 points
HAMILTON – 3 points
VERSTAPPEN – 2 points
SAINZ – 1 point
| Driver | Team | Grid | Fastest Lap | Gap | Pts | |
| 1 | Vettel | Ferrari | 2 | 01:43.6 | 25 | |
| 2 | Hamilton | Mercedes | 1 | 01:43.1 | +00:08.569 | 18 |
| 3 | Rosberg | Mercedes | 3 | 01:42.1 | +00:12.310 | 15 |
| 4 | Raikkonen | Ferrari | 11 | 01:44.1 | +00:53.822 | 12 |
| 5 | Bottas | Williams | 8 | 01:44.1 | +01:10.409 | 10 |
| 6 | Massa | Williams | 7 | 01:44.0 | +01:13.586 | 8 |
| 7 | Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 6 | 01:44.6 | +01:39.085 | 6 |
| 8 | Sainz Jnr | Toro Rosso | 15 | 01:45.5 | Lapped | 4 |
| 9 | Kvyat | Red Bull | 5 | 01:44.5 | Lapped | 2 |
| 10 | Ricciardo | Red Bull | 4 | 01:45.3 | Lapped | 1 |
| 11 | Grosjean | Lotus | 10 | 01:44.8 | Lapped | 0 |
| 12 | Nasr | Sauber | 16 | 01:43.9 | Lapped | 0 |
| 13 | Perez | Force India | 14 | 01:45.3 | Lapped | 0 |
| 14 | Hulkenberg | Force India | 13 | 01:44.8 | Lapped | 0 |
| 15 | Merhi | Manor | 19 | 01:49.0 | Lapped | 0 |
| R | Maldonado | Lotus | 12 | 01:45.1 | Retired (47) | 0 |
| R | Button | McLaren | 17 | 01:46.1 | Retired (41) | 0 |
| R | Alonso | McLaren | 18 | 01:48.5 | Retired (21) | 0 |
| R | Ericsson | Sauber | 9 | 01:48.8 | Retired (3) | 0 |
| R | Stevens | Manor | Retired (0) | 0 |
