Sebastian Vettel triumphs in Malaysia

La Team Ferrari had no longer known the taste of victory since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix and the home success of Fernando Alonso. Sebastian Vettel put an end to this period of scarcity by winning consistently this Sunday in Malaysia at the end of a race perfectly run by the German-Italian duo.

Si Hamilton had managed to maintain control of the event when the lights went out, the rapid entry onto the track of the safety car following the exit of the Sauber of Marcus Ericsson at the first corner, redistributed the cards and greatly animated the first part of the Grand Prix. While the Mercedes return to the stands and put on the hard tires, the Scuderia chooses to leave Sebastian Vettel on the track. Good pick since the German, well helped by an SF15-T which performed very well in the race both with the medium tires and with the hard ones, widened the gap in the lead, and after the last pit stops, the quadruple world champion did not will let go of the reins until the checkered flag to sign his 40th success in F1. The Mercedes of Hamilton, who retains the lead in the championship, and Rosberg finally completed the podium around ten seconds behind.

Kimi Räikkönen ranks 4th in a race which did not please him in the first moments. Victim of a puncture following contact with the Sauber of Felipe Nasr, the Finn also took advantage of his car to move up the hierarchy little by little. He concludes this Grand Prix ahead of both Williams de Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa who competed for 5th place in the last loops. Max Verstappen scores his first points in F1 and gets ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz. Both Toro Rosso dominated both Red Bull RB11 of Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo which complete the top 10.

Romain Grosjean places the only Lotus ranked 11th, after having notably been the victim of a collision with the Force India of Sergio Pérez. Both McLaren of Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button did not see the finish after mechanical problems, unlike the Manor Marussia of Roberto Merhi.

The next round of the world championship will take place on the weekend of April 12 in China.

Find the full report of the Malaysian Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondents in Sepang, in issue 2005 of AUTOhebdo, available from tomorrow evening in digital version and from this Wednesday on newsstands.