Malaysia the second race of the 2015 season, one of my questions was how many cars will finish this time? This race was not what people were expecting. A wet qualifying session meant Vettel lined up second next to reigning champion Hamilton on pole. Could Rosberg pass Vettel or would Ferrari be able to challenge Hamilton? Ferrari showed great improvement in their car this season. Vettel challenged and WON the race. Ferrari is back everyone. This year it wont just be Hamilton and Rosberg fighting for the championship win this year.
Vettel started 2rd on the grid. He got a good start and this helped keep Rosberg behind. After the safety car on the 4th lap involving a Sauber, both Mercedes pitted while Vettel stayed out. Ultimately working to his advantage as he was able to maintain speed and cruise home to his first victory for Ferrari in only his second race with the team. His team mate Raikkonen did not have such a great day. He faced a challenge from the start after a first lap collision with Nasr in the Sauber resulted in him having a puncture and losing time. However, he battled his way through the field to finish a respectable 4th. Mercedes only had to worry about Vettel today and just did not seem to have the pace to catch the Ferrari once he was ahead.
Will Stevens' Marussia had a fuel system problem and was not able to qualify or take part in the race. However, his team mate Mehri did start the race and in fact managed to finish. Giving the team valuable data to help improve both cars. McLaren didn't have a better day. Both their cars retired. Alonso's first race for McLaren this year had to retire on lap 20 due to power unit issue. Button had a turbo problem and had to stop on lap 40. Shame not to get the cars to the finish.
Marcus Ericsson's race finished soon after it started as he spun his Sauber. Subsequently bringing out the safety car. His team mate Nasr who started 16th on the grid, finished a respectable 12th. However, was unable to finish any higher. Both Force India's had uneventful races in 13th and 14th. Not being able to score points this time round. Penalties for both Perez and Hulkenberg for separate incidents prevented them from being higher up and scoring points. Another team who had an uneventful race was Williams. The drivers had each other for company with Bottas passing Massa on the last lap for 5th. Williams were Mercedes main rival last year, doesn't seem the same this year.
Red Bull struggled today finishing just 9th and 10th. Kvyat not being helped by being spun from contact with Hulkenberg. Other than that they had quiet races. With their sister team Toro Rosso scoring more points than them finishing 7th and 8th. With the 17 year old Max Verstappen becoming the youngest ever F1 points scorer. His team mate Carlos Sainz had an unfortunate spin which put him to the back of the pack in the early part of the race. However, he used the safety car to his advantage and stayed out when most people pitted for fresh tyres and fought to finish behind Verstappen in 8th. The Lotus driver of Grosjean also spun like Sainz, but because he was tapped by the Force India of Perez; which affected his race. Luck wasn't with the Lotus team. Maldonaldo was given a penalty for exceeding the safety car time. Furthermore, his brakes soon gave Maldonado a reason to retire.
Battles were everywhere. Front of the pack, mid-field. It is difficult to predict who will come where in races! This was not a boring race. There was a record broken, a winner who didn't drive a Mercedes power car and lots of battles. This season is going to be pretty memorable if races continue to be like this.
-ShortySian
Vettel started 2rd on the grid. He got a good start and this helped keep Rosberg behind. After the safety car on the 4th lap involving a Sauber, both Mercedes pitted while Vettel stayed out. Ultimately working to his advantage as he was able to maintain speed and cruise home to his first victory for Ferrari in only his second race with the team. His team mate Raikkonen did not have such a great day. He faced a challenge from the start after a first lap collision with Nasr in the Sauber resulted in him having a puncture and losing time. However, he battled his way through the field to finish a respectable 4th. Mercedes only had to worry about Vettel today and just did not seem to have the pace to catch the Ferrari once he was ahead.
Will Stevens' Marussia had a fuel system problem and was not able to qualify or take part in the race. However, his team mate Mehri did start the race and in fact managed to finish. Giving the team valuable data to help improve both cars. McLaren didn't have a better day. Both their cars retired. Alonso's first race for McLaren this year had to retire on lap 20 due to power unit issue. Button had a turbo problem and had to stop on lap 40. Shame not to get the cars to the finish.
Marcus Ericsson's race finished soon after it started as he spun his Sauber. Subsequently bringing out the safety car. His team mate Nasr who started 16th on the grid, finished a respectable 12th. However, was unable to finish any higher. Both Force India's had uneventful races in 13th and 14th. Not being able to score points this time round. Penalties for both Perez and Hulkenberg for separate incidents prevented them from being higher up and scoring points. Another team who had an uneventful race was Williams. The drivers had each other for company with Bottas passing Massa on the last lap for 5th. Williams were Mercedes main rival last year, doesn't seem the same this year.
Red Bull struggled today finishing just 9th and 10th. Kvyat not being helped by being spun from contact with Hulkenberg. Other than that they had quiet races. With their sister team Toro Rosso scoring more points than them finishing 7th and 8th. With the 17 year old Max Verstappen becoming the youngest ever F1 points scorer. His team mate Carlos Sainz had an unfortunate spin which put him to the back of the pack in the early part of the race. However, he used the safety car to his advantage and stayed out when most people pitted for fresh tyres and fought to finish behind Verstappen in 8th. The Lotus driver of Grosjean also spun like Sainz, but because he was tapped by the Force India of Perez; which affected his race. Luck wasn't with the Lotus team. Maldonaldo was given a penalty for exceeding the safety car time. Furthermore, his brakes soon gave Maldonado a reason to retire.
Battles were everywhere. Front of the pack, mid-field. It is difficult to predict who will come where in races! This was not a boring race. There was a record broken, a winner who didn't drive a Mercedes power car and lots of battles. This season is going to be pretty memorable if races continue to be like this.
-ShortySian
