March 29, 2015 – Sebastian Vettel returned to winning ways in just his second race with Scuderia Ferrari as he put on a stellar performance during the Malaysian Grand Prix this afternoon to beat the two Mercedes.
The German opted to stay out during an early safety car period and took the lead, while pole-sitter Hamilton pitted for new tyres and went for a three-stop strategy, compared to Vettel’s two.
In the end, the two-stop strategy worked out for the four-time world champion and he finished more than 8 seconds clear of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, who in turn completed the race 4 seconds ahead of teammate Nico Rosberg.
Despite an early puncture, Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen managed to finish fourth after fighting his way through the field, with Williams’ Valtteri Bottas overtaking his teammate Felipe Massa for fifth late in the race.
The two Red Bulls of Daniil Kvyat and Daniel Ricciardo struggled for pace and ended up 9th and 10th respectively behind the two Toro Rossos of Max Vertsappen and Carlos Sainz who both scored their first ever Formula 1 points.
McLaren had another terrible race as both Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button retired with mechanical issues.
