F1: Vettel wins as Mercedes falter

Mercedes got the new F1 V6 formula sorted right out of the box. However, from time to time, they did falter, and in 2014, Red Bull and Williams took full advantage of that, snagging victories and poles from the Brackley-based team. However, at least based on the performance in Malaysia, Ferrari seem to be that team this year. Both Hamilton and Rosberg got brilliant starts, but Rosberg couldn’t go anywhere as Vettel squeezed him right towards the pitwall. The trio pulled away from the rest of the pack, whilst there was a whole slew of contact, damaged front wings and punctured tyres. Raikkonen, for the second race in a row, has had to make an early pitstop to repair contact damage. At the end of lap 1, the Sauber of Nasr hit the rear of Raikkonen’s SF15-T, causing a puncture which dropped him to last place. The carcass also ended up tearing huge chunks out of the rear floor of his Ferrari. Raikkonen did end up finishing fourth, a brilliant recovery drive indeed. Marcus Ericsson spun and got beached in the gravel at turn 1, causing the safety car to be deployed. This gave the cars with lap 1 problems, Raikkonen included, a chance to catch up to the rest of the pack. Mercedes took a gamble, and boxed both cars for a switch to the primes. However, because their pitbox is at the start of the pitlane, both cars were held up, with Rosberg losing up to 8 seconds in the pits. Mercedes’ strategy was to use the primes till lap 30+, before both cars would stop again for fresh primes. Track position wasn’t on hand though, as the Mercs were stuck in P5 and P8. It took them awhile to climb back up to a podium position due to traffic.

OneShift Editorial Team

30 Mar 2015

Meanwhile, post safety car, Vettel pulled away from the pack consistently, as he worked his options to their best. He eventually stopped for another set of options and dropped to 3rd, but as the Merc duo were struggling with severe degradation, he easily regained the lead. Mercedes eventually decided to ditch their strategy, and reverted back to a 3 stop.

The Red Bulls of Ricciardo and Kvyat were struggling with their front brakes. Everytime either driver yanks on the anchors, huge plumes of brake material could be seen making their escape from the front wheels. Ricciardo also had a loss of downforce from a contact early on, which made his job of getting past Hulkenburg very difficult. At this point, only the 2 Ferraris, the 2 Mercedes and the 2 Williams are free of the Force India train, as both Perez and Hulkenburg took turns to hold up the rest of the pack. Ricciardo was told to let Kvyat through due to car damage, which he did. Unfortunately for Kvyat, he was hit by Hulkenburg going into turn 3, which dropped him back several places.

It seemed as though the Force Indias had a crash fest that day, as Perez then hit Grosjean later on. Both Force Indias were given a 10 second penalty, which allowed the 4 Red Bull-backed cars through.

Both McLaren Hondas failed to finish. This is the first time a Mercedes driver failed to win a race since Ricciardo won the Belgium Grand Prix last year. Vettel was thrilled, and understandly so, as he won a race for Ferrari on his second race, after a winless 2014.

Is Mercedes’ dominance fading? We don’t think so. Whilst it is true that the Ferraris are mighty fast around Sepang, do bear in mind that both Mercs lost significant chunks through pitstops, traffic and severely scrubbed rubber. Do expect to see the Silver Arrows back on form in China.

Pictures used for illustration purposes only.

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