With Mercedes Benz wildly dominating the scene, a general prediction would be that it will be another 1-2 win for Mercedes since they managed to do so in most previous races. However, one Sebastien Vettel in a Ferrari crushed the Mercedes’ dream of a win in Malaysia as he brought the once stricken Prancing Horse to victory at the recent 2015 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix.
Ferrari had displayed great potential, especially after the first round in Melbourne where Vettel finished third and taking the first podium for the season. Earning himself a second spot on the grid after a wet qualifying session, a superior tyre strategy gave Vettel the edge against Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton who started in pole position and Nico Rosberg in third.
After running on Medium tyres on his final stint, Hamilton had to settle with second place, eight seconds away from the race leader. Rosberg finished the race in third position, trailing four seconds behind Hamilton.
If not for a puncture suffered by Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari could have gotten themselves another car on the podiums. But a fourth place finish is enough to prove that the Prancing Horse had come a long way in making their race cars better, and 2015 might just be the year for them to rise.
Coming in fifth and sixth were the mighty duo of Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa of Williams, with Bottas overtaking his teammate to take fifth with only two laps remaining in the race.
With all eyes set on the youngest F1 driver on the grid, Max Verstappen did not disappoint as he took home seventh position for Toro Rosso, and at the same time being the youngest driver ever to score points in Formula 1. The 17-year-old driver managed to finish ahead of his teammate Carlos Sainz who took home an eighth.
It was not an encouraging race weekend for Red Bull as they did not only finish one lap behind the winners, they were also slower than their sister team themselves. Both the cars barely finished within the points where Daniil Kvyat took ninth followed by Daniel Ricciardo in tenth.
As much as we would like to see the new McLaren-Honda partnership bloom into success, Malaysia is just not the time just yet as both Jenson Button and Fernando Alonso were forced to retire from the race. Alonso’s car went into the garage first in lap 22, while Button followed suit in lap 42.
Other non-finishers include Pastor Maldonado in the Lotus and Marcus Ericsson who is now racing for Sauber. Will Stevens and his Ferrari-powered Manor did not even manage to start the race.
2015 Formula 1 Petronas Malaysia Grand Prix race results
| Driver | Team | Time | Pts | |
| 01 | S. Vettel | Ferrari | 1:41:05.793 | 25 |
| 02 | L. Hamilton | Mercedes | +8.569 | 18 |
| 03 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | +12.310 | 15 |
| 04 | K. Raikkonen | Ferrari | +53.822 | 12 |
| 05 | V. Bottas | Williams | +1:10.409 | 10 |
| 06 | F. Massa | Williams | +1:13.586 | 8 |
| 07 | M. Verstappen | Toro Rosso | +1:39.085 | 6 |
| 08 | C. Sainz | Toro Rosso | +1 lap | 4 |
| 09 | D. Kvyat | Red Bull | +1 lap | 2 |
| 10 | D. Ricciardo | Red Bull | +1 lap | 1 |
| 11 | R. Grosjean | Lotus | +1 lap | |
| 12 | F. Nasr | Sauber | +1 lap | |
| 13 | S. Perez | Force India | +1 lap | |
| 14 | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | +1 lap | |
| 15 | R. Merhi | Manor | +3 laps | |
| 16 | P. Maldonado | Lotus | DNF | |
| 17 | J. Button | McLaren | DNF | |
| 18 | F. Alonso | McLaren | DNF | |
| 19 | M. Ericsson | Sauber | DNF | |
| 20 | W. Stevens | Manor | DNS |
