After qualifying in Malaysia, where he shone, we asked if Sebastian Vettel could win the race. The answer is: he drove to perfection and achieved what many considered impossible so far defeating the Mercedes under normal conditions and leading his Ferrari at the top of the podium.
Sebastian’s victory set fire in the championship and prove two things: the Mercedes is not invincible and Maurizio Arrivabene was not bluffing when he said that the goal of Ferrari is the German team.
Some journalists questioned the Mercedes strategy by opting for hard tires on the Hamilton’s last pit stop, but the truth is that with 21 laps to the end of the race there was no alternative, since predicting the durability of the medium tires was only 17 laps . Not to mention that Mercedes wears the tires more than the Italian team.
The good balance of Ferrari was also seen by Kimi Räikkönen’s performance, even suffering an accident on the first lap, his ended the race in fourth place.
Rosberg, third, never quarreled with the leaders. Williams already occupied its real position presently finishing fifth with Bottas and sixth with Massa.
Max Verstappen once again showed maturity and competence, bringing hope that the Netherlands can soon have his first world champion of Formula 1.
Emotions, overtakes, disputes and many more. Malaysia GP had proved to be a real race.
Let’s hope the next GP brings to us even more pleasure.
Ialdo Belo
