Vettel saves face for Ferrari
Driver starts last, finishes fourth, still trails Hamilton.
Sebastian Vettel rescued a woeful day for Ferrari at the Malaysian Grand Prix with a brilliant drive from last place to fourth.
It was purely damage limitation, as he drifted 34 points behind Lewis Hamilton in the title race, but it softened the blow for Ferrari.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen won the race ahead of Hamilton with the other Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo in the final podium position.
Having seen both of its cars fail to score points at the previous race in Singapore, Ferrari lost Kimi Raikkonen moments before this race.
Vettel started from the back of the grid after engine problems on Saturday, while Raikkonen did not start at all.
With less than 10 minutes before qualifying, Ferrari’s mechanics hurriedly wheeled the Finnish driver’s car back to the garage.
Team principal Maurizio Arrivabene was wiping his face anxiously moments before the start. Raikkonen failed to get back on track in time. He could ultimately have made a start from the pit lane but could not even do that.
“Obviously we had some issue, I don’t know what it is exactly, I don’t think any of us know right now,” Raikkonen said after the race. “It’s far from perfect, but it’s one of those things that happen.”
Raikkonen had qualified in second place behind Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton and, given how fast Ferrari was in dominating both practice sessions on Saturday, he may well have had a shot at victory.
“I’m pretty certain I would have had a very good car today,” the 2007 F1 champion said. “We’ll never know.”
Within 15 minutes of the race, the Finnish driver was already in his shorts and walking back to the team’s motorhome, while Vettel was charging through the field.
“We were the quickest car for the majority of the race,” Vettel said. “It was more entertaining, the first couple of laps in particular.”
As if Ferrari’s luck could not get any worse, Williams driver Lance Stroll later smashed into the side of Vettel’s car on the warm-down lap, cutting it almost in half.
“That’s impossible,” a stunned Vettel said. “He’s shunted into my car.”
In a light-hearted moment, the German driver hitched a lift back to the paddock by sitting on the side of countryman Pascal Wehrlein’s Sauber.
Stewards took no action after investigating the incident, but Vettel blamed Stroll.
“I went on the outside to pick up a bit of rubber. I think Lance wasn’t looking and wanted to do the same, but that was too late, I was there already,” Vettel said. “That’s completely unnecessary. I think he just didn’t look.”
Before the race, Vettel was handed a 20-place grid penalty after Ferrari made three component changes to his engine.
Teams may make four power unit changes per season before incurring penalties. Ferrari had made the fourth change Saturday when an electronic malfunction was detected late in the third practice session.
Vettel then encountered further problems in the first part of qualifying when his car lost power. Because he failed to set a time in qualifying, the four-time F1 champion was at the back of the grid anyway, so the 20-place grid drop made no difference on the day. stress off everybody, and we obviously have a lot of guys that can do a lot of things, just being able to have diversity on offense,” Gurley said.
The Rams (3-1) rallied from 11 points down late in the first half and matched their start from a year ago, when they went 1-11 the rest of the way as Goff, the No. 1 overall pick, was sitting and later lost the first seven starts of his career.
Goff showed more poise in first-year coach Sean McVay’s offense, throwing for 255 yards and two touchdowns without an interception. He has seven TD passes and one interception this season.
The Cowboys (2-2) are already a loss shy of their total from last season when Prescott, the 135th pick in Goff’s draft, was the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year for the top-seeded team in the NFC.
And Prescott is already one interception away from last year’s total of four after a play that was originally ruled a fumble was changed to a diving pick by linebacker Mark Barron at the Dallas 29. Zuerlein’s sixth field gave the Rams 19 straight points and a 32-24 lead.
“We’re not going to lose confidence,” Prescott said. “We feel like we’re getting better. Even in a loss, we’re going to find a way to get better.”
Dallas held the Rams to 131 yards in the first half, but the absence of All-Pro linebacker Sean Lee (hamstring) showed up after halftime. After punting on their first possession of the second half, the Rams scored five straight times, including Gurley’s long TD catch.
The Cowboys, meanwhile, punted on their first three possessions of the second half after scoring on all four first-half drives. Prescott’s interception came on the fourth possession after halftime against a defense led by former Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips.
“Just had little corrections we had to fix here and there,” said All-Pro Aaron Donald, who had Prescott wrapped for a sack in the first half before losing his grip as Prescott ducked and spun away on an 18-yard throw to Dez Bryant. “Once we did that we were solid.”
Prescott was 20 of 36 for 252 yards with three touchdowns, including a 10-yarder to Elliott. Bryant had five catches for a season-high 98 yards.
Mini me, mini me two: Gurley had 30 touches: 23 carries and a team-high seven catches. Receiver Tavon Austin had six carries for 48 yards and at one point had 40 yards rushing to Gurley’s 41. “Tavon, I guess he’s the mini-running back now and I’m the mini-receiver,” Gurley said.
Below 100 again: Elliott had 85 yards on 21 carries for his third straight sub-100yard game, matching the longest such streak from last season. Backup Alfred Morris had the longest Dallas run of the season and longest of his career, a 70-yarder to set up Elliott’s second TD. The 1-yard plunge came after a review overturned a touchdown. Both times, Elliott took the ball to his mom in a field-level suite behind the end zone. Morris had 76 yards.
Try, try again: Terrance Williams dropped a potential tying 2-point conversion pass on the third try midway through the fourth quarter after Prescott’s 28-yard scoring toss to James Hanna got Dallas within 32-30. Dallas was called for holding, and got another shot after a defensive holding call on the Rams.