LEWIS CHARGE IS HALTED
Vettel finally breaks the Mercedes stranglehold and seals dream victory
Sebastian Vettel, tears in his eyes, a smile wide on his face, waved the Ferrari flag high above his head, his joy unconfined. Millions around the world shared his moment of triumph, be they scuderia fans or not. even lewis Hamilton, who was prowling around in disappointment at coming second, could understand why.
For, finally, the vice-like grip of his Mercedes team had been prised open at a steamy Malaysian Grand Prix.
Vettel was right when he said he won the race ‘fair and square’, Ferrari having outpaced the previously impregnable Mercedes machines over 56 absorbing laps.
now a sport that has developed an impressive aptitude for navel-gazing, especially after the procession at Melbourne a fortnight earlier when a Mercedes one-two was expected to presage a period of total silver arrows dominance, can rest from its self-loathing criticism, at least for a while.
the victors’ joy and the losers’ pain were equally piquant in the circumstances. For Vettel, it was the fulfilment of the dream of a lifetime. He had won in the shiny red car of Ferrari, the team he grew up worshipping.
as a boy, he watched over the fence as Michael schumacher drove around Fiorano, the test track at the team headquarters in Maranello, an industrial town in northern italy as blandly functional as Detroit, Michigan. but it houses the spiritual legacy of enzo Ferrari and all that is poetic about the world’s most famous car. ‘i remember when the gate opened in Maranello and it was like a dream coming true,’ said Vettel. ‘i am speechless.’
You would have needed a heart as hard as flint not to be swept along as he screamed over the team radio: ‘thank you, thank you. Forza Ferrari.’
this was the 40th win of Vettel’s career, but his first for the scuderia in only his second race for the team since leaving Red bull.
it was ironic, of course, that Vettel should be the man to blow the apathy away, given how he and Red bull were so good that they were boring during four, often pulverising years of success. nine victories in succession in 2013 was Vettel’s most one-sided stretch. before yesterday, Mercedes had won the previous eight races straddling this season and last.
and the losers’ pain? Yes, it was pleasant for a change to see Mercedes panic, if only because i t showed they are human. it provides hope for the rest.
Hamilton was involved in tetchy radio exchanges with his engineers. so was nico Rosberg.
that is what pressure, especially when it is unaccustomed, can do to even brilliant minds.
‘You’ve put the wrong tyres on,’ exclaimed Hamilton after his third and final stop. the team then accidentally tuned him into a private exchange on the pit wall. they apologised for the mistake.
then, annoyed by the confusion, he said: ‘Once again i don’t know what i’m supposed to be doing.’
in growing exasperation, he instructed them not to talk to him going through corners. ‘i almost just went off,’ he added.
Finally, they told him he could catch Vettel in the dying laps. no chance. it was a crazy, false hope to express and Vettel won by 8.5sec. Rosberg, who is out of form, was third, a place ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen, who fought from 11th on the grid and an early puncture.
Hamilton was gracious in defeat and loyal to his team. the fact was that Ferrari, who were able to run a two-stop strategy, just had too much pace on the day.
the heat — 60 degrees Celsius on the track — played to their strengths in a way the colder shanghai circuit a fortnight hence will probably not.
the ghost of the day was Ross brawn. He established the Mercedes super-team before being rashly pushed out at the end of 2013. the question of long-term importance is whether Mercedes can continue on a clearheaded path of success without him.
that burden falls to toto Wolff, the team principal, and Paddy lowe, the technical director. Wolff said: ‘there is no panic, but we were in a new situation. We were not in control of things today.
‘We had new information which was different f rom what we had assessed over the weekend.
‘it was clear the winning streak was not going to go on forever. it is not the end of an era, but maybe the start of a new era, of a good battle, a battle we would like to take on. it’s about staying calm and trying to come back with confidence and with the speed we have had in the last couple of races.’
brawn’s name also cropped up at Ferrari, where he masterminded the schumacher years of unbroken glory. His old job there as technical director has been taken by the highly-rated, Cambridge- educated James allison, a tall and slightly awkward-looking british engineer.
‘Ross has about a billion championships under his belt as a technical director and i have precisely zero,’ he said. ‘Come and talk to me in a few years’ time when, if i am lucky,
He screamed out: “Thank you. Thank you. Forza Ferrari.”