Ferrari Back In The Groove As Vettel Zooms Past Mercedes AMG Petronas Drivers To Win In Sepang

SEPANG (Selangor, Malaysia), March 30 (Bernama) -- Sebastian Vettel (two, right) of Scuderia Ferrari team denied Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 team a 'home win' by clinching victory in Malaysia F1 Grand Prix at the Sepang Circuit here Sunday. This is the fourth time Vettel of Germany won the Malaysian F1 GP title, his first was in 2010, followed by 2011 and 2013, when he was with the Red-Bull-Renault team. The 27 year-old driver managed to pip defending champion and reigning world champion, Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg who finished in second and third spots respectively, with a time of one hour 41 minutes 05.793 seconds in the 56-lap race. Hamilton clocked 1'41:14.362s and Rosberg came home in 1'41:18.672s. Vettel said his long wait for a victory and his struggles in 2014 had paid off with his new team (Scuderia Ferrari) which made it all the more special. "It's been a while since I had finished at the top and this is my first win under Scuderia Ferrari, it was a great atmosphere...I'm very happy and proud of today's (Sunday) achievement and the car was great. "Thanks you so much for the whole team, 'gracias!...thanks to the fans. I'm speechless. A great to comeback after last season's disappointments. I feel we're a bit surprise, I had enjoyed the road," Vettel said. Vettel said the team had set a better strategy and the win would raise the Scuderia Ferrari team's spirit to win upcoming races. "The strategy today (Sunday) was obviously an ace in the pack. We were a bit surprised but we saw on Friday they weren't happy on the medium compound and Lewis was struggling in the first stint. "So I was able to keep up with him, which I enjoyed a lot. After that I knew I had to deliver, trying to make those tyres last and try and try to push as hard as I can. Second stint he was chasing me down, which was tough, as he has a stronger second stint but I was able to rebalance the car and have a pretty solid gap over the last couple of laps," added Vettel. Meanwhile, Hamilton said despite not being able to retain the title, he believed his team had done a fantastic job to ensure everything ran smoothly during the race. The struggled with tyres in tropical heat at Sepang during the race. "Congratulations to Ferrari, Sebastian and the team for a job well done. They were too fast for us today (Sunday). I'd given everything that I could as a team. I feel we could just get back together as a team and figure out what we need to improve although the team did a fantastic job," said Hamilton. Rosberg said the battle had just started since Ferrari had won the title in the second race of the 2015 Formula One season. "What I can say on behalf of my team to Ferrari is game on...game on...game on. Surely we did a good job I just want to congratulate Ferrari and they deserve to win but we will back in the next race and of course we want to go for a win," said Rosberg. (photoBERNAMA) -- BERNAMA