After Race 2: Malaysia

The 2002 Formula One season marked the midway point of the Schumi/Ferrari dominance, as he secured his fifth title a mere 11 races into the 17 race season. What, you might ask, does this have to do with the current edition of the F1 Power Rankings? Well, the 2002 Malaysian Grand Prix – also the second race of that season – was won by Ralf Schumacher, leading home Juan Pablo Montoya for a Williams-BMW 1-2. It was the only time Michael would finish outside of the top two all season.

A (baker’s) dozen years later and Sebastian Vettel upset the dominant Hamilton/Mercedes combo to take his first win for the Scuderia. Neutrals everywhere will take delight at the prospect of Ferrari taking the fight to Mercedes but it remains a distinct possibility that Lewis will rack up another 10+ wins this season.

Incredible scenes of joy in the Ferrari camp
Source: Scuderia Ferrari (Facebook)

Mercedes spent the entire 2014 in a class-of-one. Reliability cost them in Canada and a somewhat inevitable collision cost them in Belgium. Hungary, on the other hand, proved to be a slight precursor to what we witnessed in Sepang 2015. Throw in an ill-timed safety car and a jumbled strategy, and Mercedes’ pit-wall melted in the Malaysian heat. Their insistence on keeping both drivers on the same strategy, as opposed to rolling the dice when the SC came out, likely cost them a victory. Similarly, they were painfully slow to react to Vettel’s performance thereafter, with both cars being kept out far too long on old tyres. Ferrari were quick this weekend – you only need to see how Kimi Räikkönen stormed through the field to thrash Williams to understand this. It would not be incorrect to consider Mercedes arrogant.

Finally, I had mentioned on Twitter during the Australian weekend that there was a strong ‘2008’ feel to this season, and that continued this weekend. Mercedes v. Ferrari up front, Toro Rosso beating Red Bull, and Honda mired to the back of the pack. Some things never change, eh? (if you want a controversial one, how about a Ferrari-powered car deliberately spinning out to get an SC that helps another Ferrari-car… note: not for one second do I subscribe to this conspiracy!)

It's been all smiles at Toro Rosso this season!
Source: Scuderia Toro Rosso

1. Sebastian Vettel (up three spots)

After Melbourne, I wrote: “Just what must Fernando Alonso have been thinking as he watched a resurgent Ferrari […] the spring in [Vettel’s] step is back, as evident by the joyous celebrations with Maurizio Arrivabene post-race.” Fast-forward two weeks and this whole scenario was replayed after the Malaysian race – on steroids! A simply incredible victory for the Scuderia, using a scintillating combination of pace, strategy and opportunity; the team radio on the in-lap and the emotion on the podium was magnificent. A German driving red no.5 evoked memories of the Schumi/Ferrari early 2000s era (and, indeed, Vettel’s first win with Toro Rosso).

An added note to UK fans: if you ever felt your coverage was biased in favour of Hamilton/Button, you should have heard what Spanish TV said after this race as they eulogised over the work F. Alonso did, helping to build Ferrari. There’s no doubt he contributed to this win but, at the same time, it’s a huge insult to Vettel, James Allison and co. to bring it up immediately after the race.

2. Lewis Hamilton (down one spot)

Hamilton remains the clear championship favourite but he was let down by a combination of poor strategy and arrogance from his team.

Oh FIA... why do you focus on such frivolous rules...
Source: Mercedes AMG Petronas (Facebook)

3. Carlos Sainz (no change)

Two races, two points-finishes, and the youngster continues his impressive start to life in F1. Ultimately beaten by the headline-grabbing Max Verstappen on both Saturday and Sunday, Sainz rallied from a rookie mistake in Q2 to storm from 15^th on the grid to an eventual P8. Aside from Vettel, he was the only man to maximize a two-stop strategy – and that’s not bad company to be keeping!

4. Max Verstappen (up two spots)

It took the 17-year-old just two races to match his father’s best ever qualifying performance. From sixth on the grid, Verstappen struggled in the early stages – and was asked to let his team-mate through before the SC bunched the field up. He kept his nose clean throughout and edged Sainz to the checkered flag courtesy of his significantly fresher tyres to secure a fine P7.

Source: Scuderia Toro Rosso

5. Kimi Räikkönen (up four spots)

Räikkönen is one of the biggest gainers in this week’s F1 Power Rankings, matching his superb recovery drive on Sunday. He agonisingly dropped out in Q2 having been held up by Marcus Ericsson and then picked up a puncture from the other Sauber in the opening stages on Sunday. The SC helped him catch the back of the pack and he methodically worked his way through the field, storming through to an eventual P4 – highlighting Ferrari’s raw pace.

Source: Scuderia Ferrari

6. Felipe Massa (down one spot)

It was Massa who once again prevailed in the Williams Q3 battle – although the team still hasn’t cured its relatively poor wet-weather car-performance from 2014. Massa ran ahead of Bottas all day long (pit-stop sequences aside) until the Finn edged him in the dying stages on slightly fresher tyres. Unlike last year, Massa had no answer to defend.

7. Valtteri Bottas (up four spots)

With his back problems hopefully behind him, Bottas finally took the starting grid in Sepang. He ran an almost identical race to his team-mate, the main exception was clipping Maldonado on the opening lap. As mentioned in last week’s F1 Power Rankings, the intra-team Williams battle will be fascinating to watch.

Williams were one of several teams to come home in Noah's Ark formation
Source: Williams F1 Team

8. Felipe Nasr (down six spots)

Maybe Sauber need a week from hell in order to deliver a strong performance! Although Ericsson did a good job in getting into Q3, it was largely thanks to the conditions. Nasr exited in Q1 and had a hugely anonymous race – giving Räikkönen a puncture aside – but he did wind up ahead of both Force Indias. He’s the biggest faller in this week’s F1 Power Rankings but remains in the top ten thanks to his superb debut.

=9. Daniel Ricciardo (up one spot) & Daniil Kvyat (up five spots)

The good news first: both RBRs qualified in the top five, with Kvyat matching his career-best from Sochi. It was all downhill from there as they fell to the foot of the points on raceday. Kvyat ultimately edged his more experienced team-mate in the closing stages (on fresher tyres, like many others did) but he did also lose time mid-race with the whack from The Hulk.

Not quite Multi 21...
Source: Infiniti Red Bull Racing

11. Nico Hülkenberg (down four spots)

Even Kvyat felt The Hulk’s penalty was harsh but this wasn’t to be Nico’s day. He ended up behind his team-mate but that was due to team orders on different strategies. Force India are very much in damage limitation mode as they await the B-spec version of their 2015 challenger.

Neil's Wisdom #ForzaJules #KeepFightingMichael
Source: Sahara Force India 

12. Nico Rosberg

No change for Rosberg as his average start to the season continued. Of note, his race pace in the second half of the race was a tad better than his team-mate’s.

=13. Jenson Button (down five spots) & Fernando Alonso (not ranked last week)

JB’s a big faller this week but that was probably to be expected after the chaos of Melbourne. Alonso joins this year’s F1 Power Rankings tied for a fittingly unlucky 13^th with his team-mate as McLaren edged their way towards the main pack. Both cars exited in Q1 but they proved to be rather more competitive in the race, with Alonso running in the top ten when his car failed.

Source: McLaren (Facebook)

=15. Romain Grosjean (no change) & Marcus Ericsson (down two spots)

Grosjean remains mired down in 15^th as his desperately unlucky start to 2015 continues. Having made it 2-for-2 in Q3 appearances, he was relegated to 10^th on the grid for queue-jumping, before being spectacularly spun around by Sergio Pérez midway through the race and finishing an agonising P11 – having also suffered from power problems.

Ericsson, meanwhile, looked to be on course for a rapid rise up the F1 Power Rankings following his impressive quali effort that saw him benefit from being towards the front of the queue in Q2. It all went for nought, however, after an abysmal rookie error saw him spin off in Turn 1 after a solid start.

17. Pastor Maldonado (down one spot)

A weekend to forget for Pastor; he was again an innocent victim in the first corner melee and didn’t really make much of an impression thereafter.

=18. Sergio Pérez (down one spot) & Roberto Merhi (not ranked last week)

Pérez suffered the ignominy of plummeting through the field after the SC at a rather comical rate. He later spun around Grosjean it what looked like a pretty clear penalty but replays suggest it may have been slightly more of a racing incident that at first glance.

Merhi and Manor were quite difficult to rank. As we saw last year, Jules Bianchi made 3^rd place his own in the F1 Power Rankings; he was clearly class of the backmarkers and, of course, scored points in Monaco. Based on pure hard work and overcoming adversity, Manor deserve more – after all, they did something even McLaren-Honda with their huge resources and funds couldn’t do and finish in the searing Sepang heat and humidity. But Merhi’s fastest lap was even slower than Marcus Ericsson’s – who completed just two flying laps on a full tank of fuel before his early exit. It’s hard to see them making the same kind of progression as McLaren did between the first two races and they will do well to last the distance this season.

Merhi briefly ran inside the top 10 during the SC
Source: Manor

Not ranked: Kevin Magnussen, Will Stevens

Stevens failed to take part in either quali or the race as rumours swirled as to why only one Manor appeared on the track at any given time.

I mentioned Montoya earlier, JPM won the first race of the new IndyCar season in St Pete
Source: Juan Pablo Montoya (Facebook)

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