Two weeks ago in the glorious sunshine of Melbourne, we bore witness to the fruits of what clearly has been a hard and challenging winter for the Scuderia.
Many changes have been made in the halls and laboratories at Maranello and it certainly looks to be benefitting them nicely. A new driver in Sebastian Vettel has helped lead them to an immediate podium position in Australia which seemed to please the new principal Maurizio Arrivabene.
Scuderia Ferrari 2015 Malaysia Grand Prix Preview
The veteran champion Kimi Raikkonen almost certainly looked more at home in the SF15-T. A much tighter front end is certainly giving him the feel in the car he so craved last year; the car in 2014 was really not to Kimi’s liking and because it was part of the core design it couldn’t be changed. James Allison has delivered in helping Kimi and Ferrari move back towards the front of the grid.
Malaysia is a track Sebastian Vettel knows very well, especially after the ‘Multi21’ scandal of the 2013 with Mark Webber. Many are divided in their opinion over who was right that day, but the show of Formula One certainly benefitted. Kimi Raikkonen should do well here: he scored his maiden win back in 2003 ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Fernando Alonso.
Ferrari should be in a buoyant mood. They look to have taken the best of the rest in the pecking order behind the all conquering Mercedes. With an 82% chance of rain on race day we may get another showering of fun and excitement to bring to the show; with little running in testing it’s hard to see who might run better in wet conditions.
Nico Rosberg has invited Vettel into the Mercedes debrief on Friday afternoon. I wonder whether he will attend and the cameras will be allowed to capture this incredible yet rather amusing moment.
Sebastian and Kimi certainly look comfortable as team-mates even despite a first corner bump in turn 1. They will be looking to continue their great performances from Australia, but was this just a one off or can they really reign in Williams and now start to look towards those Silver Arrows in the distance? Time will soon tell.
