The talk among rival teams, most notably Red Bull Racing, after Mercedes-GP had trounced the opposition in Australia two weeks ago was of finding a way to lessen the German team’s advantage at the front of the field.
No technical regulation changes were needed to do that in Malaysia on Saturday as nature took its course, namely in the arrival of a timely heavy rain shower during Saturday’s qualifying session at Sepang.
While Mother Nature’s interference was not enough to prevent world champion Lewis Hamilton taking pole position as he set the quickest time in the final part of qualifying with a lap of 1 min, 39.269 secs, it did allow Sebastian Vettel to split the Mercedes cars in his Ferrari.
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The four-time world champion put in a superb lap to be just 0.545 seconds slower than Hamilton to demote Nico Rosberg to third place, the first time since Austria last June that the German will not start on the front row of the grid, a stretch of 12 races.
Vettel is the first non-Mercedes driver to start on the front row of a race since Valtteri Bottas in his Williams last July, and the German’s heroics underline the fact Ferrari are a force again.
Perhaps not a race-winning one yet, but a force all the same.
Last season was a horrendous one for Ferrari as a car lacking aerodynamic grip and engine power unsurprisingly toiled, giving the Italian team their first winless year in Formula One since 1993.
It lost them a disillusioned Fernando Alonso as a consequence, but that now looks a mistake by the Spaniard, given the shambles he has walked into at McLaren with their difficult start to their new union with engine partners Honda.
Alonso’s lack of patience, perhaps understandable after five years with no title there, is Vettel’s gain.
He could not have timed his departure from the ailing Red Bull team any better.
Third in Australia was a solid start behind Hamilton and Rosberg, but the signs at Malaysia are genuinely encouraging, even before the drops of rain arrived at the end of the second part of qualifying.
Vettel and teammate Kimi Raikkonen were quick in practice, and though on single-lap pace in the dry they still appear to have a deficit of around half-a-second to Mercedes, that looks much better than in Australia.
The long straights and sweeping curves of Sepang are a genuinely good indicator of how good a car is.
Only twice in the past 10 years has the car that won in Malaysia not gone on to be the constructors’ champion, so the rule is if you are good here you will be fine nearly everywhere else.
No one is expecting Vettel to beat Hamilton and Rosberg in a straight fight today if conditions stay dry.
But if Vettel can stay close, even hold up Rosberg, and stay within range of Hamilton, it may give a slither of hope that this may not be another season of complete Mercedes domination as Australia hinted.
Vettel certainly spoke a good game yesterday.
“It was an interesting qualifying session,” he said. “The car felt good in both conditions and the car looked good on long runs in practice.
“We will see what we can do tomorrow.”
The only blot on Ferrari’s copybook was Raikkonen being knocked out in the second part of qualifying as the team misjudged the timing of the rain.
The 2007 world champion will have a a lot of work to do from 11th spot, but that should help make for an entertaining race.
He is not the only one out of position, with the Williams pairing of Felipe Massa and Valtteri Bottas quicker than their seventh and ninth starting places, sothe opening laps should ensure this is a much more engaging spectacle than the dullness of Melbourne.
If it stays dry and he gets a good start, it is hard not to see another Hamilton procession at the front, but Vettel and Ferrari have the chance today to give F1 fans real hope the season may not be the feared walkover after all.
gcaygll@thenational.ae
* With agencies
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