Wow Vettel already all over Nico's as.s!

Vettel pips Nico for second place and sets sight on Hamilton! Ferrari don vex!

Choi Ferrari on fire, Vettel retakes lead as Hamilton dives into the pits for a change of tire and rejoins in 3rd place behind Nico.

Nico pits as Hamilton sets fastest lap chipping away at that huge gap btw him and Vettel.

Vestarppen who is now officially the youngest F1 driver to have started a grand prix at age 17 seems to be holding his own at 6th position. Gap btw Vettel and Hamilton now down to 17 secs.

Finally Vettel pits and Hamilton claims the lead. Things ain looking too bright for Mercedes as Vettel comes out in 2nd.

Ferrari back on top as Hamilton pits for final tire change. Clearly Mercedes got their srategy twisted today. Even Hamilton seems confused on the radio. Fernando Alonso must be ruing that decision to leave Ferrari.

Hamilton really freaking out telling his team not to talk to him while he's going through the corners. Dude doesn't like trailing no one!

E don be! 3 laps to go Sebastin leads with 10 secs. If it ends like this He becomes the record holder for 1st place finish in Malaysia and Verstappen could also become the youngest point earner in the grand pix with the 17 yr old presently 7th.

Moral of the grandprix, never grow over confident. . . Mercedes. Also be careful what u wish for, Nico noted after the Australian grand prix that it would be good if Ferrari could come a bit closer and spice up the competition, now Ferrari is more than close.

Na wah ooooh! See as Sebastian dey blow Italian like sey na hin first language. I guess 1st place turns u into a language shark. It all good, life and competition just got back to formula 1. Sebastian takes lead with Mercedes settling for 2nd and 3rd.

Game on Ferrari! So says Nico on the podium, here's hoping China delivers an explosive grandprix!

Mercedes showed there immaturity as a racing team today in as much as they are the champion in race decision cost them today. Great drive by Vettel and huge kudos to Ferrari.. But don't be naive, it was beautifully engineered by the marketing people at F1 and Mercedes after huge criticism of a one horse(sic) race.. I make it nearly a full minute Mercedes craftily handed to Ferrari. The hard tyre at the end when it should have been the soft worth over a second a lap over nearly 20 laps. The six seconds by keeping Ham out after his tyres were shot and the totally unnecessary pitstop after 2 laps. If you have the fastest car by some margin all you need to do is match the strategy of your competition, simples. Just who were Mercedes covering with that early pit stop they were in the lead?? Diabolical.. Very nice to see Vettel win but given the same strategy he would have been a mile back.

I am beginning to think that there is more to todays race. It could be an attempt to deceive people and make it look that some team can challenge Merc. It still beats me, why did the Mercedes team opt for a hard compound tire at the final pit stop for LH when they had a Vettel to catch? Had they opted for a soft, LH would have caught up easily with Vettel. The strategy today was intentional and it's all programmed to shift attention away from the team.

Mercedes used one of their medium options tyre during qualifying which they didn't really need, as it turned out, at the final pit stop they had to continue with hard as they'd used up their medium option during qualification.

I don't see any conspiracy here, just over confidence and some bad strategists in Mercedes camp.

Hmm...conspiracy theories

A40:

Lol stop playing! You seriously think Bottas and Massa can outrace Hamilton or Rosberg if they had any advantage?

If the gap is narrowed down Vettel is better poised to take advantage. Bottas and Massa are not winners

Write off the Vettelmeister at your own peril. I said it earlier if there's a window he would kick in the door

omodapson:
I am beginning to think that there is more to todays race. It could be an attempt to deceive people and make it look that some team can challenge Merc. It still beats me, why did the Mercedes team opt for a hard compound tire at the final pit stop for LH when they had a Vettel to catch? Had they opted for a soft, LH would have caught up easily with Vettel. The strategy today was intentional and it's all programmed to shift attention away from the team.

I don't know whether to laugh or cry at this. If you think its simply about the choice of tires or that Mercedes compromised themselves to make F1 look good then you guys are simply not paying attention. Even with a softer tire LH was not catching Vettel because the Rari had very strong pace today

I would not go all out to crown Vettel champion but not even 2 weeks ago I advised you not to write off Vettel

ROTFLOL at Alonso.

Vettel just driving like a drunkard today, unbelievable

Interesting race so happy for Kimi, just has to learn to qualify on the front row

LH is simply phenomenal. Try as much as Ferrari are wont to, neither of them will catch Lewis except through mishap, like it happened with the mercedes brakes towards the end of the race.

Even before the brake issues Kimi was catching up already. Just 2-3 more laps would have been enough plus Vettel drove poorly or Hamilton wouldn't have been so comfortable

Nico laying a marker....

Vettel breezed past Lewis

LH had a horrible start but the 3 stop strategy did the trick to recover eventually.

He is one helluva driver IMO.

Unnecessarily gamble by the Scuderia. Just cover Hamilton you were never going to catch Rosberg but could easily hold of Hamilton. Silly risk

It was all a drive into the sunset until a Safety Car miscalculation by Lewis

At last some drama in this race

pickabeau1:
It was all a drive into the sunset until a Safety Car miscalculation by Lewis

At last some drama in this race

By the strategist

omar22:


By the strategist

yep...he should calm down n prepare for d next race

Quite the miscalculation by the Mercs. I don't think anyone in their right minds would suggest it was deliberate. They most likely thought the other guys would pit anyway and why risk it when you could pit and still come out ahead of the rest.

Nice hold by Vettel for 2nd

A40:
Quite the miscalculation by the Mercs. I don't think anyone in their right minds would suggest it was deliberate. They most likely thought the other guys would pit anyway and why risk it when you could pit and still come out ahead of the rest.

Nice hold by Vettel for 2nd

They have one strategist for both drivers whereas most teams have a strategist for each driver, just like Malaysia, Hungary, Spa and Germany Merc have shown that they cant think on their feet.

omar22:


They have one strategist for both drivers whereas most teams have a strategist for each driver, just like Malaysia, Hungary, Spa and Germany Merc have shown that they cant think on their feet.

Well nothing wrong with Ham requesting for a strategist for himself. With Vettel on their tails I don't think the Mercs stand to gain anything from sabotaging Hamilton. These things happen

A40:

Well nothing wrong with Ham requesting for a strategist for himself. With Vettel on their tails I don't think the Mercs stand to gain anything from sabotaging Hamilton. These things happen

Am not saying they sabotage Lewis, am just saying they dont know how to react to changes during a race, Merc wants only one strategist, one strategy for both drivers they dont want a driver to have any advantage over the other! its working now but when it becomes a level playing fields they will find themselves winning zilt

omar22:


Am not saying they sabotage Lewis, am just saying they dont know how to react to changes during a race, Merc wants only one strategist, one strategy for both drivers they dont want a driver to have any advantage over the other! its working now but when it becomes a level playing fields they will find themselves winning zilt

You make a good point. I still feel the Mercs made a honest mistake. Hamilton's tires were losing grip and they probably felt they could get away with that stop