Malaysia Grand Prix: What they said

lewishamiltonsebastianvettel - Cropped

Sebastian Vettel ended Ferrari's 34-race drought by clinching victory at the Malaysia Grand Prix and gave Formula One fans hope of a challenge to Mercedes' dominance.

Here we take a look at the best of the reaction from race two of the F1 season.

 

"I'm speechless. I'm happy and proud of today. We beat them fair and square and it is a special day - that is why I am emotional." - Four-time Sebastian Vettel celebrates his maiden victory in the famous red of Ferrari.

 

"Huge congratulations to Ferrari and Sebastian - I gave it everything I could but their pace was excellent. We knew that Ferrari had made a step but didn't know how big - they were too quick today." - Mercedes' world champion Lewis Hamilton.

 

"All I can say on behalf of my team is 'game on Ferrari'. I am not sure about exact details of our strategy - it was complex out there. I'm sure we did a good job. But congratulations to Sebastian." - Hamilton's team-mate Nico Rosberg throws down the gauntlet to Ferrari.

 

"This sport is mainly misery, then now and again you get an incredible rush which makes all the misery well worth it. It makes you feel utterly fantastic." - Ferrari's technical director James Allison revels in victory.

 

"This is a well-deserved win for Ferrari as much as it hurts from a racers point of view, but maybe this is the wake-up call that we needed." Mercedes joint-team boss Toto Wolff admits the team may have taken their eye off the ball.

 

"I was surprised by the pace of the Ferrari at the end but Vettel did an incredible job. They were unbeatable. They had the right pit stop strategy and Vettel's speed was outstanding." - Mercedes' non-executive chairman Niki Lauda.

 

"It was a good day. The first few laps were a bit difficult for me, I struggled a bit with the brakes and the tyres. But when we went on to hard tyres, it worked much better, I found good balance and good rhythm. From there, the car felt great." Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen, who became the youngest driver to score points in F1 at the age of 17.

 

"The car went better than expected until the retirement. To be able to run with the pack and even catch the Red Bulls before the pit stops was nice surprise. We had some technical issues which we are investigating but it has been a nice weekend. If we keep this rate up, we will enjoy success very soon." - Fernando Alonso speaks after retiring on his comeback race for McLaren - his first since sustaining a head injury in pre-season.

 

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