Power Ranking the Formula 1 Teams After 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix
Ferrari shocked the Formula One world at the 2015 Malaysian Grand Prix as they roared to their first victory for almost two years. Sebastian Vettel's flawless drive from second on the grid saw Mercedes beaten on raw pace for the first time since 2013.
Williams might have been hoping to join the party, but they have thus far failed to live up to pre-season expectations. Red Bull were even further off the pace, embarrassingly beaten by both Toro Rossos.
Some critics had been quick to call the sport boring after the dismal season-opener. This was the perfect response.
There was action, drama and excitement all the way through the field, and though only five teams scored points, all bar one looked to have the potential for a top-10 finish.
Looking at reliability, qualifying and race pace, here's how the teams currently rank.
Note on Team Power Rankings
F1 team power rankings ignore the points table and instead present a snapshot of where each team currently stands in relation to their competitors based on reliability, qualifying and race pace.
All position changes are relative to those in the previous set of rankings, created after the Australian Grand Prix. You can find them here.
10. Manor
1 of 10
No Change
Manor made a huge step forward just by getting their cars out on the track in Malaysia.
Unfortunately, only one—that of Roberto Merhi—was able to take part in qualifying. With Will Stevens ruled out by a fuel system issue, Merhi failed to set a time within the 107 per cent limit.
However, he was allowed to race after the stewards ruled that he had set a sufficiently quick time in free practice.
He didn't have much impact in the race, finishing almost six minutes behind the leader, but at least he got to the end in what was essentially a glorified testing session. Hopefully it'll be two finishers next time out.
Manor remain 10th.
9. McLaren
2 of 10
No Change
McLaren made a huge performance leap between Australia and Malaysia but reliability and single-lap pace remains poor.
Jenson Button out-qualified returning team-mate Fernando Alonso by one-tenth of a second. The Brit's time of one minute, 41.636 seconds was only good enough for 17th—Alonso was 18th, slowest of all bar Roberto Merhi's Manor.
The Spaniard made a better start and ended the first lap in 15th. The safety car bumped him up to 13th, and though a recovering Kimi Raikkonen made short work of the McLaren, Alonso looked on a par with the other cars around him.
Or at least he did until the turbo failed on Lap 20, forcing him into retirement.
Button lasted a little longer. Like Alonso, the 2009 world champion lapped at a similar pace to Force India, Sauber and even Red Bull—a points finish was not entirely out of the question.
However, a power unit failure on Lap 40 resulted in an early bath for the Brit.
McLaren remain ninth but showed surprisingly good pace in the race. They look more than capable of moving up the order in the coming weeks if they can fix their reliability gremlins.
8. Force India
3 of 10
No Change
Force India had a weekend to forget in Malaysia.
Nico Hulkenberg qualified 13th with a time of one minute, 43.023 seconds. Team-mate Sergio Perez was 14th, both failing to get a clear lap as rain began to fall early in Q2.
When the lights went out, Hulkenberg had a great first corner (or rather, second corner) and was up to seventh at the end of the opening lap. By staying out behind the safety car, he rose to second but fell back thereafter.
A 10-second penalty for hitting Daniil Kvyat dropped him even further down the order, and he finished second to last, way out of the points.
Perez didn't get off the line as well, but his race followed a similar path to his team-mate's. After moving up the field by the early safety car, he too received a penalty—for a collision with Romain Grosjean—and finished in 13th.
The VJM08 isn't yet performing to its potential, and per crash.net, the team don't expect to be racing closer to the front until mid-season.
But they could still sneak the odd point. Force India remain eighth.
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7. Lotus
4 of 10
Down One
Lotus remain pointless after two races but have a reasonable claim to the title of F1's unluckiest team.
Romain Grosjean got through to Q3 for the second consecutive race. He set the eighth-fastest time but was relegated two places for jumping the pit-lane queue in Q2. Pastor Maldonado was more polite and, as a result, failed to get a clear lap. He started 12th.
As in Australia, Maldonado was again involved in a first-corner incident, and again, it wasn't his fault. A tap from behind punctured his tyre, and he fell to the rear of the field.
The Venezuelan eventually caught up and looked set to beat the Force Indias, but he had to retire with a braking issue.
Grosjean maintained 10th off the line and stayed out behind the safety car, rising to third as those around him pitted. But per F1Fanatic, he struggled with a lack of power and began to fall back.
He may still have had a shot at 10th, but a collision with Sergio Perez cost him valuable time and 11th was his reward for a hard afternoon's work.
It's difficult to place Lotus because they haven't yet had a problem-free race. They slip to seventh for now.
6. Sauber
5 of 10
Down One
Following their excellent display in Australia, it was back to the old routine for Sauber.
Marcus Ericsson managed to get a clear lap in Q2 and qualified 10th, but Felipe Nasr didn't even take part in that session. He was eliminated in Q1 after failing to set a quick enough time and started a disappointing 16th.
Romain Grosjean's grid penalty bumped Ericsson up to ninth, and after rising to eighth after the opening lap, the Swede looked well-placed. Unfortunately, a somewhat amateurish attempt to overtake Nico Hulkenberg saw him run wide, spin and beach himself in the gravel.
By this stage, Nasr had already compromised his race, too, damaging his front wing against Kimi Raikkonen's tyre and needing an early stop for repairs. The safety car let him catch up to the rear of the field, but the standout driver from Melbourne was unable to capitalise.
Struggling with car balance and tyre wear, Nasr made four stops and trailed home 12th.
Sauber can take heart, though, because the car looked like it had the pace for a top-10 finish. They drop a spot to sixth.
5. Toro Rosso
6 of 10
Up Two
Toro Rosso's young guns embarrassed their big brothers in Sepang.
Max Verstappen was one of the stars of Saturday, seizing sixth place on the grid in his first wet qualifying session. Having been compromised by a poor track position in Q2, Carlos Sainz Jr. could only manage 15th.
The two had varying fortunes off the line—Verstappen fell back to ninth by the end of the opening lap and 10th by the time the safety car emerged, while Sainz had climbed to 11th.
Verstappen pitted behind the safety car and spent much of the race going at a similar or better pace than the main Red Bull team. The highlight of his race was passing Daniel Ricciardo around the outside of Turn 1, and he finished a strong seventh.
Sainz Jr. took a different route, opting for a two-stop strategy. He too was quicker than the Red Bulls and, though unable to stop Verstappen passing him late on, finished eighth.
The STR10 isn't really faster than the RB11—this will likely be a "freak" result, and the big team will be back ahead at the next race.
But a very impressive showing for Toro Rosso sees them climb two spots to fifth.
4. Red Bull
7 of 10
No Change
Red Bull had some poor races in 2014, but this one topped the lot.
The rain in Q3 allowed both drivers to qualify higher than the dry pace of the car would have allowed. Daniel Ricciardo was fourth but over a second and a half down on the pole time; Daniil Kvyat was four-tenths further back in fifth.
Ricciardo maintained his position at the start, but Kvyat fell behind Felipe Massa. The Russian lost more places when he was forced to queue behind his team-mate in the pits and was down to 11th when the safety car came back in.
Kvyat fought back into contention at the second round of stops but suffered another setback when Nico Hulkenberg sent him into a spin at Turn 2. It cost him around seven seconds and probably eighth in the race. As it were, Kvyat did well to salvage ninth, passing Ricciardo late on.
The Australian was not as quick as his team-mate, struggling in part due to front wing damage sustained on the first lap. He ended up 10th after a long, hard and frustrating afternoon.
Both Red Bulls suffered braking issues and should go better in China, but they look a long way from being able to challenge the leading three teams and hold station in fourth.
3. Williams
8 of 10
No Change
Williams finished a few metres behind Ferrari in Australia. In Malaysia, the gap was measured in kilometres.
Like its predecessor, the FW37 is not a good car in the wet; Felipe Massa qualified seventh, more than 2.5 seconds off the pole time. Valtteri Bottas was even slower and started ninth.
Massa had a good launch off the line and was up to fifth by the end of the first lap, while Bottas went in the other direction. The Finn touched Pastor Maldonado's Lotus in Turn 1 and slipped down to 14th.
Bottas began his fightback as soon as the safety car returned to the pits, picking off slower cars and catching Massa before the second round of stops.
He remained close to his team-mate for the rest of the race, eventually sneaking past on the penultimate lap to claim fifth, over a minute down on the race winner.
Massa was sixth, a few seconds behind.
Williams have a lot of work to do if they want to catch the teams ahead but are a long way clear of the cars behind. They remain third for now.
2. Ferrari
9 of 10
No Change
Ferrari had their best weekend for a long time, with both cars showing excellent pace.
Sebastian Vettel qualified second in the wet Saturday session, just 0.074 seconds shy of pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton's best. Kimi Raikkonen, held up by Marcus Ericsson on his only Q2 hot lap, started a disappointing 11th.
This midfield starting position put Raikkonen into a frantic battle for positions on the first lap, and disaster struck as he attempted to pass Carlos Sainz Jr. into the final corner. Backing out after failing to make the move stick, the Finn was hit from behind by Felipe Nasr.
The resulting puncture, slow drive back to the pits and damage to the car's floor left him down in 18th with a mountain to climb. Raikkonen made his way through the field to finish an admirable fourth; with a trouble-free opening lap, he'd have been a podium contender.
Vettel also had a first-lap contact as he muscled Nico Rosberg aside in Turn 1, but he got away with it and took the lead as Lewis Hamilton pitted behind the safety car.
Making the most of the SF15-T's superior tyre management, the German two-stopped and held the Mercedes at bay with relative ease to take his first race win since the end of 2013.
Ferrari stay second despite what we saw in Malaysia—on an average circuit with average weather, it's hard to see them coming out on top.
But the gap to Mercedes is far, far smaller than it was.
1. Mercedes
10 of 10
No Change
Mercedes were beaten in Sepang, but it'll take more than one race to dethrone the long-term No. 1.
Lewis Hamilton took pole, his lap of 1:49.834 enough to shade Sebastian Vettel by the tiniest of margins. Nico Rosberg couldn't find the right lines on the wet track and qualified third.
Both cars held position at the start, with Rosberg surviving a hefty mid-corner whack from Vettel in Turn 1. The Silver Arrows elected to pit behind the safety car, giving up the lead to the Ferrari man. Hamilton was sixth as the racing resumed, with Rosberg ninth.
They quickly cut through the traffic but Vettel had built a 10-second lead over Hamilton, and the Ferrari was much kinder to its tyres. On pure pace, both Mercedes drivers were faster, but they killed their rubber too quickly to mount a serious challenge.
Hamilton crossed the line in second to retain the championship lead, with Rosberg a few seconds back in third.
Mercedes stay on top for now, but Malaysia exposed a weakness—tyre management in hot weather conditions—that their rivals can aim to exploit.
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