SHOCK WIN: Sebastian Vettel stunned world champion Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes on Sunday with an audacious Malaysian Grand Prix victory which ignited the Formula One season. PHOTO: AFP
"After the difficulties of last year, the amount of effort that has gone in to turn this team around...is just extraordinary," said the Italian team's jubilant technical director James Allison after Ferrari's first win since 2013.
""This sport is mainly misery and every now and again you get an incredible rush that makes all the misery worthwhile."
Ferrari's 2014 blank was their first season without a win since 1993 while four times world champion Vettel failed to triumph at Red Bull.
Maurizio Arrivabene was then drafted in as team principal, with the Italian saying in December that Ferrari had a hard road ahead to catch champions Mercedes and he would be happy with two wins.
"Of course the team is super happy. I have to say I was too. I promised two races [wins], now we make one," said Arrivabene. "Sometimes it's an advantage and sometimes it's a disadvantage to win so early but I'm very happy."
Vettel had finished third in the Australian season-opener but Ferrari's hopes were raised in Friday practice at Sepang when world champion Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg struggled on the softer medium tyres.
An early safety car period saw Hamilton and Rosberg pit for hard tyres while Vettel stayed out and laid the foundation for victory on his mediums.
"The confidence we had from our tyres on Friday meant we knew we didn't have to dive into the pits and that allowed us to get track position and then stretch our legs," Allison added. "It made the race easier, but I think we would have made a very good race of it in any situation."
The race got off to a clean start with Hamilton pulling away from Vettel on the first lap, but it turned in Ferrari's favour when Sauber's Marcus Ericsson spun off at the start of lap four to bring out the safety car.
While Mercedes pulled both their cars into the pits to put on hard tyres, Vettel stayed out on the medium compound and made the lead stick until the end of the race.
Hamilton finished second, 8.5 seconds adrift, with Rosberg crossing the line in third place. Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen finished in seventh place and at 17-years-old became the youngest points scorer in Formula One.
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