The champagne flowed, cheers rang out and “il Tricolore” flags were enthusiastically waved. But behind the scenes there was probably a huge collective sigh of relief.
Sebastian Vettel’s win at Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix has been a long time coming for Ferrari — Formula One’s most successful team.
The 16-time world champion hadn’t won in Melbourne since 2007 and its last victory of any description came back in 2015, when Vettel won the Singapore Grand Prix.
“It was about time,” Ferrari CEO Sergio Marchionne said after the Melbourne race — his words echoing the thoughts of the legions of Tifosi fans around the world.
Vettel’s triumph at Albert Park could be the tonic Ferrari, and F1, needed following Mercedes’ clean sweep of drivers’ and constructors’ titles over the past three seasons.
“Ferrari look like they are back in business,” Reuters’ F1 correspondent Alan Baldwin told CNN’s World Sport show Monday.
“Vettel has got the best possible start to a season he could have and Ferrari have got the pressure off their backs.”
The stakes could not have been higher for Ferrari after the Italian marque’s impressive showing at winter testing testing in Barcelona, where Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen were comfortably quickest in F1’s new-look 2017 cars.
“It could have gone terribly wrong after building up such high expectations in preseason testing (where they had) the fastest car, the fastest lap times,” Baldwin says.
“In Australia, there is a lot of Italian support and to have the team not challenging, let alone winning, would have been a huge disappointment for Ferrari and Ferrari fans around the world, so it’s the best possible start for them really.”
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff admitted to being “surprised” by Ferrari’s pace, as Lewis Hamilton finished second and Valtteri Bottas was third in his debut for the German manufacturer.
“The way Sebastian held on to Lewis was simply surprising,” Wolff said. “We were pushing flat out but were not able to pull away.”
But Mercedes supporters should not despair — on the contrary, Ferrari’s new competitiveness should be a blessing.
“I don’t think Mercedes fans should be too worried — they are going to have some great racing hopefully.” Baldwin says.
“Don’t forget Mercedes have won 51 out of 60 races in the last three and a bit years and there is every sign that Lewis and Valtteri Bottas will be very competitive.”
Four-time world champion Vettel and Hamilton — who has three titles — appear to be relishing the track battles ahead.
“It’s been a privilege to be racing in an era with (Vettel) and we’re now finally at a period of time when we can actually have a real race,” Hamilton said.
Vettel, who now has 43 race wins compared to Hamilton’s 53, agrees.
“Right now it looks like we have equal machinery. I hope it stays that way and then we will see how it turns out,” Vettel, who won the last of his championships at Red Bull in 2013, told reporters in Melbourne.
“It’s obviously a lot of fun to race for victories and a lot of fun to race against the best.”
Rivalries recommence at the Chinese Grand Prix at the Shanghai International Circuit on April 9.
