Can Vettel win the 2015 F1 crown?

"Ferrari are back!"

That's according to La Scuderia race engineer Riccardo Adami, who guided Sebastian Vettel to a surprise victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday. Ferrari were competitive all weekend, and could have had two cars on the podium had Kimi Raikkonen not suffered an early puncture after starting 11th on the grid.

Vettel celebrated wildly over the team radio on taking the chequered flag, later describing it as a "dream" to emulate boyhood hero Michael Schumacher, who won five world championships with the Italian outfit.

The win will see inevitable parallels drawn between the two German drivers, largely because of the resurgence that Ferrari has displayed since Vettel's arrival from Red Bull over the winter.

Schumacher's maiden win in Ferrari red came in his seventh race back in 1996. Vettel has managed it at only the second time of asking.

It's a remarkable turnaround for Ferrari, who endured their worst season for 21 years in 2014. The result saw a clear-out of several senior engineers, with two team principals going the same way.

Few predicted such rapid improvement after current boss Maurizio Arrivabene's appointment in November, with the 58-year-old's background lying mainly in sponsorship. However, it seems Arrivabene's management skills are beginning to have the desired effect.

In addition, Vettel's calm approach to development has been cited as a positive force within the Maranello team. After enduring a difficult 2014 in the shadow of rookie sensation Daniel Ricciardo, the four-time world champion must be counting his lucky stars for landing another competitive drive.

It highlights just how much fortune plays a part in forging drivers' careers. Spare a thought for Fernando Alonso, who swapped his seat at Ferrari for a McLaren that is currently several seconds off the pace.

The question now is: can Vettel deliver a serious title fight to Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg?

In reality, it's too early to tell. Plenty of factors conspired against Mercedes over the weekend, not least a track temperature of more than 60C: the hottest on this year's calendar. A combination of the heat, heavy braking zones and the fast cornering of Sector Two left Hamilton and Rosberg frustrated by tyre degradation issues that they believed had been overcome early last season.

Ferrar's S-F1ST, on the other hand thrived in the sticky conditions, with Vettel making a two-stop strategy work across the 56-lap race.

A number of mistakes by Mercedes - including a decision to pit both drivers back into traffic during a safety car period on lap four - contributed to a ‘perfect storm' which wiped out the advantage that saw Hamilton finish a comfortable 34 seconds ahead of Vettel in the Australian Grand Prix a fortnight ago.

It's a gap that the German admitted was unlikely to "vaporise" in the space of two weeks, and one that will probably return when Mercedes face less extreme track conditions.

But Ferrari's renewed competitive edge, however infrequent it turns out to be, is at least a small improvement on the ‘Petronas procession' we've grown accustomed to in the last 12 months...