Malaysian GP: six talking points

"Ferrari are back" was the radio message to Sebastian Vettel as the German took an emotional first win for the Scuderia in just his second race for the team.

Vettel benefited from an early safety car, and made the most of Mercedes' strategy troubles, even lapping both Red Bull cars on his way to victory. It was a performance that truly justified his somewhat questioned move to Ferrari.

Despite suffering from another weekend of bad luck, Kimi Raikkonen also underlined Ferrari's pace by finishing fourth, despite starting 11th and suffering from a puncture on the opening lap after contact with Felipe Nasr.

Max Verstappen silenced his critics with a fine performance in Sepang. The 17-year-old qualified an impressive sixth in wet conditions, in doing so matching the best ever grid position posted by his father Jos during dad's 107-race career.

In the race itself, the teenager was just as impressive, overtaking big brother team Red Bull in his Toro Rosso on the way to seventh, becoming F1's youngest ever points finisher. Too young to drive an F1 car? Forget about it...

High tyre wear from the Pirellis and searing temperatures made for a hugely exciting race in Sepang, and it was world champions Mercedes who suffered the most. The W06 was tough on its tyres compared to Vettel's S-F15T, with both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg having to make an extra stop.

Unable to make his rubber last, Hamilton was also forced to stay on the slower hard tyre for the final stint, making it impossible for him to close the gap up at the front to Vettel.

After Mercedes' dominance of the opening race, Nico Rosberg joked with Sebastian Vettel in the press conference, the German claiming he'd enjoy seeing Ferrari catch them up. Well, Rosberg's comments certainly came back to bite him.

Vettel split the Mercedes in qualifying for the first time since the 2014 Hungarian Grand Prix, and then became the first person to beat them in a race since August last year. Happy, Nico?

The rain didn't come in the race but boy, didn't it just in qualifying? Spectacular thunder and lightning on Saturday made for an eventful Q2 that saw drivers pulling off racing overtakes to get a hot lap in before the forecast rain was due.

Lewis Hamilton came unnervingly close to missing the final part of qualifying, squeezing home in eighth. But the big-name casualty was Kimi Raikkonen who got stuck behind Marcus Ericsson's Sauber during his fast lap and could only manage 11th.

Things are still looking grim for McLaren-Honda, with Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button both retiring from the race with power unit issues. That makes Sepang the team's first double DNF since way back in 2006.

Some small positives were there however, much to the shock of Button. "We seem to be catching cars," the Brit radioed his team. "I'm surprised..."