Last weekend's heroics on the
track by Sebastian Vettel and Valentino Rossi have lifted
Italian motor sports' fans hopes of being able to celebrate this
season after years of disappointment.
Four-time world champion Vettel gave a classy performance
at Sunday's Malaysian Grand Prix to clinch his first Ferrari win
in only his second race for the Italian glamour team.
Then Rossi, 36, kicked off his 20th grand prix campaign
with victory in the season-opening MotoGP race in Qatar.
"Grazie! Grazie! Grazie!" beamed the front page of
Monday's La Gazzetta dello Sport, featuring photos of Vettel and
Rossi on a background of the green, white and red of the Italian
flag.
Vettel's victory ended a winless run for Ferrari that had
lasted the best part of two years.
It has been interpreted as a sign that Ferrari can be real
challengers after several campaigns of failure led to an
overhaul last year.
That revamp saw, among other things, Sergio Marchionne,
the CEO of parent company Fiat Chrysler, replace Luca di
Montezemolo as chairman, Marco Mattiacci substituted by Maurizio
Arrivabene as team principal and Vettel leaving Red Bull to take
the place left vacant by Fernando Alonso's move to McLaren.
Vettel and and his team pulled of a perfect race at
Sepang in terms of driving skill and tactics to finish ahead of
Mercedes' reigning champ Lewis Hamilton, who started in poll
position.
Ferrari's fine weekend was completed by Vettel's Finnish
team mate, 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen, who climbed from
11th on the starting grid to fourth after having dropped to the
back of the field due to a puncture.
"It's not only one childhood dream that becomes true, it
seems to be many dreams together," said Vettel, who said he had
wanted to race for Ferrari since he was a boy.
"It was amazing to look down from the podium and see the
mechanics, the engineers, the whole team and listen to the
German and Italian anthems.
"The atmosphere in the team has always been great, but
it's just getting better and better.
"The important thing is for all of us to enjoy this
moment together and celebrate.
"I did not swap teams that much in the past, so winning
for a new team is always a relief.
"Since I joined Ferrari I felt incredibly welcome and
together we have worked to improve things.
"The potential, as I always said, is huge, it's good to
see what a step forward we did over the winter".
Rossi, meanwhile, hailed his victory in Qatar as one of
the best of his career.
The nine-time world champion carved his way through the
field after starting eighth on the grid at the floodlit race to
head an all-Italian podium, with Ducati pair Andrea Dovizioso
and Andrea Iannone finishing second and third respectively.
"It was definitely one of the best races of my career,
considering where we were yesterday (in qualifying)," said
36-year-old Yamaha rider Rossi.
"I really have to thank all my team, my engineers and all
at Yamaha because I think today we did something amazing".
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