Vettel, Rossi rev Italian fans' dreams

(ANSA) - Rome, March 30 - 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".