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Ferrari took the top two podium positions at last weekend’s Singapore Grand Prix, after a strange and dramatic race, making history with the first ever 1-2 and reliving some of its Schumacher-era days with a third-successive win in as many Grands Prix.
Four-time champion, Sebastian Vettel, who has had a rocky season so far, took advantage of an early pit stop to win his fifth Singapore GP title and end his 13-month winless drought at Formula One.
Vettel, who started third on the grid, crossed the finish line 2.64 seconds ahead of team mate Charles Leclerc, who had started from pole position, holding his lead until a controversial pit stop in his 21st lap.
This is Vettel’s first win in over a year, with sheer luck playing a significant role in the victory, to the dismay of his team mate.
Leclerc, who has won the last two races, was overheard on the team radio, saying: “I won’t do anything stupid; I want us to finish one-two. I just don’t think it’s fair.”
After the night time race, Vettel – who was voted Driver of the Day – shed light on the strategy. He said: “It was a very late call; I thought it was a bit early. Then I just gave it everything in the out lap because I saw the cars in front of me not pitting, especially Lewis. I was quite surprised a lap later to come out ahead.”
The race was a slow and strange one, as Leclerc maintained his lead, but at a very slow pace, giving his competition no opportunity to overtake. During the first half of the match, Vettel made an early pit stop, which gave him the momentum needed to pull ahead in the latter half of the race. Meanwhile, the pit strategy team made an inspired call to pit Leclerc later, going from a likely 1-3 finish to a 1-2.
Third place was clinched by Max Verstappen from Red Bull Racing, pulling ahead of Lewis Hamilton of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport by 0.78 seconds.
It was also for the first time this season that a team other than Mercedes has managed a 1-2 finish in a Grand Prix, marking a sombre moment for the Mercedes-AMG team, who still lead the World Championship standings, with Hamilton holding a 65-point lead over his team mate Valtteri Bottas and the team holding a 133 point lead over Ferrari.
Hamilton said: “It’s not been the weekend we wanted at all. I was all over Charles in the first stint and I think we had the pace to win the race today. We discussed the possibility of the undercut in the strategy meeting this morning and I wanted to take the risk but then Ferrari decided to box, so we did the opposite and I stayed out. I pushed hard and the tyres were feeling good, but after a few laps they started to drop off real quick. We made mistakes tonight, but in this team, we win and we lose together.”
Mercedes-AMG team CEO Toto Wolff, added: “We also didn’t do a good enough job today and we can’t be satisfied with P4 and P5. The undercut was more powerful than everyone expected and it would have been the right strategy call for us. Once we had missed the chance for the undercut, we were hoping to create some opportunity later in the race by offsetting our tyres, but that plan didn’t work. I think we had a car capable for pole yesterday and we had an opportunity to win today, but we made too many mistakes. We’re aware that we didn’t deliver to the standards that we set ourselves this weekend, so we will review it and see where we can improve for Russia. These tough days are the days that make us stronger. Sochi with its long straights will be a tricky race for us, so we need to make sure we get the best out of our package and get things right.
