Vettel saves more than just the furniture, Ferrari confirms its return to business

No podium but an admirable performance

The Ferrari might have lacked a bit of performance this weekend to reach the podium, but overall it was the team that fared the best in the race. Starting 5th on the grid, Kimi Räikkönen took advantage of Verstappen’s lapse at the start and maintained his 4th place at the checkered flag while battling for 3rd with Lewis Hamilton. Sebastian Vettel, who suffered a rear anti-roll bar break in qualifying, was forced to start from the 22nd position on the grid. But after a race in three phases, the German reclaimed the 5th place at the finish that his teammate had left open. « Anything can happen here in Singapore. » Sebastian Vettel can be proud of his race today.

A third place conceded during the last pit stop

With Max Verstappen’s mistake at the start, Kimi Räikkönen found himself directly in the exhaust of Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes, fighting for 3rd place. After the first two stints on ultra-softs and then super-softs for the Finn, he was closing in on the Brit. Hamilton was plagued by major concerns related to his brakes, with alarming communications coming from the Mercedes pit wall to both of its drivers. Rosberg, in the lead, managed his advantage over Ricciardo, but Hamilton was under increasing threat from Räikkönen.

Finally, the Briton, equipped with soft tires for his second stint, made an error on the bumpy braking zone of turn 7, going very wide, as he had during practice when he locked up his front right tire. Driver No. 7 was waiting for no less to seize the opportunity and regain the Briton’s place by surprising him at the braking zone of turn 10, not suspected as an overtaking spot. Along the way, the laps unfolded, and we headed towards a podium with three different teams in order: Mercedes, Red Bull, Ferrari.

Only, it was without taking into account Hamilton’s thirst for points, as he was not going to let so many units slip away to his teammate in the championship. When he asked his engineers for a solution to regain the advantage over the Ferrari, they simply told him to push to the maximum, moving to plan B, before stopping him a few laps later and causing panic among the strategists of Ferrari and Red Bull. By forcing an additional stop for Hamilton, Mercedes regained the strategic advantage over its rivals, to the extent of forcing them to stop as well, at least for Räikkönen and Ricciardo, because Rosberg made the – paying – bet not to stop. Back on super-softs, Hamilton performed the undercut on Räikkönen, who pitted a lap later after a late decision by Ferrari to switch to ultra-softs.

Bumped, the Scuderia took the risk of sending its driver back out with the softest available tire compound, but the purple-banded tires weren’t enough to regain the place lost in the pits. Räikkönen stayed 1 to 2 seconds behind Hamilton until the end of the race and was never in a position to launch another attack.

The incredible comeback of the driver of the day

The one who holds the record for most wins in Singapore (4 victories) and shares the record for pole positions with Lewis Hamilton (3 poles) was much less fortunate in the 2016 edition of the Singapore Grand Prix. Sebastian Vettel was the victim of a rare mechanical issue in Q1 on Saturday, as his rear anti-roll bar broke, forcing him to drive on three wheels through the corners and preventing him from completing a sufficient lap to advance to Q2. Ending up in last place, his team was unable to make repairs to give him a chance to qualify. As a result, the rest of the weekend was bound to be very challenging for the German. However, the team took the opportunity to change the engine and gearbox of Vettel’s SF16-H.

In doing so, the German arrived on the starting grid with a refreshed single-seater and the strategy was clearly announced, with soft tires. The Scuderia aimed for a race with one less stop than its front-running competitors. Despite the confusion at the start, Vettel arrived unscathed at the first corner, but his comeback couldn’t begin as quickly as inevitably the Safety Car came out in Singapore to give the marshals time to clear the wreckage of Hülkenberg’s Force India. As surprising as it may seem, Vettel chose to pit like everyone else at the end of the first lap to swap his new soft tires for used ones. The choice remained worthwhile as, over the laps, car number 5 climbed back up the rankings.

After a long stint of 23 laps on soft tires, Vettel switches to ultra-soft tires and goes into “full attack” mode to continue his comeback « Overtaking here is difficult but I was able to pass several opponents, especially in turn 7 » rejoices the German after the race. At this moment, he is the fastest driver. Almost too fast, in fact, as when joining Esteban Gutierrez and Carlos Sainz for a three-way battle with 100% Ferrari engines, Vettel lightly brushes Sainz’s diffuser in the 2nd sector but manages to quickly get past both opponents. « I was fighting with, I believe, Carlos. It was very tight when the three cars arrived at turn 9. » The forward march resumes with even more vigor for him.

In the pit stop game, Vettel gradually seems capable of securing a top 6 or even a top 5 finish because before stopping on the 42nd lap, he is in these positions, temporarily battling with Verstappen, Alonso, and Kvyat. He drops down the standings but regains this 5th position, aided by his new ultra-soft tires. For this impressive comeback, Sebastian Vettel is voted driver of the day. The performance is all the more impressive because he achieved it without the help of any incidents during the race. He also stopped at the end of the first lap. He is more than happy at the end of the race and doesn’t hide it: “It was a very fun race and I loved it. The car came alive towards the end.”

This suggests a promising end of the season for the Scuderia.