VETTEL SHINES
AS LECLERC FUMES IN SINGAPORE
Sebastian Vettel claimed his first Formula 1 win for over a year for Ferrari while his teammate Charles Leclerc was left bemused by a strategy call which lost him the lead of the Singapore Grand Prix.
Vettel’s earlier stop meant he was able to leapfrog his pole-winning team-mate Leclerc and he powered clear to win. Leclerc finished in second place and has moved up to third in the Formula 1 points chase.
He was miffed as to why he had lost his early advantage. Leclerc said: “Of course, [I am] disappointed on my side, as anyone would be. [Strategy]’s like this, sometimes it goes that way and I’ll come back stronger.”
Rising Ferrari star Charles Leclerc says he will come back stronger after he was left bemused by a team strategy call which robbed him of a chance of winning the Singapore Grand Prix.
The Monegasque driver, who started from his third consecutive pole position and the fifth of his maiden season with the Scuderia, led the first 19 laps around the 3.146-mile circuit, fending off Lewis Hamilton as well as team-mate and eventual winner Sebastian Vettel.
Leclerc had been controlling the pace at the front as he feared the tyres would not last and he wanted to look after the Pirelli rubber for longer.
Ferrari made a late call for
Vettel to pit first on lap 19 and the German pushed on his out-lap and was fast enough for the four-time world beater to eclipse Leclerc when the order was restored after the stops had cycled through.
Leclerc said: “To be honest, today I don’t think I could have done much things better or differently. Yeah, the only thing probably is I will ask a bit more about the strategy around me [and who is doing what], because I was not aware, so I don’t know if I should have pushed a bit earlier during my first stint. I don’t know, we have plenty of data anyway and I will analyse it.”
Tough to take
Two-time race winner Leclerc, who moved into third place in the points table with his runner-up spot on the street circuit, said that the possible scenario had not been outlined by Ferrari in its strategy meeting before the 61-lap race and that was one of the things that had caught him on the hop.
“We didn’t speak about that plan so I think that will be one of the discussions to try and understand why we didn’t speak about that situation before,” said the 21-year-old. “But it’s impossible to go through all the possibilities in a race, all of them are unique but no, we didn’t speak about this particular situation.”
Leclerc said that had he been aware of how the race was playing out, he could have pushed harder after Vettel had taken his stop to fend off the threat of the potential undercut.
“At that time obviously the tyres were quite dead but
probably before, I had quite a lot of margin,” he added. “In the first few laps, obviously we wanted to go as slow as we possibly could for the guys behind to not have the window to pit.
“So yeah, in that period I could have done a much better job but I stuck to the plan and I think that’s what helped us to do 1-2 today – so yeah, you can always do something better but at the end I [did] stick to the plan.”
While he didn’t take a third straight Formula 1 win after triumphs in Belgium and Italy, Leclerc said he was pleased to be part of a Ferrari 1-2 which was the first for the Maranello team since 2017.
He said: “I was surprised [when I realised Vettel had stopped] because obviously I was not aware in the car, but I guess if this decision has been made it was for the good of the team and it had to be the only way for us to do a 1-2.
“So if it’s the case I completely understand it, but obviously from the car it’s very frustrating. So [I’m] not completely happy but yeah, anyway the overall result of the weekend is very positive. We hoped for at least one car on the podium for this weekend and we go back home with a 1-2, which we definitely did not expect on a track like this.”
“Of course, [I’m] disappointed on my side, as anyone would be. It’s like this, sometimes it goes that way and I’ll come back stronger.”
Vettel’s late call
Thirty-two-year-old Vettel, who took his first victory since the Belgian Grand Prix in 2018, said the pitstop call from the Ferrari strategists had been a late one on his in-lap, and he wasn’t certain that it had been the correct call.
The 53-time race winner said: “It was a very late call. I thought it was a bit early [to switch rubber] because I wasn’t sure that we could make the tyres last in the second stint.
“Obviously then I just gave it everything on the out lap because I saw the two cars in front of me not pitting, especially Lewis [Hamilton]. I was then very surprised the lap later to come out ahead.”
Mercedes’ decision to leave Hamilton out for seven laps after Vettel had stopped meant he had less traffic and fresher tyres over the latter period of the race, but his charge was partly thwarted by two safety cars, called to collect the stricken cars of George Russell (Williams) and Sergio Perez (Racing Point).
“It [was] quite busy managing the tyres, going through traffic,” said Vettel. “I was trying to go through and slice through as quick as I could, maybe then to get a cushion and control it at the end but it didn’t work when the safety car came out. Obviously we controlled it to the end. The car was getting better and better.
“It was tricky at the restarts on cold tyres but I think as first car you always have an advantage.”
Vettel said he had been unaware of what was playing out around him when he was called in for his stop, which came at the very end of the lap.
Vettel added: “It was I think just the corner before, like Turn 21, the last turn before the pit entry, I received the call. I don’t know if somebody pitted or all of a sudden the gap was big enough, but for me it worked today so I’m happy.”